Gas Cannon

General Information

The Gas Cannon is perhaps one of the most useful and one of the more powerful weapons X-COM aquanauts can begin with. It offers three different types of shells. Namely armour piercing, high explosive and phosphor (incendiary) shells.

Unlike its semi-automatic counterpart, the Hydro-Jet Cannon, the Gas Cannon can be fired in and out of the water and offers more power, making it a much better investment although it lacks an automatic attack. Deciding whether to trade off between losing an automatic attack but gaining the ability to use it anywhere, or vice versa, is a strategic decision best left to the Commander to decide.

Like all heavy weapons, the Gas Cannon is bulky and requires a good amount of strength to weild properly. It is also fairly slow, but its ability to deliver powerful attacks on land and in the sea make it a mainstay weapon. Commanders who have progressed far into the war have been known to continue using the Gas Cannon along side the newer weapons, if perhaps only in smaller quantities. It is also worth knowing that a Lobsterman can sustain damage from the HE variety of shells - but this is recommended only as a last resort.

See Also:

Hydro-Jet Cannon, Torpedo Launcher

Comparison to UFO Mirror

Comparing the Gas Cannon against its mirror weapon in the first war, the Heavy Cannon, the Gas Cannon is a significant upgrade over the former in overall performance. It has a larger clip and does much more damage. But like the original, it retains the same versatility of having three different shell types, allowing a commander to tailor the weapon to the situation.

Notes

• The Gas Cannon is the only weapon that can properly set fire on land based missions. In addition to that, phosphor rounds work twice as well on land than in the sea.