Auto-Cannon

This is the automatic version of the Heavy Cannon. It retains the versatility of the Heavy Cannon and features a larger magazine as well as the capability for automatic fire.

The Auto Cannon is heavier than the Heavy Cannon and is thus less accurate. It is a slow and cumbersome beast of a weapon. Though it is called an "auto" cannon and looks like a large gatling gun, is not a fast weapon. It is the slowest operational three-shot-burst weapon in the entire X-Com armoury. It is also the Auto Cannon's most powerful feature.

As with its close cousin the Heavy Cannon, the Auto Cannon retains a versatile selection of shells to suit your every need. Armour Piercing, High Explosive and Incendiary rounds are all available. By reducing the effectiveness and size of the shells, more shells can be stored in the Auto Cannon's ammunition magazine, and the shells are slightly lighter to carry than Heavy Cannon shells. The shells still pack a considerable punch nonetheless.

AC-AP rounds are standard for the Auto Cannon, but are not particularly remarkable since they straddle the middle-ground between the Pistol and Cannon Tank shells. However they are reliable when you need to fight in close quarters and you do not want to cause any damage to your surroundings or destroy equipment.

AC-HE rounds are by far the most popular and most useful shells to be crammed into the cannon's ammo hopper. They clear terrain, wipe out mobs of enemies and can cause utter mayhem as effectively as a cluster bomb. The enemies ACHE at the mere sight of it. Note however they they may not be suitable against very heavily armoured units like the Sectopods. HE shells are unfortunately also a major source of self inflicted wounds or kills, so be very careful when using them. Be prepared to lose equipment dropped if an enemy is defeated in the middle of a high explosive burst.

AC-Incendiary rounds are not as popular as the other two, but can serve two very important functions. The first is simply to start fires. Burning down a building or orchard is often safer then going inside or blasting away the obstacles, which would expose you to reaction fire.

AC-I rounds are also the most effective means of dishing out incendiary damage against Zombies to prevent them from hatching into Chryssalids, though this effect only works on the killing blow. Sadly, this does so little damage per shot that it often take less TU to just kill Zombies with conventional weapons, then kill the resulting Chryssalid, which gives you more points in any case. For instance, a Heavy Plasma on auto-shot will often kill the zombie with the first shot and the Chryssalid with the second or third shot. With the weaker weapons, say AC-HE rounds, you can fire a few conventional rounds in the hopes of leaving the zombie on critical health, then finishing it with AC-IN, but due to damage being random, this turns out to be more time consuming than one might think. Also if you wish to abuse the game bug where all units standing in fire will take on incendiary impact damage, then again this is the most efficient mean of producing the damage. Damage dealt this way tends to ignore the protection on very heavily armoured units.

The other, probably even more popular use, is simply to start fires and illuminate the battlefield.

AC-IN is the most effective way to breach Medium Scouts with intact Power Sources.

Stats

Auto Cannon:

Size: 3 high x 2 wide Weight: 19 TUs: Auto: 40% (Accuracy 32%) Snap: 33% (Accuracy 56%) Aimed: 80% (Accuracy 82%) Cost: $13,500 Sell Price: $10,125

AP Clip: Power: 42 AP Ammo: 14 Size: 1 high x 2 wide Weight: 5 Cost: $500 Sell Price: $400

HE Clip: Power: 44 HE Ammo: 14 Size: 1 high x 2 wide Weight: 5 Cost: $700 Sell Price: $560

Incendiary Clip: Power: 48 IN (6.4) Ammo: 14 Size: 1 high x 2 wide Weight: 5 Cost: $650 Sell Price: $520

Usage Notes

The following lists how many times a soldier can fire the gun by shot type continuously in any given round and the remaining percentage of any left over TUs that cannot be spent as a shot.

• Aimed: 1 Shot, 20% Remaining TUs
• Snap: 3 Shots, 1% Remaining TUs
• Auto: 2 Shots, 20% Remaining TUs

Limitations of Incendiary damage

The listed Incendiary damage using IN rounds is misleading. IN rounds do ~6.4 damage on a direct hit. The damage values listed in the UFOpaedia do not determine how powerful an incendiary round deals damage; it only determines how wide an area will be blanketed with flames.

Furthermore soldiers cannot gain any form of experience shooting any weapon loaded with incendiary rounds.

Tips

The Auto Cannon is most efficient when armed with AC-HE shells and excels at close to mid range combat. If you must fight in long range combat, use the same strategies that you would use with the Heavy Cannon or Rocket Launcher. Use terrain to your advantage and try to hit a wall or climb up a level or two and fire down at the ground.

When using AC-HE shells, be sure to wear some armour. A Power Suit or better is most ideal, but Personal Armour can do in a pinch. Armour will protect you from any back blast from shells that detonate too early. With Power Armour in particular, the Auto Cannon is turned into an extremely potent close combat weapon and can safely attack from an adjacent tile without fear of damaging yourself. Be careful of the indiscriminate destruction of anything and everything around you, especially around UFO Power Units.

Direct hits from the Auto Cannon may harm you even in a Power Armor, but it will not be very severe. This is extremely useful knowledge to have when you face enemies with psi powers. Though not especially powerful, the Auto Cannon packs enough firepower to be a real threat against most enemies such as Mutons, but is a very insignificant threat to your own soldiers as long as everyone wears Power Armour or Flying Suits.

When inside buildings or UFOs, you can also shoot AC-HE rounds at the ceiling and defeat anything that's directly above you. This is a very useful strategy to use in UFOs that have aliens waiting in ambush, such as in the Abductor. This strategy works with any weapon that produces an area of effect, including incendiary rounds or stun bombs.