Fusion Ball Launcher

The Fusion Ball Launcher is available after research is completed on the Blaster Launcher and Blaster Bomb.

Fusion Balls are without a doubt the most devasting weapon per shot available for use on X-COM craft. They also have the greatest range of any X-COM craft weapon, standing at 65 km.

However, the drawbacks associated with Fusion Balls far outweigh the advantages. There is only enough room on each hardpoint to load two fusion balls into each launcher, for a total of four shots. Against most UFOs, this is more than adequate; but against alien Battleships , your craft will likely run out of ammunition before bringing it down. The FBL also requires ammo to be manufactured for it, at a high cost of hours, cash and elerium. The FBL does 230 damage vs the Plasma Beam's 140, but has a reload time of 25s, vs PB 6s. The FBL has 2 shots, the PB has 99. Fortunatly, the FBL has 100% accuracy, compared to PB with 50%.

Although it has the greatest range of all X-COM craft weapons, it is only equal to the range of the craft weapon on an alien Battleship. However, the Plasma Beam and Avalanche outrange all other UFOs except Battleships. This makes the FBL equal or worse than the Plasma Beam vs anything except Battleships, equal to (but much more expensive than) the Avalance against Medium or Small ships, with a slight edge against Large Ships, and the FBL is pretty much inferior to the Plasma Beam against Battleships.

Despite these disadvantages, however, Fusion Balls are not quite useless. One strategy for intercepting Battleships involves attacking them with four Interceptors – all armed with Fusion Ball Launchers – simultaneously. Additionally, a bug present in most versions of X-COM causes Fusion Ball Launchers to be even more profitable for manufacture than Laser Cannons. (however, this same bug/exploit makes Hovertank Plasma the most profitable item)

Quite apart from all of that, the manufacture of Fusion Balls for use with the launcher requires 4 Elerium-115, a very rare and valuable resource, making the firing of the FBL prohibitively expensive.

Manufacturing Requirements