Ion Cannon

The ion cannon was devised as an excellent anti-vehicle weapon. The Ion beam is one of the few weapons which can penetrate the thick armor of tactical ships and damage the sensitive electronics inside. The only downside to maintaining such a powerful beam is that moving the ion cannon too violently will cause the beam to dephase and the cannon to shut down. The alternate fire of the Ion Cannon charges up a pulse of ion energy to varying degrees. These pulses are also effective against vehicles, but are really useful in infantry combat because of their explosive damage.

Tactics

 * If there are multiple Ion Cannons alternate your fire; if you all fire at once it leaves a gap the enemy can move during.
 * Don't be afraid to fire before its fully charged this is less powerfull but its faster and can catch the enemy by suprise..
 * The ion cannon is invaluble for defence and fire support but never attack alone.
 * Watch your ammo more so than most weapons the Ion Canon depleates its ammo quickly; resupply as often as possible.
 * If faced with infantry at either a very long or point blank range it is often better to use your pistol instead, the Ion Cannon's charge is too slow for close quarters while the bolt moves too slow for long range combat and simply cant outrange any other weapon besides the flame thrower and grenade launcher when it comes to a moving target..