Editing Gauss Cannons (section)

== Overview ==
A Gauss Cannon uses electromagnetic coils to accelerate a magnetic projectile to high velocity. Although the damage from a single hit is limited (strength-1 hit), it can fire more rapidly than any other weapon except a railgun, and can even exceed the railgun's rate of fire on more advanced models.

At higher technology levels the Gauss Cannon can fire several shots every 5-second time increment. All shots must be aimed at the same target, but a missile salvo counts as a single "target", so a single Gauss Cannon can destroy several missiles at once. (Note that "a missile salvo" refers to the missiles fired by a single fire control system at one time; if several enemy ships fire simultaneous missile salvos, a Gauss Cannon can only fire at one ship's salvo at a time.) If the cannon kills an entire salvo with only some of its shots, the rest of its shots in that time increment are wasted.

Because the Gauss Cannon requires very little power to operate, the required power generation is built into the installation, removing any reliance on separate power reactors.