GTW UD-8 Kayser

The GTW UD-8 Kayser is an advanced primary weapon that is now in its late OpEval period. It has high marks for both shield and armor penetration, beyond even the formidable GTW Prometheus S. Its shots move fast, reach a decent range, and pack a heck of a punch.

That's the good news. The bad news is that, as expected for a prototype weapon, its compatability with existing fighters and bombers is poor. Few craft can mount this cannon. The weapon's energy requirements are also very high.

Still, when you see one of these on the battlefield, you should immediately be very cautious. It's a powerful device, given only to veteran and elite squadrons. Special Operations Command, especially, seems to have priority selection.

Weapons in Descent: FreeSpace

Primaries Secondaries Turrets Weapon Comparison Table, FS1

Weapons in FreeSpace 2

Primaries Secondaries Turrets Weapon Comparison Table, FS2

Tech Room Data

The GTW UD-8 Kayser is the result of an intensive study of Shivan weapon technology. The Kayser emits focused waves of subatomic particles that bombard its target. Impact causes the wave function of the particles to collapse and emit extremely intense, zero-point energy microbursts. Standard policy dictates that weapons of this magnitude be mounted only on bombers, but it has become common practice for field technicians to mount them on fighters.

Veteran Comments

If there is a gun that you want to have when dogfighting, this is that gun. Combining rapid fire with high damage, a well-aimed volley of Kayser fire can convert most fightercraft to small amounts of debris with little difficulty. The downside is high energy requirements, which somewhat reduces the advantage of the rapid firing rate. Make no mistake: if somebody comes at you spraying Kayser pulses, he's not going to do it for long, but you could well be dead before he stops.

Performance

Statistics

Range	975 m
Rate of Fire	4 / s
Velocity	650 mps
Damage	28
Against Hullplating	Excellent
Against Shields	Very Good
Against Subsystems	Poor