GTW Lamprey

GTW-83 Lamprey

Weapons in Descent: FreeSpace

Primaries Secondaries Turrets Weapon Comparison Table, FS1

Weapons in FreeSpace 2

Primaries Secondaries Turrets Weapon Comparison Table, FS2

The GTW-83 Lamprey

Tech Room Data

The GTW-83 Lamprey cannon is a second-generation Leech gun. It drains the energy systems of its target, depleting the reserves available to the target's Primary weapons, shields, and engines. Coupled with a weapon that pummels both hull and shields, the Lamprey is highly effective against enemy fighters and bombers.

Performance

Statistics

Range	900 m
Rate of Fire	3.33 shots per second
Velocity	450 ms-1
Base Damage	14
Armor Damage	Very Poor	1.4
Shield Damage	Full	14
Subsystem Damage	None	0

Compatibility

The following table refers to weapons compatibility in singleplayer, and does not reflect the compatibility of dogfight variants in multiplayer. A ✓ mark indicates that a ship can mount the weapon, whereas an ✗ mark indicates that it cannot.

Terran Compatibility		Vasudan Compatibility
Ship Class	Compatible	Ship Class	Compatible
GTF Ulysses	✓	GVF Thoth	✓
GTF Loki	✓	GVF Serapis	✓
GTF Hercules	✓	GVF Horus	✓
GTF Hercules Mark II	✓	GVF Seth	✓
GTF Myrmidon	✗	GVF Tauret	✓
GTF Perseus	✗	GVF Ptah	✗
GTF Pegasus	✗	GVB Osiris	✓
GTF Erinyes	✓	GVB Bakha	✓
GTF Ares	✓	GVB Sekhmet	✓
SF Mara (Terrans)	✗
GTB Zeus	✓
GTB Medusa	✓
GTB Artemis (Inc. D.H.)	✓
GTB Ursa	✓
GTB Boanerges	✓

Notes

• Weapon leeches energy from the target with every hit.

Veteran Comments

Please read the Veteran Comments policy before editing this section.

In multiplayer, the Lamprey loses out somewhat, although it functions as predicted, it doesn't prevent the target from firing missiles. In many ways it's simply more efficient to take dual GTW UD-8 Kayser, GTW Prometheus S, or GTW Subach HL-7 to the target and get done with it rather than fiddle around with such whimsy as the Lamprey. I'm sure that under some tactical situations this is an excellent weapon, however.

This thing can be quite annoying if it is used against you. If you get constantly shot at by this thing, you won't even be able to shoot a single bullet, because your energy reserves are already drained within the first 3-5 shots... not even mentioning the shields going haywire. Very effective against people who rely a lot on highly energy consumptive weaponry, such as a GTF Erinyes with a full loadout of Kaysers. Shoot him with this several times, and he's helpless.

As the above commenter mentioned, this is very useful if someone has a ship with few missiles but lots of high-power-draw primaries. If energy drain is hell to Kayser users, this is the devil himself; otherwise, it's nearly useless.

This weapon DOES find a use in single-player missions. If you load out some of your wingmen with Lampreys and/or GTW Morning Stars, then order them to cover you, you'll be barely scratched.

The Lamprey has the same weakness as the Morning Star: It can be used under a very limited number of circumstances. The Lamprey is good at leeching fast fighters' afterburners, practically incapacitating them. Its prowess against shields is conspicuous, so is its weakness against hulls. However, if you are in a rush to kill, it's likely that taking something with more firepower is of more use. If I were to take something on a mission I don't know, the Lamprey will not be my weapon of choice. I recommend this in the 2-gun banks of Myrmidons and Areses, but hardly anywhere else.