GTW ML-16 Laser

Weapons in Descent: FreeSpace

Primaries Secondaries Turrets Weapon Comparison Table, FS1

Weapons in FreeSpace 2

Primaries Secondaries Turrets Weapon Comparison Table, FS2

The GTW ML-16 Laser is a Terran-designed primary weapon which was used extensively by the GTA before the Great War. The ML-16 works adequately against hulls and consumes a negligible amount of energy per shot, allowing the pilot to divert more power to engines.

Since the ML-16 was designed during the "shieldless" era of Terran and Vasudan history, it is largely ineffective against shielded targets, such as Shivan fighters and bombers. Despite being ultimately superseded by the GTW Avenger during the opening stages of the Great War, ML-16s were still being distributed among fighter squadrons even as of the Hades Rebellion.

Tech Room Data

The GTW ML-16 Laser

Argon laser weapon - uses transparent ceramic technology in order to create an optical system that is extremely durable and stable under battle conditions - provides adequate destructive damage to the hull of enemy ships by vaporizing molecular bonds at the target area and destabilizing molecular bonds across the grain of the hull material.

The GTA issues ML-16 Lasers to every fighter and bomber in service.

Performance

Statistics

Name	ML-16 Laser
Range	900 m
Rate of fire	5.00 s-1
Velocity	450 ms-1
Damage	5
Armor damage	5
Shield damage	0.5
Subsystem damage	1.5

Additional properties

• Weapon is a primary cannon (Primary weapon)

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.

Compatibility
Ship Class	Compatible
GTF Apollo	✓
GTF Ulysses	✓
GTF Valkyrie	✓
GTF Hercules	✓
GTF Loki	✓
GTB Athena	✓
GTB Zeus	✓
GTB Medusa	✓
GTB Ursa	✓

Veteran Comments

Please read the Veteran Comments policy before editing this section.

The ML-16 is an acceptable weapon at the beginning of the main campaign. Unfortunately, after shielding on fighters become common, the weapon loses its efficiency. Prefer the Avenger to this weapon.

The ML-16 is not a bad gun against unshielded targets. In fact, try using it against a Shivan cruiser hull and you will be pleasantly surprised. However, without any ability to damage shields, it really isn't a viable choice later in the campaign.

The ML-16 does less than 1/3 of the armor damage of the GTW Avenger, and between 1/3 and 1/2 of its FreeSpace 2 equivalent, the GTW Subach HL-7 - for the same energy. However, the GTW Flail does less armor damage than the ML-16.

FreeSpace 1 Fighter Weapons

Primaries: GTW ML-16 - GTW Disruptor - GTW Avenger - GTW Flail - GTW Prometheus - GTW Banshee - GTW Leech Cannon - GTW Shield Breaker - GTW D-Advanced - GTW Training Laser - GTW Railgun - Vasudan Light Laser - Shivan Light Laser - Shivan Heavy Laser - Shivan Mega Laser Secondaries: GTM MX-50 - GTM D-Missile - GTM Fury - GTM Hornet - GTM Interceptor - GTM Phoenix V - GTM Synaptic - GTM Stiletto - GTM Tsunami - GTM Harbinger - GTM Cluster Bomb - GTM EM Pulse - Unknown Bomb - Unknown Megabomb