GTW Morning Star

The GTW ML-70 Morning Star is an unusual weapon, described as a long-range tactical weapon. The long-range aspect is undeniable: at 2km, it outranges ever other gun except the Maxim cannon, and even most missiles. Its high projectile speed and blistering rate of fire allow hits even at its maximum range.

The most interesting part of the Morning Star, however, is its kinetic properties. When a target ship is hit by the weapon, it is shaken slightly; with repeated hits, the target can be driven completely off course and will tumble out of control. This can make them easy prey for a follow-up volley of GTM Harpoon or GTM Tornado missiles.

It also has other excellent properties. Given its range and accuracy, as well as its rate of fire, it makes an ideal weapon to intercept bombers and their warheads. The weapon does high shield damage, but minimal hull damage, making it relatively "safe" to fire at inbound torpedoes even if your shots are being backstopped by a friendly target. It also works well as the opening weapon in a dogfight: if you start hitting your target at the weapon's maximum range, their shields should be badly drained by the time you close to range with other guns or missiles and chew up their armor.

Because the Morning Star does extremely minimal hull damage, it is not a good choice if your craft has only one weapon mount. Pilots should also be aware that this gun has fairly high energy requirements. If your ship has more than two firing cannons for one its mounts, the Morning Star should be mounted on the mount that has fewer firing points. Its already substantial advantages are not increased by firing more than two at once. In theory the Morning Star and Maxim gun perfectly complement each other, but in practice the energy demand is simply too high to make this a viable tactic.

Weapons in Descent: FreeSpace

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Weapons in FreeSpace 2

Primaries Secondaries Turrets Weapon Comparison Table, FS2

The GTW ML-70 Morning Star

Tech Room Data

The GTW ML-70 Morning Star improves upon the performance of the Flail gun, which was developed during the Great War. The original Flail was too expensive to mass produce, because of its limited usage/effectiveness profile. Recent advances in high-temperature optics enable the main focusing chamber of the Morning Star to produce a much more coherent beam, increasing its range and damage levels. This comes at the expense of somewhat higher energy requirements, however.

Performance

Statistics - Morning Star

Range	2000 m
Rate of Fire	6.67 shots per second
Velocity	1000 ms-1
Base Damage	9.1
Armor Damage	Poor	3.5
Shield Damage	Full	9.1
Subsystem Damage	Minimal	1.4

Statistics - Morning Star D

Range	2000 m
Rate of Fire	5.88 shots per second
Velocity	1000 ms-1
Base Damage	7
Armor Damage	Average	3.5
Shield Damage	Full	7
Subsystem Damage	Very Poor	1.4

Notes

Veteran Comments

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The Morning Star is a totally tactical weapon, unlike the GTW Flail, which had a useful shield-damage value in addition to its knock-around capabilities. Use it to push folks around, but beyond that, forget it exists.

I've never really favored this weapon for my own use; however, I sometimes find that it increases the effectiveness of AI fighter escorts in bombing missions.

If you mount this thing on turrets, sentry guns, transports, cruisers and freighters, just TRY to get near them after... These things WILL juggle you, and you won't even be able to control yourself.

The Flail was a good combat weapon that had a niche waiting for the Prometheus and the Banshee to come along, in FS2 the Morning Star is just a relic of the first game.

Interestingly enough, in "...But Hate the Traitor" you encounter a number of Alastors at the depot armed with one turret of HL-7s and one turret of Morning Stars.

The Morning Star's low hull damage surprisingly is a benefit in certain scenarios. When chasing down bombers, you often have to attempt to shoot down bombs with what you're trying to escort as the backstop for the shots. If you attempt this with something like the Maxim (for its long range and high fire rate), what you're trying to defend can sometimes take a serious pounding, especially if it is one of the more fragile ships like Fenris cruisers. With the Morning Star, that isn't so much of an issue, and you still get the excellent fire rate and long range. Outside of this though, there is little reason to use this weapon other than for the novelty of knocking around enemy fighters and bombers.

When mounted on at least a quad bank, the Morning Star alone will be a danger to any strike bomber that enters its barrage, since it will be unable to maintain its trajectory while at the same time having its shields and armour peeled off, layer by layer. However, this is hardly a viable tactic on anything weaker than an assault fighter as the Morning Star drains a lot of energy.