Vulcan

The following information has not been confirmed by Volition and is therefore not canon for the FreeSpace universe.

Description

The SCWS-1 Vulcan

Blue Planet Tech Room Description

A Shekar-Johnson Weapons product, produced for a Fleet Systems requirement for a cheap, modular intercept weapon during the Isolation. Commissioned as the SCWS-1 Vulcan. Light repeating plasma weapon, excellent at intercepting warheads. Pilots must track and sustain fire on shielded targets. Produced widely across the solar system and even back-engineered and reproduced in the Gaian Effort's Kuiper installations.

Performance

Statistics

Range	1000 m
Rate of Fire	5.00 shots per second
Velocity	1000 ms-1
Base Damage	14
Armor Damage	1.0x	14
Shield Damage	1.0x	14
Subsystem Damage	0.3x	4.2

Notes

Veteran Comments

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It's the UEF's Subach. It's good for shooting down bombs, but not for real work. The availability of the Maul at the beginning of the campaign makes the Vulcan largely useless. If you have trouble aiming and prefer spraying though, the Vulcan might be to your liking.

Unlike most GTA weapons and the Maul, it's worth noting that the Vulcans you mount on your fighter fire their barrels in a cyclic pattern rather than firing all at once for discrete volleys. This means that instead of globs of gunfire like you might get with Kaysers, Subachs or Mauls, you get a long, constant stream of fire, which as noted is good for shooting down bombs. It also makes adjusting your aim easier.

You'll definitely find it lacking for taking down the GTF Nyx or other heavyweight/next-gen fighters, but it more than suffices for the older strikecraft like the GTB Artemis, GTF Hercules Mark II and GTF Myrmidon models that the GTA use fairly extensively in BP. Strongly recommend pairing the Vulcan with Hellfire Missiles if you're going to be tangling with heavier fighters and don't want to use Mauls.

This weapon is a lot like a weaker version of the GTVA's Balor, it's almost worth it to take in the first few missions to intercept bombs. It does enough damage to be a valid weapon (unlike the GTW Prometheus R of Freespace 2) but perhaps not enough to justify taking it on every mission. It is equivalent in damage per second terms to the Subach.