50-500 “Thunderbolt” Cannon
| “ | This heavy artillery cannon is designed to cripple enemy fortifications from an entrenched position. Its long heavy barrel gives the "Thunderbolt" outstanding range. | „ |
| — In-game description |
The 50-500 “Thunderbolt” Cannon (also known as Thunderbolt) is a Colonial Emplaced Weapon equipped with a 150mm artillery cannon that serves as Heavy Artillery.
Production
| Structure | Input(s) | Output | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction Yard | 195 x Refined Materials  |
50-500 “Thunderbolt” Cannon  |
195 Hammer hits |
| Mass Production Factory | 585 x Refined Materials |
Crate of 3 x
50-500 “Thunderbolt” Cannon |
02:42:30 |
It must be fully researched in the Weapons and Structure 
Tech Tree in order to be produced.
Use
It can be interacted with either on foot, or in a vehicle by pressing E. 150mm shells can be directly submitted into the artillery piece by pressing V. The enemy players cannot interact or use it.
Weapon Platform
Its weapon platform is manned by two players who are both exposed to incoming fire.
Crew:
- Cannoneer (Right Seat)
- Sets the range with
Mouse Scroll Wheel - Can view the current azimuth and range of the gun
- Fires and reloads the cannon
- Sets the range with
- Operator (Left Seat)
- Rotates the gun with
AandD(Cannoneer seat must be occupied) - Can view the current azimuth of the gun
- Rotates the gun with
Additionally a player should act as spotter with Binoculars to see the shells land and relay adjustments to the crew, and another player needs to continuously carry and submit new shells to the gun with V to maintain a fast firing rate.
Armament:
- 150mm Heavy Artillery Cannon
Inventory:
It has a dedicated ammo slot that can hold one 150mm shell.
Transport
As an Emplaced Weapon it cannot move on its own, and must be packaged and lifted by Cranes in order to be moved anywhere. It can be transported by shipping vehicles.
Placement
It can be placed pretty much anywhere on land, even on top of other structures. It can be placed within 60 meters of a region's border ("no build" zone), however it will still quickly decay there. The only notable place where it can't be placed is Bridges.
It can also be placed inside a Trench Emplacement. Doing so quadruples its health and doubles its rotation speed. However if the Trench Emplacement is destroyed, the Emplaced Weapon goes along with it.
Squad Reservation
A squad with at least 3 squad members in the region can reserve it via a button 
in the interface. The reservation prevents any non members from packaging it and moving it but doesn't prevent them from using the gun however. The reservation lasts 52 hours and can be reapplied if it expires.
Visibility
Unlike Field Weapons and certain Emplaced Weapons, it is always visible. It is not invisible at night and cannot be hidden inside large bushes. Due to this, they can be spotted by enemy artillery crews, which makes them susceptible to either being attacked by counter-artillery, or by an enemy squad trying to eliminate the artillery piece.
Resistance
It is immune to small arms, fragmentation grenades, but not to 12.7mm machine gun fire and it has a bit of resistance to most heavier explosives.
Tactics
The gun can be fired from nearly any location, but it greatly benefits from being placed inside of a Trench Emplacement. Whenever possible, it is recommended you place defenses around the artillery piece(s), as artillery is vulnerable to enemy attacks. The Trench Emplacement should upgraded, either to Tier 2 or Tier 3. This won't increase the health of the Emplaced Weapon, but rather it increases the trench's health, which makes it tougher for the enemy to destroy the artillery piece(s).
Due to the intensive logistical demand of artillery, it is recommended to have an artillery crew, which can increase the efficiency of the operation, such as firing/reloading the artillery piece, carrying the 150mm shells to the gun, and spotting. Using Material Pallets also highly increase efficiency by reducing the distance between the shells and the artillery piece, as well as the retrieval time for the shells.
Prolonged artillery bombardment with 150mm shells on an area will slowly transform it into a No Man's Land.
Gallery
The 50-500 "Thunderbolt" Cannon from the front
The 50-500 "Thunderbolt" Cannon from the back
The Render Model of the 50-500 "Thunderbolt" Cannon, which was introduced in the Update 0.42 Dev Stream (officially known as 'Winter Army')
A 50-500 "Thunderbolt" Cannon compared to a Colonial soldier
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