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 a Thunderbolt) is a Colonial artillery Emplacement and a type of Heavy Artillery. It is equipped with a 150mm artillery cannon.
Crew
It has no AI and must be manned by a player. It has two seats:
- 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.
Inventory & Armament
It's armed with a 150mm artillery cannon:
- Range: 200-350 meters
- Fire Rate: ~7 shells per minute
- Reload duration: 5.5 seconds (not including the firing duration)
- Turret rotates very slowly
- Accuracy: 32.5m radius at minimum range up to 40m radius at max range (not including Wind effect)
It has a dedicated ammo slot that can hold one 150mm shell.
Interactions
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.
Transportation
As an Emplacement it cannot move on its own, and must be packaged and lifted by Shippable#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 Emplacement goes along with it.
Squad Reservation
A squad can reserve it (via a button in the menu) to prevent any non members from packaging it and moving it. The reservation doesn't prevent other friendly players from using the gun however.
Visibility
Unlike Field Weapons and certain emplacements, 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.
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.
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 emplacement, 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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