Tesla cannon (Broken Steel)

The Tesla cannon is a weapon in the Fallout 3 - Broken Steel add-on.

Characteristics
The Tesla cannon is a shoulder-mounted energy weapon that fires powerful blasts of focused blue electricity, powered by electron charge packs. The blast is powerful enough to short the electrical circuitry in Vertibirds and destroy them instantly. When fired at enemies, a cloud of residual electricity that damages them for a few seconds.

The quest line of Broken Steel includes having to find a Tesla coil for this weapon in order to help the Brotherhood of Steel build it.

Variants

 * Tesla cannon (Beta)

Locations
There are a total of 13 Tesla cannons, or 14 if you count the Beta Tesla cannon, but only a maximum of 11 (12 with Beta Tesla cannon) can be obtained in one play-through.
 * The first Tesla cannon can be acquired upon your initial arrival at Adams Air Force Base. There will be a resupply crate directly to your left near the wall upon exiting the Presidential Metro.
 * Once you leave Adams Air Force Base, if you did not blow up the Citadel and return there, 2 Tesla cannons can be found in the Citadel Lab after finishing the quest Who Dares Wins, on a table in front of Liberty Prime's docking bay.
 * If you blew up the Citadel, you can find 2 Tesla cannons in the Citadel armory. If you did not blow up the Citadel you can pick the lock to get into the armory but there are no Tesla cannons there.
 * If you return to Adams Air Force Base after Who Dares Wins, you can acquire 8 more Tesla cannons (4 in perfect condition, 4 in poor condition).
 * The first pair are before you reach the hangars. Traveling northeast from the Adams Air Force Base Entrance towards the hangars, the 4th open-topped military truck in your path has a resupply crate in the back with a good and poor condition weapon and electron charge packs.
 * The second pair of cannons (along with some electron charge packs) is in a resupply crate between the first and second hangar on the way toward the Mobile Base Crawler by the base of an Enclave barricade. To be clear, these two hangars are to your right once you reach the airfield portion of your base, near 2 parked Vertibirds.
 * The third pair are in a resupply crate by the ramp leading to the covered catwalk between the second and third hangar on the way to the Mobile Base Crawler.
 * The fourth pair are at the base of an Enclave barricade, between the Mobile Base Crawler and the Air Control Tower. The Crate is inside the ring of Sandbags underneath a Brotherhood of Steel Paladin.

Related quests

 * Shock Value
 * Who Dares Wins - Given during quest.

Bugs

 * If you kill an enemy with the splash damage effect alone, you may not earn XP for the kill, but you can use this to your advantage. If a good character is killed by the shock damage after effects it will result in no karma loss or hostility from nearby non-player character's. You will also not receive any fingers or ears for enemies killed by the cannon's splash damage.
 * Occasionally while in third person the Tesla cannon will float off of your back and stay suspended in mid air. This makes it impossible to use in third person and V.A.T.S., however the Tesla cannon will still work in first person. (This will fix itself after a while however there is nothing that you can do to fix it)
 * The Tesla cannon will not destroy a VB-02 Vertibird in a single shot, unlike the console versions of the game.