Talk:Tesla cannon (Broken Steel)

More Damage vs Robots?
Does the Tesla Cannon deliver extra damage against robots since it delivers shock damage? --Clean Up 18:48, November 5, 2009 (UTC)

Energy Weapons or Big Guns?
In a new preview of Broken Steel at gamerevolution.com they say the tesla cannon is an energy weapon. This would make sense seeing how it uses tesla coils and what not.--Falubii 20:38, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

The same could be said for the gatling laser, but thats classed as a big gun anyway. Personaly i think this will be too.--Greig91 21:43, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

I think it is going to be an energy weapon because the cryolator was the only buildable energy weapon but it was removed from the game. So maybe this is to make up for not being able to make an energy weapon? Like many people who like energy weapons that maxed out there energy weapons stats but they found out that there is no buildable weapon for them. That maybe a make up for the people and plus that weapon looks sweet....Mikill 22:59, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

Overhand or Under?
Just a thought: In both pictures, we've been led to believe that they are the Tesla Cannon. However, in one picture it is over the shoulder like the missile launcher, and in the other it's held underneath, like a minigun. My question is, how can we be sure it's the Tesla Cannon, and if anyone has any idea how it could be both? Keep in mind that all weapons in Fallout 3 have only one way of being held. I mean, you can't wield the 10mm pistol or smg "gangsta style", so why should the Tesla Cannon be any different?--Wanderer Lao 02:17, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

My guess is the first pic they showed(overhand) was either early in development and they changed it, or it was posed that way for the publicity shot, but it will actually be underhand.67.211.81.140 02:42, 2 May 2009 (UTC)Cavesloth

No, the pic underneath is a hellfire trooper or the wanderer wearing hellfire power armour, but wielding the heavy incinerator, the telsa blast seems to be coming off screen...--92.234.175.62 08:06, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

The bottom image shouldn't even be there, its just misleading. It shows someone wielding a Heavy Incinerator wearing hellfire power armor not someone using the Tesla cannon. It should at least be moved to a seperate part of the article, where it is now it looks like its supposed to be an actual picture of the cannon.--Greig91 19:16, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

Repair
Could anyone confirm if it can be repaired, other than paying NPC's for it (don't have BS myself, yet)? --Sentinel 101 18:07, 5 May 2009 (UTC)

The merchant Crazy Wolfgang in the trader caravan will have a repair skill of 75 if you promote him in the canteburry commons by talknig to the head guy there.--DSKs Sickness 1 00:15, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

guess i'm not going to run out of ammo soon, I have over 300000 ecp's. problem is the repairation of the thing

I suppose it can be repaired by the player only twice through the 2 other tesla cannons found in the Citadel Lab. Both are in reduced state. They are next to Prime's head. --Radnus 81.205.186.16 00:31, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

For more Tesla cannons to repair with, see Tesla Cannon. It has a list of it's known locations (at least 9 total cannons). --TheREALBloodscar 00:05, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

Arch Lightning
Aside from all the damage types descibes in the page, this weapon also has a tendency to project additional lightning towards whatever surface it can touch, however, prefering (appearently) viable targets. This would make the Tesla Cannon the first weapon in FO3 to "jump" to other targets. Damage dealt from these "jumps" have not been calculated. This effect can also occur when not striking a target, but merely the ground (I have the experience to cause the weapon to arch a secondary lightning strike from the point of impact nearly to me; I could have damaged myself as an arch flew right pass by me). Also, jumps only occur from the impact to other targets, meaning that 1 target surrounded by 2 others may cause the others to be struck ONCE by a jump, but additional jumps will not be triggered from those secondary targets. It is perhaps this (secondary, un-accounted for) effect that may cause XP or Karma not to be granted as the secondary targets are struck by the main target, not the player. --Radnus81.205.186.16 00:28, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

It's just a visualy representation of splash damage. --DragonJTSLeave me a message 15:30, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Followers using it?
If you give one the extras to a follower with ammo will they use it? Just imagine the chaos if you find all 7 and give them to all your followers!Cavesloth 04:21, 8 May 2009 (UTC)Cavesloth

I have been able to get Star Paladin Cross to use it on the 360, but I haven't tried anyone else.

Charon and Jericho uses it but only if the enemy is far away....maybe about 100 feet

Bug or misleading?
Just picked up the Tesla cannon, and I assumed it was nerfed from the versions used in previews, as it does not kill higher end enclave soldiers in a single shot ( with 100 energy weapons and repair )and I find myself, generally, unable to kill vertibirds with the weapon at all. Despite this, reviews and such seem to indicate it still beats almost everything with a single shot... So anyone know what the deal is? 75.139.197.15 23:14, 8 May 2009 (UTC)

Ive been wondering this myself. do people just put their game on the lowest difficulty and critical these vertibirds? i put my game on normal, and 3 shots set it on fire only. im actually kind of dissapointed, i was hoping it would at least do more damage than the missile launcher, but i guess the DoT and AoE makes up for it somewhat... but at least make it one shot vertibirds like it was supposed to. Utae 01:35, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

Huh, glad to see other people with the same problem. I know it's not crits, since their are videos of it tearing up the AFB without the little pop up that said you got a crit. and it still takes multiple hits for me to bring down a vertibird on very easy, so that's not it. i'm kinda pissed about it. -DragonJTSLeave me a message 01:58, 9 May 2009 (UTC)


 * I had this too. Just switched back to the A3-21's plasma rifle as it seemed to take about as many shots to take out a vertibird but it's much quicker. Weird. Any ideas anyone?

That's odd, I 1 shot them on Normal difficulty every time (On 360 btw).67.211.81.140 04:46, 10 May 2009 (UTC)Cavesloth
 * Same here. I have 100 Energy Weapons and playing on normal and I one-shoted everything I hit with the Tesla cannon (except some Deathclaws) until it started to degrade to about 80%. Then it took the Hellfire soldiers down to 1 bar but still killed Tesla and regular Enclave and Veritbirds in one hit. Oh yeah, and I'm also on 360, so mabye it's a console thing? --TheREALBloodscar 06:11, 10 May 2009 (UTC)
 * No, becuase their's videos of it one shotting things, unless the xbox can record directly? I will find the answer damnit... -DragonJTSLeave me a message 06:17, 10 May 2009 (UTC)
 * All you'd need to record it is a capture card and a computer. Simple. -- Five Dog (talk) 23:47, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

quite the same here, I seem to damage mechanical things more than organisms62.163.88.139 08:52, 10 May 2009 (UTC)
 * i can confirm that, keep 1-hitting sentry bots--85.234.187.120 17:27, 10 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Really? I'm on 360 and I'm on normal with 100 energy weapons and about 95% condition, but it takes 2 or 3 shots (including shock effect) to take down a sentry bot, but I can still 1 shot Vertibirds. Interesting... --TheREALBloodscar 00:09, 11 May 2009 (UTC)
 * I suppose that could be because im usually getting sneak or normal critical hits
 * I think I know why. Do you have the Better Criticals perk? If not, then I'm stumped because my sneak attacks still couldn't 1 shot the Sentry Bots.--TheREALBloodscar 15:25, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

I can one-shot vertibirds on normal too (on x360) Skypopper 13:57, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

It seems like on pc it isnt as powerful as on xbox. Fiesta 17:53, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

I can one shot Vertibirds with 89 Energy Weapons. On 360.

i can ONLY one shot vertibirds, even on VERY EASY with MAXED energy weapons i cannot one shot anything but a radroach even a friggen dog lives through it, so i'd think that u need to change the one shot kill statement in the article. 70.245.232.67 00:53, 13 May 2009 (UTC)


 * I'm playing on Very Hard difficulty and it gets very close to killing Power-Armored soldiers in one shot. It's very possible that this weapon is bugged similarly to how the Gauss Rifle was after release. Unless I'm mistaken, most players had no difficulty with the Gauss Rifle, whereas I (and apparently others) often found it firing through targets. Either you're making a fatal error or the weapon is bugged; if it's the latter, you'll just have to wait until the next update. Ppppaaaauuuullll 19:21, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

I looked into this in the G.E.C.K, there is an activator which destroys the Vertibirds when the Tesla Cannon hits them, DLC03TeslaDynamicExplosionTrigger. In my brokensteel.Esm it is not linked to anything, which maybe why it is not 1-hit K.Oing any vertibirds, would appreciate someone whp can 1-hit k.o them looking in their brokensteel.esm and seeing if this activator is actually linked to anything in theirs, maybe able to make a fix.esp if i can find out how it is supposed to work.--Stewb 09:45, 30 May 2009 (UTC)
 * This is a very nice lead, but i'm afraid, you're barking at the wrong wiki. Check some modding community, it will be much more effective. --ThorX 07:37, 2 June 2009 (UTC)

I one shot vertibirds with 20 energy weapons on very hard. So I don't know what you guys are talking about. I think you guys are either horrible at aiming or you're hitting a spot on it that doesn't do damage, but I've taken out every vertibird in one hit without even putting anything into energy weapons. 68.109.181.11 02:00, 3 June 2009 (UTC)

I experienced a mixture of all the above (on PC): There's been Vertibirds that exploded with one hit like the prescription said while others took like ten shots. The parking Vertis sitting between the hangars were the first ones I tested the cannon on, but the scary flying machines wouldn't go away like that. Then, when I reached the force fields that separate the hangar area from the strip, where the BoS fights the Enclave, and the choppers came in, I gave the cannon a second try: One shot, one hit, one fireball lit the sky... On the Bethesda forums I stumbled across someone mentioning it maybe an issue with the script's timing??? --Sopyt 22:09, 3 June 2009 (UTC)

Is my Fallout 3 copy bleesed or what??? I have never experienced any of these, I can kill a vertibird on Very Hard with one shot... I wish I could record it but I have 360 and I dont even know how

(PC) I think it has something to do with the patches or later added DLCs. When I first had my Tesla Cannon I could take down any Vertibird (assuming my aim was right) in one shot. I havent used the Tesla Cannon so extensively since Lookout, and when doing a rerun of the game (inc. all DLCs) I found out my Tesla Cannon suddenly couldnt take out a Vertibird in one shot, at least not one that was landing, grounded, or taking off (any VBird can be killed after dealing enough damage). Those Vbirds that were already in the air and attacking (dropping bomb, firing missiles or lasers) could be taken down with one shot. It's almost as if there was some script for some of the VBirds that was not activated until recently. However, I have to add that my rerun of the entire game was also outside GFWL after I moved the DLC files. Not sure how GFWL could affect this, but I thought it should be noted. --Radnus 81.205.186.16 23:13, October 26, 2009 (UTC)

I play it on PC (GOTY, 1.7) and I can kill vertibirds with one shot. At least when they are flying. Not when they are parked, landing or taking off. A possible explaination for the one-shot-kill against vertibirds could be the shock effect frying the electronics/fusion core of the 'bird. Then it makes sense that you cannot OSK (One-Shot-Kill) it when it's on the ground, because the engine is off, but then it should OSK it when taking off and landing. Very sloppy programming.

Oh, and on normal, I can kill a Hellfire with one shot. But it has to be a headshot (I free-aim by the way). Then the aftershock might JUST kill it.

I7 Grendel 07:57, August 30, 2010 (UTC)

I have it on very hard difficulty with energy weapons 69 (no pun intended) with them at 1/2 condition and i killed a master in 2 shots.

^I can one shot masters on ?normal? difficulty with A3-21's rifle.
 * I don't have access to the G.E.C.K. as I'm a console player, make that clear every time. I'm certain it's been checked by someone with the G.E.C.K., but just in case, the following factors could count in:


 * -Better Criticals
 * -It not being affect by Energy Weapons, but rather, Heavy Weapons
 * -Robotics Expert Perk (Killing Sentry Bots would be much easier here)
 * -Black Widow/Lady Killer (Additional dmg to human NPC's, resulting in possibly killing people faster)
 * -Bloody Mess
 * -Finesse (More likely critical)
 * -Ninja (Sneak attack criticals if you use them are 25% more effective)
 * -Survival Guru/Expert/Junior (Critical Chance)
 * -Ghoul Ecology
 * -Superior Defender


 * Each can affect dmg on first hit, chance to get a crit. which can double your current damage, maybe triple, I don't specifically, I'm not looking at all the stats. Perks would be my best guess, due to the inconsistency of sentry bot deaths.


 * I also believe as a console is like a different type of a computer, but more or less, is, in fact, a computer I'm certain some 360 users can and have found ways to get quality videos aside from an HD TV, HD Video camera and lots of calibrating and lining up of the video camera perfectly. Blaze55555 08:46, January 30, 2011 (UTC)

Tesla vs Gauss
Just want to hear some opinions, since these weapons are somewhat similar (high end, slow, high damage weapon). Haven't used the Tesla alot yet, but so far i seem to like the Gauss one more, because Tesla is somewhat useless in indoors areas because it tends to hit both the enemy and you.
 * I tend to use the Tesla more because I'm a level 25 with over 500 stimpacks (too much money, lol) hotkeyed to right on the d-pad so getting injured isn't a problem for me, but I still keep the Gauss around for sniping because even though they're both accurate, the Gauss has the scope. Oh, I also use the Gauss for taking on tough enemies one-on-one by exploiting its high critical and knockdown effect ;)
 * "Hello Mr. Behemoth, *shoot* Oh no, you tripped! Let me help you up... *shoot* Whoops! Looks like you fell again..."--TheREALBloodscar 00:18, 11 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Well, if you ask me, crits from the Tesla aint that great, but on the other hand, Gauss crits are even worse; instead of properly dealing the desired damage, they deal far less and cause a knock out effect. It is almost as if the knock out takes place before the damage and causes targets to become more resistant to this weapon's damage. --Radnus 81.205.186.16 23:36, 14 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Well, I meant the high critical chance that causes the knockdown, not the damage done by the critical hit. --TheREALBloodscar 03:03, 18 May 2009 (UTC)
 * The thing with the gauss is that it does damage with an explosion, not a bullet, and apparently crits/vats doesn't calculate those properly. If you play the PC version you should definitely grab a gauss fix mod. Personaly i like the tesla for big crowds, i managed to kill off an ambush in the mobile base (sigma squad or something like that) with just two shots (and there were like five of those guys).
 * I tend to like the Gauss better just for the scope, even though the buggy damage gets annoying sometimes. But the one thing the Tesla Cannon excels at is it can bring down a Vertibird in one shot. Useful for the main quests but not so much for random side missions.
 * I have both on buttons. Tesla for Sentry and other bots and turrets, Dart gun-Gauss combo for albinos, Gauss only for overlords; for vertibirds i prefer good old Vengeance, they don't go down in one Tesla shot, no way.--ThorX 07:46, 2 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Tough comparison to me, because - aside from the above mentioned similar characteristics (high end, slow reload, high yield) - they have little in common (maybe I would add that both were named after famous scientists). Generally, I prefer those weapons in very different scenarios: I love my sunday morning outdoor snipin' with the Gauss, combined with the Chinese Stealth Armor you become the "invisible death from somewhere" (plus, I like to add a Ranger Battle Helmet for DR and great, mean looks - check out the visual "glitch" on the back of the battle helmet... lovely!). Also, the knock down effect of the Gauss Rifle allows the "control" of more than one target at a time when you're in proper position. To me, the Gauss Rifle is a real time gun, especially because of its troubled VATS behavior. And whenever someone or something reaches medium to close distance, I'd immediatly switch to a fast-firing weapon like a plasma rifle. While the Tesla Cannon is more like "I hear a chopp-chopp!"-opportunity, pull the puppy out and hope a) you don't miss, b) the "one-shot-one-Vertibird"-script's pulling through. I wouldn't use the Tesla Cannon inside a building or tunnel, cause I don't wanna get hurt by my own gun's discharge. Well, I've been using the Gauss Rifle a lot more than the Tesla Cannon, but on the other hand, the Tesla Cannon hasn't been around that long... --Sopyt 22:48, 3 June 2009 (UTC)
 * I would use the Gauss Rifle for the actual sniping, although I prefer the Reservists Rifle because the Knockdown is annoying on the extreme ranges (you think it's dead, but it's just knocked down). A tesla cannon is great for crowd control and large enemies on medium ranges (full Enclave Sigma Squad down in 2 shots, woo!), especially when you don't have high Big Guns skills and a Fat Man (the only other great Crowd Control weapon is the Missile Launcher, but the projectiles are SO SLOW!). I7 Grendel 08:05, August 30, 2010 (UTC)

testPhilTeslaCannon
Does anyone have the full stats for the 'Beta Tesla Cannon', it could do with a bit of fleshing out in it's info box, as it is actually a weapon in the game, and unlike the other cut content it can be gotten on the xbox360 (not that I've got it yet), lol. Vetis 16:56, 19 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Well it can be get but by exploiting over borders, so its pretty much normal Cut Content.--D4rkSh4d0w 10:45, 23 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Yeah, but it could still do with it's details adding in, my comment just ment "it's easyer to get than the others, it exists so it does have details, please someone get it filled in, I'm too lazy to jump over, but I want to know the details!"! lol. Vetis 16:10, 23 May 2009 (UTC)

"Electron Charge Packs" and bizarre inconsistency...
Okay, here's what's bugging me. If you watch the reload animation, you can see the character remove a circular object from the back of the gun after each shot and replace it with another one. Since you can see the character exchange a very similar object on the Gatling Laser when that weapon is reloaded, I'm assuming this circular object is actually an Electron Charge Pack, right? So why is it that when you plug it into a Gatling Laser, it holds 240 charges, but when you plug the exact same device into a Tesla Cannon, it only holds one charge? It is clearly NOT a case of the Tesla Cannon using more energy per shot (even though that would make sense), because it depletes only one "charge" from the player's ammo supply when fired. In other words, if you have 480 ECP charges according to your "Ammo" screen on your Pip-Boy, you can fire 480 rounds from a Gatling Laser or 480 shots from a Tesla Cannon before you run out of ammo. The difference is that you will only have to physically remove and replace the Electron Charge Pack on the Gatling Laser TWICE to burn through those 480 charges.... but to fire the same number of shots from the Tesla Cannon, you will have to physically remove and replace the exact same Electron Charge Pack FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHTY TIMES. I realize this is a problem with all energy weapon ammunition... for example, when you place a Microfusion Cell into a Laser Rifle, it supplies 24 shots, but the exact same Microfusion Cell (at least it looks identical in the reload animation) only provides 12 shots in a Plasma Rifle. Again, this would make perfect sense if a Plasma Rifle used more energy per shot, but it doesn't! Each weapon uses one charge per shot... it's just that the storage capacity of the cell magically changes depending on which weapon you load it into. Still, even though it's annoying with other energy weapons, it's utterly ridiculous with the Tesla Cannon. I realize they made it that way so that you couldn't fire it very fast and unbalance the game, but still.... they could have simply given the weapon a "warm-up time" or something. Am I just too detail-oriented, or does this aggravate anyone else?? 12.204.48.130 10:11, 27 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Gatling Laser has a magazine that holds 240 ECPs and uses 1 per shot or for more precision, you get 240 shots out of 240 ECPs before you need to reload. Tesla Cannon uses 1 per shot. --ThorX 10:21, 30 May 2009 (UTC)


 * I think that the gatling laser might use the huge pack on your back to store 240 and the one in the gun just powers some other part of the gun but I'm not a gatling laser person so I wouldn't know. --Unsigned


 * OMG HUGE FUCKING WALL OF TEXT!!!!! But I know what you mean. But honestly, you didn't think of this whole thing when you compare the MF Cell on the Gauss rifle with the Plasma Rifle? Or even between the Laser and Plasma Rifles? Nothing new, It doesn't make sense but it doesn't mean you need to freak out about it. Oh yeah, HOW DID YOU NOT NOTICE IT BEFORE?!? You confuse me. You don't notice something thats been in the game since it came out then when you notice, you freak out and create a giant wall of text that keeps restating the same thing over and over when you could get the message across with only two lines of text. I mean look at yourself. You said the same thing over and over like ten times in your entire speech. I mean seriously, that thing is probably longer than Obama's commencement speech. Can it get any longer. Also if you are still reading this and think I'm a hipocrit (spelling is off, I know) because I'm saying the same thing over and over, then obviously you don't understand that I'm making a point and a joke at the same time by making a long wall of text about someone else making a wall of text. Laugh Out Loud. Yeah, I just wrote it out - what are you gonna do about it? --TheREALBloodscar 10:13, 1 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Lick. Your. Eyes. Fat Man Spoon 15:15, 1 June 2009 (UTC)
 * What does that mean? --TheREALBloodscar 16:47, 3 June 2009 (UTC)
 * You said "what are you gonna do about it?", so as a joke, I wrote Lick your eyes, implieing that I would lick your eyes. Fat Man Spoon 16:50, 3 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Fat Man Spoon never ceases to entertain... LOLZ--Master1337cheeZ 17:10, 3 June 2009 (UTC)
 * his user profile does clearly state that he is 'undeniably batshit insane'Katikar 13:24, January 23, 2010 (UTC)

Is it possible to receive the Tesla cannons from...
the Brotherhood Of Steel Soldiers that are fighting the Enclave in front of the Adams Airforce Base? I Have a save right before I get to the part where you go into the hangar with the Enclave Scientist holding the key for the Flamer Stash and if I go into that hangar and look our through the windows at the fight between the Enclave and BoS, sometimes the BoS spawn a Tesla cannon. I have tried shooting them but the tesla cannon keeps disappearing. Does anyone know if I can shoot it out of their hands then quickly go pick it up? My game also keeps freezing here periodically for some reason so its getting harder to keep trying it for me.

Thanks.

Good question. Any answers? Swivelgames 23:57, September 16, 2009 (UTC)

One Shot
I don't know about you guys, but anytime ive ever shot the tesla cannon at a vertibird, it only takes one shot to destroy it, on the ground or in the air. I used it to destroy many grounded and flying vertibirds in the quest Who Dares Wins and they all only took one hit.

70.67.27.132 04:33, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Same,although i've never done it with Vertibirds in the CW. HOLD! RELEASETIME! 17:07, September 13, 2009 (UTC)

What platform? 360, or PC? Swivelgames 08:08, September 16, 2009 (UTC)

360. HOLD! RELEASETIME! 17:13, September 16, 2009 (UTC)

Thats what I figured. It's not the same for PC. It takes a couple hits to take them down on the PC, from what I'm experiencing. Swivelgames 23:53, September 16, 2009 (UTC)

Why is there no Tesla Cannon picture in the Tesla Cannon article?

FBoS2 Striking resemblence...
I'd taken a look at the leaked PDF file of FBoS2 and when I found the section of uberweapons or something I that every character had at least one picture that would represent the uber weapon. The picture underneath Maxus: Tesla Cannon hardly looks like the on from Broken Steel. Unless you have a better picture I suggest you remove that notion. --Radnus 81.205.186.16 23:30, October 26, 2009 (UTC)

Big Guns
Im really pissed off this isn't a heavy weapon. Big guns are largely underpowered while energy weapons are the strongest in the game. it would have really helped to have this weapon, lots of damage with very low ammo requirements. ffs 70.50.134.91 08:50, February 25, 2010 (UTC)

Favourite
This is my favourite weapon! Tezzla Cannon 15:18, April 18, 2010 (UTC)

Early
Is it possible to get the Tesla Cannon before "Who Dares Wins"? Deidara93 23:56, September 3, 2010 (UTC)

Crazy Wolfgang.
Should it be mentioned how beneficial investing in Crazy Wolfgang's caravan to the maximum limit, thus allowing him to repair to 90 % condition on any weapon, when it is considered how hard it is to acquire multiple copies of the weapon and how useful the weapon is at higher condition within the article?

I'm not trying to sound mean but its probably already on crazy wolfgang's page that he has high repair skill if you invest, and common sense that a high condition weapon is better than a low condition weapon, most pages are limited to valid references, information on the weapon specifically, and sometimes video's about the weapons performance.Toolazytomakeaaccount 01:16, October 18, 2010 (UTC)