Two changes to how fire leaves your ship. The first affects the heavies, the second the fighter, and you will notice both in your first fight.
One slot, one clock
Every weapon slot reloads its own and fires the moment it is ready. It does not wait for its neighbours, it does not sync with them, and there is no shared beat underneath.
Here is the consequence that matters: if a slot comes into range later than the others — because you turned the hull and that flank took a while to bear — it stays out of step with them, and it stays that way. A cruiser’s fire spreads out over time instead of leaving all at once.
It is a change of character. A frigate or a cruiser now sounds like a battery at work rather than a single volley every few seconds. In exchange, presenting a fresh flank gives you fire immediately: those loaded slots shoot the moment they bear, without waiting their turn.
The Guardian Nexus broadside is unchanged. It still opens with all six tubes together and trickles afterwards: that mechanic is its own and does not run through this.
The fighter’s cannon, at its real rate
This is the one you will feel most if you fly a fighter.
Every level of the cannon now translates into rate of fire. Upgrading the laser shortens the reload and the fighter shoots more often, from the first level to the last — before, the rhythm was the same no matter how far you took it.
| Cannon level | Shots per second |
|---|---|
| 0 | 4.3 |
| 5 | 5.1 |
| 10 | 6.0 |
And the tracer you see is the shot that leaves: what appears on screen and what reaches the target are the same round.
A new weapon counts straight away
Equip or upgrade a weapon and its numbers apply on the spot. No need to jump sectors or return to the station for the change to count: buy the upgrade at the Forge, undock, and the new rhythm is already there.
