This article gives a detailed overview of the unique weapon, and explains how you can acquire it. Be warned that this article contains spoilers, though!Basic information
The Hyper-Cannon is an advanced prototype Gauss Rifle, designed before the Great War to replace cumbersome missile launchers and their volatile ammunition.
- The weapon is technically separate from the regular Gauss Rifle, and while it shares most of it's modifications with the common variant, the unique projectile acceleration system requires all mods to be custom-made. As such, weapon mods are not interchangeable.
- For the same reason, weapon mods have higher perk and component requirements.
- The weapon does not have a muzzle slot, and cannot be fitted with a suppressor or a muzzle brake.
- The weapon mod's effects may be slightly different than for regular Gauss Rifle. In addition, Capacitor Boosting Coil is replaced with Heavy-Duty Capacitors.
- The Hyper-Cannon deals less direct damage, but the exploding projectile deals heavy splash damage (default explosion radius is a little bit smaller than that of a frag grenade). Treat it like a high-tech rocket launcher and you'll (probably) be fine - just make sure you don't blast yourself with it!
- The weapon requires special ammunition (Hyper-Cannon Slugs) that can be crafted at a Chemistry Workbench (under Utility) once you've picked the weapon up.
- Hyper-Cannon benefits from Rifleman, Demolitions Expert and Bloody Mess (plus other damage bonuses). In terms of damage output, it's only slightly behind a missile launcher.
- The weapon has an additional advantage over the Missile Launcher in Survival, in form of far lighter ammo.
How to obtain it
1. (Optional) Find the Prototype Pod Key's location in Decrepit Factory
Decrepit Factory is located close to Crater of Atom in the Glowing Sea (check the screenshots if you have trouble finding it). Once you're inside, find a locked wall safe and pick the lock to obtain a keycard. Go down the stairs and use the keycard reader to open the doors to the factory floor. After that you'll have to make your way through the automated security. You'll eventually come across an another keycard-locked door; use the same keycard to access the R&D department.
Find a large, tall room with a circular hatch in the floor. There is a console nearby with an accessible terminal; read the last entry to get a miscellaneous objective pointing you to the key. You can take a shortcut back to the surface by going through the hole in the wall in the same room.
2. Retrieve the key from Decayed Reactor Site
At this point, you'll want to make sure you are both well armed and as rad resistant as possible. The Decayed Reactor Site can offer a significant challenge, particularly on Survival difficulty.
A few tips:
- The start of the location is not irradiated, and there is a mattress in one of the side rooms that Survival players can use to save their game.
- A radiation suit is more than enough to deal with the rads, and one can be found in a Master-locked room at the start of the dungeon. However, it does not offer much protection from the ghouls, so a full set of power armor (optionally with lead lining) might be your best bet.
- The background radiation is not too dangerous by itself, but it gets more intense as you get closer to the reactor chamber. In addition, there are more than a few hotspots around - keep an eye on your rad counter and for patches of mist to avoid them.
- There are a lot of ghouls around, including several glowing ones. They will mostly attack in waves, so you'll want to be able to deal with them before they can overrun you. Eliminate the glowing ones first to avoid having to kill the same ghouls more than once.
- There are some medical supplies scattered around that will help you deal with the radiation. They are sometimes located behind a locked door, though.
Use whatever means at your disposal to fight your way through the damaged nuclear plant. In the reactor chamber you'll face one last feral onslaught, but soon you will also notice that the quest marker has started to move! Once you've made it stop, grab the key and go through the hole in the wall to leave the carnage (and rads) behind.
3. Unlock the prototype pod
Return to Decrepit Factory and make your way to the R&D department (if you already unlocked the shortcut, you can use it). Put the key in the slot in the same console as the terminal, and enjoy the needlessly flashy entrance. Walk to the pod, open the inner container and grab the weapon!
The security system will have one last surprise in store for you, though - there is a maglock door on the other end of the room, and after a few seconds it will open, revealing a sentry bot. You can either turn it into scrap or run; I don't blame you if you decide you've had enough of big, mean robots!
Ammunition
The Hyper-Cannon uses special slugs as ammunition. The recipe is unlocked for the Chemistry Workbench when you pick the weapon up, and can be found under Utility.Requirements (each batch yields six rounds):
- Science! rank 2
- 6 2mm Electromagnetic Cartridges
- 4 copper
- 4 adhesive
- 6 nuclear material
- 6 crystal
- 12 fusion cells
Due to their high crafting cost, you'll likely want to save the ammo for special situations. Use it to take out Vertibirds and their crews, groups of sturdy enemies, beefy mutated creatures and anything else that you'll want to deal with before it can fight back!
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