Thunder

"One of the most effective weapons at close range. What it lacks in accuracy it more than makes up in firepower."

Thunder (Heavy Gun)
The Thunder is essentially a massive shotgun and is best used in close range combat. Despite a maximum range of 500m, an optimum range would be about 200m or less, due to the spread of the bullets. Below 200m an Thunder can quickly eliminate or at the least maim a heavy robot. The Thunder is especially effective against heavy robots due to their large hit area, which allows more of the shell fragments to hit.

Even at low levels, the Thunder is a force to be reckoned with, but when upgraded to higher levels it can do appreciable damage from even 300m. With a fire rate of 1 RPS and the ability to reload while firing, it can do very heavy damage in a brief amount of time.

However, because the robot must get close to an enemy to do significant damage, it will be vulnerable to enemy fire at longer distances. Therefore, it is vital to take advantage of cover as much as possible to minimise damage while getting into a good engagement range.

Because the Thunder is a close-range gun, it is most commonly seen on fast moving medium robots since they can quickly close range. Commonly seen setups are the Thunder Schutze, Thunder/Orkan Boa and Pinata/Thunder Vityaz. However Carnage and Lancelot possibly are the best bots for Thunder, due to their power and rush abilities.

It is not uncommon to see Thunders equipped on heavy robots like the Leo or Natasha for use as heavily armored shotgun platforms which have the staying power to hold off multiple enemy robots. Even though heavier robots generally have more HP and power, they also tend to have much lower movement speeds. This makes closing distances to actually do damage a problem, although this is somewhat negated (in the case of the Leo) by their very high HP.

Trivia

 * This weapon can fire while reloading, similar to the Orkan, Gekko, Pinata, Pin and Tulumbas.
 * The name Thunder may refer to the booming noise it makes when fired.

Update History
0.6.1

Accuracy increased by 15%.

0.6.3

Price changed: Au (Gold) -> Ag (Silver).

Max distance at which damage is most effective: 300m -> 200m.

0.9.0

Damage increased by 11.5%.

0.9.1

Accuracy decreased by 29%.

1.3

Sound when shooting and reloading added/changed.

2.5

Name shortened.

3.1

Damage reduced -5% and double armour damage mechanics added. Now it does twice the damage to physical shields.