Wing Commander Privateer Gun Stats

Overview

There are various conflicting reports on the internet about the gun statistics from Wing Commander: Privateer. I was curious about it and did a bit of digging, and the best source that I found for how the guns actually behave in-game was the data at K's Cluttered Loft, which incidentally also includes information about how to read the values directly from the Privateer / Righteous Fire data files (which I've since verified on my own copies).

It's worth noting that the gun values from the Privateer manual itself are wrong. This could certainly be a case where the values were correct in the manual originally but were tweaked in later versions or something.

The values on the gun chart at wcnews.com happen to be very much wrong, for the most part. I hadn't checked to see if they were the same as the (also incorrect) manual values, but it could also be another case of gun values getting tweaked in different versions of the game. My Privateer copy matches the data given at K's Cluttered Loft, though.

The Quick Answer

If you're just looking for a quick answer to the question, "What's the best gun in Privateer / Righteous Fire?" then here you go: the Tachyon Cannon is by far (IMO) the best gun you can buy in the original Privateer. It offers the most damage per second, relatively high shot speed, and a very reasonable energy cost. It's also quite affordable when compared to the laughably terrible Ionic Pulse Cannon and extremely overpriced Plasma Gun.

In Righteous Fire, the Plasma Gun gets a significant boost which almost makes it worthwhile. Personally the slower speed and increased energy usage (compared to the Tachyons) keeps me from using it, though. If you ignore cost considerations, the Fusion Cannon is a better gun than the Tachyons, delivering higher damage per second without requiring much extra energy. The gains are pretty incremental, though, so you'll have to judge for yourself whether or not the 0.7cm/sec advantage is worth the 80,000Cr price differential. Personally I find a Centurion with four Fusion Cannons to be delightfully nasty, so I'd recommend upgrading as you get the funds.

If you like to pick your shots carefully, of course, the per-shot damage may be more important to you than the Damage-per-second column.

The Data

Base Game

	Speed (m/s)	Damage (cm)	Energy (GJ)	Refire Delay (sec)	Price (Cr)	Damage/sec	Energy/sec
Laser	1400	2.0	4	0.30	1,000	6.67	13.33
Mass Driver	1100	2.6	5	0.35	1,500	7.43	14.29
Meson Blaster	1300	3.2	8	0.40	2,500	8.00	20.00
Neutron Gun	960	6.2	16	0.65	5,000	9.54	24.62
Particle Cannon	1000	4.3	11	0.50	10,000	8.60	22.00
Tachyon Cannon	1250	5.0	8	0.40	20,000	12.50	20.00
Ionic Pulse Cannon	1200	5.4	15	0.60	40,000	9.00	25.00
Plasma Gun	940	7.2	19	0.72	80,000	10.00	26.39
Steltek Gun	1175	10.0	19	0.45	0	22.22	42.22
Steltek Gun Mk2	1250	19.0	17	0.37	0	51.35	45.95

Righteous Fire
(Steltek Gun stats given only for reference; the player can't have those without hacking the game data files)

	Speed (m/s)	Damage (cm)	Energy (GJ)	Refire Delay (sec)	Price (Cr)	Damage/sec	Energy/sec
Laser	1400	2.0	4	0.30	1,000	6.67	13.33
Mass Driver	1100	2.6	5	0.35	1,500	7.43	14.29
Meson Blaster	1300	3.2	8	0.40	2,500	8.00	20.00
Neutron Gun	960	6.2	16	0.65	5,000	9.54	24.62
Particle Cannon	1000	4.3	11	0.50	10,000	8.60	22.00
Tachyon Cannon	1250	5.0	8	0.40	20,000	12.50	20.00
Ionic Pulse Cannon	1200	5.4	15	0.60	40,000	9.00	25.00
Plasma Gun	940	8.5	17	0.65	80,000	13.08	26.15
Fusion Cannon	1350	6.6	11	0.50	100,000	13.20	22.00
Steltek Gun	1175	6.0	19	0.45	0	13.33	42.22
Steltek Gun Mk2	1250	1.0	17	0.37	0	2.70	45.95

Changelog