Tesla Cannon (Fallout 3)

The Tesla Cannon is a weapon that fires extremely powerful blasts of electricity, capable of knocking Vertibirds out of the sky with one shot. It is powered by Electron Charge Packs.

The quest line of Broken Steel includes having to find a Tesla Coil for this weapon in order to help the Brotherhood of Steel build it.

Locations

 * The Tesla Cannon can first be acquired upon arrival at Adams Air Force Base. There will be a resupply crate directly to your left near the wall upon exiting the Presidential Metro.


 * Two more Tesla Cannons can be found in the Citadel Lab after finishing the quest Who Dares Wins, on a table in front of Liberty Prime's docking bay.


 * Upon returning to Adams Air Force Base after Who Dares Wins, you can acquire eight more Tesla Cannons, three in perfect condition and the other three in poor condition (about 15 percent). One of each condition is in a resupply crate between the first and second hanger on the way toward the Mobile Base Crawler by the base of an Enclave barricade.  Another two are in a resupply crate by the stairs leading to the covered catwalk between the second and third hangar on the way to the Mobile Base Crawler.  The final two are at the base of an Enclave barricade, between the Mobile Base Crawler and the Air Control Tower.  There are 2 more before you reach the hangers.  Traveling from the entrance of the Base towards the hangers, with the inaccessible gates to your left, the truck turned sideways in your path has a resupply crate in the back with another good and poor condition weapon.


 * If you fast travel to the Air Control Tower and turn around, you'll see two or three large yellow crates with two Brotherhood of Steel initiates. Just next to the ramp leading to them is a resupply crate. It contains two more Tesla Cannons; one in perfect condition and the other one in poor condition.


 * If you fast travel to the entrance of Adams Air Force Base and follow the road until you find an open topped military truck. In the back of the truck there is a resupply crate containing 2 Tesla cannons and electron charge packs. One Tesla cannon in perfect conditions and one in poor condition.


 * In total there are 12 Tesla Cannons to be found in varying condition, not including the Beta Tesla Cannon.


 * There is an odd unique Tesla Cannon (see Beta Tesla Cannon) outside of the map during the Death From Above quest.

Appearances
The Tesla Cannon was added to Fallout 3 with the release of the Broken Steel downloadable content pack in May 2009.

The Tesla Cannon was also to be featured in the canceled Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2, bearing a striking resemblance to the weapon in Broken Steel. Described as a "high-powered mass-cannon throwing tessellated plasma forward in an orgy of death and destruction" in the FO:BOS2 design document, it was to be the so-called "uber-weapon" of player character Maxus. "Uber-weapons" were to be unique weapons for each PC which had to be assembled from 5 parts over the course of the game. One of the five parts for this weapon was a Tesla Coil.

Bugs

 * If you kill an enemy with the splash damage effect alone, you may not earn XP for the kill, but you can use this to your advantage. If a good character is killed by the shock damage after effects it will result in no karma loss or hostility from nearby NPC's. (Xbox 360)


 * Star Paladin Cross may sometimes automatically equip the Tesla Cannon, even if the player does not set it into her inventory and if the player does not have it in theirs. (Xbox 360)


 * In the PC version of the game, people may notice that the Tesla Cannon doesn't do as much damage as it's supposed to, according to the descriptions (i.e. not knocking down a vertibird in one, but 5-7 shots instead).