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 the 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 six 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.


 * 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 initates. 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.


 * There is an odd unique Tesla Cannon (see notes below) outside of the map during the Death From Above quest. To obtain it, move across the ledge where Liberty Prime punches a hole in the wall, until there are rocks keeping you from going any further. Stack objects (Mini-guns, Tesla Cannons, Heavy Incinerators, Flamers, 5mm rounds) so it is possible to climb the rocks. Once you escape the barriers, move around the left edge of the cliffs. It may be hard to find, but eventually you will run into a table with a floating missile launcher (the new Tesla Cannon), and 3 ammo boxes full of missiles.

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 exp 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)
 * Sometimes during use in the Adams Air Force Base, V.A.T.S. may not center the target in the middle of screen due to the fact that either your head or one of your arms was crippled. (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)

Videos
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Beta Tesla Cannon - cut content
A cut version of the Tesla Cannon, presumably an early beta version, can be obtained via glitch or console commands. This version uses the Missile Launcher model and missiles as ammo, can be repaired with Missile Launchers and does slightly less damage than the real Tesla Cannon. In addition, it costs more AP to use in V.A.T.S.

Location
One copy of this weapon can be found outside the map boundaries at Satellite Relay Station, making it obtainable by glitching for Xbox 360 players (and PC players should they prefer not to use the console). Go where Liberty Prime smashed a hole in the wall and find the rocks to the left. After jumping up on the first ledge in the rocks, choose the path you are going to take up and press forward on the left stick while looking in that direction and pause and save. Now reload, while its reloading start pushing forward on the left stick and pressing Y until you jumped up (you may need to reload and try again) repeat this until your at the top with no more invisible walls blocking. Now you can jump over the rocks at the top and if you follow the left side you will come across a table with 3 ammo boxes underneath. On the table is the Beta Tesla Cannon.

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