Photon cannon

Photon cannon
Structure
Faction	Scrin Reaper-17 Traveler-59
Role	Anti-armour base defense
Armament	Plasma discs Tiberium shards (upgrade)
Tier	1
Properties
Hit points	4000
Armor type	Medium (75% Cannon, 50% Rocket, 100% Grenade, 25% Gun, 1% Sniper)
Production
Cost	$1200
Build time	0:12
Produced by	Drone platform
Requires	Portal
Combat
Ground attack	700 (2100 when upgrade) (Cannon) with 50% scalar against infantry, 200% scalar against civilian buildings
Cooldown	3.9 seconds (3.4 seconds when upgrade)
Attack range	350
Function
Upgrades	Shard launchers
Power	-8
Abilities	Detects stealth
Notes
Splash radius: 5 50% vs infantry, 200% vs civilian buildings

The photon cannon is a Scrin heavy anti-armour base defense, rivalling GDI Guardian cannons and Nod laser turrets. Despite their name, they appear to use plasma discs as a main weapon. They can be upgraded with Tiberium shard launchers, increasing their damage per second output by nearly 140%.

They cannot target aircraft, relying on Plasma Missile Batteries for that purpose. They are often paired with Buzzer Hives as well, to cover their weakness to infantry.

Upgrades

Shard launcher

While the plasma disks on a Photon Cannon are fairly lethal to vehicles, upgrading them to fast-moving Shard Launchers provides a potent increase in damage (Ctrl+S).

Purchasable at any Technology Assembler for $2500 and taakes 1:15 to research.