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| “ | A peculiar but devastating weapon. The slow rate of fire is made up for by heavy damage, delivered with glee by the belt-fed .50-caliber tungsten rounds. The Thunderhead is a somber weapon for the sophisticated executioner, delivering death as inexorably as the passage of time itself. |
| — Item Description |
About
The "Thunderhead" Heavy Autocannon is an unlockable primary weapon for the Gunner. It is an oversized light machine gun with two massive barrels extending outwards which fire in sequence. The weapon is loaded by a huge ammo box.
The Autocannon fires explosive rounds which detonate upon hitting the world or a target. Enemies hit directly by rounds take both the damage of the bullet and the explosive damage at once. Couple this with an immense magazine size of 110 rounds, and the Autocannon makes for an excellent area control weapon. It starts out with a sluggish fire rate, but this can build up over time the longer the trigger is held. For reasons unknown, the weapon is incapable of dealing friendly fire damage to teammates.
The Autocannon has several advantages over the Powered Minigun; its most obvious being a lack of overheating. While it is constrained by a magazine size limit, the Autocannon can keep firing for a much longer period than the Minigun can, providing a constant stream of damage to control enemies. Its explosive rounds are much better at destroying armor (especially with upgrades) and it is easier to manage ammo consumption with its lower firing rate. With respect to ammunition, the Thunderhead is highly efficient, and it can be improved further with mods to become one of the most ammo efficient weapons in the game, easily withstanding several protracted combat sessions before beginning to run low.
However, the Autocannon is not without flaws. It has the longest reloading duration of any gun which can reload in the game, lasting an agonizing five seconds, which can cripple a team's presence when the Gunner runs out of ammo. It also has poor accuracy which doesn't improve over time while firing. It also suffers in damage-per-second (DPS) output compared to the Minigun, which can shred through bulky enemies such as Glyphid Praetorians with ease while the Autocannon has to slowly whittle them down.
It is possible to shave some time off of the Autocannon's laborious reload by interrupting its reload animation. By quickly tapping the melee key once the ammo drum has been slotted into the weapon, a player can shorten the reload by a little over a second.
Considering the Autocannon's flaws, it is a much more defensive weapon than the Minigun, and players must adapt their strategies to compensate. Those who use the Autocannon effectively, however, will find that its excellent staying power and area control abilities make it more than a capable weapon in the right hands.
 Unlocked through an assignment.
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Requires Gunner  10
Purchased for:
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Modifications
There are five tiers of modifications and each tier has two to three upgrades. Only one modification can be equipped per tier.
| "Thunderhead" Heavy Autocannon Modifications | ||||||||||||
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| Mod | Effect | Description | Price | |||||||||
| Tier 1 |  Increased Caliber Rounds |
+3 Damage | The good folk in R&D have been busy. The overall damage of your weapon is increased. |
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 High Capacity Magazine |
x2 Magazine Size | The good thing about clips, magazines, ammo drums, fuel tanks ...you can always get bigger variants. |
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 Expanded Ammo Bags |
+220 Max Ammo | You had to give up some sandwich-storage, but your total ammo capacity is increased! |
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| Tier 2 4
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 Tighter Barrel Alignment |
x0.7 Base Spread | Improved accuracy |
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 Improved Gas System |
+2 Top Rate of Fire | We overclocked your gun. It fires faster. Don't ask. Just enjoy. Also probably don't tell Management, please. |
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Lighter Barrel Assembly |
+50% Rate of Fire Growth Speed | Reach the max rate of fire faster |
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| Tier 3 8
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Supercharged Feed Mechanism |
+2 Top Rate of Fire | We overclocked your gun. It fires faster. Don't ask. Just enjoy. Also probably don't tell Management, please. |
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 Loaded Rounds |
+2 Area Damage | Increased splash damage |
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High Velocity Rounds |
+4 Damage | The good folk in R&D have been busy. The overall damage of your weapon is increased. |
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| Tier 4 12
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 Hardened Rounds |
+400% Armor Break Bonus | We're proud of this one. Armor shredding. Tear through that high-impact plating of those big buggers like butter. What could be finer? |
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 Shrapnel Rounds |
+0.6m Effect Radius | Greater splash damage radius |
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| Tier 5 16
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Feedback Loop |
+10% Damage at Top Rate of Fire | Increased damage when at max rate of fire |
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 Suppressive Fire |
+Impact Fear AoE | Chance to scare creatures next to a bullet impact |
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 Damage Resistance At Full RoF |
+30% Damage Resistance at Full Rate of Fire | Take significantly less damage when at max rate of fire. |
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Overclocks
Overclock calculations happen after modifiers.
 "Thunderhead" Heavy Autocannon [Expand/Collapse]
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| Overclock | Effect | In Game Description | Price | ||||||||
Composite Drums
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"Lighter weight materials means you can carry even more ammo!" |
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Splintering Shells
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"Specially designed shells splinter into smaller pieces increasing the splash damage range." |
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Carpet Bomber
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"A few tweaks here and there and the autocannon can now shoot HE rounds! Direct damage is lower but the increased splash damage and range lets you saturate an area like no other weapon can." |
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Combat Mobility
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 +0.9 Starting Rate of Fire
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"Fancy custom ammo drums improve weapon balance making it more accurate and easier to handle on the move while the improved feed motor increases the speed with which the max fire rate is reached. All this however comes at the cost of magazine capacity." |
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Big Bertha
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"Extensive tweaks give a huge bump in raw damage at the cost of ammo capacity and fire rate." |
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Neurotoxin Payload
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"Channel your inner war criminal by mixing some neurotoxin into the explosive compound. The rounds deal less direct damage and splash damage, but affected bugs move slower and take lots of damage over time." |
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Stats Breakdown
Understanding the Weapon
- Damage is how much damage is dealt upon direct impact of the shot.
- Area Damage is how much damage is dealt in addition to the direct damage within the damage radius around the impact.
- Top Rate of Fire is the max rate of how quickly shots can be fired after sustained firing.
Rate of Fire Mechanics
- The Autocannon has two hidden stats regarding rate of fire, which is its Starting Rate of Fire and Rate of Fire Scaling. They play an important role in determining how quickly max rate of fire bonuses are applied, and can be changed depending on which modifications/overclocks are taken.
- Starting Rate of Fire default is 3.4
- This determines how quickly shots are initially fired as its rate of fire starts to ramp up.
- Rate of Fire Scaling default is 0.4
- This is the coefficient of the exponential function that is used during the rate of fire rampup. The Autocannon's initial rate of fire continues to be scaled until the top rate of fire has been reached, which would then allow max rate of fire bonuses to be applied.
- Modifications/Overclocks that affect Rate of Fire:
- Improved Gas System
- +0.3 Starting Rate of Fire
- +2 Top Rate of Fire
- Lighter Barrel Assembly
- +0.6 Starting Rate of Fire
- x1.5 Rate of Fire Scaling
- Supercharged Feed Mechanism
- +0.3 Starting Rate of Fire
- +2.0 Top Rate of Fire
- Big Bertha
- -1.5 Top Rate of Fire
- Combat Mobility
- x1.5 Rate of Fire Scaling
- +0.9 Starting Rate of Fire
- Improved Gas System
- Rate of Fire Formula
- Let S be the Starting Rate of Fire
- Let C be the Rate of Fire Scaling
- Let M be the Max Rate of Fire
- Let t represent the amount of seconds that has elapsed since the Fire button has been held down.
- The Rate of Fire at any given time, t, can be represented as such:
- \[R(t) = \min(S*e^{Ct}, M)\]
- Such that when enough time has elapsed and \[S * e ^{Ct} \ge M\], time is no longer a factor in the Rate of Fire. At this point, the "Max Rate of Fire" Bonuses should kick in.
Rate of Fire Graph
| Modifications | Starting Rate of Fire | Rate of Fire Scaling | Max Rate of Fire | Time to reach Max Rate of Fire |
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| Base | 3.4 | 0.4 | 5.5 | 1.2s |
| Improved Gas System | 3.7 | 0.4 | 7.5 | 1.76s |
| Lighter Barrel Assembly | 4 | 0.6 | 5.5 | 0.53s |
| Supercharged Feed Mechanism | 3.7 | 0.4 | 7.5 | 1.76s |
| IGS + SFM | 4 | 0.4 | 9.5 | 2.16s |
| LBA + SFM | 4.3 | 0.6 | 7.5 | 0.92s |
Rate of Fire Graph (with Big Bertha)
| Modifications | Starting Rate of Fire | Rate of Fire Scaling | Max Rate of Fire | Time to reach Max Rate of Fire |
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| Base | 3.4 | 0.4 | 4 | 0.4s |
| Improved Gas System | 3.7 | 0.4 | 6 | 1.2s |
| Lighter Barrel Assembly | 4 | 0.6 | 4 | 0s |
| Supercharged Feed Mechanism | 3.7 | 0.4 | 6 | 1.2s |
| IGS + SFM | 4 | 0.4 | 8 | 1.73s |
| LBA + SFM | 4.3 | 0.6 | 6 | 0.55s |
Rate of Fire Graph (with Combat Mobility)
| Modifications | Starting Rate of Fire | Rate of Fire Scaling | Max Rate of Fire | Time to reach Max Rate of Fire |
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| Base | 4.3 | 0.6 | 5.5 | 0.41s |
| Improved Gas System | 4.6 | 0.6 | 7.5 | 0.81s |
| Lighter Barrel Assembly | 4.9 | 0.9 | 5.5 | 0.12s |
| Supercharged Feed Mechanism | 4.6 | 0.6 | 7.5 | 0.81s |
| IGS + SFM | 4.9 | 0.6 | 9.5 | 1.10s |
| LBA + SFM | 5.2 | 0.9 | 7.5 | 0.4s |
Unique Modifications
Suppressive Fire
Suppressive Fire inflicts 50% Fear to all enemies within a 1m radius of where bullets impact either enemies or terrain. Most of the small-to-medium creatures will have Fear inflicted on them by this upgrade. It is important to note that the radius of Suppressive Fire does NOT increase with any mods or Overclocks that affect the Damage Radius.
Unique Overclocks
Neurotoxin Payload
Neurotoxin Payload is an Unstable Overclock. It grants all shots a 50% chance to inflict Neurotoxin onto an enemy. When an enemy is affected by Neurotoxin, they will take 12 Poison damage every 0.75 - 1.25 seconds for 10 seconds, as well as having their movement speed reduced by x0.7. Hitting an enemy who is already affected by Neurotoxin with another round which inflicts the debuff will reset its timer.
Mastery
Each modification that is purchased advances a mastery bar by one unit.
Mastery unlocks:
- Three modifications – First Stripe Weapon Paintjob
- Seven modifications – Deepcore Weapon Paintjob
- All (14) modifications – The Company Special Weapon Paintjob
Skins
Full gallery of skins can be seen at Weapon Skins.
Gallery
Trivia
- Mission Control's dialogue upon completing the Weapon License Assignment for the Autocannon reads as follows:
- "Good work. Management believes you're ready to handle our Heavy Autocannon, the "Thunderhead"... Be mindful not to blow off your own legs with it. This thing has a proper kick to it."
- In older versions of the game the Powered Minigun also fed from a large ammo drum which needed to be reloaded, on top of its overheating issues. This was changed in Update 11: Dead and Gun to the current system where the Minigun feeds from a single drum and does not reload. It is likely that the Minigun's older reloading system influenced the Autocannon's design when it was added to the game a few months later in Update 19: Guns! Lots of Guns!
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