Heavy Torpedo

Lore & Background

In the chaotic aftermath of the Anomaly, weapon design across the galaxy's warring factions tends toward the practical: enough damage to end a fight, enough speed to actually hit. The Heavy Torpedo represents the other end of that spectrum. Engineers who built it prioritized payload over velocity, packing a warhead dense enough to penetrate reinforced hull plating and cascade into the system arrays beneath. The result is a projectile that drifts through space with a deliberate, almost ceremonial slowness, giving the target a full second to think about whether they want to dodge.

The Mantises, with their insectoid crews and brutal close-range doctrine, adopted the Heavy Torpedo as a staple of their boarding-adjacent tactics. A Mantis gunner lining up a Heavy Torpedo on a fleeing frigate is a sight that has ended more chases than any faster, lighter round. The Rebel resistance, meanwhile, sees it as a democratic equalizer: a single well-aimed shot can level the playing field against a superior Lanius or Aeon vessel, turning a numerical disadvantage into a single, decisive exchange.

Across the galaxy's shipyards, the Heavy Torpedo is often the last weapon installed in a rack. It is the round you fire when the fight has stretched on too long, when the enemy's shields are down or their systems are flickering, and you need one more hit to send them drifting into the void.

In Their Own Story

The engine room of the *Kestrel* was quiet except for the low thrum of the reactor. Rho's fingers hovered over the weapon rack, the cursor blinking between the Light Torpedo and the Heavy. The Lanius cruiser ahead had already lost its shields—three rounds of plasma had chewed them to nothing—but its hull was still intact, still armored, still turning to bring its broadside guns around.

Rho exhaled. Selected the Heavy Torpedo. The charge slot glowed amber as the dart loaded, slow and deliberate, filling the barrel with a weight that made the gunner's station shudder faintly.

"One shot," Rho muttered. "Make it count."

The dart left the barrel at a crawl. Out in the black, the Lanius cruiser's thrusters fired, trying to angle away. The torpedo tracked, lazy and inevitable, a dark needle stitching through the void. It struck dead-center on the forward hull. The impact bloomed white, then the cruiser's systems flickered—lights dying in cascading rows, the reactor core stuttering. The ship listed. Drifted. Went dark.

Rho let go of the controls. The silence that followed was the loudest sound in the Anomaly.

Reader's Guide

The Heavy Torpedo is a slow, single-target projectile that deals damage to both the enemy hull and their systems. Its defining trait is its low projectile speed: it travels at the same sluggish pace as all torpedo-class weapons, meaning it can be dodged by a fast or well-positioned target. Plan your firing solution early, ideally when the enemy is turning or committed to a heading.

Because it hits both hull and systems, it excels as a mid-to-late-fight weapon. Early on, when the enemy has full shields and intact systems, a Heavy Torpedo that connects can cripple a secondary system (engines, weapons, shields) while simultaneously chipping the hull. Late in a fight, when shields are down, it becomes a pure hull-killer that can end the encounter in one or two rounds.

It is available to the Rebel and Mantis factions. For a Rebel ship, it pairs well with a faster secondary weapon (plasma or light laser) to keep pressure on while the torpedo drifts in. For a Mantis, it fits the natural doctrine of closing distance and delivering a single, devastating blow.

Tactical note: against fast, agile ships (small frigates, some Aeon vessels), the Heavy Torpedo's slow speed is a liability. Against larger, slower capital ships or heavily armored targets, it is one of the best damage-per-shot options in the game. Always prioritize it when the target's shields are down.

Did You Know?

• The Heavy Torpedo's slow projectile speed is shared by all torpedo-class weapons in FTL, making it the hardest weapon type to land on a fast, maneuvering target.
• Because it damages both hull and systems in a single hit, a well-timed Heavy Torpedo can simultaneously reduce an enemy's shield capacity and chip their plating, making it a dual-purpose round.
• The Mantis faction's natural affinity for close-range, high-damage combat makes the Heavy Torpedo a thematically perfect fit for their gunner crews.
• In FTL's weapon rack system, the Heavy Torpedo occupies a single charge slot, meaning it competes directly with other high-damage options like the Heavy Laser or the Ion Cannon for limited rack space.