The Beam Cannon is Nod's tier-2 artillery unit. It costs 1000 credits. A single Beam Cannon is relatively useless, but as their numbers increase, their damage increases exponentially as a power of 2.
So the first Beam Cannon does 150 damage per second (DPS), the second Beam Cannon does 300 DPS, the third does 600, the fourth 1200, etc. (the Beam Cannon's damage must be measured in DPS, because it has a continuous attack).
This is why it is critical to maintain your numbers with Beam Cannons. Beam Cannons do grenade damage, meaning they deal 100% damage to buildings, 75% damage to infantry, but only 25% damage to vehicles. This means you will need more Beam Cannons to bring down vehicles than for buildings. Six is good if you are using them as a base killer -- Beam Cannons are ideal in this role, because they can kill buildings in a few seconds. On the other hand, if you are using them to counter epic units or tier-3 units, you should try to have at least 10 (12-18 is good for epic units).
The Beam Cannon has three special abilities: Venom Reflector Beam, charge Obelisk, and call for transport.
The Reflector Beam is the most useful ability of the Beam Cannon. This ability allows the Beam Cannon to extend its range by reflecting its laser from a Venom onto its target. This ability also works with multiple Venoms, allowing you to chain the laser across a line of Venoms, giving the Beam Cannon potentially unlimited range.
Using this ability, you can shoot over impassible obstacles such as water and mountains and keep your Beam Cannons safe while taking out enemy buildings or units in your enemy's base. This is also very useful for shielding your Beam Cannons with buildings or keeping them out of range or behind stronger units. Another very useful aspect of this ability is that it can be used on enemy aircraft; this makes it a very effective way to bring down those Scrin tier-3 and -4 aircraft, as well as the Mothership or a flying Drone Ship. Due to the Beam Cannon's range, this ability can also be effective for taking down small numbers of those Ceramic Armor Zone Raider Hammerheads.
