Scatter Missile

"The Scatter Missile is an Explosive weapon that deals a fair amount of damage in an area."

General
The Scatter Missile is a beginner Explosive weapon for ships. Higher-level Scatter Missiles contain more missiles per volley, resulting in more consistant damage output.

It fires a quick volley of missiles in a small spread. Like all Explosive weapons, Scatter Missiles have an area of effect that damages all targets within equally.

Advantages
Scatter Missiles have excellent firepower against grouped enemies. Its AoE can multiply the damage output, depending on how many ships are caught in the blast.

Scatter Missiles also have decent range, enough to compete against other beginner-level weapons such as the Rail Driver.

Disadvantages
Scatter Missiles take up considerably more mass than other weapons of its tier, limiting the effectiveness of ships equipped with this weapon.

Due to their spread, Scatter Missiles often miss their targets, especially if they are spaced apart. Even worse, the spread is not enough to reliably hit agile ships such as frigates.

Scatter Missiles are eventually rendered obsolete by HEX Missiles which have more range, firepower and AoE.

Trivia

 * The Scatter Missile underwent a change which made it fire missiles at a semi-constant rate, but it has since been reverted.
 * Originally, the Scatter Missile fired 5-6 shots per volley.
 * The present number of shots per volley differs by level: 5, 5, 6, 6, 7
 * It has a base counterpart hinted inside the game files in the form of sprite tables and icons. This was likely scrapped.