A venerable low-cost, readily available rapid fire weapon which has been used effectively versus missiles and fighters at short range throughout the history of combat in space. It is nearly useless versus properly armored targets.
Due to ease of manufacture, hundreds of models exist in the Sector. Any weapon that employs chemical propellant to fire inert projectiles at over 1200 rounds per minute can be classified as a light ship-mounted machine gun, but beyond that the mechanisms that drive the actions of these weapons vary considerably.
Popular with small civilian craft due to low cost ammunition. Projectiles jacketed with metals that have a high melting point allow greater muzzle velocity and deliver a surprisingly large amount of kinetic energy at close-range.
Due to its low DPS, the Light Machine Gun is generally not preferred for the point defense role. However, an odd but fairly effective tactic is to rush an enemy while having large amounts of Light Machine Guns mounted. The amount of kinetic damage the machine guns put out might be able to overload the enemies shields.
Ships using Safety Overrides can make short work of shields given several Light Machine Guns.
