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The most damaging fighter level weapon available for Commonwealth ships with 50% more shield dps than the Particle Accelerator Cannon and double the hull dps. The long range gives ships wielding HEPTs an advantage when fighting M5s however the low projectile speed can make landing hits challenging unless the target is moving directly towards the attacking ship. The high energy requirements to fire HEPTs mean that fighters can only fire 1-2 continually while M4s able to equip them need to rely on burst damage. Corvettes and larger fight ships can use High Energy Plasma Throwers continually making them a good choice for turrets unable to use the more accurate Phased Repeater Gun or when the energy consumption of the Flak Artillery Array is problematic. Although able to be equipped by TLs and some M7C/TM/TP/TS ships, laser energy constraints prevent effective use in sector making ammo based lasers preferable while out of sector TLs TL and M7C ships can make full use of more damaging weapon options.