I cast, RAILGUN!
Amazing game, but the canister shot is a weird one, and sometimes I find missile and grenade share too similar a role as backup to main gun.
On a sidenote, concerning railguns. I finally figured out the issue I have with them
Of all the main weapons, there are only two that can reliably shoot through building (have a one-sided shootup): Railgun and Vulcan.
However, Vulcan still require a continuous 'exposure' time, meaning that you are still prone to return fire after shredding through 5 house to get the tank on the next side of the block.
Railguns don't have that problem. While it's low fire rate and charge up can balance it as a sniper weapon, the fact that half-charge shots still reliably deletes smaller tanks means it's just as effective when being rushed.
The final point I would like to make is that it pushes the niche of grenade: dealing damage without line of fire.
There are multiple possible solutions to it, here are my two cents:
1.Damage Dropoff after penetration. Says what it does on the tin, it would also probably influence vulcan as well, and shunt the game to a more direct shootup style.
2.Slot the railgun with grenades because they share the same niche
3.Incredibly dense ball of erratic hovercraft that clumps too wide for the railgun to catch them all (?)
4.Take a note out of the linear rifles of Armored Core 6 and make the railgun only perform railgun behaviour at full charge: under charged shots doesn't penetrate buildings and won't increase damage with charge, functioning like a toned down autocannon.
Sincerely and open to refute and discussion