The Orbital Cannon is a remote controlled kinetic bombardment system that appears in Grand Theft Auto Online in The Doomsday Heist update.
Design[]
The Orbital Cannon is a large circular table in a circular room, with several monitors surrounding the table above. There are five control panels on the table the player can go up to in order to use the weapon. It is likely based on the 2003 Hypervelocity Bundle proposed by the United States Air Force.
Function[]
Players can include the Orbital Cannon when customizing their Facilities at a cost of $900,000.
Once installed, players can target anyone or anything on the map once every in-game day (48 real-time minutes) at a cost of $500,000 per manual fire (or $750,000 for automatic aimed fire) or use it as a surveillance tool at no cost.
The cannon will destroy any vehicle hit by the shot, killing any occupants. The only exceptions to this are the Mobile Operations Center, the Avenger, the Terrorbyte and the Kosatka, where the vehicle will be destroyed, but any occupants inside will simply spawn outside (excluding anyone sitting in the driver and passenger seats).
The Galaxy Super Yacht is currently the only purchasable vehicle that is not destroyed or affected by the Orbital Cannon.
Avoiding the Orbital Cannon[]
- Using Lester's Off the Radar or VIP/CEO Ghost Organization can render themselves invisible against the Orbital Cannon. This makes it harder to track down targets and cannot appear on automatic targeting list.
- Stealth vehicles, such as the Akula, Ultralight, RO-86 Alkonost, and F-160 Raiju, as well as Imani's Out of Sight service, will not protect players against the Orbital Cannon.
- Hiding inside the apartment, facility, etc. to lose track of the orbital cannon.
- Entering service vehicles with interiors, such as the Mobile Operations Center, Avenger, Terrorbyte, Kosatka, and Acid Lab.
- Going to any underground tunnels and buildings which causes them to disappear from the targeting list.
- Hiding under the parking lot in Pillbox Hill and staying on the first floor. Orbital cannons can shoot through three parking lot floors.
- Alternatively, players can hide under buildings or structures that are taller than this parking lot.
- If the player owns a Yacht, they can hide inside the Yacht Bridge and are removed from the automatic targeting from the Orbital Cannon.
- Controlling RC vehicles, such as the Invade and Persuade Tank and RC Bandito, or Imani Tech vehicles equipped with the Remote Control Unit.
- A player can enter a passive player's vehicle as a passenger and survive the shot.
Image Gallery[]
Changes[]
| Update | Change(s) |
|---|---|
| 1.42 | Added Orbital Cannon in GTA Online. |
| 1.43 | Targets will now disappear from the Orbital Cannon map when entering underground areas or stores. This results in having less range and cannot be killed if they don't appear on target. |
| 1.48 | Players can no longer receive a refund if the cannon misses the player using automatic targeting. |
| 1.50 | Restored the automatic targeting refund temporarily if the player misses. The refund system is now disabled on September 23, 2020. |
| 1.52 | Restored the automatic targeting refund if the player misses. |
| 1.67 | The Orbital Cannon can no longer be instantly reset or refunded to prevent players from being repeatedly targeted. |
Trivia[]
- Killing a player with the Orbital Cannon for the first time will award them with the achievement/trophy "Orbital Obliteration".
- A stainless steel model of the Orbital Cannon satellite hanging above a similarly-styled globe of the earth will also appear inside the upstairs lounge on the desk beside the computer.
- Frequent use of the Orbital Cannon may affect the player's Mental State.
Oversights[]
- The automatic targeting feature originally allowed refunds to players if their target is missed. This unintentionally entailed an exploit where players could repeatedly target and kill multiple players in a single lobby while receiving a refund as if they had missed the target.
- After The Diamond Casino & Resort update, the mechanic has been adjusted in that a missed automatic targeting no longer refunds players a shot.
- After the Los Santos Summer Special update, the mechanic has been reverted back to its pre-patch restoring the glitch.
- 43 days after the release, the refund mechanic has been disabled again removing the previously restored glitch.
- The sound of an Orbital Cannon strike can be heard from anywhere in the game world, including interiors.
- After the Cayo Perico Heist update, the mechanic has been reverted back once again.
- After the San Andreas Mercenaries update, the mechanic has been officially removed along with cooldown timer reset glitch.