This is an interesting link that was posted about this. I followed it here and I can see some merit in the idea, but like Calibri said it needs to have its own flavor. It is an energy weapon like beams, which is fine but I think the dynamic of it is wrong for how the OP was thinking about it. What this would be best as is a mid range shotgun weapon and do away with the other shotgun variants that everyone for the most isn't fond of.
Base Weapon (This thing isn't a tesla weapon, its a Dispersed Plasma Cannon that is negatively charged. Essentially a lightning cannon)
Shotgun Mid-low Range - .5 sector, 3 sec reload, normal power consumption by DPS. Slight seeking to nearby objects. Travel speed should be like missiles 1.98x
+Cannon - Faster firing Buff 1/3, lower DPS nerf 1/3, Power consumption 1/4, Range 1/2, Less jumps
+Missile - Normal Fire rate, Arc of discharge wider, better self correcting dynamic towards nearby objects
+Beam - Narrow cone of fire, self corrects to the center path of the shot, not objects. 2x range, 2x damage, 3x power, 2x cooldown
+pulse - Normal cone of fire. Denser field of lightning arcs. higher damage, normal range. Extreme energy cost. High cooldown
This would fall in line with the current systems flow of weapons. You get a solid area denial weapon like a shotgun, but self correction makes it slightly better at the middle of its range, instead of nearly useless except as a point blank weapon like Cannon Shotgun is. The slow flight time makes it more visible, and it slows it down enough for the engine to perform its calculations. An alternative to the shotgun effect is a ball lightning weapon.
Ball Lightning - Slight seeking, very slow moving (like 1.5x speed missiles), high core damage, low tendril damage
Base - .6 range, 5 sec CD, Normal DPS for core, 1/6th DPS tendrils, slight seeking towards objects, tendrils 5 m
+cannon - 1/2 range, 1/5 Buff Reload, Damage, Power, 1/2 tendril range, (Essentially 1 sec spammable)
+missile - normal range, reload, dps, power. Better seeking, tendrils arc 2x
+beam - 2x range, reload, DPS, 3x power. Faster projectile, tendrils normal arc.
+pulse - normal range, 3x DPS, Reload, 4x power, slower projectile, tendrils normal arc.
A very nasty orb of doom you fire. Ironically barely missing would likely do more damage than a direct hit. Keep in mind I think the current weapon balance is horrendously broken, but it might stay this way unless I can prove it with numbers how off it is.
