The Lightning Bug's description doesn't capitalize 'Ion Cannon', instead saying 'ion cannon'.
https://github.com/endless-sky/endless-sky/commit/641756341f65b5a0d545109edfb18dfd5adfe2af
All of these were changes from upper-case words to lower-case words, and they were accepted by Michael, so I think "ion cannon" is correct.
It depends on if the name of the weapon is generic or specific. For example, particle cannon, energy blaster, or anti-missile turret are pretty generic, but then we have Meteor Missile, Sidewinder Missile, Hai Tracker Pod, LP036a Battery Pack, Chipmunk Plasma Thruster, etc.
Ion cannon is one of those generic ones. It's a cannon that does ion damage. It's in the name.
Those upper-case to lower-case changes I did were fixing generic names that should have been lower cased.
Edit: I'll also add that the "ion cannon" is not capitalized in its own description.
^^
Capitalization suggests a proper noun, i.e. the name of the weapon. Otherwise, a non-capitalized name indicates a standard noun, so a weapon or a weapon type. For example鈥攁nd this is one that I fixed鈥攁 dreadnought is a real noun, so it needs no capitalization, but the name of the ship model, "Dreadnought," needs capitalization.
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It depends on if the name of the weapon is generic or specific. For example, particle cannon, energy blaster, or anti-missile turret are pretty generic, but then we have Meteor Missile, Sidewinder Missile, Hai Tracker Pod, LP036a Battery Pack, Chipmunk Plasma Thruster, etc.
Ion cannon is one of those generic ones. It's a cannon that does ion damage. It's in the name.
Those upper-case to lower-case changes I did were fixing generic names that should have been lower cased.
Edit: I'll also add that the "ion cannon" is not capitalized in its own description.