Using the Kestrel, sometimes my weapon recharge bars get cut in half, as if my weapons officer suddenly gained multiple experience levels, even though they didn't. In the latest instance, this happened after a fight, not during it. I had just saved a Federation ship from the rebels, and they gave me a Breach missile and some scrap. Once I accepted the gift, my weapon recharge bars got cut in half, and I think I heard the "level up" noise. This isn't the first time something like this has happened.
Why did this happen?
Best Answer
The length of the recharge bars scale; the weapon with the longest recharge gets the full length in the UI while all others are scaled down relative to it. This doesn't change any of the actual recharge times, just their representation in the UI. If a weapon has half the recharge compared to another weapon, it gets half the recharge bar.
So if you loot a new weapon with a much higher recharge than all of your current weapons, and your ship has an empty weapon slot, the new weapon is automatically equipped and your recharge bars get scaled accordingly.