Plasma Turret

The Plasma Turret is a long-range space defense turret designed to intercept Dark Fog threats in upper air and space. It is the only turret besides the Missile Turret that can attack Upper Air and Space targets, and it does so with far greater punch. Its projectiles travel extremely fast, and Plasma Capsules deliver the same DPS as Gravity Missiles while being much simpler to produce. In practice, a well-built line of Plasma Turrets can erase incoming space invasions before the Dark Fog gets a shot off.

Plasma Turrets are not effective against grounded Dark Fog targets, so they are strictly a planetary anti-space defense. They use Plasma Capsules and Antimatter Capsules as ammo. Although both ammo types have blast radius damage, space battles are usually so spread out that the turret behaves effectively as a single-target weapon.

The turret is expensive in power terms, with a listed operating draw of 1.68 MW and standby draw of 84.0 kW, but its offensive efficiency is high enough that it is often preferable to Missile Turrets once attacks become serious. The turret has 800 hp, a firing rate of 1 shot/sec, a defense range of 140 m, a space range of 6500 m, and an elevation range of 0 to 80°. Plasma Capsules deal 300 damage with an 8 m blast radius and 10 rounds per ammo stack, while Antimatter Capsules deal 1500 damage with a 20 m blast radius and 10 rounds per stack.

By default, Plasma Turrets are configured not to engage Upper Air targets. Enabling that targeting lets them shoot Relay Stations, which supply matter to the Dark Fog Space Hive and power its Planetary Bases. Destroying Relay Stations before they land on the planet does not increase the Hive’s threat level, but attacking landed or otherwise active relay support will greatly escalate the response. Even so, a strong battery of Plasma Turrets can still hold the line against retaliation.

A few practical deployment notes make them especially useful in late-game defense:

• A small ring of Plasma Turrets near the planet’s north and south poles is an easy and relatively cheap way to cover space invasions.
• Once power production is strong enough, Planetary Shield Generators can be added to improve survival against counterattacks.
• Plasma Turrets only fire at space Dark Fog units when those units are marked red on the starmap, which happens when they are actively attacking Icarus or mobilizing for an attack.
• This means a Space Hive can orbit close to a planet without triggering the turrets, as long as it is not actively hostile.
• If Icarus launches from a planet near a Hive and the Hive responds by attacking, the turrets may join the fight and provoke a much larger planetary invasion, so adequate shields and ammo reserves are important in that situation.

Overall, the Plasma Turret is a high-power, high-range anti-space weapon that forms the backbone of serious planetary defense against the Dark Fog.