Disperse

Disperse is a dedicated anti-air turret designed to engage flying units and missiles with a very high rate of fire and long reach. It was added in Build 136 and later received additional ammo types (thorium, silicon, and Surge Alloy). Disperse functions as a mid-to-long-range air-defense emplacement: it cannot hit ground units, but it is effective at denying airspace and intercepting missile attacks that register as air entities.

The turret’s effective tile range is 38.75 tiles with most ammo; using Surge Alloy ammo increases projectile range by +3 tiles to 41.75. Disperse benefits strongly from the water booster: the booster multiplies its fire rate and theoretical sustained DPS/ammo consumption by 183.33% (about ×1.833). Continuous boosted firing requires coolant water at roughly 20/sec (full cooldown usage). Disperse consumes ammo rapidly because of its fast base fire rate; plan supply and storage accordingly.

Available ammo and notable effects:

• Thorium: 67.5 damage, 2 ammo/item, 2× pierce, -15% fire rate; cannot hit ground.
• Silicon: base damage 27.75, 4 ammo/item, grants homing (improves accuracy at long range); theoretical DPS and sustained consumption scales with booster.
• Surge Alloy: 48.75 damage, 3 ammo/item, -25% fire rate, fires 3 lightning strikes (each ~18 damage) and emits interval micro-bullets to create continuous lightning sparks; this ammo extends range by +3 tiles.
• Tungsten: 48.75 damage, 3 ammo/item; similar range to standard ammo.

Practical deployment and tactics:

• Place Disperse at chokepoints, corners, and outer rings of your base where aerial approaches funnel; pair with walls and repair structures to form overlapping defenses. It is most effective as a focused anti-air node that suppresses and kills most air attackers.
• Use the water booster to significantly raise its sustained DPS, but ensure steady coolant and ample ammo stores because boosted firing roughly doubles ammo consumption.
• Silicon ammo improves tracking for targets at the edge of range, reducing missed shots; however, its reduced per-shot damage is often unnecessary given Disperse’s high fire rate. Choose Silicon only when engaging fast, distant flyers that otherwise evade hits.
• Surge Alloy ammo is excellent against clustered or high-priority air targets because of its lightning effects and extra range; it also produces continuous lightning sparks via interval bullets for added anti-air disruption.
• Disperse can intercept most missiles because missiles count as air units; it can therefore neutralize missile volleys before they hit, though it cannot damage the firing launcher unless the launcher itself is an air unit.
• Beware that Disperse will attempt to fire at targets at the very edge of its range but may fail to hit them unless homing ammo (Silicon) is used. Its single-target orientation means attackers can exploit line-of-sight by attacking from the flank with a second wave of cheap air units to distract it or by destroying ammo feed lines.
• Because of its rapid ammo drain, protect or conceal ammo conveyors and storages; destroying supply blocks or interrupting conveyors is an effective counter.

Progression and tech relations: Disperse is unlocked from the building Diffuse and serves as a prerequisite for Scathe. Overall, improving performance relies on layout, supply stability, and using boosters or multiple turrets in parallel rather than relying on a single emplacement for sustained base defense.