Parallax

Parallax is a turret designed to intercept and manipulate aerial units by firing a continuous tractor beam that pulls enemy flyers toward itself while dealing constant damage. It was added in Version 6.0 and later adjusted in Version 7.0; the change in 7.0 increased its effective range to 30 blocks and altered its pull properties by raising the raw "force" value from 8 to 12 while lowering the "scaledForce" from 7 to 6. Parallax only affects air units and can only target one air unit at a time, making it a specialized anti-air control turret rather than a multi-target damage platform.

Parallax’s beam deals continuous damage and applies a pulling effect. Sources differ on the reported damage rate: one data table lists the beam at 18 damage/sec, while another source records 30 damage/sec and additionally lists required power input as 198 units/sec. Regardless of the exact DPS figure, the beam’s primary function is tractor behavior; it can snag and reposition enemy flyers, disrupting their attack runs or dragging them into the range of other defenses. The beam can catch stray low-health flyers like Flares, but it is unreliable as a solo high-DPS solution against heavier air units.

Practical usage and interaction notes:

• Parallax pairs exceptionally well with long-range turrets such as the Fuse because pulled air units can be held at distances where those turrets deal maximum damage while avoiding the Parallax’s tendency to pull units into the base interior.
• Because it consumes substantial power and can inadvertently pull air units away from intended kill zones, it is best used sparingly in the early game; a few Parallax turrets suffice since low-tier air units are pulled very quickly.
• When facing Parallax defensively, keep in mind it cannot hit or control more than one air unit at once; swarms of cheap flyers (for example, a cluster of multiple Flares) can overwhelm a lone Parallax. However, when combined with other turrets such as Fuse or Scatter, more powerful counterunits (Horizon, Zenith) are often required.
• The tractor beam’s pulling can cause enemy air units to veer off planned paths, creating micro opportunities to exploit or causing friendly pathing issues if not positioned carefully.
• Parallax is one of two turrets that cannot be manually targeted or controlled by the player, restricting direct intervention during combat.

Design and modding-related notes drawn from block metadata: Parallax behaves like a standard updatable turret block (it has an update/tile entity), is destructible, and displays the usual block status bars; it may have specific minimap coloring, drop behavior, and placeability rules like other blocks. Exact block electrical consumption, size, and other technical parameters can vary between database entries, so builders should consult the current game data for precise numbers in their version.