Ripple

Ripple is a long-range artillery turret that fires clusters of shells at ground targets and can shoot over walls. It occupies a 3x3 footprint and is notable for very high range, multiple ammunition types, and strong area damage per shot. Ripple cannot target flying units and has a short death zone directly adjacent to itself, making it unable to hit targets on the immediate neighboring tiles.

Ripple's raw firing rhythm and power are modified by coolant: it consumes coolant at a high rate and gains large fire-rate boosts when supplied. Coolant consumption is 18 units/second, with water providing 160% fire rate and cryofluid providing 235% fire rate when active. Because of its 3x3 turret classification and long reload, using coolant is an important part of maximizing its sustained damage.

Ammunition options give Ripple different roles; each ammo type changes area damage, radius, and special effects. Representative stats derived from available data:

• Graphite: 70 area damage per fragment, roughly 2.8 tile radius, 2x ammo multiplier, 0.8 knockback. Cheap and easy to produce; best for steady, economical fire.
• Silicon: 70 area damage, ~2.8 tile radius, 3x ammo multiplier, 0.8 knockback, homing, and grants +20% fire rate. Homing reduces under- and overshoot problems; using Silicon affects silicon supply for electronics.
• Plastanium: 90 area damage, ~3.7 tile radius, 2x ammo multiplier, 1 knockback, and spawns 15 frag bullets of 14 damage each. Very high burst/frag potential but consumes Plastanium quickly.
• Blast Compound: 90 area damage, ~4.6 tile radius, 4x ammo multiplier, 0.8 knockback, and inflicts the Blasted status. Very large radius and powerful but expensive to produce.
• Pyratite: 90 area damage, ~2.8 tile radius, 4x ammo multiplier, 0.8 knockback, and applies burning for about 12 seconds. Efficient ammo that adds burning damage and structure harassment.

Practical usage and behavior notes:

• Ripple has extremely long theoretical range (one of the longest among turrets), but in practice its built-in inaccuracy causes most shells to undershoot targets, with the problem worsening at longer distances. Effective practical range is therefore much shorter—roughly around 25 tiles—unless corrected.
• Silicon ammo’s homing property produces true accuracy and is the easiest item-type way to correct undershoot. Manual control or Logic-based targeting can also be used to compensate for inaccuracy.
• A single Ripple shot typically consumes multiple items due to ammo multipliers; for example, Graphite ammo with a 2x multiplier uses one Graphite per four-shell volley when accounting for per-shot consumption mechanics.
• Coolant dramatically affects effective DPS; mount adequate coolant supply lines to maintain increased fire rates, especially if you rely on higher-tier ammo to maximize area damage.

Tactical considerations and counters:

• Ripples commonly appear on medium-threat sectors and above; enemy bases typically supply them with Graphite or Blast Compound.
• Ripple shells bypass walls, so only shields and the enemy Segment body (or flying units) provide reliable protection. Ripple cannot target flying units, so using fast, high-DPS naval or aerial units can close and destroy Ripples while avoiding their shots.
• Specific counters include fast surface units that can dodge slow projectiles or long-range snipers that can pierce defenses. Using your own Ripple with Silicon ammo is an economical way to snipe enemy Ripples if they are buildable on the field and within adjusted range.
• Pairing Ripple with Cryofluid Wave/Tsunami or oil-based strategies enhances synergy when using Blast Compound or Pyratite ammo due to status interactions.

Ripple and Salvo are the only turrets with five ammo types; Ripple ranks among turrets with very long ranges but requires careful ammo choice, coolant management, and targeting corrections to reach its full potential.