Salvo

Salvo is a medium–heavy turret that fires rapid salvos of bullets. It sits between the Duo and the Spectre in role and power: it deals significantly more damage than Duo while maintaining a high rate of fire, but it does not have the single-shot punch or special projectile behaviour of heavier or more specialized turrets. Salvo is commonly found defending enemy cores and is often fed higher-tier ammunition (Graphite, Pyratite, Silicon, Thorium) to maximize its effectiveness.

Salvo consumes one ammo per bullet (after v7.0.142) and cycles through salvo shots quickly; its effective fire rate has been adjusted across versions and currently sits at a high value that makes per-bullet ammo choice important for DPS and utility. Ammo types dramatically change its role and performance:

• Copper: 15 damage, 5 ammo per item. Copper ammo has an armor weakness multiplier of x1.5, making it less effective versus armored targets. It is the easiest to supply (directly from drills or core mining), but yields the lowest DPS.
• Graphite: 31 damage, 4 ammo per item, adds +4 tiles range, and applies -20% fire rate while loaded. Graphite excels vs bulkier, armored targets thanks to high raw damage and extra range.
• Pyratite: 25 damage per bullet, 5 ammo per item, deals 15 area damage across roughly 2.7 tiles, and causes burning for about 8 seconds. Pyratite provides the highest potential damage against clusters and synergizes with oil-based waves; it is slower and harder to produce.
• Silicon: 23 damage, 5 ammo per item, grants +50% fire rate and homing. Silicon greatly improves performance against fast or maneuverable units and raises overall DPS substantially.
• Thorium: 28 damage, 4 ammo per item, and +19% armor piercing. Thorium is a strong all-around choice: relatively easy to produce, high raw damage, and the armor piercing makes it particularly good vs high-tier armored units.

Practical numbers and considerations:

• With each ammo type at current values and the Salvo's fire rate, approximate sustained DPS examples (using the listed damage × effective shots/sec) show Silicon and Graphite/Toridium-supplied Salvos achieving the highest consistent DPS, while Pyratite offers the highest burst/area potential when bullets directly hit.
• Because none of the Salvo's ammunition options have true piercing projectiles (except the armor-piercing stat on Thorium), massed light units or very fast units can still pose a challenge unless homing or area ammo is used.
• Pyratite's area and burn effects provide excellent crowd control and work well with environmental effects (e.g., oil), but supply lines with Pyratite are riskier because fires can start if transports are disrupted.

Tactics and counterplay:

• Use Silicon ammo when facing fast flyers or flanking units to leverage homing and increased fire rate. Use Thorium when facing armor-heavy foes to take advantage of armor piercing. Use Pyratite against dense swarms or combined with oil to maximize area and burn damage.
• Salvo is vulnerable to being outnumbered by many small units if supplied with non-homing, single-target ammo; groups of ranged units with sufficient DPS (for example, several Horizons) can overwhelm a single Salvo unless supported by Menders.
• Long-range or outranging platforms (Fortress, Minke) can snipe Salvos loaded with Graphite unless they are manually or logic-controlled to avoid exposing themselves.
• Upgrades and game updates have adjusted Salvo’s build cost, range, and fire rate over time; key changes include increased range in v7.0, changes to per-ammo damage and multipliers in v7–v8, and the shift to consuming one ammo per bullet rather than per burst in v7.0.142.

Supply and base planning:

• Because ammo choice strongly affects performance, place appropriate refineries and conveyors to feed desired ammo automatically. Silicon and Pyratite require higher-tier production chains, so position factories and storage nearby when relying on those ammo types.
• Position Salvos to take advantage of Graphite’s extra range or Pyratite’s area damage by overlapping fields of fire where possible. When using Thorium, prioritize Salvos for key choke points against armored pushes.