Scatter

Scatter is a dedicated anti-air autocannon turret that fires clumps of flak at enemy aircraft. It cannot hit ground units directly; its projectiles produce area damage on detonation that damages flying units. Scatter occupies the early- to mid-game niche for air defense: it is inexpensive, has a very high firing speed and long range, and is particularly effective against fast, low-health flyers such as Flare.

Scatter has a high base fire rate and long reach: after updates it fires at 6.66 shots/sec and has a range of 27.5 blocks. Its behavior depends strongly on the ammo type loaded. Ammo options and their key stats:

• Lead: base bullet damage 3, added area damage 40 (radius ~1.8 tiles), 4x ammo multiplier. High raw DPS on paper but suffers from Scatter’s inaccuracy at long range.
• Metaglass: base damage 3, area damage 45 (radius ~2.5 tiles), 5x ammo multiplier, -20% firing rate when used (fire rate reduced from 6.66 to ~5.32). Metaglass also spawns 6 frag bullets on detonation that deal 5 damage each; this makes Metaglass the strongest ammo for concentrated aerial damage and effective versus higher-tier air units.
• Scrap: base damage 3, area damage 33 (radius ~3.0 tiles), 5x ammo multiplier, -50% firing rate (fire rate ~3.33). Scrap’s wider area helps compensate for Scatter’s inaccuracy at long range; it is also cheap and widely available early on.

Historical balancing notes that affect play: Scatter’s range and fire rate have been increased in past updates (range raised from 20 to 27.5 blocks; fire rate from ~3.33 to 6.66 shots/sec). Research cost for the turret was drastically reduced by adding a research multiplier, lowering previous costs (for example copper and lead research costs were reduced significantly). The turret sprite was updated in later builds.

Practical usage and strategy

• Place Scatters as your first reliable anti-air layer near the Core and along expected flight paths. Their combination of rate and range makes them excellent for intercepting early waves of flyers like Flares before those units reach interior defenses.
• Choose ammo to match resources and engagement distance: Lead yields the highest raw DPS at close-to-medium ranges if you can accept misses at long range; Scrap is often the most reliable at long range because its larger radius hits more reliably despite lower DPS; Metaglass is best when you can afford it and want to deal with tougher T4 air units due to its frags and concentrated damage, though it lowers fire rate.
• Scatter is notably more effective versus fast air units than Duo turrets, which may struggle to keep up. It remains viable up through encounters with mid-tier flyers (it performs well until facing very high-tier air like Antumbra and Quad).
• Production chains: supply Scatters with Lead or Scrap via unloaders for sustained fire. Converting Scrap into Metaglass (via Pulverizer when available) improves effectiveness significantly.
• Counters: Scatter cannot damage ground units directly, so ground assaults bypass its flak; however it is commonly paired with anti-ground turrets (Hail, Ripple, Lancer), so plan combined assaults or target supply lines/unloaders to cut off ammo. Swarms of high-cost flyers (Zenith, Horizon) can overwhelm groups of Scatters but require substantial production investment.
• Transition: phase Scatter out later in favor of more accurate and versatile anti-air such as Cyclone, which can hit ground targets, use Metaglass effectively, and achieve higher practical DPS thanks to accuracy.

Operational tips

• A small steady supply of power (and water where applicable) stabilizes turret performance; some players use mechanical pump setups to sustain high fire rates.
• When building a perimeter, mix ammo types if possible: Scrap on outer long-range picks to catch stragglers, Lead or Metaglass closer to the Core for concentrated kills.
• Scatter is cheap research-wise in modern builds, making it an early priority for automated air defense on most maps.