Segment

The Segment is a specialized defensive turret introduced in version 6.0 that acts as an active point-defense system for intercepting many types of incoming physical projectiles. It occupies a late-game niche: it is effective against slow, flying, non-laser projectiles and certain artillery shells but requires Phase Fabric, significant power, and high upkeep, making it an expensive and situational choice compared to conventional turrets.

Mechanically, the Segment was added in 6.0 and has received several balance changes: its range was increased to 22.5 blocks (from 20), its fire rate was raised to 7.5 shots/sec in 7.0, and its health was increased to 1000 (build time adjusted to about 4.73s and an extra 40 Titanium added to the build cost in later updates). The turret consumes large amounts of power and relies on Phase Fabric as its ammo/upkeep; its required input rate is listed as 480/sec. Because of these costs it is typically deployed only where its interception capabilities are necessary.

The Segment targets and completely erases many projectile types on contact. It is particularly effective on Serpulo against:

• bullets fired by many turrets and units (examples noted: Dagger, Fortress, Scepter, Reign, Flare, Horizon, Zenith, Antumbra, Eclipse, Risso, Minke, Bryde, Sei, Retusa, and Cyerce), and bullets from most turrets except Arcs, Lancers, Parallaxes, Fuses, Meltdowns, Foreshadows, and other Segments;
• artillery projectiles such as those from Arkyid and Toxopid;
• Mass Driver projectiles — note that any items sent through a Mass Driver that are hit by a Segment are destroyed.

There are projectile types the Segment cannot affect. Lasers, electric arcs, flames, railgun shots, and unit missiles pass through and are unaffected. Bombs launched by some unit types can be targeted by the Segment, but their area-of-effect damage still applies to blocks underneath even if the bomb itself is intercepted.

Practical usage and counterplay:

• Deploy Segments only where incoming projectile threats justify their cost — they are best used as focused defenses for bases threatened by slow aerial artillery and grenade-like projectiles. Their high Phase Fabric and power demands make them poor general-purpose turrets.
• Segments hard-counter long, slow artillery: units like Fortress suffer against Segments because their slow, low-velocity shells are easily nullified.
• They can be overwhelmed: a sufficient volume of projectiles (for example, from two or more Daggers) can saturate a Segment’s interception, allowing projectiles to penetrate.
• Projectiles fired by many ground support units are not targeted by Segments, so assaulting a Segment with ground units or specialized units that use unaffected projectile types works well.
• Disabling the Segment’s power network or cutting Phase Fabric supply will neutralize it; attacking linked power nodes or logistics feeding the turret is an effective tactic.
• Because Segments remove items in Mass Driver projectiles, take care when using Mass Drivers near defended lines — valuable payloads can be destroyed.

The Segment is a polarizing block in the player community: it is extremely powerful in its intended role but expensive and narrow in application, leading to strong opinions for and against its use. Use it deliberately as part of a defense designed around its strengths and weaknesses.