Spectre

Spectre is a 4x4 heavy turret that fires large bullets at both air and ground targets. It occupies the same role as other large turrets: a long-range, high-damage defensive piece designed for front-line base defense and turret arrays. Spectre does not consume electrical power, relying instead on solid ammunition and optional liquid cooling to modify firing rate. It is expensive to build and maintain but offers strong single-target damage, good accuracy, and flexible ammo choices that allow it to handle everything from swarms to armored threats.

Spectre’s raw stats and construction reflect its heavy role: it has high health (2560 after updates), a substantial build time (about 25.87 seconds), and a significant copper cost (changed to 900 copper in recent builds). Its range was increased in later updates to 32.5 blocks, and its base fire rate is approximately 8.57 shots/sec after the changes. Liquid cooling is supported; coolant consumption was reduced to 60 units/sec, and liquid boosts give 120% fire rate for Water and 145% fire rate for Cryofluid when applied (these are the effective fire rate multipliers when cooling is used at the stated consumption).

Spectre accepts three primary ammo types, each changing its role on the battlefield:

• Graphite: 50 damage, 4× ammo multiplier, +70% fire rate, 0.3 knockback. This ammo substantially raises DPS against single targets (the +70% fire rate multiplies its shots), making Spectre excel vs. single strong enemies, but Graphite does not pierce and is weaker against dense hordes.
• Thorium: 80 damage, 2× ammo multiplier, 0.7 knockback, 2× pierce. Thorium is easy to supply straight from drills and provides strong knockback and piercing to push through front lines; it has lower theoretical DPS than Graphite but offers greater utility against waves due to pierce.
• Pyratite: 70 damage, 20 area damage (~3.1 tiles), 3× ammo multiplier, 0.6 knockback, 2× pierce, and applies burning for roughly 8 seconds. Pyratite gives the best area and overall damage potential, making Spectre excellent at clearing clumps; it is slower and more resource-intensive to produce, and stored Pyratite is hazardous if containers are destroyed.

Typical DPS examples from these ammo types (using base fire rate) are: Graphite ~ 728.45 DPS (with +70% fire rate applied), Thorium ~ 685.6 DPS, and Pyratite ranges from 171.4 minimum up to 771.3 DPS depending on whether area damage hits targets (not including burn damage).

Practical usage and strategy:

• Place Spectres in mixed turret arrays where you need long range and the ability to hit both air and ground. Their accuracy and bullet speed make them valuable as central long-range defenders.
• Use Graphite when you need high single-target DPS (e.g., sniping large units), Thorium for reliable piercing and knockback from easily supplied ore, and Pyratite for anti-swarm area damage and burn synergy.
• Spectre consumes a lot of ammo while firing continuously. Provide dedicated ammo storage or very fast ammo production to sustain prolonged firing.
• Overdrive Projector or Overdrive Dome is generally a better way to boost fire rate than liquid cooling because Spectre’s liquid consumption yields only modest gains relative to the throughput cost; if using liquid cooling, feed it through adjacent Liquid Tanks for best stability.
• Pyratite is dangerous to store; Containers full of Pyratite will spray flames if destroyed, so consider placement and defenses accordingly.

Enemy Spectres appear most often on higher-threat sectors and can be defended or sited by AI bases that supply Thorium or homemade Graphite/Pyratite. They are challenging to approach directly due to long range and hard-hitting shots. Cheap counters include long-range Fortresses which can outrange and snipe Spectres, or Corvus units that can snipe from safety thanks to piercing damage; Ripple or Foreshadow artillery can also target exposed Spectres outside protected zones. Quad bombing runs or massed long-range units can remove enemy Spectres if heavier single-target options are unavailable.

Spectre is one of the 4×4 turrets named after security exploits (its name references the Spectre vulnerability) and is unique among Serpulo’s 4×4 turrets in that it does not consume electrical power.