Turret

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Turrets are small, perimeter-placed structures that can be added to any colony or city under your control. Turrets in civilization have 300 health, wheras space stage turrets are more powerful and have 600 health. The main exception to this is the Uber Turret, which has 50,000 health and moves around the planet on its own.

[edit] Civilization Stage

Turrets are somewhat expensive in Civilization Stage at §2,000 each, but are highly useful against repelling attacks, including those by many enemies. Each city can have a maximum of up to 5 turrets and those protected by five machine-gun turrets (the only kind) are virtually unassailable. While all cities have five slots for turrets, only military cities may utilize all of them. Religious cities are limited to four, while Economic cities may only three.

[edit] Space Stage

Each colony may have up to a maximum of eight turrets. Early on, they are rather expensive at §16,000, but as the game progresses, they become great defenses against any raiders or attackers.

Turrets are multi-functional, entirely determined to defend their territory from any hostiles. A single turret wields:

• A laser cannon that is held on a target, 'melting' down health(Turrets also fire at epic creatures, using the laser. When firing at them, they have the strength of a mega laser!).
• A rapid-fire flak cannon which fares well against groups of larger fighters, but normally misses.
• A large ballistic missile which will track targets with impressive accuracy and speed for a respectable time until it detonates or tears a hole in the target's hull.

If a colony is outfitted with a full compliment of eight turrets on its perimeter (and the Uber Turret), it becomes nearly invincible to all but the strongest weaponry or the largest swarms. (Note that The Grox don't have as much trouble with these turrets as others do, though this shouldn't be a surprise.)

Most empire Homeworld colonies boast a full compliment of 6-8 turrets, while other colonies may have from 0-5 turrets defending them. Choosing to attack a city defended by turrets will prove deadly, even with the strongest health and energy compliment, unless you're carrying a supply of Repair Packs or Energy Packs. Quickly flying over a city and dropping bombs will prove quicker, but at less accuracy and you may still take damage if the turrets fire their laser.

When you look closely at the Grox turrets, you will find that they have an extraordinary 1,600 HP.

The most efficient strategy to destroying turrets is to arm your Pulse or Laser weapon, approach the colony slowly, and destroy the turrets at maximum range. The one turret you choose to attack may still fire on you, but it's better than all 8 unloading on you at once. A good pulse weapon should destroy one turret in 1-4 shots.

Another effective, but dangerous strategy is to simply rush the Colony using strong bombs (Mega Bomb or Anti-Matter Bomb). Bombs can destroy a colony in few shots, but you'll have to endure direct damage from the turrets. Bombs are inaccurate at higher altitudes, so make sure you get right up to the cities you plan on destroying; hovering directly above/next to the City Hall is ideal for quick victory, but it also works from high altitude where you can't get hit by turrets. With the strongest bombs, a City Hall in a major city can be blown to dust in a matter of only 1 to 3 bombs (one for Anti-Matter Bomb); destroying surrounding buildings (Houses, Factories, Entertainment) will cause the city to surrender faster, possibly within 2 bombs. If you have trouble withstanding the turrets' weapon fire, equip and use a Shield.

Turrets also count as buildings, and therefore can prevent additional buildings from being built in T1~2 planets, as they count towards the Terra-score cap.

The Homeworld machinegun turrets automatically upgrade to the multifunction platforms as the Space stage begins. They also halve in cost to 1,000 Sporebucks per turret.