Curious: Turrets - any you do not use?

[Frost]

Just curious: Since laser turrets are practically 'free' if you're using solar power and you have no problem powering them, is there really any reason to still use gun turrets or flame turrets?

[Hedning]

Flame turrets are much more powerful than lasers against big waves because of their area of effect. Having a few flamers mixed in means you can have fewer lasers and reduces damage taken to your wall. Against big waves the "damage density" (ie how much dps you can fit in the area) matters. Only with space research into laser damage can laser turrets comfortably kill the biggest waves.

[PunCrathod]

Flame turrets have longer range and do AOE damage so they are pretty useful.

Gun turrets on the other hand are pretty much useless after you get your power sorted out. Sure a gun turret has more dps than a laser turret for the same amount of research but because the lasers have a much longer range they can shoot earlier, more of them can fit in the range to shoot at the same target and the automated supply of ammo/power takes significantly less space at the wall and they take less resources for upkeep. Lasers are the superior choice over gun turrets.

[Dakota]

I basically use only flamethrower turrets in vanilla playthroughs. Best range, absolutely insane damage, extremely cheap setup, ammo is just 6 crude oil per second when firing, and since one turret holds an area it's maybe 15 oil or so per attack used whereas laser turrets constantly drain power just by being on the frid and you need loads of them to defend against green tier biters.

Gun turrets of course aren't even a question as soon as any other type is unlocked.

[Fel]

Funny enough I barely use laser turrets these days since flamethrower clean up most of the waves and gun turrets with uranium ammo have an insane damage output.

Laser turrets require a lot of power, if you are using solar it might seem fine but it still means that you need a large amount of accumulators and solar panels on top of what is needed for your base in order to ensure that you won't blackout during the night and have your defenses breached just because your laser turrets sucked your power dry.

[astrosha]

All the turret types are useful.

Flamethrower Turrets are AE as opposed to only hitting one target, and so are very OP just for that alone. Their range is just gravy.

Laswer Turrets have a middle range (longer than gun Turrets, shorter than Flamethrowers), which is kind of backwards for what you'd expect (you'd expect greater range than a flamethrower). They have the LOWEST damage output at equivalent tech levels, to compensate for only needing power and nothing else.

Gun Turrets are the highest single target damage, but have the shortest range (again, not what you'd expect, you'd expect middle range, longer than Flamethrower but shorter than Laser).

A lot of people find the decrease in damage more than offset by the decrease in requisite logistics, and so jump on Laser turrets as soon as possible. Regular gun Turrets still have their place; however Flamethrower turrets should (even though I personally don't do this LOL) be the backbone of any serious defensive emplacement and can be backed by either Laser or gun turrets.

The fourth turret type, Artillery, has a different role to play ...

[Premu]

Personally I mainly rely on gun turrets with uraium ammo and flamethrower turrets for my late game defense. I use laser turrets in corners in which I can't supply the other type of turrets.

I do this for two reasons:

1. The damage output of gun turrets is insane if you have the additional damage techs researched, especially if you go into the infinite range. Even behemoths melt down after being hit by a few bullets if your tech is high enough.
2. While laser turrets don't need much infrastructure to set up, you need to have enough power production to keep up with short but massive spikes in case they start to shoot. Also, if the power connection is cut for a laser turret, it's useless. Both gun turrets and flamethrower turrets can still use the ammo they are loaded with for some time.

[knighttemplar1960]

Flame thrower turrets are practically free too. Oil is a resource that never runs out because you still get some even from depleted wells and the amount a flamer uses is minimal. I tend to skip lasers except at the corners of outposts and the main base because you lose the overlap of coverage at the corners.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2170792185

[Overeagerdragon]

I play with mods....lots of Biter mods to be exact and some of them make biters immune to certain types of damage. Needless to say I use all different types of turrets to avoid being swarmed by biters that are immune to a singular type.

[Aaron]

When using flame turrets, do you need to remove trees near your line to prevent burning trees from damaging your turrets?

[Dakota]

Originally posted by Aaron ਨੈ ਸਸਦਠਐ:

When using flame turrets, do you need to remove trees near your line to prevent burning trees from damaging your turrets?

Flamethrower turrets have a minimum range so walls are generally built at at distance at least equal to that minimum range and expand out from there, so the only thing that'd be on fire are your walls, which don't seem to take any fire damage.

[Fel]

Walls have a resistance to fire damage of 100% so they don't fear collateral damage but trees could in theory be a problem since forest fires can spread from the point of origin.
Realistically speaking though, you tend to remove the trees in order to be able to place the walls and turrets anyway so it's not a problem most of the time.

[Dakota]

Originally posted by Fel:

Walls have a resistance to fire damage of 100% so they don't fear collateral damage but trees could in theory be a problem since forest fires can spread from the point of origin.
Realistically speaking though, you tend to remove the trees in order to be able to place the walls and turrets anyway so it's not a problem most of the time.

To tack onto this, by the time I have flamethrower turrets setup, I have no fears at all of even the highest tier of biters putting a dent in the defenses, so a little pollution from a forest fire outside my base isn't a danger, I'm pumping out pollution challenging any to come.

[Eternal]

Originally posted by Frost:

Just curious: Since laser turrets are practically 'free' if you're using solar power and you have no problem powering them, is there really any reason to still use gun turrets or flame turrets?

No, they are best ... Ppl in factorio like to do crap for sake of doing crap... No reasonable rwason to not use lasers...

[Katitoff]

Gun turrets scale much, MUCH better then laser ones and in end game, with bots, logistics of delivering uranium ammo are very easy.

Wall of uranium gun turrets can kill green spitters before they get a chance to shoot.

Plus, you got to do something with all that uranium leftover anyway.

[Hedning]

Originally posted by Katitoff:

Plus, you got to do something with all that uranium leftover anyway.

With kovarex there are no leftovers. Lasers are a lot quicker and easier to set up.