Turrets or tesla's

[Silverius]

What do people prefer? From Borsuk's post some details (recall that DPS means damage per second):

Turret:
Health: 190
Range: 300
Damage: 4
Repeat: 100ms
DPS: 40


Tesla:
Health: 220
Range: 250
Damage: 9
Repeat: 250ms
DPS: 36

In addition turrets cost 8 and tesla's 10. Tesla's also require a defense computer (cost . Turrets need to aim, tesla's don't.

Before I was very much in favor of tesla's but after seeing those numbers I don't know anymore. If you asume a base with 2 spawns, an armory and a medpad and default buildpoints (100) you'll have 62 buildpoints left.

Those 62 points buy you 7 turrets with 6 points left or a defense computer and 5 tesla's.

Tesla's are bigger than turrets and thus more likely to block a tyrant coming in than turrets which they can jump over in most cases. On the other hand you do not always want your defenses to block the enemy, for example in the four way room on niveus you'd much rather have the enemy move to the center of the room and being attacked by all defenses at once.

And then there's the matter of aiming. Turrets must turn toward the enemy. In my experience the delays caused by this are very minimal.

Tesla's have the disadvantage of requiring a defense computer, making the def computer a very vital structure. The def computer has the same health as a turret, making it rather easy to destroy.

So, which do you prefer?

[raph]

I think a mix of both gives you the best defence.
Teslas alone are very easy to deactivate (->defense computer), so always build some turrets around.
This also allows you to use the maximum of your buildpoints (having just teslas could make you only have 6 points left, so destroy one tesla and build two turrets).

[Stof]

I have the same opinio myself. I don't see the Tesla as beeing of a real use in game. As it is, their advantage is :

- A lone Tesla is less vulnerable than a lone Turret.
- They are big enouth to prevent a Tyrant from going berzerk inside your base. A Tesla is cheap to replace, a Tesla + an armory + a defense computer is not

As a downside, they are too big for a Human to jump on top of it without a jetpack and to fire from behind them without damaging the turret.

[Paradox]

I usually put in a big wall of turrets, then put in a dc at level 2, because it makes the turrets smarter (faster aim time, spreads fire evenly). When i get level 3 i take down one or 2 turrets, and put a tesla in a corner, maby by a door. The teslas have the advantage of firing around corners. I ususally put a few by the reactor too. I still leave a large armada of MGs up.

[Norfenstein]

Keep in mind that, in addition to having more health, greater range, and perfect accuracy, teslas can hit more than one target at a time and have superior knockback to turrets; a simple damage-per-second calculation is misleading. That said, it really depends on where you're building.

If your turrets never need to aim (i.e. getting past one front doesn't compromise your entire base; turrets should always block paths to minimize aiming) then you probably don't need teslas.

If your base has no good place to put the defense computer then teslas are probably a bad idea. One weak point is all it takes (and just dumping a couple turrets or even teslas around it isn't enough if the map location is inherently weak).

Teslas are not a drop-in replacement for turrets. At stage 3, turrets are stil better for obstructing aliens since they need to be in the way anyway to be most effective; teslas are best around corners where they can't be sniped.

I never, ever, build a defense computer unless I'm planning to build teslas immediately afterwards. In all my years of playing I have never once noticed a defense computer making a useful contribution to turrets, let alone being worth the price of a turret by itself.

In general, they're best used to shore up weak spots in bases too open to be covered by turrets alone.

[b0rsuk]

I play marauder a lot. It's my favourite alien.

Teslas are hard to jump past. They have big knockback and are big themselves. They don't need to rotate, and start shooting you as soon as you get in range. In open areas, I hope to find turrets instead of teslas. Turrets spend a lot of time rotating. If you place them in T-shaped corridor (Tremor), a marauder can approach them from the other side, damage (zap is good for clusters), and run away. When I see turrets guarding a passage, I start to think how to outsmart them. If there are no humans around, I may brute force 2 turrets with a marauder, it takes some resting in between, but can be done. If I see teslas, I give up unless they're spread widely enough. Walls of turrets are more vulnerable to domino effect, too.
Marauder can be very harmful to a base. Last game, I jumped past 1 tesla and another one being built, ate armory, 2 spawns, and did some more damage.

I think a mixture of both is the best.

[Survivor]

Location is the most important, teslas around corners and turrets in hallways with 1 turret inbase preferably covering armory& 1 spawn. In which ratio to build them totally depends on the alien playstyle.
Also, DEFENCES NEED TO BE BACKED UP!!!. They're not a sure way of keeping either aliens or humans out of your base.

[WolfWings ShadowFlight]

...nothing but turrets let us just hold off aliens with nothing but Level 1 weapons even when the aliens got up to Level 3 and rushed in with a couple tyrants.

The trick was defending the turrets. They add to your own firepower, don't treat them as firepower themselves. We got a few 'holy shit!' moments when we'd have two chaingunners sitting atop a stack of five turrets, chaingunners just out of view initially. Tyrant rushes in, nukes two turrets, chaingunners dropped in BEHIND him and blocked him from leaving, chewed him up while everyone else used riffles and the three remaining turrets ate him up.

One time had a Dragoon pop like a balloon when they opened a door, those two chaingunners just opened up as the door openned. The Dragoon didn't even get a swipe in on the turrets before dying. :-)