Turret

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.

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.

Space Stage
Each colony may 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.
 * A rapid-fire flak cannon which fares well against groups of larger fighters.
 * 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, it becomes nearly invincible to all but the strongest weaponry or the largest swarms. (Note that The Grox have little trouble with these turrets, 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 0-4 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.

The most efficient strategy to destroying turrets is to arm your Pulse 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 2-4 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. With the strongest bombs, a City Hall in a major city can be blown to dust in a matter of 10-20 bombs; destroying surrounding buildings (Houses, Factories, Entertainment) will cause the city to surrender faster, possibly within 5-10 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 terrascore 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.