Rating: 3

This article suggest effective turret placement.

The most effective placement for turrets is near base buildings in a triangle formation. Turrets cannot shoot through each other. A triangle placement allows 2-3 turrets to hit any attacker.

The most important aspect of turret placement is to watch the sight lines. Look at where the aliens will be coming from, and make sure as many turrets hit that spot as possible. The more damage you do to a tyrant, the longer they take to heal, the longer you have to rebuild! Also, how many turrets can hit the spot in front of that front turret? That is where the tyrant will start it’s attack. Replacing one turret is much faster and easier than replacing 2-3 less defended turrets.

Never put turrets in a straight line. Even on the ledge of ATCS! It always makes me very happy to see this as an alien. I have chewed through 3-4 turrets before dieing on atcs cause they are in a straight line and I am only hit by one at a time, cause turrets can’t shoot through turrets. I usually die because I’m found eating turrets by some human with a pulse rifle. Turrets behind a door can be effective early, so that opening the door triggers multiple turrets. Late in the game though, they won’t last. Door open, tyrant eats 2-3 of them, tyrant goes back around corner to safety as door closes. Late in the game, you want to draw the tyrants in so that it is harder for them to estimate health. Set up turrets so that when the door opens, nothing happens and the turrets are not even visible (prevents sniping too).

Turrets are for defending base. A simple statement it seems, but many people build them to defend entryways, or areas frequented by aliens. This can be useful and effective at times, but should be pulled back before SD. If it is wise (such as to defend that death trap S curve hallway in front of the human base on Nexus) they I’d recommend using 3 turrets, the center being off center to allow humans to get through without jumping. Preferably, closer to the wall on the side the hallway turns.

“Ok, ascii graphics are not so easy on a wiki as many characters won’t show. Mainly, the center turret is closer to the inside of the turn, while the turret on the outside of the turn is a little further back than the one furthest inside the turn.”

Here is a placement I have found useful on Nexus. Attacking them requires surviving being hit by all three. Bypassing them is still easy though (goon or mara can jump them), so this is a useless tactic if you will not have a couple turrets by your telenodes and reactor. Notice the “center” turret is closer to the inside of the turn. That is so that, should they last till aliens are S3, it will be harder to snipe. The turret on the outside of the turret will be sniped quickly, but the other 2 will require a goon/adv. mara sitting in front of the doorway where they can be shot at.