Do turrets gain tactical bonuses?

[HatesYourFace]

The better test would be to take a control group of colonists and attack the turrets. I'm not sure how turret accuracy is affected or if sandbags even affect turret accuracy but they do, for sure, affect colonist accuracy. Also, knowing what you know now, if we got different results from the colonists attacking the turrets, we'd also know if sandbags affect turret accuracy.

Good suggestion! Just did another quick test with a colonist holding an LMG-15 shooting at a normal turret and a sandbagged one. No difference, They took the same damage at the same rate, destroyed in the same amount of time. I think it's safe to say that as of Alpha 5 turrets do NOT get a cover bonus. (At least with sandbags, though I doubt it will be any different with rocks and I'm too lazy to check lol...)

Mechanoids have 100% skill accuracy at any range, you can see that when you select a scyther and look at the hit probability of a distant target. It's very likely the same applies to the turrets. However, the L-15 LMG the turrets use isn't a terribly accurate weapon, which is probably why it's so inaccurate at range.

Turrets having the advantage of cover should be tested, though I think what HatesYourFace is sufficient. Turrets are not pawns, so they don't get the advantage of peeking over sandbags.

I think your right about the 100% accuracy, seems like the LMG-15's innate spread, and distance were the only things affecting the placement of the turrets shots from what I could tell.

So...
I guess the question we should be asking ourselves at this point is...Should turrets be granted cover or not?

My Two Cents: I think the current turrets should continue to work as they do, after all they are "Improvised" and have to be free to rotate 360 degrees, so perhaps cover just isn't an option for them...instead of re working the current turrets, add a new "Fortified Turret" to the game which costs slightly more metal and is limited to a 90 degree firing arc, but may benefit from sandbag cover placed touching it. The Fortified Turret would use the same LMG-15 as it's gun for simplicity's sake and ease of programming. (It could also have slightly more base HP then the "Improvised" or possibly an innate damage reduction %)

[bobucles]

Well obviously a turret should get SOME kind of cover bonus. They are obscured by an intervening structure, after all. Should the bonus be the same as with people? Hell no. They're big shooty machines. Maybe half, or even less of a bonus would work fine.

[UrbanBourbon]

It occurs to me that instead of placing sandbags in front of the turrets, one should instead place a small stone wall BEHIND each turret. That is to limit their explosion effect. You could then use the wall corners as cover as well. But then again, it comes down to a particular turret - whether we want or don't want it to explode with maximum force. Turrets can be applied as expensive workaround blasting charges. The trick is to catch the invaders by surprise so that they engage the turret at close range.

[ZestyLemons]

I'm going to say that they don't gain cover bonuses since they're buildings.

(unless buildings gain cover bonuses, then we're sort of back to square one)

[_alphaBeta_]

I can't say that I'm surprised since turrets seemed to be destroyed very easily. I'm going to say that they should gain some cover bonus. It's unintuitive that sandbags placed in front of a turret aren't adding anything to game-play IMHO. I like the previously mentioned idea about a fortified turret that benefits additionally from cover with increased HP at the expense of limited firing arc. Perhaps the latter can also use a higher and/or stronger type of cover. I was originally thinking it could work with walls (such as stone walls) implying that the turret has a small bunker-like hole to shoot from. An attacker essentially needs to destroy the wall before being able to access the turret. That may conflict with the current wall implementation, however, since objects can't currently shoot through them in either direction and turrets can't lean around the edge. It may be better to create a new type of cover that's stronger than sandbags for use with this turret. Perhaps a low stone wall etc.

[HatesYourFace]

I can't say that I'm surprised since turrets seemed to be destroyed very easily. I'm going to say that they should gain some cover bonus. It's unintuitive that sandbags placed in front of a turret aren't adding anything to game-play IMHO. I like the previously mentioned idea about a fortified turret that benefits additionally from cover with increased HP at the expense of limited firing arc. Perhaps the latter can also use a higher and/or stronger type of cover. I was originally thinking it could work with walls (such as stone walls) implying that the turret has a small bunker-like hole to shoot from. An attacker essentially needs to destroy the wall before being able to access the turret. That may conflict with the current wall implementation, however, since objects can't currently shoot through them in either direction and turrets can't lean around the edge. It may be better to create a new type of cover that's stronger than sandbags for use with this turret. Perhaps a low stone wall etc.

I like your ideas, Perhaps the fortified turret could be a 2x1 instead of a 1x1 with a Built in Sandbag/Metal wall in front of the gun with a window for firing? So that you could place it as part of a wall but the turret could still shoot through? This would also make it more immediately clear to the player that it only has a 90 degree firing arc that is fixed when they place it. I'm not sure if the fortified turret should explode or not? Perhaps a smaller explosion, 1 or 2 squares just to prevent people from making walls exclusively from turrets. (As cool as that would be) Or even maybe require a colonist to operate the turret.

[Garen]

did same test where a colonist with 3 shooting skill would fire upon a turret with same weapon it uses, and constantly changed the variables to see what happens if enemy uses sandbags etc


turrets do not gain cover bonus,just any shots that would miss hits the sandbags most of the time
however the enemy they're shooting at does get the cover bonus - therefore sanbags should only be ever used as cheap colonist cover, single stone walls do a better job then it, though they obviously limit firing angles and viewpoints


the best tactic then is to have a small kill room with turrets at close ranges, the turrets surrounded by stone walls to decrease explosion damage. power conduits should be used to power them as theyre cheap
By the sides are areas for colonists ethier having sandbags for protection but full firing view or stone pillars for full protection, il post a screenshot of the idea, after ive made it (in god mode to make it done quickly and prove the point)

[Damien Hart]

Logically, if you built sandbags around a turret, the only exposed thing would be the gum itself, with the mount and mechanical sections hidden behind the sandbags. Therefore, turrets should receive cover, but due to their inability to actively use the cover (duck behind when under fire, etc.) they should receive a reduced amount compared to pawns.

[HatesYourFace]

It's unintuitive that sandbags placed in front of a turret aren't adding anything to game-play IMHO.

This x 1000.

Every screenshot of a base I've ever seen from RimWorld has sandbags around every turret...that do nothing apparently. Obviously something needs to change, even if that something is just clarifying in the Turret tool tip that it does NOT gain any benefit from cover.

[Tynan]

You guys are correct that they don't gain from cover. And they probably should, to some degree. I can't promise this will be done any time soon, though - it's not a super high priority. But I shall put it on my todo.