Improvised Turret left out of the fun?

[HatesYourFace]

So animals, humanoids, and mechanoids all have a very nifty new damage system that tracks all their respective parts and the condition of each. Why not the Turret? It seems really odd that it's the only unit in combat to still be working around a flat HP total. I mean...mechanoids have a damage system...why not turrets? Damage to different areas could reduce accuracy, firing rate, range, tracking speed, etc... repairing it would be the equivalent of treating it, and the skill of the pawn in Repair would dictate how good the repair is. This would mean old turrets that have been around a while would have quirks and scars just like characters, possibly even forcing you to break them down and rebuild them eventually when they become almost useless due to all the wear and tear. Would add more depth to Turrets and make them synergize better with the new damage modeling system.

[Rahjital]

Turrets are not units, though, they are just buildings with the ability to shoot. If you added complex health tracking to turrets, you would either have to add it to the rest of the buildings (which would actually be pretty awesome) or you would have to make only turrets be affected by the damage mechanics, making the game mechanics inconsistent. Neither of these sound like the best solution, the first would be a ton of additional work and the second is not really an improvement to gameplay.

[Shinzy]

Oh come on! Having turret with faulty face recognition or overheating problems or just crazy bullet spread due to broken barrel
or madly spinning around on it's tripod when shooting cause the joints have loosened or something

That sounds like tons of fun! =P

[HatesYourFace]

Turrets are not units, though, they are just buildings with the ability to shoot. If you added complex health tracking to turrets, you would either have to add it to the rest of the buildings (which would actually be pretty awesome) or you would have to make only turrets be affected by the damage mechanics, making the game mechanics inconsistent. Neither of these sound like the best solution, the first would be a ton of additional work and the second is not really an improvement to gameplay.

The difference between turrets and every other building is that turrets take part in combat actively, it's not inconsistent to have a unit/object capable of dealing/receiving damage use the same system as every other unit/object capable of dealing/receiving damage... Including them under the new damage system wouldn't require all buildings to be handled this way, nor should they, Other buildings fall into the realm of cover as they are passive influences on the battle, not active and thus only need a flat hit point pool. I think the current exemption of turrets from the new combat systems feels odd and robs them of significance, and makes their use in combat free of consequence. (I like how the new combat system makes every fight not only a concern now but a concern for the future, turrets should be a part of this imo)

Oh come on! Having turret with faulty face recognition or overheating problems or just crazy bullet spread due to broken barrel
or madly spinning around on it's tripod when shooting cause the joints have loosened or something

That sounds like tons of fun! =P

Exactly, Turrets are a lot like colonists...early on you will only have 2 or 3 and as the game progresses this may increase to dozens, Like colonists they should have some character depth/history to them. Your oldest turret, like your oldest colonist may be covered in scars and half useless from battle damage...but you've grown attached to the little bugger!