Invader Turrets

Invaders

Invader Turrets

Ships capable of turret popping & prioritizing which turrets to eliminate

Tier List for Turret Popping

Popping Normal (Exposed) Turrets

Different ships have different turret popping capabilities. This section will group ships into different tiers of turret popping.

We shall consider 5 different tiers of turret popping capabilities for different ships, with regards to normal turret popping.

The tiers are described as follows:

Tier 1 - Turret popping is very easy for these ships, and there is absolutely no issue to specifically aim for the turrets you want to pop off.

Tier 2 - Turret popping is easy for these ships, and is highly recommended for these ships. However, they may be a bit harder to pull off than Tier 1 ships, because their main weapon takes longer to do so, or the defensive means to keep them aligned to the turrets you want to pop off is not the most optimal.

Tier 3 - Their main weapons usually have a couple of issues that make turret popping slightly difficult, but they have some form of aid from defences (or VL in terms of offence) to keep them adequately aligned to the turrets you want to pop off.

Tier 4 - Their main weapon is inherently flawed, which either takes way too long to pop off a single turret or have severe issues in alignment which causes a powerful main weapon to only have part of its burst actually hit a turret, which prolongs the time needed to pop off a turret.

Tier 5 - Very difficult main weapons to handle in order to pop off turrets, these ships require extremely precise positioning or just have a bad habit to aim for things you don't actually want to aim for.

*Wrackr is inbetween Tier 4 and 5, sort of a Tier 4.5, but once again it's the only one. While it's similar to Atlas and Essin due to its rapid firing nature, the weapon's spread makes it pretty difficult to do turret popping. While it does have PD to aid positioning, the weapon spread requires it to be close enough to actually do meaningful turret popping, which is really difficult especially against spread turrets, or spinner turrets after they start firing.

Popping Difficult-to-reach Turrets

Some ships possess much easier means to allow them to pop turrets on the back row of Rocs, or the central turrets of a Condor. These 2 types of turrets are difficult to reach, which makes it different from normal turrets which are immediately exposed. In a later sub-section, we will consider turret popping strategies for ships that can do this reliably, and also strategies which accommodate to ships cannot do this with enough reliability.

We shall consider 4 different tiers of turret popping capability for these difficult-to-reach turrets.

Tier 1 - Very reliable and easy enough to pull off

Krillou - Firing the initial SEMP to completely stun the invader allows it to get behind and make quick work of these turrets. You will likely be able to pull off 2 SEMPs, the second one usually almost full so that you can go about popping off all of them. Krillou's Photon Bombs are reliable enough to get the job done with ease.

Dragonfly - IC allows it to get behind to pop these turrets slowly with the Twin Miniguns. It'll take some time but a healthy stockpile of ICs will do the job very well. Take note that this will be harder with a Condor since there are usually a lot of invaders around as well. However, you can work to at least take out whatever is front of the Condor first.

Barret - Similar to Dragonfly, this ship will pop these turrets. It'll take some time but a healthy stockpile of ICs will do the job very well. Take note that this will be harder with a Condor since there are usually a lot of invaders around as well. However, you can work to at least take out whatever is front of the Condor first.

Sonah Alpha - The upgraded capabilities of its Firestorm allows it to simply mass pop off turrets, whether is it the front row turrets or back row turrets. Simply slowly go from one side to the other as turrets get popped off, throwing in ICs to laugh at these invaders. Take note that this will be harder with a Condor since there are usually a lot of invaders around as well. However, you can work to at least take out whatever is front of the Condor first.

Trinity - TP-ing behind to pop these turrets after the Condor or Roc arrives will work very well. After you get behind, deploy CF to then run right on top of these turrets to take them out. A full size CF is enough to pop off 2 turrets.

NC-271 - Similar to Dragonfly, this ship will pop these turrets. It takes 1 or 2 burst of the Plasma Cluster before the shield goes down. Aiming is straightforward. Highly reliable with a reasonable stockpile of ICs. Take note that this will be harder with a Condor since there are usually a lot of invaders around as well. However, you can work to at least take out whatever is front of the Condor first.

Polaris - Similar to Dragonfly, this ship will pop these turrets. The aiming is straightforward since you just have to stand just in front of the turret. Highly reliable with a reasonable stockpile of ICs. Take note that this will be harder with a Condor since there are usually a lot of invaders around as well. However, you can work to at least take out whatever is front of the Condor first.

Lyova - The thin Photon Shredder will pass very reliably between the front row turrets. It's double defensive options will also ensure positioning is perfect. However, it will take 2 bursts of the Photon Shredder to take out one such turret.

Nimbus - It's near impossible to get Nimbus to fire directly at these turrets, but you can trick Nimbus into locking on to a front row turret and then quickly shifting yourself such that it hits these turrets instead. Some of the damage will be absorbed by the front row turrets. If you are lucky, a crit will mean both turrets, the front and back turrets will be gone. SEMP will help you a lot in getting a good positioning.

Tier 2 - Reliable enough, but it might require a bit more precision and/or skill to pull off

Jericho Alpha - The upgraded Inferno Seekers automatically does their job to pop off turrets, similar to Sonah Alpha. However, the process will be slower due to the curvy nature of these missiles which sometimes hit the invader's hull/shield instead.

Photurius - The initial SEMP will keep the invader stunned, where you can go between 2 back row turrets of a Roc, or right in front of the central turret. 3 bursts of the main will pop off 2 side-by-side turrets of a Roc. A second SEMP will usually be possible for a second SEMP to allow a bit more time for the second set of back row turrets, or the other central turret.

Prime X - This is a pretty unique case, where it's MS that does the job. Just before the invader fully arrives, charge up TP (don't charge it too early otherwise it'll be a wasted charge). Just after the invader fully arrives on screen, at the very first instance bullet start firing from the invader, TP in between 2 such turrets and immediately launch MS. You will need to be close to the turrets. It'll work best on turrets on a Roc, and it's difficult to say the success rate for a Condor. At best, you'll be able to pop off 2 such turrets on one side of the Roc with the correct positioning.

Baqlor - While the Serrator Laser looks weak, the angled Serrator Lasers often penetrate deep into the back row turrets and pop them off even without you explicitly aiming for them. Just position yourself on one side of the field and the main weapon takes care of the rest. It does take some time however, but CF usually allows you to hold up long enough to pop these turrets before you get yourself into too much trouble. If needed be, Baqlor can also deploy a CF on top of these turrets and go straight in to pop off the turrets, but it is a more risky move which risks not being able to survive destroying such turrets on the other side of the Roc.

Predator - The rather thin Dual Blasters allows it to pass between front row turrets and hit back row turrets. A small barrier also helps to align yourself perfectly. However, more often than not, some of the projectiles on one side hit the hull of the invader instead due to their random movement. It generally takes 2 bursts of the Dual Blasters to pop off such a turret, but a perfect scenario where all the projectiles hit the turret will make that a single burst.

Icarus - The very thin Inferno Laser will pass between the front row turrets and hit the back row turrets. It will take a bit of skill to line it up perfectly between front row turrets. TP will help to get it roughly in line with the target turret, but it's still down to your movements to perfectly align it, especially when Icarus' main takes time to fire.

Neni & Mistral - Their very thin main weapons allows them to penetrate in between the front row turrets, but their weak main weapon requires several hits on the back row turrets. The lack of defences also usually make this a difficult task.

Tier 3 - Difficult to pull off, but still possible. I do not recommend trying unless there are no very difficult turrets.

NC-150 - SEMP allows it to stun all the turrets and keep them from firing. However, you will need to take down the shield first before being able to go behind to take out the turrets one by one. Because the spread of the Plasma Cannon is relatively small, you should be right in front of the turret to pop it off instead of being in-between 2 turrets in the case of a Roc.

Veil - The Fusion Laser is pretty wide, which makes it quite difficult to have its Fusion Laser pass between front row turrets. Otherwise, it's BEMP will keep it perfectly in line for the task, but you might run out of enough BEMP before the shield goes down to commence such turret popping.

Tar'Cah - The Storm Blaster is thin enough, but it's lack of defenses to keep it in line with these turrets make it quite difficult to pull off

Zhetass - It's Flux Array is pretty wide like Veil, which makes it slightly difficult to pull it off. Phalanx works pretty decently to get it in position well enough, but you will have to shovel off bullets before you position yourself properly, which can be difficult given it's pretty difficult to accurately predict the time the Flux Array goes off.

All other ships belong to Tier 4, which means that it is either near impossible to do so, or it's not reliable enough at all to explicitly try for it.

Order of Elimination

Prioritizing what to eliminate is one of the hardest things to teach in this game, and it takes months of experience with the game to fully grasp it. That being said, this guide tries to give you a pretty good guide on how to go about doing this.

The hardest thing about teaching this aspect is, there is no definite answer, and it all really depends on your ship's Aura and Zen. It also depends on whether you are just simply looking to survive, or speedrunning. Of course, if your main weapon is a homing or instant tracking weapon, and you do not have VL or FL, then this section is entirely irrelevant for you.

Invader Turret Approach

Different invaders have a different approach to them.

• For Sparrows, Ravens & Herons, it's simply easier to kill them entirely.
  
  • If you are in desperate survival mode, and you want to successfully be able to charge ML or MB because you are expecting the next wave to be a tough one, then you can try slowly popping off the turret which is closer to the centerline of the field. If you are skilled enough, you can even pop off both the side turrets of a Heron, which leaves the middle turret which is trivial to handle. Carefully aim your main weapon on the last invader, then retreat to a safe spot to charge ML or MB. This is especially relevant to Shuriken/MIRV missions.
• For Eagles, if the middle turret is dangerous, try to pop it off. Unfortunately, the problem is that trying to pop off the Eagle's middle turret is very RNG based, as the turret hitbox for Eagles is very difficult to understand (yes, even for veterans). Aiming in the dead center of the turret is unlikely to be able to pop the turret off, so try to offset very slightly either to the left or right, whichever is more convenient. This is likely because the dead center of the turret is being blocked by the invisible cockpit of an Eagle.
• The real prioritization of turret elimination comes when you are dealing with Vultures. All of a Vulture's turrets are exposed so you can choose which ones to pop off first. We will discuss the turrets to eliminate below in the table.
• For Condors and Rocs, there is an additional layer of complexity as they have difficult to reach turrets as well that either require you to go point blank to these turrets, or find a way to shoot between other turrets to reach them. We will discuss how to deal with both exposed and difficult to reach turrets, as exposed turrets can often affect how you eliminate difficult to reach turrets.

This guide assumes perfect reachability of all turrets. That means no matter where the turret is, you are able to pop it off somehow. This scenario occurs exclusively with the ship Trinity, because TP allows you to be wherever you want to be, and CF's invincibility allows you to be able to stay there long enough to pop the turret off. Because the scenario will almost never be perfect, strike off turrets you cannot reach and go down the list.

Dealing with Difficult-to-reach Condor & Roc turrets

We will first discuss the best technique to deal against Rocs and Condors, as these 2 invaders are the most threatening. Generally, the difficult to reach turrets are the most dangerous turrets and are usually first priority to pop off. This will be much more difficult to apply to Shielded Condors and Rocs, although ships that have SEMP and IC may be able to pull this off.

We will class the turrets into 6 different classes. This will be relevant for our discussion:

• Dart Launchers/Spreads - We shall refer to them as Fast Trackers.
• Boomerangs, Shuriken Spreads, Shuriken Launchers, Tracking Lasers & Speed Lasers - We shall refer to them as Slow Trackers.
• Pellet Launchers/Spreads & Pellet MIRV Launchers/Spreads - We shall refer to them as Forward Turrets.
• T1/T2/(T3) Pellet Spinners (Lane / Wall), T1/T2/(T3) Dart Spinners, T1/T2/T3 Shuriken Spinners - We shall refer to them as Spinners. Note that T3 Pellet & Dart Spinners may sometimes be deadly, so re-class them into High Priority Turrets if needed.
• T3/T4 Pellet MIRV Launchers, T3/T4 Pellet MIRV Bloomers, T4 Pellet Spinners (Wall) & DDSMs - We shall refer to them as Urgent Priority Turrets. These turrets are classified as such because they fire off their first burst quickly and reload quickly.
  
  • If there is only ONE DDSM, and it is possible to stay far away from it before it fires, then the DDSM is trivial and can be eliminated from this list.
• T4 Pellet Spinners (Lane), (T3 Pellet Spinners (Lane / Wall)), (T3)/T4 Dart Spinners, T4 Shuriken Spinners - We shall refer to them as High Priority Turrets. Note that T3 Pellet (Lane / Wall) & Dart Spinners are sometimes not a huge issue, so re-class them into Spinners if needed.
• DDMB

Note that:

• Other turrets not mentioned are disregarded because they are not important to our discussion.
• The reason why Speed Lasers are not considered High Priority Turrets is because if they appear as difficult to reach turrets, more often than not, you'll find a more threatening difficult to reach turret, or there's just simply not many other dangerous turrets / simply tracking & speed lasers around.
• DDLs are not considered Urgent / High Priority Turrets because it's usually a better idea to eliminate other more dangerous difficult to reach turrets. As front turrets, they are usually not the end of the world.
• Although DDMBs are usually not threatening for survival in the case of Rocs, in some cases, where the front exposed turrets are all very deadly, it could be a viable idea to destroy the DDMBs to completely avoid all of the front exposed turrets.

The first thing to decide is from where would you like to attack these Urgent & High Priority Turrets. We first need to understand what ship you are using. If your ship is able to stun turrets, then the decision is automatically to attack these Urgent & High Priority Turrets from upfield. Start from downfield if there is time, quickly deploy it from downfield before heading upfield so you can collect the particles for additional stunning. If there is not enough time, then stay upfield and deploy the stun(s). The first exception is Nimbus, because it's main weapon cannot trigger when it is too near an Urgent & High Priority Turret, so Nimbus has no choice but to attack from downfield. The second exception is when the Roc or Condor is shielded. In this case, attack from downfield, and wait for the shield to be downed before re-stunning the Roc or Condor and attacking the Urgent & High Priority Turrets from upfield.

The next point is based on how you want the long battle with the Roc or Condor to play out. If staying below is too dangerous due to the presence of many dangerous Slow Trackers or dangerous Forward Turrets, then it might be a good idea to attack the Urgent & High Priority Turrets from upfield.

However, if such a case occurs, you have to understand that this might make the next wave (if there is, if not, ignore this) harder since you have to stay upfield in the next wave. Otherwise, heading back downfield might get you into a lot of trouble (especially if you are dealing with MIRVs or shurikens). If you lack a means to stun turrets, then you have to start attacking the Roc or Condor from upfield. Also, if you have defensive means to get out of being cornered (namely, BEMP, PD, CF, Phalanx, TP & REMP), then starting from downfield would be a lot better, and a lot easier. For Barrier & PS ships, this would depend on your ability. As for VL & ML ships, while bullet clear is possible, it's not reliable enough to get you out of being cornered.

At this point, there are 2 ways you will start attacking the Roc or Condor: Upfield or Downfield. If you are attacking from downfield, proceed straight to Phase 3. We will focus more on upfield since that is a more dangerous situation.

Phase 1: Attack Urgent Priority Turrets from Upfield. Skip if there are no Urgent Priority Turrets.

Now, if we are starting from upfield, we need to look out for the Fast Trackers. Not destroying these Fast Trackers allows them to shoot us at point blank range, which will spell death. Thus, there is a need to stun these Fast Trackers first. Otherwise, you will have to find a way to block these Fast Trackers from shooting at you such as deploying a very well positioned barrier.

You can also find extreme means to bypass these Fast Trackers. Such means include ML (Double Shot ML works really well here), MS, VLs & FL. You will need a LOT of skill to pull off ML & FL, as the final deployment position of a Roc can vary slightly. Charge ML or FL just underneath the Urgent Priority Turret to immediately pop it off after the Condor or Roc fully arrives. Not being careful will either result in turret collision death or missing the Roc entirely. If you are using VL, don't hesitate to stockpile VLs, and use 2 for each turret. Be careful of turret collision. The correct positioning will matter if you are using MS, but turret collision and entirely missing will be much less of an issue. At worst, you will just miss destroying the turrets.

On the other hand, Slow Trackers won't have enough time to reach us, as we would have popped off these Urgent & High Priority Turrets before they can turn towards us. Boomerangs which are Slow Trackers are trivial as well since while we are eliminating these Urgent & High Priority Turrets, boomerangs will simply fly around us. Forward Turrets are another bunch of turrets that are irrelevant to us as well since they can't do anything to us while we are behind them. Just be careful not to stay too near to MIRV Launchers as the MIRVs emitted might explode.

Focus on popping off these Urgent Priority Turrets that fire and reload very quickly first to prevent them from ruining our strategy to eliminate all Urgent & High Priority Turrets. If it is not possible to eliminate the Urgent Priority Turrets before they fire, or if the Fast Trackers are already threatening us, retreat downfield once either of them start firing. This also means we have to deal with the Slow Trackers and Forward Turrets, unfortunately. Skip to Phase 3.

Phase 2: Too dangerous downfield?

If you have eliminated all the Urgent Priority Turrets before they can fire, great job! Now, establish whether you want to play out the rest of the battle with the Condor or Roc upfield or downfield. This would depend on the Slow Trackers and Forward Turrets, whether or not they are dangerous or not. Remember that you might pay a price for staying upfield in the next wave as mentioned previously.

If you are staying downfield, if there is enough time to pop off all the High Priority Turrets, do so and then head downfield. Proceed to Phase 3.

If you are staying upfield, pop off all DDMBs first (if any). You may pop off some High Priority Turrets first if you are confident you can do so before the DDMB(s) fire. Then, go ahead to pop off the High Priority Turrets. You don't have a choice if you stay upfield, you have to find a way to eliminate them all. As you pop off the High Priority Turrets, watch out for Spinners that can kill you if you are not careful.

After that, we have to deal with the dangerous Slow Trackers. For shuriken launchers (Spread & Forward Scattering), try to find a gap in their firing and then head downfield. This is because you will most likely get caught in the crossfire from both sides as you popped off the Urgent & High Priority Turrets previously. For tracking & speed lasers, find a chance to head downfield.

If they are boomerangs, stay in the middle of the Condor or Roc as the boomerangs will most likely all swing around you. If you need to establish the fact that the other turrets are either all boomerangs, or the Forward Turrets are too trivial that they won't cause a problem next wave, then you may stay in the middle the whole fight. Otherwise, head downfield where possible.

Phase 3: Attacking from downfield

If you are set on attacking from downfield from the start, pop off the Urgent Priority Turrets first, then the High Priority Turrets. DDMBs are completely trivial so just ignore them. Most Spinners are generally quite trivial from downfield so they can be popped off much later.

From here on, refer to the next section on the order of elimination.

Turret Popping Priority

The table below shows a general guide of what turrets you should pop off first. According to your Aura or Zen, there will be some shuffling which will be detailed below this table.

If there are more than 2 turrets of the same type, then you might want to start looking for other dangerous turrets in Priorities P0 - P2 to pop off. This is because it would take too long to eliminate them all, and one of the most important survival or speedrunning tactics is to always reduce the variety of turrets on field, so there is a more consistent strategy to survival or speedrunning.