This is a point defense, anti-missile turret designed to actually be able to take some hits. Of course a hit from a really big weapon that is designed to break heavy armor and do damage beyond that, would likely knock it out anyway, but a huge amount of attrition happens to most point defense cannon from much smaller levels of damage. This point defense turret will be a lot harder to knock out than pretty much any other point defense turret out there.
Clearly it is not designed to be pretty. It is designed to be ultra functional. All it's vital parts are completely protected by advanced armor, but it also has additional hull to give it extra armor hit points. This is potentially magnified by this turret being future proofed for the day when docked entities will use defensive passives like punch and pierce protection. Both the turret base and ball have full punch and pierce defensive effect. Moreover, there is a chance that missiles may at some point gain extra HP so as to better resist point defense fire (the heavier ones anyway). Against this possibility, this PD turret is actually an overdrive weapon that does nine damage per hit, not two. The turret is almost needlessly self powering.
This is a ball turret, built in such a way that the turret cannot ever collide with either itself or the ship's hull. This prevents it from ever getting hung up or stuck, increasing it's overall effectiveness by keeping it in the fight. So as to keep everything under armor, yet still accessible by the player, the turret's core and bobby are contained in a small standing enclosure, protected by a blast door.
Obviously this is not a small turret as PD turrets go. It will need a seven block diameter hole in a ship's skin, three blocks deep for it to rotate fully. The advanced armor turret skirt does cover the hole.
It has a tiny bit of shields, just because it could, but between the base and the ball, it amounts to less than a thousand shield points. For shields, it mostly relies upon the ship's shields. The beauty of this PD turret, is that once the shields go down, this turret is not an instant kill like most other PD turrets.
Clearly it is not designed to be pretty. It is designed to be ultra functional. All it's vital parts are completely protected by advanced armor, but it also has additional hull to give it extra armor hit points. This is potentially magnified by this turret being future proofed for the day when docked entities will use defensive passives like punch and pierce protection. Both the turret base and ball have full punch and pierce defensive effect. Moreover, there is a chance that missiles may at some point gain extra HP so as to better resist point defense fire (the heavier ones anyway). Against this possibility, this PD turret is actually an overdrive weapon that does nine damage per hit, not two. The turret is almost needlessly self powering.
This is a ball turret, built in such a way that the turret cannot ever collide with either itself or the ship's hull. This prevents it from ever getting hung up or stuck, increasing it's overall effectiveness by keeping it in the fight. So as to keep everything under armor, yet still accessible by the player, the turret's core and bobby are contained in a small standing enclosure, protected by a blast door.
Obviously this is not a small turret as PD turrets go. It will need a seven block diameter hole in a ship's skin, three blocks deep for it to rotate fully. The advanced armor turret skirt does cover the hole.
It has a tiny bit of shields, just because it could, but between the base and the ball, it amounts to less than a thousand shield points. For shields, it mostly relies upon the ship's shields. The beauty of this PD turret, is that once the shields go down, this turret is not an instant kill like most other PD turrets.
Certainly there can be above average turrets with regards to looks, and many AMS turrets are above average from this one in that regard, as I stated in the write up. With regard to looks, yes, average at best. It's job isn't to be pretty. It's job is to stay in the fight and shoot down missiles. In that job, this turret is as good as it gets.
This turret is above average in two specific regards that in my opinion are extremely important. Virtually every other AMS turret out there will be wiped off of a ship by the tiniest swarmer the instant it is no longer protected by a ship's shields. This turret will not. To take this turret out of action, you'll have to hit with with something very serious, otherwise it will continue to do it's job long after the shields have failed. The same cannot be said for virtually all other AMS turrets.
Furthermore, this is a ball turret. It cannot get stuck or hung up on itself or off the ship's hull. This again is a feature very few other AMS turrets have. This turret will as a result be firing with far more consistency than most others.