'Automatic' popup turrets?

[Panpiper]

I like the idea of having ample point defense turrets on my ship. ('Point Defense' refers to weapon systems designed to engage incoming missiles.) However for many ship designs, I prefer a relatively smooth hull, greebled perhaps, but not with dozens of knobby turrets sticking out all over the place. Is it possible to create a turret that will sit recessed into the hull, but that pops out the instant it detects enemies and recesses when the enemy is gone?

Certainly it would be possible to create such a system that could be manually activated, but this would be much better if it could happen automatically. Is it possible to use logic for this sort of thing? Has anyone built something like this that they would be willing to share?

 

[HerrColonel]

I know no way to detect presence of targets or incoming missiles =(

 

[Edymnion]

Currently, no.

What you could do though is make your turrets on rails with doors that close over them, and put the "activate turrets" button that opens the door and raises the turret platforms on your hotbar. Then you could simply press it to move your turrets into place, and press it again to effectively turn them back off.

Requires some additional space though, which means smaller ships aren't going to get much use out of it. Instead, you could do recessed turrets where the bulk of them is hidden in your hull and only the tip of the barrel sticks out.

 

[Groovrider]

If you had an internal pd turret you could use adjacent activation block to activate a 'turret out' mode. Sadly there is no way yet to retract them automatically when the shooting is done.

 

[Keptick]

You could use enemy detection logic with turrets like Thalanor made (which doesn't clip when going back in no matter it's position). Set it up so that it stays out while an enemy is detected.

For some enemy detection logic, look at the logic community content page. For the turrets look at thalanor's shipyard thread.

 

[nemovonutopia]

A related question: when a turret is retracted, will it still shoot at things and move? Ive made a few retracting turrets but I have not gotten to the point of testing.

 

[Lord Daro]

Another possibility is to make static PD turrets (basically docked cannons).
Their firing arc is extremly limited, but still a decent addition for PD towards the front.
Also it's the next best thing if you got barely any space to spare.

 

[Keptick]

A related question: when a turret is retracted, will it still shoot at things and move? Ive made a few retracting turrets but I have not gotten to the point of testing.

They do, but if you make a ball turret that doesn't collide with the walls even if it's moving then it'd work fine.

 

[StormWing0]

There is an enemy detector in the content section you could use that detects enemies as they get into range. For Anti-Missile Turrets you could simply set the AI for the Enemy detector to look for missiles and the thing would send out a signal telling the turret platform that it is time to come up and be able to shoot freely.

 

[Thalanor]

So far I still hope for further turret/rails optimization, because as of now, many of my more gigantonormous idea pitches were buried within hours of conception due to massive framedrops. It'd be nice to be able to go nuts even more, and I assume you do just as well.

 

[aceface]

This: http://starmadedock.net/content/enemy-detection-model-ii.2967/
could be used to trigger turrets to pop up

 

[Panpiper]

This: http://starmadedock.net/content/enemy-detection-model-ii.2967/
could be used to trigger turrets to pop up

I have indeed downloaded that already. Great minds and all...