Block Weapons
You build weapon blocks on your stations, rovers, mechs, and ships to provide grids with defensive and offensive capabilities. They are the stations' and ships' equivalents of handheld Character Weapons.
Construction
Certain weapon blocks exist only for small grid (like the Autocannon), or only for large grids (like the Artillery), while most of them exist in both sizes.
Some Block Weapons pull ammunition through conveyor ports while others have to be reloaded manually, so consider port accessibility before placing them.
Block weapons are among the blocks with the highest PCU cost, so don't just cover your ship hull in guns.
What's the difference between turret or static?
Each weapon block type is either a turret or static. All weapons can be aimed manually or AI controlled.
- Automatic turrets can turn and primarily use AI to shoot at chosen targets. Secondarily, players can take manual aim control of them.
- Static Block Weapons are fixed and turn with the ship or drone they are on. Secondarily, you can build Custom Turrets out of static weapons and aim them manually or use AI.
Gallery
All Small Grid Weapons 2022
All Large Grid Weapons 2022
Tanks using an Assault Cannon on a custom turret
Station defense using multiple Assault Cannons on one custom turret
Available Weapon Blocks
Legend: SG = for small grid, LG = for large grid
| Name | Size | Control | Ammo | Reload | Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interior Turret | LG | automatic | MR-50A magazine | manual | 0600m |
| Gatling Turret | LG/SG | automatic | Gatling Ammo Box | conveyor | 0800m |
| Gatling Gun | SG | static | Gatling Ammo Box | conveyor | 0800m |
| Rocket Turret | LG/SG | automatic | Rocket | conveyor | 0800m |
| Rocket Launcher | LG | static | Rocket | conveyor | 0800m |
| Rocket Launcher | SG | static | Rocket | manual | 0800m |
| Reloadable Rocket Launcher | SG | static | Rocket | conveyor | 0800m |
| Autocannon | SG | static | Autocannon Magazine | conveyor | 0800m |
| Autocannon Turret | SG | automatic | Autocannon Magazine | conveyor | 0800m |
| Assault Cannon | SG | static | Assault Cannon Shell | conveyor | 1400m |
| Assault Cannon Turret | LG/SG | automatic | Assault Cannon Shell | conveyor | 1400m |
| Artillery | LG | static | Artillery Shell | conveyor | 2000m |
| Artillery Turret | LG | automatic | Artillery Shell | conveyor | 2000m |
| Railgun | LG/SG | static | Small/Large Railgun Sabot | conveyor | 2000m |
How to configure manual shooting
When configuring Block Weapons in the G-menu toolbar of your cockpit, it makes a difference whether you use the entry from the Block Weapons filter or from the All Blocks filter!
| Filter | Selected Action | How to shoot |
|---|---|---|
| Block Weapons | Drag the weapon to a toolbar slot. (Default) |
Activate the toolbar slot to assign this weapon to your mouse clicks.
|
| All Blocks or Groups |
Select the block's Shoot Once or the Shoot On/Off action. |
Press the slot number to shoot once or to shoot continuously. |
| All Blocks | Select a turret's Control action. | To take manual control of a turret, press the toolbar slot number where you assigned the turret's Control action. You "see" through the turret's eyes and shoot with  -click. Press F key to exit Turret Control. |
You will also be interested in Target Locking.
How to configure automatic shooting (AI)
If an automatic turret wastes ammo because it's shooting at wreck debris, you'll want to be able to quickly disable its auto-targetting. When configuring the toolbar, also assign slots to the following auto-targetting controls so you can change them smartly on the fly.
Relevant AI controls include:
- Set an AI Aiming Radius in metres. Set your primary point defences to maximum-range, and hide secondary turrets with different angles and a lower aiming radius to ambush boarders.
- Choose one or several automatic targets from this list:
- meteors, rockets, characters, stations,
- large ships, small ships,
- neutrals, friends, enemies
- Select one of the following automatic Subsystem Target Options:
- Default -- Makes the AI destroy the first visible subsystem block (power, weapons, or propulsion).
- Weapons -- Makes the AI focus on destroying static Weapons, Turrets, Warheads, first. Good to detooth armed ships and stations.
- Propulsion -- Makes the AI focus on destroying Thrusters, Gyroscopes, and Jump Drives first. Good against PBW or fleeing vessels. Disabled mobile targets may drift off or crash. Useless against stations.
- Power Systems -- Makes the AI focus on destroying Batteries, Solar Panels, Wind Turbines, H2 Engines, and Reactors first. Good to shut down stations and ships, but only useful if their power subsystems are exposed. Disabled mobile targets may drift off or crash.
Turrets additionally benefit from manual Target Locking. Many of these settings are shared with Custom Turret Controllers and combat Automatons.
Regarding the targetting priority of automated turrets, you should also know about Decoys.
Turrets display conspicuous seeking behavior when idle, which can alert intruders to their presence, but you can configure them to remain still. On servers, they do not move when idle.
How to aim automatic turrets manually
The 
Control Station is disabled by a railgun hit? Assume manual turret control from any seat (!) by opening the turret's Control Panel and clicking the Control button:
- See through the "eyes" of the turret and use the mouse scroll wheel to aim down sights (zoom in).
- Aim and shoot using
. - If in a cockpit, continue to drive/fly using the WASD keys.
- Press F key to release turret control.
Put Subsystem Target Options switching actions on your toolbar to react tactically. The best choice depends on the location of the battle and whether your priority is to detooth or to capture a vessel. For example:
- Targetting enemy propulsion above your planetary base comes with the risk of the ships crashing down on you, but may be the safest option in zero gravity to make missiles or cargo ships drift off course.
- Accidentally targeting propulsion against a base, or targeting weapons against a kinetic missile, may cost you your victory, so be prepared to switch.
How to optimise reload time
If you are using multiple weapons with very slow reload times, don't group them to shoot at the same time!
Switch from one to the other, and shoot one while the other reloads.
How to distinguish friend from foe
You can use the Factions screen to declare war or peace, but what about neutrals or grids that are not broadcasting?
Unload the ammo from one unconveyored turret and set the turret to aim at "neutrals" and "allies". The turret now silently indicates other players' presence on your faction's HUD with a white signal.
Weapon Damage
For a detailed damage comparisons, see Damage Mechanics.
Weapons with the lowest damage are the compact and lightweight gatlings and interior turrets. The medium sized Rocket Launchers, Rocket Turrets, and Autocannons do medium damage. In the top damage range we see heavy and unwieldy weapons such as Assault Cannons, with the slow Artilleries and Railguns taking the top ranks. Choose high damage when you have time and opportunity to aim (possibly even manually), for example, because the enemy ships are large or slow.
If you consider damage per second (dps), interior turrets, Rocket Turrets, and small Railguns rank lowest. Small Assault Cannons, Rocket Launchers, and Gatling Turrets are in the middle dps ranges. Autocannons, Large Railguns, and large Assault Cannon Turrets have high dps, only topped by the sluggish Artilleries having the highest dps. Choose high dps turrets when you have lots of ammo to spend on chasing small or fast moving targets.
