Scatter

Scatter is an early-game anti-air turret that fires clumps of flak (lead, scrap, or metaglass) intended to disrupt and damage aircraft. It occupies a niche as a cheap, high-rate anti-air solution with long reach relative to its tech cost; Scatter is commonly encountered defending cores and supply lines on lower-threat sectors and remains useful until mid-game anti-air units such as Antumbra and Quad appear. The turret cannot target ground-only units with direct bullets; instead it relies on area flak damage to threaten flying units.

Scatter accepts three ammo types that change its damage profile and behavior. Lead rounds deal a small direct hit and a larger area burst, offering the highest raw DPS on paper due to a high ammo multiplier. Metaglass rounds add frag bullets (extra small projectiles) and trade a slower firing rate for greater burst effectiveness and accuracy against clustered flyers. Scrap rounds fire wider but weaker bursts and reduce Scatter’s firing rate substantially; their larger radius can make them surprisingly effective at long ranges where Scatter’s inaccuracy otherwise causes many shots to miss. The turret’s baseline fire rate is high (about 6.66 shots/sec after late updates), and its range and rates were increased across versions so it outranges many early aircraft.

Practical usage and interactions:

• Scatter is affordable to research and build, making it an excellent first dedicated anti-air defense when flares or other early flyers threaten your base. Place them around the core and near likely flight paths.
• Choose ammo by situation: Lead generally gives the best DPS when shots land; Metaglass gives very strong damage against clustered air due to frag bullets despite a -20% fire rate; Scrap’s slower rate and wider area can hit more often at extreme ranges where inaccuracy reduces effectiveness.
• Supply Scatters with Unloaders or conveyor-fed ammo near the core for sustained defense. Destroying or cutting off the ammo feed is an effective way to neutralize enemy Scatters.
• Scatter is particularly effective versus swarms of early air units like Flares; a defended ring of Scatters quickly suppresses those attackers. It is less effective alone against heavy ground assaults because ground units are not directly hit by the flak, so expect Scatters to be paired with anti-ground turrets (Hail, Ripple, Lancer) in mixed defenses.
• Power and resource support improves performance: using a Mechanical Pump to provide water for Scrap handling or using small processing chains to make Metaglass from Scrap increases the turret’s practical output and consistency.
• Replace Scatters with more accurate mid-game anti-air such as Cyclone when available; Cyclone can hit ground targets, also use Metaglass, and equips better ammo for higher sustained DPS. Scatters remain relevant until Antumbra and Quad-class enemies appear or when tactical needs call for more accurate, versatile turrets.

Development notes: Scatter’s stats have been adjusted across versions—range and firing rate have both been increased in recent updates, area damage values for ammo types were raised, and research costs were substantially reduced to make Scatter earlier and cheaper to unlock.