Hail

Hail is a small, long-range artillery turret that fires compact shells at ground targets from great distances. It specializes in single-target, high-precision damage rather than widespread area suppression; its projectiles travel over intervening blocks and explode on impact, dealing area damage within a relatively small radius. Hail appears as a long-range choice in mid-to-late game defenses and pairs with different ammo types to change its role and effectiveness.

Hail has a notable reach and steady firing cadence. Its build time and base fire rate were adjusted across versions, and its range and ammo effects have been tuned to emphasize precision impact damage. The turret can be cooled by liquids (water or cryofluid) to further increase its firing speed; coolant consumption and the magnitude of the fire-rate bonus have been adjusted in updates. The turret’s sprite was updated in later builds.

Ammo selection is the primary way to tailor Hail’s performance:

• Graphite ammo is the easiest to supply (Graphite Press requires no power) and provides consistent area damage of 33 with a 2.3-tile radius and a 0.8 knockback. It works well when resources are limited but gives the lowest DPS.
• Silicon ammo deals the same base area damage (33, radius 2.3 tiles) but grants a 3x ammo multiplier and a +20% fire rate when used, along with homing behavior. This raises effective DPS (roughly 39.6 vs Graphite) and improves hit accuracy on fast targets, at the cost of using silicon which can slow other production chains.
• Pyratite ammo increases impact area damage to 45 with the same 2.3-tile radius, carries a 4x ammo multiplier, and applies burning for about 12 seconds. Pyratite offers the highest single-shot damage and strong sustained damage via incendiary effects, synergizing with oil-related strategies.

Practical notes for deployment and counterplay:

• Hail excels at dealing with bulky, evasive units due to its long range and focused shots; it is less efficient at mowing down large swarms compared to area-focused turrets like Arc or Lancer.
• On maps where bases guard high-tier resources (for example, Titanium), Hails can be used offensively as an alternative to Ripple to apply steady, long-range damage to defended positions.
• Hails cannot hit flying units directly with their shells; Flares (and other flyers that remain above the ground) and units immune to ground shells pose natural counters. Watch for accompanying ground support such as Scatters which can threaten the Hail.
• All standard Hail ammo recipes use coal in their production chains, so attacks that dive into supply lines risk igniting fires that early bases may struggle to handle.
• Turrets with area damage and sufficient range (for example, Fortresses with range upgrades) can outrange and suppress Hails in some situations; map layout and reconstructor upgrades can change matchup outcomes.

Hail’s name references falling solid precipitation; its shells similarly fall to the ground and detonate on impact. The current sprite was created by Snake#2132.