Friday Facts #422 - Tesla Turret

[FactorioBot]

Here it is! (beep boop)

https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-422

[maniak1349]

Rubber shoes in motion!

[Daneel_]

I love this so much, but I'm in mourning over the first concept not becoming the final design - it's absolutely gorgeous and just conveys "punishing electrical canon" to me so much better than the final "sauron" design.

[MEOWMI]

I feel like the graphics for the bounces/chaining could use a small touchup. Maybe something like a few small particles, or a small impact effect. Other than that, it looks and sounds great!

[Terry]

Looks awesome!

It would be cool if it lit up the surrounding area more I think.

[Terrahertz]

This turret looks and sounds like the scariest one of them all (for now at least) good Job!
The charge indicator at the base of the turret is also pretty neat.

I also like the detailed description of the design journey and how the beam graphics have come to be.

I wonder if the turret can be used in Space. As it fires a particle beam it should work great in a vacuum where no atmosphere is stopping the beam, otherwise there is no atmosphere to enable the bouncing and I also don't think you can stun asteroids.

[husnikadam]

It was a bit too technical for the general audience, but the video montages of dying biters came to the rescue. Looking forward to it, although I start to feel like there is too much weaponery now. We should get to know some of the new biters please

[Splitframe]

Okay so this is the first serious suggestion from me I think.
I like the Tesla Turret in terms of visual design.
But the actual "shot" is very uninspired in my opinion.

Please consider having the Tesla Turret fire like this:

1. It locks onto a target, like it does now.
2. It "shoots" the electricity, exactly like it does now, just very faint. As in 33% opacity.
3. Then, through this slight "connection" the actual damage lightning bolt is sent and propagates from enemy to enemy.
   This one should be slightly beefier and less "beamy" like the current one. (100% opacity, strong color)

In the FFF you say

On Fulgora you learn to control lightning, turning it from a threat into electricity. After learning to make more advanced electrical components and mastering the planet's Electromagnetic science pack you are ready for the next stages: Converting electricity back into lightning and unlocking the Tesla turret.

But the current "shot" is more like a blue Laser turret with some sparks and a chain effect.

For comparison: https://youtu.be/qQKhIK4pvYo?t=301
You can see how the electricity "seeks" the ground and at the moment the connection is made it's a BANG.
The randomness of the seeking is overcome technology wise by leading with the beam first.
That would, in my opinion, be a great way to show how lightning was tamed and turned into a weapon from studying it.

Edit: Thinking about it a little my guess is that you wanted something more "fizzly" and less "impact".
What I described might fit an eventual Lightning Turret? Or maybe the legendary version of the Tesla Turret?

[aka13]

Cool, more crowd control is always fun. I also immediately thought of the beacon design when I saw it, even before I read the part about being inspired by the beacon design. I also think that lacking the "muzzle" and going with the "eye" is a very refreshing change. Makes it more sciency, somehow.

[GregoriusT]

Now my questions are:

1. Will the Discharge Equipment and the Destroyer Capsule be updated when it comes to gameplay effects and audiovisual effects?

2. Will Laser and Electric Damage infinite researches be split into different Techs from each other now?

[GrandMasterB]

Great to see more turrets and weapons. Great work! Hopefully there are even more new turrets and special enemies with different skills and resistances.

I love this so much, but I'm in mourning over the first concept not becoming the final design - it's absolutely gorgeous and just conveys "punishing electrical canon" to me so much better than the final "sauron" design.

True, my favorite design is also the first one. But in the end it's a question of personal preferences.

[mexmer]

this tower sparked my curiosity

[Grillmax]

the current "shot" is more like a blue Laser turret with some sparks and a chain effect.

The chain effect looks clear enough from a distance, but the main shot definitely should be changed, it looks too much like a laser and less like the impact of high voltage electricity. i dont know if the current FX are still WIP but i dont much like to look at it

[Soheil]

Super cool!

[Torquai]

Seeing this gave me an idea... could this tesla-turret be used as a wireless drone-recharger?

Same goes for the portable one... Whenever a robot is out of battery it crawls to a halt, so having a mid-way point with a stationary turret, or just shooting the robots with the portable tesla-gun should give them a quick boost to keep the speed up?

[Neelost]

I'm pretty sure I would be way more hyped if we had had a look at new biters or biter balancing before this FFF

Currently biters become a annoyance rather than a problem around the beginning blue science, so getting more defensive options after the 1st planet doesn't sound that useful rn

Of course it is highly probable that biters have been buffed endgame, since it's one of the most requested things I've seen from the community, so I don't doubt that tesla turrets will come in handy

But, you know, I think it would have been better to get to see the problem before the solution...

[ThorsDragon]

YAY LIGHTNING!!! Fulgora is very likely to become my home planet. I love lightning, and having a turret for it is EPIC!!

[Gemma]

I like this so much. I've always felt like the game needed another weapon, it feels so wrong in late game to be shooting with a laser gun and then also having laser guns on your back shooting at things and everything is just lasers. And being able to replace laser turret spam at every border with just a few Tesla turrets will feel so nice.

Also, holy shit, the attention to detail from everyone is so extreme. I really enjoy the way the Tesla beam arcs look like they're all part of the same "living" body, not just arcs happening separately along the periphery of beam space.

[Stalinlover22]

So cool. I expected a electric defense from fulgora and this is more than i expected

[staxx6]

Combine multiple tesla turrets for a bigger BOOM? :>