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Hiigaran Platforms

The Hiigarans' static turrets come in two sizes: small and large. That is, they're both identical, except is just a simple set of kinetic gun turrets that can shoot down Fighters and harass Corvettes, while the other uses Ion Beams, which at first glance look as scary as the Battlecruisers but do far, far less damage. Both Hiigaran Platforms start with about 5000 hit points, upgradeable to 8000: considerably less than the Vaygr versions. And of course, they can't move.

Before the first game patch, Platforms had enough loopholes for them to be seriously dangerous in the wrong hands. Now, they are simply there to help out, not replace your escorts or become the ultimate defence. They are clumsy and slow to deploy, and seem to take their time chasing units around. Really, they are designed simply to last long enough for reinforcements to show. The perk with Platforms is that they don't take up a Production slot on your production ships and have very few prerequisites. Best results can be gained if you try and make some effort to hide these things. They lose much of their effectiveness late game, but using Distortion Probes or dust clouds should let them get some shots off before being discovered.


	Gun Platform Light Static Turret

This is a basic turret designed to shoot down Strikecraft, especially at the start of a netgame. Like anything that tries to shoot these small ships, it tends to miss more than it hits, but not as badly as regular point defence weapons. Despite having four small kinetic guns, it has a low rate of fire and is very easy to overwhelm.

Take a single Gunship, rip out its engine, fill the gap with a bit of extra armour, and you basically have a Gun Platform. In financial terms, one of these babies is worth half the cost of a Gunship squadron with only one third of its firepower: a piddly 40 hit points a shot. However: these Platforms don't take up any Production slots, have less prerequisites, cost little to upgrade and you can churn them out twice as fast as Corvette squadrons. And they can shoot at two things at once. If you really feel you need your Corvettes elsewhere, knock out some cheap Platforms - but anything less than half a dozen isn't going to scare anyone.

This turret prefers to shoot Strikecraft if it has the choice. With Fighters its the extra armour that makes them a formidable obstacle; but it becomes little more than an annoyance against the heavy hitters like the Pulsar Corvette or the Laser Corvette. These two Corvettes smash through turrets with little effort. To Frigates and the Capital warships they are nothing more than an opportunity for some target practice - barely more than a delaying tactic.

Prerequisites

Platform Control Module

Perks

2 Gun Platform Armour Upgrades

Pros

Not too shabby at hitting Fighters.

Cheap to set up, and doesn't use precious production slots.

Cheap to upgrade.

Cons

Slow and clumsy, like all Platforms.

Can only be given one movement order (or interrupt one movement order) before it clamps itself in the one spot forever.

Unable to be repaired nor redocked!

Really, only a small step up from regular (inadequate) point defences.

Starts to labour against Corvettes.

Totally owned by Frigates and Capital warships


	Ion Beam Platform Heavy Static Turret

This is the advanced Hiigaran turret, designed to attack heavier shipping. Actually, its an amazingly good buy: its two twin Ion Beam turrets have the same striking range as the Battlecruiser, although they inflict far less damage: 500 hit points over the duration of an individual zap. Scatter a few of these around and your static defences actually start to get a little more intimidating. Again, being immobile, they're sitting ducks against Capital warships. They also hard pressed tracking Strikecraft, so they tend to be shafted by Strikecraft attacks, especially by those expert Turret smackers, the Pulsar and Laser Corvettes.

This is the equivalent of a lone Ion Beam Frigate - that, the same Ion-Beam power redistributed between four barrels shared between two turrets. Its a lot less robust, too. Nevertheless, I've found these things are excellent if they're tucked away inside a dust cloud or next to a Distortion Probe - especially near a resource patch. Their extreme range compensates for their lack of punch. What you have is the recipe for a Resource Collector space sniper... again, they're simply to help out your defences, not destroy any attacks single handed. Regardless of their limitations, though, getting this sort of Ion Beam power for the low, low price of 300RU is a steal!

This turret almost exclusively shoots Frigates and Capitals if its got the choice - the Frigates get top billing. A cloud of these things will do bugger all to a Battlecruiser.