Turrets in Build and Defend Your Raft

Turrets are the second automated defense piece, unlocked at higher Crafting Table levels alongside reinforced gear. They look like cannons little siblings — and then someone boards your raft and gets deleted. Here is how turrets actually differ from cannons.

Turret vs Cannon at a Glance

	Turret	Cannon
Detection range	Short proximity range	Longer range, attacks distant raiders
Best target	Players (boarders, swimmers)	Structures and rafts
Anti-building damage	Low — under community testing	Higher, especially upgraded
Fire control	Fully automatic	Fully automatic
Upper limit	Shared with cannons (Raft Weapons upgrade raises both)	Same
Cost profile	Higher-tier Crafting Table unlock	High metal cost

Build and Defend Your Raft — Turrets and Tesla Coils Gameplay

Why Is My Turret Not Shooting

The most common turret complaint in the official Discord — why is my turret not shooting? — has a confirmed answer from the dev side: turrets have a shorter proximity range than cannons. A turret that feels dead is usually just placed too far from where the fight happens.

Solution: Place turrets on the deck where boarders land, and near doors and chest rooms, not on the outer edge where you would put cannons. Turrets are interior defense; cannons are perimeter defense.

The Structure Damage Question

Players noticed that turrets seem to do less damage to walls and more to players — people breaking my metal structures while I cannot crack their wood structures, wrote a defender describing the cannon-era damage feel. The dev team said they would be testing turret-vs-structure numbers, so treat the exact split as unconfirmed until an official note lands.

What is confirmed from the game:

• Turrets rip apart unarmored boarders quickly.
• Neither turrets nor low-tier cannons quickly delete reinforced walls — upgrade cannons for siege work.
• Damage seems to land harder from a moving raft, per dev team observation — kiting while shooting beats standing still.

The Rotation Complaint

A recurring balance request in the official Discord asks for turrets to get a wider firing arc. Until that changes: rotation-check every turret after building. A turret pointing inland is decoration.

The Recommended Split

For a defended mid-game raft the community standard is:

1. Cannons at the perimeter — front and flanks with clear water sight.
2. Turrets inside — covering decks, stairs, and the chest room.
3. Raft Weapons upgrade once metal allows — raises the upper limit for both simultaneously.

The Tesla Coil Joins the Anti-Personnel Slot (September 6)

The September 6 patch added the Tesla Coil: it chains lightning onto nearby enemies, with two placement rules that matter —

• Walls block the beam, so it wants the open approach track, not an angle inside your build.
• It upgrades via the Hammer (Tier III in Shop), and like any defense it now rebuilds itself after destruction.

Run it next to your turrets on the boarder track; chain damage is best when a crew lands together.

Related Pages

• Cannons guide — range, targeting, and the 4-cannon cap
• Defense guide — putting it all together
• How to raid — how turrets look from the attacker side