A turret is a rotating weapons platform, usually mounted on a fortified building or vehicle such as a military base, a combat zeppelin or a heavy aircraft.
Turrets are typically armed with machine guns, cannon, or missiles, and are normally armored to protect the gunnery crew from enemy fire.
Turrets are typically used in an anti-aircraft role, and turrets optimised for this use are normally with four .50-cal machine guns, the better to track and hit fast-moving enemy fighters.
In Crimson Skies, turrets are a common aspect of enemy bases and zeppelins, most notably the Black Hat base in Sky Haven and the Figaro.
In Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, however, it is possible to take direct control of turrets to strike at your enemies. Turrets have a number of advantages over aircraft:
- Turrets are equipped with a zoom function, allowing you to accurately target enemy aircraft at greater range.
- Turrets, as fixed installations, will prompt your enemy to make long, straight strafing runs, allowing you to inflict greater damage.
- Turrets are equipped with more armor than your aircraft, extending your life expectancy.
- It is possible to bail out of the turret and return to your aircraft at any time, which has taken no damage while you've been in the turret.
There are four types of turret in Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge:
- The anti-aircraft turret, equipped with four machine guns. Best used against enemy fighters.
- The anti-zeppelin turret, equipped with twin cannon. Typically placed where enemy zeppelins will present an easy target, the cannon are also effective against slow-moving enemy fighters. A skilled user is much more effective with this turret than the anti-aircraft version.
- The missile turret, equipped with a single magnetic missile launcher. This turret is typically fielded by zeppelins against ground targets.
- The guided missile turret is equipped with guided missiles. Once fired, control switches from the turret to the missile, which can be steered like an aircraft. However, the turret is vulnerable during this time, a second missile cannot be fired while the first is active, and the very high speed of the missile means that it is almost impossible to hit anything smaller or faster than a cargo zeppelin. However, the high damage potential of these rockets means that hits are extremely damaging.