Spitfire auto turrets are bad, should they be buffed?

So I was playing as heavy assault, and I engaged a spitfire turret on open ground with its gun facing me, meaning that it does not have to turn towards me. I did not turn my nanite mesh generator on and I had flak armor instead of nanoweave. I simply aimed down sights at the turret and started firing. I killed the turret when it got through half of my shield and non of my health. I watched videos of people using spitfire auto turret and they rarely get kills. So I drew the conclusion that spitfire turrets are bad, and I don't think you can argue with me on that since it is almost majority opinion that spitfire auto turrets are bad. The only use that I can think of is to use spitfire auto turrets to defend sunderers against C4 fairies, but successful C4 attempts on sunderers are uncommon. Most C4 fairies get killed before they can place down the second stick of C4 or detonate both sticks. So here is the question: should they be buffed? What are some buff suggestions?

Spitfire turrets are fine at what they do - they're a lesser form of detection, they're a form of distraction, and they serve as backup fire. You don't strand them somewhere and expect great things. There's no need for them to do the job of a standard Infantry player any better than what they emulate already.

As oft-mentioned, the only thing that might be warranted at this point is getting rid of "must resupply" mechanic but giving it a nontrivial cooldown time as soon as one has been placed.

I think they should be replaceable on a cooldown without resupplying at a terminal. I'm used to the idea that the spitfire is just going to be an early-warning system that sneaks a kill here and there, but it's pretty irritating that you just place one, and then boom, it's gone, or the fight moves on to the next room, and now your turret is useless.

Of course they should be buffed.

well, if you used them as a sort of drone to support you, over thinking its going to stop a player, it would work fine. It will also work nicely as a distraction, guy shoots ur turret, it alerts all of you inside, you get off your ***** and know there is an attack. Or, you stand behind it and fight with it, hoping the guy shoots it and not you.

Do they need buffs? No.....do people need to learn how to use them? absolutely. I dont even use them and I know how to better use them...they are not deploy and forget items. They are a support tool.

Even if you know how to use them(and which you understand the flaws of them & where they fail at) They suck.

I would agree that they need either a hp buff OR having a cooldown instead of resupplying another.

They need a buff in the HP/Resistance department or have the ability to reconstruct a new one or repair a destroyed one.
On the flip side they need a detection radius nerf, they currently destroy any form of flanking play style [which is mostly what LA do], I would be happy if they did it like Team Fortress 2, limited detection radius but harder to destroy/kill.

Make them deployable like the mana turret at least. It feels like a chore running back and forth on a terminal/sundy just to deploy them again.

Spitfire turrets are here to assist you not fight your battles they fine as they are.

Try to C4 a sundy as LA while 3 spitfires are there. You will get down very fast. They are a more active motion spotter that will distract the hostile assault. He will notice that he gets shot, turns in the direction, finds a turret and while he is engaging it the real enemy can shoot him.
They are fine as they are. The only problem is that you can only carry 1 or that you are not able to repair the burning rests like you can repair the mounted turrets on facilities.

I think they still need a hp or resistance buff.

The question is, how should they be buffed?

I've got a gut feeling their delay in engaging a target, and their sluggishness in tracking moving targets, are a necessary limitation due to demands on the server. Buffing either would create too much load on the servers.

So the way see it, there's a few options:

1. Remove the alert sound. Then at least, if an enemy enters a room/area with a turret they fail to notice, it gets in a few hits on them before they can turn and kill it. This would be accompanied by either reducing the turret's size or giving players the ability to stick them to ceilings, walls, etc.

2. Give turrets something similar to the Sunderer's Deploy Shield, but with a much shorter refresh time. So that popping around a corner to put a rocket/grenade in them becomes ineffective. You'll either have to tank it down with sustained fire or use teamwork to bring it down.

3. Expand on their versatility. Instead of them only attacking and damaging infantry, give them a HMG like the Basilisk that will damage vehicles also.

4. Expand on their utility. Give them a repair aura like Sunderers can get.

I think Spitfire turrets hsoudlnt have an ammo cost... they arnt effective at killing anything... and the ammo cost that can only be resupplied at a terminal is overkill for a usless item...

Dammit SOE/DBG! After the Valk was introduced... everything new that could have been exciting has been the utter disappointment with lackluster abatement. the Valk it self is terribly under powered even in its primary task ... so much so, i find players using galaxies to do what the Valk was intended to do lol. the SPitfire is only another part to this awesomely conceived yet poorly executed design PS2 has been following lately.

Do not remove the alert sound , its lets you know when the enemy enters the room behind you if you covering a room with 2 doors geez

"The recon tool is bad, I never saw it get kills since launch"!
The number 1 role of any tool in the game is that someone has to be nearby to make use of it. Ammo boxes? Recon/motion spotter? AOE heal/shield regenerator? Repair tool? Heavy Overshield? All of these only work when there's one or more people, with a lot of these tools you even need 2 or more people to make use of it. An enemy and an ally (you) that see the radar blips to make use of them, or two allies (or you and your tank), one to repair and one to be repaired, one enemy and yourself so your overshield can do it's magic.

The Spitfire isn't meant as a primary weapons, it's meant as a support tool. That 25% of your total health (without overshield) gone? If the engineer had been there to help his turret out, the engineer would have had a lot less TTK, the time it takes you to kill the turret is the time the Engineer has to fire at you for free, increasing his chance of killing you. It's health is 2000, 2x that of infantry and still more than an overshield Heavy. It takes about 25 bullets for an SMG to destroy one, and 15 for Carbines. With half your Magazine left you are a much easier target for enemies. If your enemy had targeted the engineer instead of the turret, the turret would have added 10-20% guaranteed DPS, regardless if the engineer has the accuracy to hit or not.
It has a 3-second kill if you stand at it's maximum firing distance. A 1-second kill in minimum distance. Use 3 Spitfires around a corner and you can do "normal" TTK's of 0,333 at CQC, only with headshots are there weapons that can beat that easily. Or you put it near a Sunderer: 3 near a Sunderer means a 1-second kill at max range, and since placing C4 takes 2 seconds arming time, they can never set it off unless they manage to avoid the Spitfire's cone of vision.

Why did you find one out in the open? There's tankers that found the Turrets true calling: anti-flank weapon. You place one near your tank when you are going to sit in one spot for a while. The moment your turret starts firing you know someone such as a C4 fairy is there.
Alternatively you place it in battles where you can't afford to keep an eye on your flank. You have a louder beeping sound, unique firing sound and a stream of bullets indicating that here is your enemy, so you will never get surprised again!
Or you place it in a room where you are to add it's DPS to yours. Proper placement is key here. Don't give it view through doorways, any doorway it can look through means that someone can see it as well and destroy it without the engineer being able to fire as well. This works incredible when you never intended to place a normal turret anyway. Why not add some DPS and a bullet sponge to defend yourself?

You mean that it won't be abused as a tool to place around the safety of a corner if you had unlimited of them?

I would prefer the ability to cert into additional, up to 3 or 4 or something, before you had to resupply. Perhaps allow players to pick old one's up and place them again if they go somewhere else. But the limit needs to be there

Yes it wouldn't be abused.

If you ever used a spitfire you would know how if you lose it, you can't reinforce a position,push a line or do anything that the turret allowed the class to do(flexibility)

I think you fail to see my meaning.

Imagine a corridor fight. On one end you've got some infantry, on the other end is you. You get to the corner and start placing turrets while never being shot at.
Better of course is to place them near railings, where they are more covered. Infinite Spitfires also opens up Spitfire Farms. Since they are guaranteed to hit when they fire unless something is in front of it this means they would be highly effective, even though a few grenades can take care of them.
Just think of a Techplant, and people placing just 5 Spitfires at the lower Balcony. Anyone coming up the stairs or flying straight up the Balcony will get riddles faster than anything you've seen before. The engineers just sit a little farther and take potshots at anything that is already in full view of the turrets. Alternatively they sit among the Spitfires, who will be perfect meat-shields and the biggest danger in groups of 3+.
And that's not the only place they can be used that way ofcourse...

EMP & decoy grenades mess with them(Decoy grenades are targeted by the spitfire turrets).

Also people can just shoot them.



Do you actually use the spitfire yourself?