Thermal Ray Turret

"The Thermal Ray Turret is a common Energy weapon for base defense. Extremely powerful and fast, but lacks range."

General
The Thermal Ray Turret is the most basic base weapon, with the first tier already unlocked at the start of the game. They are commonly seen in low-level bases as well as medium-level ones.

It fires bursts of thick yellow bolts at targets with a slight spread.

Advantages
Thermal Ray Turrets have excellent firepower, particularly at higher levels. Use Focused Apertures to extend their range, or Ion Rechargers to decimate shielded ships.

They are also fairly lightweight, allowing your Combat Modules to equip higher-level armor and shields.

Disadvantages
Thermal Ray Turrets have very low range, making them sitting ducks for long-range destroyers and battleships, even when equipped with Focused Apertures V. Many beginners mistakenly only use Thermal Ray Turrets for base defence due to their DPS, allowing snipers to take out their entire base for zero damage. It is advised to mix in some Coil Driver Turrets for protection against snipers.

Unlike most Energy weapons, the projectiles fired from Thermal Ray Turrets do not home in towards their targets, making them easy prey for agile frigates which can dodge the shots at maximum range.

Trivia

 * The Thermal Ray Turret was once called the Heavy Beam Laser, which had been renamed to Thermal Laser Turret.
 * Since Disruptor Rays were originally called Beam Lasers, this weapon is technically "Disruptor Ray Turret".
 * A Thermal Ray Turret I is automatically equipped to new Combat Modules.
 * After recent patches, it is the only turret that costs no Antimatter to equip for all levels.
 * The equipping time of all old blueprint items for bases was reduced by half during the May 2020 update.