Sentry Gun

A Sentry gun is an automated weapon emplacement which fires upon enemies it detects with sensors. Sentry guns encompass several types of hardware which are for the most part affiliated with Eastasia.

Sentry guns are soviet base defenses in default Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge. In Red Alert 2: New World Order, these structures are a property of the Asian Alliance, firing flechettes. Smaller versions of this turret, called Trap Gun, are placed by Shikari with 'Place Trap' command. These do not spin up.

Sentry guns have theoretically unlimited ammo and do not have to reload, however they have a small power requirement and will shut down completely if this is not met. Portable sentry guns have a small energy cell that lasts a considerable amount of time and are thus exempt from power shortages. They are not crewed and thus cannot gain veterancy (without Darwin algorithm), nor will they have survivors if destroyed.

Stats

 * Type: Building (but see below)
 * Class: Defense
 * Lv:
 * HP:
 * SIZ: 1x1
 * PWR:
 * Tags: Machine, Defense, Automatic

Fletcher
When detecting an enemy, the sentry gun fires a barrage of flechettes at the target, almost invariably killing infantry instantly. The flechettes are sharp and hard enough to deal serious damage to light and medium vehicle armor too, but, for all trying, are not effective against heavily-armored vehicles. The flechette gun can fire on both air and ground targets (depending on its positioning), but its range is very limited and not sufficient for attacking most aircraft.

Capsule Gun
The Capsule Gun upgrade equips the sentry gun with a set of capsules containing advanced nanotechnology, to be deployed via a pneumatical system. The primary purpose of this upgrade is to fire capsules containing a monomolecular, adhesive filament. The capsule is timed to burst open before striking the enemy, maximizing the area in which the filament is deployed. Anything caught in the net will be greatly slowed down, or even immobilized entirely. The filament has a low structural integrity and will break down quickly as its captives struggle against it. Unfortunately, this wb is not very effective against vehicles.

The launcher comes with a second set of capsules, containing an explosive charge and an amount of monomolecular flechettes. As these capsules close in on an enemy, they burst open, creating a large zone in which the flechettes will cut down enemy troops and even severely damage vehicles.

Abilities

 * Flechette Canister -
 * Filament Canister -

SWARM Launcher
The SWARM Launcher upgrade is dedicated close-range air defense, although it is arguably effective against anything but vehicles with the heaviest armor. Quickly saturating a circular area around it with autonomous seeking missiles

Deploy/Cover
Retracts the sentry gun into its underground shaft, granting it a high defense bonus and stealth. It cannot attack in this mode and must deploy itself before firing at a target.

=Variants=

Sentry Gun
Zhuge Nu Guns are sentry gatling guns employed by the Asian Alliance as basic base defense. These guns present a merger between the default RA2/YR Sentry Gun and Yuri's Gattling Guns from YR, mounting a gattling weapon system on an automated turret. Unlike RA2's sentry guns, they are capable of engaging both air and ground targets, forming the basic line of defense against all kinds of threats to an Alliance base. Like all gattling weapons, they have the ability to spin up, increasing their firepower and rate of fire if firing for extended periods of time. They can be upgraded with Chain gun technology, which increases their power consumption, but reduces their spin-up time.

Portable Sentry Gun
The sentry gun is not connected to the player's powergrid, and its ammo and battery life are limited. When running out of ammunition, or after a certain time, it will self-destruct.

Sensors
Grants the ability to detect stealthed enemies. Does not allow the detection of disguised enemies.

Hidden Gun
Hidden Guns are guns mounted on pop-up turrets which lie waiting until an unsuspecting enemy attempts a presumably unsuspected assault from an apparently unsuspected angle - upon which the gun pops up, unsuspected angle turns out to have been prepared in expectation of the unsuspected attack and the unsuspecting enemy is riddled with bullets. Essentially, Hidden Guns have the same weapon loadout as regular sentry guns - they come with a standardized gattling and can be upgraded to fire SWARM, mortar or plasma. Neither of these methods is particularly effective against armored vehicles, but plasma does stand a good chance. As their name suggests, hidden guns are hidden, that is, invisible, to the naked eye when retracted (although they can be detected with sensors). Their underground shelters also make them very resilient to enemy fire while retracted, so a preemptive artillery barrage to clear out defenses will not necessarily dispose of them. Once deployed, however, they are just as fragile as the regular sentry guns. Hidden guns are controlled by the Defense Node structure, occupying one AI slot, and possess sensors to detect hidden enemies.

Strategy
Sentry guns are primarily an anti-infantry defense, complimenting the other Eastasian defenses, which are mostly anti-vehicle. Even with monoblade ammunition (which, at +33% anti-vehicle damage, is slightly more effective than the brute-force approach of the comparable AP Ammo upgrade), they will not be able to halt an armored assault and should rather stay folded up, not so much because massed fire couldn't bring down even a tank, but rather because they are outranged by most heavy weapons and because they are so incredibly fragile.