Forerunner automated turret

The Automated Turret, also known as the Auto-Turret, is a form of equipment similar in design to a Sentinel.

As its name implies, it acts as an automatic defense system (deployable antipersonnel turret) for the player and is featured in Halo 3. It is so far only encountered on the Halo 3 levels The Ark, The Covenant and Halo; and is not found on any multiplayer maps due to the issue of keeping the game balanced. The auto-turret is dropped in an area where you want to defend, and once deployed, it will automatically shoot at the enemy if they are within the turret's sight.

Function
This small, robotic turret is a piece of Forerunner technology found on the Ark and Halo and resembles a stripped down Sentinel. Its mode of attack is firing a thin, blue beam at its target, similar to the beam fired by a Sentinel Major. This device is extremely adept at destroying Flood of all kinds, but is still highly effective at taking other enemies. Its drawbacks are that it takes a long time to find and shoot a target and it will occasionally shoot the player. Its good to deploy when you have many hostiles in the area so you can have added firepower at your side.

Its HUD symbol is a silhouette of the equipment itself, and slightly resembles the symbol for the Power Drain.

Advantages

 * The Auto-Turret has sufficient power to remove a Brute's power armor, kill a Jackal and a Grunt with a single shot, and kill a Brute Chieftain within three shots.


 * Even with its poor targeting and low damage resistance, the Automated Turret can still often provide kills without considerable player support.


 * The Auto-Turret firepower increases significantly as the game difficulty increases.

Disadvantages

 * Due to programming and mechanical issues, the turret has a warm-up time of about 3 seconds. The turret also has problems picking out targets, often tracking allies with its targeting system.


 * When the Auto-Turret is your enemy, its AI is greatly increased. As with the Marines, it will pick out targets faster, fire more accurately, and will rarely turn away from you on higher difficulties if you are in its sight.


 * It is rather fragile most of the time, easily being dispatched by enemy forces. Additionally, its sight is very narrow and can only attack enemies in front of it.


 * It will also shoot at the player occasionally.

Trivia

 * There are only 7 Auto-Turrets in the Campaign mode, a seven reference.
 * On the Halo 3 level Halo, if you have set down Auto Turrets before you go into the control room, after you have killed 343 Guilty Spark, the Auto-Turrets will start attacking you.
 * On the level The Covenant, if you use an auto-turret during the part where you're allied with the Flood, the turret and the Flood will try to kill each other. It is also possible to get an Auto-Turret to attack 343 Guilty Spark in this level.