| “ | One of the more advanced items in the DRG arsenal, these autonomous sentry guns will absolutely help in performing pest control. |
| — Item Description |
About
The LMG Gun Platform is a Utility Tool used by the Engineer. It is an unmanned sentry gun which can automatically fire upon targets. It stands on a tripod and fires upon foes with two large barrels which fire in bursts. In its MKI form it is colored a dark green. In its MKII form it has a bulkier profile and is colored dark red.
The LMG Gun Platform starts out on the Engineer's person and must be selected. It is placed into the world in a similar manner to calling a Resupply Pod, with a blue hologram indicating where it will go once selected. By default the Engineer can only have one Sentry Gun active at once, though modifications can change this. When placed the Sentry will start out in an "unbuilt" state, appearing as a miniature cylinder on the ground. The Engineer (or any nearby Dwarf) must interact with it to assemble it into an operational state, which takes roughly four seconds to do so (it is possible to stop assembling the Gun midway through progression, where it will remain inactive in a partially built state). The Gun makes a beeping sound once it is fully built and ready to fire.
Once built, the LMG Gun Platform will automatically target and fire at enemies who wander into its range. It can see quite far, up to fifteen meters in a radius, and provides effective covering fire for the Engineer and his team from oncoming threats. Players are encouraged to place their Sentry Guns in creative locations where they will get good angles on enemies, allowing them to shoot at more targets.
Sentry Guns can be recalled back to the Engineer or designated new spots, done by either holding down the reload key or selecting the LMG Gun Platform utility tool and placing the hologram again. Sentries can be recalled from any distance, but they have to physically travel back to the Engineer or their new spot. They will deconstruct and fly to their target (somehow) as an unbuilt gun, and must be reconstructed before becoming operable again.
The Sentry Gun has an internal magazine and will disable itself once this is emptied. The Engineer can refill this magazine by holding the interact key while next to the gun. Sentry Guns hold ninety rounds by default, though this can be improved via modifications. Recalling a gun directly back to the Engineer will always fully top up its magazine when it is placed again.
Although the Sentry Gun has excellent covering fire capabilities, its damage is overall fairly low. It'll struggle to kill anything much bigger than a Glyphid Swarmer and can burn through its limited magazine capacity quite fast, so its usage has to be considered carefully. Its limited range means that the Engineer must be proactive about its placement, moving and recalling it as he sees fit.
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Usage & Strategies
- Exploit your environment to create the best cone of vision for the gun. Placing it on high ground will let it see down upon enemies and fire on them easily.
- You can use your Platform Gun to provide advantageous positions for your Sentry.
- You can move your sentry gun on-top of itself after it's been fully built for a slight height advantage, as it will be floating on the air above where it used to be.
- The warning provided before a Swarm starts should give you ample time to prepare your Sentry Guns. If there's no time to find a decent spot for it, just slap it down anywhere. Better to have it than no Sentry at all.
- Sentries will fire indiscriminately upon enemies. They will not try to avoid damaging armor, nor will they focus weak spots. For this reason, they're not very good Dreadnought killers. Best to save your guns for in-between waves of enemies during Elimination missions.
- Sentries cannot cause friendly fire, even if a teammate deliberately crosses their line of sight.
- Although the MKII mod technically deals more damage per sentry, Gemini System is the better upgrade for damage. However, two sentries is harder to manage at once since they will burn through ammo much faster than normal.
- The Gemini System mod works best for defensive gamemodes like Salvage Operation and Point Extraction, where the sentries won't need to be moved much. The LMG MKII mod is better for more active gamemodes such as Mining Expedition and Egg Hunt.
- Sentries will always idle sweep South West, regardless of which direction they were built or what enemy they were last firing at, unless they have the Defender System upgrade.
- Engineers can reload a different engineer's sentry, and if those are called back by that owner, those bullets will be added to the other engineer's stockpile.
- When using a resupply, Ammo in Sentries is counted towards the current ammo of the Engineer who owns it.
- When using Gemini System, pressing R will allow you to select which sentry to reposition.
Modifications
There's currently four tiers and two to three possible mods per tier. Only one modification may be active at once per tier.
| Engineer Upgrades | ||||||||||
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| Mod | Effect | Description | Price | |||||||
| Tier 1 |  Gemini System |
+1 Number of Sentries +90 Max Ammo |
Can deploy two separate sentries at once. |
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 LMG MKII |
+15 Sentry Ammo Capacity +2 Damage +5m Max Targeting Range |
An upgraded model with more punch, longer range and greater ammo capacity. |
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Tier 2 5
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 Expanded Ammo Bags |
+90 Max Ammo | You had to give up some sandwich-storage, but your total ammo capacity is increased! |
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 Quick Deploy |
-2s Construction Time | Takes less time to build a sentry. |
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 Widemouth Refill Port |
+45 Reload Ammo Per Second | Refill a turret's ammo faster. |
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| Tier 3 10
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 Hardened Rounds |
+300% Armor Break Bonus | We're proud of this one. Armor shredding. Tear through that high-impact plating of those big buggers like butter. What could be finer? |
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 Stun |
+20% Stun Chance | Hit 'em so hard they can't recover! Every shot has a chance to stop the target in its tracks. |
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 Expanded Ammo Capacity |
+30 Sentry Ammo Capacity | The sentry can fire more shots before refilling. |
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| Tier 4 15
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 Defender System |
+5 Damage Bonus + Defender System (~160° scan angle) |
A design variation with greatly increased shot power and a focused scan angle. |
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 Hawkeye System |
+15m Range + Manual Targeting |
Upgraded sensors increase the effective range and target aquisition speed of the LMG and are synchronised with you laser pointer, prioritizing the target you highlight. |
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Trivia
- In the closed alpha, the Engineer would get four sentry guns with 200 ammo each, but they could not be called back and redeployed.
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