The Octanian Sentry Tower is a bio-mechanical, autonomous sentry weapon that was used by the Octanians during the Tunguska Offensive. It is introduced as a dangerous miniboss and enemy in Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem.
Overview[]
The Octanian sentry tower is a deadly symbiosis of flesh and metal, specifically designed to endure harsh enviroments. These towers are operated by large colonies of cyber-parasites (polyps) and are powered by miniature bioreactors, which allow them to operate without an external power source.[1] They have a Combat Drone bay and a teleportation chamber for Octanian troopers, which allows the sentry tower to be housed with reinforcements should it come under attack by enemy forces.
A sentry tower will stay in low-energy mode until a target enters its 150 meter detection radius, at which point the tower's weapon systems will activate and open fire on the target. Due to the tower's extensive offensive capabilities, the tower's bioreactor outputs large amounts of energy, which requires it to stop firing and vent heat through its ventilation shaft at regular intervals, allowing attackers to gain access to its vulnerable interior.[1]
Application[]
These autonomous towers are primarily used to guard strategic points in low-population areas where a permanent garrison would be inefficient, and they also double as fully-fledged Octanian resupply posts.
Appearances[]
The sentry tower is first encountered in Siberiade and appears infrequently in every subsequent level. In New Game+, it becomes more common, appearing in every level from A Smell Of Petroleum Prevails onwards, where it is encountered near the first oil rig.
In Siberiade, when the player destroys a tower, some supplies will spawn by its base and a keycard can be obtained from it. Acquiring all three keycards allows the player to acquire a S.A.M. egg from an Equipment Case near the end of the level.
Weaponry[]
The sentry tower is equipped with an array of deadly armaments, including dual machine guns and homing artillery cannons, which it will use to fire at the player when in range. It has a detection radius of up to 150 meters, and the turret will stay in low-energy mode until a target moves into this range. When the targets enters this detection range, the tower will lock onto their location and launch rockets at a high angle to hit the target from above.
Occasionally, the tower will fire a rapid volley of homing rockets that are hard to avoid, but they can be destroyed by gunfire or dodged by sidestepping. At closer range, the tower's turrets will activate and fire rapidly at the target. These turrets also serve as one of the tower's weak spots and can be destroyed with heavy weaponry. A loud siren will go off when the tower is about to launch its rockets at the player.
When playing on Serious difficulty, towers will behave more erratic and will fire their rockets in rapid succession and land far more quickly than usual, which makes them harder to avoid. In addition, their rockets deal a high amount of damage, which can make towers even more dangerous compared to when playing on lower difficulty settings.
Tactics[]
- The areas where the tower's rockets will land are highlighted with red markers. Stay clear of their radius and sprint away from the markers to avoid the tower's bombardmentattack.
- The TCC-2 "Perun" Crossbow is a great weapon to destroy the tower's turrets from medium to far range.
- Its core and turrets count serve as its weakpoints, meaning they will receive triple damage from any weapon. Dual-wielded crossbows, FRPCLs, SBC Cannons, XL2 Laserguns, and XPMR "Burner" Rayguns can quickly destroy the tower.
- The T.A.C.T. is extremely useful against the tower, and can demolish it even without its core exposed.
- If riding an enemy, the player should ride a Sirian Werebull as it is fast enough to outrun bombardments from the towers.
- The Hoverboard Scooter is not really recommended to use against the tower, unless the player is at a safe enough distance from it and/or wants to earn the "David and Goliath" achievement.
- On Serious difficulty, it may be tempting to target the tower first, but enemies will almost always spawn by the tower or from the tower itself when it comes under attack. Eliminate any enemy threats first and then proceed with the tower afterwards. It is also recommended to stay out of the tower's detection radius when dealing with the enemies.
- The tower's rockets are much more difficult to dodge on Serious difficulty. Precise timing and sidestepping as much as possible is effective enough to avoid most of the rockets. It is also easier to dodge the rockets when playing in third-person, as this allows the player to see the tower's markers much more easily.
- Towers, considering how dangerous their weapons are, should be treated as medium or high-priority targets (depending on the difficulty) and should be eliminated as quickly as possible.
Related achievements[]
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| Defeat Sentry Tower with sole hoverboard firepower. |
Trivia[]
- The tower has the Mental's Horde logo on it.
- The tower's machine guns use the firing sound from the XM214-A Minigun.
- The tower's airstrike rocket projectiles have the same hit and roll effect terms (CannonHit, CannonRoll) and material effect and pierce material effect types (RocketHit, CannonPierce) as the player's cannonballs.[2]
- Sam's quote when he encounters the first tower he sees is a reference to Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist.
- The achievement "David and Goliath" is a reference to the two characters featured in the Book of Samuel.
Gallery[]
List of appearances[]
- Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem (First appearance)
References[]
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