History Main / SentryGun

** The Tau have drone sentry turrets, which can be armed with almost any of their weapons. Their standard AttackDrone can double as this, when not detached from vehicles.

* In the climatic scene of ''Literature/TheAndromedaStrain'', Hall has to take a shortcut by climbing a shaft guarded by TranquillizerDart guns (FrickinLaserBeams in the movie) meant to stop escaped lab animals.

* In the climatic scene of ''Literature/TheAndromedaStrain'', Hall has to take a shortcut by climbing a shaft guarded by TranquillizerDart guns (Frickin Laser Beams in the movie) meant to stop escaped lab animals.

* '''Hemisphere with barrel(s):''' This type of turret looks like a metallic hemisphere (sometimes more of a sphere is visible, sometimes less), usually with a groove where the gun barrel is located. These tend shoot to more futuristic stuff like [[EnergyBall Energy Balls]], [[FrickinLaserBeams laser beams]], and more.

* ''Film/TheLastStarfighter''. The guns protecting the Starfighter base from the Kodan meteor gun attack.

* ''Film/JudgeDredd''. In the Aspen Penal Colony, Rico's cell has several automatic guns guarding him. That turns out to be a weakness he can exploit to escape.

In video games, they're typically [[WeakTurretGun weak or fragile]] to emphasize the need of human intervention in area security, but they do make [[StormTheCastle base raiding]] all the more difficult for the attacking team. As such, they aren't usually capable of holding a ZergRush off by their lonesome, let alone a single entity. It may have [[BottomlessMagazines infinite ammo]] in order to give it some persistence in battle. Sentry guns that fire other ammo, such as [[FrickinLaserBeams lasers]], [[{{Energy Ball}} energy balls]], [[MacrossMissileMassacre missiles]], or [[AbnormalAmmo weird things like fruit]] and so on also exist, especially in {{Shoot Em Up}}s. The TurretMaster specializes in deploying these.

In video games, they're typically [[WeakTurretGun weak or fragile]] to emphasize the need of human intervention in area security, but they do make [[StormTheCastle base raiding]] all the more difficult for the attacking team. As such, they aren't usually capable of holding a ZergRush off by their lonesome, let alone a single entity. It may have [[BottomlessMagazines infinite ammo]] in order to give it some persistence in battle. Sentry guns that fire other ammo, such as [[FrickinLaserBeams lasers]], [[{{Energy Ball}} energy balls]], [[MacrossMissileMassacre missiles]], or [[AbnormalAmmo weird things like fruit]] and so on also exist, especially in {{Shoot Em Up}}s.

* One episode of ''Series/MacGyver'' had a house defended by these.

In video games, they're typically [[WeakTurretGun weak or fragile]] to emphasize the need of human intervention in area security, but they do make [[StormTheCastle base raiding]] all the more difficult for the attacking team. As such, they aren't usually capable of holding a ZergRush off by their lonesome, let alone a single entity. It may have [[BottomlessMagazines infinite ammo]] in order to give it some persistence in battle. Sentry guns that fire other ammo, such as = [[FrickinLaserBeams lasers]], [[{{Energy Ball}} energy balls]], [[MacrossMissileMassacre missiles]], or [[AbnormalAmmo weird things like fruit]] and so on also exist, especially in {{Shoot Em Up}}s.

* '''Hemisphere with barrel(s):''' This type of turret looks like a metallic hemisphere (sometimes more of a sphere is visible, sometimes less), usually with a groove where the gun barrel is located. These tend shoot to more futuristic stuff like [[EnergyBall Energy Balls]], [[FrixkinLaserBeams laser beams]], and more.

Put simply, the Sentry Gun is a fixed gun with sensors that aims and shoots by itself -- you don't need to be standing next to it for it to do its work. Think of it as an AttackDrone without the propulsion system. You'd often find sentry guns in near-to-distant future settings, where automated combat is commonplace. They're typically [[WeakTurretGun weak]] in many scenarios in order to emphasize the need of human intervention in area security, but they do make [[StormTheCastle base raiding]] all the more difficult for the attacking team. As such, they aren't usually capable of holding a ZergRush off by their lonesome, let alone a single entity.

With regards to behavior, one key difference from the AttackDrone is that it's usually completely autonomous. In more serious works, this implies a highly competent defense that you can just leave it on its own to do its work. On less serious works, the odds are [[FriendOrFoe its IFF won't be reliable]]; thanks to [[AIIsACrapshoot ridiculously poor artificial intelligence]], the sentry guns are likely to shoot friendlies (and each other) by accident as much as they are likely to shoot enemies.

Almost inevitably, it resembles a [[MoreDakka machine gun]], and may have BottomlessMagazines to give it some persistence. {{Energy Ball}} sentries also exist, especially in {{Shoot Em Up}}s.

They take several distinct appearances. Here are the most common forms of them:

* '''Hemisphere with barrel(s):''' This type of turret looks like a metallic hemisphere (sometimes more of a sphere is visible, sometimes less), usually with a groove where the gun barrel is located. These tend shoot to more futuristic stuff like [[EnergyBall Energy Balls]], laser beams and more.

Some real life pseudo-examples exist. While the military is reluctant to give trigger-pull authority to a computer, there are many forms of remote-operated gun platforms in development and in service today, controlled by a human operator at a distance.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-in_weapon_system Close In Weapon Systems,]] abbreviated CIWS, of which there are several. Examples include but are not limited to:

* It should be noted that the role of the sentry gun in most video games is area denial. While much ado is made over robots killing without human involvement, it's unlikely that would stop all the world's militaries if it conferred a real advantage. The more likely explanation is that land mines are a far simpler and more effective means of area denial. They're inexpensive, easy to manufacture, reliable, and long lasting. Sentry guns show up in video games land mines would remove all the challenge by making entry either impossible or a matter of pure luck. (They're also on the Geneva banned weapons list, though the US hasn't signed onto that part of the treaty, as usual).

* In ''[[Pinball/{{AlienS}} Aliens Pinball]]'', a sentry gun is available at your service to deal with swarms of Aliens that creep towards the flippers en masse in some of the main missions.

* ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' has cutsey ones that follow the iPod aesthetic and say adorable things as they ventilate the player.

* It should be noted that the role of the sentry gun in most video games is area denial. While much ado is made over robots killing without human involvement, it's unlikely that would stop all the world's militaries if it conferred a real advantage. The more likely explanation is that land mines are a far simpler and more effective means of area denial. They're inexpensive, easy to manufacture, reliable, and long lasting. Sentry guns show up in video games land mines would remove all the challenge by making entry either impossible or a matter of pure luck. (They're also on the Geneva banned weapons list, though the US hasn't signed onto that part of the treaty).

* ''Film/JudgeDredd''. In the Aspen Penal Colony, Rico's cell has several automatic guns guarding him.

* Literally all of the enemies in ''VideoGame/{{Receiver}}'' are either flying drones or turrets on legs. Unlike most depictions, the turrets have a surprisingly small amount of ammo. But they're so accurate and fast to react that trying to trick them into wasting their ammo is a risky proposition when the amount of bullets that kills you is smaller than the number of fingers on one hand. On the other hand, they have several vulnerable points (their connecting point to the tripod, the gun, and the sensor) that render the gun worthless with a single well-aimed shot.

Put simply, the Sentry Gun is a fixed gun with sensors that aims and shoots by itself -- you don't need to be standing next to it for it to do its work. Think of it as an AttackDrone without the propulsion system. You'd often find sentry guns in near to distant future settings, where automated combat is commonplace. They're typically [[WeakTurretGun weak]] in many scenarios in order to emphasize the need of human intervention in area security, but they do make [[StormTheCastle base raiding]] all the more difficult for the attacking team. As such, they aren't usually capable of holding a ZergRush off by their lonesome, let alone a single entity.

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' has them as the primary kill-earner of the Engineer. It starts out as a single gun, upgrades to ''double chainguns'', and then a further upgrade gives it ''rockets''. Subverted with the laser designator - it does burn ammo. In standard ''Team Fortress 2'' logic, [[PercussiveMaintenance hit it with your wrench]] and your metal will rearm it.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' has two types of sentry guns but they both have only three settings, 1)friendly to your enemies 2)hostile to everyone 3) off. The last one is often achieved with a shotgun, but most have an override computer near them. There are also the ubiquitous pressure plate-activated shotgun traps, and on a less lethal scale, baseball pitching machines.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout4}}'' has you to place sentry guns all over your settlements. Aside from machine gun turrets and shotgun turrets, you can now deploy laser turrets and missile turrets.