I suggest sprinkling in stationary gun emplacements throughout the cataclysm, left in various states of disuse and disrepair at roadblocks, FEMA camps and (eventually) NPC controlled HQs.
Distinct from a turret these stationary guns would use the already implemented and admitted stellar vehicle construction system. Said gun would rest on a frame and require an adjacent weapon control panel to fire. Players would need to strap themselves in just like getting in a car before they could operate an emplacement.
Static weapon platforms found in the world would likely just be the bare minimum frame/gun/control combo, maybe the odd pick-up mounted machine gun or military jeep. Players on the other hand could if they so choose weld whatever they craft or come across onto whatever vehicle they so desire. TOW on your flatbed? Done. Ballista on your bike? No problem!
This could also open up the floodgate for great DIY recipes, like a manhole cover launcher or battery guzzling, warning blaring energy weapon similar to the NX-17. I seriously love that monster.
Ballista on the bike is perhaps a bit overly large. Apart from that, this sounds good and would be a way to get more M249s and whatever the latest Rivtech LMG gets called into the world.
(I don’t think any Ka’lol has actually seen an M249 in-game.)
Now, being able to aim the gun manually would be the only serious concern I’d have. Once that’s taken care of…then yeah, people have dreamed of RC drones for some time now.
Hmmmm. Perhaps a tripod item that can mount certain military grade weapons? Tripods might be found anywhere the army set up, sitting in location. The guns may or may not still be attached. Perhaps by using a tripod you can use whatever gun is attached and get much reduced recoil. Letting you fire some of the more powerful weapons much more without major recoil penalties.
Now that I consider it further, a whole separate seat and set of controls for these gun emplacements seems overkill. You could just use them by pressing ^ and then moving in their direction, like folding bikes. Or even just the tried and true ‘e’ command we’ve all grown to love.
Once you do this if force equips you with a placeholder weapon ((Example: GAU-17/A gatling)) it blocks you from moving or doing anything beyond firing the weapon/releasing the controls.
This way it would still be subject to the same equalizers as normal firearms, such as player skill, bad traits like trigger happy and current encumbrance. You could even set up an emplacement directly in front of your driver seat, at the expense of leaving yourself open to enemy attack and having to choose to either operate the gun or steer the vehicle.
Also, give them a firing angle and facing position just like when installing headlights. ((Could probably add that to current vehicle mounted turrets as well to cut down on the friendly-fire related deaths.)) When operating a gun emplacement you can only fire at things in the emplacement’s cone of sight ((You could represent this visually in a manner similar to the artificial night generation bionic)) This leaves the gunner, PC or otherwise, still very vulnerable to flanking.
this is a cool idea - mini fortifications/roadblocks within cities with a few sandbagged emplacements, fixed MGs to loot, other military gear, and Z soldiers