Machinegunner

The Machinegunner is a basic early weapon and is available at the start of the game. It is the cheapest weapon, requires no structures for it's construction, and is your primary anti - air defender.

Advantages

 * Extremely cheap and expendable
 * Can be built without the need of additional necessary structures
 * Cost-effective AA, can destroy Missiles with ease.
 * Good early - game harasser

Disadvantages

 * Very low damage - Cannot damage metal or shields!
 * Fairly inaccurate, only hits it's targets reliably if firing in a group
 * Very low health - Takes a few shots to kill them.
 * Can be countered by Shotguns when used correctly.

Strategy
The machinegunner is a cheap, but useful unit that retains it's utility throughout a match. At early game, it can cause light damage to exposed structures / weapons in the enemy's base, or to their wooden struts, which can slow down the enemy's progression. Otherwise, they serve as your primary defense against enemy mortars and missiles, as it has it's own AI that targets these projectiles. However, their accuracy is questionable - 2 to 3 machinegunners can reliably keep the skies safe. These weapons are expendable, and shouldn't be a primary target when fighting an enemy with one, unless it is early game. Beware, as this is the only weapon with a overheat timer. You can fire the gun 3 times in succession before it needs to cool down. Try to never reach this point - If the gun overheats, it takes a whopping 7 seconds to cool down, compared to 2 seconds for it to cooldown normally.

Machinegunners can be upgraded into Miniguns for 200 Metal and 400 Energy.