Mana Turret via T-Ray

[Metalsheep]

I think it would be cool if when the turret is unmanned, it looks just like that. But when you take control of the turret, Shields appear at the sides of the turret to protect the operator from fire, there could be a gap in the middle to keep the user from being headshotted, or it could envelope the front half of the turret almost entirely and leave the operator only vulnerable from the back/partly the sides. (I'd assume the shield would be slightly dome-shaped.) It could either block damage entirely, or could be destructible after enough fire, that then leaves the operator able to be killed directly. But if they're untouched for a short while they recharge like the old Field Turrets or our own shielding. You could destroy the turret itself by just shooting the turret, or try to beat through the shields to kill only the operator.

Or it could have different defensive measures per Empire. VS get the shield (But more stylized towards the VS, Hex shaped or sharp/scale-like shield effects), TR could get some kind of rounded bullet-resistant glass, and the NC could have the oldschool armor plates.