I assumed the mod was designed to work alongside the existing turret options, but I've found that they end up being largely ignored for lasers. The first module turret takes up more room and has a lower fire rate than the gun turret, but it enjoys extra hit points and improved damage after upgrades. So it seems like it would augment existing gun turrets perfectly. However, there is a large gap both in research and resources between the gun turret and the first modular turrets. In a way it isn't the complexity that bothers me, though I do think it's too much: it's the cost. To summarize: the heavy mg isn't twice as good as a gun turret, yet costs ten times as much. In my opinion the issue lies with the bases: they require 20 steel, 30 plastic, 5 engines and and 75 concrete. The head of the heavy MG costs 15 iron, 5 steel, 10 gears, and 5 circuits. The head of the gun costs what you might expect the whole thing to cost, especially given the base game turrets don't require them. Add in the base and it's just insane. 30 steel alone is enough for 4 gun turrets.
In my experience, and we've played two games with modular turrets enabled alongside Rampant, we just ignore them and go straight to lasers. The later tiers might be more worthwhile, but the first two: heavy MG and the minigun just are not. In short, I just don't think the resource requirements are balanced against the use scenarios. The same goes for the scattergun for similar reasons: why 35 stone bricks? That's as many as 3 steel furnaces. For a gun that isn't really better than the gun turret: it's more expensive, it's range is worse and because of how the shotgun shells work they have to be in the front where the inevitably take more damage.
In short, the 'balance' just isn't there in my opinion. I know it could be argued 'once you have automation going even missiles are cheap', but in a game that demands your attention in dozens of different areas the pre-existing options just come off as superior: they cost less, are unlocked somewhat naturally through regular progression and are generally immediately useful. And that's just the regular mount, the advanced turrets aren't even worth talking about. I want to like the mod more because the guns are cool, and I've even enjoyed the ones I've built, but they really are just too damn expensive in my experience. As I said, we've played two games with them and I have to sneak them in as research during lulls because no one else sees them as a big enough improvement to justify wasting research time on, let alone siphoning the materials to mass produce them.
Anyways, sorry for the long post but the guns are awesome: I just don't think they are fully practical when compared against what the game already offers. I'd love to see the material and research requirements adjusted a bit to make them more viable to a wider variety of players.
