Iron Nest puts you inside a 5,000-ton dieselpunk turret with two 800mm barrels, and the shell you load matters as much as your range and bearing. The developers plan to ship more than 30 ammunition types, but only seven are confirmed and usable right now. Each one carries a set blast radius, a Requisition Credit cost, and a clear job on the battlefield.
Quick answer: Use HE for general targets, HCHE for clustered or buried targets, AP for armor and bunkers, S.T.A.R to illuminate ground, and PHOSGENE against unarmored personnel. SMOKE and TEAR GAS exist but currently have no mission use.
Every Iron Nest shell type: cost, blast radius, and target
You buy and restock shells with Requisition Credits at the Requisition Station, so picking the right round saves both credits and mission time. The table below covers the seven shells confirmed in Iron Nest: Heavy Turret Simulator and what each one is built to do.
| Shell | Radius / Cost | Best used for |
|---|---|---|
| HE Standard burst load shell | 0.27 km 3 Credits | The everyday round. Clears artillery batteries, infantry divisions, mechanized targets, and civil riots. |
| HCHE Max burst charge, overpressure, secure fuse | 0.63 km 5 Credits | More than double the HE blast. Best when two or more targets sit close together, including underground positions. Watch for friendly units inside the radius. |
| AP Hard-core penetration | 0.14 km 3 Credits | Armor-piercing precision. Breaches bunkers, armored targets, underground supply caches, and fire direction centers. |
| S.T.A.R High-luminosity flare, parachute drop | 12.74 km illumination 1 Credit | A non-combat recon round that lights up a wide area. Also usable for false-flag setups. |
| PHOSGENE Toxic choking agent cloud | 1.85 km TBA | Eliminates personnel while leaving infrastructure intact. Effective on infantry and civil unrest, useless against armor. |
| SMOKE Long-burning screening canister | 1.86 km 1 Credit | Non-lethal screening round. No active mission use yet, with related objectives planned later. |
| TEAR GAS Non-lethal CS irritant | 1.86 km TBA | Non-lethal crowd disperser. Currently has no mission use, but may become relevant in future content. |
How to match shells to mission orders
High Command sends orders through the teleprinter, and each target type expects a specific shell. Matching them correctly is the difference between a clean hit and a wasted volley.
- Underground or armored targets need AP. Use it for bunkers, buried supply caches, and fire direction centers.
- Enemy artillery batteries take HE or HCHE.
- Two close targets are most efficiently handled with a single HCHE round.
- Infantry and civil unrest can be cleared with HE or, where you want infrastructure left standing, PHOSGENE.
Note: PHOSGENE does nothing to armored targets, so never substitute it for AP against bunkers or tanks.
Why only seven shells are available
The full game is built around more than 30 unlockable ammunition types, but the rest are not in players’ hands yet. As Iron Nest moves toward release, additional shells are expected to be revealed. SMOKE and TEAR GAS already appear on the rack even though no current mission rewards their use, since their mechanics are planned for later updates.
For now, the seven confirmed rounds cover every objective type the game throws at you. Lock the right shell, dial your range into the ballistic calculator, match your bearing, and make every shot count.
