History Main / PointDefenseless

* The film version of Tom Clancy's ''Film/TheSumOfAllFears'' had a scene where an American carrier (unrealistically traveling without escorts) is set upon by Russian aircraft. It is seen firing its CIWS at the incoming missiles, to little effect. This was actually something of a transplant of a [[Literature/RedStormRising scene from another Tom Clancy novel]] (see the Literature entry).

* In ''Literature/ArkRoyal'', the alien capital ships are very good at taking out not only human missiles and fighters but also MagneticWeapon rounds, requiring {{Macross Missile Massacre}}s and shotgun-like spreads of railgun fire to get past their extremely accurate plasma defenses. It's stated that the aliens build their cap ship hulls out of a superconducting material that allows plasma to be generated at any point along the hull, turning the entire ship into a versatile point-defense turret (however, even a single successful direct railgun hit can cripple or destroy an alien ship). By contrast, the titular ship is a 70-year-old relic from the time when the Royal SpaceNavy's military doctrine was all about [[TheBattlestar Battlestar]]-type ships (modern carriers are practically unarmored and lack any serious weapons). The heavily-armored ''Ark Royal'' is capable of taking damage that would easily kill any modern carrier and also dish out damage of its own, while her fighters try to keep the alien fighters from getting too close. However, the carrier's sensors are so out-of-date that there is real danger of the point-defense turrets mistaking a friendly fighter for an enemy.

** The climactic battle in ''Film/ANewHope'' has the Death Star's ([[SchizoTech manually aimed]]) point defense unable to hit more than one or two {{Red Shirt}}s, forcing Darth Vader and his TIE fighters to go out and take on the Rebels in an OldSchoolDogfight. This is noted in the Rebel mission briefing as the reason they sent only fighters: the Empire considered one-man craft to be a negligible threat to the station and so they're basically taking potshots with anti-capital ship weapons (the EU clarifies that the Death Star's towers are mounting XX-9 turbolasers, the secondary anti-ship weapons of Star Destroyers), with their accuracy made even worse by a terrifying jamming. In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', the Empire learns its lesson and builds its second Death Star with thick anti-fighter defenses, including multiple Star Destroyers with full complements of their own starfighters, and surrounds the whole station in a massive energy shield during construction.
*** The jamming actually [[JustifiedTrope explains many instances]], making even dedicated point defense weapons less accurate than they should. A comic in [[Franchise/StarWarsLegends the old Expanded Universe]] even shows dedicated military fighters being completely invisible to the scanners of a large pirate gang even when they're firing on said pirates' fighters.
** Similarly, the space battle at the end of ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' shows the guns of the droid control ship are ineffective against the Naboo fighters and, most importantly, can't stop Anakin from ''landing in their hangar''. {{Justified|Trope}} as [[TechnicallyATransport it's actually a giant merchant ship that was originally unarmed (the powerful shields and the sheer size being its best defense against attacks from under-equipped pirates) and has been hastily refitted with some weapons]] before the invasion of Naboo (as a planetary government would have access to better weapons than pirates). They weren't even expecting any resistance, given that Naboo technically has no military at all. The ineffectiveness of the point-defense of dedicated warships in the opening to ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' is instead explained by the immense jamming hundreds of warships in a pitched battle are throwing around, but at least they do better than said merchant ships.
** The ''Millennium Falcon'' and Poe Dameron's stolen Tie Fighter both survive being right next to a capital ship for very significant amounts of time in ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', even taking out several turreted mounts with their own cannons on the way out, and Vader's Super Star Destroyer in ''Return of the Jedi'' is eventually taken down by fighters (specifically one that ''did'' get hit once by point defense, but then [[TakingYouWithMe crashed into the bridge]]).
** The point-defense guns of the Star Destroyers at Scarif in ''Film/RogueOne'' score a bare handful of kills, and are unable to prevent said fighters from discharging their guns and torpedoes and dealing significant damage to them. Hence why they're protected by [[ZergRush about a hundred]] TIE fighters deployed from the nearby station.
** Averted in the climax of ''The Force Awakens''; First Order ground fire downs just as many Resistance pilots as their fighters do, though it still doesn't seem to be as effective as modern SAM systems (again, manually aimed turrets).
** Played straight in ''Film/TheLastJedi'', when a First Order Dreadnought Star Destroyer's turrets fail to hit [[AcePilot Poe Dameron's]] X-wing, who proceeds to destroy the turrets. Mind, he ''does'' need a super-booster on his fighter in order to fly fast enough to evade them in the first place, but it's still a rather pathetic showing considering this is ''one'' fighter.

* ''UsefulNotes/D20System'':

* Done well in ''Film/BattleShip''. The invading aliens send out a electromagnetic wave that disables the targeting computers on the destroyers and forces them to eyeball. Despite this many enemy projectiles are shot down and the ships are taken out with sheer weight of enemy fire.

** ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'': In the final battle, three fully-automatic ship mounted flak turrets (all of which are computer controlled) fail to liquidate a guy with a jetpack. Doing continuous [[DoABarrelRoll barrel rolls]] allows him to remain untouched for ''several minutes''. Perhaps it should have packed missile point-defense instead, like modern warships. It is especially odd because they are clearly exploding flak shells, [[NonFatalExplosions bizarrely without the actually shrapnel caused by this effect.]] On the other hand, Falcon is the only member of his team left and he explicitly mentions that this sort of thing killed his partner.

* [[ZigzaggingTrope Zigzaged]] in ''VideoGame/BattlefleetGothicArmada'', where the usefulness of interception fire varies a great deal. Every ship in the game has in built turrets that attempt to stop incoming bombers, torpedo's and boarding parties, usualy with a decent degree of success, and the turrets of two friendly ships in close proximity will cover each other. However, there are many factors that may reduce the effectiveness of turrets, from increasing the speed of your torpedoes (so they spend less time in range of the turrets), to giving all your fighters and bombers a chance to dodge destruction (with the Eldar faction's bombers having an insane 50% dodge chance) to the fact that ships lose one turret for every 100 health they lose.

* In the first ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'' game, the US fleet isn't the least bit able to defend itself against the slow moving hordes of alien ships. Worse, the fleet gets only a 5 second warning about the approaching ships before they wreck the carrier's flight deck by simply crashing into it. A later cutscene shows many more alien craft in the background, and a nuclear warhead had just been detonated, so they could've easily told us the aliens did a ZergRush and 99% were shot down before getting close and have the damage done by the remaining 1%, or that the systems were blinded by the nuke's EMP waves. The CIWS turrets do score some kills, but the RIM-7 missile point-defense seems to be totally absent. [[FanWank Perhaps they fired off all 24 SAMs while you were below the deck, taking out 24 Alien Scouts yet not really denting their numbers.]]
* In the various ''Franchise/StarWars'' space sim games, there are often laser turrets that are more specifically designed for swatting X-wings. They tend to fail horribly at their jobs when you learn how to handle them.
** In the ''VideoGame/XWing'' and ''VideoGame/TieFighter'' games, you can simply jiggle the stick while moving in any direction but directly at a turret to evade all fire -- the [[SlowLaser Slow Lasers]] move so slowly that the slightest deviation in direction will throw a shot off.
** In ''VideoGame/XWingAlliance'', the danger to the player's fighter from a given capital ship seems to be inversely proportional to its size - corvettes, gunships, and ''Lancer''-class frigates (see the Literature/XWingSeries entry above) are particularly deadly, while the player can make endless attack runs on a Super Star Destroyer without fear of being blasted by its guns. Ship defenses are perfectly capable of defeating the player's missiles and torpedoes however... unless they take the simple expedient of firing them as unguided rockets, in which case they will be completely ignored.[[note]]This tactic is even mentioned in the tutorial level.[[/note]]
** The ''VideoGame/RogueSquadron'' games often forced you to directly confront these laser turrets, which is suicidal to do head-on, but if you can get below their firing arc (and they're often on top of hills or on canyon ledges to facilitate this), they're completely helpless.
** ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefront II''[='=]s Space Combat mode avoided player immunity to AA by having the automated turrets of capital ships shoot lasers which exploded when near their target ([[MST3KMantra don't think about how this is supposed to work]]). This made up for their poor accuracy by making it extremely difficult for small fighters like A-Wings to fly within range of them, lest they run into a flak barrage and immediately explode, but for anything bigger (especially a heavily-armored bomber, the only type of ship expected to get in and stay close to the enemy capital ship) they barely even qualified as a nuisance. It is possible to kill these guns by either landing inside the enemy ship and blowing up the turret control computer (since it's the first thing beyond the hangar, this is more a matter of time than anything else), or just blow up the ship's shields and then take out the guns themselves. Note that there are automatic guns inside the ships with regenerative health. And they are very good at making life hell for infiltrators.
** Human players can actually take control of smaller point defense guns in multiplayer. It's not popular for a number of reasons. It doesn't score many points, it's boring, it's difficult to do, and you have a tendency to die at random for no reason whatsoever while at the AA gun controls thanks to a bug.
* Mostly averted in ''VideoGame/Privateer2TheDarkening'', in which even cargo freighters are at GunshipRescue level thanks to their relentless, targeted, and high-powered turret fire. Either you're constantly evading, you get out of range, or you get shredded. Depending on the ship, you might be able to take it out by getting into that blind spot.
* Capital ships in ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}'' almost invariably need escorts against waves of fighters, as they have little or no point defense. This is a deliberate part of the TacticalRockPaperScissors, and a few capital ships are effective against fighters at the cost of not countering what capital ships normally counter -- Missile Destroyers, for instance, will shred fighter fleets. On the other hand, the Mothership itself is armed with some serious point defenses that can repel anything short of a massed bomber attack.
** In ''Homeworld Cataclysm'', most of the ships end up averting this trope. All of the larger capital ships are at least armed with homing energy cannons or precise guns that severely negate the usefulness of fighter squadrons against them. The Somtaaw capital ships carry missile launchers in addition to the rest of their guns, killing off any chance of a serious fighter attack.
** ''Homeworld 2'''s capital ships takes this trope down half a notch. Battlecruisers and Destroyers, especially of the Hiigaran kind, have developed pretty potent antifighter defense for ships that are built from the ground-up to pick on others their own size. This perk gives capital ships an edge against lone fighter squadrons, forcing the opponent [[ZergRush to utilize numbers]] if he wants his winning edge back.
* Ships in ''VideoGame/NexusTheJupiterIncident'' can be equipped with rapid-fire flak lasers that can destroy enemy fighters and incoming missiles (but not torpedoes, they are too fast) -- though you're better off with fighter escort since they break off and intercept threats automatically.
* ''VideoGame/GratuitousSpaceBattles'' has this as one aspect. Fighters/Bombers can easily destroy even biggest ship since to BFG cannons can't lock and fire fast enough. On the other hand, if fleet has even decent Point Defence systems, fighters are having hard time. All part of TacticalRockPaperScissors.
* The original ''VideoGame/FreeSpace'' played this very straight, with even the heaviest Destroyers packing no more than a few easily-dodgeable "blob turrets" and puny missile launchers. In response, the sequel [[AvertedTrope loaded every capital ship down with exploding flak and hitscan Anti-Fighter Beams]]. If the player doesn't approach the ship carefully, blasting off a few turrets to create a blind spot, they ''will'' die in short order. For the most part this was an improvement, but it also gave birth to the Aeolus-Class Cruiser, a DemonicSpider so tough it ''never'' makes an un-{{nerf}}ed appearance at any point in the campaign. The turret AI was also made a bit more intelligent: it will now attempt to shoot down incoming bombs, and even prioritize them over nearby enemy fighters.

* Point defense guns in ''VideoGame/SigmaStarSaga'' fire at a 45-degree angle that can't be altered.
* ''VideoGame/SinsOfASolarEmpire'' has starbases, massive structures bristling with weapons, thick armor and powerful shields... but nothing that can target strikecraft. In fact, most ships lack anti-fighter weapons. The TEC ''Kol''-class battleships do have a special ability that allows them to destroy every enemy fighter craft near them... by loading their autocannons with shrapnel and firing all at the same time, basically, creating a wall of death for any enemy fighter.
* ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars'' features point defense guns. Ballistics are optimized to shoot down down drones and mines, whereas Laser Point Defenses are best against torpedoes and missiles. High-tech Phasers are more effective and can kill multiple targets in one sweep, but are a late-game tech that is rarely available. ''Argos Naval Yard'' introduced Interceptor Missiles, which are even better at nailing drones, mines and torpedoes but cannot hit missiles. Take note, though, that the necessary research option is only randomly available and the RandomNumberGod may not like you. Any weapon ''can'' be used for point defense in a pinch, even [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter Mass Drivers]] and [[WaveMotionGun Heavy Combat Lasers]], but the faster turret tracking of dedicated PD weapons is preferred. Furthermore, ship design firing arcs affect the usefulness of PD - Tarka in particular are very bad at nailing munitions coming in from above or below the plane of combat.
** There are also "[[LightningGun light emitters]]" (they don't emit light; they're just a smaller version of the standard "emitter"). A single blast can eliminate several missiles close by. Their fire rate is a little slow.
** The best way to deal with missiles seems to be is to use a dedicated Wild Weasel destroyer, which attracts most of the enemy missiles toward it while sending the rest back at the enemy (and the enemy won't try to destroy them, as they don't classify as "foe"). Of course, if you want your Wild Weasel to survive the battle (or even the first volley), you better keep a few dedicated PD ships nearby to swat all the missiles before they hit. ''Argos Naval Yard'' adds the Electronic Warfare command section, which includes the Wild Weasel function. Since this is a dreadnought section, it can take a ''lot'' of punishment and can also be equipped with lots of PD weapons.
** The sequel mixes it up by nerfing Phaser PD to have lower rate of fire, so it's not so good against waves of hardened heavy missiles or battleriders. Also, while Interceptor Missiles can now hit other missiles, but the low rate of fire makes them better against few hardened ordnance than swarms of normal missiles and can also be spoofed unlike the other direct-fire options. Furthermore, missiles have new tricks such as launching uninterceptable submunitions from standoff range, reducing the size of the intercept window.

* ''VideoGame/SupremeCommander'' provides an aversion. Between the availability of base-covering shields, artillery emplacements and long range radar, base defenses can do an acceptable job of holding off an attack.
** In the ''Forged Alliance'' expansion, the UEF gained a new unit type specifically designed to overwhelm tactical missile defenses through sheer numbers.
* Same for its predecessor ''VideoGame/TotalAnnihilation'', which even featured a couple of ''very'' powerful turrets that were expensive and slow to build, but would OneHitKill anything short of a superheavy tank.
** ''Total Annihilation'' adds an interesting wrinkle to its point defenses, in that their effective firing range often significantly exceeds their own visual range, and they won't automatically target enemies on radar detection. Thus, in order to make a base's point-defences effective, it's necessary to supplement them with patrolling vehicles to keep the surrounding terrain in sight, acting as spotters for the defensive emplacements.

* In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'', The Subspace Gunship has enough auto-turrets to literally fill the sky with projectiles.... yet they can't hit the broad side of a barn door. The destruction of the Halberd was implied to be a deliberate action on part of the heroes; once the smaller ships are released, the Gunship's turrets are suddenly slightly less accurate than your average Imperial Stormtrooper. Even Olimar's ship (shown later as [[TheAllegedCar barely capable of keeping up with the other ships]]) has little trouble avoiding the enemy fire.
* In ''VideoGame/InfiniteSpace'', AA lasers avert this in that they can and do shred fighters, but they're just not as useful as having a fighter complement of your own since the game prevents you from moving if you're under attack from fighters. One instance where this is best averted is in your first fight with Oisin, where he shoots tracker mines that keep your ship from moving and just blow up your fighters, whereas using your AA lasers finishes the fight in a few seconds.

* In ''VideoGame/EveOnline'', larger ships tend to cart around larger weapons. Makes sense, yes? Larger weapon turrets unfortunately track more slowly than smaller ones. This results in battleships that can slug it out with another battleship, but can't manage to pick off the swarms of frigates that will attack because its anti-battleship cannons track too slowly. This can be fixed by having some ships in the fleet outfitted with smaller weapons specifically to deal with the smaller ships, functioning as roving point-defense ships, often using smaller, cheaper ships for this duty since they're just about as effective as using something bigger would be. Destroyers are designed to mount the maximum number of small turrets possible and are thus the ideal anti-frigate escort and will cost a couple of orders of magnitude less than a battleship. Often, however, the battleships will simply load up on multiple flights or [[AttackDrone drones]] to deal with smaller annoyances.

* As expected from its source material, most battleships in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' have terrible utility when used against anything besides MechaMooks, and basically any boss will freaking laugh at any weapon they'd be hit by except ones that are so huge they have sections of their ship built around them. It should be noted that in many cases it's not so much a matter of accuracy, but the guns are so weak that they barely do any damage, even when the weapons are canonically supposed to be as big as the guns said mooks carry into battle. This also counts for most Mobile Suit vulcans, with the exception of pilots with the later "Shoot Down" skill, which allows them to blast incoming missile attacks.
* The Human Cruiser from ''VideoGame/StarControl'' has point defense lasers as a secondary weapon to compliment its nuclear missile launcher, but they're only really useful on the interstellar equivalent of peashooters (or possibly CherryTapping). Anything thicker will cruise right through to hit the ship. The Precursor flagship can be outfitted with P.D. lasers with similar properties.
** On the other hand, their PD system absolutely pissed off the Ur-Quan, who use swarms of fighters. And in ''Star Control 2'', the Orz Marines would have fits trying to get through Cruiser Point Defense, though you have to annoy them pretty bad before they'll attack at all. In most other circumstances though, the Cruiser is better off spamming nukes.
** A computer-controlled Ur-Quan Dreadnought will not launch fighters at an Earthling Cruiser. Then again, it doesn't have to. It can just close in and blast the PunyEarthlings into atoms. Computer is also quite adept at shooting down the slow missiles with the Dreadnought's main gun or the primary weapon of other ships.
* ''VideoGame/GravityCrash'''s levels are strewn with fixed cannons; due to a combination of [[HeroTrackingFailure aiming issues]] and ''[[WeakTurretGun extreme]]'' [[WeakTurretGun vulnerability to your ship's gun]] (they often go down in a single shot), they provide the bad guys practically no defense to speak of.
* Anti missile guns in ''VideoGame/MechWarrior 3'' shoot down incoming missiles, if you remember to turn them on. Enemies seem to lack them.
** ''Mechwarrior Online'' also has Anti-Missile systems as an available modification for every 'Mech. Larger missile flights tend to overwhelm them but they are somewhat effective, particularly when combined with Electronic Countermeasures.
* The [[http://deusex.wikia.com/wiki/Aggressive_Defense_System aggressive defence]] augmentation of ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' destroys missiles before they can hit you. At higher levels it can actually hurt enemies by making their rockets explode near them.
* ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'' has automated asteroid defence guns which are supposed to protect the ship from bits and pieces of the planet it's cracking. It fails, requiring you to manually operate one until it can be rebooted.
* ''VideoGame/BattlestarGalacticaOnline'': Lines are generally bad at targetting small, agile Strikes. Flyswatting is the job of Escorts, but a good or much higher-level Strike pilot can still give them a run for their money.
* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' has an aversion with the Vanguard Base in the Rikti Warzone. The turrets around the base are level 54, generally Lieutenants and Bosses, are backed up by a pair of level 54 HumongousMecha, whereas the nearest enemies are, at maximum, level 38. The said, it is played straight during missions involving the Vanguard base, as those selfsame turrets are spawned to the level of the mission, alongside notably more enemies than they can usually successfully take on, and the mecha are taken out before the mission. Similarly, the turrets in the Shadow Shard are never shown firing on anything (because they actually predate the Turrets enemy group).
* Nearly every Core (torso, that is) unit from ''VideoGame/ArmoredCore'' carried a point-defense unit against incoming missile, from the first game. This explains the barrel-like protrusions from many Cores. Starting from Armored Core 2, shoulder-mounted CIWS systems start to be introduced, from missile, laser and gun-based interception, to simple missile misdirection. Their effectiveness range from "acceptable", "total protection", and "dead weight".
** Oddly, the only game that lacks any point defence system is Armored Core 4 and for Answer, relegating anti-missile to flares only. This being 4/fA, that seldom works due to the sheer MacrossMissileMassacre feats that other AC units can pull off.
* Somewhat averted in ''VideoGame/StrikeSuitZero'' as every capital ship is armed with point defense systems. Flak cannons however only have a short range, and are far more effective on shields than armor. Enemy flak cannons are only a real threat to the player early on, until the player realises that they can strike from out of range (or when the turrets are facing away from the player). The point defense on allied ships is damaged in the first few missions, so the player is relied upon to eliminate enemy torpedoes, and the flak defenses can be overwhelmed by multiple attackers. When there are only one or two attackers, or multiple defending ships, flak can be very effective at defense.
** Enemy point defense becomes far more effective when you face the Black Fleet, as their ships are armed with anti-fighter lasers that out-range all of the players weapons, though they do become less accurate and easier to dodge at range.
* Very much averted with ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'''s sentry guns, which can shred an entire team of enemy players in seconds if they go toe-to-toe or try to just run past. Due to this, it's considered one of the few counters to a decent Scout, since they can dodge everything ''except'' a sentry's auto-targeting if it's close enough to spotting them. Of course, this is to compensate for their ArtificialStupidity -- they are plenty of ways to outwit them, although the gun's owner can make this more difficult if he's nearby.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/{{Earth 2150}}'' where Morphidian aliens can breed a type of airship fitted with dozens of lasers able to shoot down any amount of missiles.
* Averted in ''Franchise/MassEffect''. Ships mount GARDIAN laser turrets to destroy incoming ordnance and fighters. At close range they double as an offensive weapon, since kinetic barriers are useless against energy weapons. This made missiles more or less outdated in-universe; the sole way of using them is to discharge them at point-blank range (usually with fighters) so there literally isn't enough time for the point-defense systems to get all of them before some hit.
** Notably, the series explicitly states that laser point defense is almost completely reliable. Since the lasers travel at essentially lightspeed and the setting's computers are so powerful, GARDIAN systems will functionally always destroy fighters and ordnance within range. Different ship design philosophies use different kinds of point defense, but the thing they all have in common is that they're functionally flawless until they overheat or are somehow damaged.
* About the only thing reducing [[HigherTechSpecies Polaris]] warships' status as {{game breaker}}s in ''[[VideoGame/EscapeVelocity EV Nova]]'' is the fact that, unlike [[TheEmpire Federation]] and [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Auroran]] ships, they have no point defense guns, making them vulnerable to [[MacrossMissileMassacre long range missile barrages]] (and only slightly, since they can return fire with their own missiles). By contrast some Federation capital ships carry [[BeamSpam quad light blaster turrets]], and some Auroran ships mount [[MoreDakka Storm chainguns]].
* While most of the ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' series plays this trope straight, there are two exceptions:
** In ''Armada'', the carrier flak cannons are ''very'' dangerous, and exceedingly accurate. They can shred even heavy fighters in a small handful of shots. Should a torpedo-equipped fighter run into an unescorted carrier on the strategic map, however, the torpedo run is a {{cutscene}} where the attack always succeeds.
** In ''Prophecy'', the rear gun turret on the Triton transports isn't necessarily fatal to the player's fighter, but it ''is'' quite good at shooting down torpedoes launched at the engine, required to kill them. The positioning also makes the turret difficult to destroy so that it won't interfere with an attack.
* ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' has a partial example. While standard torpedoes cannot be targeted by your guns, you ''can'' shoot down heavy torpedoes, boarding shuttles, mines, and fighters.
* In ''VideoGame/JeffWaynesWarOfTheWorlds'', the counter to fast-moving Martian flying machines is theoretically the AA gun and its vehicular counterpart, the mobile anti-aircraft array. However, the comparatively short range and low damage of these weapons mean that it's often just as effective (if not more so) to use a unit or two of [[TankGoodness armoured track layers]], whose weapons also hit instantly and do more damage.
* Short-range weapons in ''VideoGame/StrangeAdventuresInInfiniteSpace'' automatically target enemy missiles. Depending on how good the weapon is, it may stop every missile, unless the enemy (or you) is using the [[MacrossMissileMassacre Multi-Missile Launcher]]. Fighters are also fairly easy to kill and can be specifically targeted.
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfHonorTheSecretFleet'' is based on the [[Literature/HonorHarrington Honorverse]] but takes great liberties when portraying battles (in fact, most ships have shapes that are vastly different from the double-cone shapes all ships in the books have). Basically, all battles are one-on-one, and ships hang in space and exchange volleys of missiles. All ships have [[DeflectorShields sidewalls]], but they can be easily overwhelmed with enough hits. Ships can also roll to present their dorsal wedges that completely block any incoming missile for a few seconds (the "roll" ability must recharge). The three point-defense systems available on larger ships are lasers (the final layer before impact), counter-missiles (middle layer), and ECM (first layer). ECM sends some missiles off-course, while lasers and counter-missiles destroy a certain number of missiles. Each point-defense system can be defied by special missiles that also damage this particular system if they hit the hull (e.g. red missiles are immune to point-defense lasers and damage the laser system on impact). All point-defense systems must recharge after use.
* In ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'''s ExpandedUniverse, it's explained that one of the reasons why the UNSC has difficulty in space is because the Covenant avert this trope with their highly accurate pulse lasers, forcing them to resort to trope namer levels of MacrossMissileMassacre to get missiles through. The UNSC themselves play this straight; their point-defense systems use [[SchizoTech chemically-propelled autocannons]], which aren't particularly useful against modern anti-ship missiles, much less futuristic ones. Any Insurrectionist or Covenant missile/torpedo fired at a UNSC ship pretty much always hits as a result, unless the captain manages to dodge it. There's also several scenes in the games of Banshees and Seraphs lazily flying around UNSC ships, seemingly unconcerned with said guns.
* In ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty: VideoGame/ModernWarfare 2'', "Honey Badger", the Stryker ICV you escort through half of the level "Exodus", has an active protection system to shoot down enemy RPG's fired at it; it's actually effective at defending itself, but [[ZergRush there are a lot of Russian soldiers with RPG's]], so the Stryker still needs your help thinning the enemies out before it's overwhelmed.
* In ''VideoGame/FromTheDepths'', most ships mount negligible AntiAir weaponry bar lucky shots from their {{BFG}} anti-ship cannons. The Deepwater Guard -- the first encountered enemy faction -- in particular have a designed weakness to missiles and planes due to very few DWG ships mounting laser weaponry or anti-missile systems. It comes as a rude awakening when players take on the Onyx Watch, whose ships mount heavy armor, often possess anti-missile systems, and have a dedicated anti-air boat that can melt any fighter out of the sky through massed {{hitscan}} BeamSpam.
* [[ZigzaggingTrope Zigzaged]] in ''VideoGame/BattlefleetGothicArmada'', where the usefulness of interception fire varies a great deal. Every ship in the game has in built turrets that attempt to stop incoming bombers, torpedo's and boarding parties, usualy with a decent degree of success, and the turrets of two friendly ships in close proximity will cover each other. However, there are many factors that may reduce the effectiveness of turrets, from increasing the speed of your torpedoes (so they spend less time in range of the turrets), to giving all your fighters and bombers a chance to dodge destruction (with the Eldar faction's bombers having an insane 50% dodge chance) to the fact that ships lose one turret for every 100 health they lose.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/NavalOps''. Point defense weapons run the gamut from machine guns to lasers to rapid-fire missiles and can be mounted in very large numbers. The player ship can fill the air with a barrage that will completely pulp any incoming missiles and aircraft. Mines and torpedoes can only be intercepted by machine guns, and mines must be targeted manually. Enemy ships generally mount a handful of AA guns that occasionally intercept something.
* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals'' has a few American units like the Paladin Tank equipped with [[EnergyWeapon point defense lasers]] that do a very good job at targeting enemy missiles and neutralizing them, though they can still be overwhelmed by sufficient fire.
* Medium [[GiantRobot AFV's]] in ''VideoGame/RingOfRed'' have a machine gun turret intended to deter the kind of brass-balled individual who'll run up and throw a grenade at them. This machine gun is a complete and utter waste of space that can only hit the ground due to gravity.
* ''VideoGame/BattleTech2018'' has the Anti-Missile System which, in lieu of destroying missiles, instead reduces your chance to be hit by them when targeted and forces each hit to do less damage. It weighs about 1.5 tons, but the actual impact of the system is minor, and it has the uncomfortable tendency to explode when struck, doing much more damage to your 'Mech's insides than it ever did to enemy missiles.
* ''VideoGame/MasterOfOrion'' averts this trope as civilizations advance technologically, with weapon systems and energy screen options that can wipe out waves of fighters or missiles. Point defense mounts for beam weapons on [[DesignItYourselfEquipment player-designed ships]] are smaller and more accurate than standard weapons mounts, at the cost of range and firepower.
* Aircraft in ''VideoGame/AdvanceWars'' are so mobile, they're very capable of avoiding ground and naval AntiAir or even getting in a crippling first strike, albeit the latter makes them open to attacks from anything else nearby. In particular, the indirect fire Missiles are almost laughably terrible even at area denial, because their max range is too small and their min range creates a blind spot that needs many other units to block off (though their high vision makes them much better in FogOfWar). Per this trope, the unit most-effective against aircraft is the Fighter, ''[[TakesOneToKillOne another aircraft]]'' that can move ''even further'' in one turn than any other.

* The USS ''Nimitz'' in ''Literature/RedStormRising'' gets hit by two anti-ship missiles in the first major engagement of WorldWarThree due to a targeting conflict; the last two missiles are approaching so close together that the fire-control software, programmed to target the closest incoming threat first, glitches out. (Possibly inspired by RealLife; see below.) The battle is actually a pretty realistic depiction of point defenses on modern ships, describing the various defensive measures the fleet takes to shoot down the incoming missiles. The CIWS shot down three other missiles, and many more missiles were shot down before they got that close. Too bad there were [[MacrossMissileMassacre a couple of hundred missiles launched]], each of them effectively a OneHitKill on anything smaller than ''Nimitz'' herself.
* [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig-zagged]] in ''Literature/LegacyOfTheAldenata'', where Posleen defensive hardware is ''very'' dangerous to anything flying under its own power (even stealth equipment and hero characters), but completely useless against unguided rockets or artillery shells.
* {{Invoked}} in some of the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse books, particularly the ''Literature/XWingSeries''. Though lucky shots will probably take a few out, the only really effective way to keep {{Space Fighter}}s from battering capital ships to death is [[OldSchoolDogfight other space fighters]].
** Zig-zagged with the ''Lancer''-class frigate in ''Rogue Squadron'', the first book of the X-Wing Series. ''Lancer''-class frigates are stated to be designed specifically as anti-starfighter ships, and even [[AcePilot Wedge Antilles]] himself gets a knot in his stomach when one ambushes his squadron. However, said frigate fails to shoot down the lone X-Wing that gets within gun range, and its defenses are soon overwhelmed by a slight variation of a MacrossMissileMassacre.
* In Creator/TadWilliams's ''Literature/{{Otherland}}'', during the climax, the [[EvilTowerOfOminousness mile-high tower]] that is the headquarters of J Corp is revealed to possess surface-to-air missile defenses to complement its private army. Considering that they are employed to deal not with aircraft but with a [[spoiler:[[ColonyDrop massive satellite falling from orbit]]]], it's unsurprising that they prove ineffective.
* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'', being relatively-realistically-extrapolated SpaceOpera MilitaryScienceFiction, plays with this in fifteen different ways. Firstly, no one is ever actually flying in any sort of SpaceFighter that would be vulnerable to point defense systems[[note]]Although atmospheric vehicles such as aircars, shuttles, pinnaces, and stingships are fair game planetside[[/note]], but they use many different layers of missile defense to deal with the MacrossMissileMassacre that becomes the standard method of attack. Of course, actual point defense systems as we know them are only one layer of this shield, and not nearly the most effective one. On the other hand, they do form one of the final lines of defense against enemy fire. Of course, the older ships of the Solarian League use autocannon point defense (as opposed to laser) which is horribly obsolete compared to Manticoran or Havenite multi-drive missiles, and so will play the trope straight (so it's pretty much a RunningGag within the series to provide the number of missiles incoming and the multiple countermeasures that prevent 'X' number from hitting the ship over many paragraphs... only to end with "one got through". And that 'one' makes all the dramatic catastrophe that the whole barrage probably wouldn't have).
** The important parts of the point defence systems of up to date ships in the settings are counter-missiles, very small, ''very'' fast missiles with no warhead who take out attacking missiles by simply ramming it at a closing speed very close to the speed of light and laser clusters that shoot down missiles before they can attack. The reason autocannon became useless at the job is because of the development of laser warheads that use an explosion to generate several powerful x-ray or gamma-ray lasers as their main means of attack. Since they don't have to get up close to attack, autocannon were just too slow and too short ranged to be effective anymore.
** It's also noted that one of the key reasons point defenses fail in the series is pure math: If your point defenses can shoot down X missiles per second under ideal conditions and you have Y seconds to shoot down an incoming salvo, then if you are faced with an incoming salvo of X*Y+1 missiles, at least one missile is going to get through no matter what you do. With the introduction of missile pods allowing the use of the MacrossMissileMassacre as a standard tactic, ships are regularly faced with more missiles than they can possible hope to stop.

* In Literature/HarryTurtledove's ''Literature/{{Worldwar}}'' books, [[LizardFolk the Race]] uses anti-missile missiles to shoot down UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo-era human missiles. However, human missiles get better and better as the war rages on, and the Race is incapable of manufacturing more missiles. These AM missiles generally have a good track record, with the notable exception of the Dora railway gun, which managed to fire two shots and blow up two Race starships. The large Dora rounds are misidentified by a Race radar technician as missiles, who engages standard anti-missile defenses. However, [[NoSell the rounds' thick shells prevent them from being shot down by the AM missiles]]. Then again, there's nothing that the lizards could've done at this point, as their starships are merely interstellar troop transports with no armor or armaments of their own. By the ''Colonization'' series, though, the Race adds a secondary autocannon layer of defenses to their spacecraft, just in case their AM missiles fail to take out enemy nukes.
* Partly averted in ''Literature/TheNamelessWar''; human point defense is able to stop all but MacrossMissileMassacre of smaller missiles, but the larger Cap-ship missiles can generally close though the fire from point defense.
* In ''Literature/ArkRoyal'', the alien capital ships are very good at taking out not only human missiles and fighters but also MagneticWeapon rounds, requiring {{Macross Missile Massacre}}s and shotgun-like spreads of railgun fire to get past their extremely accurate plasma defenses. It's stated that the aliens build their cap ship hulls out of a superconducting material that allows plasma to be generated at any point along the hull, turning the entire ship into a versatile point-defense turret (however, even a single successful direct railgun hit can cripple or destroy an alien ship). By contrast, the titular ship is a 70-year-old relic from the time when the Royal SpaceNavy's military doctrine was all about [[TheBattlestar Battlestar]]-type ships (modern carriers are practically unarmored and lack any serious weapons). The heavily-armored ''Ark Royal'' is capable of taking damage that would easily kill any modern carrier and also dish out damage of its own, while her fighters try to keep the alien fighters from getting too close. However, the carrier's sensors are so out-of-date that there is real danger of the point-defense turrets mistaking a friendly fighter for an enemy.
* Averted in ''Literature/AxisOfTime'', where "uptime" ships are equipped with two types of CIWS: laser pods and Metal Storm turrets (Metal Storm Limited is a RealLife weapons company, by the way). The systems are good enough to intercept regular shells in addition to missiles. In fact, their initial use against the "temp" Pacific Fleet makes the "temps" initially assume a SomeKindOfForcefield situation, with the shells exploding the moment they leave the barrel. However, since the purpose of those CIWS is to intercept occasional missiles, they simply don't have enough ammo to be able to handle the sustained levels of shelling a [=WW2=] ship can put out. By the third novel, the Metal Storm ammo is exhausted, as is whatever they use to keep the lasers working, so they have to go back to the less effective Vulcan autocannons.
* Realistically averted in ''Literature/TheExpanse''. Point Defense Cannons, or PDC as they are usually called in the novels, are an integral part of every ship's armament. Not only are they essential for defense against torpedoes, but PDC are also frequently used as impromptu offensive weapons at close quarters, especially for ships lacking [[MagneticWeapons gauss cannons]]. Standard ammo for PDC arrays is Teflon-coated tungsten, which are often depicted as penetrating through a ship's hull and going all the way through whatever is in the round's path and out the other side. The results can sometimes be devastating.
* Averted in one instance in Harry Turtledove's Great War series. A fighting scout plan is shot down by a person in an observation balloon with a handheld rifle. The other members of the pilot's wing are stunned.

* Happens frequently to bomber aircraft in ''Series/{{Dogfights}}'', as they're usually attacked at angles where their gunners are unable to track the aircraft attacking them.
* This appears to be the case for both the Colonials and the Cylons in ''Series/BattlestarGalactica1978''. Both sides use slow-firing, slow-tracking gun turrets that are easily overwhelmed by the fast-moving Raiders and Vipers and depend on their embarked fighter wings for effective defense.
* In ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'', the Cylon Basestars are literally point defenseless, with sound justification. They rely on their Raiders to intercept enemy missiles and fighters (although they can shoot enemy missiles with their own missiles), as well as get in the way of enemy shells. The Raiders are even capable of faster-than-light travel, allowing the Cylons to engage the Colonials without ever bringing their motherships close. If they find themselves in a fight sans Raiders, however, the Colonial ships usually end up pounding them into scrap. The Battlestars, by contrast, have massive gun batteries to lay down [[MoreDakka Defensive Supression Barrages]] to force the Cylons to give them some breathing room. The Cylon "Colony", their biggest ship and makeshift homeworld, averts this. It's defended by so many turrets controlled by multiple hybrids that even the ''Galactica'' with its massive armor has only about two minutes before they're toast. Luckily, they're able to hack into the hybrid network to shut them down.

* A common battle tactic in the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' universe (especially with small, nimble ships like the ''Defiant'') is to fly so close to enemy ships that it is impossible to get a target lock.
** Notably, an aversion is hinted at in the ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]]'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E14Conundrum Conundrum]]" when six Lysian fighters attempt to intercept ''Enterprise''. In a casual, almost offhanded salvo of phaser fire, ''Enterprise'' [[CurbStompBattle destroys all six at very close range in under two seconds]].
** In the ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine DS9]]'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E22Valiant Valiant]]", Red Squad's plan to destroy a massive Dominion warship involves them flying up to it real close and hitting its weak point with a special torpedo. They fly in, fire the torpedo, and the Dominion warship [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope is completely unaffected]], its weak point being better defended than what Red Squad had assumed. Things go [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown downhill]] from there]].
** In the ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager VOY]]'' two-parter "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS4E8YearOfHell Year of Hell]]", the Krenim timeship is armed with a WaveMotionGun that erases things from existence and is a FixedForwardFacingWeapon. It also has conventional weapons along its sides, that open fire in [[GatlingGood gatling-like]] style [[spoiler:[[CurbStompBattle and instantly cripple its attackers]]]].
* In ''Series/{{Lexx}}'', the titular starship's defenselessness is {{justified|Trope}}. It is a PlanetDestroyer meant to be the jewel of TheEmpire's fleet before the {{Nominal Hero}}es hijack it. Lexx has only one weapon: its WaveMotionGun. The blast it fires is slow enough for a small craft to evade, and it takes time to recharge. Because of this weakness, enemies frequently and easily board the ship.

* Anti-missile systems in ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' have aspects of this. Depending on the ruleset, they either run out of ammo almost instantly or are actually forbidden from being 100% effective -- i.e. if the attacker succeeded on his to-hit roll, at least one missile ''will'' hit the target, regardless of how good its point defense is. Averted by the Laser Anti-missile system, which as an energy weapon never runs out of ammo and is always capable of destroying an entire cluster of missiles, but also generates quite a bit of heat as a consequence.

* Averted in ''TabletopGame/BattlefleetGothic''. Most starships have at least one point of Turrets that can hold off torpedoes and bombers. Though most ships only have one or two points of turrets, meaning that on average a Lunar-class cruiser attacked by four bomber squadrons is still going to take three of the attacks.
* The point defense in ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}: Spaceships'' is not terribly effective, very dangerous when combined with the massive damage missiles can do. A later supplement in the series added the Missile Shield design switch to let beam weapons hit as many incoming objects per second as they can fire shots.
* Averted in ''TabletopGame/DropzoneCommander'', all the races including the least advanced one have a defensive system called the Missile Halo. It's a collection of satellite and ground-based lasers that targets incoming missiles. The Missile Halo is so effective that missiles are only deployed at short range and even artillery shells have a good chance of getting shot down, this led to all races having to develop at least one type of energy weapon to bypass it.

* Done well in ''Film/BattleShip''. The invading aliens send out a electromagnetic wave that disables the targeting computers on the destroyers and forces them to eyeball. Despite this many enemy projectiles are shot down and the ships are taken out with sheer weight of enemy fire.
* Averted in ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'' with the Cobra gunship, which shoots down several [=SAMs=] going for it.
* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** In ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', when [[spoiler:the Dark Elves attack Asgard]]. Asgard ''has'' anti-aircraft guns (that, going by their effects on the environment, seem about on par with [[SchizoTech WWII flak guns]], down to generating flak puffs), but they don't do much. In fact the Dark Elf craft lack any weapon, and simply [[RammingAlwaysWorks ram their targets.]]
** ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'': In the final battle, three fully-automatic ship mounted flak turrets (all of which are computer controlled) fail to liquidate a guy with a jetpack. Doing continuous [[DoABarrelRoll barrel rolls]] allows him to remain untouched for ''several minutes''. Perhaps it should have packed missile point-defense instead, like modern warships. It is especially odd because they are clearly exploding flak shells, [[NonFatalExplosions bizarrely without the actually shrapnel caused by this effect.]] On the other hand, Falcon is the only member of his team left and he explicitly mentions that this sort of thing killed his partner.
* Averted in ''Film/IronSky''. The US spacecraft deployed against the Moon Nazis effortlessly shoots down any missile that comes near it, and the Nazis only manage to do damage through a ZergRush that overwhelms their defenses.
* The Icarus KillSat in ''Film/DieAnotherDay'' is programmed to automatically target and destroy incoming missiles. When the BigBad's tech guy tells him of the anti-satellite missile launched at Icarus, the BigBad isn't worried at all and just lets Icarus do its thing. It was only one missile.

* Played with in ''Literature/CrestOfTheStars'': while most ships aren't much in point defense department, they created a class of ship ''solely'' as a point defense platform, which mounts CIWS [[note]]Close-In Weapon System: point defence[[/note]] stations by the hundred in order to create a veritable (and almost impenetrable) BulletHell around its charges.
* While the Neuroi in ''Anime/StrikeWitches'' had defense arsenals after the manner of RealLife aircraft (with EnergyWeapons, no less), they could seldom overcome the heroines' dodge-fu, and the stuff that did hit was harmless ([[PlotArmor except when dramatically appropriate]]).
* Amaterasu's point defense system in ''Literature/StarshipOperators'' seems to unable to hit the laser module. Though it might be that PDS can't turn fast enough, since the module is moving quite fast and sliding on the side of the ship, not moving towards it.

* During Ivanovic's invasion in ''Manga/DanceInTheVampireBund'', the Phalanx CIWS guns on the island's perimeter are unable to stop incoming cruise missiles [[JustifiedTrope because they were sabotaged]]. Then saboteur then turns them on Bund-controlled helicopter gunships, proving this instance is also an aversion.
* Mortar Headds in ''Manga/TheFiveStarStories'' are a major exception to this, being covered head to overly long and pointy Mamoru Nagano-designed toe in small-caliber laser emitters and micromissile launchers with firing ports inconspicuously recessed into their armor that routinely make mincemeat out of enemy tankbusters who think going for their legs is a good idea. The author's design sketches show that at least one type of HoverTank has them, too.
* Zig-zagged in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' with the "fixed cannons," which in most cases are virtually useless against Titans due to their HealingFactor and/or armor, but are sometimes used to slaughter hundreds of them with special Titan-killing cannonballs.
* Usually {{Averted}} in ''Anime/{{Robotech}}'', as point defences are present and ''do'' prove themselves capable (the only target that couldn't be reliably taken down unless in large numbers is the Tirolian destroyer, and that's more because it's large and tough enough to survive and fire back). Then played ''painfully'' straight in the "New Generation" saga, when the Robotech Expeditionary Force fights the Invid, who rely ''exclusively'' on massive waves of flying mechas, with ships equipped with insufficient numbers of point defense guns (the ''Ikazuchi'' and ''Shimakaze'' classes) or had none at all (the ''Garfish''-class light cruiser, their ''most numerous ship'', is equipped with six slow-firing anti-aircraft missile launchers and no point defence gun), resulting in the quick destruction of the Mars Division in their attempt at raiding Reflex Point. [[JustifiedTrope In their defence, the previously encountered faction of Invid had smaller numbers of fighters and used gun-armed ships too, and this faction never left survivors that could warn REF command of this fact]].
** Also a case of AdaptationInducedPlotHole for "New Generation" as Anime/GenesisClimberMospeada's Solar System was caught off guard with Invids and [[http://www.gearsonline.net/series/mospeada/mecha/human-mecha/legioss/eta.html Legioss]] and other weapons were intended for inter-colonial skirmishes rather than combating the former's ZergRush tactics.
* Generally averted in ''Literature/HeavyObject''. Objects are equipped with hundreds of point defense weapons backed with a variety of sensors and a reaction speed allowing them to shoot missiles and planes out of the air. Quenser does manage to slip past them on occasion but it's dependent on finding a blindspot in the sensors and keeping to them. Even then this only works on Second Generation Objects which are specialized to fight other Objects and as a result end up with some gaps a single person can exploit. By contrast First Generation Objects are designed to counter ''any'' threat and have rock solid point defenses.
* Strongly averted in ''Manga/OutlawStar''. Most ships have such strong anti-missile defenses that not even a MacrossMissileMassacre can get through. The few times that a ship actually is struck by a missile, it's usually the result of a sneak attack at close range or because the ship has already suffered serious damage that disabled most of its anti-missile capability.

* ''WesternAnimation/IlEtaitUneFois l'Espace'': A Cassiopeian "Nautilus" warship, described as more than a match for all Omega ship classes and nigh invulnerable, cannot hit [[AcePilot Pierrot]]'s ship and avoid the latter closing at point-blank range to torpedo her down the throat.

* Aircraft in ''VideoGame/AdvanceWars'' are so mobile, they're very capable of avoiding ground and naval AntiAir or even getting in a crippling first strike, albeit the latter makes them open to attacks from anything else nearby. In particular, the indirect fire Missiles are almost laughably terrible even at area denial, because their max range is too small and their min range creates a blind spot that needs many other units to block off (though their high vision makes them bunch better in FogOfWar). Per this trope, the unit most-effective against aircraft is the Fighter, ''[[TakesOneToKillOne another aircraft]]'' that can move ''even further'' in one turn than any other.

* Aircraft in ''VideoGame/AdvanceWars'' are so mobile, they're very capable of avoiding ground and naval AntiAir or even getting in a crippling first strike, albeit the latter makes them open to attacks from anything else nearby. In particular, the indirect fire Missiles are almost laughably terrible even at area denial, because their max range is too small and their min range creates a blind spot that needs many other units to block off (though their high vision makes them bunch better in FogOfWar). Per this trope, the unit most-effective against aircraft is the Fighter, ''[[MutualDisadvantage another aircraft]]'' that can move ''even further'' in one turn than any other.

* Aircraft in ''VideoGame/AdvanceWars'' are so mobile, they're very capable of avoiding ground and naval AntiAir or even getting in a crippling first strike, albeit the latter makes them open to attacks from anything else nearby. The direct-fire Anti-Air gun can handle B-copters and Stealths even by counter-attacking, but is vulnerable to Bombers. The closest naval equivalent is the Cruiser, which is significantly ''more'' vulnerable to B-copters despite being quite expensive (as its primary targets are Subs). Indirect anti-air tend to fair worse: Missiles are almost laughably terrible even at area denial, because their max range is too small and their min range creates a blind spot that needs many other units to block off (though their high vision makes them bunch better in FogOfWar). Piperunners work a bit better because they're very mobile and have a smaller blind spot. Carriers have an ''enormous'' attack range that fends off most aircraft, but they're expensive as hell and without an escort are still vulnerable to Bombers (unless you use Grit). Per this trope, the unit most-effective against aircraft is the Fighter, ''[[MutualDisadvantage another aircraft]]'' that can move ''even further'' in one turn than any other.

* Medium [[GiantRobot AFV's]] in ''VideoGame/RingOfRed'' have a machine gun turret intended to deter the kind brass-balled individual who'll run up and throw a grenade at them. This machine gun is a complete and utter waste of space that can only hit the ground due to gravity.
* ''VideoGame/BattleTech2018'' has the Anti-Missile System which, in lieu of destroying missiles, intead reduces your chance to be hit by them when targeted and forces each hit to do less damage. It weighs about 1.5 tons, but the actual impact of the system is minor, and it has the uncomfortable tendency to explode when struck, doing much more damage to your 'Mech's insides than it ever did to enemy missiles.

* {{Justified}} in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' fanfic ''Fanfic/WilhuffTarkinHeroOfTheRebellion'': as designed the Imperial Star Destroyer had a suite of flak cannons, but after the Clone Wars [[ObstructiveBureaucrat efficiency experts with no clue on how flak guns work]] had them removed without compensating with an increase of point defense laser cannons, making the ships vulnerable to fighter attacks.

** Similarly, the space battle at the end of ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' shows the guns of the droid control ship are ineffective against the Naboo fighters and, most importantly, can't stop Anakin from ''landing in their hangar''. {{Justified}} as [[TechnicallyATransport it's actually a giant merchant ship that was originally unarmed (the powerful shields and the sheer size being its best defense against attacks from under-equipped pirates) and has been hastily refitted with some weapons]] before the invasion of Naboo (as a planetary government would have access to better weapons than pirates). They weren't even expecting any resistance, given that Naboo technically has no military at all. The ineffectiveness of the point-defense of dedicated warships in the opening to ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' is instead explained by the immense jamming hundreds of warships in a pitched battle are throwing around, but at least they do better than said merchant ships.

"Point defense" is a military term referring to the active protection of a single asset, such as a ship or a building. In modern terms, this means computerized systems with sophisticated targeting sensors that [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-in_weapon_system automatically engage]] incoming enemy aircraft or missiles. In fiction, this can apply to space combat as well. When a target is [[TitleDrop Point Defenseless]], these systems never ''work''. They may be able to swat {{Mook}} swarms from the sky or slag a RedShirt or two, but even in the best of cases they're mysteriously unable to touch any main character. Their primary purpose seems to be offering an impressive light show.