Post Best Defense Systems/"Kill Boxes" Here!

[baekdal]

Sieges are fairly easy to deal with. Equip a group of really good shooters with sniper rifles, and just take them out from a distance.

But I do agree with the long hallways with sandbags. Great for defense, terrible for logistics. But currently, raiders will take the path of least resistance (relatively), so if you create a 'side entrance' that is strong enough, they won't ever try to attack it. Like this:

[Monkfish]

I have done the same with 6 x Plasteel doors. I'm hoping, as I have not yet tested it, that raiders will ignore them and head for the double steel doors instead (conveniently ignoring the 18 turrets I have on standby in a sea of marble chunks )

I'll post up some screenshots later. It's a bit silly.

[Stan-K]

I like to build with lots of separate houses. Ample use of doors provides lots of cover and a maneuvering advantage. Once the enemy gets close, retreat indoors, and run to a new spot.

This is from a7 though, in the very cold/hot I have been playing since lots of houses are a bad idea.


More images of this colony at http://imgur.com/a/Kt4DY

[code99xx]

Sieges are fairly easy to deal with. Equip a group of really good shooters with sniper rifles, and just take them out from a distance.

But I do agree with the long hallways with sandbags. Great for defense, terrible for logistics. But currently, raiders will take the path of least resistance (relatively), so if you create a 'side entrance' that is strong enough, they won't ever try to attack it. Like this:

Ah I see. Ok then, question:

Whats to prevent the colonists to use the main entrance?
Im not entirely sure how pathfinder works for colonists but do they consider the resistance of the ground they are gonna walk on when deciding how to reach a certain spot?

I mean, if its shorter to get outside through the main entrance but its slower to walk through all the sand bags and chunks, will the colonist choose the alternative exit which is farther away but doesnt have all the crap on the ground that slows they walking speed?

Or do you have to micromanage every colonist?
Or maybe use some locked doors in the main entrance (thinking while typing, if you place a disposable door at the main entrance, say made of wood, and lock it, the colonists will obviously go through the secondary entrance. When attacks happen, they will destroy the wooden door and proceed as normal and after the attack you rebuild the door ...)

How do you guys do it anyway?

[Monkfish]

My colonists largely use the 6 door exit I have built now rather than going through the killbox itself, though that depends on where they're coming from and where they're going; sometimes they route through the killbox but they tend to avoid it now, which is nice.

I've also observed colonists walking around a small stockpile of chunks rather than over it, so I suspect the routing takes time and effort into consideration. Might go some way to explaining the random-ass nature of hauling at the moment.

[baekdal]

Generally speaking, colonists will path the same way as raider, thought the path of the least resistance. The difference being that doors offer 0 resistance for colonists, and a massive resistance for raiders. So a huge tunnel filled with doors offers zero resistance for colonists, but a huge one for raiders (which is why they path to the kill box).

But, if you have a problem with colonists walking towards the wrong door, just lock it. This won't affect which door the raiders will aim for, but colonists will always have to path to the side-entrance.

As for me, during a raid, I always lock the outer doors (after safely securing everyone inside), using the double room method I describe on page 4 of this thread. This way, no colonist will ever come into physical contact with the raiders, for any reason. They will repair any damage caused to the outer wall (from the inside), but not go outside and be caught in an ambush.

[Telarin]

I have noticed that a lot of people have been using crafting tables to create an impassible area that does not block weapon file. I tried this in A9, and find that they can now be pathed over with a slowing effect similar to chunks. Are there any other items, in vanilla A9, that block movement without blocking weapon fire?

[MisterVertigo]

I really like this, and I'm going to try it out. I'm sick of rebuilding all my turrets in my kill boxes after every raid. I need metal for other things! I have one question for you: about how many blocks is it from your front line of turrets to the back wall? Is the back wall at max range of the turrets?

Here is my latest defense system... and it's practically invulnerable.



The way it works is that colonists can repair objects at an angle, so by creating a room with diagonal walls like this, you can lock in your colonist during an attack, and whenever a wall or a turret gets hit, they will rush over and repair it. Of course, it helps that every wall and every turret is made from plasteel

But you can basically sustain any attack indefinitely, and since the outer door is locked, your colonist can keep doing whatever they want to, even during an attack (although, I usually have 4-5 people exclusively on repair duty during attacks).

As for power? Well... you do need a lot of it for this many turrets. But, as you probably know, setting up a wind farm outside is completely safe. It's never attacked, even when my wind farm is in the middle of the map out in the open.

High-res here: http://imgur.com/a/jU3Cm

[mrofa]

I cant say much about a9 since my colony is preety young, but from general tactics atleast in my opinion is to have same ammount of mortars as colonists so you can quickly tin out the group of raiders that are siging or preparing for attack.
At leater stages have open colony or multiply point of entrys with multiply structures that allows you to manuover and cover.
This is mainly for larger groups that run thrugh most of kill boxes. By having spread buildings and place to manouver will make it easier since raiders will split up in smaller and smaller groups, trying to set fire to something or brake something else while your team can eliminate smaller groups with ease. Heaving spread out buildings means that if they lit something on fire it wont burn entire colony.
Sniper to kill that nasty target that need to be killed also good for weakning raiders before the main encouters.
If map is big and thers a part for manouvers, a fast walker or jogger sniper can split big raids in half and just run around that bigger part of the map and lead that part of the raid behind him while rest of your colonists deal with the rest of the raid.
Keep in mind that im a space button junkine, and normally most of that tactic require alot of well tactic and planning

[Monkfish]

Here is my current colony, named "Turtlehead" for no reason whatsoever, as of sometime the other day, this week.



Population: 9 or something
Food: All of it
Resources: Too much

Killbox:


It's a bit excessive:

The whole area is filled with marble chunks to slow attackers down. They also seem to afford some protection to the turrets, of which there are 18. You'll notice only a few are on.

Here's why:


Right from the get-go I knew I didn't want to be running power conduits through the middle of the killzone as they'd almost certainly be destroyed, so I ran conduit to the rear of the killbox to power most of the turrets. They run through switches so are only on when needed. The few that are on permanently connect to the conduit coming from the topmost geothermal generator, which will run them on its own. Sort of a backup, and those turrets being permanently on cover for random crazy things wandering in. The additional switches control the standing lamps, which are switched on when my colonists are drafted and ready, then switched off again when the shooting starts. Double wired for redundancy.

Colonist entrance:


6 plasteel doors. I've found that waves of psychotic animals will beat on the doors rather than go through the killbox, but moving all colonists into the killbox seems to pull most of them away from the doors. Keen eyed observers will have noticed the slag hiding in the chunks near the entrance to the killbox. A turret used to be there that I had not yet replaced. That softens up incoming raiders and kills many more when it inevitably explodes.

Effectiveness: Devastating

[baekdal]

MisterVertigo, the distance is so that the edge turrets reach the middle entrance, so that all turrets can fire at all incoming raiders (well, nearly):
http://i.imgur.com/2bEkNc8.png

As you can see from this raid, they didn't stand a chance. They didn't even reach the turrets

[PotatoeTater]

My setup is that my entire base is under the thick roof of the mountain and the only way in is through two killboxes.  And a picturesque path to the nearest edge when they flee... lined with more turrets.

I do mine the same way.

[Teague]

Here is my current colony, named "Turtlehead" for no reason whatsoever, as of sometime the other day, this week.

Effectiveness: Devastating

The primary improvement I would reccomend on this is to have all your repair people have shields - it would prevent explosive damage from certain mech types - and its also possible for a shot to go through diagonally through the V wall (which shields would protect).

I like though that it is simple.

[curi0]

I like to play in open space, so I spread out some "outposts", which basically a bunch of turrets (sniper, shredder & explosive) with their own power-generator, enclosed within embrasure. The main base also has mortars and turrets (gatling & flamer) around the edges to protect against drop-pods or finishes off any remaining raiders.

Here's mine: http://i.imgur.com/udzvmiN.jpg

[Monkfish]

Here is my current colony, named "Turtlehead" for no reason whatsoever, as of sometime the other day, this week.

Effectiveness: Devastating

The primary improvement I would reccomend on this is to have all your repair people have shields - it would prevent explosive damage from certain mech types - and its also possible for a shot to go through diagonally through the V wall (which shields would protect).

I like though that it is simple.

It is effective enough, at least so far, that I can lock my colonists inside the main area and leave them go about their usual business. The turrets decimate the incoming raiders until they have had enough and leave. Then I'll release my colonists to repair whatever damage was caused.

I also forgot to mention that there's an orbital trade beacon under one of the chunks in the middle of the turrets. The idea here was that surprise drops coming in on the beacon would find themselves in the middle of the killbox. Lulz.