A closed colony is where he entire colony is contained within a wall of some sort and might even be one continuous building.
An open colony is where the settlement is a collection of buildings not completely contained within a wall or single structure.
Which colony type do you prefer? I know that a closed colony is probably better from a gameplay perspective but I like making western styled towns with the single main road with small outlying farmsteads. Looks nice and pastoral.
When I get advanced enough however I try to make a high-tech complex that is closed off.
Closed makes the micromanagement to handle large manhunter packs so much less awful. Otherwise you're opening a door, shooting then shut/repair over and over and over again, often with the obligatory forced speed 1.
I actually grade perimeter wall + doors out as the strongest individual defensive setup in the game. It is more cost efficient than killboxes and can mimic the outcome with good micromanagement, requires no technology, allows inferior weapons (even just clubs) to handle most early raid types, and makes defeat in detail a lot less problematic to set up.
Fighting 1000's or even 10000+ of animal hp one at a time from buildings is not good times though.
Closed, easy to manage, no need to spread defense out thin.
Open colonies are more efficient if you are in montuose maps. Within a valley surrounded by rocks and with few well fortified access points, the Open colonies is valuable as a closed one. The only major problem is the toxic fallout!
But i prefer another type of colony: the reversed one. This is still a type of closed colony, but with the farming area surrounded by your colonist apartments, the recreation and the production rooms and the various warehouses. It's better if the central cultivated area is the rich soil (140% fertility). With the toxic fallout and the approach of the winter, I need only to build the roof up this area, and use the solar lamps for a beautiful new greenhouse!
I have stolen this model from the typical imperial roman house :)
(https://www.realmofhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/3D_Animations_Layout_Roman_Domus_House_3.jpg)
And if the central cultivated area is still insufficient for your colony, you can still farm the external terrains like a classic closed colony ;)
Even when I have separate buildings, I tend to have a perimeter wall set up to avoid enemies being able to just walk up to the colony from any direction. Had one really cool colony that was set on a coast, and there were two spurs of rock that stuck out into deep water, that let me create a nice big wall around the colony that protected it from every direction, and forced invaders to come at it only from one way.
I like to role play in scenarios so I generally don't do it unless it fits the scenario in question.
I always like to start with an open colony, I prefer to keep my "houses" separate and have different buildings for storing wood, textiles, weapons etc as my colony grows, but I eventually end up walling off all of the passes approaching and adding doors/sandbags so in effect I end up with a closed colony.
I just find defending an open colony on Extreme difficulty to be near-on impossible.
I too prefer closed colonies simply because I don't see much benefit in splitting into different houses. There is basically no upside to having pawns walk beneath the sky and since they usually do that anyway for joy or to hunt/plant, I never have trouble with cabin fever.
The major upside of closed colonies is also the protection from toxic fallout and the possibility to heat/cool the hallways between bedrooms. I usually only heat/cool the common areas which are connected to the hallways between the bedrooms and doing so usually results in comfortable temperatures in the bedrooms. Extreme weather conditions however or things like a cold snap or heat wave still require additional cooling/heating though.
However I still occasionally have something like an outhouse for long-term storage of things like art, clothing or weapons to sell off to traders. Also I ferment my beer in a separate location and have walled off geothermal generators.
Regarding the perimeter wall:
It definitely has its upsides but since I usually don't play on extreme difficulty I don't invest the high cost in stone bricks and just have a firewall in every direction raiders could be coming from.
Quote from: BasileusMaximos on November 01, 2017, 12:37:13 PM
A closed colony is where...
I'd like to see a picture of your colony, because I myself like and make little town-like colonies.
I personally mostly make a small perimeter wall with basic needs (fridge houses etc) and add things like gardens outside the walls, only to enclose them later in the game by expanding my walls
Using mods I've recently built a huge huge base of Plasteel and the only way in and out of it is through advanced drop pods in the hanger bay of the base. It's sealed through three layers of plasteel wall and has no access in and out... Pretty cool. It's like a little cloud of glitterworld heaven on an otherwise barren planet.
I do not use turrets at all and prefer mobile defence of colonists + animals. So, generally, my colony is a gradual expansion of outside walls.
Having wall give you time to draft your colonists and collect them for defence, animals to join draftees. So when raid tries to break outside wall I am preparing and deciding how to engage them. It is especially useful if you playing on the small maps when raids spam right next to your base. Later as colony expand previous walls become part of rooms, storage, farm....
I like digging into a mountain from some valley, I ussually wall in all the entrances to the valley, and then build half closed/half open colony inside the valley.
But I always leave every original entrance passable, no killboxes or anything. Kinda like medieval cities. City, with city walls surounding it, and a fortified castle in middle ;)
I like a castle design:
(https://i.imgur.com/ODLSmSb.png)
with the extensions being filled with weapons and turrets and such and having overlapping fire.
I know its way less efficient than a big wall with only one direction where attackers come from but I like it this way and it fits with Medieval Times mod I am using I got many Ballista and Catapults in the towers :)
Open, I like building aesthetic little towns. It's not efficient or easy to defend at all but it looks nice and cozy. Unless everything is on fire. Slightly less cozy.
Quote from: cyberian on December 12, 2017, 04:34:50 AM
I like a castle design:
(https://i.imgur.com/ODLSmSb.png)
with the extensions being filled with weapons and turrets and such and having overlapping fire.
I know its way less efficient than a big wall with only one direction where attackers come from but I like it this way and it fits with Medieval Times mod I am using I got many Ballista and Catapults in the towers :)
Even without mods, that design is useful because the corner squares allow you cross-fire on sappers + door peek/shooting them. Normal raids will also split between sides, allowing you to concentrate fire on fewer enemies while still having cover. You can also initiate melee on the split-up raiders without return fire even on extreme difficulty for > 1 year, assuming you don't have an enemy siege (try to club snipers specifically so you can defend those too, a couple snipers working around to avoid siege raid's snipers are one of the few ways to break a siege at low tech).
It's much stronger than normal sandbag perimeter stuff and actually has a few advantages over killboxes.
I tend to build open designs because I am terrible at planning bases in advance, and since I always outgrow my static defenses, I decided not to bother with them. Also building thick perimeter walls uses SOOO much stone!
I also think that "one stonecutting bench is plenty!"
I also got half my colony killed in a raid, then savescummed the battle until I won.
I'm a pro at this game.
I pretty much always build closed designs in roughly the same layout every time.
I know I should vary things up a bit, but I keep falling back into the "make things more efficient" line of thought and end up doing it again anyway.
Tried playing the Cold Bog biome once just to see what I'd do, but it turns out it just delayed the inevitable. After I'd researched the ability to build moisture pumps my base filled in the empty gaps the swamp sections had caused, and the old design just popped back into view.
I prefer open when I play. But it basically slowly becomes closed as I narrow gaps with sandbags and turrets. I don't really plan anything out either though much. I use the terrain where I can, and my colonies end up pretty different each game. Some games I did wall it off if it was to hard to defend, and others I played open till I launched the ship. I just play it by ear do to speak, and build as I go. This has caused me to lose control of a few situations where I didn't plan, but it usually works out and is less boring than doing the same design over and over.
I generally build on a kind of "walled village" design: individual buildings with roads and squares between them, but also an unbroken perimeter wall. Every time I've tried playing without the wall, some bear or whatever eats one of my colonists. So, I'm not doing that again in a hurry. But I don't like just having a huge single building with everything crammed in any old how, either.
I don't do individual houses, though. I normally build dorms with 4-6 bedrooms that all open into a central dining/rec room, so I can heat the whole building centrally. Makes it easy for pawns to socialize, too.
Quote from: jamaicancastle on December 15, 2017, 04:06:27 AM
I don't do individual houses, though. I normally build dorms with 4-6 bedrooms that all open into a central dining/rec room, so I can heat the whole building centrally. Makes it easy for pawns to socialize, too.
Oh nice I like that idea. I usually do individual house that are all attached with doors leading outside to a sidewalk. I think my next colony I may try this approach as it would use way less heating and air units.
There's literally no advantage to having things open beyond cute aesthetics.
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Similar to me, not so big like yours
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Quote from: jamaicancastle on December 15, 2017, 04:06:27 AM
I don't do individual houses, though. I normally build dorms with 4-6 bedrooms that all open into a central dining/rec room, so I can heat the whole building centrally. Makes it easy for pawns to socialize, too.
Yep, central heating is awesome. I like to start with a tiny everything-room that becomes the kitchen, build bedrooms for mood, then enclose it all before winter. The extra enclosed space becomes the dining room and rec room.
These tribals survived the winter of their first year in a cold biome. A captured geothermal vent (bottom left, covered by a stockpile) saved a ton of wood.
...but they were killed by a 15-man power-armor equipped raid before they could harvest the spring crops.
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I prefer castle-like superstructure, with corners preferable in rocks. And enclosed garden for some necessary green stuff and wind turbines. A lot of doors in the mountain parts for managing the infestations - doors and smart "keep open" allow me to make crossfire zones with long hallways inside of the base.
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If I drop in a mountainous region or even just some good-sized hills with natural chokepoints, my inner dorf sets in and I tunnel a vast closed mountain complex.
Otherwise it's usually open. Buildings are separate with paths open to the sky and there is rarely a wall surrounding it, mainly because my haphazard playstyle of insufficient planning means I'm constantly expanding outward in almost every direction, making sandbags and most other defensive emplacements feel like they are constricting me, not protecting me.
Quote from: TheMeInTeam on December 13, 2017, 10:27:39 AM
Quote from: cyberian on December 12, 2017, 04:34:50 AM
I like a castle design:
(https://i.imgur.com/ODLSmSb.png)
with the extensions being filled with weapons and turrets and such and having overlapping fire.
I know its way less efficient than a big wall with only one direction where attackers come from but I like it this way and it fits with Medieval Times mod I am using I got many Ballista and Catapults in the towers :)
Even without mods, that design is useful because the corner squares allow you cross-fire on sappers + door peek/shooting them. Normal raids will also split between sides, allowing you to concentrate fire on fewer enemies while still having cover. You can also initiate melee on the split-up raiders without return fire even on extreme difficulty for > 1 year, assuming you don't have an enemy siege (try to club snipers specifically so you can defend those too, a couple snipers working around to avoid siege raid's snipers are one of the few ways to break a siege at low tech).
It's much stronger than normal sandbag perimeter stuff and actually has a few advantages over killboxes.
I am using something similar on corners. 3 turrets can fire along the wall at the same time, and 3 turrets from the other side, its fully sapper-proof. All turrets can fire at the same time if enemy is coming from north-west (for this particular defense point). It can fit 10 colonists, unfortunately they can not fire along the wall and have limited gunfire coverage, but they are well protected and this is important. Firefoam popper for incendiary launchers, they really can save your ass. Double doors and turrets switch behind them, this is good for dealing with manhunting animals. If enemy comes from north, then i split my people into two defense points north-west and north-east so enemy splits also and can be covered by more turrets. Before i enable the turrets i wait till they come closer (they ignore disabled turrets). Having entrances at corners helps to send snipers or brawlers and attack the enemy from other side.
Any tips to make it better?
(https://i.imgur.com/q8qBboW.jpg)
And this is how it looks from a side. I used the "plan tool" to mark the range of my turrets. Line on the left is the 45 tile distance for snipers - mine or enemy's. All rocks in that region removed, or mined, no place to hide except few trees and bushes which gives only 20-25% of cover.
(https://i.imgur.com/OsjIj65.jpg)
So tribals with great bows can plink your turrets to death? Ditto for scythers.
If you put granite blocks between those turrets, there will be MUCH less "fratricide" if/when they blow.
Quote from: Shurp on December 31, 2017, 11:03:31 AM
So tribals with great bows can plink your turrets to death? Ditto for scythers.
Tribals won't attack me, i have goodwill with them. Pirates with long range weapons are not a problem since i activate my turrets when they are close. For those a bit far away i send two snipers from the other side. And on top of that i have a bunch of chickens walking around my base so pirate's snipers somehow chose to target them instead.
Scythers are always a bit problematic, they attack disabled turrets, but again, two snipers for distraction, EMP mortar, and i deal with them with no serious injuries. Even if EMP hits my turrets I am still able to fight them with regular weapons.
Quote from: Bozobub on December 31, 2017, 11:26:19 AM
If you put granite blocks between those turrets, there will be MUCH less "fratricide" if/when they blow.
I had that earlier. It greatly blocks turrets gunfire coverage. Plasteel turrets are durable so they wont blow in a chain reaction. Firefoam popper helps with fires, i already dealt with inferno cannon centipedes, they have destroyed only one of my turrets. But they brought plasteel, so no problem with rebuilding those :)
ahhh, yes, chicken chaff helps. I guess this shows there are many ways to skin a cat in rimworld. (Too often quite literally. Catskin parka, anyone?)
And I agree with not putting blocks next to turrets -- it kills their field of fire. Pawns at least make an effort to lean around corners.
Quote from: Hessra on December 12, 2017, 08:02:37 AM
Open, I like building aesthetic little towns. It's not efficient or easy to defend at all but it looks nice and cozy. Unless everything is on fire. Slightly less cozy.
Wouldn't that make it more cozy?
I know that closed colonies are probably a far better idea, but I just naturally tend to go for an open colony design. I don't even have any good reason for it. I actually prefer the look of a closed colony to an open one. But I just can't help it. Every time, unless I'm living in an extremely cold biome, I will create an open colony. It's just far easier to make.
Closed. I use to build basical stone rooms outdoor and after 6-8 months gradually migrate the colony under the caves, digging deeper day after day. Advanced rooms usually are builded directly under the caves. Best defense, in my opinion, is a reduced exposition to air.
Quote from: dogui on January 02, 2018, 03:43:53 PM
Closed. I use to build basical stone rooms outdoor and after 6-8 months gradually migrate the colony under the caves, digging deeper day after day. Advanced rooms usually are builded directly under the caves. Best defense, in my opinion, is a reduced exposition to air.
Do you ever have to call the exterminators?
What?
Quote from: dogui on January 03, 2018, 12:41:44 PM
What?
He's probably referring to the insect hives that occasionally spawn in caves.
I like a closed colony and I like to build in hill
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I love to play open. However manhunter packs on permadeath make that very hard, so I compromise by adding doors in between the buildings - and scramble to close them when needed.
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