Anyone way to beef up my defense?

[SpookCrow]

Welcome to Shadow's Cape

Defense 1

Defense 2

Farm and Stockpile

Hospital, Dining Room, and Crafting tables

Sleeping Quarters

Stockpile with weapons and Clothes

Prison Room

Kitchen and Freezer

[UsernameVeryOriginal]

You have too many access like the right of your base, or air-coolers that can be easly destroyed, these killbox are not very good...

If you want a good defense, build your base inside a mountain where the back of the mountain cover the border of the map, so ennemies can't spawn there, and every side but the front is protected by the mountain.

There's just too many things to change.

[Headshotkill]

You have too many access like the right of your base, or air-coolers that can be easly destroyed, these killbox are not very good...

If you want a good defense, build your base inside a mountain where the back of the mountain cover the border of the map, so ennemies can't spawn there, and every side but the front is protected by the mountain.

There's just too many things to change.

I think it's clear from the pictures there aren't many 'mountains' on the map now are there?

As for the OP itself, you seem to have a massive open field to the right of your base unprotected, atleast that's what it looks like to me...

[Quasarrgames]

As HeadShotKill said, cover up or turret up the open space to the right.

Also, it don't do you much good to have multiple killboxes. Disassemble one and use the materials to beef up the other.

Also, put some turrets in the open space to the right of the crop. It'll provide a defense from drop podders.

Putting some mortars in that space would also help (you seem to have enough wealth to supply the shells)

[UsernameVeryOriginal]

You have too many access like the right of your base, or air-coolers that can be easly destroyed, these killbox are not very good...

If you want a good defense, build your base inside a mountain where the back of the mountain cover the border of the map, so ennemies can't spawn there, and every side but the front is protected by the mountain.

There's just too many things to change.

I think it's clear from the pictures there aren't many 'mountains' on the map now are there?

As I said, there's too many things to change in that base, if he really want a better defense then he need to start building inside a mountain (or getting rocks, and rocks are in a mountain anyway, he will not defend with only woods walls and merchants).

Now it's clear from the pictures he already started building with almost no mountain, don't you think ?
That's why he need a to restart with this time a big mountain that cover his back.

[SpookCrow]

You have too many access like the right of your base, or air-coolers that can be easly destroyed, these killbox are not very good...



If you want a good defense, build your base inside a mountain where the back of the mountain cover the border of the map, so ennemies can't spawn there, and every side but the front is protected by the mountain.

There's just too many things to change.

I think it's clear from the pictures there aren't many 'mountains' on the map now are there?

As I said, there's too many things to change in that base, if he really want a better defense then he need to start building inside a mountain (or getting rocks, and rocks are in a mountain anyway, he will not defend with only woods walls and merchants).

Now it's clear from the pictures he already started building with almost no mountain, don't you think ?
That's why he need a to restart with this time a big mountain that cover his back.

WTF are you talking about WOOD walls... Some of them are slate, granite, and marble. Plus I still didn't lose any of my colonists. I'm lucky I survive the damn rocket launchers because they go after the turrets first. Plus I kill the sappers easy when they mine in the mountain. Once i figure out where they are mining, I have colonist waiting to gun them down on the other side in a tight spot. The friendly tribe people help me defend also because they come there often! They kill some of the raiders with the great bows or they lower their health down! You can see them in one of the pictures standing near the turrets! My colonists have fricken sniper rifles and charge rifles and one of them has a high melee of 18! WITH POWER ARMOR ON AND A MASTERY Long Sword and a good personal shield. I only got one Mountain!!! I only see very small ones AS FAR AS I CAN SEE! I constantly have to patch the holes the sappers made with the limited resources I HAVE!!

[UsernameVeryOriginal]

WTF are you talking about WOOD walls... Some of them are slate, granite, and marble.

That's not the point, I'm talking about a good amount of resources, not about 1 layer of wall and only 3 sides of 4. If you lack of this ressource then you will need to build wood walls until you buy enough bricks from a merchant, that's why I said it's better to simply restart with a big mountain.

Plus I still didn't lose any of my colonists.

Ehhhh... good for you ?  I never said your colonists have died.

Wtf dude, remember the reason why you made this topic You wanted a better defense so I just say how to get it, and I'm not the only one to say that you need to cover the space on the right. I don't understand why you ask for it and after that you don't accept the weaknesses of your base, wtf... 

I only got one Mountain!!! I only see very small ones AS FAR AS I CAN SEE! I constantly have to patch the holes the sappers made with the limited resources I HAVE!!

That's why I said, restart in a terrain with a good mountain. You will never lack of rocks, you will get more steel, 3 sides of your base will be covered so you can focus your defense on the front.

[SpookCrow]

Ok so I don't wanna start over so ohhh I get it that's what you meant about the wood walls and merchant sorry . So if I choose large hills I can dig into a mountain and be safe. I wanna see how your base look like btw

[UsernameVeryOriginal]

Ok so I don't wanna start over so ohhh I get it that's what you meant about the wood walls and merchant sorry . So if I choose large hills I can dig into a mountain and be safe. I wanna see how your base look like btw

More informations : The mountain need not only to be big, but also to cover a border of the map, so ennemies can't spawn behind your base.
Also, raw walls that you mine in the mountain are very usefull to gain time for building rooms in the early game, but in the end you will need manufactured stones walls, because raw walls have -2 beauty and more importantly, sappers can't mine them.

About sappers, if you are using manufactured stone walls and have a good killbox :
In a group of 20 sappers, there is 1 or 2 guys using molotov/grenade to attack your manufactured walls, the rest of the group will wait. If you manage to kill these 2 guys, the group will assault the base like normals raiders, meaning you can use killbox on sappers.
To kill these 2 guys without leaving your base, I suggest 4 or 6 incendiary mortars. The propagation of the fire and the number of incendiary mortars you are using will balance the lack of precision + the long reloading time (50 sec).

------

About my base :
It's my third base, I'm currently planning it with the help of "dev mode", then I will start a new map without the dev mode. It's the version alpha 11a and I don't use mods.

Screens : http://imgur.com/a/0GynJ

Please read :
- It's possible to extend the base vertically.
- The temperature for the prison isn't optimized at all.
- Bedrooms for colonists are optimized to resist until +45°c (if it's +50°c during day it's okay, at night it goes to +45°c)
- The third screen is the allowed area, showing that colonists are not allowed in the 1 free square in their room, so they don't stay in there. Also, I should mention that a sleeping colonist does not need light/beauty/space, but he need a single room + comfort + good temperature, that's why bedrooms are very smalls, they are optimized.
- I put floors everywere, but in fact the floor from mountain is better (beauty +3 instead of +2) and it's needed only for prison + lunch room + mortars + infirmary, so were people stays a lot of time, except bedrooms because the "beauty need" don't change during sleeping.
- I will probably not build as much hydroponics. This only show the potential of the outdoor version against indoor. The version you choose depend if you are under a mountain, or if the climat is always bad (too cold, too hot, too many thunder).
- If the temperature of the map is not too hot, then the architecture is slightly different : fridges will be biggers, bedrooms for colonists will be closers.
- As I said before, the back of the base need to be built inside a mountain, but not 100% of the base because we can't remove the thicks roofs of mountain. My base can be at maximum 62 horizontal squares inside a mountain.


About the killbox :
- Stones fragments are used to slow ennemies. Sandbags work also, but stones fragments cost less time/ressource.
- Sandbags are used to cover turrets.
- There is 0 empty space in the killbox, so ennemies cannot take cover.
- The labyrinth lead ennemies in the middle of the killbox where more turrets can attack. In fact you really need 2 or 3 labyrinthic-walls at the end of the labyrinth. If there was no labyrinthic-walls, turrets and ennemies will start attacking too early, turrets on sides cannot attack, that's why we need the labyrinth.
- Turrets are not behind other turrets, preventing shooting them.
- There is 1 wall between each turrets, it's to prevent damage for other turrets when one explode.
- There is 48 turrets. This is a lot, but that's why the killbox work well. I suggest that you start building the room, sandbags, stones fragments. Then you can at least use the room with your colonists, until you build every turrets.
- There is some layers of stones walls, it's to gain time when sappers attack. You can build less at your own risk.
- There is many wooden automated-doors at the killbox, this does not slow colonists at all. The high number is used to prevent ennemies to attack there, but it doesn't work with sapper, so you will need to build stone walls at the end of the corridor.

[SSS]

UsernameVeryOriginal, I take issue with you perpetuating a (rather narrow-minded) view on defense as if it were factually the best way to construct a base, even to the point of telling the OP he needs to restart. Freestanding bases can be just as well defended as mountain bases if a little thought is put into it. It's "different", not "better" or "worse": Rather than recommending a completely different playstyle, I feel it would be more favorable to help him improve his current style.

That being said, I do see some things that could be improved here.

@OP: Three things are king in Rimworld warfare: Firepower, cover, and proximity. Being too close raiders or placing your colonists too close to each other can be dangerous in a typical firefight, and this is exasperated with turrets. Look at the west killbox. You have heavy firepower, but turrets cannot gain cover from sandbags or walls (only darkness). This combined with their close proximity means that a single turret failure can cost you a whole column, and worse yet is that their positioning in rows (five in most) significantly increases the likelihood of turret-on-turret damage. You would be better off not funneling at all with this setup- funneling works best when you have the access point small and surrounded from multiple directions.

I would advise completely remaking said killbox or scrapping it in favor of a simple wall, given that.

Your southern killbox has more potential for improvements. My personal style would be to make the entrance much smaller and the exit a bit wider, and I would add more turrets after that (but not within explosion range of one another). From there, I would recommend staggering your turrets so that one row of them can fire at a raider the moment they step in the killbox, and the rows behind that can fire after said raiders takes a few steps further forward (for ever how many rows of turrets you want). Alternate their placement in columns to minimize friendly fire, and at the back build stone walls with one space gaps for your colonists to use as cover.

Alternatively, another idea you could try would be building your turrets in a square (again, spaced out enough not to cause a chain reaction if one explodes) so that the focus fire will be devastating. Keep in mind that this will place the closer turrets in danger during the cooldown between shots. Fortunately, since placing the turrets in a square shape will make the killbox smaller, it will be easier to incorporate your colonists into the fight without micromanagement.

If you really want to pimp it out, you could place sandbags or rock chunks in every non-turret cell. This would be beneficial with either approach since it will slow down invading pawns significantly.

The other glaring weakness is your east side. Building a wall there would likely be the most simple solution, but note that it won't stop sappers.

Drop-ins are going to be the biggest problem for you given your colony layout. Your best bet is probably to lure humans (sapper or drop-in) into your hallways since that will provide your colonists with a great deal of cover (doorways) whilst denying them any. Mechanoid drop-ins could be brutal though... You'll need to distract some of them with energy shield pawns while the others whittle them down. Kill the scythers first since their aim is much more accurate, followed by the inferno cannon centipedes, energy rifle centipedes, and minigun centipedes.

[Listy]

One trick I've been using is thus:

Have turrets surrounded by sandbags (I use three rows). While a turret doesn't get any benefit from the sandbag it does slow down movement. This gives you more time to shoot attackers as they approach.
It also slows down the had to hand attackers when they try to flee the exploding turret. However I noticed that I was only just catching some of them in the blast.
So I put Mines on the edge of the blast radius. You can detonate quite a large area doing that.

[UsernameVeryOriginal]

UsernameVeryOriginal, I take issue with you perpetuating a (rather narrow-minded) view on defense as if it were factually the best way to construct a base

Only saying I'm wrong won't make your idea better. Prove why it's better, because in fact I am open minded, I learn from others, that's how I built my base, you have my screenshots as a result.

In a mountain you gain more stones, steel, time for early walls, 1 side will never be attacked, 2 sides are protected, you can focus all your efforts for a killbox on the front....
The only good thing about building outside is being able to remove the roof, that's why my base is half outside the mountain, but I have enough stones to build around it.

How building a base outside a mountain is helping with your defense ? Is being attacked from all sides a part from a strategy better than a killbox ?

even to the point of telling the OP he needs to restart.

While I don't doubt he can defend his base with a good strategy (or even just save-reload and improvised covers) and some resources losts (like turrets destroyed), there are too many things that need to be rebuilts.
What's better : rebuilding in his current game with the losses of resources and get a lot of silvers to buy what he need, or go on a new map with a mountain that will provide more resources and defense ? That's the reason, please be open minded as you imply you are.

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it will be faster in his current game to rebuild everything, getting a lot of silvers and/or mine everything he can (without the back cover from a mountain), rather than playing in a new map (with the risk of a massive attack during the process).

Freestanding bases can be just as well defended as mountain bases if a little thought is put into it.

So you know a very good strategy that don't involve your colonists during an assault of a large group of ennemies, while being limited with rocks and steels, and still be able to limit the losses at the end of the fight ? And of course, you can't plan about building 4 killbox, nor building a lot of layers of stones walls to use only 1 killbox.

Or maybe you are going to make massive amount of silvers to get what a mountain has to offer ? Or maybe you'll simply send your colonists every times you are attacked ? Please tell me your strategy, I don't see in my narrow mind how you can achieve this.

It's "different", not "better" or "worse": Rather than recommending a completely different playstyle, I feel it would be more favorable to help him improve his current style.

The conditions the game is giving does not render outers bases as efficient about defense in early game, so no, this is worse (of course not impossible).
Just to say, this can be seen as a challenge, but "not better nor worse", no.

It's possible to make a very good base without any mountain, but it requires a crazy amount of silvers to get (almost) everything that a mountain has to offer, also considering that during that time the base will not be well protected.

--------
If op is not going into a new map, then I suggest building 1 layer of stones walls all around the base, only 1 side will lead to the exterior, that side will pass through a single killbox specifically made for colonists. Also, the red side of the air conditioner will be under a no roof area, so it's efficient and protected by walls.
For the killbox : 2 walls + 1 sandbag + 2 walls, etc... That's the best cover you can get. You build it as long as your weapons can reach.
Inside the killbox, you put as many rocks fragments that you can, they will slow ennemies. If you forgot a spot, ennemies will use it to take cover.

[Listy]

It's possible to make a very good base without any mountain, but it requires a crazy amount of silvers to get (almost) everything that a mountain has to offer, also considering that during that time the base will not be well protected.

One of the things I love about Rimworld is: You play it your way. There is no right way to play it.

With that in mind, I normally go for an open base. A smart set up can weaken the enemy then you can cut them down with colonists. Generally you don't need much silver either.

One negative to Mountains is that you can't repair the walls, which can get a bit iffy at times.

[UsernameVeryOriginal]

One of the things I love about Rimworld is: You play it your way. There is no right way to play it.

I think it's more about letting the player learn by himself, as there is almost no tutorial to tell if one play well.
If the player know a lot of parts of the game, there is an approach of a good base that can be made, more optimized than any other. Knowledge can also be greatly increased with the help of internet. The rest depend about how much difficulty the player want.

The game also tell it at the begining : higher difficulties require better strategies. Can't say there is no good way to play. ^^ http://i.imgur.com/NS4Gzqx.jpg

One negative to Mountains is that you can't repair the walls, which can get a bit iffy at times.

Yes, that's only for the begining to get some rooms well protected faster. These walls also remove -2 beauty, and sappers can mine them, so the player should rebuild them when he got the time.

[luxSolisPax]

Only saying I'm wrong won't make your idea better. Prove why it's better, because in fact I am open minded, I learn from others, that's how I built my base, you have my screenshots as a result.

Here's an example of a well defended base that doesn't rely on a mountain strategy (not mine). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUUsaHeyM_w

It does, however require a fair bit of micromanagement through opening and closing the doors, letting raiders trickle in. Materials are acquired by harvesting raider skins, selling those for a profit, and using profits to purchase materials. The compact design results in low power usage and it seems as if the player has no intention of expanding past ~10 colonists.

I'd consider it pretty effective since it seems he's surviving on the ice sheet biome under Cassandra/Extreme.