Less Sappers!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[quxzcover]

In my world i find that once you get 5+ turrets or make too many dead fall traps then 100% of the raids are sappers. at this point i don't even bother with traps and defensive structures because sappers will always just go around. i feel it takes all my planning for the future and strategy and throws it into the nearest incinerator never to be seen again. now my 6 combat capable colonists have to fend off 15+ fully equipped sappers and i don even get the help of my traps. now my dead fall trap pit is only used against rabid animals. i want to see more regular raids because so many sappers just drains the fun out of the game in my opinion. even though it can push more story so can regular raids. even if i have a kill box its only because 60 percent of my colony is frail or cant even use a weapon. if there are going to be sappers every raid then i would at least like to see more weapons and armour's if that's the only thing you can use to prevent total death.

please comment your suggestions, possible alternatives and own stories with sappers. i would like to see if people agree or disagree with this. the least that could happen is sappers being turned down to a 50% chance instead of every raid being sappers.

[Mihsan]

In my world i find that once you get 5+ turrets or make too many dead fall traps then 100% of the raids are sappers.

I think you're exaggerating. I have defensive positions all over the map (no real killboxes however) and I still get many sieges and regular raids.

[whoishigh]

Sappers are annoying to say the least! Especially when your only real "defense" is the fact you've built into a valley and the sappers go around putting holes in walls for no reason!>.< My best strategy for dealing with them right now is to treat them like siegers and attack while they're digging. I try to create multiple exit points from the colony in every feasible direction so my colonists can reach the perimeter before the enemy can, ideally so they can get into an ambush position near wherever the sappers are heading. Once the sappers are a tile or two in, I send in the squad to deal with the guards. From there it's more or less shooting fish in a barrel because the actual sappers won't stop digging to help their comrades fight you, they only seem to attack when they are injured.

As for the frequency at which the game is throwing sappers at you, I thought I noticed a lot more sapper raids coming through when my colonies only had one way in or out. Whether or not that was real or imagined, I can't say!

[akiceabear]

This is the entire point of sappers - to punish mountain bases that rely on a single point of entry as defense. They aren't that hard to deal with - snipe them like sieges.

Rather than change their frequency for all players, it makes more sense to add a custom story teller that makes it for you you (any player) to disable them or change their likelihood (or someone else could even boost it). I find the raid type distribution pretty reasonable at the moment.

[quxzcover]

I find this interesting.
1) i do only have 1 point of entrance and that might be why.

2) with siegers i wait till they all go to sleep then i send in my melee people and attack them.

3) i have one entrance but its a room filled with 600 granite deadfall traps give or take a hundred and its a cure to animals. that it. tribal kill my solar power and crops and sappers happen every other day soooo ya.

4)i dont think people with one entrance bases should be punished for that. i do it so i can keep track of all my things alot easier and be able to shut things down and keep them in quickly without having to worry about more exits.

if anyone has suggestions about new types of raids and/or alternatives to sappers please comment.

[akiceabear]

4)i dont think people with one entrance bases should be punished for that. i do it so i can keep track of all my things alot easier and be able to shut things down and keep them in quickly without having to worry about more exits.

Play on free play or base builder difficulty/story teller if you don't want the game to challenge your base design. Or form a sniper team to take care of the sappers. Again, given your base design this is working exactly as intended.

You should instead be asking how to defend your self in a more versatile way, not asking for the game to be changed to fit your play style (when those options exist already!).

[b0rsuk]

It's random. In last colony that I played until 5503, I only had 3 sapper raids.

The thing that might affect it is who you're at war with. Don't make peace with tribals, you'll see more raids from tribals. They don't have sappers.

[SaintD]

The sappers always take the same routes (depending on which one of a handful of spawn points they always come from on a map is used) to bypass your fixed turret defences, and can't 'see' deadfall traps. I've never had the slightest problem with seeing where attacks like to try and go, then covering it in deadfall traps. The next time, their digger goes down (horribly) and the rest just attack my defences like normal.

[MarcTheMerc]

If you can find the sapper amongst the raid group (usually has a grenade) use a psychic lance on him, his comrads then claim his blood for the Void Gods. Without a sapper they attack like a normal raid.

[jamesinar]

Am I the  only one who thinks it's fun to let them get inside and ambush them there?

[chaotix14]

Probably, I just like to have them panic in my ventilation system. Turns out that if I close the ventilation ports(MD2 extendable walls) it gets mighty warm in there.

[RoboticManiac]

Probably, I just like to have them panic in my ventilation system. Turns out that if I close the ventilation ports(MD2 extendable walls) it gets mighty warm in there.

That's the kind of thing you see in a James Bond movie- I love it.

[Jamini]

My last sapper raid went pretty hilariously. I've been experimenting with a completely turret-less defense that focuses on abusing grenades and shotguns. (Long sandbag filled serpentine, with doors on each corner that my grenadiers can use to lob grenades at incoming raiders) The poor bastards tried to blast their way through the serpentine (and killed one of my dogs that got a bit close despite my animal area being on) and ended up wiping out a good deal of their buddies with friendly fire.

I even got a gal with a bionic arm, sanqguine, and hard worker in my prison out of it.

[Psyckosama]

4)i dont think people with one entrance bases should be punished for that. i do it so i can keep track of all my things alot easier and be able to shut things down and keep them in quickly without having to worry about more exits.

Play on free play or base builder difficulty/story teller if you don't want the game to challenge your base design. Or form a sniper team to take care of the sappers. Again, given your base design this is working exactly as intended.

You should instead be asking how to defend your self in a more versatile way, not asking for the game to be changed to fit your play style (when those options exist already!).

Translation: Stop Having Fun.

Sappers have been an obnoxious, overpowered pain in the ass since moment one in this game.

They were a bad idea when he came up with them and they're a bad idea now. People should not be PUNISHED for having a particular play style. Especially since everything else about the game, including the difficulty of getting colonists and the massive, overpowered enemy attack forces all but requires it if you don't want to die or lose half your people in your first attack.

[b0rsuk]

Sappers are decent at destroying your structures, but they're not good at identifying what's the actual base. They should prioritize stuff like batteries, food storage, hydroponics, hospital, maybe prison. They should hit where it hurts. And they're utterly confused by an outer perimeter wall.