Killboxes

[Shadou]

At this point, I think I need to reach out for some help. No killbox I have ever designed has ever been really effective. I've resigned myself to the fact that melee enemies are going to rush in and blow up at least one of my turrets, but they're going to get themselves killed in the explosion, and that usually still leaves me with the rest of my turrets still firing at the rest of the enemies. But if that doesn't scare off the rest of the enemies, then design flaws in my killboxes allow them to either pick off the remaining turrets from outside of the turrets' firing range or, if I use walls to obstruct line of sight and force the enemies to come close enough to the turrets that the turrets can fire back, those same walls provide cover to the enemies to fire at my turrets from. How do I build a killbox that isn't going to have these design flaws? Can anyone suggest a killbox design that would be effective at keeping enemies out without also being an obstacle to my colonists that need to enter and leave the base through it?\

Edit: Also, how do I deal with sappers? Last couple of times I've had sappers, it's ended my base because my (usually by then) four or five colonists, usually of which only one or two are combatants, can't deal with 5+ enemies that like to huck grenades around my base.

[UnityIron]

Here is the basic concept
The entry point of the kill box will not be covered by turrets.
The turrets that can be targeted by the raiders must be far away from the entry point in order to draw them in.
The the raider then enters the kill box and is caught in a cross fire from 4 angles.
You need to line the turrets up in a way that means the target will be shot at the same time by as many turrets a possible.

Below is very basic not to scale diagram
T= turret
W= Wall
_= gap
E=Entry point of kill box
wwwEwwwEwww
wTwEwTwEwTw
w__________w
w__________w
w__________w
w__________w
wTwTw_wTwTw

[Shadou]

The entry point of the kill box will not be covered by turrets.
The turrets that can be targeted by the raiders must be far away from the entry point in order to draw them in.

Doesn't this just allow the raider to fire at the turret from the entry point? I've found that in general, raiders can fire from outside of the turret's range.

[skullywag]

make them zigzag in until they are within range of the turret as they emerge.

[MisterVertigo]

I'm sorry if this is hard to see, but it's the only screen shot I have that shows any of my killboxes. You will see an opening on the left, and then a wall where they are forced to go one way or another. Once they pop around the corner the 10 turrets on the right can open fire on anything that moves. In the very middle of the turrets is a door where my colonists can come and go. I usually forbid that door during a raid.

This example was a little to big in practice. Once the melee raiders took out the turrets on one side the long range raiders were able to stay in one corner and shoot the other turrets in the opposite corner without being hit. That is why I filled in the corners on this one.

You can fill the middle with chunks or marsh land to slow raiders down. You can see just above my kill box I have another path with multiple doors going out that my colonists can use to come and go so they don't have to slow down in the kill box.

I hope it helps, and I'm open for criticism too from players better at this game than me!

[attachment deleted due to age]

[zandadoum]

i still do use killboxes, but the more my colony grows, the less turrets i use. the opposite side of the entrance is covered by 1x2 columns and i have my colonists behind, shooting. if it gets too close or dangerous, i have backdoors to get out, close the enemies inside the killbox and i just set it all on fire and have them burn to death. having miniguns is a huge bonus in thos setup

ENTRANCE
- space, not too much, enough to be in firing range-
X X X X
X X X X
colonists
x = 1x2 columns

the empty space is filled with
1) dumpzone for stone chunks, to slow down the enemy advance
2) some inflammable stuff here and there so if in danger, i just throw a molotov and GTFO closing doors behind me

IMPORTANT: the outter walls and doors need to be double or triple layered, or enemies will break them to escape the fire

[Delgar3]

As I'm very new to Rimworld is it possible to survive without building a killbox? Or is my colony doomed without one? I mean my colony is probably doomed for many other reasons. But I was just curious.

Del

[Mrshilka]

You can survive up to a point without a dedicated killbox, but as raids ramp up you will find yourself overwhelmed by people that do not care if they die by the handful to get to your people.

[TLHeart]

You will not survive without a location designed to give you the advantage of concentrated fire power, against over whelming numbers. Now is that location an automated turret filled Killbox, or is that location one where the colonist have cover, and fall back positions to destroy the enemy? A killing field, or killing zone.

Or is it a combination of the two? You will never survive without a tactical advantage.

[UnityIron]

I totally forgot that chunks slow people down! And hay/wood floor all over the place to burn the kill zone is an excellent idea!

But yea the idea would be to have force the raiders to enter the area to shoot at the turrets/colonists, walls will limit the raiders range. Bringing them within turret range before they can get shots off. In an ideal situation you want them to push into a walled in, open, well lit area where each guy will be shot by 2> turrets each.

[Ranilin]

if I use walls to obstruct line of sight and force the enemies to come close enough to the turrets that the turrets can fire back, those same walls provide cover to the enemies to fire at my turrets from.

This is usually the biggest problem with killboxes. Some guns simply out range turrets. However, the raider coding was changed not too long ago - raiders ignore turrets that have no power. You can put a power switch somewhere safe where your colonists can activate it with no danger to themselves, and then on the other end of the power line from that switch, you can set up turrets that specifically have unobstructed line of sight on the position raiders use for cover to reach your powered turrets. Once the melee raiders are past these turrets and any long-range gun users take cover, turn on the power to the turrets that will decimate them from behind (just don't forget to cut them back off).

This also offers the benefits of killing fleeing raiders too for more loot (and makes them flee faster since you kill more of them quickly, which can reduce your repair expenses after raids).

[NuclearStudent]

Also remember-

Raiding pawns cannot stand on chunks. If you build a walled box, and have chunks block the entrances and front of the entrances completely, there is nowhere for any raiding pawn to take cover. They won't even be able to snipe you because there is no position they can possibly snipe you from.

[Listy]

Here's my "light" killbox. It uses three stages to its defence. I've had to use some markers as my colony is just repairing after 4 large attacks. FU Randy...

White squares represent explosive IED's.



The Three parts of it are:

1: first box, this can usually stop most attacks, although some large tribal raids can brute force their way past, but not many of them! There is a door held open, so I can close it when 50 odd man hunting muffalo show up.
From the top of area 1:
The Sandbags by the door are to stop enemies using it as cover and forcing them into the box.
The Sandbags in a line are to give the enemies a firing point, because when they're chucking rounds down range they'll often hit their allies who are charging or closer. I figure the bad guys might as well help me as well.
The Sandbags at the bottom of area 1 are there to slow enemy movement. If a turret explodes it detonates all the IED's in front of it, but not to the side. So if they're trying to avoid the turret bang the explosion will catch them, as they just can't move far enough.

Basically I'm using a powered turret as a fuse. Turrets explode in a three square radius, IED's in a two square, so even if the IED is set off first it won't damage the turret.

2: The assault room. I stick my Close combat guys in here, so if the enemy are fleeing from room three they have a long slow trip down the corridor allowing me time to fill the corridor with mace wielding lose combat troops. This gets me more loot and captures.

3: Colonists stand behind the pillars. Its roofed over so they can remain there even during a Toxic fallout. The deadfall traps are there to discourage enemy troops rushing past that area. it's about 30 squares across just so miniguns can fire from the length of it. I've also (normally) got a line of turrets as a final fail safe.

Notes:
There's racks in area three, the rocket launchers if something big and nasty needs it.
if the enemy has no ranged firepower then the entire colony lines up at the bottom, normally its snipers down there.

Dealing with Sappers:
Assuming you have a walled colony, have a wall two spaces, then a wall. This means that the sapper grenade attacks can only damage one wall at a time this gives you time to react. I normally have sandbags stretching from the inner wall for a solid line of ten spaces. Then 20 squares along the wall another line, and I continue this around the entire length of the perimeter. This allows me time to deploy troops to catch them in a cross fire.
Although once rich enough just buy psychic insanity lances or shock lances and snipe out the grenadiers. There's only ever two in a raid. Once they're dead, the enemy normally come via the front door...

PS: I've got an idea for a Raider easy bake oven I want to try out.

[keylocke]

I totally forgot that chunks slow people down! And hay/wood floor all over the place to burn the kill zone is an excellent idea!

But yea the idea would be to have force the raiders to enter the area to shoot at the turrets/colonists, walls will limit the raiders range. Bringing them within turret range before they can get shots off. In an ideal situation you want them to push into a walled in, open, well lit area where each guy will be shot by 2> turrets each.

yea, i did something a hay storage field on a chokepoint sometimes it's just a flowerfield for the non-winter seasons. fallback and then throw a molotov in to cover your retreat.

but not very effective against mechanoids though. those guys would just walk through like terminator and be like, lol fire wat?

[zandadoum]

@Listy not a bad setup, but I suggest a change: get rid of the sandbags at the bottom of room#1 and use stone chunks instead.

reason: repair waste of time