How can I improve my Defense

[SpookCrow]

http://imgur.com/a/M4oLl

I'm not much of an defense building expert as you can detect but... I force raiders in the base with this design and I got a trap on the corner to prevent a raider from taking cover.

This is obviously not enough since my idiot colonist will sometimes miss the raiders and end up getting shot and killed.

What can I do to improve this faulty design.

[Dukkha]

My advice is to get away from kill box style strategies. You're better off basing your entire colony around tactical positioning and mobility. Otherwise if your main defence fails, your whole base fails.
I'll upload picks after i get home from Christmas dinner.
I'm just here for a quick fix.

EDIT: although if you wanted to fix that design, fill it with stone chunks so the enemies walk slower. You can also make it thinner so they stumble over each other

[Dukkha]

Another thing, add a back path so that if they get to close, you can loop around and hit them from the back. You can add doors to both sides do that if they actually get to you, you can shut the doors in their face and loop around. Remember to leave some doors open by default for their path finding.
That said, avoid kill boxing. This strategy will fail add soon as sappers show up.
Okay, since your request was to improve THIS design, I'll just leave it at that (unless you ask for non kill box builds)

[SpookCrow]

Perhaps a non kill box design will be better.

[Shurp]

Advice for fixing *this* design:

1) Make the hallway in front of the sandbags longer, so that your colonists have more time to pick off advancing raiders.  Arm them with longer range weapons (survival / assault rifles, great bows)

2) Put some turrets in the hallway for the attackers to shoot at instead of at you

3) Traps in the hallway near your colonists can finish off any raiders that make it through.

(I'm not sure why people prefer to answer some other question instead of what the OP is asking for.  Yeah, sure, this hallway won't work against sappers, but so what?  It *will* work against tribals.)

[Dukkha]

(I'm not sure why people prefer to answer some other question instead of what the OP is asking for.  Yeah, sure, this hallway won't work against sappers, but so what?  It *will* work against tribals.)

There was something about his wording that left me with the impression that he was looking for ways to improve his defences in general. Upon thinking about it I realised I offered more than he asked for and retracted the offer unless requested.

[Thyme]

my A14 colony was using a rather long killbox. More like a kill-hallway, long enough that my snipers couldn't shoot to the end (so raiders have to enter and can't take cover at the entrance). At charge rifle range, it started to open up into a half circle. My snipers were positioned in the mid of the half circle to shoot down the hallway, suvival rifle guys were to the left and right and the bulk of my shooters are charge rifles that fill up the rest (that's why the hallway starts to open up at charge rifle range). Shooters were hiding behind granite walls, roofed and filled with sandbags. I also had 1 incendiary launcher. It's not entirely useless with a bit of luck, but its main purpose is to keep siegers busy ;) Was playing in boreal, so I usually had enough time to go after sappers.

PS: Screenshot is taken before launch. Deadfall traps were the last thing I built before the ship. Stone chunks ... well, mountain base ^^

[attachment deleted by admin due to age]

[mumblemumble]

One very small, but effective change, is put a wood door / wall at the entrance to the killbox, and a second front there, with trees / debris removed.

This way you can fire a few volleys, fallback, and the door will hold till you hit position number 2.

Then perhaps a THIRD wall, blocking the inside core of the colony, and a door...this way any raid will have to face 3 volleys to get in.

[Listy]

You're far to exposed. Sandbags offer barely any cover, build some one tile walls, with one or two gaps between them to provide cover for your guys.

Use Sandbags as ways to slow down the enemy.

[swampslug]

I would recommend thicker walls in general. You will eventually face sappers or raiders with rocket launchers. These will avoid your killbox and breach a thin wall fairly easily. Try making your outer walls 3 squares thick (assuming you have the stone).

I would also recommend adding turrets. I put a switch between mine and my power grid so I can save power between raids. It is also advisable to spread your turrets out as they explode when destroyed. Keep at least 3 squares of space around each turret to prevent explosions damaging the rest of your defenses.

[SpookCrow]

Use Sandbags as ways to slow down the enemy.

Wouldn't sandbags provide cover for the raider?

[Hieronymous Alloy]

You've actually got some of the basic ideas with that setup, just need to improve it a bit.

The guy saying to use walls alternating with sandbags is spot on. Also set up some firing position s to the side so you hit the enemy from multiple angles.

Building sandbags to slow raiders doesn't work as well as in prior alphas unfortunately. Granite walls can generally stand up to rocket fire as granite is tougher than other stone, although of course even granite can be broken down if it takes enough fire.

The guide in my signature below has detailed explanation s on how to build a strong defense setup. See the sections titled "planning for defense" and "urban warfare."

[SilentP]

+1 for more turrets.  Spread them out so there's 3 squares between each one.  Put sandbags around the turrets.

If you include the mod "More Vanilla Turrets" it will give you some nice automated turret options.  My personal favorite is the basic gun emplacement.  It's essentially an M60 that lets you mow down bad guys.

[SpookCrow]

http://imgur.com/a/eo6jm

The rocks helped a lot since enemies can't shot while they are on them, I also used the turret idea as bait for enemies to give my colonists more time to shot them.

The doors i forgot to explain are for mechanoids as you see in the image, the mechanoid are  distracted while my colonists shot at them.

I will also used the traps idea for any advancing enemies

Thank you for the tips everyone, but how can I defend against sappers with this design?
Edit: My bait turret blew up and forgot the replace it in time for the mechanoid attack...

[DeathWeasel]

Another simple thing you can do to improve almost any defense is to put a roof over your colonists. This ensures they are always in darkness to help them avoid getting hit. I like to add a lamp near where the enemies come through to ensure they are lit up even at night time.