Help my defenses without making the gametoo easy?

[jpinard]

I am just getting hammered in my current game.  I switched from Cassandra to the laid back storyteller but I'm still being hit with 15 tribesmen who are better equipped than my sickly 10 people (I'm in year 3 struggling).  I basically just built a giant granite box with big slits (it looks like morse code going all around my base).  For some dumb reason I thought I'd be able to shoot over them but I can't.

Can you all give me some basic suggestions that won't make the game too easy?  I don't want anything exploitive, but right now I'm getting just annihilated.

[Hans Lemurson]

You probably need more guns.  Pistols are cheap and effective at close range.  Survival rifles cost a bit more but give you important range.  Assault Rifles are great at wounding and weakening enemies as they approach, but are rather more expensive.

Fortifications and cover are helpful against enemies using ranged weapons, but can make it hard for your pawns to support each other when swarmed by tribesmen.

What I usually do is mass-produce pistols at my machining table until everybody has one, then give rifles to my best shooters, and a gladius to any brawler.  Pistols stand in a close group to support each other, rifles wound enemies at a distance and target/suppress enemy ranged units.  Brawlers target incoming melee, with pistol backup.

I'm not a pro at this game, but it seems to work reasonably well.

[ProjectXa3]

You probably need more guns.  Pistols are cheap and effective at close range.  Survival rifles cost a bit more but give you important range.  Assault Rifles are great at wounding and weakening enemies as they approach, but are rather more expensive.

Fortifications and cover are helpful against enemies using ranged weapons, but can make it hard for your pawns to support each other when swarmed by tribesmen.

What I usually do is mass-produce pistols at my machining table until everybody has one, then give rifles to my best shooters, and a gladius to any brawler.  Pistols stand in a close group to support each other, rifles wound enemies at a distance and target/suppress enemy ranged units.  Brawlers target incoming melee, with pistol backup.

I'm not a pro at this game, but it seems to work reasonably well.

Sounds like a good strategy, I'll have to start that in my own game.

[mrm]

Just build a classic killbox. Corridor with steel traps, with sandbags and pillars at the end to use as cover for your pawns. Do not close it with any doors, so tribals will most likely chose to go trough as the easy way. I don't think this is an exploit, its a basic defense system. If you have brawlers/melee, make them steel longswords. Assault riffles for shooters. After 3 years you should have the technology to build turrets or charge riffles. 15 enemies is too much to handle without any defense system. And don't worry, if your defense performs very well (no casualties), then each next raid will be stronger than previous, so it won't be too easy.

[LordMunchkin]

Like someone previously mentioned, your first priority should be getting everyone a decent weapon. Pistols for ranged people and steel gladius for melee guys. Your next priority should be getting some long range and close range speciality weapons; the survival rifle and machine pistol. Use the machine pistol to hose down melee dudes who are running for your gun line and the survival rifle snipe enemies in cover. I like to combine the machine pistol with the pump shotgun for close quarter carnage. Similarly, the LMG is great when combined with the survival rifle. By the mid-game, you should have enough resources to produce an armored vest and kevlar helmet for each of your colonists. Clothing is also important when it comes to protection which is why I favor button-up shirts and dusters over t-shirts and jackets (better coverage). On the melee side, you should gradually transition to steel spears by this time as well. For ranged, meanwhile, you should incorporate assault rifles, heavy smgs, and sniper rifles into your arsenal (pistols -> assault rifles, machine pistols -> SMGs, survival rifles -> sniper rifles). When you have all or most of this, you're in the late game. By this time you should be focusing on getting power armor, charge rifles, miniguns, steel longswords, and bionics for all your guys. Charge rifles are powerful close-mid range weapons that should pretty much supersede most of the above while the minigun is the ultimate crowd control weapon. Steel longwords are slow but powerful (when you're satisfied that you won't really need plasteel anymore build plasteel longswords). Keep a couple sniper rifles around for long ranged stuff. That's pretty much it!

Without seeing your base, I can't really make any specific comments. However, you should make sure to spread out guys as much as possible in whatever area you're defending. Also try to eliminate areas the enemy can use as cover such as rubble or trees. Finally, line your entrance with at least a couple rows of deadfall traps (use doors to allow your colonists to rearm them and exit the base safely) and fill the space in between with incendiary or explosive IEDs. Turrets are somewhat optional; they can be useful if you have incapable of violence colonists or need a distraction (put them in a forward position out of the main line of fire).

On a sidenote, I now realize that I haven't really discussed grenades, rocket launchers, combat drugs, or incendiary launchers. Grenades are great, if you can get them, for large groups of enemies such as tribals. In this case, you actually want to create cover in your defensive areas for the enemy. This let's you control where they run and thus it make it easier to kill them with grenades. Still, it's pretty risky (one pila shot and your done). EMP grenades are good for mechanoids if you have cover (say your guy is hiding around a corner before he grenades them). Otherwise, it's basically suicide for the pawn involved (might be worth the sacrifice if they get a grenade off). Rocket launchers are simply devastating. It's well worth it to equip a mediocre pawn with one as a single shot can kill many raiders and severely damage mechanoids. For optimum play, have a spare weapon in a rack nearby for the pawn to grab once they've fired their load. Go-Juice is also wonderful if you accept the risks involved. Sadly, I really have no real experience with incendiary launchers. I rarely see the AI use them and have never once used them in the time since they were introduced.

[SpaceDorf]

Bloodthirsty, Trigger Happy Dudes with Shotguns.

With cover and retreat tactics those guys obliterate anything.
Hobbys : Hunting and Hauling.

[mrm]

Longsword and mace are both good. The main difference is that longsword will cut limbs and kill, when mace will immobilize opponents so they can be imprisoned and recruited.

And for the killbox. I build something like this and it perform very well. Stone blocks at the entrance stops raiders to get cover behind the walls, so they must get in. When they are in, there is no going back, they move forward and die. Deadfall traps are arranged in a way so my pawns or visitors can get trough without hurting themselves. There is a stone floor so fire will not spread too much. My pawns are hiding behind pillars and lean out to shoot. Sandbags are also helpful. Turrets are mostly plasteel, i slowly replace them from steel when they getting destroyed. But this should also work good without turrets. Kill area is unroofed so its 100% lit in daylight for better shooting accuracy for my pawns. Shooters area is roofed so its 0% lit, this decreases chance of shot by enemy. Also turrets are roofed so they wont get damaged in the rain. I hold few weapons in weapon rack nearby, so i can quickly equip my pawns in rocket launcher of sniper rifles if i get a siege or alien ship. Turrets can be switched off by nearby switch, but i have enough power to run them all the time. Granite walls between turrets are a must, so one exploding turret will not ignite others. Explosive traps are good for centipedes, they like to walk along the wall. My walls around the base are 5 tiles thick and are made from granite, so any sappers attack will take a lot of time to get trough, usually i waste them before they manage to destroy a single tile. For entry into base i have three granite autodors in 5 tile wall. Regular doors do not perform well, its taking forever to open each of them, and it matters when my pawn is chased by a mad animal or a raider. It is hard to buil such thing at once because its work and materials demanding, but you can build in small steps and upgrade.

[attachment deleted by admin due to age]

[cultist]

Survival rifle is the best early weapon. It has good damage, good range and good accuracy. Only downside is that it's a bit slow.

The simplest way to stop a normal raid is a long, winding but unblocked path into your base filled with traps or turrets. Most raiders will never make it to your doorstep. Just make sure you have an alternate exit for your pawns.

[jpinard]

My base is just a big wooden thing in the middle of the map.  I had almost no mountain to burrow into so the enemy can and does attack from any side.  Because of this I can't figure out how to "funnel" them into a specific area or part of my base.  Any tips on how I can make that happen?  Thanks for all the help thus far!

[b0rsuk]

My base is just a big wooden thing in the middle of the map.  I had almost no mountain to burrow into so the enemy can and does attack from any side.  Because of this I can't figure out how to "funnel" them into a specific area or part of my base.  Any tips on how I can make that happen?  Thanks for all the help thus far!

Start by surrounding it with a 1 tile thick perimeter wall.

[jpinard]

My base is just a big wooden thing in the middle of the map.  I had almost no mountain to burrow into so the enemy can and does attack from any side.  Because of this I can't figure out how to "funnel" them into a specific area or part of my base.  Any tips on how I can make that happen?  Thanks for all the help thus far!

Start by surrounding it with a 1 tile thick perimeter wall.

I have a very large amount of farmland.  Do you suggest I keep that inside or outside of my walls?

[b0rsuk]

If it's not devilstrand or trees (grow very slowly), you can keep it outside for the time being. Sometimes raiders ignite fields if they pass right over them, but this is usually no big deal.

[mrm]

Why you wont show your base here?

[Stormfox]

I have a very large amount of farmland.  Do you suggest I keep that inside or outside of my walls?

As was suggested, just mostly wall off your part of the map. I included a screenshot example of my last base.

In that example, I started by making small 1-width wall pieces connecting the mountains around my base pretty early on, long before building that huge stone house complex. My people lived in some wooden/stone huts just south of where the prison is, partly reusing some large old structure that was already there. I purposefully never built walls to the north, where my fields are. I had a few defensive positions there, though. This is the intended "war zone".

Much later I upgraded my walls to two spaces thick and built a few turrets around the base so I have something to help out when sappers get overly annoying. The northern exit out of my valley never got walled in - its well defendable to fight and does not need to be, since I want one entrance so most attackers go to a reliable place. The wall to the southeast would have been much closer to my buildings if I had not seen that steam vent back then and decided to include it at the cost of 20odd extra wall squares.

[attachment deleted by admin due to age]

[Elixiar]

There's 3 ways. More or less. (Against large assaults) 

Kill boxes - boring. One entry point usually with 10,000 turrets watching it.

Choke points - similar but not designed to be exploitive. Normally it's a thin opening in a street or hallway or rock formation. Guard the entry point with sandbags and soldiers.

Frontline - sandbags outside the perimeter with lots of explosives beyond them. (This works really well against tribals as many trigger IEDs and then your gunners pick off whoever makes it through.)
In the event you need to wall back, have a second line normally more reinforced with gun turrets. But try to thin the numbers before retreating.

Against smaller numbers:

Skirmish - head out into the field and engage the enemy then breaking line of sight. (Lots of micromanagement and pausing.)

Against large groups waiting to attack or sieges:

Suppression - 3 - 6 mortar crews in the safer part of the colony that rain serious amounts of damage on enemies is tight clusters. Can easily reduce a force of 60 pawns to 24 before they realise the extent of the damage.


This is all from my vanilla experience using open plan colonies normally with no walls. Eventually I build walls sometimes but I rarely use gun turrets and never use obvious kill boxes with like a single path drowned in sand bags and traps.

A good tactic is to line the outside walls with traps though. Extra layers of defense and all that.

I don't mind having to haul colonists that get injured mid battle to the hospital though and I quite like having my troops scarred and damaged over the years.

If you want role play and good stories don't do kill boxes.
If you prefer to play city builder then kill boxes are safe but you can be so much more creative...