Best difficulty for players who don't enjoy kill boxing?...

[vampiresoap]

I'm just getting really tired of using kill boxes to deal with enemies...on extreme difficulty it gets really ridiculous as you mow down close to a hundred enemies with little to no effort. On the other hand, when I tried dealing with enemies in other ways, I couldn't even get past rough...Feels like the game kind of forces you to use kill boxes on higher difficulties.

I haven't tried Cassandra or Phebe on some challenge yet. Anyone know what's the "best" difficulty for non kill box playthroughs? Thanks!

[SurrealSadi]

Phoebe with Some Challenge is pretty good. I haven't seen the need for kill boxes yet, but then I haven't gotten so far into a game that I'd run into the "Oh...mother of god" raids yet. So take that with a grain of salt.

[Jarwy]

I think Rough Cassie is just fine as long as you control your hoarding impulses and not get too rich.

[iceteazz]

 _ I once nearly won a game without kill box, my small tips : cassy rough is just enough, more hard more fun if you want ; build your base like a castle with defence points are turrets and doors near them  so 3 pawns can fire each door, i use 2 doors each side of turret group, expand if you have enough pawns, the wall must be 2 layers with space between so you can defend both side, outer wall should be as thick as possible ; Build many layers of defence so you can retreat to safe point or counter drop pods and dropped mechanoids ; It's best to build inside a mountain to prevent drop pods, but base outdoor is viable ; Finally, the keys to success are limit your pawns to elite and multi-jobs pawns only and try your best to limit your wealth so easier raids and events.

[Zhentar]

I refuse to killbox and find Rough to be a satisfying level of challenge.

[DNK]

Just about any Phoebe would be fine. I do minimal kill boxing, and after about 2 years haven't even had the need to use my defenses since I always just meet people out of the colony.

[vampiresoap]

_ I once nearly won a game without kill box, my small tips : cassy rough is just enough, more hard more fun if you want ; build your base like a castle with defence points are turrets and doors near them  so 3 pawns can fire each door, i use 2 doors each side of turret group, expand if you have enough pawns, the wall must be 2 layers with space between so you can defend both side, outer wall should be as thick as possible ; Build many layers of defence so you can retreat to safe point or counter drop pods and dropped mechanoids ; It's best to build inside a mountain to prevent drop pods, but base outdoor is viable ; Finally, the keys to success are limit your pawns to elite and multi-jobs pawns only and try your best to limit your wealth so easier raids and events.

Good tips!! thanks a lot Though I always think that building into the mountain is totally not worth it due to the constant pest control lol

[Shurp]

If you can convince a massive horde to split up they're much easier to deal with.  I discovered recently by accident that if your base is surrounded by a large wall with several doors most hordes will spread out to attack individual doors.  So then it's just a matter of setting up appropriate defenses at each one.

This could be likened to having several small killboxes instead of one big one... but since your pawns can get around, each one doesn't have to be stuffed full of turrets.

[Skaer]

You don't need killboxes to play this game. I've never used them, my current colony is year 17 on extreme difficulty. Killboxes are boring.

[iceteazz]

_ I once nearly won a game without kill box, my small tips : cassy rough is just enough, more hard more fun if you want ; build your base like a castle with defence points are turrets and doors near them  so 3 pawns can fire each door, i use 2 doors each side of turret group, expand if you have enough pawns, the wall must be 2 layers with space between so you can defend both side, outer wall should be as thick as possible ; Build many layers of defence so you can retreat to safe point or counter drop pods and dropped mechanoids ; It's best to build inside a mountain to prevent drop pods, but base outdoor is viable ; Finally, the keys to success are limit your pawns to elite and multi-jobs pawns only and try your best to limit your wealth so easier raids and events.

Good tips!! thanks a lot Though I always think that building into the mountain is totally not worth it due to the constant pest control lol

_ Mega Spiders can be deal easily just by digging deeper in the moutain, make many empty room there, ready to expand your base and trap those Spiders there. If you play in harsh biome which is very cold, you need a  warm room with heaters and comfort temperature to lure those spiders spawn in there instead of your warm bed rooms, of course the warm room must be big enough, builded outside your base and deeper in the mountain.

[MajorMonotone]

You can play the game on any difficulty and not have to resort to using kill boxes, my favourite method is a semi-trench warfare method of having a front line and then several fall back points but this method is quite dependent on having a specific terrain type.

[Ouroboros]

How does killboxing save people? Even using killboxes I die to hives, sieges and in my last base; they simply blasted their way through the mountain and destroyed my base with explosives. It seems impossible to build a base where you force them in on one side only with the only exception being a mountanous ocean map where you start in a safe corner.

[Headshotkill]

You don't need killboxes to play this game. I've never used them, my current colony is year 17 on extreme difficulty. Killboxes are boring.

Picture of your base please.

[CreepyD]

Try the SK mod pack would be my suggestion.
It will throw difficulty at you in many different ways, not just by throwing more and more enemies at you.

[Panzer]

Rough is a nice difficulty to play without killboxes, you can always increase difficulty in the menu if it is not enough challenge (or decrease, of course). I always hold doorways open and use melee fighters with shooters behind them, works pretty well since enemies cant stack anymore.
Base layout is important as well as engagement timing, you want to scatter the brunt of the force between buildings so you can engage your enemy in close quarters, picking off small groups or engaging dangerous individuals like rpg raiders. Mechs can be engaged the same way, you ideally want to fight those in close range as well, frag grenades work wonders vs centipedes and scythers have pretty low accuracy at close range.
That playstyle might cost you some doors and power plants but it is in my opinion way more rewarding than simply shredding everything in a killbox