Raiders should send people in waves instead of all-out rushes.

[ZestyLemons]

Hi again, dropping another simple-ish idea here.

I think it's a little silly that raiders tend to go for all-or-nothing bumrushes all the time. Though it's really early alpha, I think making raiders come at you in waves would be a really good solution to the giant raider waves people get after the 1 year mark. Some helpful stats for the raiding leader to take note of would be how many casualties they've taken versus how many you've taken, or how much damage they've done to you, how much they've lost (in equipment), and stuff like that.

This would also make the rare, but devastating mechanoid raids a lot more manageable too. Recently I had a raid of 30 centipedes and god-knows-how-many Scythers. While I survived the Scythers (they arrived first), there was just no weapon big enough in my arsenal to take out 30 centipedes all at once. Several waves with Scythers and Centipedes moving together in little squads would've been a much more fair and challenging fight in my opinion.


I know this is probably an idea for the not-so-near future, but I'd still love to see some cool raider AI in the future - waves and squads instead of giant rush tactics.

[MajorFordson]

I'd like to see raiders flanking. Essentially having them split up for three assault routes, instead of conga-lining a single approach, so to speak.

[HatesYourFace]

To play the Devil's advocate, drip feeding your troops a few squads at a time into a heavily fortified defensive position is a classic military blunder. I'm all for more engaging/varied A.I. tactics though.

[BetaSpectre]

Waves do not make sense when attacking a fortified or heavily defensive Castle.

Instead a siege makes the most sense. Without proper defenses Raiders would most likely be unorganized and attempt to bum rush.

It doesn't make sense for either to happen by chance.

AI needs to be reworked to have 1/3 of the group not go through the front door instead attack the walls randomly.

This would mean that an electrified fence or better defense layout would be needed.

[Damien Hart]

Waves do not make sense when attacking a fortified or heavily defensive Castle.

Instead a siege makes the most sense. Without proper defenses Raiders would most likely be unorganized and attempt to bum rush.

It doesn't make sense for either to happen by chance.

AI needs to be reworked to have 1/3 of the group not go through the front door instead attack the walls randomly.

This would mean that an electrified fence or better defense layout would be needed.

Attacking random walls would simply mean that for most raids, 1/3 of the raiders end up punching stone until all the others are dead or routed, and then being either picked off one by one or routing themselves. But they should definitely try to split up into groups and assault yo from different directions.

I'd really like to see tactics vary according to faction type. If pirates attack you, are they really going to bring an army? More likely they bring a small siege party and a couple of mortars and attempt to shell you into submission, while small groups try to skirmish with you while maintaining their distance from the colony itself. Outlander towns on the other hand would be more organised, launching simultaneous assaults on different parts of the base, possibly shelling for a short time to soften you up before launching their attacks, or even trying to breach your perimeter.

And tribals? Well if they were regularly exposed to higher level technology, it stands to reason that they would have either been wiped out already, or have adopted that technology to some degree and utilised it against you. Since neither of the above is true, logically they wouldn't understand how to fight against guns/turrets effectively, so it can be expected that they all charge in close and attempt to overwhelm you, because that's the sort of tactic they would be using against one another.

[SSS]

Attacking random walls would simply mean that for most raids, 1/3 of the raiders end up punching stone until all the others are dead or routed, and then being either picked off one by one or routing themselves. But they should definitely try to split up into groups and assault yo from different directions.

I'd really like to see tactics vary according to faction type. If pirates attack you, are they really going to bring an army? More likely they bring a small siege party and a couple of mortars and attempt to s**** you into submission, while small groups try to skirmish with you while maintaining their distance from the colony itself. Outlander towns on the other hand would be more organised, launching simultaneous assaults on different parts of the base, possibly s****ing for a short time to soften you up before launching their attacks, or even trying to breach your perimeter.

And tribals? Well if they were regularly exposed to higher level technology, it stands to reason that they would have either been wiped out already, or have adopted that technology to some degree and utilised it against you. Since neither of the above is true, logically they wouldn't understand how to fight against guns/turrets effectively, so it can be expected that they all charge in close and attempt to overwhelm you, because that's the sort of tactic they would be using against one another.

I love this idea. Seeing different faction types use different combat techniques would be awesome. How would you picture mechanoids using tactics, though? They don't have any form of communication, but they seem to be rather intelligent, which I think is important to note.

[BetaSpectre]

Tactics for each faction type makes perfect sense. Though it makes me wonder how Mechanoids should be handled.

[ZestyLemons]

Awesome ideas in this thread, thanks for all the sort of feedback and support.

Also to the person who suggested it, a total mish-mash of a ton of different tactics would be awesome now that I think about it. Worrying about what the raiders might plan out and do is a lot more fun than drafting everyone up to your entrance and hoping for the best.