Challenge NO TURRET Colony

[userfredle]

So has anyone tried this? Was interested in trying it myself any one got any tips?

im just a little worried about end game raids they get very decent size and mechanoids will definitely destroy a few colonists, plus tynan took away quite a bit of wealth from the turrets and put it into the colony, so raid size was not just dependent on them, im worried this works against me

I usually go with 2 medics and 2 gunners

[Col_Jessep]

I used to play without turrets but that seems like a bad choice after mechanoids and the new wound system was introduced. Especially the M24 makes it extremely dangerous to send colonists to defend.

I wish we had some traps and fortifications. Snake or boomrat pits would be hilarious. Camouflaged fortifications, flame throwers, spike traps, tear gas, flash bangs...

[Rayleigh]

It is definitely achievable. I've never played a game where I use turrets except for the very first few games since I did not know any better regarding the turrets being the contributor to my early days downfall. Reason being back in the earlier Alphas, having turrets actually boosts the number of attackers in a raid.

So back then until now, I've always played without using any turrets. The early stages are the most difficult as those are the time when enemies will come with rifles, shotguns and uzi while you most likely will only have pistols.

What I usually do is use a kill box and instead of lining up your kill box with turrets, use your colonists. The kill box will be filled with sandbags to prevent the attackers from shooting at you. However, it seems that in the current Alpha, some attackers will stop on the sandbags and start shooting. Previously, they were not able to do so. Though, only a few would actually do that, so you better hope that you'll kill enough and fast enough so that the rest will flee before any of your colonist gets injured permanently.

Example of a kill box that I like to use:


The depth is 30 boxes, around the average firing range for R4 and M16. My shooters will be stationed behind the stone walls and occasionally pop their head out to shoot incoming enemy. Hiding behind stone walls is much safer than just sandbags. My snipers will be stationed behind the sandbags at the back so that they will have a clear shot all the way through the kill box. The bend at the beginning is to prevent enemy snipers from shooting outside of my shooters' firing range.

The lights at the side of the kill box is to remove the accuracy penalty due to darkness for my shooters. During a battle, I would switch off the two light bulbs on the far left so that enemy shooters will still get the accuracy penalty due to darkness. The enemy never once targeted the light bulbs, so I never have to replace them.

Below the kill box is a bypass tunnel so that my colonists won't have to crawl over the sandbags to get in and out of base. During a raid, I will plug the bypass tunnel with a stone wall which will cause the attackers to head towards the kill box instead. Thus the emergency stone stockpile in the bypass tunnel so that I can build a wall quickly without have to access my main stone stockpile which is deep within the base.

This layout however doesn't work that well with large group of attackers.

Most of the time, around half of them will be able to breach the kill box, forcing my colonists to fall back to the second line of defense, which is this:


The grid layout of the base itself is a form of defense. Whenever I am forced to fall back to the second line of defense, I switch my tactics to a guerrilla hit-and-run style. Due to the grid layout, most of the time, the enemy will split up into smaller groups to different corridors. I then will use all of my colonists (11 in this map) to slowly pick off stragglers and Rambo-wannabes one by one by approaching them from the back (relative to where they're facing).

11 guns giving one volley and most of the time, the few of them would die. If they don't and they start priming their guns, I retreat and get them from another direction. This works very well with large group of Centipedes too.

Also to take note, I never replace the natural walls for a "nicer" wall (made of stone, metal, etc.) because the AI do not target natural walls. If I were to replace them using said materials, the upkeep of repairing and replacing them will just be too much of a hassle. Plus, if they break through the walls, then they'll start destroying the furniture inside (more replacement costs).

Hopefully you'll be able to get some inspiration and come up with other strategies. I would love to learn other form of defense too.

[stefanstr]

An excellent write up.  Thanks a lot.

Has anyone been playing with no turrets on flat maps on standard difficulty?

[Thunder Rahja]

I play most games without building turrets and usually play on relatively flat maps without building in the rock. Now mortars, on the other hand...

If you want some pointers, I'll lend a few.

• If you're building out in the open, build individual buildings. This provides extra corner cover, which is great for bringing snipers into range.
• Lots of doors. I recommend you have 2-3 exits per room so you have plenty of potential escape routes for rescue attempts. Doors also provide an excellent place to shoot from, as colonists need only move one tile to get to safety.
• If you want to counter sieges quickly, build 4-5 mortars and wall them in without a roof. I usually make one of them incendiary and the rest explosive. This way you can discourage raiders from blowing up your colony from afar, as well as take out quite a few of them before they can close in on you.
• You don't need long walls or a "kill box". It's often easier if you can single out one or two raiders while the rest of the raiders are taking cover from a colonist shooting at them.
• Like the above tip, you can stall raiders by taking a shot at them with a low-delay gun, retreating to cover for a few seconds, then taking another shot. Some weapons such as snipers won't have time to shoot at you and will stay where they are as long as you move back into their sights before long.
• Take out grenadiers and melee attackers first, as they will forfeit their personal safety to make your colonists miserable.

[Varnhagen]

Yeah, stefan, I usually do. Will try to clock in some more hours on my new colony before posting any pics, but the basics have been covered by the other commentators.
1. Create corners for cover.
2. Multiple Doors to rooms give you a maneuvering advantage, quickly flanking opponents.
3. Short distances for Shotguns and melee in base and flat coverless areas immediately adjacent to your base (usually my fields).
4. Be mobile on your feet and be ready to change positions.
5. Have one or 2 civilians ready to haul back incaps (I don't want them abducted)
6. Buy every bionic piece some trader cares to bring by.

I usually don't use sandbags, as I quickly desert defenses once the bulk of the enemies has taken up their positions. Perimeter walls, killboxes or mortars ain't my style either. Thus I try to defend as soon as possible and whittle the enemy down on their approach.

im just a little worried about end game raids they get very decent size and mechanoids will definitely destroy a few colonists, plus tynan took away quite a bit of wealth from the turrets and put it into the colony, so raid size was not just dependent on them, im worried this works against me

My last colony lasted for 20 months, before the RNG did me in. No useful trader for 8 weeks, that cut me off from medical supplies (limbs), an ancient AI dropped next to my base (4 cents, 4 scyth) that dismembered two of my 6 main battle group and incapped 3 others. While I was fighting the last cent a 40 tribal rush attack came in from the opposite side of the map. With one capable, but exhausted soldier I drafted the rest of my colonists into service and managed to kill enough of them for a rout.
Last man standing got his leg torn off by the last attacks of the fleeing enemy. There they lay, all dead or incapped, a single centipede roaming the fringe of once proud Ellis.

[Rayleigh]

Only reason I build into rocks is because I hate mortars especially during the early stages, where time and resources are indispensable to waste on expansive repairs.

They're just such a pain when I do not have a sniper who is accurate enough to pick them off. However, during the later stages when I have a fully bionic sniper, one outstanding sniper is all I need to wither a siege party fast enough before they are able to do extensive damage to my base.

Else, on a flat plain (or more accurately, open base), my base would consists mostly just the grid layouts. Playing maze runner with the raiders, just that I'm the monster of the maze.

[milon]

I thought mortars could land anywhere, including Overhead Mountain areas.  Am I mistaken?

[Calistyn]

They don't land in Overhead Mountain as far as I know. Everywhere else is fair game.

This is what my no-turret colonies look like:
http://puu.sh/ccv1m/99db4fdc0d.jpg

I still burrow in for bedrooms and the main room for the sake of ease. The rest is set up as a maze-like space where the goal is preventing more than one or two raiders from having line-of-sight to my colonists, while keeping a space large enough to kill hordes of animals. Also, this set-up lets me pull completely out of the colony if needed and come back in from another direction. It's a lot of fun.