It was great fun until this happened...

[Deputy Dawg]

IMO the enemy Saboteur infiltration needs urgent re-balancing by the devs.

I was having a wonderful time until the game advanced to the point of enemy infiltrators entering my camp as Saboteurs. My Spy Surveillance Towers are upgraded to the maximum, yet they totally ignore the Saboteurs walking past, directly in their zone of coverage.

What's the point of these towers if they don't work? It's very expensive to have a bunch of them, manned day and night, if there's no benefit.

I'm now reduced to permanently watching the Recruitment Center as I'm the only person (apparently) who can spot them. This is no longer fun...

Devs, please fix the towers so that the defence soldier on guard will react properly when a Saboteur walks past.

[DNLH]

From what I understand, the towers are the last line of defense against saboteurs, working only after they ditched their disguise, otherwise it would be just too easy to place them on a chokepoint. They (should) protect the buildings within their range, but do not stop infiltrators from going further.

I actually find that particular bit fun, gives something to do when I'm idling, waiting for money or soldiers to finish their training. Reminds me of spotting spies in Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom.

I just wish there was a longer grace period, couple of times I had my security arrive once the saboteur was already inside the building and they just watched as the bomb was placed and infiltrator left.

[Escuder55]

Hello Deputy Dawg.

We are sorry to hear that you felt that way. Can I ask you at what point are you in the campaign? if it is at the end we have already balanced the attacks and in the next patches you will see it better, if you are at the point where spies start to come, maybe the problem is that we have not explained correctly how they work.

The spies have two these:

- First when they are camouflaged, in that momenot to enter is dressed in the clothes of one of our soldiers and walk around the camp. At that point they are not detectable by the towers because they are camouflaged, but if you see them, you can click on them and make them go for it.

- After loitering for a while, they change into spy clothes and head towards the building they want to bomb. This is when the watchtower workers can spot them on their own because they are no longer cloaked.

I hope this solves your doubts, but anyway we are still working on improvements for the defenses. I'm glad you've been enjoying the game :D

[Deputy Dawg]

Originally posted by Sergio_EscuderAbylight:

Hello Deputy Dawg.

We are sorry to hear that you felt that way. Can I ask you at what point are you in the campaign? if it is at the end we have already balanced the attacks and in the next patches you will see it better, if you are at the point where spies start to come, maybe the problem is that we have not explained correctly how they work.

The spies have two these:

- First when they are camouflaged, in that momenot to enter is dressed in the clothes of one of our soldiers and walk around the camp. At that point they are not detectable by the towers because they are camouflaged, but if you see them, you can click on them and make them go for it.

- After loitering for a while, they change into spy clothes and head towards the building they want to bomb. This is when the watchtower workers can spot them on their own because they are no longer cloaked.

I hope this solves your doubts, but anyway we are still working on improvements for the defenses. I'm glad you've been enjoying the game :D

OK, thanks for your reply.

I'm at the point in the campaign where Saboteurs arrive for the first time.

So if I'm understanding this correctly, the towers will only respond after the Saboteur removes his disguise, before entering the building he wants to destroy. So if my tower coverage extends over every building in the camp, I should be able to repel every attack?

In that case, I would suggest that the towers need a 4th level of upgrade, where their coverage is greatly extended (at least double the current maximum range). At the moment I would need to have about 10 towers and 20 guards which seems really excessive.

[BonPadre]

Originally posted by Deputy Dawg:

I'm at the point in the campaign where Saboteurs arrive for the first time.

SNIP - SNIP

In that case, I would suggest that the towers need a 4th level of upgrade, where their coverage is greatly extended (at least double the current maximum range). At the moment I would need to have about 10 towers and 20 guards which seems really excessive.

Honnestly at this early point in campain, it's more on how you design your camp.
You can totally cover a 60-70 peeps camp with only 2-3 towers.

What you may want to do is 1 max 2 entrance roads to your camp infrastructures, and having towers on those roads.
They need to cover important intersections.

An example of mine I have only 1 main entrance road.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2944346876
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2944346908
First tower where it first branches in my camp infrastructures. That tower may miss a spy here and there that goes bombing eiter the maintenance shed (far right) or the generator close to that shed. No biggies honnestly. First tower catches most spies anyway.
Then second tower further left on the screenshot. That tower is really here for the very few spies first tower missed that still go deeper in camp.

I have a 3rd tower even further left (outside of screenshot) that never cought any spies due to all of them being caught before that.

Now what is important is that you actually TRAIN your guards in purple skill, and then they will also need to reach that 100% XP (green)
Also towers need to be fully staffed with day & night shifts.
But for the camp you see there in desert it's 6 guards.

Also, I never until now (when they could bomb something), have seen spies bomb individual houses. And since those take a lot of space on your map... useless in my opinion to place one tower guarding that.
I have seen spies bomb barracks, generators, free time buildings, training facilities.

That way of doing things worked fine for me at least on those 2 first camps.

Hope this helps. Have fun in the game

[coolbreeze]

How about another class of Defense for security forces? It would be great to have security patrol certain areas, creating a path/circle (depending on how your roads are setup) and they just patrol during their duty schedule. This could be done by maybe clicking a start point, then maybe waypoints along a path, and then and end point (which can end at the starting point for a circle/loop). Of course, this may require a population cap increase as well.

Or maybe have that security force unlocked in the tech tree (and also increase the population cap at that time to accommodate them).

[Deputy Dawg]

Originally posted by coolbreeze:

How about another class of Defense for security forces? It would be great to have security patrol certain areas, creating a path/circle (depending on how your roads are setup) and they just patrol during their duty schedule. This could be done by maybe clicking a start point, then maybe waypoints along a path, and then and end point (which can end at the starting point for a circle/loop). Of course, this may require a population cap increase as well.

Or maybe have that security force unlocked in the tech tree (and also increase the population cap at that time to accommodate them).

+1

[Deputy Dawg]

I have found a really effective workaround, and have so far successfully repelled all Saboteurs without any intervention from me.

It's a variation on the post by @BonPadre, but I'm using the "long path into the base" method. From the entrance I created a path that turned left, then ran alongside the perimeter fence until it reached the far left side of the camp. Then I made the path double back on itself (leaving a one tile gap in-between), going to the right, all the way back to where the normal entrance would have been (but that's now a flower bed).

Because of the long walk, the Saboteurs lose their disguise about two thirds of the way along the path. They are then easily spotted by my guard tower near the entrance. So far it's been 100% successful.

The only downside is that new recruits and Maintenance workers have to take the long walk too. I sometimes micro-manage a path placement and subsequent bulldozer removal, if I need a new recruit to get into the base in a hurry.

I'm currently training up another two guards, so I can place a second tower near where the Saboteurs usually lose their disguise. Belts and braces, in-case my normal guards are not on duty at that moment in time.

I just had three Saboteurs come in about 30 seconds apart, and they were all repelled without me doing anything.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

[BonPadre]

Glad you found your way 👍🏻
I think the mistake most of us do starting is building very close to entrance with already way too many branching from that early point.

Have a nice week-end and enjoy the game