Attacking Enemy Camps

[Devious]

I have a few questions related to raiding.

First, is it possible to assault an enemy base, kill a few of them, leave and return a few days later? Does the map reset once you leave? And is there anyway to get pack animals to leave with the rest of the group?

Also, considering how well-defended these bases can be, I was wondering if it could be more efficient/safer to train a pack of wild beasts and release them on a camp.

[NecroRebel]

I'm pretty sure enemy bases reset as soon as you have no more guys at them, so slowly chipping away at them like that isn't possible. I have seen people talk about taking advantage of this, by entering, leading the enemies around on a wild goose chase with one guy, while the rest of the party walks up and robs the outpost blind (including such loot as glitterworld medicine and luciferium), then leaving without wiping the outpost out.

What you might be able to do is send one extra colonist, even a noncombatant, with the caravan that moves to attack, but then just outside the base split the caravan so the noncombatant and the pack animals are in one and all the combat guys are in the other. You can then send the battle group in while the noncombatants and pack animals stay away, and after you win you can send the other caravan in to help pick up loot. Note that I have not tried this myself, but in theory at least I see no reason why it shouldn't work.

War beasts are VERY effective for all combat purposes. For assaulting a camp you do need at least one colonist with them, otherwise the caravan will just disappear AFAIK, but it's still quite effective. I'm fond of wild boars for early-mid game war beasts, since they're quite high-damage, graze but are omnivorous, breed very fast, and can haul when not needed for battles. 2 or 3 boars per enemy is almost always enough to rout any human enemies in my experience.

[Devious]

Originally posted by NecroRebel:

I'm pretty sure enemy bases reset as soon as you have no more guys at them, so slowly chipping away at them like that isn't possible. I have seen people talk about taking advantage of this, by entering, leading the enemies around on a wild goose chase with one guy, while the rest of the party walks up and robs the outpost blind (including such loot as glitterworld medicine and luciferium), then leaving without wiping the outpost out.

What you might be able to do is send one extra colonist, even a noncombatant, with the caravan that moves to attack, but then just outside the base split the caravan so the noncombatant and the pack animals are in one and all the combat guys are in the other. You can then send the battle group in while the noncombatants and pack animals stay away, and after you win you can send the other caravan in to help pick up loot. Note that I have not tried this myself, but in theory at least I see no reason why it shouldn't work.

War beasts are VERY effective for all combat purposes. For assaulting a camp you do need at least one colonist with them, otherwise the caravan will just disappear AFAIK, but it's still quite effective. I'm fond of wild boars for early-mid game war beasts, since they're quite high-damage, graze but are omnivorous, breed very fast, and can haul when not needed for battles. 2 or 3 boars per enemy is almost always enough to rout any human enemies in my experience.

Excellent! Since I play with permadeath, I'll probably forego the stealthy approach. It seems to me a lot can go wrong with that tactic. Guess I'll be breeding an army of hellish pigs!

[Pyrithe]

Originally posted by Devious:

Originally posted by NecroRebel:

I'm pretty sure enemy bases reset as soon as you have no more guys at them, so slowly chipping away at them like that isn't possible. I have seen people talk about taking advantage of this, by entering, leading the enemies around on a wild goose chase with one guy, while the rest of the party walks up and robs the outpost blind (including such loot as glitterworld medicine and luciferium), then leaving without wiping the outpost out.

What you might be able to do is send one extra colonist, even a noncombatant, with the caravan that moves to attack, but then just outside the base split the caravan so the noncombatant and the pack animals are in one and all the combat guys are in the other. You can then send the battle group in while the noncombatants and pack animals stay away, and after you win you can send the other caravan in to help pick up loot. Note that I have not tried this myself, but in theory at least I see no reason why it shouldn't work.

War beasts are VERY effective for all combat purposes. For assaulting a camp you do need at least one colonist with them, otherwise the caravan will just disappear AFAIK, but it's still quite effective. I'm fond of wild boars for early-mid game war beasts, since they're quite high-damage, graze but are omnivorous, breed very fast, and can haul when not needed for battles. 2 or 3 boars per enemy is almost always enough to rout any human enemies in my experience.

Excellent! Since I play with permadeath, I'll probably forego the stealthy approach. It seems to me a lot can go wrong with that tactic. Guess I'll be breeding an army of hellish pigs!

Be warned, he's not joking about that "they breed quickly" part... I'm up to 100 boars on my current game because I didn't pay attention (haven't been raided for a looooong time). So when breeding your battle boars, make sure you keep an eye on them before you end up like me, with an entire wiped out map of grass and animal food stores depleted. Still, they make great roasts, trained with haul and they can help keep a base running, and are immune to the cold, they were literally running food in -20F weather to all my other animals while my base holed up for the winter cold snap. Very useful animals, even during peace time, but it can get pretty out of hand if you let it.

[Devious]

Originally posted by Pyrithe:

Originally posted by Devious:

Excellent! Since I play with permadeath, I'll probably forego the stealthy approach. It seems to me a lot can go wrong with that tactic. Guess I'll be breeding an army of hellish pigs!

Be warned, he's not joking about that "they breed quickly" part... I'm up to 100 boars on my current game because I didn't pay attention (haven't been raided for a looooong time). So when breeding your battle boars, make sure you keep an eye on them before you end up like me, with an entire wiped out map of grass and animal food stores depleted. Still, they make great roasts, trained with haul and they can help keep a base running, and are immune to the cold, they were literally running food in -20F weather to all my other animals while my base holed up for the winter cold snap. Very useful animals, even during peace time, but it can get pretty out of hand if you let it.

Oh, I'm aware of that. The same once happened to me with cassowarries of all things.

Although I'm wondering, why boars in particular? Wouldn't wargs, bears or even boomrats/boomalopes (I *really* want to experiment with these) offer their own set of advantages?

[NecroRebel]

Boars are easier to feed than wargs, easier and safer to tame than bears, and easier to use as a food source than the boomers. I did specify that I like them as early-mid game war beasts. In the late game, switching to a stronger animal can be better. My last colony was mostly transitioned to polar bears when I got bored and went to space.

Different animals do have their own advantages, of course. Boars are just excellent all-around though.