looking for a good seed for setting up a killbox (include pics if you want too)

[AOD_x_Fury]

ive never created one before and im curious as to how yall have gone around creating them. post your pics if you have them that way itll be easier than writing a paragraph

[grapplehoeker]

This is my Spider ;)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1559672909
It's a tried and tested killbox base design that I have used in over 100 colonies playing Cassandra savage/extreme.
The core is an orbital rader chamber surrounded by 24 plasteel turrets and 4 auto turrets. The 4 entry way corridors are lined with zig zag steel traps.
The type of biome doesn't matter much as long as it's flat and so, since almost all flat maps are suitable, the seed is unimportant. These days, out of preference I'll usually choose a flat map with a main road and and average to large sized river.

[AOD_x_Fury]

Originally posted by grapplehoeker:

This is my Spider ;)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1559672909
It's a tried and tested killbox base design that I have used in over 100 colonies playing Cassandra savage/extreme.
The core is an orbital rader chamber surrounded by 24 plasteel turrets and 4 auto turrets. The 4 entry way corridors are lined with zig zag steel traps.
The type of biome doesn't matter much as long as it's flat and so, since almost all flat maps are suitable, the seed is unimportant. These days, out of preference I'll usually choose a flat map with a main road and and average to large sized river.

damn i didnt think they could get so intense lol thanks for the post and interesting good to know about th seed not mattering much. i just always thought that if you were building one then you will have to build it withing a mountain and kinda set up a hallway of death

[Markus Reese]

Well, my two bits. What do you consider a killbox? Pros and cons of designs?

The concept of a killbox is autokill. All autokill aspects have an operation cost for rebuilding and servicing. Above has many aspects that are generally solid concepts. I am going to talk concepts because a specific design means always playing same way, restricting your replayability.

First are entry hallways. Note long and clear. Without counting tiles, I suspect deep enough to prevent sniper rifles and charge lances from having cover. Good coverage and overlap.

Next is they are tight coming in. So missed shots probably still hit a target.

The turrets have power coming from multiple directions. So a lucky boom wont knock out the grid.

Cons of that layout. Biggest is wealth. That colony has few people, but a Pricey layout making raids more difficult. Okay for standard raids, but sappers could trash something key and do significant damage, same with sieges, pod drops and infestations.

On above, decentralize to protect from siege or freezer to protect batteries from infestation. It is an achilles heel.

Also, the trees inside. You are severely hurting your productivity and defence with the crops on the rich soil. Rich soil is a siren song. Yes, crops grow faster, but yield per harvest is the same as is planting time. Use crops in killzones to keep cover from growing. A larger field takes same annual planting time and produces same annual harvest with less walking time causing waste. Drawback of course is a blight, fallout or coldsnap kill.

The other consideration is setup. A big and powerful killzone is nice, but can it be set up? Can you survive to get it built?

------

Myself, I use a bunker strategy. Both internal and external structure layout so I can defend vs all attacks.

Pros
It can take many forms
Low addition to colony wealth
Situationally versatile and not at risk to random events (hello raid during solar flare)

Cons
It is reliant on colonists. More micromanagement, injury and death.

I am limited on screenshots that show examples, will try.

Below is a tribal play base. Huts before walls, aligned alleys, and rooms to give flank and cover.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1218399661

Below, a tundra map with linear killzone entries that also can be deadfall trapped.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=841811401

Lastly, a cost effective killing field. Is where I usually will grow haygrass. The hole to south was it broke through there.... Or was it sappers right before... Was a long while ago.... Oops. Nope. That was because that opening is to interior of base. New pic added. Second picture shows full base. Dont even need turrets. But do be ready to deal with injury and death from lucky power weapon shots.

https://i.imgur.com/qYL4zJ3.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/K0VSH7f.jpg

[grapplehoeker]

@Twisted Melon
That's a lot of two bits, but I'll deal with the relevant ones ;)

Originally posted by twistedmelon:

Cons of that layout. Biggest is wealth. That colony has few people, but a Pricey layout making raids more difficult. Okay for standard raids, but sappers could trash something key and do significant damage, same with sieges, pod drops and infestations.

Yes, it's fairly expensive, but I usually start with the steel traps and that's enough to wipe out half a raid to force a retreat in almost all cases,while I can continue the base build.
I also start with steel turrets and replace these with plasteel later as that becomes available. I far prefer steel traps since their damage was upgraded in 1.0 to just 10 points less than plasteel and they're much cheaper than plasteel, and besides, steel is usually abundant. Whereas I still prefer plasteel turrets for the additional hp.
Generally, it takes me about 4 to 5 years to complete a fully functioning base and the fewer colonists when playing Cassandra means it's an easier 4-5 years raidwise. More of a pro than a con in fact ;)

On above, decentralize to protect from siege or freezer to protect batteries from infestation. It is an achilles heel.

I always head out to snipe sieges and if I can't force a quick retreat, then I can at least aggro them into behaving as a regular raid. Which means just fall back to the spider and wipe them out as usual.
The batteries? Meh... I don't really need them at this point. I have so many power sources ;) They were useful during the construction, but they're surplus now. I could relocate them or get rid of them, shrugs, no biggie.
Infestations don't bother me at all. For example, the area you see in the FFS171 above is a regular infestation spawn spot that I have secured with incendiary IED's. As soon as they spawn, they're toast and if any should manage to escape, the spider and my shooters will cut them down. Same goes for the little drill too deep events.

Also, the trees inside. You are severely hurting your productivity and defence with the crops on the rich soil. Rich soil is a siren song. Yes, crops grow faster, but yield per harvest is the same as is planting time. Use crops in killzones to keep cover from growing. A larger field takes same annual planting time and produces same annual harvest with less walking time causing waste. Drawback of course is a blight, fallout or coldsnap kill.

Hmm... productivity isn't too bad. I always have more than I need and given the low colonist count, what I need isn't much.
The trees? Normally, I concrete over the whole interior, but on this occasion I had a small herd of 10-15 elephants and so I kept it lush, hence the large haygrass plots you see there. And the trees I harvested regularly to convert to bio fuel for the transport pods. At this point of FFS171 I was in the home straight and spaceship was well on the way, so I wasn't too concerned. Besides, trees don't make good cover since they make excellent targets for an incendiary launcher... all those wooden places of cover draw raiders like moths to a flame and then they end up the same way lol ;)

The other consideration is setup. A big and powerful killzone is nice, but can it be set up? Can you survive to get it built?

"FFS171" should give you a clue as to how many bases I have successfully built up until this point ;)

[Markus Reese]

Oop, wasnt questioning effectiveness. it is a great base but of course always room for improvement.

My intent was for the OP. I wanted to say how there is more to a base and killbox than layout. 4-5 years is a long time to potentially lose it all without the core concepts like is clear in your base with wealth management and evolving production. This knowledge also vital if doing different maps and scenarios too.

It would be awesome to see a timelapse of sorts for your base to show establishment of a killbox through a play.

Aah, you burn trees! I do similar. I have sometimes wide spread wood posts and roof. Really fun trap in underground or burn rooms. A larger raid I knock out posts and collapse roof. I used to pave myself, but replaced with fields, even non harvestables like dandilions or crops to sell on bulk. Just because of the speed bonus vs on dirt.