Any tips for defending an exposed base?

[Buddha Bob]

Hey folks,

I play random starts and many times I have to build a base out in the open. The walls and killbox work most of the time but things get interesting when the mobs drop in or blast through the walls.

I have a few defensive spots within the base but mostly it ends up in a running battle through the base.

Any tips for dealing with these situations?

Thanks in advance!

[olympe]

Find a better start. XD Mountainous terrain is your friend here.

[Morkonan]

For some attacks, like Drop Pods, you're either going to win or... not. RNG on whether or not some colonists are just plain doomed. :)

They tend to drop in the middle, somewhere, so you can try to plan for it. One thing you can do is set up a "safe room" area that you can retreat to. If you make some defensive positions near its entrance, you might be able to catch them in a crossfire as you bring units in from other areas of the map.

Raiders have to get through doors. They can't "open" them. Thus, doors are good. The more doors they have to go through, the more time you have to get into a good position. You can put traps inside your base, too... A few traps in a wide hallway isn't a bad idea for a layered defense approach.

Animals are expendable. Use animals to tie-up and hopefully down dangerous raiders. Sure, you'll lose "Puddles," but at least you'll have the pleasure of finding a pet to replace him.

IEDs in appropriate areas aren't a terrible choice. Sure, you may catch a building on fire or hurt/kill colonists or something else bad will happen. But, if it kills a few over-powered raiders, it's worth it rather than having everyone die. Put them in-between buildings with enough room for your colonists to move around them while doing their daily work. If you're worried, put Firefoam Poppers nearby - They'll pop off, preventing fires, and temporarily disable any shield-belts in range.

IMO, the worst is when the Raiders are grouped up and you can't bring fire to bear on them in any appreciable amount because your pawns are scattered around. In that case, don't... Don't even try until you can group up your pawns. It's tempting to start shooting, but what's the point if that singeton pawn is going to die because of the volume of return fire? Move... Gather your pawns, let the Raiders do what Raiders do, and get to some decent positions if at all possible. Try to move around the edges until you can get into a decent position, preferably luring Raiders into traps/defenses as they make their way to you.

Good gear... get it. Shield Belts, Armor, Devilstrand dusters, whatever. You don't need to survive a rocket-blast, but if a pawn can take a hit as it runs around a corner to temporary safety, that's enough to let them continue the fight when you're ready to do so.

Last Resort - Hold up in a safe room until they go away. A safe room and some traps around the entrance with several doors for them to have to go through can help.

(They won't break through natural rock and can't, AFAIK, land "through" a thick roof, so mountain bases have an advantage there.)

Just my two coppers... :)

PS: Drop-Pod raids are definitely an "end-game" challenge. They're not meant to be easily countered. A Mountain Base is the only way to avoid them dropping in the "middle" of your base.

[Sam Bass Otel-Ran]

Originally posted by Buddha Bob:

Hey folks,

I play random starts and many times I have to build a base out in the open. The walls and killbox work most of the time but things get interesting when the mobs drop in or blast through the walls.

I have a few defensive spots within the base but mostly it ends up in a running battle through the base.

Any tips for dealing with these situations?

Thanks in advance!

If they come from outside with sappers try building some bunkers along the walls to try and snipe some of them, dealing with drop pods is always hard but having some spare animals to throw into them or turrets inside could help.

[Praeceptorem Poloniae]

If by "blowing up walls" you have sappers on mind then analyse where they are trying to breach and place traps (to make them pay for the breach) and/or place even unpowered turret (to make them consider other way into your base).
As for drop pod raids - they are I think the smallest, so it is possible that you'll outnumber them - if so, use that to your advantage by engaging them in melee (supported by ranged weapons, in that role shotguns and SMGs are very good). Another option is to distract enemy with strategically placed turrets (use that you can pick up turret and place it somewhere else) - you can rebuild destroyed turret, you -cannot- resurrecting is quite costly and require a bit of luck to get such serum

[Buddha Bob]

Thanks a lot for the help folks!

[Merwe]

Slowing down the enemy is most definitely what I find the best in open areas. Outside my most open areas I even tend to make my dumping stockpile to provide 'cover' where any raiders will then stop. This way I can sit behind actual cover and take pot shots or have a turret do the heavy lifting. In these spots I also tend to litter some basic wooden traps as I know they will stop there

[Cervidal]

Even in your open areas, you likely have some nearby buildings - bedrooms, kitchen, whatever. Have your pawns shoot from around corners; it makes a huge defensive difference, and there aren't many weapons that are going to one shot the corner wall they're behind.

Having a Braveheart batch of colonists with swords and shield belts always helps, too.

[Malkuth]

Well I’m pretty sure they chase after pawns right? That’s who they go for? ( not played enough to notice.

But anyway why not have a back up kill room on edge map or something? When they drop on your base, retreat to the back up kill room (not connected to your base).

Ya you might still lose some guys. But once you get them in the backup kill box, dead meat.

Unless of course they are super fast. Than maybe having a few sacrifice animals hold them back to give you time. Or make your base hard to get out of. Giving you time.

[Sugar Show]

Raiders always attack stuf, place animal beds as bait in the area you want target them

[KalkiKrosah]

When I do open concept bases I put a bunch of double deadfall traps around the perimeter. It's a deadfall trap with a single wooden wall holding a precarious roof over a large area. I like to pre-break the wall so it comes down easier. I have a whole guide on how I make them. You can use IEDs later on if you feel that would be more effective.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1198763194

Embrace irregular shapes in your building designs. They provide cover and offer breaks in sight range to allow you to move around in a firefight with less risk.

Smaller, more specialized rooms help with drop pod raids. The raiders generally drop down and target wealth. Don't put all your eggs in one basket mentality. Section off your fridge with the big part for raw food, a smaller one dedicated for meal storage and another small room for the butcher table.

Small "storage closets" for common items like textiles, drugs, building materials, etc.

Make shelves to store high value, low quantity stuff. I make a dedicated shelf by my machining bench for components. I put another in the dining room for drugs. And one more by the hospital for medicine.

Make use of power switches for your turrets! Raiders will avoid turrets that are turned on but will actively seek out the ones that are shut down. Make a circuit around the base, or a section of it, and place a power switch inside of an easily defended position. I make defensive pillboxes with a small bunker between my base and the outside. The power switch is inside of the bunker. Turn it on and place some of my long range shooters at a safe defensible position behind the turrets. As turrets blow up they create openings for me to put a colonist in that firing position. Also a shelf that holds grenades, rocket launchers or offensive artifacts inside the bunker might also be wise.

[wincentweynard]

You can also build wooden walls around your base with a 6x6 roof on it, not connected to any other roof area. Then you place a explosive trap an one edge.
If an invader try to hide behind the wall to shoot you from there, he will trigger the trap and kills his buddys with him.

[HunterSilver]

Groups that drop pod into your base can either be handled very easily with molotovs or by holding a door open and using it to bottleneck them. If they land inside of a relatively small room, fire will deal with them. You'll lose some stuff, it sucks, you'll live. If they're mechanoids and immune to fire, you generally want to keep them in melee anyway, even scythers. Otherwise doors make excellent bottlenecks against all melee enemies and they're great for luring ranged units into melee range instead of going for a fire fight that isn't stacked in your favor.

Rush to get some kind of armor on your units as well. Doesn't matter if it's plate, flak, or power armor, anything that will let them take a bullet and live. Anyone walking around in plainclothes is at an incredibly high risk of getting brained in a raid without good cover.

You also don't need to limit your defensive structures to your killbox. You can setup periodic defensive positions along the inside of your walls with sandbags for if a sapper tries to get in. It's obviously not ideal but it's better than running around trying to get everyone behind a wall somewhere, or worse, having them fight in the open.

[Sabre One]

The two things that benefited me in countering drop raids.

1. Having what I call a "Guard Barracks" This is colonist rooms, that are dedicated near the entrances practically next to my bunkers. They are your first response to "slow" the enemy by putting them in a fire fight.

2. Why tedious I have set up a network of spare equipment and cloth using shelves and small closest. The equipment is usually specific types of guns that my colonist can quickly swap out. IE I have both EMP and Frag grenades inside my external bunkers to swap out on.

The Cloth is cheap to make and handy to make some fast sandbags if needed. This has saved several of my colonist when the drops cut off my colonist.

3. The power of Install and Unistall can't be underestimated. I usually keep 3 turrets near the middle of my bases to deploy based were they are needed. Just make sure to micro your colony none-draft mode to not flee. I also been able to move furniture out of a infestation microing this way.