Trench building guide (Update 46, Entrenched)

Despite popular opinion, trenches can be still used as a viable defence when built properly. In this Guide I will show you how to build proper trenches in foxhole.

Guide disclaimer

This guide is from update 46, which is very old. Keep in mind that some of the stuff in this guide may be outdated/removed from game. Some principles however are still relevant and will propably be.

Single trenches

Trenches have their advantages and disadvantages and mostly we see their disadvantes on the battlefield due to their improper placement.
Here we have the most common trench.
Red lines here indicate sides with cover.
Such a trench is basically a hole in the ground and nothing else, just like an artillery crater or foxhole. However we can add many modifications to even a single trench to give us advantage.

Barbed wire (Old image, but looks similar)

One of them is barbed wire. You can place barbed wire on the trench itself (removable by hammer and a few bmats) and standard barbed wire around (removable by a wrench). Barbed wire effectively reduces angle from which enemy can get inside the trench (Warning! This counts for your teammates too!).
So now enemy has to choose the path around the wire which can be covered by AI.

Stairs

Trenches have however a big problem of being a "grenade magnet". Basically if you are in the trench and someone throws a grenade inside, you are most of time dead. That's because there's no way to run away. To solve this problem we use stairs. Stairs allow friendly troops to get in and get out easily out of the trench. They also remove cover side from the trench piece.

Sandbags

Even if enemy gets in the trench we want to deny him as much cover and fire arc as possible. An efficient trick here is to put sandbags on friendly side of the trench. They will deny use of the trench by the enemy and can give cover for friendlies to shoot inside the trench while using cover. (Enemies can still use sandbags as cover, but they can also be shot using them).
In this scenario we denied as much cover for the enemy as possible by placing sandbags and stairs.

Ultimate Trench

This trench configuration was added in Update 46 (Entrenched) and offers all of the benefits from above using less space and materials.

Properties of trenches

• Hard to destroy (sometimes even harder than concrete bunkers)
  
• Resistent to artillery.
  
• Provides excellent cover for infantry (for both sides if not upgraded)
  
• Cannot be run over by vehicles. Tanks can pass through though.

Where do I use trenches?

Such a trench can be used only on active frontlines. Especially those without AI. You also need to assume that the trench can be unmaned by friendly troops most of the time. Big advantage of such trenches is that they are resistant to artillery fire and anti-structure weapons. So if enemy uses alot of artillery and denies you from building pillboxes or other AI, you can use such a trench. Infantry is also alot stronger than AI most of time, so it's better to give them efficient cover that rely on AI 100% of the time.

Big no-no of trenches

In other words, why some people hate trenches.


Here we see the prime example of badly placed trench. In such configuration a smart collie can get inside by avoiding AI fire and kill the defences around it using HEs for instance. The situation is even worse if trench is modified in enemies favor! Make sure modifications presented in previous paragraph are used in your favor!



Here we have and example of a man with a shovel trying to advance using trenches straight into enemy defence. The outcome of such trench is that enemy easily kills anyone in the trench. This is the trench in which you see the most backpacks inside. Better solution here would be to build such trenches angled to enemy defence, so enemy wouldn't have sight on people inside the trench.
(By any means I don't want to offend any privates with shovels)

Trench networks

Trench networks are sophisticated defences that rely on infantry and also give alot of fun!
Basically you build ww1 trench networks but brought into foxhole realities.

This is WW1 trench scheme. Trench networks in foxhole work very similar, but are of course smaller in scale. We should first define what this scheme presents (considering It's built in foxhole).

0. Support trench. A trench that should provide easy access to rest of the network and to cover frontline trench to cut reinforcements from the breach. Should be placed 30m-25m away from frontline trench, so that even a rifle has range to shoot enemies jumping into frontline trench. Back of this trench can be provided with sandbags to deny use by the enemy.
1. Connection trenches. They provide access into frontline trench and frontline support from support trench. They should be a bit angled to the front so enemy won't shoot troops that are passing through.
2. Frontline support. Bunkers with firing ports, Rifle/MG garrisons, that are secondary line of defence. Bunkers can be accessed only from connection trench, so even if enemy gets inside frontline trench, those bunkers can be used to either eliminate enemy in frontline trench or prevent further reinforcements. In this area we also put foxholes which cover barbed wire and access into trenches.
3. Doesn't exist yet in foxhole, maybe mortar pit in the future.
4. Frontline trench. "The worst place to be on the front", but you could still fight in the open field. Main defence line which gives cover to infantry and place for emplaced weapons such as EAT/EMG. This trench should be upgraded to T2 so it will not be run over by trucks/LUVs. Could be made in zig-zag pattern to reduce effect of artillery and prevent wiping out whole trench of friendly infantry. You can also add some bridges to allow friendly armor to pass the trenchline (keep also in mind that bridges deny 80% of line of sight for infantry sitting inside the trench).
5. Barbed wire. A line of barbed wire built along all length of trenchline. Should be placed as close as possible to the trench and have small entrances that would allow friendly troops to get out of trenches and push forward. Warning! Those entrances can also be used by the enemy, so they have to be always protected by some AI. On this line you should also have alot of mines that would deny enemy armor from running over trenches.

Trench network examples (Old)

I've built a few networks that actually worked and hold the enemy back, sometimes even better than RG spam. Here I will give some examples how would they look in foxhole

Foxhole implementation of trench networks

This is a trench network created using tools provided in Update 46(entrenched).
It doesn't look very different from previous version however it consists of 2 major changes that weren't possible previously. Namely trench wire and sandbags (parados). They can be placed now in more convenient and flexible manner. Trench sandbags are placed at the back of support trench, as if all network falls the last trench line cannot be used by the enemy against you. If you place sandbags at the back of frontline trench, friendlies in support trench will not be able to provide any support as those sandbags block their line of sight. To make entrance easier you can connect a trench with stairs and sandbags on sides to friendly side of support trench (as shown at the bottom of the image).
You can also highlight 2 types of front wires: Long and short. All cost the same, but if you place several short wires, it will be harder for enemy to wrench them all. You can create same length wire line using 3 times materials and time, but enemy also needs 3 times to use the wrench instead of 1.
On image above you can also see blue arrows, those are pathways to get in, or get out of the trench through barbed wire. It should be hard for enemy to rush inside the trench and relatively easy for friendly infantry to move "over the top"(out of the trench).

Conclusion

Thank you for reading :)

Modifying enemy trenches

Sapper Role

[OUTDATED]
Frontline sapper/engineer role regarding trenches is to carry bmats to modify already existing trenches in teams favor. You can modify enemy trenches if they are not connected to enemy base. All you need to have is a hammer, sapper outfit/ fabri rucksack, and as many bmats as possible (80-90 bmats)
Disclaimer
Currently instead of bmats you use sandbags/wires to dismantle upgrades

When you try to modify enemy trench that is connected to enemy bunker base, a following warning will appear.

[JMaster]

Strike the Earth!

[Mucio34]

@Eight When you are placing a pillbox (previously foxhole), the game shows you the area covered by it. If you place a pillbox close enough to a trench that it'll shoot inside it that's ok. But If you place it further it may give cover to enemies when they crouch. And as they crouch, they can throw HEs at the pillbox, while they are still hidden inside the trench.

[Eight]

what's wrong with the trench next to the foxhole? It's placed diagonaly to the foxhole? If I build the trench alongside the foxhole so that the AI can shoot enemies inside the trench, it'd be ok, right?

[[13SNC] Fordy-Boy96]

thats amasing stuff, cant wait to get build

[BillyCosbyX]

great work, we still learn stuff from WWI

[Sivlero32]

that was pretty good hope this gives some pvt builder some ideas on what to build on frontlines

[ivirtex]

amogus

[reaverbad]

Nice guide. Hoping this will help give a good name to trench networks.

[BluuBaby]

amogus

[JumboDumbo]

Awesome work