Base Building For Dummies [Non-Meme]

There are a bunch of guides for this game and most of them are just memes. I hope for this guide to give some actual advice to players who are struggling with ARC missions. This guide will be an evolving document that will change over time as the game grows.

The Basics of Arc Mode

357 Magnum Ace has made a fantastic guide: The Basics of Arc Mode. If you do not understand the mode then I highly recommend starting here.

The important part to know for this guide is that there is a Blue Resource and a Yellow Resource that is mined on the map. The Blue one is what is used to build the base and the yellow one is what triggers the end-game swarm. Do not fill the yellow until you are ready to defend the base! Many games have been lost by triggering this while the team was all over the map and couldn't return in time before the swarm arrived.

Base Building 101

The Castle is King

Think of your base like you would a castle. There are 2 main components to a castle: the Keep, or the big building in the center, and the Wall surrounding it. These two features are the keys to victory and survival. They work together to form a layered defense. The Wall is the first line and the Keep is a fall-back position.

Its far too common to see people placing walls in random places and orientations. Remember you're not building a maze. Place your walls with purpose and a plan. But what should that plan be?

First Steps

Early on before you've have an income, it important to think economically. Typically there is a lot of area to defend but there are some choke points in the outer wall that you can plug. It might seem obvious to plug these gaps asap as soon as your ARC scanner has landed. This is not a bad strategy but its more economical for you to start building your Keep instead. This can be as simple as a few walls, ramps, and gates surrounding the scanner. Its unlikely that you'll have enough resources to plug every hole in your base and its ever so annoying to have to defend a large perimeter while squads go and do quests on your behalf.

You should instead focus on building up this initial Keep so that you may have a smaller, more defensible perimeter that is both economical in resources but also in defensive labor. That way you can focus on learning your surroundings and planning your next steps. I do not recommend Bunkers at this point because they are very costly. But make sure to plan for them.

Use Those Bunkers!

Bunkers are the best defensive structure in the game. To start, they can take a beating. Their high health allows them to survive much more damage than any wall and you can reinforce the roof with low shields to protect your Marines from annoying Gunner bugs. These are perfect bastions to your defense and make great candidates for ammo crates.

That brings us to their offensive potential; not only can you fit Marines inside the bunker and on top of it, these marines can provide raking fire across the walls to clear them of bugs. You must place your walls towards the rear of the bunker so that it sticks out from the rest of the wall. This is arguably their single greatest asset. Most other structures like walls block outward fire unless you can get up on the battlements, and even the battlements can be tough to clear as the bugs are right below you. A bunk can be kept clean of bug more easily than other defensive structures. An auto turret can also be placed in the middle of the Bunker which will also provide raking fire and in-turn be protected by the by the bunker. Its a perfect symbiosis.

The Wall

After your Keep is built, you can start plugging up those walls. A few key things to keep in mind when building walls is to put gates in them so that Marines can get through, lest they get trapped, and to allow access to the battlements so that they can be defended. That means a wall of all ramps, all walls, or all gates is useless. Likewise, unless a Marine can reach the battlements then they are impossible to defend because you cannot fight through the wall. Use a variety of these key components in tandem with each other to form a wall network that can be defended.

A wall wouldn't be complete without its towers! Towers also give great vantage points over walls and in front of them. These make great nests for Operators with grenades to rain hell down on the bugs below. A neat consequence of staggering your bunkers with your walls is that it create pockets for the bugs to corral themselves into and be blown to bits with explosives.

Shock Walls

Maybe I'm using them wrong because everyone I see is using them right around the ARC Scanner as sore of a last-resort to the bugs. I think that is a gross misuse of their potential. They are very expensive and if they are just sitting there most of the match not doing any damage, that's a waste of their potential. I prefer to place these last after all the players have returned and are ready to start the swarm. I place them in choke points where Marines can shoot through them while the bugs also take damage. If it should be destroyed, the Marines can either rebuild it or fall back. Every bit of EvE damage is a bullet saved and a player not needed. You're outnumbered so you'll need any help you can get.

To Be Added

• Diagrams
  
• More detailed sections
  
• Plasma Grenadier bugs
  
• More Layers

Key Concepts

There are a few key concepts to keep in mind when building your base that will apply no matter what situation you find yourself in. Following these will ensure your defensive structure can get you, and your fellow Marines, home in one piece.

• Economy of Space

  Keep your defenses tight! - The more wide you build, the more you're stretching out your defensive line. With only 16 Marines on a mission, you team is going to have to balance both defending the ARC while gathering resources. You'll want to concentrate your defense so that you can have overlapping fields of fire and support, and can more easily share things like stims and ammo. No medic wants to sprint 50 meters across a base just to revive you. Building tight also help conserve your resources and get off-planet quicker.
  
  

• Enfilade Fire and Killboxes

  Set the stage! - A well-designed base will naturally pull bugs into zones of fire for your Marines to cut them down with ease. This can be achieved with an "L" or "U" shaped structure to your base. By creating a bend or concave region for bugs to cluster into, your Marines can have what is called "enfilade" fire on them. Meaning that they can fire across the bugs clustering on the walls so that even if they miss the first target, a target behind them is likely to be hit as well. Bunkers are your friend here. Their protective power, combined with their ability to shot at ground height make them perfect spurs or outcroppings for you base.
  
  

• Bug Psychology

  Let the bugs come to you! - But how do you get the bugs into these zones? Federal Intelligence has been able to identify proclivity of the bugs that we can exploit to our favor. Your average bug might not be very smart, but they understand a door when they see one. Bugs will be drawn to gates and can be used to draw bugs into your killing fields.
  
  

• Ammo Placement

  Don't run dry! - Make sure you don't place built ammunition ("hard" ammunition) inside bunkers. It can be tempting to put ammunition in these protected places, but if the bunker or wall is destroyed it will also destroy any ammunition placed on the roof, floor, or catwalk. Instead place them nearby and on the ground.
  
  

• Screening

  Keep your head down solider! - One downside of building tight is that it makes your base susceptible to bombardiers. A few well places plasma bombs can inflict serious damage on your defenses. One way to combat this is to place watchtowers and spotlights in the outskirts of the buildable area. What this does is effectively increases the "fuzziness" of your base as a target and pulls fire away from the core of your base.

[WebsterHelios]

I have held an arc base that had HQ right next to it with walls and me spamming repairs.
Smallest base but we concentrated our firepower and expanded the base once the swarms dropped.

[Linden|BloodLehmus]

This is an excellent Arc base building 101. What with the changes to the balancing of various factors in-game, the only point I disagree with here is the use of gates for troopers to get around.

Now the gates are key aggro points for bugs which means they're best used for kill boxes. Troopers can jump over walls, and thus the ARC walls need to be mixed on the directions of the walk bridges - and definitely no ramps toward the ARC from the outside, lest Tigers march right onto it. Do not place gates to enter ARC, that will be the weak point.

[WebsterHelios]

I always place shock walls next to bunkers for easy repair.

[Rook]

Walls 1st around Arc / Hq bunkers are too expensive

[ObiWanChronobi]

Old Comments removed as game has changed greatly since this guide was initially launched.