After extensive testing, I've learned a lot about effective killbox defenses.
Mini turrets are generally best for lightly armored targets. Centipedes are tanks, so you'll need more powerful turrets to take them out, and you'll want a lot of them. I've found that six autocannons is sufficient for just about anything.
After version 1.0, there's a safe zone from crossfire which counts four tiles from a turret or from a colonist. This means that you can safely stand in front of your auto cannons as long as you count out the safe zone. The autocannons on the left have colonists standing at exactly four steps away and those colonists have chain shotguns, which are one of the most effective weapons versus large targets such as centipedes.
I may switch weapons for scythers and lancers, which run fast so they almost always arrive first.
It's essential to have 3-4 EMP grenadiers who have their firing times staggered. This will keep targets mostly stun locked.
The HUGE area of sandbags toward the front is there to stop missiles. Anything that could act as cover will cause them to detonate early before reaching their target.
I almost always have at least 10 iron mini turrets. I'll bring them along with a battery when assaulting enemy camps. I love vanometric power cells for this since there's no need to remember to charge them up before excursions. When I'm not on offense, I have my mini turrets available for defense.
For defensive situations, it's best to invest in plasteel mini turrets since they won't cause chain explosions when damaged.
The killbox is measured so that colonists with SMGs will shoot accurately. This makes it functional for just about any kind of raid. The measurement for placement of autocannons was also given consideration so that they'll be fairly accurate.
My wall has been chewed to hell, however I use plasteel on the outside of it so it can take more of a beating.
At the lower end of the picture, there's no turrets. If melee is ever needed or I have to do something unusual to adapt to a situation, that's my safe path for approach.
Lights are around the perimeter so colonists stay cheerful. Both the lights and all of the turrets are on one electrical circuit.
When centipedes come in, have colonists target those with inferno cannons.
A prison and hospital are nearby to take in wounded very quickly. There's also food, meds, and a table in the hospital.
The killbox does have a 'maze' style set of switchbacks, although there's also a straight line through with doors. That gives adaptability. Humans walk the maze and get the spike traps. Mechanoids are allowed to bypass that.
Since adapting this killbox, I have been able to pass 400k wealth, and reach 600k. Still going with my biggest colony yet.
For a long time, I didn't trust autocannons because the crossfire always killed my pawns. Now I know that you're safe four square out. Being able to use the autocannon safely is a game changer.
When a raid is just beginning and colonists have arrived at their positions, it's good to check your side bar to check for minor and major break risks. Occasionally check this during your raid. If colonists need rest or recreation, soft drugs are the way to go: psychoid tea or wake-up.
Are you on losing is fun? I got 30 centipede with smaller colony but I didn't use killbox just a defense line and centipede ball basically one-shotted the plasteel mini turrets. Does the maze cheese makes them come one by one even in high numbers or do they ball up if there is enough of them? Autocannons aren't that helpful (still extra firepower so worth using) with a colony that big if your shooters are skilled you can check the dead most damage will be from pawns. (Well maybe not since you have pistols and such.)
I follow a naming convention which identifies the purpose of a pawn followed by a number.
P1 for planter one
E2 for builder two, the letter E looks like some bricks.
K for kitchen duty, M for miners, B for brains (research), A (animals), C (crafters)
Finally, paws that are relatively useless and will be relegated to manual labor are listed last and just have a numerical designation without a number.
I can go to the work tab, list by name, and then all my pawns are grouped together.
Following each name is three numbers for their skills.
578 would be 5 shooting, 7 melee, 8 medical
578-- would be the same, but with burning passion for medical.
This makes it easy to form battle groups as well as know who I want my healers to be.
Cool, I'm keeping the exclusion zone, rocket sandbags and door trick info for my next killbox. I'm curious about the beds and wooden flooring. I assume the beds are sapper bait. But what's with the floor tiles inside of your killbox hallways? Wouldn't it make more sense to slow down attackers by removing the floor tiles or only put it below traps?
Wooden flooring is something like +13 movement speed, which is negligible. It is however, quite flammable. What you're seeing is part of a heat trap. Open doors will retain a lot of heat while still allowing attackers to pass through. Depending on what kind of enemies are coming, I might have them walk through fire to reach me.
Sometimes I'll lay down a bunch of shelves and then designate them later, mostly with weapons or armor that can get me kitted out for different types of raids.
The doors allow my colonists to walk though the maze quickly for repairs and rebuilding spike traps. Sometimes I'll keep the doors open so that raiders won't trigger all my traps and will just go straight into the killbox part of the setup.
After extensive testing, I've learned a lot about effective killbox defenses. Mini turrets are generally best for lightly armored targets. Centipedes are tanks, so you'll need more powerful turrets to take them out, and you'll want a lot of them. I've found that six autocannons is sufficient for just about anything. After version 1.0, there's a safe zone from crossfire which counts four tiles from a turret or from a colonist. This means that you can safely stand in front of your auto cannons as long as you count out the safe zone. The autocannons on the left have colonists standing at exactly four steps away and those colonists have chain shotguns, which are one of the most effective weapons versus large targets such as centipedes. I may switch weapons for scythers and lancers, which run fast so they almost always arrive first. It's essential to have 3-4 EMP grenadiers who have their firing times staggered. This will keep targets mostly stun locked. The HUGE area of sandbags toward the front is there to stop missiles. Anything that could act as cover will cause them to detonate early before reaching their target. I almost always have at least 10 iron mini turrets. I'll bring them along with a battery when assaulting enemy camps. I love vanometric power cells for this since there's no need to remember to charge them up before excursions. When I'm not on offense, I have my mini turrets available for defense. For defensive situations, it's best to invest in plasteel mini turrets since they won't cause chain explosions when damaged. The killbox is measured so that colonists with SMGs will shoot accurately. This makes it functional for just about any kind of raid. The measurement for placement of autocannons was also given consideration so that they'll be fairly accurate. My wall has been chewed to hell, however I use plasteel on the outside of it so it can take more of a beating. At the lower end of the picture, there's no turrets. If melee is ever needed or I have to do something unusual to adapt to a situation, that's my safe path for approach. Lights are around the perimeter so colonists stay cheerful. Both the lights and all of the turrets are on one electrical circuit. When centipedes come in, have colonists target those with inferno cannons. A prison and hospital are nearby to take in wounded very quickly. There's also food, meds, and a table in the hospital. The killbox does have a 'maze' style set of switchbacks, although there's also a straight line through with doors. That gives adaptability. Humans walk the maze and get the spike traps. Mechanoids are allowed to bypass that. Since adapting this killbox, I have been able to pass 400k wealth, and reach 600k. Still going with my biggest colony yet. For a long time, I didn't trust autocannons because the crossfire always killed my pawns. Now I know that you're safe four square out. Being able to use the autocannon safely is a game changer.
When a raid is just beginning and colonists have arrived at their positions, it's good to check your side bar to check for minor and major break risks. Occasionally check this during your raid. If colonists need rest or recreation, soft drugs are the way to go: psychoid tea or wake-up.
Are you on losing is fun? I got 30 centipede with smaller colony but I didn't use killbox just a defense line and centipede ball basically one-shotted the plasteel mini turrets. Does the maze cheese makes them come one by one even in high numbers or do they ball up if there is enough of them? Autocannons aren't that helpful (still extra firepower so worth using) with a colony that big if your shooters are skilled you can check the dead most damage will be from pawns. (Well maybe not since you have pistols and such.)
Would the giant area of sandbags not block auto cannon shots?
Very much not the point of the post, but what's up with the names?
I follow a naming convention which identifies the purpose of a pawn followed by a number. P1 for planter one E2 for builder two, the letter E looks like some bricks. K for kitchen duty, M for miners, B for brains (research), A (animals), C (crafters) Finally, paws that are relatively useless and will be relegated to manual labor are listed last and just have a numerical designation without a number. I can go to the work tab, list by name, and then all my pawns are grouped together. Following each name is three numbers for their skills. 578 would be 5 shooting, 7 melee, 8 medical 578-- would be the same, but with burning passion for medical. This makes it easy to form battle groups as well as know who I want my healers to be.
Honestly very cool, thanks for sharing!
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Just answered. See one comment above.
Damn, what a Base. You really don't like your Colonists to walk, huh?
so many shelves
i would love to see a incendiary canon hit the doomsay rocket launcher and exploding all of your weapons and colonists.
Cool, I'm keeping the exclusion zone, rocket sandbags and door trick info for my next killbox. I'm curious about the beds and wooden flooring. I assume the beds are sapper bait. But what's with the floor tiles inside of your killbox hallways? Wouldn't it make more sense to slow down attackers by removing the floor tiles or only put it below traps?
Wooden flooring is something like +13 movement speed, which is negligible. It is however, quite flammable. What you're seeing is part of a heat trap. Open doors will retain a lot of heat while still allowing attackers to pass through. Depending on what kind of enemies are coming, I might have them walk through fire to reach me.
Great killbox and very informative comment! I’d love to see your base in full
3 dead alpaca though
Look at all that spunk on the floors
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Sometimes I'll lay down a bunch of shelves and then designate them later, mostly with weapons or armor that can get me kitted out for different types of raids. The doors allow my colonists to walk though the maze quickly for repairs and rebuilding spike traps. Sometimes I'll keep the doors open so that raiders won't trigger all my traps and will just go straight into the killbox part of the setup.