What base defenses are we supposed to use now?

[Brian9824]

So with the removal of log spikes we have Wood spikes and Iron spikes and......that's it for most of the game.

 

Wood spikes on normal difficulty get destroyed by 1 zombie, metal spikes by 2-3 zombies.

 

So to ring a base with 1 row of spikes say you need 60 of em. Figuire 10 rows.

 

Thats 60 x 20 wood x 10 or 12000 wood

[unclevlad]

From my point of view, defenses are now meant to slow zombies down (passive defenses) while players actually kill them (active defenses). I've seen several streamers use two rows of plain wood spikes on Day 7 hoards to do just that, slow them down while inflicting a little damage. Maybe metal spikes will be a bit more resilient, but I think the days of oceans of spikes doing most of the work on a hoard is over. And that is , IMHO, a good thing.

[Scyris]

Barbed wire fences are very good now, try some of them as a outer ring.

[Brian9824]

I think part of the problem is with the improved AI. They will now path to a singular point, and punch thru your defenses. So even if you had 200 spikes around your base they are going to attack the same 10 and punch thru meaning your other 190 are wasted.

[Doombringer101]

I think part of the problem is with the improved AI. They will now path to a singular point, and punch thru your defenses. So even if you had 200 spikes around your base they are going to attack the same 10 and punch thru meaning your other 190 are wasted.

 

Try funnelling/channelling tactics as opposed to a fixed exclusion defense.

[Pizzalicious]

had rows of 4 around the base. Works great on dogs. Zombs decided to punch a hole on one side and then they all funneled through the hole so GG to the rest of the spikes. Will be working on a funneling defense because of that "new and improved" ai

[Royal Deluxe]

NEVER kill weak zombies. They oinstandly respawn, maybe as badass zombies.

 

Kill only the zombies that have high Block damage or Cops, Vultures, Spiders, Screamers

Ignore the rest.

[Kage848]

I tried to use the funnel system last season and never worked cause of bad ai. Time to revisit it.

[Doombringer101]

I tried to use the funnel system last season and never worked cause of bad ai. Time to revisit it.

 

Definitely enjoy

I look forward to seeing it.

[Ianua]

Hubby and I tried our usualy dig down away from the main base for the Horde.... Zombies dig crazy fast thru sand and what do you do when the night ends, the zombies didnt quite make it and are 30 blocks down another hole near you..... Great fun!! love TFP

[Jan2607]

It is better to kill the zombies with your own hand (or rifle) than letting them die in traps. Why? Killing Zombies gives the most XP. Actually they will be nearly your only XP income.

Trap kills don't give XP (I think this wasn't changed in A17. Correct me if I'm wrong). Unless you reached lvl 300 you want these XP.

 

I also noticed that vultures can be a threat. If you have tunnelsvision on the zombies on the ground, you'll get a big surprise. I died in the first horde night because of this. So I would suggest some structures that shield you against attacks from above.

[Slingblade2040]

I'm considering a ramp defense. Have to test it out to see how effective it is. It's basically ramp, spike pit to ramp with barb wire layed on top of it to another spike pit where you pick them off from a center pillar type cage. I don't think it has to be massive to work properly maybe 5x5 but like I said tests have to be done.

[myrkana]

We made a box to shoot out of with a hallway that funneled them infront of us. We used barbed wire on the walls to slow/hurt them and forged iron spikes to take a bunch out. You have to be more active in defenses now. Next horde night we're adding some blade traps (buying them from a trader) and adding them to the hallway or something.

 

Anythign with pillars will be a bit of a risk if the zombies clump next to it now. Zombies get dmg buffs the more zombies are near each other

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

I tried to use the funnel system last season and never worked cause of bad ai. Time to revisit it.

 

 

 

we used a 1 entrance type base and it worked well! we have to edit it some but they went around the outside and into the entrance we made

[Slingblade2040]

Well that idea was a busy. Iron spikes break out fast but lots of damage and nope can't put barb wire on a ramp. Just standing barb wire on the spikes seems to work best to slow them down and do decent amounts of damage.

[Feycat]

Honestly, I think they improved the wood spikes. Use enough of them and they will kill even the biggies with just a few shots from you.

 

Also you need a base where you keep moving, at least that's been our experience. We used to use a "fight cage" - 3 rows of log spikes with flat barbed wire on top, then pillar 50s all the way around so we could hit through them. We got a lot of pillar damage and sometimes breakage, but it worked well.

 

We don't dare use a stationary defense now, we have a running walkway-type fight table with a lot of spikes and barbed fences under it, and shoot down at them.

[ReginaSilver]

I think part of the problem is with the improved AI. They will now path to a singular point, and punch thru your defenses. So even if you had 200 spikes around your base they are going to attack the same 10 and punch thru meaning your other 190 are wasted.

 

I used 3 rings of walls, filled with a row of spikes between.

Why? Well, they punch thru one layer and seach for the weakspot in the second, obviously the weakest spot in wall two is "placed" not right at that spot... my first bloodmoon horde didn't even get to my 3th line of defense, or my fortified last resort bunker. xD

 

TL;DR.: Zeds really go for weak spots, let them. You just have to know what your weakspots (daytime hordes help finding those) are and use this to let the run a while / slow them down. Your base will be harmed a bit, but overall you will enjoy your night at the shooting range.

[Starkn]

Anyone tried a moat yet?

[SenpaiThatIngnoresYou]

I used 3 rings of walls, filled with a row of spikes between.

Why? Well, they punch thru one layer and seach for the weakspot in the second, obviously the weakest spot in wall two is "placed" not right at that spot... my first bloodmoon horde didn't even get to my 3th line of defense, or my fortified last resort bunker. xD

 

TL;DR.: Zeds really go for weak spots, let them. You just have to know what your weakspots (daytime hordes help finding those) are and use this to let the run a while / slow them down. Your base will be harmed a bit, but overall you will enjoy your night at the shooting range.

 

try re-enforcing the walls on the inside with the 1/4 scrs. You can shoot through them, and they go up against the wall flush. So when the outer wall breaks you can go inside and shoot where they are attacking from.

 

1/4 scrs are also good for making a platform and shooting through the gaps. they even have a t connection that looks really nice when you put it on the end of one, so you can have a nice looking platform around your walls that prevents jumpers and allows you to shoot down. I also recommend caging your towers to prevent vultures from attacking you while you defend your base. they also hold railings which is very important for not falling off.

 

explosives are now a great defense mechanism, because the horde loves to bunch up now.

 

Honestly, you need to constantly horde proof your base, because you will be attacked at night,, so you need to get your defenses up.

[Zourin]

I've messed around with ablative plating ages ago back in A8.2.

 

In a 3 block space, you can have a plate, a block, and another plate, each with the HP for a full block. There are two problems with this.

 

1. You can't put a spike or barbed wire down in front of the wall, because the plate block takes up the full space. This is critical to slow down Z's long enough to shoot them. Otherwise, they'll just coke-rocket everywhere.

2. You can't upgrade/repair the blocks in the middle unless the outer layer is destroyed.

 

So. Some modifications.

 

1. On the outside, barbed wire at the bottom level, rotated to be flat on the ground. you lose HP at Dog/Crawler level, but gain the slow effect, and the barbed wire should be out of the way enough to be less likely to be hit. Electric fencing will NOT work, because they'll probably just knock over a pole and disable the whole grid.

 

2. On the backside of the wall, use those 1/4 brick or scrap metal poles as a back brace. If the Plate and the wall both get breached, you have a last ditch blocking barrier you can shoot/attack through. Further, you can repair/upgrade the middle layer through the gaps in the 1/4 bracing.

 

 

This, obviously, takes 3x longer to resource than a single layer wall, but it's far more compact to work with. There's also absolutely ZERO passive defense on this gig, so it's all on the player to gun down an entire horde or (inevitably) die trying if you're solo and run out of ammo.

[Morganator]

Hubby and I tried our usualy dig down away from the main base for the Horde.... Zombies dig crazy fast thru sand and what do you do when the night ends, the zombies didnt quite make it and are 30 blocks down another hole near you..... Great fun!! love TFP

 

Thats what you deserve for your noob tactic

[Ghostlight]

I think part of the problem is with the improved AI. They will now path to a singular point, and punch thru your defenses. So even if you had 200 spikes around your base they are going to attack the same 10 and punch thru meaning your other 190 are wasted.

 

Zombies now have a flanking bonus which gives them a damage bonus to blocks depending on how many other zombies are trying to hit the same block. Plus a "path of least damage" algorithm in their AI, which tend to make them ALL head for the same blocks. These 2 things together mean a large pack of them will destroy blocks very quickly.

[Brian9824]

Zombies now have a flanking bonus which gives them a damage bonus to blocks depending on how many other zombies are trying to hit the same block. Plus a "path of least damage" algorithm in their AI, which tend to make them ALL head for the same blocks. These 2 things together mean a large pack of them will destroy blocks very quickly.

 

Yeah thats part of the problem, those 2 combined are overkill. Plus zombies don't have collision, so you can have 15 zombies in 1 spot hammering the same block where as there should only be 1-2 zombies able to hit that block realistically.

[ReginaSilver]

Yeah thats part of the problem, those 2 combined are overkill. Plus zombies don't have collision, so you can have 15 zombies in 1 spot hammering the same block where as there should only be 1-2 zombies able to hit that block realistically.

 

That only happens when your base is tiny, otherwise the zeds that spawn from all around you will TRY to get to your weakest spot, but already be harmed /slow downed before they fully group up.

 

My actual base isn't big, but the outer wall is above ~15x20 blocks, hence they can't group up fast enough to penetrate my inner defenses together. Ofc you have to keep shooting, spikes alone are barely enough to slow them down. xD

 

try re-enforcing the walls on the inside with the 1/4 scrs. You can shoot through them, and they go up against the wall flush. So when the outer wall breaks you can go inside and shoot where they are attacking from.

 

I used some 1/4 blocks, just enough to shot thru, worked great.

 

explosives are now a great defense mechanism, because the horde loves to bunch up now.

 

100% true.

The few mines i placed outside all went off (only one remained).

 

I placed some 3 blocks high poles with torches outside, put spikes around those poles (Zeds TRY to avoid spikes) and at last put down two mines in the open betwwen thsoe poles. Worked great.

[Kage848]

We made a box to shoot out of with a hallway that funneled them infront of us. We used barbed wire on the walls to slow/hurt them and forged iron spikes to take a bunch out. You have to be more active in defenses now. Next horde night we're adding some blade traps (buying them from a trader) and adding them to the hallway or something.

 

Anythign with pillars will be a bit of a risk if the zombies clump next to it now. Zombies get dmg buffs the more zombies are near each other

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

 

 

 

 

we used a 1 entrance type base and it worked well! we have to edit it some but they went around the outside and into the entrance we made

 

ETA on nerfs? Watch. We will come up with choke point strats. Others will complain and nerfs will be incoming. How long will it take I wonder lol.

[DeadMan981]

Tried the choke on my barn in Navezgane, the zambies didnt fall for it, had to came outside, but with never run and scavenge was to easy, here some shots of the barn :