Traps in Wasteland
- Thread starter Lax
- Start date
Riamus
Hunter
It depends a lot on how much killing you are doing yourself. If you are leaving everything to the traps, they'll degrade very quickly. If you are killing enemies quickly yourself, then traps will need to do less and will last longer. I've had blade traps on the main path last all night when using 2 hour days because I was killing most enemies before they reached the blade trap. Other times, I've had it break about halfway through. If you can repair them during horde night, that can make a difference. But if you don't *need* them, then it isn't entirely necessary. I rarely repair them during horde night because I normally don't have them close enough to do so and don't feel like building a path over them that would allow me to go out to them to do repairs.
Your base design will also matter. If every enemy will go through a blade trap, it'll break quickly. If some will go through and some will go around/past, it'll last longer. In my current base, everyone goes through my main blade trap, but I kill most before they reach it, like I said. A single block to make zombies need to jump gives me a lot of time to kill them before they reach it.
Also, it helps to have them only hitting the heads of enemies because enemies are less likely to randomly target it compared to placing it at leg level. If they do target the location, they have a good chance of targeting the block the blade trap is on instead of the blade trap. You still get durability loss from the blade trap hitting the enemy, but less chance of losing any from the enemy hitting the blade trap. Also, having it on its side on block 3 lets hit hit heads and won't be targeted at all, if you have places where you can place it on its side like that.
Your base design will also matter. If every enemy will go through a blade trap, it'll break quickly. If some will go through and some will go around/past, it'll last longer. In my current base, everyone goes through my main blade trap, but I kill most before they reach it, like I said. A single block to make zombies need to jump gives me a lot of time to kill them before they reach it.
Also, it helps to have them only hitting the heads of enemies because enemies are less likely to randomly target it compared to placing it at leg level. If they do target the location, they have a good chance of targeting the block the blade trap is on instead of the blade trap. You still get durability loss from the blade trap hitting the enemy, but less chance of losing any from the enemy hitting the blade trap. Also, having it on its side on block 3 lets hit hit heads and won't be targeted at all, if you have places where you can place it on its side like that.
Riamus
Hunter
A good reason not to place your blade traps near your fighting position.Honestly, Chuck is a lot worse on blade traps than bears and dire wolves would be. Last horde night he destroyed all my blade traps.
Lax
Survivor
Also forgot to mention I won't be using them for horde nights, just for normal base defense as Zeds wander by.
The bears and wolves frequently spawn near my base and I wonder if the traps will actually be effective against them or a waste of time. Both of them are so "tanky" I'm wondering will they rip through them easily.
The bears and wolves frequently spawn near my base and I wonder if the traps will actually be effective against them or a waste of time. Both of them are so "tanky" I'm wondering will they rip through them easily.
They'll do a pretty good job of taking them out. But for regular defense, I wouldn't use traps like these at all. It's easier to build a ditch around the base, 6 blocks wide and 1-2 blocks deep, and simply fill the entire area with stakes. Add a lowering bridge in the right places. It's easier to monitor the condition of such a structure. It's hard to tell if the blades are worn or not by looking at them.
Riamus
Hunter
Enemies don't normally just stop next to a blade trap and let it kill them. Unless the enemy has really low health, they will just run past/through it. They take damage, making it easier to kill them, and if they are already hurt, it might kill them, but that is all. However, if you can make a reason for them to stop, such as a block or something that requires them to stop and jump, you can get more damage, increasing the chance of killing them. And if you make them run through multiple blade traps, it also increases the chances of them being killed. But keep in mind that bears are double width, so a path that would allow zombies to pass through may not be wide enough for a bear, which may lead a bear to hammer at a blade trap and break it before it does much good. Bears aren't part of horde nights, so that's not a problem for a horde base, but something to keep in mind for a regular base.
Since you aren't doing this for horde night, just keep in mind that if you aren't taking part in killing the bears, turrets are going to be the best defense. Blade traps just normally won't be a lot of help. They are also a bit expensive for the rare attack by enemies when not on horde night, imo.
In general, I gravitate to electric fences to stun lock zombies to allow me to melee them down. Additionally, I use a powered turret for bird defense. Outside of that I find blade trap and dart trap maintenance a chore and unnecessary.
For your app I would design an approach for the zombie animals, use an electric fence to stun lock them, and then two turrets (shotgun or SMG) to DPM them down...
Lax
Survivor
Thx, unlucky me on Xbox, no mod access.
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What are any of you using for power? I know we have generators, battery banks and solar banks. Any reason for your choice of power? Anyone using a combo of all 3? That would be interesting.
Dead Smarty
Scavenger
My base is combined craft/horde base in the wasteland, unmodded PS5. I'm using a 19 block long enclosed corridor set-up with electric fences, 5 vertical blade traps at headhight and after 9m 2 5m trigger plates dart traps. The first trigger plate sets off the high dart, the second has low fences and triggers the low dart. All around the corridor is a balcony from where I can shoot and repair and the acces to the underground craftroom and mine is at the end. For bears and wolves I have an outside balcony and a few more blade traps against birds.
During hordes I tend to loose the first blade quite often, enabling spiders to jump on the balcony and if they pile up also the regulars can get on it. Those are dealt with with a spear the knocks the often back between the traps.
Wandering hordes can be handled kind of AFK with minor repairs after.
Traps seem to take fairly little damage since most zeds are stunned when getting pushed into the blades. Demo's are not triggered, the worst that happened is the occasional exploding cop. And Chuck... He only seems to throw rocks when inside but only succeeds if the first electric fence and blade trap are lost. If I let him he does a lot of damage so he needs to die ASAP.
Edit: Darts use during horde is about 1000, my M60 needs about 10 stacks. I don't like turets indoors since they eat ammo and damage the base as well.
During hordes I tend to loose the first blade quite often, enabling spiders to jump on the balcony and if they pile up also the regulars can get on it. Those are dealt with with a spear the knocks the often back between the traps.
Wandering hordes can be handled kind of AFK with minor repairs after.
Traps seem to take fairly little damage since most zeds are stunned when getting pushed into the blades. Demo's are not triggered, the worst that happened is the occasional exploding cop. And Chuck... He only seems to throw rocks when inside but only succeeds if the first electric fence and blade trap are lost. If I let him he does a lot of damage so he needs to die ASAP.
Edit: Darts use during horde is about 1000, my M60 needs about 10 stacks. I don't like turets indoors since they eat ammo and damage the base as well.
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Just 2 generators for 2 darts, 11 blades (5 inside, 6 on the roof) and ~35 fences. It would be nice to do all with solar and batteries but generators are just too easy early game.
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theFlu
Hunter
Yup, that cycle works as you'd expect. It has a couple oddities though, primarily: when charging, battery banks do Not power anything in the circuit. They eat 5w, and the power source feeding them will have to be strong enough if you want the rest of your circuit to work.
If you want to experiment / design for yourself, tech in spoiler:
- Putting a timer between power and battery allows setting for about an hour a day charging period, that should keep the batteries topped.
- Whether timed or not, you might want to have a secondary circuit running of the charging timer. It Will power "through" the Battery Bank, but the failing isn't entirely stable if the charger isn't strong enough. Especially if you have to change something, you'll end up having random pieces running. Running things between the Power timer and the batteries will keep that load constant (and risk not charging the battery if you miscount ..
)
- Best time for a charging period, I'd say noonish... enough time to handle the horde, then inevitable wandering horde straight after and the screamer that'll follow; and far enough from the night that the power is available during fiddling with the base before a horde.
- Whether timed or not, you might want to have a secondary circuit running of the charging timer. It Will power "through" the Battery Bank, but the failing isn't entirely stable if the charger isn't strong enough. Especially if you have to change something, you'll end up having random pieces running. Running things between the Power timer and the batteries will keep that load constant (and risk not charging the battery if you miscount ..
)- Best time for a charging period, I'd say noonish... enough time to handle the horde, then inevitable wandering horde straight after and the screamer that'll follow; and far enough from the night that the power is available during fiddling with the base before a horde.
Honestly, in the current state of the game, solar just isn't practical. It's too hard to get decent solar cells from the traders, and you can't craft them (without mods.)
Back when it was fairly reasonable to get high quality solar cells, I'd run my regular non-horde defenses (just some cameras and turrets to kill screamers, mostly) off of solar and batteries, while horde night used generators.
Now I just use generators for everything (currently have 3, but don't actually need that many.)
Actually, come to think of it, in my most recent game, I had a hard time getting Q6 batteries as well. I had >50 batteries and only 5 Q6 ones.
Back when it was fairly reasonable to get high quality solar cells, I'd run my regular non-horde defenses (just some cameras and turrets to kill screamers, mostly) off of solar and batteries, while horde night used generators.
Now I just use generators for everything (currently have 3, but don't actually need that many.)
Actually, come to think of it, in my most recent game, I had a hard time getting Q6 batteries as well. I had >50 batteries and only 5 Q6 ones.
Riamus
Hunter
For a horde base, I use a generator. It doesn't run out of gas to complete a horde night, even on 2 hour days, so it's easy to just turn on until the horde night ends. It also works at night, which is when horde night happens. A battery bank is unnecessary because as long as you fill up the generator with gas, you won't run out during horde night. It also takes less space than solar.
For a base, I will use a generator initially because it's far cheaper. But for late game, I prefer solar because I don't have to keep refilling the generators. I also just like solar. But solar produces less power than a generator and takes more space, not to mention that it only works during the day, so you have to use a battery bank to keep power working at night. So it's less efficient than a generator and is very expensive. You also can't craft any of it except the battery bank, making it far less useful. But if you like solar like I do, it's definitely an option. You never have to worry about a generator running out of gas and making it so your powered door into your base won't open.
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Correct.
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Yeah, they really need to make solar worthwhile. It's just too hard and expensive to do solar, considering it's far less efficient and so doesn't really have any benefits versus a generator. I still like solar and will use it, but without a mod so you can craft the cells and banks or make them easier to get, it's not really worth it. I didn't even see a solar bank for sale until around the third week with 2 hour days. I may have missed them, of course. But I was trying to keep an eye out. Without that, you can't do solar at all.
Lax
Survivor
I think the use of timers, maybe even in combo with motion sensors to power on/off power sources sounds intriguing. Might play with that.
I really haven't even scratched the surface with electricity yet and it's one of the coolest features in the game for me. Been so busy just designing and building and resource collecting I haven't devoted much time to it.
I really haven't even scratched the surface with electricity yet and it's one of the coolest features in the game for me. Been so busy just designing and building and resource collecting I haven't devoted much time to it.
Riamus
Hunter
The biggest thing to learn with electricity in case you haven't yet is how to use multiple sensors/triggers to trigger something either when all sensors/triggers are triggered at once or when any one of them is triggered.
Examples:
Scenario: You want your garage door to open if either the motion sensor inside the garage OR the motion sensor outside the garage is triggered.
Setup: Connect motion sensor 1 directly to motion sensor 2 (nothing between them) and then connect motion sensor 2 to the door. You can use relays or other things between the second motion sensor and the door if needed, but not between the two motion sensors.
Scenario: You want your dart trap to trigger when ANY trigger plate is stepped on.
Setup: As with the first scenario, you will connect all sensors/triggers directly together, so in this scenario, you connect every trigger plate directly to one another without anything between them. Then connect the last trigger plate to the dart trap.
Scenario: You want a light to turn on only if 2 different switches are turned on.
Setup: Connect switch 1 to a relay and then to switch 2 and then to the light. The light will turn on if both switches are turned on at the same time.
In short, a relay or any other non-triggering device (i.e. no trip wires, trigger plates, motion sensors, switch) is placed between two sensors/triggers, then each sensor/trigger must be activated for something to work. If you connect two or more sensors/triggers directly together, then the following device(s) will be activated if ANY of the sensors/triggers are triggered, even if not all are triggered.
I know the last scenario isn't a great example, but I can't think of a good one.