PC A17 Base Defenses

[Odin79]

Disclaimer: All of this was done using creative tools and a player level of 300.

In an effort to find a viable A17 horde night base defense I have come up with 2 ways to survive.

Way #1 - Late game killing tunnel.

So this setup uses four rooms to help you survive. I found this setup is quite effective and expensive to build. I have tested this setup against a game stage 500ish horde.

Room breakdown

First room

This room uses 14 blade traps (Can be expanded to have more) attached to the wall with a one block gap at the bottom. There is a couple reasons for the gap; 1. so the blade hits mostly heads and 2. the zombies don't attack and destroy the blade traps. This room will take care of most zombies with the exception of spiders and dogs. There is a switch in the second room that turns the blade traps on.

Entrance and first room pics





Second Room

This room will take care of most dogs and spiders and whatever zombies may get through the blade traps (Some will get through because the blad trap durability is not infinite. This room has 10 dart traps in a checker pattern to take care of any zombies that are low to the ground and ones that are still walking. Each "row" is attached to a 1x1 pressure plate which activates the traps. This reduces dart ammo consumption to only the one side the zombie are on. There is a switch in the third room to turn the pressure plates on.



Third Room

Simple, two auto turrets connected to a motion sensor. The motion sensor is pointed down so only the zombies that survive the second room get fired on. And of course there is another switch to turn the motion sensor on.



Last Room

This is your room, any zombies that survive the last 3 rooms will have to be killed by you. This also has the 2 generators required to power the whole thing.



Some Notes

You have to be present in the last room for the zombies get into this tunnel, hiding in your base will not work because they will find a shorter path.

In my tests roughly 2-3 zombies made it past the first 3 room for you to kill.

Roughly 500 darts usually get used up per horde night.

Roughly 40-60 rounds of 9mm will get used up.

Since I can't find a nice way of combining the power output of generators two power grids are required. One for the blade traps alone and another for the rest.

Put your wire relays on the outside of the tunnel since there is a chance a cop may explode and take them out. No power, no blade, more zombies get through.

The tests were done on normal difficulties since I need some sort of baseline for further tests on harder difficulties.

Way #2 - The early game chicken-♥♥♥♥ way

This is the method I use early in the game and in involves the all-mighty bicycle. It's simple, get a bicycle (I know it's possible before day 7 since I managed to do it in two games so far) and run. Wait for the horde night to start and ride away, you don't have to go fast just keep moving.

Critiques are welcome, next time I am going to experiment with a one block width tunnel instead of two.

 

[Zourin]

Because of traps taking damage as they operate, it's usually a pretty good idea to have multiple, shallower paths along their more commonly used routes. This can help ensure that you're only repairing things like blade traps and not completely replacing them.

One of my more favorite things for this kind of "Pre-trap" is a 4-long, 3 wide hallway with 8 electric fences zig-zagging across the path. I call it a 'bug trap'. It won't deal with dogs, spiders, or crawlers, but that's pretty minor since the real threats are fats, cops, ferals, and workers. It's not meant to kill (but can during the day), but to reduce the hp-mass that's approaching primary defensive boundaries. Zombies passing through a bug trap can come out with around 50-100hp less hp. It works a LOT better with some barbed wire laid down (capable of zapping down bikers during the day), but the traps and barbed wire will see more wear and tear.

I usually look at 3 layers of defense.

- POI Building: The inevitable breaching of all defenses needs at LEAST a safe and secure core structure. This can vary by taste and availability, but this shouldn't be too small to hold up, nor too large to extend a perimeter.

- Perimeter wall: For smaller POI's (I have a barn), a perimeter wall that extends at LEAST 7 blocks from any interior spaces being used as a base. Non-metal doors, non-metal containers, and general walking has a sound radius of 7 feet and this is a 'sound safety' boundary. Less of a concern for tall POI's. This needs at least 3 focused defense points for funnelling BM zombies and tripped night hordes.

- A perimeter boundary that covers things like outdoor workshops/forges (for keeping screamers away from base), crop plots, and garages. This is mostly to restrict horde access to the more commonly used spaces of your home area. Having the barn is nice, but I have buildings outside the perimeter, and it's nice to control from which direction wandering hordes pass through, and probably set up bug traps to warn of their approach while I have my nose in the workbench.

 

[fazi]

Build is nice, but you will lose the xp.I started a classic pillar base, will be with multiple layers of pillars, so i can fall back when one layer gets destroyed.If all fails, i will move up and shot from above.Later i will add turets, dart traps and an outer ring of blade traps.My stuff will stay on the upper floors , ground level, floor 1 and 2 will be for defence, and then my home.

 

[HungryZombie]

Very cool setup, thanks for sharing.

 

[Odin79]

I tried to make a setup to reduce maintenance costs, this one doesn't use much ammunition so it works for me. I will experiment some more with electric fences and see what I can do with those. As for XP, i'm willing to let that go since I get enough from sleepers and wandering hordes.

 

[CoolJ]

This is an interesting thought experiment. For people like me that start a new map every time they die, this isn't very helpful. Now if you can come up with a design that will survive a day 14 without exploits that would be very helpful. Keep in mind that you will not have access to any of the things you are using here. I have no problems with the usage of concrete as long as it is a low amount. I am usually able to make concrete by day 14. Just not a lot.

 

[Zourin]

This is an interesting thought experiment. For people like me that start a new map every time they die, this isn't very helpful. Now if you can come up with a design that will survive a day 14 without exploits that would be very helpful. Keep in mind that you will not have access to any of the things you are using here. I have no problems with the usage of concrete as long as it is a low amount. I am usually able to make concrete by day 14. Just not a lot.

If you see a barn, it can survive surprisingly well because the roof is metal and basically holds the whole thing together from the top, and doesn't need spider protection. The 2nd floor is a bit low, but offers access to absolutely amazing firing space on the roof that also allows you to shoot down into the barn itself. Just clear out (most) of the hay bales, install new doors, and you're set.

Apartment buildings are also surprisingly effective to hold out with some modifications. You'll need to go down and replace damaged blocks after each horde night, but once you disable the stairs, it's a pretty safe HQ. The upper floors keep you well out of sound range of wandering hordes and screamers.

 

[babspsol]

5x5 cobblestone base, iron bars on 2nd block up so you can shoot out of. Surrounded by iron spikes. 2nd floor has truss flooring to shoot through with idea that when 1st floor is breached I move up and keep attacking. I am careful not to kill Z's outside of bloodmoon unless necessary so I keep my level and gamestage low so that my progression is in line with horde difficulty (just did day 14 at level 10)

It's same design I used in A16 and works perfectly.

Only people struggling with bloodmoon are those powerlevelling or those that have cheesed the bloodmoon prior to A17, chickens coming home to roost there. Horde night is easy.

 

[InSanity]

Currently about to face my second horde, nomad difficulty with level 45 on gamestage of around 80. My first horde only took out a couple blocks on my base and maybe a third of my wood spikes and now I've upgraded the spikes aroundd my pillars to iron and put a second layer of barbed wire so I can shoot them as they come in so looking forward to seeing how it holds up. I expect they won't really do much damage to it though as you're still able to drag them around on the spikes and whatnot.

 

[Zourin]

Did a restart for V208 on Adventurer rather than Nomad. Zombies are tangibly easier, but no real change in xp gain. I also found myself another barn, and this one has space for a garage door.. so I left some space in my perimeter wall for the future motorcycle that will use it extensively.



The perimeter wall is pretty much only R.Wood Plate and Wood Bars. I'm actually surprised at how far wood can stretch considering my previous perimeter never even got finished until week 3. I plan on further topping the perimeter with barbed wire to prevent jumping. The wall SHOULD be far enough out that I don't have to worry about sound-tripping zombies pathing along the wall, or at the very least I should be warned of their presence when they hit spikes.

I don't expect the perimeter to last, but at least the barn itself is surprisingly sturdy since the roof is metal and holds the whole thing together. I'm using shallower pit traps, but spreading some spikes along the edges to hopefully tag zombies pathing for the clear openings.

I'm concerned about the POI i'm using as a backwall. I sealed some of the openings with flagstone, so hopefully I can get a proper zombie path to the combat area where I can deal with breaches. I don't really have combat access along that side of the barn, which is a problem I couldn't avoid, since it was the only barn available for conversion.

 

[Ghostlight]

This is an interesting thought experiment. For people like me that start a new map every time they die, this isn't very helpful. Now if you can come up with a design that will survive a day 14 without exploits that would be very helpful..

I have just been using the same base designs as I have for every other alpha and they are working fine (now on day 35).

For day 14 my base would be a 9x9 box with 3 rows of spikes round it. Shrug.

 

[CoolJ]

My 7 day horde platform worked a lot better than I expected. Man those wood bars are super nice. I always hated having to shoot through frames until I could get metal bars up. I only lost a single block of cobble on my 7 day base and I would have lost 0 if a cop didn't decide he needed to blow up on my funnel trap. That causes the zombies to think they could no longer get to me and they started bangin on the walls. Well monolith anyway. I go solid these days. No more pillar bases for me. I even made a vulture cage. Problem is I got no vultures this time. Only two cops. Day 14 should be interesting. Hopefully I can gas the cops before they blow up on my hop steps this time.

 

[Zourin]

Just completed Day 7 on Adventurer v208. Nearly all ammo was exhausted (I gave up trying to hit with a rifle), perimeter breached, but held up well until after all available molotovs were expended. Horde vanquished as of 3:30am. I'm most of the way through level 19.

The breach occurred at the large gap after a couple fats decided to not go for the pit traps that everyone else was falling in, leading to a wire-and-trap-only breach that ended perimeter control and combat went into the barn. I finished at 3:30am, and that was with extra complications from a wandering horde that crashed my defenses at 20:00 and sent me scrambling to make replacements rather than final preparations.

The BM horde was approaching from probably the worst angle possible, t-boning the same path as the wandering horde and making a first-stop-shop at the gateway defenses. The right-hand pit trap went unused the whole night as a result.

I'm absolutely convinced Adventurer is where tuning should be for SP. My level pacing was roughly identical to my Nomad playthrough, but it was possible to kill the whole horde before dawn with a reasonable effort at taking them on the ground, rather than avoiding the horde or letting the horde 'time out'. I could be wrong and the BM horde stopped spawning at 3:00am anyway. Interior defense of the barn is neigh-impossible.

Also.. is it just me or is BM night dark as hell? The mollies knocked out all my torches and I ended up having to crank up the gamma or literally twiddle thumbs until dawn and scrap the whole test.

 

[CoolJ]

OK folks, I sit here on the morning of day15 and I am happy to report that the base and I survived. Though it was pretty nasty indeed. I lost zero structural blocks this time, but cop spit had it's way with my wooden bars. Constantly shrinking my fighting platform. It's a good thing I installed the cage because the vultures were out of control. I counted 5 regular cops and 3 glowing, at least 8 feral whits, and innumerable soldiers. The rest were just your normal walkers with a few dogs here and there. I picked up three levels thanks to the exp from all the soldiers. I'll snap some pics as soon as there is enough light.

EDIT: Looks like I lost some cladding on the backside of the support structure. Still, proves concrete wasn't necessary. The cladding absorbed most of the damage. So if you are not level 40 before day 14, it's no big deal. I forget what the iron cladding is called now. It used to be called siding but I found it in the list by searching the term scrap. It's a good way to add HP to the parts you know will take a beating. We used to do this all the time back in the day. What's old is new again.

 

[RestInPieces]

Cool build Odin79 - it's a great thing that planning your defenses is getting rewarded.