PC How to keep zombies out of your base is a17?

[Randomdude]

Just put the pickaxe down and forget the miner/custom-base-builder playstyle was a thing; we're all full time scavengers now. Just convert a POI into a hasty base and go loot all day.

This makes me really sad to be honest...

 

[grieferbastard]

Heavy armor is MUCH better than light armor, but to get the most use out of it, you need to be melee spec'ed enough to throw down with irradiated cops. You have to dish out some pretty solid damage to make the most out of that survivability. Combined with high level Fast Healing, Immunity, and Pain Tolerance, you're very hard to kill.
Light armor is enough to save your bacon from stray hits, and works OK for agility/perception builds with skills like Run and Gun and Ninja Movement. These latter two skills are clutch, because you can't OHK ferals/irradiated, and Ninja is a 'GTFO' skill for getting distance when you have none.

The base, however, has never kept the horde completely at bay. It has, however, served excellently as a safe and massive xp farm (molotovs) and a complete dump of all my ammo. Eventually, the pits 'burn out' and they breach through. I recovered nearly all the structural damage within a few minutes, and it'll probably take the week to replace the spike traps. This horde's cops knocked out the stray section of the wall (nothing to cause a breach) before the traps expired, then they breached in through the rear door which hadn't been doubled. They then breached the back door (also single), then ran around like chickens while I watched until dawn 'cause I was out of ammo.

I got a TON of xp from that night, plus the wandering horde of military zombies that came that morning to check up on the damage. I should be pretty damn close to having powered defenses, though. I just don't have any engines (I have one, and that's going into a motorcycle)

I'm having a hard time deciding how to convert the chokes for blades/darts. The whole trap operates on the idea that the spikes 'fill' the pit up to ground level, then sink the zombies as they path over. I could sink some electric fencing down there pretty easily, though. Would prevent them from attacking the spikes, but the damage is ♥♥♥♥. Trap doors work, but there's a high chance they can run over it without falling.

just did the same thing. Replaced the traps with barbed wire. They run on the wire and slow down. Turrets to the side. If they get in I kite in circles and whack heads.

I am full melee spec with no stealth and ALL THE CARDIO. I use the fire axe and at level 118 am OSK headshot for almost everything and 100% knockdown when I don't. It's all stick and move. For 7 day hordes I use the barbwire pits and whack them all down as they try to cross, compound bow first as they start to approach. Fallback is 3 tiers of ladder to platform. So a 1 space jump over spikes and barbwire to a ladder. I stand on top and whack them as they come up. They fall and have to go back around.

My struggle with heavy armor is the speed. Maybe if I have the perks you listed that would be less of an issue. Now that I have a vehicle the slower running pace isn't as big an issue either.

 

[grieferbastard]

This makes me really sad to be honest...

I'm really not finding that to be true. You absolutely can build custom bases like before. The defenses look a bit different and more complex but you can build whatever base you want. What's different is the new POI are amazing and make the core of incredible bases so the need to build from scratch because existing structures are worthless isn't there.

All that's really different is the zombies are more cunning and dangerous and you need to kill them to level.

 

[Krougal]

All good tips here (except the nerd poles, Loooosers ), @Kalarro don't give up all hope yet, even though we've all got the same basic tips for surviving at least the initial hordes I am starting to see possibilities for interesting designs.

@Scyris is absolutely right that barbed wire is king now.

I haven't gotten a chance to try out my checkerboard support idea yet, have mostly been playing MP now. We just went through 2nd horde with minimal damage, even though there were a lot of cops and even some wights. The server we play on has 2 hour days (le sigh) so it was more like a week 3 horde.

RNJesus blessed us with an amazing trader, with all 4 workstations functional, so we setup shop in the nearby 2 story wood cabin (we joined server on day 3 or 4) for first horde we just fortified the wood walls as best we could, removed the stairs and raised the floor up to 5 blocks high of wooden frames, cut doors out and 2 rows of frames around the outside upper area, hatchevator a few blocks away for access, and I got a single row of spikes around it. They did wreck most of 1 corner and part of the central pillar we added, but didn't bring the base down. There we 4 of us actively defending.

For the 2nd horde I managed to get the bottom 3 blocks all concrete, corners and here and there all the way up in reinforced, rest was at least cobble. Also got barbed wire fences as a ring around the spikes.

Like I said a good # of cops and some feral wights, some radiated spiders & tourists, dogs and the usual trash. Don't think there were any other specials. They actually wrecked the hatchevator for some reason, cop vomit took out a good amount of outer frames, and 1 got close in and blew and took a good chunk of durability from 1 of the reinforced corners.

Main horde was dead by 23:00 and we just had a trickle the rest of the night (I'm wondering if the server had even patched to 199 since I thought trickle was removed...I hope they patch to 208 today).

I only had to replace 3 concrete blocks, and they were actually on different sides of the house. All the spikes were gone (which actually makes me happy since that means they all did their job...also I didn't have to chop them up to replace them with barbed wire for next week). An electric fence perimeter too if I can manage the posts. Electric fence is still hands down my favorite, not only does it hold them in place but it illuminates them too, even this slow old man can rack up kills with a compound bow then.

Granted it is a hell of a lot easier with multiple players when you can all concentrate fire on the specials. Only 1 cop managed to blow, the rest we gangraped.Same for the wights. Solo I'd have been crying like a little girl over my destroyed base and 1 hr of death debuff no doubt (but then the horde probably would have been weaker).

Now that I've got the shell all r-crete I am probably going to start laying down the checkerboard of columns or a maze (still undecided) for the interior of the 1st floor, and if I can talk the guys into it, an actual ladder up in the center, iron bars for the walkways are a priority now as well, since I expect many cops next time. How are the new wooden bars btw?

Since I'm already looking to the future I've been thinking exactly as @Oddux, go tall. Our current main floor would be entirely fighting platform, and build up another few stories so fallback position on the 3rd floor, our "base" on the 4th, swimming pool & garden on the roof...or not. After that I'm thinking of making a maze around the base.

I prefer not having to maintain seperate 6 & 7 day bases. Normally I build my day to day base & mine underneath my horde base cause I am lazy and it was the best of both worlds, but that seems like a non-starter for A17. We may try sinking a mine to bedrock through the center.

 

[Krougal]

Just curious - why do you say that? I can see it if you have to build that way but once you can do rebar it's so much faster.

Probably because 1st week that's typically your only option. BTW you can still make wet concrete blocks, you just need to do it in the cement mixer now. Save that iron for better things.

 

[grieferbastard]

Run a tunnel over to a 7day defense tower right by your main base. No trouble to maintain and you don't spend your fights trying to avoid losing everything

I think of it as one for every day, one for Sunday best.

 

[Krougal]

Run a tunnel over to a 7day defense tower right by your main base. No trouble to maintain and you don't spend your fights trying to avoid losing everything
I think of it as one for every day, one for Sunday best.

Well the problem I always had was the wandering hordes made more of a mess than the Day 7 in A16, you're right though, now that we have to go out and flag them down just to get their attention it's probably a lot less hassle than it used to be.

 

[grieferbastard]

Spike traps catch a few over the week. Now that I'm upgrading to blade traps it's still not a big maintenance thing. Eat less than trying to fix my main base every week.

 

[Scyris]

My next game I am going to use barbed wire/fences inside the poi, but imma line the outside with wooden spikes just to soften them up a bit before they become target dummys in my barbed wire patch. Less ammo used this way.

My last b199 horde went weird, I was in the fire station, I left 2 or 3 open entrances, and they decided to bust thru 2 blocks of 3000 hp bulletproof glass insted of using the 2-3 doors I left open and unblocked, they literally had mutiple clear paths in to get at me, and they pick chewing thru 6000 hp of blocks insted of using the open door. Made me scratch my head there.

 

[Krougal]

My next game I am going to use barbed wire/fences inside the poi, but imma line the outside with wooden spikes just to soften them up a bit before they become target dummys in my barbed wire patch. Less ammo used this way.
My last b199 horde went weird, I was in the fire station, I left 2 or 3 open entrances, and they decided to bust thru 2 blocks of 3000 hp bulletproof glass insted of using the 2-3 doors I left open and unblocked, they literally had mutiple clear paths in to get at me, and they pick chewing thru 6000 hp of blocks insted of using the open door. Made me scratch my head there.

Oh, and the plain barbed wire flat on the floor still works, but I don't think it slows them down as much as the fences do. The only test I did was with Vedui's design (which was awesome in A16 but not so much in A17) and laying down barbed wire floor for 5 blocks around the outside. I spawned in screamers to kick this party off and it quickly got out of hand...I had this epic horde and it got laggy as ♥♥♥♥; I couldn't really get a clear picture of what was going on.

 

[Maxwar]

I use a base design that I think might be a bit different than what most players use. I just breezed through the first horde on day 7. With max horde number ( 64 ) on Survivalist difficulty.

I record my gameplay on twitch. You can check the base design and the Horde attack at the end of this video. I will continu to expand and fortify the base but my design proved effective for the first horde.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/341681956

 

[CoolJ]

The hop a long trap horde base.

Central platform made of cobblestone. 3x3 with no hole in the middle. I.E. Solid. Top layer, I have been using just wooden frames to shoot through for day7, but now there are wooden bars that can be upgraded to metal later. I will switch to those.

The secret to the hop a long trap is to make them think they can get to you by using the right type of blocks at the top of a simple stair system built up to your platform. They hop up each step making them really slow. There is barbed wire on the second to last step so they basically stop there and let you get easy headshots. Never put the barbed wire on the last step as it will cause them to jump and sometimes defeat your clever fall trap. I learned that the hard way on the first iteration when I had to run around the platform in circles bashing a dead fat lady over the head.

Spikes all underneath encouraging them to stay away from the platform walls.

The trick is how the stairs are connected to the platform. There is a wooden plate on the inside of the top stair step and one on the inside of the platform. There is a center flagstone poll between them. The Z think this is a valid path so if they make it to the top they just try to run across and fall down to the bottom. Then they just run right back to the stairs and start hopping up again providing another easy headshot chance. I lost one single wood frame to cop spit last time. Cop on day 7.. Thanks pimps... Shouldn't happen this time with the wood bars. I will get some Screenshots when I get the final iteration built. Currently waiting out the night of day 3 and will begin building in the morning.

 

[CoolJ]

This is it complete minus a few hundred spike traps. There is barbed wire laying flat on the second step to the top.

 

[Monkworks]

1. On Horde night you leave your base. Base avoids the attack.

2. A platform hanging off the side of a building lets you snip them all day long.

3. A ramp with a high point near your platform and the zombies will attempt to climb to the highest point to reach you then fall off. Once fallen they will repeat. You can perch above them and as they go up to the highest point of your little ramp towner you just pick them off even with stone arrows, just takes a long time...and pure cheese. Look for balconies cut the railing off the end and sit just above on roof make a platform lower to attract them.

4. something about 46 degree angels. A day horde spawned very close and started to charge me.. i move up the hill on a 45 angle backing up and they instantly turned and lost sight of me. Use my hide for hidden bonus, take them out from a distance...

the game cheats with the POI's.. spawns in zombies from nowhere and very close to you... when the place was empty.

Birds will always spawn when you go AFK on a roof.

Most every Gun bag i find has a half used basic club in it it

 

[Guppycur]

My trick is to simply stay at my not base during horde nights... keeps them out 100% of the time.

 

[Wamplet]

Here is mine.

On Day 7, i build a traditional table platform (2 prefrrably) with stairs or a ramp leading up to it with spikes buried all around it and the platform. i stand on the platform close to the stairs and just remove the wood frames from the stairs to the platform 3 or 4 blocks. zombies fall off on the spikes and go back up the stairs and repeat as i shoot them or spikes kill them.

View attachment 25859

For day 14, i set a higher cobblestone version. it's 10x10 solid up to 8 blocks (so spiders can't jump up) and i have a similar stairway going up.

I made the ledge longer so i have more time to shoot them before they fall. they take fall damage and also spike damage, so eventually they will just die from that if i don't kill them, but i try to shoot them for XP. someone in another thread mentioned to use barbed wire instead so you can get XP, but you have to have a lot of metal or scrap iron for that i think. i might try to make a few for the horde night. I'm on day 21 morning and have some time to try it out next time i play. My base has a full set of wood spikes around the "moat" and even without the stairs, they do a pretty good job killing or slowing the zombies. the stairs and funneling just makes it easier to kill them. i'll try to switch over to barbed wire to test day 28, if i can get enough metal. so far no luck, other than harvesting cars. My mine is lead, so i'm having a hard time finding any iron. I use xbow primarily and have most weapons, but i only carry a club and pistol. If i need to do some mass or fast killing or kill a giant zombie cop, i'll switch to the pistol.

View attachment 25860

edit: if you keep to wood, definitely surround your original 1 pillar or wall or whatever with multiple walls. On My wood base, i set up an extra column of wood blocks all around each pillar. I would never have a ground base no matter what it's made of, due to the zombie high block damage unless you have a very good moat of defenses all around it and an escape method when they breach it, like a raised trap door exit or underground one that leads away. I have 2 mine entrances which are enclosed by wood or cobblestone and i made 3 blocks all around and double-doored them. I eventually plan to remove the doors and fully enclose them and have just a ceiling hatch and make a column going up about 8 blocks and connect them to to my cobble base with a skywalk, so it should be pretty safe at that point. i'll have to test that out later, but need more materials, so it will have to wait for Day 28.

 

[Kalarro]

I miss building cool bases. That was my favorite part of the game. But its just not interesting or worth it in A17 to build anything new when you can just take over a sacrificial POI and not waste hours gathering for no gain. There's no XP in it and no satisfaction in it. If you try to do the sensible and intuitive thing when something is trying to kill you and try to keep them out, they destroy your base in seconds. If you accept that you can't keep them out and just build a death hallway using the new AI where they just funnel themselves into traps if they think its the least obstructed path to you without attacking anything at all, then its too easy.

Building and gathering gives very little XP when you can just go kill a couple zombies and get far more. Resource gathering is a chore now since gathering stone is so much slower; a stone voxel that took one hit to harvest in A16 when you fully specialized and got a full quality steel pick now takes five power attacks and half your stamina.

Just put the pickaxe down and forget the miner/custom-base-builder playstyle was a thing; we're all full time scavengers now. Just convert a POI into a hasty base and go loot all day.

Indeed, this makes me so sad. In my case, I dont think Ill play the game without the construction part it had :/

But I think it shouldnt be too hard to mod, Im sure something will come out.

 

[quill]

@Wamplet

Add two sets of blocks going up away from where you'll be shooting from, on either side of the alley of death. z's will prefer them after they fall as it is a shorter route back. This provides a lot more opportunity for shooting (if you don't make them stairs/ramps) and fallback routes if one or two ways back to the top get compromised.

I'm going to use barbed wire on one side to see how that affects zed behavior. I suspect it will be an improvement but maybe not if it somehow makes the z's start whacking the structure.

Before/ after, side view:

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