I wanted to share the base build I've worked on for surviving frequent horde nights on Insane Difficulty. I basically do Blood Moon every night, I think the sweet spot seems to be about 60minute day-cycle with 12 hour long nights. But, at only Game Stage 30 the hordes haven't been lasting the entire nights yet (I'd like advice on that).
But that seems to be a comfortable amount of time to harvest resources but not too long to dally around before the Blood Moon rises again.
Anyway, the fort build is a simple pillbox design with campfires as force-multiplier, the fort is now two layers thick where it matters, where before it was only one layer thick, and the wedge-tip design gives you a lot of room to move and get headshot angles while keeping the zombies unable to even crawl in.
And, this base is a little more ingenious than it first appears. The wedge-design actually takes a LOT of pressure off the campfires, where before campfires would inevitably get destroyed by zombies jumping around etc, now I lose about only one or two campfires a Blood Moon.
The design also allows for complete visibility to the fort, so you can repair spikes, roof, skirt (that's what I call the outer-ring the campfires sit on), the campfires themselves...everything is accessible.
First Pic - The inside still has wooden wedge-tip pieces on the ceiling to better see them. If the outer cobblestone wedges are destroyed, there's still the inner wedge-tips to keep the zombies out. The final concept is a network of pillboxes, so when the outer layer is destroyed you abandon that box for another by a series of catwalks.
Second Pic - I thought this pic shows a good example of just how much visibility of the Zombies you have while you are COMPLETELY protected. The only things that will hit you are some animals or crawlers.
Third Pic - Shows the base from the outside, I'm single player so it's smaller than would otherwise be. The footprint is 9x9 with the outer ramp. I often leave things un-upgraded to see how vulnerable they are before just reinforcing everything. That outer ramp is completely unbothered by regular zombies. Here you can also make out the wedge-tips and how they are placed.
Fourth and Fifth Pics - Some fun action scenes from about Game Stage 30. I have no clue how this base design will hold-up against Demos and belchers, but I intend to have the multiple pillbox network built up in order to find out.
I'd say right now I'm killing about half the zombies. I know how many Zombies I do get kills for, about 35-45 per night. So if I understood better why the horde still is stopping before end of night, I'd probably be able to estimate how many Zombies are attacking in total at Game Stage ~30.
Anyway, this base is it...it does the job. It takes on early-game Insane and that suggests to me it's the right core to use for later game insane...As I progress in this play through I'll be able to determine what additions are needed to handle demolishers and belchers, etcetera. I already have some ideas, but Zombie AI is better at running around obstacles so I will definitely have to see how they play out, especially a tiger trap idea.





But that seems to be a comfortable amount of time to harvest resources but not too long to dally around before the Blood Moon rises again.
Anyway, the fort build is a simple pillbox design with campfires as force-multiplier, the fort is now two layers thick where it matters, where before it was only one layer thick, and the wedge-tip design gives you a lot of room to move and get headshot angles while keeping the zombies unable to even crawl in.
And, this base is a little more ingenious than it first appears. The wedge-design actually takes a LOT of pressure off the campfires, where before campfires would inevitably get destroyed by zombies jumping around etc, now I lose about only one or two campfires a Blood Moon.
The design also allows for complete visibility to the fort, so you can repair spikes, roof, skirt (that's what I call the outer-ring the campfires sit on), the campfires themselves...everything is accessible.
First Pic - The inside still has wooden wedge-tip pieces on the ceiling to better see them. If the outer cobblestone wedges are destroyed, there's still the inner wedge-tips to keep the zombies out. The final concept is a network of pillboxes, so when the outer layer is destroyed you abandon that box for another by a series of catwalks.
Second Pic - I thought this pic shows a good example of just how much visibility of the Zombies you have while you are COMPLETELY protected. The only things that will hit you are some animals or crawlers.
Third Pic - Shows the base from the outside, I'm single player so it's smaller than would otherwise be. The footprint is 9x9 with the outer ramp. I often leave things un-upgraded to see how vulnerable they are before just reinforcing everything. That outer ramp is completely unbothered by regular zombies. Here you can also make out the wedge-tips and how they are placed.
Fourth and Fifth Pics - Some fun action scenes from about Game Stage 30. I have no clue how this base design will hold-up against Demos and belchers, but I intend to have the multiple pillbox network built up in order to find out.
I'd say right now I'm killing about half the zombies. I know how many Zombies I do get kills for, about 35-45 per night. So if I understood better why the horde still is stopping before end of night, I'd probably be able to estimate how many Zombies are attacking in total at Game Stage ~30.
Anyway, this base is it...it does the job. It takes on early-game Insane and that suggests to me it's the right core to use for later game insane...As I progress in this play through I'll be able to determine what additions are needed to handle demolishers and belchers, etcetera. I already have some ideas, but Zombie AI is better at running around obstacles so I will definitely have to see how they play out, especially a tiger trap idea.




