Killbox and Defense

At a glance

Raids escalate with wealth, so defensive layout is central. Two base archetypes cover most colonies, and both need fallback positions because no single trick stops every raid type.

Killbox	An engineered lane that funnels walk-in raiders into concentrated fire.
Mountain base	Carve into rock for cheap, strong, insulating walls. Manage infestations.
The catch	Drop pods, sappers, breachers, and sieges bypass or dismantle a killbox.
Core tactic	Melee blockers in armor hold a chokepoint while ranged pawns fire past them.

Killbox essentials

Build walls with a single controlled entrance, then engineer the approach:

• A corridor or open lane that forces raiders into a narrow path.
• Blocked line of sight so they cannot fire back until they are in the lane.
• Traps: deadfall or IED along the path.
• Sandbags or barricades that slow attackers and give your pawns cover.
• Massed turret and pawn fire from safe positions.

Early on you do not need a huge killbox. You need firing lanes, safe corners, sensible traps, and the discipline to retreat.

Mountain base essentials

Dig into a mountainous tile so most walls are natural rock. Strong and temperature-stable, but infestations spawn under overhead mountain roof above about minus 8 Celsius. Design for them:

• Thick walls, often three tiles, between areas.
• Multiple entrances to a room so you can engage a hive from several angles.
• Keep some interior spaces cold (freezers), where hives cannot spawn.

Overhead mountain also blocks certain drop-pod raids.

What each threat does to your defense

Threat	How it beats a naive killbox
Drop-pod raid	Lands inside or on top of the base, bypassing the perimeter.
Sappers	Mine or destroy walls to reach a target, taking the shortest path, not your entrance.
Breachers	Smash through walls in their path with breach axes or termite mechs. A counter to pure turtling.
Sieges	Land with supplies, build mortars at range, and bombard before assaulting.

Keep interior fallback positions and anti-siege tools (mortars, a sally squad) for all four.

Weapon and armor by tier

Tier	Ranged	Melee and armor
Early	Bolt-action rifles, pump shotguns	Maces, longswords, spears (tribal). Flak vest, flak jacket, flak helmet.
Mid	Assault rifles, LMGs, sniper rifles, heavy SMGs, shotguns	Better flak gear, marine armor as available.
Late	Charge rifles, charge lances, minigun for area suppression	Marine or cataphract-tier power armor.

• Royalty adds psycasters for crowd control and buffs, persona weapons, and cataphract armor.
• Biotech adds mechanitors fielding combat mechs as a mobile army, and genetic super-soldiers.
• Turrets (mini-turrets early, autocannon and uranium slug turrets later) supplement pawn fire but add wealth and can be destroyed.

Do this in order

1. Wall the base and set one controlled entrance.
2. Add firing lanes, safe cover corners, and a few traps. Skip the elaborate killbox in week one.
3. Arm your best shooters with the strongest ranged weapons you can afford, and give melee pawns flak armor.
4. Build interior fallback positions and, once sieges appear, mortars for counter-battery.
5. As wealth climbs, refine the killbox or lock down infestation control in a mountain base, and move to power armor and charge weapons.

Watch out for

• One clever killbox and nothing else. Drop pods, sappers, breachers, and sieges will find the gap.
• Fighting in the open against superior numbers. Use cover, chokepoints, and retreat.
• Turret wealth. Turrets add to raid points, so do not over-build them.
• Infestations in a mountain base. Keep cold dead zones and thick walls to control where hives appear.

Related

• Base layout cheatsheet for room priorities behind the walls.
• Raids and events deep guide for how threats scale and behave.
• Colony phases cheatsheet for when each threat tier arrives.