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Hi all,

So far I have only played in peaceful mode and since .15 I have even turned the aliens completely off. Recently I started a new game where this is not the case (the Rail scenario, as I like the trains).

Simple question: how fast should I have my defences up and running? Any advice for a dummy on how to prevent being crushed by the aliens?

Thanks!

Just burn the forest and make a lot pollution will do. As long red pollution indicator appeared on enemy base (in map).

Or wait a longgg time.

When I've played with normal biters they seem to attack before I expect them to.

As Hellatze implied, they attack when the pollution cloud gets over their base. If you create lots of pollution or have a small starting area they will attack quicker. If you burn trees you will create more pollution.

Thick forests can be a form of defense. If you can't get through it, the biters probably can't either. The forests also absorb pollution and help keep it away from the biters.

Your initial defenses should probably go up about the same time you start basic oil production. Research turrets as soon as you finish basic oil research. Then put them around your base at choke points. If there are no choke points, you will need a bigger chain. Each turret should be able to support at least one other so check your fields of fire. This early you don't need walls or have to place turrets next to each other.

After things get going you will need more robust defenses. From what I hear, MUCH more robust.

Your outposts should probably be constructed with immediate defenses. Too many times I started a mining/smelting outpost and by the time I got back to the base it was under attack.

My current game is a RSO rail world where I have migration off and evolution is only based on number of spawners killed. I have been able to keep pretty well defended with what I mentioned above and killing spawners when the pollution cloud got close. Next game, I think I'm going to use vanilla settings and have the goal to be learning how to defend my base.

It varies. However, they launch attacks periodically if pollution is being absorbed by a spawner.

Use a radar as soon as feasible to reveal them, and watch your pollution bubble. How close it is to a spawn is how close they are to starting an attack. Once it covers an enemy base, an attack is imminent.

Laurent wrote: (the Rail scenario, as I like the trains).
Simple question: how fast should I have my defences up and running? Any advice for a dummy on how to prevent being crushed by the aliens?
Thanks!

You are playing rail world so the biters do not expand by default they will only attack you if the pollution from your base reaches their spawners.
So if you do some early scouting to find all nearby bases then make sure your pollution does not reach them you will never be attacked. Or alternatively just wipe out any nearby bases with turret creep.

In the beginning its enough to have single turret at your mines/powerplants/factories, so basically the outer areas of your base are under turret coverage. Biters come if your smelly air reaches their homes, which you can keep track on the map by looking how far the red cloud reaches. Later on you need turret upgrades and walls and when the really big ones start to come after days of polluting you need beefy defenses unless you like to rebuild often, i have never really got into the behemoth phase yet since i try to be pretty green and not have insane megabases.

The first few attacks are usually small biters which you can fend off with your pistol, but craft a few gun turrets asap just in case, and start placing them where the biters are attacking. They grow in strength very slowly and gradually. Eventually you'll find you need a complete perimeter of wall with gun turrets, you should switch to lasers and/or flame turrets when you can.

Edit:
Biters are fun for a few games, but they quickly become tedious and not at all challenging

If it is your first time playing, the very first time they attack will be preceded by the It Stinks achievement. (This is one of the least important reasons I hate Steam, without which it is extremely easy to reset achievements. You can make it feel like the first time every time; I think Lonestar would be amazed by Factorio )

Thanks everybody! No attack yet, but as I do not play that often we will see what happens.

what usually happens for me is that first 1 or 2 biter come and start eating on a miner or something, small biter take a while to destroy stuff so you can just go there and kill him easily. then put gunturrets in that area and repeat if they attack in some new Place.

alsp check your turrets often to see if they have ammo, try have 20+ ammo in each turret

try getting the red ammo as soon as possible.

good luck

Greybeard_LXI wrote:Thick forests can be a form of defense. If you can't get through it, the biters probably can't either.

Biters will happily path through forests and if they get stuck they start attacking whatever's in their way. Forests therefore don't work so well as walls but they do slow down and spread out large waves which makes it easier for your turrets to gun them down before they reach your defences.

I usually play with a larger starting area because I'm less interested in the fighting, but early biters are pretty pathetic. The first attacks will only be 1-3 small biters which can easily be taken down with your pistol. When biters attack they draw a path, subsequent attacks will use the same path so drop a turret there. I guess if you're playing with closer, more aggressive biters that should be your cue to start researching and building your defences, you should be up to par by the time they ramp up their attacks.

Deadly-Bagel wrote:

Greybeard_LXI wrote: When biters attack they draw a path, subsequent attacks will use the same path so drop a turret there.

If you don't like it being that easy, click here and/or here for mods that fix this problem.

Also, I'm used to playing with Mojo Resource Processing or No Hand Crafting with the polluton similarly jacked up on the burner assembler. Therefore the first biter attacks are not easy to deal with when you have just a pistol. (Mojo Resource Processing support ended with 0.12; yes I still play a 0.12 Factorio installation. To understand the biggest reason why, click here.)

I don't really find it to be a problem. Biters are in every direction, there will be plenty of paths to your factories. I find if you do leave a gap in your defences, it will be exploited at some point. If the solution is therefore to barricade your entire base it doesn't really matter what paths they take, may as well stick with the processor-efficient option.

Deadly-Bagel wrote:I don't really find it to be a problem. Biters are in every direction, there will be plenty of paths to your factories. I find if you do leave a gap in your defences, it will be exploited at some point. If the solution is therefore to barricade your entire base it doesn't really matter what paths they take, may as well stick with the processor-efficient option.

Playing in a Railworld makes a difference.

Normaly you have to go out and eliminate nearby nests frequently and they will just come back and attacks start all over again in stronger and stronger waves. But the Railworld setting stops aliens from spreading. If you kill a nest it won't come back. So simply killing all aliens that are under the pollution cloud or near it will prevent all alien attacks till you expand more. You really do not need large fortifications. Cleaning out nests near you is a very viable way to play Railworld.

Prolly the best way to defend a normal base is to blast out all the nests nearby which are receiving pollution until you have all the territory to which pollution spreads, then build a perimeter with defenses only strong enough to deal with pioneer groups. Great success in Muddy Mountains (still playing and writing, but I haven't updated it's thread because I need discussion on it to dilute the massive image attachments.

mrvn wrote:

Deadly-Bagel wrote:I don't really find it to be a problem. Biters are in every direction, there will be plenty of paths to your factories. I find if you do leave a gap in your defences, it will be exploited at some point. If the solution is therefore to barricade your entire base it doesn't really matter what paths they take, may as well stick with the processor-efficient option.

Playing in a Railworld makes a difference.

Normaly you have to go out and eliminate nearby nests frequently and they will just come back and attacks start all over again in stronger and stronger waves. But the Railworld setting stops aliens from spreading. If you kill a nest it won't come back. So simply killing all aliens that are under the pollution cloud or near it will prevent all alien attacks till you expand more. You really do not need large fortifications. Cleaning out nests near you is a very viable way to play Railworld.

Umm, I was referring to the previous post by featherwinglove who offered "fixes" for biters following the same paths. I meant them behaving like this doesn't really change the gameplay much.