How To Defend Colony?

[jkchart]

Gate combat is INCREDIBLY frustrating right now.

What's the point of me trying to defend the gate if they win every time? I have guns, fully manned, and extra specialists. The specialists stand around and do nothing as my gate guards can't hold out. THEN they spawn everywhere around the colony? Makes no sense to me at all.

I get that this is still early access, I get that it is "Surviving the Aftermath" and should come with losses, and I really REALLY enjoy the colony building, and I'm even making progress learning how to do the nutrition system. But screw colony combat right now.

What is the point of going all in on gate upgrades, building guard towers, and having specialists hang out if you can never beat the enemy? I'm sick and tired of doing all I can to defend myself and obtain guns and magic teleporting murder bandits always burn my gate, kill colonists (especially since unarmed colonists like to bum rush bandits with machine guns), and burn my buildings. I'm having no fun with this feature at the moment and it's making me really not want to play a game I previously enjoyed greatly.

I'll take tips etc. but I've been reading them and I can see I'm doing those things the best I can...to no avail. I really hope this feature gets fleshed out more because there is no strategy to it currently and it just causes me to quit the game.

 

[Kirbster]

You're just have to accept that until Paradox fixes the gate, its just a resource pit. The bandits will always get through, kill your colonists, and burn down the gate. Then you'll rebuild it just for it to happen again. Right now, that's how the game been programed.

 

[Moondew]

I play a new game every evening at the easiest level and it takes me about four hours to get to the end with over 100 colonists and enough resources to trade for anything needed. In fact I have to stop collecting resource because I run out of places to put them. Eventually the bandits stop attacking when I have a lot of guard towers and guns and it would be the most interesting to have them attack.

I agree the gate and the bandits as they are now are a pain but they can be managed. Once I have four guard tower with enough guns to arm them, the bandits are rarely able to do much more than seriously damage a guard tower. I also always keep several specialists in the colony and they help defeat the bandits that get through the gate. Then I send them to help dispatch the bandits that come from the rear of the colony and occasionally I do lose a specialist. I build one tower half way between the food store and the gate, and one in each rear corner of colony, and one in the rear center. Later I add a second tower to each location with overlapping coverage and then the help of the specialists is not so important. I don't put colonists in the towers at all times. When the bandits show up I take colonist from other assignments and temporarily put them in the towers until the battle is over.

I never bother to upgrade the gate because it does not seem to help and there are a lot of other critical things to research.

Some times I don't have enough guns for the towers and the bandits then cause more damage and maybe destroy a building and kill a couple of colonists. It's a minor setback which just adds a bit more time to get to a full colony.

 

[Kirbster]

I play a new game every evening at the easiest level and it takes me about four hours to get to the end with over 100 colonists and enough resources to trade for anything needed. In fact I have to stop collecting resource because I run out of places to put them. Eventually the bandits stop attacking when I have a lot of guard towers and guns and it would be the most interesting to have them attack.

I agree the gate and the bandits as they are now are a pain but they can be managed. Once I have four guard tower with enough guns to arm them, the bandits are rarely able to do much more than seriously damage a guard tower. I also always keep several specialists in the colony and they help defeat the bandits that get through the gate. Then I send them to help dispatch the bandits that come from the rear of the colony and occasionally I do lose a specialist. I build one tower half way between the food store and the gate, and one in each rear corner of colony, and one in the rear center. Later I add a second tower to each location with overlapping coverage and then the help of the specialists is not so important. I don't put colonists in the towers at all times. When the bandits show up I take colonist from other assignments and temporarily put them in the towers until the battle is over.

Some times I don't have enough guns for the towers and the bandits then cause more damage and maybe destroy a building and kill a few colonist. It's a minor setback which just adds a bit more time to get to a full colony.

Reading what you're doing, for just shows as I believe. The gate is just a resource pit. As you have to build so many other things to make up for the gate. And again in the end, you have to rebuild the gate.

 

[Moondew]

Very true. The very unhappy malnourished colonists are also a resource pit and you can never make them healthy and happy no matter how much food you throw at them. It would be great if that problem was also fixed. Even so, they can also be managed and I can still get to a full colony.

I understand if you are tired of the bandits and the gate, as am I. But not to worry, it is about time for another release of the game and they will no doubt make some changes.

 

[jkchart]

You're just have to accept that until Paradox fixes the gate, its just a resource pit. The bandits will always get through, kill your colonists, and burn down the gate. Then you'll rebuild it just for it to happen again. Right now, that's how the game been programed.

Yeah I know. It's just unfortunate, but it's early access so there's plenty of improvements planned. I just had to voice that frustration after this most recent game and trying to find tips to deal with it "better", but found other people experience the same