A basic overview of Defensive Structures
In CM-13, there are a lot of different types of defenses one can build to help hold an enemy at bay, each of them having their own strengths and weaknesses. While most people think of things like Sandbags and Metal Barricades when one talks about defenses, your selection of structures goes FAR beyond that, and this simple guide is going to help show off and explain how a lot of these common and less common structures work.
We'll begin by starting with the 3 most common defensive structures, before moving onto the more... Interesting options for creative marines.
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Barricades:
Metal barricades are the most COMMON form of defense the marines have. Costing only 4 metal to make, ENGINEERS can build these to secure almost any area, from inside of buildings to deep within a dank cave. They are also capable of being unbolted from the ground and moved around when needed, ensuring no metal goes to waste should one accidentally build it facing the wrong direction during construction, or if you just want to readjust it to suit your needs. They can also be upgraded with barbed wire, making it more difficult for aliens to slash them down without taking damage themselves and stopping pounces.
Other than simply blocking the way for xenos, marines can fire from them upon incoming threats, although they need to be within 2 tiles of it to be able to fire over it. Any further and it'll just end up eating your bullets. You can still throw things over them without much issue, however.
Metal barricades are very flexible and are capable of creating a variety of different defensive shapes and positions, and considering how cheap it is to order from cargo and how plentiful metal scrap is planetside, you'll always have a fair bit of metal to work with, provided you don't just let xenos walk in and melt all your barricades when you aren't looking. However, Metal barricades are not very durable, and even with barbs, a strong xeno can slash them in half without too much issue if no one is shooting them off. Thankfully you can use a wielding tool to repair damage to them (for only the cost of the fuel and nothing more), but only if it is lightly damaged. If it has taken too much damage, then it is better to just break it down and replace it with a fresh barricade, provided it is safe to do so.
Plasteel Barricades/Gates:
Plasteel Gates are a vital part to any Field Base. Not only do they behave as a stronger version of a Metal Barricade, they also have the ability to open and close at will, allowing marines to pass through and keeping those pesky aliens out. An ENGINEER can build such Gates with 5 plasteel, and considering how expensive it is to order plasteel from cargo and their rarity to find out in the wild, one should not waste plasteel willy-nilly. It may be stronger than a metal barricade, but that doesn't mean you should try to build a big wall of plasteel to defend an area.
Plasteel Gates work best in pairs of two at various points of a metal barricade wall, allowing your fellow marines easy access past the defensive line to and fro. Other than acting as a gate for marines, they share all the sames ups and downs that METAL BARRICADES have, only difference being that they are stronger than metal. So if you know about metal barricades, I don't need to repeat all the traits Plasteel Barricades have here.
Sandbags:
Sandbags are some of the strongest, yet more labor intensive defenses marines have. ANYONE can use sandbags to secure an area, although you can't really do much with them until you FILL them with dirt/snow/sand, which can be accomplished by digging up the ground and stuffing it into the stack of empty bags. It takes 5 BAGS to make a proper sandbag barricade, and while it takes awhile to fill the bags, the placement of them is a very quick process compared to the creation of metal/plasteel barricades, which makes them very useful in the creation of front-line defenses, but also for the filling in of gaps in a defensive line in an emergency.
While sandbags can easily be used on their own, it is also possible to lay sandbags in front of (or behind, if you prefer) metal barricades, helping to reinforce an area with a stronger defense, although you have to remember that sandbags share the same shooting rules as barricades, meaning if you have sandbags in front of your barricades, you'll need to be on top of your barricades in order to shoot over BOTH of them. Otherwise the second row is just going to eat your bullets instead. Also like barricades, sandbags can be upgraded with barbs, which of course can stop aliens from jumping over them and cause damage upon being attacked. They can even be moved by using a shovel on them to break them down back into a pile of sandbags that can be quickly repositioned, provided they weren't damaged.
All in all, sandbags are a pretty great defense if you are willing to take the time to fill up bags, and the fact that they are also cheap like metal barricades ensures that you'll have plenty of sandbags if you are willing to radio some more in via cargo. However, they are not without drawbacks.
Obviously, sandbags NEED materials to fill them. If you are on a space station or ship, then tough luck, you are stuck with a bunch of empty bags that'll never get filled and might as well be tossed aside to save space in your backpack. And even IF you have plenty of materials to fill them with, you need a shovel to do that task in the first place, so you better not lose it, or again, your bags will be made worthless. As I mentioned before, they also take TIME to fill, so you need to set time aside from doing whatever else you planned to fill 25, 50, or even 100 bags (depending on how many you decided to carry), which can be a very tedious, time consuming process. Lastly, as strong as they are (stronger than plasteel even), they are not as easy to repair as plasteel/metal, requiring spare sandbags in order to repair any damage they take, so if you already used up all your sandbags, then you'll have no way to repair them if they get damaged.
Wooden Barricades:
Wooden Barricades are one of the more ghetto forms of defense for marines. As the name obviously implies, they are made out of wood, which isn't quite the strongest material out there, but while it may be weak, it is still quite capable in a pinch.
For one, ANYONE can make a wooden barricade for the low low price of 5 Wood, and while they may take a bit to get set up, they do a decent enough job of holding an alien or two at bay. This make them best at securing areas that don't see too much action, but are still targeted by skirmishers preying on lone marines trying to walk by or desperate medics trying to evac the wounded as quickly as possible. Unlike normal barricades, they come with a few... Odd traits that may or may not be annoying.
For one, while most barricades allow you to shoot more freely through them (as long as you are within 2 tiles of a single row of barricades), Wooden Barricades only allow you to shoot in the DIRECTION IT FACES. So, if you are standing right on top of a west-facing wooden barricade, you can only shoot directly west and not at an angle. This makes leading targets more difficult due to the cumbersome nature of the barricades, although you can still throw things without much hindrance. I have yet to test this with flamethrowers, however.
HOWEVER, another interesting trait that wooden barricades have is the fact that you can't attempt melee attacks OVER THEM. What is so special about that, you ask? Well, it means that a xeno attempting to slash you won't be able to target you as long as you are behind a wooden barricade. You can't stab them either, though, but you can still SHOOT THEM! As I said before, this makes them great for securing pathways against skirmishers, who'll have to deal with you pestering them from your little wooden outpost and making the roads a tiny bit safer as a result. They won't hold up against a full frontal assault, however, and xenos can still POUNCE over the wooden wall, so when the going gets tough, it may be best to fall back to a more secure location, unless you got a death wish.
Wood for such barricades can be ordered from cargo, but expect them to laugh at you for making such a request. Thus, you are mostly forced to look for wood planetside, which is not all that common unless you are playing LV-624, which has HUNDREDS of wood planks all over the place. Other maps will have considerably less wood to work with and will be harder to come across, so don't expect to see wooden outposts utilized often outside of LV-624.
Wooden doors:
If you are going to make a wooden guard post to secure an area, might as well slap a door on it while you at it, even if it won't do a whole lot to stop anything from barging in. ANYONE can build a wooden door for 10 wood, which'll quickly create a door that'll block projectiles and Line of Sight (LoS), but can also be opened by just about anything and anyone. Thankfully, there is a slight delay before it fully opens, so if a lurker decides to knock on your door, you'll at least have some forward warning that company is coming (as well as an audio cue of a wooden door opening, which is hard to miss).
In the hands of a creative fellow, maybe doors might have some value if used, well, creatively. Other than that, they are a crappier version of the Plasteel barricade, used only out of desperation.
Snow Barricade:
Snow barricades are only possible on Shiva as of current, and while they aren't very strong compared to metal barricades, they sure are easy to make in bulk, allowing just about anyone to make a small fortress on the fly.
ANYONE can build snow barricades, although you'll need a shovel to dig up the wild snow and tame it into a pile of snow you can pick up and stack up to 25 units. Each barricade requires 3 snow (if I am correct, feel free to correct if wrong) in order to make a single barricade facing the direction of your choice. Sadly, you can only build said barricades on top of dirt(?) ground, and not on metal or ice, meaning you can only secure so many areas with it. It also isn't too strong and xenos can pounce over it with ease if they wish, and they also follow the same shooting rules as metal barricades, meaning if you aren't within 2 tiles of a given barricade, it will end up eating your bullets.
Despite its limitations, the fact that it is very easy for ANYONE to build them and lots of snow being present to build them with, it would be a waste to NOT utilize some snow barricades one way or another. Great in a pinch if you need it, but don't expect a single row of snow to hold off the swarm. Treat snow the same as you would with wood: Creating small guard post to secure areas of low traffic against skirmishers.
Grilles:
Grilles are an interesting little structure. For 4 metal rods (that's worth 2 metal), ANYONE can build a single Grille. Grilles are very weak, and you cannot throw objects over them nor shoot through them with bullets. However, you can still shoot NAPALM though them, and if you placed them on top of powered wires, they transform into an electric fence that damages xenos that attempt to slash it, sometimes even outright KILLING weaker ones depending on how much power is flowing through them.
This is the structure for the experimental builder, or just a really cheap defense to slightly inconvenience xenos. How you use them is up to you, but know well that they can only accomplish so much on their own.
Dead People:
"Repel the enemy! Block the roads with the bodies of your fallen comrades if you must!" - Kaiser Vlad
Sometimes you gotta resort to some really disrespectful forms of defense to slow down an enemy advance. While rarely implemented, strapping a dead body to a chair (that anyone can build, if I am correct) can "sometimes" do the job. A propped up dead person acts as a solid object, capable of soaking up projectiles like a pro and will slightly slow down xenos attempting to go past them... Slightly.
However, all a xeno has to do is slash the chair they are propped on and they'll flop like a sack of dead fish, or if they are feeling extra cruel, they could just have a crusher CRUSH it down with a charge, which would trample the chair and send the husk flying out of the way. The only benefit such a defense has is that flame throwers can still shoot through them, but other than that, they are strictly as a last resort when you have nothing left and are willing to disrespect the dead in order to hold the line. Provided, that is, you have any dead bodies to work with.
Tables:
Tables are everywhere, and they... Suck. But sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do, amirite?
Pretty much ANYONE can make tables via an autolathe for 2 metal, but you can also just use a wrench on most tables you find on the field, barring reinforced tables (those require a wielder to soften up first). tables have little durability, and while they can still slow down most xenos (except for crushers and ravagers, who eat them for breakfast), they are still better than nothing when it comes down to delaying an enemy advance and general survival. They can be used in one of two ways: Flat, and flipped.
Flat is just propping the table as is, it taking up the tile it is placed on and hindering everyone. However, you can climb on top of it with ease and in a sense gain the high ground, allowing you to shoot down at attackers from atop your platform. Create a 3x3 table and stand in the center, and you'll be able to annoy most aliens.
Flipped, on the other hand, turns it into a makeshift barricade, behaving just like a really shitty metal barricade in that it soaks up projectiles from the direction it is flipped towards and stopping aliens from just waltzing through to a degree. However, aliens can flip tables too, so if you aren't careful, it is possible for them to flip it around to face YOU instead and be used against you... or at least, they would, if most xenos didn't just like smashing the tables. Either way, it just goes to show how weak tables are, meaning if you intend to use them, be aware that they are only as a last resort, or if you are planning to use flat tables, something only the most creative of engineers can utilize effectively.
Glass:
Glass is glass. You can slap metal rods on a pile of glass sheets to make reinforced glass, but it is still just that: Glass. You can't really shoot through it, and it doesn't slow down xenos for very long. And that is barring the fact that glass can sometimes be glitchy and not work properly, such as in the case where a full block of glass (compared to a directional version) can be walked through even if secured to the ground, at least in some cases. Can it still be useful? Probably, but only in areas where you don't expect bullets to fly.
Glass is a weak, cheap defense that only engineers can really make (with glass sheets, of course), but if given the choice, most wouldn't bother with it unless they were legit running out of options. If you plan to make defenses out of glass, be aware that its only use is to slow down attackers and make a lot of noise when it eventually shatters (which can be handy in alerting marines of their presence). It also isn't a common resource to come across, although cargo might have some sheets in the back somewhere, although they might look at you funny if you ask for it.
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And I believe that should be everything I know. If I missed anything, feel free to share it here!
Hopefully this guide helps you understand the majority of defensive options a bit better.
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Originally Posted by Swagile
