TGMC:Guide to Base Building

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The FOB stands for Forward-Operating-Base. As the title suggests, it is meant to operate as a offensive base used to creating a hard-point for static defenses, resupply, and observation of enemy movement. This means that it must be capable of withstanding counter-offensives, resupply the marines, and is able to keep track of enemy movement, in this case, xenos.

This is a basic guide to tips and tricks of building a FOB during combat operations. This could mean the difference between Fort Knox that can last against a xeno attack for hours and a couch fort that crumbles at first contact.

Construction

Example of a bad FOB layout:

Here are several things that are wrong with this layout:

1. There is a way to go around the barricades.

A line of barricade is only as strong as its weakest point, in this case the xenos can just go around and take the (slightly) longer way to circumvent the barricades.

2. Bad line of fire.

In point 2 a xeno can slash the barricade from the tile next to the vent and take cover behind the wall to avoid being shot, turning it into a weakpoint.

3. Plasteel barricades not lined up.

These can cause issue by congesting foot traffic, between marines defending the FOB which can be fatal in certain circumstances. But otherwise it's not as much of an offending issue.

Example of a better FOB layout:

This is a basic guide to tips and tricks of building a FOB during combat operations. This could mean the difference between Fort Knox that can last against a xeno attack for hours and a couch fort that crumbles at first contact.

Construction

Barricade Formations

First lets talk about how the FOB is supposed to function in game-play. FOB stands for Forward-Operating-Base. As the title suggests, it is meat to operate as a offensive base used to creating a hard-point for static defenses, resupply, and observation of enemy movement. This means that it must be capable of withstanding counter-offensives, resupply the marines, and is able to keep track of enemy movement, in this case, xenos.

Do not block marines pathways, always make straight routes available so marines can counter attack.

Lets talk about how to set up the backbone of a FOB, the barricades.

There are many things wrong with this setup.

1. There is a gap in the wall.

Having even one weakness in a defense is asking for it to be exploited by the xenomorphs. Make sure to seal up all the weak points like vent exits, windows, and always make sure to raise the plasteel barricade back up if you are not using it (More about plasteel in defense section)

2. The barricade lines up with the walls.

This is bad because it means that xenomorphs are able to hit the barricade from behind a cover. Leave a 1 space between wall and barricade so they are unable to hit the barricade without having to expose themselves to open fire.

3. Plasteel barricades are not lined up.

If the plasteel barricades are not lined up, it will cause congestion. This is terrible if the marine has to make hasty retreat from an offensive, and they are unable to retreat to the Alamo quickly. Plasteel barricades should be lined up to remove as much space between each barricades.

A better way to have set this up would have been this.
Insert Image here

Static Defense

We can't always stay at the base to defend it, and sometimes we lack the manpower to defend all of the FOB. This is where static defenses come into play. Marines have access to many static defenses.

• Barbed Wires
• Razorsharp Obstacles
• Automated Turrets
• Heavy Smartguns
• Explosive Devices

Anything that can be used to deter hostile offensive is great for this role.

Barbed wire is the most common type of static defenses. It is cheap to make, only costing 2 metal per wire, and can be transformed into razor wires, which is great for keeping your main walls alive. It deters xenos as it damages them when they attack the wire, and it also increases health of the barricade it is applied to.

Razorsharp obstacles supplement barricades.

Automated turret is next. They are versatile, powerful, and very effective at keeping small skirmishes at bay. They are mostly used to make up for the lack of manpower at the FOB. They are much harder to acquire than barbed wires, but they make up for the fact that they are ranged and can effectively replace marines in times of need.

Heavy Smartguns are force multiplier for marines. A single marine on a mounted gun effectively becomes an automated turret, as the mounted guns have high DPS and large amount of ammo ready to fire. Because it is a smartgun, it has IFF, meaning that marines do not have to worry about friendly fire from the mounted gun (though humans without a marine ID will get hit). It is fantastic for pinning down a chokepoint.

And lastly, explosive devices. These are great as the xenomorphs will not be used to dealing with traps, especially claymores. Claymores are extremely powerful, as it can stun a xenomorph that gets in front of it, and can even kill it outright if their health is not full. These are perhaps even better at keeping skirmishes at bay, as xenomorph castes with low maximum health can be one shot by it. Do not put claymores near the barricades as xenomorphs will set these off and damage the barricades. Use a multitool to disarm claymores.

Defensive Structures

Barricade	Integrity	Armour	Cost	Misc Information
Metal	200	30 Bullet, 30 Laser, 30 Energy, 80 Fire, 40 Acid	4 Metal	-Can be upgraded using 1 metal. -Can have barbed wire attached.
Sandbags	300	80 Fire, 40 Acid	5 Filled Sandbags	-Requires no engineering skill to build quickly. -Has 50% more integrity than metal barricade. -Repairable with filled sandbags. -Can have barbed wire attached.
Plasteel	500	80 Fire, 40 Acid	5 Plasteel	-Can be opened and closed by clicking it with an empty hand. -Can be linked to other plasteel cades by clicking it with a crowbar, linked plasteel cades can be opened simultaneously. -Can have barbed wire attached. -Has 150% more integrity than metal barricade. -Has 66% more durability against acid damage than a caustic metal barricade. -Has 75% more durability than ballistic metal barricade against melee damage. -Has 25% more durability than concussive metal barricade against bomb damage.
Razorwire	100	No armour	4 Metal for 2 spools. Can also be made with 8 metal rods and 2 barbed wire for 2 spools.	-Not to be confused with barbed wire. -Damages xenos if slashed. -Cannot be pounced or climbed through. -Can entangle crushers and queen if they charge into it. Though just as likely to be destroyed from the charge -Can be electrified by placing cables connected to a powered APC terminal underneath. -Has 1/3rd the durability of unupgraded metal barricade against acid damage.
TL-182 Deployable Shield	300	35 Melee, 30 Bullet, 20 Laser, 40 Energy, 25 Bomb, 30 Acid	30 Requisition Points OR 3 points in the Engineer's Equipment Rack	-Can be placed/removed without needing any skills by ctrl+clicking a tile adjacent to you/click-dragging the barricade into your sprite. -A normal-sized item and can be stored on satchels and other containers. -Can have barbed wire attached. -Has 50% more integrity than metal barricade. -Has 60% more durability against melee damage than ballistic metal barricade, 130% more than an unupgraded one. -Has 18% less durability against acid damage than caustic metal barricade, but 30% more than an unupgraded one. -Has the same durability against bomb damage as concussive metal barricade. -Repaired with metal sheets if under 20% integrity.
Wooden Barricade	100	No armour	5 Wood	-Cannot have barbed wire attached. -Has 50% less integrity than metal barricade. -Cannot be repaired.

Barricade Upgrades

These can be applied on metal cades by clicking on them with metal sheets.

Except for the barbed wire which need to be made with metal sheets and can be used on any cades except for razorwire and wood.

Type	Armour	Cost	Misc Information
Concussive	50 Bomb	1 Metal	-Effectively doubles the barricade's durability against explosions.
Ballistic	30 Melee, 30 Bullet, 30 Laser, 30 Energy	1 Metal	-Lessens the damage of the Crusher's charge (melee damage), and Warlock's psychic blast (energy damage). -Effectively increases the barricade's durability by 45% against melee damage. -Effectively increases the barricade's durability by 75% against bullets, laser, energy without taking account of AP values.
Caustic	20 Acid	1 Metal	-Immunity from acid vomit melting the barricade. -Effectively increases the barricade's durability by 50% against acid damage.
Barbed Wire	+50 Max Integrity	2 Metal	-Damages xenos if slashed. -Prevents xenos from pouncing over the barricade, also blocks climbing through, remove with wirecutters.

Repairing Cades

Metal and plasteel can be repaired with a welder for 40 integrity per weld, unless they are under 20% integrity in which case they'll need 2 sheets of metal/plasteel to be brought back to a weldable integrity.

Sandbags can be repaired with filled sandbags for 20% integrity per bag.

Razorwire can be repaired with metal sheets for 20% integrity per sheet.

Walls can be repaired with a welder for 85 integrity per weld.

Deconstruction

Metal & Plasteel Barricades

Unless the barricade is at full health, you won't get all your materials back. Make sure it's repaired first with a welder if possible.

A barricade with acid on it will always only drop some of the materials back and never the barbed wire, make sure to cut the barbed wire cades with acid.

You can screwdriver, wrench and crowbar multiple cades simultaneously.

• Screwdriver and wrench the barricade, to put the barricade in movable state, use a wrench to lock it back in place. However, the cade's own facing will block its own movement, you can get around this by moving it in a zig-zag pattern.
• Use a crowbar to dismantle the barricade while it is in movable state.

Sandbags

• Use a shovel and click on the sandbag barricade, do NOT be on harm intent as you will attack the barricade and damage it instead, resulting in less sandbags recovered.

Razorwire

• Use a wirecutter on it Note: deconstructing razorwire only yields 4 metal rods and one barbed wire back

Emplacements

These can be deployed by ctrl+clicking a tile next to you with them as an item in active hand.

To undeploy, click-drag the sprite of the emplacements into yourself while standing next to them.

To repair, use an active blowtorch to weld.

Emplacement	Information	How to use	Damage
UA-571-C Sentry Gun	A deployable, slow firing, automated sentry with 500 rounds. Has 3 fire modes Automatic, Auto-Burst and Burst Fire. Fires in 4 round bursts. Radial reduces range instead by 2 Takes 6 seconds to deploy. 6 seconds to pick up. Manual Override allows you to control it, has a built in miniscope. Can be reloaded while in hand. 200 Health and 50 Armour. Built-in IFF System	Control click to deploy. Drag click to you to pick up. Alt click to remove mag only if deployed otherwise regular click if in hand. Can be repaired with a welder. Can be shot over.	25 damage 20 AP 0 Sunder 0.25 Automatic Rate of Fire 0.6 Burst Rate of Fire 8 Range
UA-580 Point Defence Sentry	A deployable, fast firing, automated sentry with 300 rounds. Has 3 fire mods Automatic, Auto-Burst and Burst Fire. Fires in 3 round bursts. Radial reduces range by 2 Takes 3 seconds to deploy. 3 seconds to pick up. Manual Override allows you to control it. Can be reloaded while in hand. 200 Health and 50 Armour. Built-in IFF System	Control click to deploy. Drag click to you to pick up. Alt click to remove mag only if deployed otherwise regular click if in hand. Can be repaired with a welder. Can be shot over.	20 damage 20 AP 0 Sunder 0.2 Auto Rate of Fire 0.4 Burst Rate of Fire 7 Range
TL102 Heavy Smart Gun	A deployable. fast firing, HSG with 300 rounds. Has 2 fire mods Automatic and Burst Fire. Fires in 3 round bursts. Has a mini scope. Can be turned around by clicking on any tile directly to the left or right of it. Takes 5 seconds to deploy. 5 seconds to pick up Can be reloaded while in hand. 125 Health and 50 Bullet Armour. Built-in IFF System	Control click to deploy. Drag click to you to pick up. Alt click to remove mag only if deployed otherwise regular click if in hand. Can be repaired with a welder. Can be shot over.	40 damage 40 AP 5 Sunder 0.25 Auto Rate of Fire 0.2 Burst Rate of Fire
T-27 Medium Machinegun	A deployable, faster firing, MMG with 100 rounds. Has only 1 fire mode Automatic. Can accept attachments. Can also be fired from the hand with heavy recoil. Can be turned around by clicking on any tile directly to the left or right of it. Takes 1 second to deploy. 1 second to pick up. Can be reloaded while in hand. 200 Health and 50 Bullet Armour. Only has IFF with Aim Mode.	Control click to deploy. Drag click to you to pick up. Alt click to remove mag only if deployed otherwise regular click if in hand. Can be repaired with a welder. Can be shot over.	30 Damage 10 AP 1.25 Sunder 0.15 Rate of Fire 0.25 Aim Mode Rate of Fire
MG-08/495 Heavy Machinegun	A deployable fast firing, HMG with 500 rounds. Has only 1 fire mode Automatic. Has a mini scope. Can be turned around by clicking on any tile directly to the left or right of it. Takes 8 seconds to deploy. 8 seconds to pick up . Can be reloaded while in hand. 150 Health and 50 Bullet Armour. Has no IFF be very careful.	Control click to deploy. Drag click to you to pick up. Alt click to remove mag only if deployed otherwise regular click if in hand. Can be repaired with a welder. Can be shot over.	40 damage 40 AP 5 Sunder 0.2 Auto Rate of Fire
Build-A-Sentry Attachment System	An rail attachment that when attached to an applicable gun can be placed like a sentry with the function of the gun attached to. 250 Health. Will not have IFF unless the gun has IFF built in like the T29 Smart gun.	Control click to deploy. Drag click to you to pick up. Alt click to remove mag only if deployed otherwise regular click if in hand. Can be repaired with a welder. Can be shot over.	Dependant on the gun it is attached to
Deployable Floodlight	A powerful portable light source. 200 health. Shines in a 15x15 tile radius.	Control click to deploy. Drag click to undeploy. Click with an empty hand to toggle. Can be repaired with a welder. Can be shot over.	Making dark areas bright.
M402 Mortar	A deployable mortar capable of firing 5 types of mortar shells. 200 Health. Takes 5 seconds to deploy the mortar. 5 seconds to pick up the mortar. Takes 2 seconds to fire. 9 seconds for shells to land. Does not have a skill requirement to use.	Control click the mortar while in hand to deploy. Wrench to pick up. Is inaccurate depending on how far away the target is. Every 10 tiles travelled is 1 tile inaccuracy which can be countered using the mortar Longitude and Latitude offset. Can be repaired with a welder. Can not be shot over.	High Explosive shells Incendiary shells Tangle shells Flare shells Smoke shells
ASRS Bluespace Teleporter Pad	A Teleporter pad Capable of teleporting Marines, Crates and Machinery. 200 Health. Can not be shot at or slashed only melted. Takes 2 seconds to deploy. 2 seconds to pick up. Needs either a powered APC to function or an inserted powercell.	Control click the teleporter while in hand to deploy. Wrench to pick up. Needs power to function. Can insert powercells to power it. Crowbar to remove power cell Can be repaired with a welder.	Logistics