User:Admiral Zubr/Defending with CE

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Summary

Combat Extended significantly changes the paradigm of combat in Rimworld, adding a degree of both ease and difficulty. Notably, combat can be much more punishing even with small mistakes, so be careful and always plan out your moves beforehand. Seemingly insignificant decisions could be a matter of colonist or even colony survival.

Structural defenses

One of the main points of CE is how, playing late game on higher difficulties, a killbox is not necessary (although you can still make one) to survive. Making a solid defense for your colony relies upon several factors, including the location, available materials and even number of pawns. Generally, you want sandbags or barricades for your initial defense. Keep in mind that, while sandbags can never burn, barricades are susceptible to fire if they are made of flammable materials such as [[wood] or steel. If you don't want to or cannot build either of these, rock chunks are an extremely quick way to throw up even some cover. Sandbags/barricades make it so those ducking behind them are totally protected except for their head, which has a greatly reduced chance of being hit compared to normally standing. Headshots are often deadly and almost always incapacitating although not a certain death as many believe. Barbed wire and traps can prove an impediment, the latter often fatal, to raiders and animals.

Later on, embrasures are a good option. Embrasures are highly protective, render manhunter animals almost totally impotent and prove a major impediment for melee raiders, although they expose the torso of the pawn hiding behind them. As a torso shot has a massively increased chance of hitting a vital organ in CE, your colonists are far from impunity with these. Embrasures can be used for both external (such as in a wall) or internal (at vital chokepoints inside your colony) defense, giving them massive utility. Keep in mind that turrets can be placed behind embrasures. A good bunker design would have embrasures along with solid walls to avoid being hit, fully roofed and well-lit to increase the chances of hitting a target. Place sandbags or barricades directly in front of the embrasure to minimize explosive damage and barbed fire in front of said sandbags so raiders cannot get close and fire right through the embrasures.