Base Defense Layouts
Wall shapes, tower mixes, and the ammo and power that keep them firing. How to stop waves from overrunning a base that looks like it has enough towers.
At a glance
| The threat | Periodic waves of aliens beeline for your structures. Bigger, higher-tech bases draw bigger waves, including Omega bosses. |
| Walls | Two or three layers with gaps, shaped into a star fort or cross to funnel enemies into kill zones. |
| Towers | Layer by range: anti-swarm up front, AoE and armor-piercing at the back. |
| The catch | Towers fire until ammo runs out, then go inert. Ammo and power are the real defense. |
The single most common way a defended base falls is not too few towers. It is towers that ran dry, or buildings that lost power and shut down.
Wall shapes
- Use two or three layers of walls with gaps between them. Many large enemies do AoE damage, and spacing the layers limits how much wall a single hit removes.
- Build a star fort or cross shape. It funnels enemies into minefields and gives towers overlapping fields of fire.
- Use protruding, jagged outer walls to reduce the surface area enemies can hit at once.
- Find where waves beeline (map edges and the shortest paths to your base) and concentrate defenses and corners there.
Tower composition
Layer by range and damage type:
| Position | Towers | Job |
|---|---|---|
| Front | Flamer, Minigun, basic gun towers | Shred small, fast swarm enemies |
| Mid | Medium-range damage | Hold the middle |
| Back | Artillery, Heavy Artillery, Railgun | AoE on big targets; Railgun punches through front targets to hit rear ones |
A practical baseline mix is Artillery plus Railgun plus Minigun: AoE, armor-piercing single-target, and rapid anti-swarm together. Add Radar to extend artillery range.
Do this in order
- Wall in layers with gaps and shape the base into a star fort or cross.
- Place anti-swarm towers (Flamer, Minigun) on the front line where waves arrive.
- Place Artillery and Railgun at the back, with Radar to extend range.
- Build Tower Ammo Factories proportional to your tower count and feed them Carbonium and Ironium.
- Confirm energy production exceeds total draw so nothing shuts down mid-wave.
Watch out for
- Towers without ammo. They stop firing and become decorations. One cited rule: 10 units/second of carbon and iron covers roughly 2 Armories and 3 tower ammo facilities.
- Energy falling below draw, which cascades into shutdowns across the base.
- One thick wall instead of spaced layers. AoE hits delete stacked walls at once.
- Over-expanding, which silently raises wave size against you.
Related: Weapon Loadouts, Base Building and Power, and Bosses, Waves, and Hazards.