Going Medieval Best Defense Layout
The best defense layout is the one your settlement can build, staff, repair, and retreat through when a raid does not follow the plan. Rather than presenting a single “proven” killbox, this guide gives you a layered design framework and separates official behavior, community ideas, and claims that still need a current-version test.
Evidence note: The current 1.1.x line includes updated gate and defensive-structure behavior. Exact trap damage, wall HP, pathing rules, height bonuses, and ideal corridor dimensions are not stated here as facts unless they are verified in the current save.
A Layered Layout That Can Be Tested
| Layer | Purpose | Safe recommendation | Test first |
|---|---|---|---|
| Approach control | Make the settlement entrance readable and manageable. | A planned approach can concentrate attention and reduce the number of decisions during a raid. | Confirm how raiders choose paths in the current save. |
| Gate or portcullis line | Control access and create a fallback point. | Use the current gate behavior shown in the game panel; do not assume gates behave like ordinary doors. | Test open, locked, damaged, and repaired states. |
| Ranged position | Give defenders a protected place to attack from. | Elevated and covered positions are common community designs, not automatically proven damage bonuses. | Test height, merlon cover, range, and accuracy instead of quoting a bonus. |
| Fallback area | Keep the colony from depending on one entrance. | A second defensible position reduces the cost of a breach. | Check whether colonists can reach it without crossing unsafe traps. |
Start With the Entrance, Not the Killbox
Choose an entrance that your settlers can reach during normal work and during an alarm. A defense route that requires crossing your own traps, hauling through a narrow corridor, or walking past an open breach is a maintenance problem even if the screenshot looks efficient.
Use the terrain and buildings to make the defensive problem smaller, but do not assume that every hill, wall, or narrow path creates a fixed combat bonus. Record what the current save actually does before turning a layout preference into a mechanic claim.
Keep a fallback position behind the first line. The goal is not to guarantee that no raider reaches the settlement; it is to ensure that a damaged gate or breached wall does not immediately expose food, beds, research, and production.
Gates, Tall Gates, and Portcullises
The Prisoners & Gates update added or documented gates, tall gates, and portcullises. The official update notes that gates and portcullises have deliberate open/locked behavior rather than simply acting like ordinary doors, and that damaged structures can become passable until repaired. That makes repair access and a fallback entrance part of the layout—not optional polish.
Current-save test checklist
- Test the structure when open, locked, and damaged.
- Check whether a damaged gate or portcullis becomes passable at the current threshold.
- Confirm how much repair is needed before it can close again.
- Make sure settlers can reach the repair point without entering the enemy route.
- Record the game version and take a screenshot before publishing an exact rule.
Traps and Chokepoints: Use as a Design Hypothesis
A narrow route, trap corridor, or curved approach can be a useful design hypothesis: it may make enemies easier to observe and may buy defenders time. It is not automatically a verified “killbox.” The companion chokepoint guide should record the pathing test separately so this page can stay focused on the whole-base layout.
Good to record
Entrance location, safe settler route, fallback line, gate state, repair access, and what happened in the raid test.
Do not assume
A fixed 3-tile width, a fixed trap rhythm, guaranteed enemy pathing, exact damage, or a universal height multiplier.
Three Practical Layout Templates
1. Starter enclosure
Build the smallest enclosure your settlers can defend and repair. Keep one controlled entrance, a clear route to the defenders' positions, and enough interior space to retreat. Treat this as a temporary survival line rather than a promise that the first wall stops every raid.
2. Controlled entrance
Add a gate or portcullis line and place ranged positions where settlers have a clear view of the approach. Keep traps optional until their trigger behavior and settler safety have been tested. Use the layout to make the enemy route legible, not to claim an automatic damage loop.
3. Fallback stronghold
Separate essential production and beds from the first line. Add a second defensible point with its own repair route. This is the most reliable late-game improvement because it still helps when the first entrance fails or a siege changes the shape of the fight.
Claims Removed From This Version
This revision does not publish the old fixed values for trap damage, trigger counts, wall HP, corridor length, wall spacing, high-ground accuracy, merlon damage reduction, or a “sally port” building. “Side gate” or “sortie route” is used instead because the official materials checked for this update do not establish sally port as a named building.
Sources and Verification Boundary
Last reviewed: August 3, 2026. Exact combat and pathing claims require current-version testing.