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RimWorldis not a calming game; if you want to build a thriving settlement on the rim, you’ll have to deal with waves upon waves of raiders first, and that means you’ll want the best possible defenses you may find: a killbox.
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Killboxes are the lifeblood of any experienced RimWorld player. These intentional openings in your walls are like honeyed traps, waiting for the raiders to walk in before turning suddenly and indisputably deadly. A well-made killbox will let you fight off forces ten times your strength, but what goes into a good killbox? Keep reading to learn about four of the best killbox designs out there and how you can build them in your own colony.
The Classic Killbox
The classic killbox is a design most players arrive at after a bit of trial and error. The overall concept is very simple:focus the raiders into a small tunnel while having as many colonists firing at them as possible.However, even if you’ve built this type of killbox for yourself, there are a few key refinements that can help you take it to the next level.
There are many different shapes that this design can take, but one is clearly superior.The best shape for a classic killbox is a half circle with a one-square entrance in the center of the flat side.The other half of the circle should be stuffed with as many firing positions as possible, and each of those positions should have a wall with sandbags or barricades to the left and right of it. This ensures that your colonists get maximum cover when firing on raiders.
The improvements don’t stop there. You’ll also want to ensure that there’s a bend in the path to this killbox just before the opening, andthis bend should be filled with barricades or sandbags.Doing this will keep raiders from hanging out in the entrance in an attempt to secure some cover to fire back from.
To make this killbox work as well as possible, make sure you have enoughtop-tier colonistswith good weapons to fill in all the firing positions you’ve set up.This design is easy to build and scale up as you go along,so don’t hesitate to build it in the early game.
Flaws Of The Classic Killbox
This design has a few notable flaws. It has a harder time dealing with massive raids as your enemies aren’t slowed much once they enter the killbox.There’s a very real worry of being overwhelmed by numbers in the late game.Additionally, mechanoid enemies can dish out significant damage in the short time they stay alive.
To cover these flaws,consider placing a few turrets on the flat part of the killbox next to where the raiders enter.These turrets will likely become the raiders' first target and could buy you some valuable time to thin out the attack. You should also consider moving one of the firing positions closer and equipping whoever is stationed there with an EMP grenade. This grenade stuns mechanoids and disables shields, making it easier to take out high-priority targets.
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The Trap Tunnel
The trap tunnel is a classic early-game killbox that perhaps makes the most of limited resources. Trap tunnels are just like how they sound: a tunnel full of traps. Most raider path finding ignores the placement of traps, soas long as there is an open path into the base, they will opt to take it,even if that path happens to be lined with enough traps to kill a Thrumbo.
The primary advantage of the trap tunnel is thatit can handle small- and medium-sized raids without ever putting your colonists at risk.They never have to fight directly, so you never have to worry about losing one to a stray bullet. This is a great way to defend your colonywhen you’re starting out.
To make a trap tunnel, simply build a long, winding passage that connects to the walls around your base. This passage should be two spaces wide at all points.Along one wall, build traps any time you’re able to, and along the other wall, build fences where the game lets you.If you follow these rules, you should naturally end up with this pattern which lets your colonists move through this tunnel without worry while forcing raiders to move over the traps.
Flaws Of The Trap Tunnel
The trap tunnel has one glaring flaw: material costs.Every time a trap springs, it destroys itself, forcing you to rebuild it after the raid ends. In this way, the trap tunnel is effectively trading material resources for an easy way to deal with raids.
Additionally, this strategy doesn’t work in the late game.Even on normal difficulties, raids can get so big that you’d need a colossal trap tunnel to even have a hope of killing them all this way. This killbox is a good tool to help you through the early game, but you shouldn’t try to hold onto it for too long.
The Burn Box
The burn box is another classic RimWorld killbox that looks for a more passive solution to raids.Burn boxes use the fact that very hot rooms deal damageto everyone in it to take out even massive raids in short order.
You can build a burn box by first creating a long, winding passage made of flameproof material. Some type of stone is usually your best bet. The passage is closed off with doors set to be held open, and at the end isa decently sized room with a flammable floor and a piece of furniture in the center.When a raid starts, you simply draft a pawn that has a fire-based weapon, like Molotov Cocktails, The Flame Bow, or an Incendiary Launcher, and have them target the piece of furniture in the small room from outside.
Fire-based weapons spew a bit of oil and catch surfaces on fire.This will end up lighting all the wood floors in the small room on fire and heating the burn box to incredible temperaturesquickly. These high temperatures will damage and slow any enemies trying to make their way to you. To make it even more effective, you can place Barricades, Chunks, Fences, or Sandbags every other space in the tunnel. This will slow down the speed of enemies dramatically.
Flaws Of The Burn Box
Burn boxes can take a bit of time to get startedas the fire spreads and heats the flammable room, and that startup time could mean that the first few raiders make it through to you. On top of that, you don’t want to start too late because, once the flammable material burns off, the temperature of the burn box drops dramatically.
When well-timed, this killbox can take on hundreds of enemies with just a single colonist, but that also depends heavily on what type of enemies you’re facing.Mechanoids and some new xenotypes from the Biotech DLC are more resistant to heat damageand can move through burn boxes quickly. This combo could lead to some raids completely making it through and wreaking havoc on your colony.
You’ll also have toreplace whatever material you burned offbefore the next raid starts, which will slowly eat into your wood reserves, and burn boxes have a habit of burning some of the loot you could’ve gotten from the raid.
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The Singularity Killbox
No discussion of killboxes is complete without talking about the famed Singularity Killbox. This is a finely tuned and compact version of a classic killbox that uses colonist firepower and enemy manipulation to deal with almost any type of raid in the game. It was discovered by members of the RimWorld community, and since its rise to fame,it has dominated the discussion around killboxes.
Building a Singularity Killbox is an exact science. Refer to pictures and try to match where ever block goes exactly. The basic concept is to have a small chamber filled with open doors which will slow enemies. At the end of the chamber, you place your best shooting pawns, and due to the specific dimensions of the killlbox,they will have a short window to kill enemies before those enemies can even fire back.
To complete the design,there is a pawn with an EMP grenade stationed near the back of the killbox behind a wall.This is to help stun mechanoids and disable shields that could negate your colonist' ranged damage.
Flaws Of The Singularity Killbox
This killbox doesn’t really have any specific flaws.It can handle much more than the game can throw at you,even at the hardest difficulty, so there’s not much to worry about when you have one built. However, some players opt to build the Singularity killbox, and the mod the game so that raids can be larger.
If there is any flaw to be mentioned, it’s thatthe Singularity Killbox might be too good.Using one can make the game feel trivial and boring. Raids become a waste of time instead of an exciting challenge.
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