Overview
(Not) A short guide to Combat Extended.
Intro
NOTE: This guide is written both out of boredom and under the assumption that you’re using the default CE settings and that you read CE’s workshop page.
ANOTHER NOTE: As of July 5th a revised guide is being worked on. In all honesty this guide is just messy. Obviously its rather annoying that 1.3/Ideology is coming out soon, but it doesnt seem theres much in terms of combat that is coming out in Ideology, so hopefully it’ll stand the test of time. Link to it will be posted where when its completed.
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When playing with many mods, you might see weapons overlap. (ex. multiple AK-47’s, multiple throwing axes, etc.) Try to limit this, it just gets annoying.
CE: More Guns – Only add this if you’re playing without a lot of mods. This mod is supposed to fill the gaps in vanilla, no point in it if you have mods that already do that.
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Vanilla Expanded Collection – All mods are compatible EXCEPT laser weapons (may or may not be true by the time you’re reading this)
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Rimsenal Collection – Choose and pick what you want. Enhanced Vanilla could add crossover weapons (multiple charge weapons).
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Gun Nut collection – Great set of guns in a couple of mods, too lazy to provide download links.
If I forgot about a mod, I might add it to this list. No guarantees.
This guide was written for 1.2. There has been many changes to CE over the years, I doubt that all of this guide will still hold up for 1.3 if it ever comes out.
Ammo
Who would’ve thought that reloading is a thing???
You need different work benches to make different ammo. Basic arrows are produced at a crafting spot. You’ll need a smithy to produce musket balls. Most ammo ranging from .44 Magnum to .50 BMG of all types are produced at a Loading Bench, researched via Machining. You won’t need gunsmithing research to make ammo. Charged ammo (6x24mm, 6x18mm, etc.) is produced at a Fabrication Bench after researching Charged Munitions. Mortar shells and grenades are made at a Machining bench. Advanced ammo types (Incendiary, High-Explosive, Sabot) must be unlocked via the Advanced Ammunition research.
Your colonists will auto reload, but you can force them to reload with a certain ammo type when you select them, drafted or not. They can’t reload when moving. Reload speed is determined by shooting skill, manipulation and equipped gear.
There are different calibers used in different guns. Some ammo types are only used in 1 gun (ex. .22 LR in ZIP 22), yet some others are used in many guns (5.56×45 NATO in 5+ guns depending on mods). Different calibers generally hint at what type of weapons fire it. .45 ACP is fired in pistols and SMG’s and 14.5mm x 114mm is used in heavy machine guns and anti-tank rifles. Dubs Mint Menus helps searching for specific ammo types.
High caliber rounds do not have hollow point, and pistol/SMG ammo does not have advanced ammo.
Different ammo types also vary in steel/component cost.
Regular Ammo
-Full Metal Jacket (FMJ)
FMJ is your regular, all-purpose ammo type. While it’s not very effective against heavy armor, it works on both unarmored and lightly armored targets, like enemies with basic flak armor. Depending on the gun, it may or may not penetrate an armor vest. Effectively a jack of all trades, master of none.
-Hollow Point (HP)
HP rounds deal increased damage, for half the armor penetration. Effective at mowing down tribal scum, but good luck getting an HP round through an armor vest.
-Armor Piercing (AP)
AP rounds do you think they do. Doubles armor penetration but deals less damage. Used against more armored targets. Avoid using on tribal scum.
-Armor Piercing High-Explosive (HE)
HE rounds are not actually armor piercing, and the base damage/armor penetration is the same as FMJ. However, on-top of the regular damage, the explosive component deals extra damage to your victims. Effectively an upgraded version of FMJ.
FSX, extracted from explosive animals needs to be used in the production of this ammo type, as well as the Advanced Ammunition research.
-Armor Piercing Incendiary (AP-I)
Standard AP rounds with an additional Incendiary component, dealing burn damage. An upgraded version of standard AP rounds.
Promethum, harvested from the explosive blazebulb plant needs to be used in making AP-I rounds. Build a temperature controlled room and some hydroponics to safely grow blazebulbs.
Note: Both FSX and Promethum can be bought from traders.
-Sabot (Sabot)
This type of ammo, built with uranium, punches through even more armor than AP rounds, but deal even less damage. Only use against the most armored targets such as the Empire’s Cataphracts.
Charged Rounds
Guns that fire this sub-category of ammo are spacer-tech and tend to be very expensive. Charged ammo requires plasteel and components, making large use of charged weapons very expensive. This ammo also deals a small amount of explosive damage, similar to HE rounds.
-Charged (Charged)
The FMJ of charged rounds. Once again a jack of all trades.
-Concentrated (Conc.)
The armor piercing equivalent for charged rounds. Deals less damage for twice as much armor penetration.
-Ion (Ion)
An anti-mech ammo type. Does an EMP stun on hit.
Note: In the past, Ion used to be similar to hollow point, I think anyway.
There is also charged shotguns which I’m too damn lazy to do.
Shotgun Ammo
These ammo types are used in shotguns. The majority of shotguns fire 12 gauge, including the vanilla shotguns, the double-barrel, and many modded shotguns.
-Buckshot (Buck)
Standard shotgun pellets. Emits a spread of bullets that deals massive damage to unarmored targets, often downing or killing in one blast. Bounces off most armor.
-Slug (Slug)
Single large projectile for use against armored targets. While at first it doesn’t seem like it deals much sharp penetration, it deals massive blunt damage. I recommend that you use this on slow, armored targets, such as the Insectoid Queen. Slugs cost more steel to make than buckshot.
-EMP Slug (EMP)
Regular slugs with an EMP blast for use against mechs. Costs extra steel and components to make.
-Beanbag (Beanbag)
Has anyone ever used these? Beanbags are used to down a target without any injuries. They cause muscle spasms (I think?) that downs a target. Useful for riot control or trying to capture prisoners for labor/organs.
Explosives
These ammo types are loaded into mortars, flak cannons, or handheld grenade launchers.
-High Explosive (HE)
These cause an explosion and fragments that deal extra damage. Requires FSX to make.
-Thermobaric/Incendiary
These cause burns and flames. Requires prometheum to make.
-EMP (EMP)
Causes electrical burns and stuns mechs. Requires extra components to make.
There also might be buckshot “grenades” for launchers, just works as a bad, long ranged shotgun.
In order to better understand a gun’s damage and armor penetration stats, click the “Caliber” category in its info tab.
Example:
Gearing Up
Note: What I equip my colonists with will differ from yours. If you think you should not do this/do this, do it, nothing is stopping you.
Quick summary of the loadout tab:
The revolver icon is all ranged weapons, ranging from LMG’s to short bows.
The sword icon is melee weapons.
The 3 bullets are all ammo types.
The 4th icon are minified items.
The ? icon are general items, mainly ‘any ammo for [gun]’ and any drug, any meal, and any meds.
The final icon is every single item in the game, modded or not.
My first tip is that your colonists should be using the same loadout for easy ammo mangement. Instead of having to mess with 6 different ammo types, all of your colonists can be armed with weapons that fire 5.56x45mm NATO and 7.62x51mm NATO.
For ammo, your colonists should carry an approriate amount of ammo. Heavy sniper rifle? probably only 2 or 3 mags. Trigger-happy + Full auto + Supressive fire + LMG? Hundreds of rounds.
Also, attempt to phase out FMJ and normal AP rounds for HE and AP-I for the extra damage.
If your colonists are equiped with long-ranged snipers, try giving them a side arm, such as an M1911 and a couple magazines. Colonists should also carry a melee weapon for close quarters or if they run out of ammo. Just carry a simple knife in your loadouts.
The type of ammo your soliders should be using depends on their gun. SMG or pistol? Probably not doing anything against armor no matter what type, load with hollow point. Sniper? Sabot or AP-I for armored targets, HE for everything else. Equip your fighters with different ammo types for different situations. For regular rifles, avoid HP rounds as FMJ/HE will likely be as effective and for much more situations.
Get bionic implants with whatever mods you want (personally I use EPOE). Get full arms/legs to stop bleeding and try to maximize sight and moving for combat. Make a couple super soliders who just have insane gear and insane bionics to handle everything but centipedes.
If you can make it, get your colonists Go-Juice and yayo. You’re mass-farming flake anyway, right?
Both drugs reduce supression and increase move speed. Yayo is much cheaper but has much less benefits than Go-Juice. Make sure not to take too much to form an addiction and don’t risk an overdose and take both back to back.
Benefits of Go-Juice include:
-50% less supression
-+5 mood
-Increased sight, manipulation, moving, and consciousness.
-Nearly no pain, increasing consciousness even more.
Don’t be scared to equip your colonists with too much ammo. You never know how long a firefight will last.
-Use whatever is affordable and that you can mass produce. No point in making charge LMG’s if you can only make 1 LMG and 1 batch of ammo.
-No point in using a gun if its range is too short to actually use. Shotguns and SMG’s only work in close combat, and enemies with long range weapons could easily camp out your colonists.
-If you don’t have access to guns (medieval/tribal start), avoid bows and stick to melee. Bows deal practically no damage and the lightest armor can and will deflect a steel arrow. Either steal guns off of pirates and research machining to reload them, or research gunpowder (vanilla expanded) and make muskets/flintlocks.
-How much stuff you can hold depends on your movement in health. 100% moving = 40kg carrying. 50% moving is 20kg, and 200% moving is 80kg. Power armor and other gear lets you carry extra mass if it says so in the info tab.
-Mass includes guns, ammo, and equiped gear
-Gear quality affects armor value. Higher tiers give higher armor. Good is 15% extra, excellent is 30%, masterwork is 50%, and legendary is 75%. Poor/awful decrease armor.
-Gear health affects armor value. Below 80% starts reducing the health. Repair gear using some modded stuff.
-All of your colonists should have tactical vests and regular backpacks. Tactical vests increase reload speed and both increase bulk capacity, allowing your colonists to carry more stuff.
-Different materials have different armor values. Hyperweave, devilstrand, and sythamide (rimefeller) are all very effective for sharp protection. For gears that need ‘steeled’ stuff, plasteel provides 2x as much protection than steel, and is a bit lighter.
Pre-Industrial
Research plate armor and equip melee fighters with (heavy) plate armor and shields. Vanilla Expanded adds a lot of medieval era armor. Get ranged characters with lighter armor, they probably won’t need it. Research devilstrand and grow some, devilstrand gear can provide extra armor, and you’ll need devilstrand for power armor down the line.
Post-Industrial
Research flak armor and make flak pants, jackets, armor vests, and helmets at a machining table. Make sure to get down some cotton to make flak armor. Devilstrand flak armor provides extra protection and so do plasteel vests.
CE by itself adds 2 new armor pieces, the composite helmet and composite vest. They need devilstrand, and provide more protection than the normal flak armor, but has much less health. A couple gunshots will destroy it or damage it to the point where it’s useless.
Depending on what mods you have, there might be some extra gear. Vanilla Expanded brings extra strong advanced armor vests, and full riot gear that acts as a weak power armor. Rimsenal also brings Protective Gear (or something like that) which deflects smaller rounds.
All powered armor is pretty expensive, in both labor and cost. Power armor increases carrying and bulk capacity, so it’s very useful if you don’t have bionics.
If you can’t afford full power armor for everyone, at least get everyone with a recon helmet, increasing aiming accuracy and providing protection to the full head.
While the different powered armors have different costs and researches, they have different stats.
Gear stats for sharp armor. Bigger number = better.
Italics might not be correct.
All stuffable gear is steel or cloth. Plasteel is 2x as strong as steel and devilstrand is twice (I think) as strong as cloth.
Vanilla, Combat Extended, and Royalty
Armor vest: 8mm RHA
Composite Vest: 12mm RHA
Flak Jacket/Pants: 2.5mm RHA
Simple Helmet: 4mm RHA
Composite Helmet: 8mm RHA
Recon: 16mm RHA
Marine: 20mm RHA
Cataphract (Royalty): 28mm RHA
Recon Helmet: 12mm RHA
Marine Helmet: 16mm RHA
Cataphract Helmet (Royalty): 20mm RHA
Plate Armor: 2.5mm RHA
Vanilla Expanded (some of it anyway, half of it is probably wrong)
Pre-Industrial:
Heavy Plate Armor/Helmet: 3.75mm RHA
Guardian Armor/Helmet: 3.75mm RHA
Light Plate Armor/Helmet: 2.5mm RHA
Wooden armor: 0.9mm RHA
Post-Industrial:
Riot Gear: 6mm RHA
Advanced Armor Vest: 10mm RHA (might be 12)
There’s also heavy power armor which I’ve never actually used. Probably more than 20mm RHA.
Combat
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Here’s my ♥♥♥♥ guide to fighting mechs. Made this in 1.1, many things still stand.
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Here’s my less ♥♥♥♥ guide to fighting specifically centipedes. Made after this guide.
Don’t build standard vanilla killboxes. Build a big open area with no enemy cover and turrets. Include AT weapons such as flak cannons and autocannons.
You’ll notice that there are different firing types. All ranged weapons have aimed fire, snapshot fire, and supressive fire. Aimed is basically the default. Snapshot shoots faster, but with less accuracy. Supressive fire works like snapshot, but will still fire at enemies even if they’re supressed or ‘hunkered down.’
Depending on what gun you have, you’ll be able to also use either automatic, burst, or single shot mode.
Auto fires a large burst (6 for most rifles, 10 for most LMG’s), but has a lot of recoil, making it hard to hit a target from a large range. When combined with a machine gun and snapshot/supressive fire, it can pin enemies in one spot. Burns through ammo and very effective in close quarters.
Burst shot fires 3 shots on most rifles and 5 shots on most LMG’s. Nice balance of damage and hit chance. Goes through ammo slower. In most situations, I recommend you use burst.
Single shot does what you think it does. Mainly for saving ammo and shooting distant targets. All ranged weapons have access to this fire type.
General Combat
-Take cover behind rocks, a hill, or a tree if there’s no other option. Any cover is good cover.
-Use appropriate ammo types. Tribals? Probably not gonna use sabot rounds. Mechanoids? Hollow point is going to do SO much damage to a centipede.
-Use explosives against groups of targets. The explosion and fragments will
-If you’re trying to down people, don’t use regular guns. They’ll cause massive bleeding and bleed out in 1-2 hours. Use fire, beanbags, or blunt weapons. Everyone is also immune to instant kills, organ harvesting will be much easier.
– (Royalty) Call in royal aid for centipedes. Trust me, you’ll need it.
When playing defense:
-Set up sandbags, traps, and a couple turrets and other basic defenses around a chokepoint. They’ll help a lot.
-Use supression. The attackers will be unable to fire back if they’re pinned down.
-Clear out any cover for attackers.
-Try and pick off attackers using a sniper, assuming you have one. Don’t piss them off.
-Use mortars. They’re actually useable in CE and shells have be buffed.
When playing offense:
-Avoid using short ranged weapons when trying to attack a base, unless if you’re dropping straight in or fighting pre-industrials. Snipers that can one-shot pirates, assault rifles, LMG’s, or grenade launchers are all very effective.
-Bring extra ammo. The firefight is going to last (unless tribals).
-When fighting sieges, get your most geared up guy (preferably with increased movement speed/yayo/go-juice) to try and bait the siege into assaulting, or try to hit and run with a grenade launcher if there’s a lot of grouped up siegers.
-Try and avoid vague quests (ex. there are 6 pirates. 6 naked guys with clubs or 6 mercenaries with power armor and shield belts? 6 tribals or 6 settlers are a lot more safe to do).
-Charge Blaster turrets are DEADLY. They’ll blow off limbs and destroy organs, deal nearly 50 damage per hit and penetrate cataphract armor. Mortar them if there’s no shield. Only try and snipe it if there is a shield.
-Use different mortar shells for different things. Incendiary shells are used on people (mostly tribals) and have a massive explosion radius. High-Explosive are all purpose and can be used on everything, mainly on structures. EMP are only for mechs. Anti-grain warheads destroy literally everything and are useful for a last-ditch effort. Foam shells also exist.
Some Sidenotes
As mentioned above, CE does add 2 new resources
FSX – High-explosive chemical extracted from Boomalope sacks, it is used in a variety of industrial and military applications.
While it says boomalopes, you can also gather a smaller amount from boomrats. If you’re playing with Rimefeller, it can also be produced from chemfuel.
Prometheum – Military-grade incendiary agent, ignites on contact with oxygen. The raw resource is used to craft incendiary ammo of all kinds.
Prometheum is harvested from the new Blazebulb plants, requiring at least 6 growing skill to sow. With the temperature over 28c/82f, the plant will self-combust, extra deadly with CE’s smoke. Grow blazebulb in temperature controlled hydroponic rooms.
Remember, both of these resources can be bought/sold from traders.
Shield belts are basically unchanged. Make sure melee colonists are equipped with them.
Researching guns and armor are pretty damn important in a mod called Combat Extended. Research them ASAP unless if you have more important stuff to do.
You can view a lot of weapon stats from the info tab.
-Bulk of item
-How many shots for full auto/burst
-Range
-Melee Armor Penetration
-Magazine capacity and reload time
-How accurate the weapon is (sights, sway, spread)
-Melee DPS/Damage per hit
-If it’s usable with shields
Conclusion
Well that’s this guide. Pretty sure this took 4 years off my life. Might add some extra stuff to it in the future.