Overview
Want to build the best defences ever? Want to frustrate your enemies?This guide has the tips and tricks to let you do just that!Includes theory, advanced building techniques and examples!*FROM V11*
Theory
Players defend the flag.
This might seem like an obvious point but it’s worth exploring a little. Your squaddies can act and react, move around and change kits to what is needed. That is to say that it is more important to build defences that will keep your squaddies alive than things like turrets because player xXxbob360xXx is more versatile than a 50 cal.
Strategy
A defensive FOB ideally should be built on a defence flag (or soon to become a defence flag). Building off flag raises the possibility of the enemy getting between you and the flag you are trying to defend. Building on flag isn’t always possible but should be the aim.
The enemy probably won’t be polite enough to let you build everything you want. Therefore, you need to prioritise what to build and in what order.
Here is a handy build order (it is by no means law but will be applicable 99% of the time).
1. Place the radio, HAB and ammo crate somewhere safe and close to each other.
Use natural features to protect your HAB, with everything close for easy access and defence.
2. Build stuff that will help to secure the general area.
Block off or build up primary defence points. See case studies for examples of what I mean.
3. Build up stuff that will protect people spawning at the HAB.
Have a quick think about how grenades, mortars and sharpshooters might affect spawning and movement from your HAB to where the defenders are needed. Build stuff like indirect fire shelters.
4. Build all the other stuff you want.
The Toys
I won’t go over everything you can build, just the stuff worth commenting on.
Barbed wire: 99% of the time barbed wire is useless. This is because it is easily destroyed and doesn’t offer any cover.
Hesco walls: These are amazing but expensive. Make sure you have logi runs going if you are planning to build a lot of these.
Hesco blocks: Cheap, explosive resistant cover and can be used to block off roads against vehicles. All round good stuff.
TOWs: These are VERY expensive, both in build points and in ammo to run it. Because of this you are mostly better off relying on your LATs/HAT to deal with enemy vehicles and use the build points on other things until you have resources spare.
Oil drums: You can build these mid-air if you balance them on raised environmental objects like trash, boxes and tire piles.
Sandbags: These can also be used as a step up for shooting over walls a little too high.
Advanced Construction
Sandbag Meshes: By only half building sandbags before placing the next layer, you double the resulting sandbag walls durability. In the picture below, you can see it took 2 grenades to destroy the conventional sandbag wall, while taking 4 to destroy the mesh.
Explosive resistant corners: By using oil drums or Hesco blocks, you can create blind corners for attackers. You can’t really aim side to side while vaulting so the attackers will be at the defenders’ mercy while the animation completes. Plus, these act as grenade traps, protecting defenders from thrown grenades. See below for two examples.
Placing HABs like a pro: When placing a HAB inside a building, play close attention to the floor. It will tell you best where it will end up (identify the boundaries of the HAB, red lines are used to illustrate these in the below picture). If you are backed up against a wall, players will not be able to fit in that gap once the HAB is built, so take a step forward if you need that space.
Case study: Al Basrah – Village
When planning a defensive FOB, have a think about where the enemy is likely to shoot from (red arrows), where they will move in from (yellow arrows) and thus, where the primary defence points are (blue bars)
Note that the HAB and radio are on the second floor, protected and out the way, with oil drums acting as grenade traps in the courtyard. A ladder is placed just behind the pillar, letting defenders get up on the roof.
Case study: Narva – Castle
So, first we think about how the enemy will attack and identify primary defence points (red for enemy fire, yellow for enemy movement and blue for primary defence points).
We build our radio and HAB inside one of the buildings on the second level of the castle to maximise the amount of natural cover for us to use (and height advantage).
We then use Hesco walls to block off the primary defence points. The enemy can still vault some of these, but it does make it harder for them, and shooting a player mid vault is easier than trying to shoot them while they are behind cover.
We then place indirect fire shelters to break up line of sight from the north to the HAB, and to act as mortar and grenade cover.
Finally, we build the extras, like turrets, making fire tunnels and barbed wire traps.
This is all very resource expensive but on modes like Invasion you should have constant logi runs going anyway.
I hope this guide has given you some ideas on how to build a good defensive FOB.