Lethal vs non-lethal FOBs

By changing between the two settings, the equipment used to defend your FOBs changes. This affects:
- The weapons guards use
- Security equipment (cameras, mines, etc.)
- The armour guards wear

On top of this there are three different range settings you can set the guards to have, close, mid, and long range. This guide will go over each of the ranges in their respective lethal and non-lethal settings, with a section given to each describing the equipment they use. Following this, there will be a section discussing their advantages and disadvantages when it comes to defending against stealth intruders and PVP. If you are already aware of the equipment each setting uses and just want to read about how they fare against stealth and PVP players, feel free to skip ahead to the appropriate section.

These are the same across the range types and only change depending whether the platform has been set to lethal or non-lethal.

- Guards wear battle dresses: they are highlighted when viewed with NVGs but provide greater defence for the guards as well as protection against tranquiliser rounds
- Hand grenades
- Gun cameras
- Lethal mines
- Lethal UAVs
- Lethal mortars
- Lethal gun placements (and similar equipment) - Guards wear sneaking suits: although they provide lower defences and no protection against tranquiliser rounds, they do not glow when viewed with NVGs
- Guards wear gas masks: this renders them invulnerable to smoke and sleep grenades
- Stun grenades
- Regular cameras
- Sleep mines
- Smoke UAVs (up to grade 6) or sleep UAVs (grades 7-11)
- Sleep mortars
- Non-lethal gun placements (and similar equipment)

If the guards are disarmed they will use a lethal pistol even if they are set to non-lethal. Non-lethal guards can also start throwing hand grenades if they are unable to fulton you and if you hide under a structure.

Both lethal and non-lethal FOBs use motion sensors which will trigger an alarm when either the item it is placed next to is extracted or (if grade 7 or above) when walked near. This will prompt a guard to investigate and raise a soft alert if it has not already been done so.

Note that guards will be in regular combat fatigues when set to grade 1-2. Additionally regardless of the FOB setting guards will receive a helmet from grade 4 onwards and will wear NVGs from grade 6 onwards.

It is possible to override the armour the guards wear (regardless of grade) by enabling the setting for the guards to wear swimsuits. This is only really done for charity FOBs to deliberately make it easier for intruders.

The assault rifle is used across all security settings.

- Lethal assault rifles
- Lethal machine guns
- Lethal rocket launchers
- Lethal SMGs - Stun assault rifles
- Sleep rocket launchers
- Riot SMGs (stun rounds)

- Lethal assault rifles
- Lethal sniper rifles

- Non-lethal assault rifles
- Non-lethal sniper rifles

Both have guards that use shields with their respective SMGs.

- Lethal assault rifles
- Lethal SMGs
- Lethal shotguns - Non-lethal assault rifles
- Non-lethal SMGs
- Non-lethal shotguns

There is an almost unanimous answer to this - lethal snipers. This is in part why most high level FOBs are set this way. This setting offers multiple benefits that make stealth infiltrations even more difficult:
- Snipers are the best at being able to spot intruders. Once a soft alert has been raised, all snipers will have their detection range drastically increased - especially when the intruder causes noise or other disturbances.
- The battle dress makes non-lethal stealth more difficult as the guards can only be shot with tranquiliser rounds where their eye socket is.
- Lethal mines cannot be easily walked past and their explosion will raise a soft alert on top of drawing the snipers' attention to you (if the explosion was triggered next to you).
- With the correct set up with custom mines and cameras, it is possible to make it almost impossible to avoid raising a defender alert (note - a soft alert and defender alert is different, a defender alert is raised as soon as any security equipment is destroyed, however triggering a mine in itself does not).

Although non-lethal snipers also possess superior detection range, the fact that they wear sneaking suits makes them much easier to deal with as the WU S.PISTOL +SB is able to tranquilise them with one shot.
The non-lethal guards having gas masks certainly does offer the great benefit of being immune to sleep grenades, however they can be substituted for stun grenades and the benefits of having a lethal defence outweighs the small advantages non-lethal has.

Unlike the previous section this does not have as clear of an answer. As mentioned before, most high level FOBs are set as lethal snipers which do definitely have their strengths in PVP however it is my opinion that the other settings are often disregarded - especially non-lethal.

One big difference is that in PVP it is less vital for the guards to spot the intruder since the defender can easily do it for them (which is made considerably easier with stun grenade launchers) and raise the combat alert that way. That said, snipers still have their strengths in PVP mainly in their ability to better spot and mark the intruder compared to other guard types. On top of this lethal snipers are one of the few types of guards that is able to force a hard knockdown on intruders from a distance, able to interrupt their momentum. Non-lethal snipers are not capable of doing this and are thus much less threatening.

However, sniper shots can easily be dodged simply by staying mobile and they do relatively less damage compared to other weapons. In contrast this is where mid-range shines, it is capable of shredding through the intruder's health (or stunning them in the case of non-lethal) if guards with machine guns and assault rifles are close enough. Although they will struggle with hitting the intruder from a distance (which will often be the case since most PVP players use a sniper as their main means of eliminating guards) they pose a threat if the defender approaches, forcing them to be careful with their aggression.

Close range guards have one big strength that the other two do not offer; their shields make them much harder to neutralise and thus increase the chances of the intruder running out of time before they can wipe out the FOB. Non-lethal guards are also harder to spot due to the fact that they do not get highlighted when viewed with NVGs, potentially making the intruder spend more time finding them. This is particularly important in PVP since as long as guards are still active the combat alert will not immediately stop resulting in the intruder not being able to reach the core.

One of the biggest weaknesses of non-lethal FOBs is that they struggle to be able to neutralise the intruder as their only option is to either force a timeout or fulton them. Unless you were knocked out right next to a guard it is usually possible to wake up before the guards can fulton you (especially on keyboard and mouse, with these you can wake up in around 3 seconds). However with the presence of a defender this negative is mitigated as the defender is able to neutralise the intruder themselves if they are knocked out by the security guards or equipment.

Mortars - both lethal and non-lethal - present a danger to the intruder if left alone. Lethal mortars are able to neutralise the intruder in one hit if it is a direct hit. That said, distant explosions do not do so much damage. On the other hand, sleep mortars are particularly threatening in PVP given that one of the main goals for most PVP players is to knock out their opponent. The gas they leave behind can also create pressure and prevent the intruder from advancing.

The damage dealt by lethal UAVs is usually of not much concern even at grade 11 however in contrast sleep UAVs are very dangerous for intruders as they are able to swiftly tranquilise the intruder. That said, most PVP players will reduce the security grade to 6 which will turn the UAVs to smoke ones which are quite weak in comparison (the only thing they are really capable of outside of spotting the intruder is making them cough if hit directly).

Although I mentioned before that lethal mines are the best against stealth intruders, the same cannot be said for against PVP players. Lethal mines deal minimal damage against players who are wearing the highest grade armour and they can be easily dived over to cancel the hard knockdown they induce. Sleep mines on the other hand are more dangerous in PVP matches given that intruders will most likely be running around for majority of the match. Stepping on a mine is likely to knock the intruder out which as mentioned before is a particularly precarious situation to be in for PVP. Custom placed sleep mines can also be placed at spots intruders often run to in order to catch them by surprise - something my mines have been able to do multiple times. At the very least the sleep mines will force the intruder to use up time waking up.

Non-lethal FOBs are also able to deplete auto-wormholes and energy walls quicker, acting as an obstacle to players who are heavily reliant to them.

If your main concern is protecting your FOB against stealth infiltrators then the best choice is to set your FOB to all be lethal snipers as well as setting an effective camera and mine block to ensure that a defender alert is always raised.

On the other hand if defending against PVP players is your main concern (and you plan to defend) then there is no one answer on how to contruct your defences. There are strengths and weaknesses to each setting and it is up to you - with all of their traits in mind - to decide which is best for you.