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Surprised Seagull
Surprised Seagull
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Sand bags are also good against weather - wont be blown away like steel sheets. Good against fire weapons - even if bags will burn, the bulk, sand, wont burn. It is much more bullet proof than plywood or thin steel sheet. It provides cover against explosions, unlike lighter steel sheets that will be blown away. Sand bags are also not rusting and cheap to cover or replace. And even in case of earthquake sandbags are easy to put back in a wall. Sandbags are also used against flooding - they prevent the water from flowing, unlike almost any other solution. Closest alternative would be trenches, or lower-than-ground structures in general. But those are damp and require about 10 times as much work to do. Sandbag structure can be comfortable and dry, and even have much larger span, where trench-like structure would require massive excavation. Stones could be used in a similar manner as sandbags, but they require much more work to fit them, either with stone chipping, concrete filling or time consuming stone selection. Neither is anywhere as cheap, while the end result is similar. Stones are also much more rare to find, so delivery distance will be greater, whochwhich is bad, especially in hostile territory. Sandbag structure can be expanded from locally sourced material almost anywhere on the planet.

For this cheapness of sandbags plays a major role again. Bunker defence idea goes like this: long corridors are ending with a gunspot, in a way that to reach the gun area, people must walk down the long corridor. Same works with sandbags labyrinth, even if there is no ceiling in that area. Main idea is to make all the defence directed one way - so that whenever people move from outside to inside - they are always seen. But when people walk from inside to outside - less so. This also simplifies detection - less places to put a signal traps. And helps with the car - car wont be able to ram through many sandbags. And if people will try to just climb the bags, they can be seen from the central structure that is taller. Bunker defence type of labyrinth may seem expensive, but it gives just unthinkable advantage to the defenders. Just a few people can stop hundreds of attackers. And labyrinth can be used for storage, less expensive items from outside. Labyrinth made of walls going outside in zigzag, rather than normal walls that simply surround protected area.

Next level is to make free area all around the labyrinth to provide line of sight. Remove tall plants, ideally leave empty soil to remove any chance of cover for the incoming forces. This is where sandbags are useful again - the process of filling them in this area provides this territory without vegetation. Flamethrower, even high pressure one, needs to come closer, and lack of area to hide makes that much harder. With mortar it is a different story. It can fire further than the line of sight, and there is nothing that you can do about it. Labyrinth provides good protection statistically, chances to be close to a place that a mine will hit is low. And sandbags provide a good protection from shrapnel. If opponent is using modern mines, with proximity sensor, that explode several meters above the target, some sort of ceiling is needed. Solution in general is to use mortsrmortar of your own. Or if not, just wait. It will takes many tons of mines roto make sure that such a labyrinth will stop defending. In particular gunspots at the end of straight paths could be used as reinforced spot, with ceiling and added protection, to make sure that not even infantry advancement during the borbardment will help.

Sand bags are also good against weather - wont be blown away like steel sheets. Good against fire weapons - even if bags will burn, the bulk, sand, wont burn. It is much more bullet proof than plywood or thin steel sheet. It provides cover against explosions, unlike lighter steel sheets that will be blown away. Sand bags are also not rusting and cheap to cover or replace. And even in case of earthquake sandbags are easy to put back in a wall. Sandbags are also used against flooding - they prevent the water from flowing, unlike almost any other solution. Closest alternative would be trenches, or lower-than-ground structures in general. But those are damp and require about 10 times as much work to do. Sandbag structure can be comfortable and dry, and even have much larger span, where trench-like structure would require massive excavation. Stones could be used in a similar manner as sandbags, but they require much more work to fit them, either with stone chipping, concrete filling or time consuming stone selection. Neither is anywhere as cheap, while the end result is similar. Stones are also much more rare to find, so delivery distance will be greater, whoch is bad, especially in hostile territory. Sandbag structure can be expanded from locally sourced material almost anywhere on the planet.

For this cheapness of sandbags plays a major role again. Bunker defence idea goes like this: long corridors are ending with a gunspot, in a way that to reach the gun area, people must walk down the long corridor. Same works with sandbags labyrinth, even if there is no ceiling in that area. Main idea is to make all the defence directed one way - so that whenever people move from outside to inside - they are always seen. But when people walk from inside to outside - less so. This also simplifies detection - less places to put a signal traps. And helps with the car - car wont be able to ram through many sandbags. And if people will try to just climb the bags, they can be seen from the central structure that is taller. Bunker defence type of labyrinth may seem expensive, but it gives just unthinkable advantage to the defenders. Just a few people can stop hundreds of attackers. And labyrinth can be used for storage, less expensive items from outside. Labyrinth made of walls going outside in zigzag, rather than normal walls that simply surround protected area.

Next level is to make free area all around the labyrinth to provide line of sight. Remove tall plants, ideally leave empty soil to remove any chance of cover for the incoming forces. This is where sandbags are useful again - the process of filling them in this area provides this territory without vegetation. Flamethrower, even high pressure one, needs to come closer, and lack of area to hide makes that much harder. With mortar it is a different story. It can fire further than the line of sight, and there is nothing that you can do about it. Labyrinth provides good protection statistically, chances to be close to a place that a mine will hit is low. And sandbags provide a good protection from shrapnel. If opponent is using modern mines, with proximity sensor, that explode several meters above the target, some sort of ceiling is needed. Solution in general is to use mortsr of your own. Or if not, just wait. It will takes many tons of mines ro make sure that such a labyrinth will stop defending. In particular gunspots at the end of straight paths could be used as reinforced spot, with ceiling and added protection, to make sure that not even infantry advancement during the borbardment will help.

Sand bags are also good against weather - wont be blown away like steel sheets. Good against fire weapons - even if bags will burn, the bulk, sand, wont burn. It is much more bullet proof than plywood or thin steel sheet. It provides cover against explosions, unlike lighter steel sheets that will be blown away. Sand bags are also not rusting and cheap to cover or replace. And even in case of earthquake sandbags are easy to put back in a wall. Sandbags are also used against flooding - they prevent the water from flowing, unlike almost any other solution. Closest alternative would be trenches, or lower-than-ground structures in general. But those are damp and require about 10 times as much work to do. Sandbag structure can be comfortable and dry, and even have much larger span, where trench-like structure would require massive excavation. Stones could be used in a similar manner as sandbags, but they require much more work to fit them, either with stone chipping, concrete filling or time consuming stone selection. Neither is anywhere as cheap, while the end result is similar. Stones are also much more rare to find, so delivery distance will be greater, which is bad, especially in hostile territory. Sandbag structure can be expanded from locally sourced material almost anywhere on the planet.

For this cheapness of sandbags plays a major role again. Bunker defence idea goes like this: long corridors are ending with a gunspot, in a way that to reach the gun area, people must walk down the long corridor. Same works with sandbags labyrinth, even if there is no ceiling in that area. Main idea is to make all the defence directed one way - so that whenever people move from outside to inside - they are always seen. But when people walk from inside to outside - less so. This also simplifies detection - less places to put signal traps. And helps with the car - car wont be able to ram through many sandbags. And if people will try to just climb the bags, they can be seen from the central structure that is taller. Bunker defence type of labyrinth may seem expensive, but it gives just unthinkable advantage to the defenders. Just a few people can stop hundreds of attackers. And labyrinth can be used for storage, less expensive items from outside. Labyrinth made of walls going outside in zigzag, rather than normal walls that simply surround protected area.

Next level is to make free area all around the labyrinth to provide line of sight. Remove tall plants, ideally leave empty soil to remove any chance of cover for the incoming forces. This is where sandbags are useful again - the process of filling them in this area provides this territory without vegetation. Flamethrower, even high pressure one, needs to come closer, and lack of area to hide makes that much harder. With mortar it is a different story. It can fire further than the line of sight, and there is nothing that you can do about it. Labyrinth provides good protection statistically, chances to be close to a place that a mine will hit is low. And sandbags provide a good protection from shrapnel. If opponent is using modern mines, with proximity sensor, that explode several meters above the target, some sort of ceiling is needed. Solution in general is to use mortar of your own. Or if not, just wait. It will takes many tons of mines to make sure that such a labyrinth will stop defending. In particular gunspots at the end of straight paths could be used as reinforced spot, with ceiling and added protection, to make sure that not even infantry advancement during the borbardment will help.

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Surprised Seagull
Surprised Seagull
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I love this setting. A bit like the colony (2010) reality tv show, and some parts of the walking dead, where they build the base. I always wanted shows to be more about this base building and less about just scavenging and fighting.

I would define goal as how to build a base spending the least resources, that would allow to defend against an opponent with the most resources possible. This way most opponents will not be interested in attacking, either because of the high cost of the attack itself, or low cost of the stored goods in comparison.

Concrete is of course better than sand, but it is also much more costly, especially if you consider complexity of getting it done, grinded and fired, after all the big machines are left far away or destroyed, and transportation cost becomes high. Metal is likely also to be too costly for the main structure, it is much better be used for tools, to pay for some active defences. So main part of the structure I would say to be made of sand, in particular sand bags. The bags themself can be mass produced even in low tech society, as long as fabric and sewing machine is present. They are also stored en mass in military bases, for this exact goal, fortifications.

Cloth itself, even plastic, will degrade under the UV, so the walls will have to be covered in paint or plaster or even dirt, and regularly updated. Not just for the looks, broken bags will not hold the sand as well.

Sandbags can be used to build several stories buildings too. Floor is to be made of timber, as only it can hold this type of load that floor needs.

Sand bags are also good against weather - wont be blown away like steel sheets. Good against fire weapons - even if bags will burn, the bulk, sand, wont burn. It is much more bullet proof than plywood or thin steel sheet. It provides cover against explosions, unlike lighter steel sheets that will be blown away. Sand bags are also not rusting and cheap to cover or replace. And even in case of earthquake sandbags are easy to put back in a wall. Sandbags are also used against flooding - they prevent the water from flowing, unlike almost any other solution. Closest alternative would be trenches, or lower-than-ground structures in general. But those are damp and require about 10 times as much work to do. Sandbag structure can be comfortable and dry, and even have much larger span, where trench-like structure would require massive excavation. Stones could be used in a similar manner as sandbags, but they require much more work to fit them, either with stone chipping, concrete filling or time consuming stone selection. Neither is anywhere as cheap, while the end result is similar. Stones are also much more rare to find, so delivery distance will be greater, whoch is bad, especially in hostile territory. Sandbag structure can be expanded from locally sourced material almost anywhere on the planet.

So far this gives protection from small firearms, fire weapons and small explosives, gives good firing position, allows to build massive structure even with small workforce, quickly and cheaply. Next level of threat is a perimeter breach, using trained troops at night or armored car, both are much more expensive.

For this cheapness of sandbags plays a major role again. Bunker defence idea goes like this: long corridors are ending with a gunspot, in a way that to reach the gun area, people must walk down the long corridor. Same works with sandbags labyrinth, even if there is no ceiling in that area. Main idea is to make all the defence directed one way - so that whenever people move from outside to inside - they are always seen. But when people walk from inside to outside - less so. This also simplifies detection - less places to put a signal traps. And helps with the car - car wont be able to ram through many sandbags. And if people will try to just climb the bags, they can be seen from the central structure that is taller. Bunker defence type of labyrinth may seem expensive, but it gives just unthinkable advantage to the defenders. Just a few people can stop hundreds of attackers. And labyrinth can be used for storage, less expensive items from outside. Labyrinth made of walls going outside in zigzag, rather than normal walls that simply surround protected area.

At this point only heavier equipment can provide any sort of advantage. In particular high pressure flamethrower and mortar - they are effective against light bunkers and such structure.

Next level is to make free area all around the labyrinth to provide line of sight. Remove tall plants, ideally leave empty soil to remove any chance of cover for the incoming forces. This is where sandbags are useful again - the process of filling them in this area provides this territory without vegetation. Flamethrower, even high pressure one, needs to come closer, and lack of area to hide makes that much harder. With mortar it is a different story. It can fire further than the line of sight, and there is nothing that you can do about it. Labyrinth provides good protection statistically, chances to be close to a place that a mine will hit is low. And sandbags provide a good protection from shrapnel. If opponent is using modern mines, with proximity sensor, that explode several meters above the target, some sort of ceiling is needed. Solution in general is to use mortsr of your own. Or if not, just wait. It will takes many tons of mines ro make sure that such a labyrinth will stop defending. In particular gunspots at the end of straight paths could be used as reinforced spot, with ceiling and added protection, to make sure that not even infantry advancement during the borbardment will help.

Next level is siege. It cost time, and that is the most costly thing. To make sure that you are fine with it, make sure to have as much supplies as possible. And a large labyrinth helps with it. In particular rain collectors and solar pannels, all require area, and being able to protect this area makes required siege time almost impossibly long.

Next level is chemical weapons, forest fire, river flooding the whole area. They are especially good against bunkers, as those elements often heavier than air and go down. Not having a lower-than-ground structure helps a lot here. Having large area free of vegetation helps - it prevents forest fire from coming closer, it makes wind stronger, allowing smoke and gas to disperse quicker. In particular curdistan cooling tower can help a lot - provide cooling in a hot day, and also help with removing toxic gases much faster than any bunker ventilation could. Sure, fancy bunker ventilation can be better if it is really scaled up, but cost will be extreme. And against flooding sandbags are placed in entrances - allowing water to rise higher than the floor level, but not letting the water in, in extreme flooding people may take refuge in a central rower that is higher. Labyrinth of sandbags will make sure that at least dangerous surge of water is broken down into softer water increase. This way even in extreme case, like broken dam, the labyrinth will get partially destroyed, but not the central tower.

For any more significant threat this settlement will require much more people. And I would advice to have as much population united as possible, as this allows for even cooler defences.

Expenses: sewing machine and people knowing how to use it, parts and oil (1000 usd), generator and lots of fuel (1000), lots of fabric for bags and rain collector (1000), a few guns (1000), solar panels and batteries (1000). And a few months of work to fill the bags and put them in place.