BlockFactory:Defense

Defense keeps your factory standing while you build. Towers shoot at attack groups, War Golems and nests in range, even when no player is nearby. Walls hold the creatures up so the towers have time to work. Like everything else in Block Factory, defense is logistics: towers need ammunition, oil or power, and your factory has to deliver it. For the creatures themselves see Enemies.

Towers

	Gun Tower	Flame Tower	Rune Tower
Epoch	0	3	4
Unlocked by	Start	Flame Towers	Rune Towers
Size	2 × 2	2 × 3	2 × 2
Supply	cartridges in its inventory	Light Oil from a pipe (rear right)	1 MW of electric power
Range	18 blocks	12 blocks	24 blocks
Fire rate	10 shots per second	3 bursts per second	2 beams per second
Damage	5 per shot (Cartridge), 8 (Steel Cartridge), 16 (Uranium Cartridge)	20 per burst	40 per beam
Uses	1 cartridge per 10 shots	1 unit of Light Oil per burst	power only
Health	400	250	1,200
Recipe	10 Iron Gear + 10 Copper Plate + 20 Iron Plate	30 Steel Plate + 15 Iron Gear + 10 Pipe T2	10 Rune Slate + 10 Steel Plate + 5 Processing Unit

At full fire a Gun Tower deals 50 damage per second with plain Cartridges, 80 with Steel and 160 with Uranium Cartridges. A Flame Tower deals 60 per second and a Rune Tower 80.

All towers pick their target the same way: first the nearest attack group, then a War Golem, then the nearest nest. A tower built within range of a nest slowly destroys it. Damage that a creature does not need carries over to the next creature of the group, so no shot is wasted.

Gun Tower

• Use it to open its inventory and put cartridges in, or let Grabbers fill it. Only ammunition fits.
• It loads the cartridges in the order they lie in its slots. One cartridge gives 10 shots, so at full fire it uses one cartridge per second.
• After about 5 seconds without ammunition it shows the "No ammunition" icon, and the warning "A Gun Tower is out of ammunition" appears.

A belt of cartridges running past a row of Gun Towers, with a Grabber at each tower, keeps a wall supplied without you.

Flame Tower

The Flame Tower needs no ammunition. Connect its pipe connection (rear right) to a supply of Light Oil (see Oil Processing and Fluids). It keeps a small store of up to 20 units and burns 3 units per second while it fires.

Rune Tower

The Rune Tower needs no ammunition either, but 1 MW of power from your grid (see Power). Without power it stops firing.

Walls

Walls are 1 block wide and 2 blocks high. They connect to neighbouring walls like fences, also across wall types, and to Gates. Creatures cannot climb over them: they have to break through, and while they do, your towers shoot at them.

	Wall	Epoch	Unlocked by	Health	Recipe
	Wooden Walls	0	Start	350	3 Wood → 2
	Brick Walls	1	Masonry	700	5 Brick
	Concrete Walls	2	Concrete	1,200	5 Concrete
	Iron Walls	4	Fortification	1,800	4 Iron Plate + 1 Steel Plate → 2
	Reinforced Concrete Walls	4	Fortification	3,000	4 Concrete + 1 Steel Beam → 2

Other buildings hold much less: belts, rails and pipes 60 to 180 health, most machines 250. The Buildings page lists the health of every building. Damaged buildings show cracks; mend them with a Repair Kit.

Gate

	Epoch	Unlocked by	Health	Recipe
Gate	2	Gates	700	1 Brick Walls + 2 Steel Plate + 2 Electronic Circuit

A Gate is a door in your wall. It opens when a player of its team comes within about 2.5 blocks and closes again behind them. Creatures never open it, and players of other teams cannot either. Walls on both sides connect to it.

Rangertower

	Epoch	Unlocked by	Size	Power	Range	Recipe
Rangertower	2	Rangertower	3 × 3	300 kW	160 blocks	1 Trapped Outlander + 10 Steel Plate + 10 Wood + 5 Electronic Circuit

An Outlander scout sits in the lookout. It does not shoot. While the tower has power, every nest within 160 blocks is marked on your map, and attack groups within that range show up on the map as they move, so you see an attack coming before it arrives. In multiplayer, only the tower's team sees what it spots.

Warnings

• "Your factory is under attack!" appears with a warning horn when creatures damage or destroy a building, or when a group sets off towards your factory. Attacks in the same area (64 × 64 blocks) count as one, and the warning stays active until 30 seconds after the last hit.
• "A Gun Tower is out of ammunition" appears without sound while a tower shows its "No ammunition" icon.
• A warning of the same kind is not shown again within 60 seconds, so a long fight does not flood your screen.

Tips

• Put Gun Towers behind walls, close enough that their 18 blocks cover the wall and a little beyond.
• Defend the loud parts of the factory first. Attack groups aim for the noisiest place (see Enemies).
• Keep the towers supplied. A wall without fire only delays the creatures.
• Upgrade the cartridges: Steel Cartridges deal 60 % more damage in a Gun Tower, Uranium Cartridges more than three times as much.
• Explosives such as TNT and Grenades are described under Weapons and Armor.

See also

• Enemies
• Weapons and Armor
• Vehicles
• Teams and Raids