Fortifying a tower

Capturing a tower is only half the job. To hold it once the Hot Zone arrives, you need a Forward Operating Base (FOB) with fortifications. That’s Support’s job.

1. Place a FOB

1. Buy a FOB kit from the equipment vendor: Items → Building tab. It’s expensive (around $7,500) and takes up a lot of inventory space.
2. Equip it and hold LMB until the base deploys. A perimeter appears on the map — that’s your build area.
3. You can place a FOB anywhere except your own HQ. The community recommends putting your first FOB at the tower closest to your HQ.

2. Load building supplies

Everything is built with Building Supplies. Buy them in the same tab (Items → Building) and deposit them into the FOB through its computer. The computer also shows all of the base’s stock: building supplies, fuel, ammo and spare parts.

3. Build with a hammer

Place a structure inside the perimeter, then hit its yellow markers with a hammer until it’s finished. Your hammer decides what you can build:

Hammer	What it builds
Small	Sandbags, barbed wire, hedgehogs, recon tent. Since Season 2, the wooden step
Medium	HESCO blocks and walls, doors, gates, loudspeakers. Since Season 2, the large shelter. Unlocks through the Support class
Large	Heavy structures: mortar, anti-air emplacements, drill. Since Season 2, the M2 Browning MG nest. Fastest build speed

Since Season 2 the medium hammer contributes less per swing, and critical spots give a smaller bonus. The large hammer’s build rate is unchanged. Hammers can no longer breach doors or gates; only the Halligan bar can.

Building supply costs (Season 2)

Structure	Was	Now
Wooden Step (Wood Base in the notes)	—	15
Bremmer wall	15	32
Door	22	80
Gate	85	200
Air raid shelter, bunker, crow’s nest	100	200
Large Shelter (new)	—	250
L81 mortar	150	600
Stingray	150	650
MG Nest (new)	—	650
Talon 9K-SAM	1,000	650
Vanguard CIWS	1,500	1,200
Hot Zone Magnet	2,250	2,750

The mortar now costs four times as much, so plan your supplies ahead. Other buildable changes are in the Season 2 breakdown.

4. Tower defence layout

• HESCO perimeter. Close off approaches and direct lines of fire onto the base and tower.
• Barbed wire on infantry approaches: it won’t stop the enemy, but it slows them down under your fire. Since Season 2, barbed wire kills pay no cash or XP. Barbed wire and sandbags can now go on top of Bremmer walls.
• Hedgehogs on roads — against vehicles.
• A recon tower or recon tent that can see the outer walls.
• The tower entrance and stairs. The enemy has to clear the tower from inside to capture it, so hold the stairs and the control room.
• A mortar inside the perimeter to cover approaches and snipers on enemy tower catwalks. How to fire it — see the mortar guide.
• An anti-air emplacement if the enemy flies troops in by helicopter.

Caution

A weak base is worse than none: half-built walls become a trap for your own team. Only build what you can supply and defend.

5. Supply

Fortifications and base weapons run on the FOB’s stock. Someone has to keep hauling building supplies and ammo — in a backpack or as pallets on vehicles.

Since Season 2, base weapons cost more to keep running:

• Mortar restocks 150 from munition supplies instead of 75, and a new loading animation lowers its rate of fire.
• Talon reloads in 5 s instead of 2 and restocks 200 instead of 50.
• Drill rig needs at least 2,000 fuel to start (was 1,500) and runs for at most 300 s instead of 375. It now holds up to 10,000 fuel instead of 7,500. A destroyed rig can’t be replaced right away: the post-spawn cooldown went up sharply. More in the mortar guide and the Driver and Pilot guides.

Builders get paid

Building pays a little cash per action plus Support XP. The real value of fortifications is holding the tower and the Hot Zone — that’s where your team earns the most. Payouts are in Income by action.