All warfare is Based – Sun Tzu, emphasizing the importance of good base construction.
Current base-design thinking, and practice, is dominated by a focus on expansive bases with multiple layers of redundancy. While not disregarding redundancy altogether, I advocate for a different approach. I contend that a more compact base with a focus on a strong front line (a Strongline if you will) which can be easily manned and repaired with only a minor level of redundancy or layering is superior. In my opinion this approach better optimizes bases for Navigability, Force Concentration, Funneling, and Cost-Effectiveness at the expense of some Redundancy. Current base design seems to revolve around controlling as large a volume of the build-area as possible, pushing the base right up to the bug entry points. But this is not a necessary or efficient use of resources. The objective is to defend the ARC, not the surrounding area. Better to build a smaller cheaper base which better defends the ARC rather than a larger, more expensive, more difficult to navigate, and more unwieldly base which (poorly) controls a large area. This is the central concept of Strongline Design Theory. If you want additional detail but not the underlying theory, skip to the section labelled “Strongline Base Design.”
https://steamproxy-script.pipiskins.com/ugc/2038487968814540269/F8D1955DC8EE6D8C63F9CABD1C427F8F0CC3AB6B/?imw=256&&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

Figuring things out for yourself is the only freedom anyone really has – Jean Rasczack
In order to understand and compare the current theory of base design with my alternative theory, we must first describe the 5 Principles of a good base.

I. Navigability
Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter. -Churchill
Navigability is how easily and quickly troopers can traverse the base. Traversal includes: Combat Troopers moving from fighting position to fighting position to reinforce areas under heavy/special attack, Combat Troopers easily and securely exiting the base to hunt Grenadiers, and Repair Troopers easily and quickly checking and repairing base components.
Navigability is important because it allows Troopers to bring firepower and repairs where they are most needed and respond effectively to variations in distribution of threats across the line over time. Navigability is accomplished by having a more compact base with fewer interior fortifications blocking traversal. A low-navigability base will impede troopers from assisting each other or responding to changes in threats across the line and will function more as a series of smaller isolated bases than as a cohesive whole.

II. Redundancy
Redundancy is ambiguous because it seems like a waste if nothing unusual happens. Except that something unusual happens-usually. – Nassim Taleb
Redundancy is how well the base can tolerate a breach. It entails creating multiple layers of defense lines, compartmentalizing lines so that breaches do not grant the bugs access to a larger interior volume.
Redundancy is important because breaches are inevitable, and troopers must be able to contain and ideally patch a breach. Strong redundancy fighting positions enable this. Redundancy is accomplished by having more internal layers of fighting positions and by sealing/compartmentalizing areas of each line with further internal layers. A base with low redundancy will suffer catastrophically from small breaches as bugs are able to rapidly invade a large volume of the base.

III. Force Concentration
A major battle in a theater of operations is a collision between two centers of gravity; the more forces we can concentrate in our center of gravity, the more certain and massive the effect will be. – Von Clausewitz
Force Concentration is how well the troopers are to concentrate their firepower and repair capabilities along a narrow front. A narrow front with more troopers means firepower and repair capability can be used more efficiently and troopers can more easily support each other without having to travel a long distance. More troopers on a smaller area also minimizes the probability that a trooper will overlook/miss something (like a small bug slowly destroying the wall he is standing on) without his comrades noticing. This concept is somewhat more abstract than the previous concepts, so here illustrative example: an area of high force concentration would be a bunker which sticks out from a defense-line and enables a concentration of troopers within to engage bugs on 3 sides vs a long wall dotted with spread-out troopers.
Force concentration is important because concentrated troopers are able to support one another with equipment/deployable items and multiplies the value of these items. Force concentration can be accomplished by constructing fighting positions (ideally bunkers, but groups of walls/towers work as well) which enable troopers to cover a large area or chokepoint(s) while remaining near to one another. A base with poor opportunities for force concentration will make it difficult for troopers to assist each other and use equipment/deployables multiplicatively.

IV. Funneling
If you have an enemy, then learn and know your enemy -Denzel Washington
Funneling is how well the base directs bugs towards the intended defense/fighting positions. Funneling is closely related to and must be thought of in conjunction with Force Concentration. However, Funneling is more about understanding how the bugs will approach and react to the base.
Funneling is important because the bugs must be directed towards the fighting positions to…well…fight them. Additionally, a large, concentrated mass of bugs can be better engaged by AoE weapons. One can build the most navigable and concentrated fighting positions with superior redundancy, but that hardly matters If the bugs attack/concentrate elsewhere. Good Funneling can be achieved by understanding the Bug’s mind. The Bug strongly preferences the shortest and most direct routes to the ARC, by placing obstacles and fighting positions with this preference in mind one can direct defenders to these avenues, and good Funneling can be generated. A base with poor funneling will see the bugs spread over a large front or concentrate on an unexpected/less defensible section of front, typically leading to a breach.

V. Cost Effectiveness
Cost is more important than quality, but quality is the best way to reduce cost. -Genichi Taguchi
Finally, Cost Effectiveness is how well your base performs given the level of resources (“blue stuff”, “Baja blast”, “Smurf juice”, “blue raspberry flavoring”, “the good stuff”, etc.) has been gathered/invested. Cost effectiveness is more relevant in ARC mode than in the other mode but is still important in all cases.
Cost-Effectiveness is important because you can only gather so many resources/spend so much time before the bug attack begins or you must leave to do something else. Getting the most bang for your buck will help you to build your base quickly and finish out rounds to gain XP. Certainly, a bigger more expensive base is often ‘better’ than a smaller, cheaper one, but a smaller cheaper one may be good enough or even stronger in some areas and may be built much sooner so that the game can progress. A base with poor cost effectiveness may be unfinished by the time the bug attack begins or may simply take so long to finish that players become bored/stop having fun.

There are no solutions; there are only trade-offs. – Thomas Sowell
1. The Big One: Redundancy vs Everything Else
https://steamproxy-script.pipiskins.com/ugc/2038487968814553915/B553D72A7EA0FDA462537D753AE8D3BB03187B86/?imw=256&&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false
Redundancy is by far the most controversial and difficult principle to optimize for. This is because it is in opposition to every other principle. Additional interior walls and compartments make navigation more difficult, divide up defenders, make it harder to predict where bugs will engage, and increase costs dramatically. On the other hand, the occasional breach is inevitable, so some level of redundancy is required.
Be careful however, just because you have the resources does not mean you should add another interior or exterior wall, if adding that wall decreases navigability and concentration more than it improves your defensive redundancy. Layers can in fact be suboptimal, and my opinion on this has produced no small amount of onion-themed shrieking from mental midgets in VC. Weigh these factors carefully and keep this trade off in mind as you go, it is the easiest and most tempting balance to get wrong. As elaborated later, I advocate focusing more on building a solid line you can maintain/repair rather than a series of lines designed to fail.

2. Force Concentration vs Grenadiers
As it says in the Bible, God fights on the side of heaviest artillery – Robert Heinlein, author of science fiction classics you may have heard of.
Concentrating your force makes them more vulnerable to Grenadier artillery hits. Clustering your men or your defensive positions can make it easy for a single shell to severely weaken or even breach your defenses. However, for reasons elaborated under III. Force Concentration and IV. Funneling, the solution is not to spread your force along a broader front. Additionally, a broad front is no less vulnerable to grenadier fire as it is much harder to repair the damage or quickly respond to breaches in a large, broad front-style base. Instead, Grenadiers should be strongly prioritized and dealt with offensively. As soon as you or any other trooper are aware of Grenadier fire, repair the effected area and determine the direction of the Grenadier bug. An offensive team/squad should be dispatched immediately, and the remaining troopers rotated to cover whatever gaps may arise from sending a squad out of the base.

3. Force Concentration and Funneling vs Surface Area
Small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life -God, in his hit work The Bible (Mathew 7:14)
Critics of my approach have argued that maintaining a small front (a consequence of good Force Concentration and Funneling) weakens the base as the large mass of bugs are attacking a small surface area of wall/bunker and thus doing a lot of damage to a small number of props rather than a little damage to a large variety of props. They contend, not incorrectly, that this can increase the likelihood of a breach. I would argue, that while that is true, a smaller front is also far easier/faster to repair and has significant advantages in navigability, item-sharing, AoE weapon usage, and cost. For these reasons I argue that the trade off between Force Concentration/Funneling and the Surface Area (effectively HP pool) of the base, is strongly weighted towards minimizing Surface Area.

I know it’s getting a bit long, I apologize, bear with me.
A. Bunker Usage
They say I get into too many bunkers. But it is no problem. I am the best bunker player. -Seve Ballestros
Bunkers are by far the best defensive structure. They have extremely high health pools, defend multiple angles, and bugs cannot enter them. Bunkers should be the anchors of any defensive line and represent the best options for Force Concentrations and targets for Funneling. I recommend placing them directly along but routes to the ARC sticking out from the walls if possible and covering as many angles as possible. It is desirable to pull bugs onto bunkers rather than walls as their superior health and defensibility make them easier to defend and repair. A good base will maximize the surface area of bunker available for bugs to attack and will place bunkers so that they attack the bunker before the trying to hit the far weaker walls.
For example, here is a very simplified scenario of suboptimal bunker usage:
https://steamproxy-script.pipiskins.com/ugc/2038487968814560827/FE23C4CB739A7F7DF57DF4C45434F1DCFF9A9FFC/?imw=256&&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false
In this layout, the bunker effectively defends one chokepoint, and has line of sight on the other if the wall should fall, but it does not physically block the bugs on the right if they should breach the small wall.
Consider instead, the following usage:
https://steamproxy-script.pipiskins.com/ugc/2038487968814563677/23EB6C79E4B47142CA8A3C8F9F071E56E1D56AB9/?imw=256&&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false
In this layout, the bunker does not directly block the chokepoint, but does lie along the most direct paths between the bugs and the ARC from both entrances. This will naturally funnel the bulk of the bugs onto the bunker, where they can be easily destroyed. The bunker does not need to actually block the chokepoint, most of the bugs will still hit it rather than the surrounding walls if it is along the most direct path to the ARC. Rather than pulling some of the bugs onto a weak wall, this layout concentrates the bugs onto the far tougher bunker. In both examples, there would likely be additional defenses and terrain complications, but I have simplified this scenario to illustrate bunker usage.

B. Scale
Above all, keep it simple – Auguste Escoffier, providing some advice I perhaps should have heeded before I set out to write this damn thing.
As the previous example implied, a smaller more compact base can be superior to a large base. I will not belabor the point as I have previously mentioned it several times, but a smaller base is more navigable, cheaper, and concentrates both defenders and bugs in favorable ways. Even if you have extra resources, do not neuter a good compact base with strong external sight lines and internal navigability by adding unnecessary outer or inner walls. Keep it as small as possible and no smaller.

C. Ammunition Box Placement
Don’t be a damned ammunition wagon. Be a Rifle! – Carl R. Rogers
Ammunition is stored in the bunkers. Period. Every second the troopers run around the base retrieving ammunition is time they are not fighting or repairing. Put the ammo where they do the shooting, which if you’ve done your job well, will be the bunkers. Standardize this, make it law, ensure that never again will anyone be unsure of where to look to find ammo.

D. Electric Wall placement
Controversy is only dreaded by the advocates of error – Benjamin Rush, foreshadowing that I am about to piss everybody off.
Stop putting electric walls around the ARC. It is far better to use your limited supply of extremely powerful stunwalls to strengthen your frontline than to stick them far in the rear as a last-ditch backup for failure. The Strongline approach is all about committing to a strong front line which can be relied on not to fold. Electric walls are simply too powerful and too expensive to be used only as backup. Electric walls can be easily shot through and thus it makes the most sense to place them in front of bunkers as your first line of defense. They function best delaying/holding bugs off bunkers to increase bunker survivability. Place them in front of bunkers, in chokepoints if possible. When a front gets quiet, send a repairman out to repair them. Bunkers with forward E-walls is an incredibly strong and effective combo and should not be overlooked.

If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking - Patton.
To illustrate the practice of Strongline Base Design Theory, there is an attached example diagram. This example illustrates a simple but ideal base design. It is in a simplified environment without complex elevation changes, and with a centrally located ARC for clarity. Real implementation will necessarily deviate from this ideal configuration, but this provides a clear view into the fundamentals of Strongline design.
https://steamproxy-script.pipiskins.com/ugc/2038487968814571006/EB3A90E4904A3AB6E6EF86F1795C887F94400105/?imw=256&&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false
The ideal here is to hold a strong single frontline. Note that the interior of the base has open routes for troopers to navigate between positions, has only 1 very minor level of redundancy (the interior wall around the ARC), is compact to concentrate defenders in a few critical locations, funnels the bugs effectively onto those locations, and is extremely cost effective. This base would likely withstand attacks far stronger than its cost would suggest and could be built and manned quickly and easily. If you have extra resources, a second layer of exterior walls in some places to carefully reinforce vulnerable segments could be added, but I have kept the diagram simple to illustrate key principles.

Prevailing Base Design Theory: Aggressive Layering
I will also provide an example of the typical Aggressive Layering Type base design. This design is extremely expensive, usually pushes directly up to the entry points to try and control the entire area, then fills in layers of redundancy behind that. These layers are effective at containing breaches, but their difficult navigability, lack of force concentration, and ineffective funneling make it difficult to prevent, predict, or contain breaches. They are redeemed only by their immense redundancy, which unfortunately comes at a high resource cost. This arrangement is still superior to many of the bases where players randomly place walls, bunkers, and turrets, but it is far from optimal.
https://steamproxy-script.pipiskins.com/ugc/2038487968814571006/EB3A90E4904A3AB6E6EF86F1795C887F94400105/?imw=256&&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false
This layout, while suboptimal, would likely still survive, but would consume far more time and resources to construct.

1. Gates
Gates are generally bad. They break up your walls by not having a connecting raised walking area. They are often accidentally left open. They don’t speed up navigation as the time to open and close them is significant. And finally, they are redundant with walls and bunkers as both can be easily climbed. Gates are not needed, just build walls and bunkers unless you find yourself in the very specific situation of needing access up a ramp, in which case it is impossible to climb a wall/bunker. Gates have a small number of situational usages such as in tunnels where bunkers/walls are not easily climbable.

2. Build Order
Bunkers first, then ramp walls and walls, then auxiliary defenses. Fully plan out and lock in your 4 bunkers as soon as possible. Then build ramp walls and walls to seal off approaches completely. Finally, place turrets, towers, and electric walls as needed to complete your defense. Only then should you spend time or resources on costly redundant internal defenses.

3. Turret Placement Turrets are best placed in the center of bunker roofs. If you’ve done your job, the bunkers will see the most action and thus benefit the most from turrets. There is some argument for putting turrets on the bug-facing edge of bunkers, as this enables them to shoot down into bugs directly abutting the bunker. However, they can be more easily damaged by the bugs in this edge-placement, and having one more thing to worry about repairing is not optimal. If the bunkers and base have been designed with good Funneling, there should be plenty of bugs approaching but not yet abutting the bunker for a center mounted turret to engage at any time. Troopers inside can and should handle any that reach the bunker itself.

4. Tower Placement
Generally, depends on the terrain and situation. If no obviously preferable locations occur to you, placing them on the leading edge of the bunker is usually excellent. While they will take damage from bugs, it is less severe if a tower becomes damaged/destroyed than if a turret were at risk, and the bunker edge-mounted towers provide excellent forward firing positions/sniper nests.

5. Kill Mazes
I have not tested this yet, but I have seen it proposed so it bears mentioning. Instead of blocking bugs’ access to the ARC, build a winding but open path. Basically, force them to play a tower defense game with you. I have not tested to see if the bug AI will follow a long but open path or if they will attempt to smash through to create a shorter path but kill mazes could be a very interesting solution.

6. Complex Structures
More complex structures like bastions, starforts, or U-shaped kill boxes are possible, but I have not thoroughly experimented with them. Maybe in a future even more insane document.

7. Disclaimer
All claims subject to changes from patches, updates, etc.