Trenches & Fortifications
A trench is a knee-deep ditch that protects the people inside it from distant gunfire. This page covers digging, using and removing trenches, and how they fit with the barricades described in Construction.
Digging a trench
You need a shovel: a bone shovel, a shovel with a cast head, or a trench shovel made from 2 iron in the Tools section. In research modes your people must have researched Field Defenses first; the game tells you if they have not.
- Stand next to a dirt or sand tile. On grass or snow, first click the tile with the shovel to remove the grass or snow layer.
- Switch to Harm intent and click the tile with the shovel.
- Click it again. The first dig leaves a hollow, and the second turns the tile into a trench.
Dirt is quicker to dig than sand. Line up several trench tiles to make a continuous position you can move along.
Using a trench
- Getting in takes half a second. Climbing out takes two seconds, so plan your exits before the shooting starts.
- A teammate can pull you out of a trench, or help you in, by pulling you across the edge.
- Small animals move in and out freely.
- Lay wooden planks across a trench to make a bridge that people can walk over.
Protection
Trenches change how bullets reach you:
| Your position | Shooter more than three tiles away | Shooter within three tiles |
|---|---|---|
| Standing in a trench | Can only hit your head, and often misses. | Normal chance to hit. |
| Prone in a trench | Cannot hit you. | Normal chance to hit. |
The catch: if you fire from a trench while prone, your bullet hits the trench wall. Stand up to shoot over the edge, then go prone again to take cover. Grenades and close-range attackers are still dangerous, so cover the ends of your trench.
Water in trenches
On Nomads, Civilizations and colony maps, a trench dug next to water, or next to another flooded trench, floods. A flooded trench:
- can be drunk from, or used to fill containers, though saltwater is not safe to drink;
- lets boats travel through it, so you can dig a canal from the sea.
For crops, use irrigation channels instead. They carry water without blocking movement. See Farming.
Filling in a trench
Use a shovel on dirt with any intent other than Harm to shovel a dirt pile. Use a dirt pile on a trench and confirm to start filling it. Two piles fill a trench tile back to level ground. Sandbags cannot be used for this.
Building a defensive line
- Dig the trench first, then build sandbag or dirt barricades along the side that faces the enemy. Barricades reduce your chance of being hit but can be dismantled.
- String barbed wire in front of the line to slow attackers. Wire cutters remove it.
- Leave a covered route back to your own lines so the wounded can be moved out.
See Construction for barricade recipes, and Combat for using cover in a fight.