Defenses
Defenses protect your colony from cannon fire during pirate raids and bombardments by The Claws. This page collects the numbers from the game files (patch 28). Where a number's meaning is our reading of the game files rather than something the game states, it says so.
Structure health
Every building has a Structure Health value. Almost all buildings have 1 HP, so a single cannonball hit destroys them. Walls and stone structures marked Cannon Resistant in their tooltip have far more, which lets them absorb shots that would otherwise hit your buildings. Combat is simulated, so shots are blocked by whatever is in their line of fire (see Naval Combat).
Cannon Resistant structures
| Structure | HP | Cost | HP per Cut Stone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Defensive Tower | 100 | 30 Cut Stone, 4 Iron Bars, 1 Bronze Cannons | 3.3 |
| Stone Archway | 60 | 20 Cut Stone | 3.0 |
| Stone Pillar - Short | 40 | 5 Cut Stone | 8.0 |
| Stone Pillar - Tall | 40 | 6 Cut Stone | 6.7 |
| Stone Wall | 32 | 3 Cut Stone | 10.7 |
| Stone Pedestal | 32 | 3 Cut Stone | 10.7 |
| Red Brick Wall | 32 | 3 Cut Stone | 10.7 |
Per Cut Stone, the plain walls give by far the most protection.
Other sturdy buildings
These have a little more than 1 HP: Central Warehouse (8), Civic Office (6), Town Hall (6), Blast Furnace (3), Cannon Foundry (3), Giant Warehouse (3), Large Shipyard (3), Ore Furnace (3), Research Lab (3), School (3), Small Shipyard (3), Stone Cutter (3), Stone Stairs (3), Elevator Entrance (2), Elevator Shaft (2), Large Warehouse (2), Whisker Launcher (2).
Cannonballs
Each cannonball type has a damage power. Assuming damage is subtracted from HP (our reading), a 32 HP Stone Wall survives about 4 hits from pirate Iron Shot.
| Ammunition | Damage power | Fired by |
|---|---|---|
| Stone Shot | 3 | Your ships and towers |
| Bronze Shot | 5 | Your ships and towers |
| Iron Shot | 8 | Pirate ships and pirate island towers |
| Chain Shot | 13 | Claws warships |
Towers
The Small Defensive Tower can be ordered to fire on approaching hostile ships. Its workers load the best cannonball available, and it can't fire without cannonballs. A game setting makes all defenses fire at pirate ships automatically, but the game warns that pirates are then likely to escalate.
| Tower | Range | Time between shots | HP (naval combat) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your cannon tower | 8000 units | 1.8–2.2s | 144 | |
| Pirate island tower | 12000 units | 4–6s | 144 | unlimited Iron Shot, repairs itself over time |
Range is in game units (about 100 units per metre). Your towers are outranged by pirate towers but fire about twice as fast. (The Small Defensive Tower building itself has 100 Structure Health.)
Raids and bombardments
- Pirates first arrive around day 6 and then about every 6 days (±1). Their demand grows by 8 coins per Whisker and slowly with time, with a minimum of 89 coins. See Demands.
- Not paying in full brings cannon fire. Our reading of the game files: pirates fire one cannonball per 89 coins left unpaid (at least 5), and a Claws bombardment fires one per 144 coins of unpaid tax (at least 8). The payment screen shows the exact number of cannonballs you'll face.
- Whiskers near an explosion have a 50% chance of being injured (10% during your first bombardment). An injured Whisker has a 25% chance of dying from the injury. Injured Whiskers recover at the Medical Triage.
- Each building destroyed adds 3 unrest, which falls by 1 each day.
- Destroyed buildings stay destroyed until you Mark for Rebuild (or Quick rebuild) them. Losing an office also loses its policy slot.
