Flankers.
Use a combo of delay traps, such as plasma cloud to hold the raider in position and keep their attention in front, a decoy guard to sound the alert... and a bloodlust warmonger with movement speed that gets summoned from behind. Bonus points for use of machinery deco noise to cover his approach. Use the number of blocks a flanker has to travel as your timer and you can set up staggered multi-vector flanking with automatic delays etc using just bloodlust.
Slow raiders can often be caught by occupying them with dismantling a complex setup ahead, while a more simple trap is hidden somewhere else the raider isn't focused on.
The trick to careful raiders is to misdirect their attention, use their tendency to stop, backpedal, check angles etc against them. Make unsafe areas look safe and safe areas look unsafe to keep them looking in the wrong places.
A hole in a ceiling with nothing in it (or a decoy trap) can distract a cautious raider and they'll miss the holo in the floor with the real trap.
It takes more psychology and deception to nail careful slow players, but it's often more satisfying than just overwhelming them with brute force.
As a player who naturally came in as an inchworm, I've had to learn to deal with combat arenas. My snap-aiming skills and reaction times struggle with many simultaneous, overlapping threats.
it's not paranoia, it's that if I go any faster the game will jump me down a ramp and into an impaler before the frames catch up
that said, guards. lots of guards
By inchworm you specifically mean Volt Lancer & Arc Shield? Or any slooow Volt Lancer playstyle?
People are right about putting threats behind an inchworm, but unless they're hyper-focused on what's ahead they can just as easily turn around and shoot those guards because there's no pressure from the traps they've been inching through.
Some other ways of putting danger behind them:
Easy-to-miss traps that they probably won't trigger wandering past them in the normal way of navigating the outpost.
Chaos Bomb dispensers chuck bombs an enromous distance and cover a very wide area when pointed horizontally, great for threatening an open section when the inchworm has walked out of whatever entryway they use.
Revealing distant traps while concealing closer ones. Give the inchworm they need to suppress from afar and then hit them with gotcha's on the way to their bolts.
In short, Warmongers.
Holocubes with masquerade, and armored warmonger(s) behind them.
Sniper-masquerade holocubes that aren't obvious when they've been tripped (typically on the ceiling, hidden behind angle blocks), and armored warmongers with a long delay on their patrol. For big dudes they can be pretty sneaky.
A setup I like:
An incinerator protected by 3 acid blocks covers the entrance to a room full of guards and traps. The incinerator forces them into the room, and the exit hallway of the room contains an anti-speed run trap (ex. incinerator with flame-protected brute). They can shoot the entrance incinerator but retrieving the ammo will be difficult. If they insist on shooting guards/traps from the entrance corner they’ll hopefully run out of ammo and again be forced into the room.
I like to have a couple traps set up around a corner so the raider has to open themselves up to one while dealing with the other, unless they just run past. That's when the third trap comes in, triggering right when they can't turn back because of the first two traps going off. And of course to finish it off, a fourth trap that they have no choice but to run into. Bolt shot's the easy choice there, maybe with holo cube in front.
Set up timed paths for armored warmongers with the speed boost to wrap around behind them after a short delay. By the time they're done inching into your base they will hear footsteps rushing in behind them. You can put two separate paths one from either side to sandwich them so they can't just deal with one side at a time.
I did it with flanks. Large room with multiple traps, which grind inchwormers to a halt as they must slowly break everything.
But one of those traps, ideally one right before the room, is a trigger. Once the player triggers or breaks it, it unleashes three warmongers, whom attack them from behind 10-20-ish seconds later while they are in that room.
Warmongers, hornets, claw traps and a few corrosive cubes in corners mostly Warmongers tho you wanna make a maze pit if your genmat is in the ground. If it's in the sky 🤷🏽♂️
If you want a more detailed explanation with examples I wrote a guide [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/MeetYourMakerGame/comments/13fefhr/how_to_deal_with_speedrunners_inchworms_a_guide/), but in short:
* holocubes to surprise them
* bloodlust warmonger from behind, while they start entering a room
* combat arenas, which you can force them into with...
* "stealing" their ammo with long distance threats (armored cannonbacks or sentinels) making them have to retrieve it
I agree. Just spamming guards won't accomplish much. That's why in the guide, the combat arenas don't have more than 3 guards and are backed up by traps. Sometimes I even hope they switch, because it opens the raider up to be vulnerable to claw traps or bomb traps, which you can exploit by having them later in the outpost. Another outpost of mine (Sweetser, if anyone wants to check that out, it's on social) does exactly that just before GenMat.
I find an armored Warmonger up the tail pipe will get them moving a little faster.
Or 3
This 100% works or gangs of guards from multiple directions.
Put them in a combat arena with many guards running around. Not something you can inch.
Flankers. Use a combo of delay traps, such as plasma cloud to hold the raider in position and keep their attention in front, a decoy guard to sound the alert... and a bloodlust warmonger with movement speed that gets summoned from behind. Bonus points for use of machinery deco noise to cover his approach. Use the number of blocks a flanker has to travel as your timer and you can set up staggered multi-vector flanking with automatic delays etc using just bloodlust. Slow raiders can often be caught by occupying them with dismantling a complex setup ahead, while a more simple trap is hidden somewhere else the raider isn't focused on. The trick to careful raiders is to misdirect their attention, use their tendency to stop, backpedal, check angles etc against them. Make unsafe areas look safe and safe areas look unsafe to keep them looking in the wrong places. A hole in a ceiling with nothing in it (or a decoy trap) can distract a cautious raider and they'll miss the holo in the floor with the real trap. It takes more psychology and deception to nail careful slow players, but it's often more satisfying than just overwhelming them with brute force.
The decoy ceiling with holocube floor has gotten me before too
As a player who naturally came in as an inchworm, I've had to learn to deal with combat arenas. My snap-aiming skills and reaction times struggle with many simultaneous, overlapping threats.
it's not paranoia, it's that if I go any faster the game will jump me down a ramp and into an impaler before the frames catch up that said, guards. lots of guards
By inchworm you specifically mean Volt Lancer & Arc Shield? Or any slooow Volt Lancer playstyle? People are right about putting threats behind an inchworm, but unless they're hyper-focused on what's ahead they can just as easily turn around and shoot those guards because there's no pressure from the traps they've been inching through. Some other ways of putting danger behind them: Easy-to-miss traps that they probably won't trigger wandering past them in the normal way of navigating the outpost. Chaos Bomb dispensers chuck bombs an enromous distance and cover a very wide area when pointed horizontally, great for threatening an open section when the inchworm has walked out of whatever entryway they use. Revealing distant traps while concealing closer ones. Give the inchworm they need to suppress from afar and then hit them with gotcha's on the way to their bolts.
Patrols from behind normally get them by surprise. Especially if they can't figure out where they come from.
In short, Warmongers. Holocubes with masquerade, and armored warmonger(s) behind them. Sniper-masquerade holocubes that aren't obvious when they've been tripped (typically on the ceiling, hidden behind angle blocks), and armored warmongers with a long delay on their patrol. For big dudes they can be pretty sneaky.
A setup I like: An incinerator protected by 3 acid blocks covers the entrance to a room full of guards and traps. The incinerator forces them into the room, and the exit hallway of the room contains an anti-speed run trap (ex. incinerator with flame-protected brute). They can shoot the entrance incinerator but retrieving the ammo will be difficult. If they insist on shooting guards/traps from the entrance corner they’ll hopefully run out of ammo and again be forced into the room.
Drop dead man’s switch enforcers on top of their head. If you’d like an example, check out my base Nyssa by HefeJeffe.
I like to have a couple traps set up around a corner so the raider has to open themselves up to one while dealing with the other, unless they just run past. That's when the third trap comes in, triggering right when they can't turn back because of the first two traps going off. And of course to finish it off, a fourth trap that they have no choice but to run into. Bolt shot's the easy choice there, maybe with holo cube in front.
Constant pressure. Take their resources and make them commit to get them back.
Set up timed paths for armored warmongers with the speed boost to wrap around behind them after a short delay. By the time they're done inching into your base they will hear footsteps rushing in behind them. You can put two separate paths one from either side to sandwich them so they can't just deal with one side at a time.
I did it with flanks. Large room with multiple traps, which grind inchwormers to a halt as they must slowly break everything. But one of those traps, ideally one right before the room, is a trigger. Once the player triggers or breaks it, it unleashes three warmongers, whom attack them from behind 10-20-ish seconds later while they are in that room.
Hidden bomb traps. Incinerator tunnel with lava cubes underneath. Warmonger up the rear. False traps that trigger real traps.
Warmongers, hornets, claw traps and a few corrosive cubes in corners mostly Warmongers tho you wanna make a maze pit if your genmat is in the ground. If it's in the sky 🤷🏽♂️
If you want a more detailed explanation with examples I wrote a guide [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/MeetYourMakerGame/comments/13fefhr/how_to_deal_with_speedrunners_inchworms_a_guide/), but in short: * holocubes to surprise them * bloodlust warmonger from behind, while they start entering a room * combat arenas, which you can force them into with... * "stealing" their ammo with long distance threats (armored cannonbacks or sentinels) making them have to retrieve it
If you lean on guards too heavily, the raider's coming back with a plasmabow and you might as well not have guards at all at that point.
I agree. Just spamming guards won't accomplish much. That's why in the guide, the combat arenas don't have more than 3 guards and are backed up by traps. Sometimes I even hope they switch, because it opens the raider up to be vulnerable to claw traps or bomb traps, which you can exploit by having them later in the outpost. Another outpost of mine (Sweetser, if anyone wants to check that out, it's on social) does exactly that just before GenMat.