Predator145
Prince
- Joined
- May 22, 2020
- Messages
- 521
This is a copy paste job of Wyrmshadow's pillbox, Goldfool's fort and Kyriakos' motte and bailey fort.
Blockhouses are the lightest class of permanent fortifications. They're cheap to construct and serve to secure roads and lines of communication and provide warning. They were crucial in colonial wars. As long as the raiding/infiltration parties were lightly armed they provided adequate protection. But as light infantry got their hands on things like shape charges, mortars, recoilless rifles, RPGs these light fortifications became lowhanging fruit as the French found out in Indochina. The Americans when manning those the French left behind would often reenforce them with sandbags. They themselves would only build more temporary sandbag based designs.
Constructed of timber/iron and masonry, they do not stand up to heavy weapons like concrete pillboxes (which are designed to take at least medium artillery). But being dirt cheap and ubiquitous means they were very useful in consolidating control over an area. In the game the graphics represent an entire network of mutually supporting blockhouses.
These come in both terrain building and city improvement options.
I use them as the early modern, industrial and modern age first lv line of permanent city defenses. These are the analogs of the previous age's "Fortified Tower". Heavier levels are Redoubts and Fortresses and later Pillboxes and Bunkers. I make them cheap (30s) and perfume them heavily to have the AI build them ASAP as this is a cheap no brainer for late game.
References:
Civilopedia:
A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive strong point against any enemy that does not possess siege equipment or, in modern times, artillery, air force and cruise missiles. A fortification intended to resist these weapons is more likely to qualify as a fortress or a redoubt, or in modern times, be an underground bunker.
Originally blockhouses were often constructed as part of a large plan, to "block" access to vital points in the scheme. But from the Age of Exploration to the nineteenth century standard patterns of blockhouses were constructed for defence in frontier areas, particularly South Africa, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States.
Blockhouses may be made of masonry where available, but were commonly made from very heavy timbers, sometimes even logs arranged in the manner of a log cabin. They were usually two or even three floors, with all storeys being provided with embrasures or loopholes, and the uppermost storey would be roofed. If the structure was of timber, usually the upper storey would project outward from the lower so the upper storey defenders could fire on enemies attacking the lower storey, or perhaps pour water on any fires. When the structure had only one storey, its loopholes were often placed close to the ceiling, with a bench lining the walls inside for defenders to stand on, so that attackers could not easily reach the loopholes.
During the Second Boer War the British forces built a large number of fortifications in South Africa. Around 441 were solid masonry blockhouses, many of which stand today. Different designs were used in the construction of these blockhouses, but most were either two or three story structures built using locally quarried stone.
However the vast scale of British strategy led the British to develop cheaper, double-skinned corrugated iron structures. These could be prefabricated, delivered to site by armoured train, and then have locally sourced rocks or rubble packed inside the double skin to provide improved protection.
These blockhouses played a vital role in the protection of the railway lines and bridges that were key to the British military supply lines.
In 1948, to fight against the guerrillas, General Boyer de la Tour installed a system of towers in Cochinchina, in central Annam. Most often they were brick structures topped with a four-sided tile roof.
From 1950, as the enemy had recoilless cannons of 75mm and bazookas, it was necessary to give up the construction of these towers. From now on, they would no longer be used along the roads as day-watch stations or as quarters for troops . The construction of strong positions, capable of resisting an attack, was therefore essential. Marking throughout the peninsula the French military presence, posts differed in size, site, and materials. They were built based on local geography; to say that implies these constructions were very diverse.
In Tonkin, in 1951, General de Lattre ordered the construction of a vast line of defense to isolate the "useful delta" - 21,000 km2 and 8 million inhabitants - from the neighboring communist regions. This fortified belt was made by the Engineers, the Legion and thousands of Vietnamese coolies who poured 51 million cubic meters of cement. As of January 1, 1953, there were 917 posts in Tonkin, of which only 80 were modern ("Lattre's line"), 25 relatively new and 810 out of date to varying degrees
Blockhouses are the lightest class of permanent fortifications. They're cheap to construct and serve to secure roads and lines of communication and provide warning. They were crucial in colonial wars. As long as the raiding/infiltration parties were lightly armed they provided adequate protection. But as light infantry got their hands on things like shape charges, mortars, recoilless rifles, RPGs these light fortifications became lowhanging fruit as the French found out in Indochina. The Americans when manning those the French left behind would often reenforce them with sandbags. They themselves would only build more temporary sandbag based designs.
Constructed of timber/iron and masonry, they do not stand up to heavy weapons like concrete pillboxes (which are designed to take at least medium artillery). But being dirt cheap and ubiquitous means they were very useful in consolidating control over an area. In the game the graphics represent an entire network of mutually supporting blockhouses.
These come in both terrain building and city improvement options.
I use them as the early modern, industrial and modern age first lv line of permanent city defenses. These are the analogs of the previous age's "Fortified Tower". Heavier levels are Redoubts and Fortresses and later Pillboxes and Bunkers. I make them cheap (30s) and perfume them heavily to have the AI build them ASAP as this is a cheap no brainer for late game.
References:
Civilopedia:
A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive strong point against any enemy that does not possess siege equipment or, in modern times, artillery, air force and cruise missiles. A fortification intended to resist these weapons is more likely to qualify as a fortress or a redoubt, or in modern times, be an underground bunker.
Originally blockhouses were often constructed as part of a large plan, to "block" access to vital points in the scheme. But from the Age of Exploration to the nineteenth century standard patterns of blockhouses were constructed for defence in frontier areas, particularly South Africa, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States.
Blockhouses may be made of masonry where available, but were commonly made from very heavy timbers, sometimes even logs arranged in the manner of a log cabin. They were usually two or even three floors, with all storeys being provided with embrasures or loopholes, and the uppermost storey would be roofed. If the structure was of timber, usually the upper storey would project outward from the lower so the upper storey defenders could fire on enemies attacking the lower storey, or perhaps pour water on any fires. When the structure had only one storey, its loopholes were often placed close to the ceiling, with a bench lining the walls inside for defenders to stand on, so that attackers could not easily reach the loopholes.
During the Second Boer War the British forces built a large number of fortifications in South Africa. Around 441 were solid masonry blockhouses, many of which stand today. Different designs were used in the construction of these blockhouses, but most were either two or three story structures built using locally quarried stone.
However the vast scale of British strategy led the British to develop cheaper, double-skinned corrugated iron structures. These could be prefabricated, delivered to site by armoured train, and then have locally sourced rocks or rubble packed inside the double skin to provide improved protection.
These blockhouses played a vital role in the protection of the railway lines and bridges that were key to the British military supply lines.
In 1948, to fight against the guerrillas, General Boyer de la Tour installed a system of towers in Cochinchina, in central Annam. Most often they were brick structures topped with a four-sided tile roof.
From 1950, as the enemy had recoilless cannons of 75mm and bazookas, it was necessary to give up the construction of these towers. From now on, they would no longer be used along the roads as day-watch stations or as quarters for troops . The construction of strong positions, capable of resisting an attack, was therefore essential. Marking throughout the peninsula the French military presence, posts differed in size, site, and materials. They were built based on local geography; to say that implies these constructions were very diverse.
In Tonkin, in 1951, General de Lattre ordered the construction of a vast line of defense to isolate the "useful delta" - 21,000 km2 and 8 million inhabitants - from the neighboring communist regions. This fortified belt was made by the Engineers, the Legion and thousands of Vietnamese coolies who poured 51 million cubic meters of cement. As of January 1, 1953, there were 917 posts in Tonkin, of which only 80 were modern ("Lattre's line"), 25 relatively new and 810 out of date to varying degrees
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There are also a plethora of 
