Before the Sons of the Forest release, the devs warned us that cannibals would come for us. And, for some people, it’s never-ending orcs from Mordor at your door. The cannibals for some players will attack your base constantly, while others may get raided every one or two days, or none at all. So, if you fancy some assistance with learning what to expect with Sons of the Forest raids, then we are here to help

Sons of the Forest Raids: How they work¶

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Here is a look at the Sons of the Forest raids system works, helping you manage their activity and fight against them. Image via Endnight.

You may have heard about the AI being smarter in this game, thanks to leader personalities, reception of you and more. It turns out that’s largely true. If you head into the local files on your PC, and find your Forest save game, you can find the world state stats. In here, you will find that cannibal influence has a few factors, featuring:

• Sentiment
• Anger
• Fear

We can gather that sentiment largely concerns making the target more neutral, friendly or hateful towards you. The sentiment mechanic is what allows you to befriend Virginia, for example. Meanwhile, anger seems to relate to the aggressiveness of the AI. Finally, you have fear. This mechanic is what determines the likelihood of cannibals approaching you in the wild, or your base.

If you find yourself fighting targets with low sentiment, low fear, and high anger, then chances are, that’s why you are being raided. So, you will need to balance those stats more favorably. However, do be warned this is only part of the AI fighting you and your base equation, rather than the full picture.

With that said, you need to employ methods to make them more fearful of you. Some examples of this are sticking heads on spikes outside of your base. You can also seemingly use better technology weapons on them to make the fights more one-sided. These, in theory, increase fear levels, making it easier for you to go about your day, as the regular cannibals are rather scared of you to try and do something about it. It should also send messages that your base is not worth dying over, likely reducing your chances to get attacked over time.

The other suggestion we have is to create the better sentiment, by not attacking the scouts, those scavenging, and other lone individuals throughout the game. The best time to take this advise is at the start of the game. You will signal you’re a threat straight away, which will likely make it harder to build up, if that’s your gameplan. Of course, defend yourself if you can and when needed, but don’t go out of your way to fight cannibals you don’t need to fight.

While doing these things will help, they are not a guaranteed rule to prevent raids, rather reduces them. Sometimes, you will get attacked by groups, led by the giant red men, or the masked cannibals. These typically resemble the hierarchy of the cannibal raid or territory party. Taking out the leader may cause enemies to flee, thus increasing their fear perspective of you. It should also end the raid, as the cannibals are already fearful of you, but the leaders don’t typically seem affected by these stats.

In theory, this would change the stats so that the raids are less likely to happen. However, it won’t entirely remove them, as you will still get the well-armored enemies, masked enemies, and the big red-painted enemies over at your base every now and then.

Moreso, if its winter, and you have gaps in your base walls, then you should still expect attack. The reason why is that the cannibals have it built in to scavenge food sites during the winter, So, if your base is well stocked, and there are gaps in your defense, they will try it on, regardless of their stats. So, always be in a position to defend yourself

Surviving Sons of the Forest Raids¶

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This small island in the lake is very defensible 75% of the year, making it a decent base choice.

If you’re still getting raided, or, want to try your best at playing a tower defense game, then we have a few tips for dealing with it. The first is to get Virginia recruited. The reasons why is down to her ability to carry a shotgun and pistol. You get both of these items from the B-02 trackers. The shotgun is in the grave, and the pistol is on the raft. When you reach friendly status with her, you may offer these items to her. In exchange, she can use these weapons with no ammo restrictions, blasting all cannibals and mutants away with ease.

Our other suggestions for you are to build defensive walls, traps, spikes and more. If a specific point of your base is open, then this area(s) will become your funnel spots. This is where you will build fences, traps, and guard stations to control the flow of enemies. In theory, your foes will likely fall down much easier, making it easier to defend yourself and your property.

Alternatively, if you’re struggling too hard, feel free to start building around caves or bunker cave entrances. This can be your fallback point, which the enemies cant get to. In addition, feel free to build on frozen lakes and make water bases during winter, as by the time the ice thaws in spring / summer, you will have floating bases in the water enemies cannot access.

And there you have it; you now have better ideas of base strategies, and a better understanding of how the Sons of the Forest raids feature works.