Why your first Ironclad base always falls

Everyone loses their first base in Ironclad Frontier, and almost always for the same reason: they grab too much land too soon and can't defend it.

The trick is to build inward before you build outward. Get one chokepoint properly walled and turreted before you even think about the next resource node. A small base you can defend beats a sprawling one that leaks on every side.

Read the terrain before you place anything. There's usually one narrow approach the enemy prefers, and funnelling them into it lets a few good turrets do the work of many bad ones.

Once your core is solid, expand one node at a time, and always leave enough resources banked to rebuild a wall mid-attack. The game gives you the pause button for a reason — use it.