Matches are won by having the most players inside the Hot Zone, the small yellow circle that wanders through the 2×2 km Control Zone and counts everyone inside it twice. Two things move it: the map’s drill towers (capture, enter the code, the zone parks there for 180 seconds) and your own Drill Rig, a FOB structure that drags the Hot Zone to your base while it runs. A team that keeps a rig running has effectively chosen where the match happens.
The numbers
| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Menu cost | 1,351 ‡ (planners list 1,801 full-build; one source says 901) |
| Hammer | Large (Support 8 places it, anyone finishes) |
| Placement | inside the Control Zone only (“MUST PLACE IN CONTROL ZONE”) |
| Footprint | 4.5 × 6 m, mast 21.8 m tall: visible from everywhere |
| Fuel | minimum 1,200 per activation, tank holds 6,000 |
| Runtime | one full pallet (1,800) runs roughly 220 seconds |
| Payout | $2,500 per activation to the team |
| Cooldown | 5–10 min ‡ (older sources say 10–20) |
| Limit | up to 4 rigs per base; rigs do not share cooldowns |
| Durability | 2,500 HP, about 2 C4 |
A rig cannot start while a rival team’s rig is pulling; the zone follows whoever activated first until that run ends.
Fuel math
Fuel is its own supply type. The FOB kit starts with 100, which is nothing, so every rig plan starts with a Fuel pallet run before the rig is even placed:
- One rig, one cycle: 1,200 Fuel minimum. One Fuel pallet (1,800) covers it with 600 left for the next start.
- Three rigs, one cycle each: 3,600 Fuel, two pallets, one Ural trip.
- Three rigs, continuous: budget three pallets per full rotation and keep the truck moving; the pull only holds while a rig is running.
Each activation returns $2,500, so a three-rig cycle pays $7,500 against $800 of pallets. The base pays for itself after two cycles even at the 1,351 menu price.
The three-rig schedule
Because rigs have separate cooldowns, three rigs staggered keep the Hot Zone on the base continuously:
- Fuel rig 1 to 1,200 and activate. The zone begins moving toward you.
- When rig 1 stops and enters cooldown, activate rig 2 (already fuelled).
- When rig 2 stops, activate rig 3. By then rig 1 is out of its 5–10 minute cooldown.
- Repeat. The Driver pair delivers one Fuel pallet per rotation.
Four rigs are the hard limit per base and give slack for a destroyed rig; the Team Drill Rig Fortress shows three in separate boxes.
Placement
- Inside the Control Zone, 300 to 600 m from its edge, behind terrain, never on the direct sightline from the zone centre. The mast is 21.8 m tall; hide the base, not the mast.
- Truck access: a rig base lives on Fuel pallets. Plan the gate and the lane before the rig.
- One box per rig, at separate corners or edges: artillery and Stingrays that find one rig should not splash the others. A box of large blocks with a door is 252 supplies and absorbs the first C4 and rockets.
- Near a drill tower if you can: a FOB at a captured tower gets the tower’s code pull on top of the rig’s.
Defending a beacon
A running rig is a lighthouse. Expect mortars, FPV drones, Stingrays from the enemy and infantry with C4 within minutes. What works:
- Defences first, rigs last. Ring, airlock, bunkers and a Talon on a tower before the first activation; helicopters come with the artillery.
- Two players on permanent repair duty with hammers, drawing on a spare Build pallet.
- An Indirect Fire Shelter for the spawn vehicle so a mortar barrage does not also cut your reinforcements.
- Never all the eggs in one box. Three rigs at three edges means a breach costs one activation, not the pull.
What to verify
Fuel minimum and maximum, the cooldown range, the payout, whether rigs really ignore each other’s cooldowns and the exact “Control Zone only” boundary are all on the in-game list. The structure page tracks each value with its sources.
Sources: s1-changelog · mein-mmo-drill · allthings-cluster · wardogs-zone-db · steam-skivin · fobplans-research