WARDOGS lets a single player raise a fortified compound in the middle of a 100-player match. The system is deep, the in-game explanation is thin, and the community guides contradict each other on prices. This guide is the consolidated version, patch-stamped and with every disputed number marked.
The three hammers
| Hammer | Vendor price | Unlock | Builds | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small | $100 | none | Sandbags, barbed wire, hedgehogs, recon tents (no FOB needed) | slow |
| Medium | $800 | Support 3 + $25,000 once (free copy in every FOB kit) | + HESCO blocks and walls, doors, gates, loudspeaker | medium |
| Large | $2,400 | Support 8 + $75,000 once | everything: bunkers, towers, shelters, mortar, Stingray, Talon, CIWS, refuel and repair stations, drill rig | fast |
Two rules change how teams should split the work. First, any hammer can finish a blueprint that a higher-tier hammer placed: one Support 8 player “seeds” the CIWS and every Small-hammer teammate hammers it up. Second, the Medium hammer ships free inside the FOB kit, so a fresh account can build HESCO rings before reaching Support 3. Whether the kit hammer works below Support 3 in the live build is on our verification list.
Season 1 raised the stakes: the Large hammer moved from Support 7 to 8, its unlock tripled to $75,000 and its vendor price rose to $2,400. The FOB kit went from $2,500 to $7,500.
The FOB kit
The Forward Operating Base costs $7,500 at the vendor (Gear → Items → Building), weighs 6.5 kg and takes a 2×3 backpack slot, so buy the bigger backpack first. Deploy it from a quick slot by holding the left mouse button on valid ground. It cannot go inside buildings, inside main bases or overlapping another FOB zone, and FOBs need about 120 m between them.
The kit contains a Small and a Medium hammer, two wrenches, two M18 supply-request grenades and bandages. The console starts with 1,250 Build, 100 Fuel, 100 Ammo and 100 Mechanical supplies; each type caps at 20,000. The team-coloured square on the minimap is the build zone, roughly 60 m across. Only your team can build FOB-tier pieces inside it.
A FOB is not a spawn point. Forward spawns come from the M113 spawn vehicle, which is exactly why the Indirect Fire Shelter garage build exists.
The build loop
- Equip a hammer, hold right mouse and press F. The BUILDABLES radial opens; F cycles its three pages. Only pieces your hammer can place are shown, each with its menu cost.
- Left-click to place the hologram. R rotates, B toggles snapping. Red means invalid: “foundation obstructed”, “must place on ground”, “can’t place near ladder”, “must place in Control Zone” for the drill rig.
- Hammer the blueprint. Hitting the yellow X adds about 10% per swing; body hits add 1–2%. The X jumps to a new spot at every 25% threshold, so if it is out of reach keep swinging until it moves.
- Release the mouse button the instant the hammer connects and press again. This animation cancel roughly doubles build speed.
- Several hammers on one blueprint stack, and every swing pays every builder: $1 per hit, $6 per X hit, $15 and 15 XP on completion.
Placing charges the menu cost. Finishing drains more: planner databases consistently record about four thirds of the menu cost by the time a piece reads 100%, which is why every FOBplans cost card shows “menu → ≈ to finish”.
Repair and dismantle
Damaged pieces are repaired with any hammer, and the supplies come out of the FOB’s Build stock. A base under fire empties its console even if nobody adds a wall, so leave a reserve. Dismantling is hold-V on the piece; it is gradual, refunds nothing and (per the latest reports) needs the Large hammer. There is no upgrade system: the “Bunker II” style names in old planner lists are alpha leftovers.
What to build first
- Cover for the console. Enemies hack the FOB by holding F at the console for about 30 seconds and take everything, so three HESCO walls between the console and the approach are the first placement.
- A closed ring with one door, offset so the console is never visible through the doorway, then a second door behind it as an airlock.
- Hedgehogs on the outside corners and barbed wire on the exposed faces. Both need no FOB and only the Small hammer.
The Solo Pocket FOB does exactly this from the kit’s starting stock, with a parts list and phases. From there, the first Large-hammer extension is a Recon Tower for a Talon, and the first logistics priority is an Ammo pallet if you plan a mortar.
Sources: s1-changelog · steam-skivin · keengamer-fob · skycoach-building · allthings-cluster · fobplans-research