The Castle Doctrine Forums

I thought it is necessary now, because of these discussions. Hope my english is understandable =P

Experience

First at all, a new player needs experience and a feeling for loosing.

Let's split up experience. There is the Robberexperience and the Houseownerexperience.
Robbing will increase your Robbingskills fast, and your Houseownerexperience too but slower and the otherway around.
You gain Houserownerexperience through building a house and see robbers break your house. (You gain too experience in dieing because your selfetest fails)

So, what's the best to grow fast into the game?

Get robbing-experience

My tip is 2k suicide-robbing. You get a feeling for the tiles and your tools.

As a start equip for <2k houses I recommend 2 Saws, 2 Bricks, 9 Waters/Dogmeat (5 and 4).
For >2k change either 1 saw for Cablecutter or both. High/Middlelvl houses seldom have the possibility to use saws without ladders or other tools.
Murdererruns help only for highlvl robbery to get a feeling to get to the wife and use her and the kids to get permanent Damage to the house. So for starter not recommend to get experience here at first.

If you get to the vault, you can decide to suicide or just take the vault. Suicide brings money in the game which holds is alive too. Breaking the vault most times take down the house you don't like and if it is a >2k house you made money. Maybe it is now time to settle down?!

One Problem is you will get a chill soon on many houses. Just see it as a game session and the next day, there will be the houses again and new houses.

Get your own house

After you feel experienced enough go on and build a house. You should saw enough traps now in your robbing tours and maybe copy one or the other trap and maybe make it better than the original owner made it. Learn how to use lights to make safe selfetest. The Goal for your house is to hold of four important kind of robbers.

Important types of robbers at the start

2k Suicide-Robber
2k Suicide-Scouter( The most dangerous)
2k Murderers
Robbers who want to survive

How to hold them off?

I explain but the design of traps is up to you.

2k Suicide-Robber: He have one try in 24 hours, so either you want him to waste his tools and die because he hasn't that kind of tool that would safe him anymore or don't give him a chance to use his tools and just let him die early.

2k Suicide-Scouter: More dangerous and nearly the same as the normal 2k Suiciderobber. But his goal is not only to get to the vault. His Goal is too to figure out an easy way to your vault, so his mainaccount get through and get the money+ his rest of tools. How do you hold of a Scouter in any strategic game you ever played? You kill him before he can see anything and that's the perfect goal for all Suicide Robber. Build traps, that don't give him any chance to scout enough to get easy to your wall. Think it the way you tried to get the vault on your tours. Which traps hold you off the best?

2k Murderers: Most times they will have 1 Pistol 3 clubs and 2 Dogmeat. The simple solution is 1 uneven dog and a wife with a shotgun.

Robbers who want to survive, will make most times a safe path back. If it is too expensive, they will leave and search an easier target

Use your new learned experience

Now you will say, but I don't have enough money to build a house with all that goals at first. Most times right, but there are intelligent design that do both for just 1k.

Otherwise rely on your luck and learned skill. Build up your house enough to have a safe place for your tools and go out robbing(Most times I use 1500 and the rest for robbing). You need luck to find a weak house, but your increased skill will help to find them. And after a while you got enough money to have now a safe house.

This was not a step by step tutorial. It was more like a suggest how to get in easy.

Some Tips at last:
If you can get a glimpse on the wife you can see how much money she have and how much is left in the vault. Use this to find good houses to rob too.

Dual Accounters can skip the start weakness with some extra money. But against a good designed house, they can do nothing that hard to take you down. And some are friendly Santasuicide-robber.

Plan some time after you started new and build up a house. You will need it to get extra money to make it really safe. My experience is that I take 1 hour before I am feeling safe enough to let my house alone.

Search for weaknesses! Some combolocks are bad designed and have weaknesses or try often used combinations like 135,125,24 or 235 (5bit lock). You see a doggy dance and electric floor? Try to "deactivate" the dog or get into his dance to see the lock or find the place there the floors go on with cutters and use waters.

If you think you can't get to the vault without surviving and to many tools to be a win, don't do it. Just go onto the next house.

After a while you will see that New Player AND Dual Accounters will keep the game alive. Not Defending it, but with money flowing around there will be more action.

This game is about Frustration and the chills are long enough too let Dual Accounters not be that hard a problem. If you are frustrated about dieing by some other guy, how will you deal with the pressure to be a top-house and maybe die due to a stupid mistake.

If you are unconcentrated, drunk or whatever, don't try to play the game if you have anything you can loose. If you need to get money off buy tools go into a house and go out again. Yeah it is money waste. But do you want to feel safe or do you want to risk your CD Life because you are unconcentrated?

You have many tools? Use them for robbing, they cost effectively half a price. It is better to use 5 saws you got to get 1200. You can sell them anyway only for 1000.

I don't know why but many people like do die more in a pit with no chance to survive than to try my trapped door. So I thought i will reveal the start of my house so I can see some suicide robber get past my simple commit.

http://castledraft.com/editor/jj9xfb

All this information you can get free, if you just scout without any tools. The pit to the left is my Trap Nr. 1 now, quite funny.