The Castle Doctrine Forums

Kyrah

Member

Registered: 2014-07-11

Posts: 5

Can you even design an interesting trap anymore?

I built my first combination lock yesterday, it was breached today, here is what i learned:

-Robbers will not bother trying to solve anything that remotely look like a combo lock.
-The complexity of your lock has nowhere as much value as the gate itself, people will not mess with the lock logic, they will just tunnel through the gate.
-Electric grates really suck to keep anyone but tool-less scouts out, apparently investing in a trapdoor as soon as possible is the bare minimum, grates for killing, trapdoors for denial.
-Combo locks have the lowest level of commitment rate.
-There is a lot of "single shot robbers" out there whose goal seems to ensure that you have to start over rather than to make themselves richer, i observed a certain robber club to death every children i had left, as well as any animals, and wrecked as much as they could, and that was long after finding my vault.

As a new player I've been mostly experimenting with designs that fit in 1000-1500$ as i rarely get enough bounties to be able to work on grander designs. But i have to admit, i have a lot of trouble designing traps that remain fair, it seems to always revolve around designing something that you can only solve if you made it.

I also tried some "open space" designs involving pitt bulls and a few strategically placed walls, but I've come to the conclusion that dogs are the worst possible investment for someone on a budget and are simply not designed for use in open layouts.
I also did some designs that involve deception, leading the robber toward what appears to be an elaborate protection system, only to put my vault in a corner of the house, unprotected, it does work, sometimes...
I've yet to play with clocks but i see very little "interesting" designs that it makes possible, only just more arbitrary meat grinders.

So far I've become my worst nightmare as none of the houses i designed are something i would enjoy robbing myself, as they offer no challenge, and by that, i mean there is nothing to challenge, it's like calling a bike lock a puzzle.

So if anyone is (still) reading, what have you made that was interesting to design and interesting for the person robbing it?

TacticalPteridactyl

Member

Registered: 2014-07-11

Posts: 6

Re: Can you even design an interesting trap anymore?

Yes.

I agree that guessing games stink... so I`ve built in a few clues to make my house solvable. It`s part of my strategy: lure them in.

Good luck.

P.S --- with respect to designs, try a modular approach. Start simple, build in complexity. You`d be surprised how often an obvious trap succeeds.

Kyrah

Member

Registered: 2014-07-11

Posts: 5

Re: Can you even design an interesting trap anymore?

So what kind of design could you use that is interesting to crack for the robber, while not being stupidly easy?

TacticalPteridactyl

Member

Registered: 2014-07-11

Posts: 6

Re: Can you even design an interesting trap anymore?

Sorry, hey, I ain't giving away my designs. Be creative.

EDIT: Just to be a little more encouraging, I try to lay things out in such a way that makes a robber think. I'm not the sort to hide one safe path in among 10 one-step killtraps. I also try to avoid magic dances... because yeah, that's just an exploit. But nobody has solved my vault quite yet --- though a few have forced their way through the entrance. It gets expensive, however, when the second trap *requires* completion of the first.

Last edited by TacticalPteridactyl (2014-07-11 15:29:52)

Kyrah

Member

Registered: 2014-07-11

Posts: 5

Re: Can you even design an interesting trap anymore?

I'm not asking YOUR designs, especially not "in use ones" but if you have some clever "concepts" you would share...

Am i the only one using lights in an informative way? my last house used orange lights to conduct power to the main set of switch to signal that they where ready for input.

jordi13

Member

Registered: 2014-04-09

Posts: 34

Re: Can you even design an interesting trap anymore?

These are from a while back, I enjoyed building, testing, and watching the tapes!

Kyrah

Member

Registered: 2014-07-11

Posts: 5

Re: Can you even design an interesting trap anymore?

Oh, i love that "family insurance policy" with the redundant power supply to the vault doors.

FreeLove

Member

Registered: 2014-02-24

Posts: 98

Re: Can you even design an interesting trap anymore?

Check out this post: http://thecastledoctrine.net/forums/vie … hp?id=2417

Cylence was a master of building pet traps in full plain view that were very difficult to solve.

---

I only post because I care <3

cullman

Member

Registered: 2014-03-21

Posts: 424

Re: Can you even design an interesting trap anymore?

Checkout Wesley Lawrence Liles for an example of a non-typical trap.  I only use 1/4 of the map space.  No combo locks.  No magic dances per se.

AMWhy

Member

Registered: 2014-02-04

Posts: 435

Re: Can you even design an interesting trap anymore?

I'm locked out of Liles now, but did you have a visitor yesterday who saw the safe on their first visit and died toolless to... a dog/wife related trap on the second visit?  If so, then I know which house you are!

My latest house is commit gate free (apart from when you can see the safe), magic dance free and combo-lock free.  I don't know my name but it's currently 0:0, value 0.  You can see the wife straight ahead from the entrance and are free to follow her.