Meta-Game and Common Trap Mechanics

Blip · 2014-01-27 14:22:18

Yup, that's my place! I've gotten many, many kills with that trap, including one with a $22,000 bounty on his head. It pays to be careful when scouting, guys!

jasonrohrer · 2014-01-27 15:00:22

Great thread here! Thanks for starting it.

Alaorath · 2014-01-27 15:01:57

I haven't made it past "starter money" si my designs are based on about $1000.

I've taken a more "rules based" approach to my designs. For example, my current house uses red lights to indicate where to step (and green will equal death later). Obviously about a third of the way through the rules reverse, but only after a visible example of the change.

I love the use of "hidden" chihuahuas to follow on the other side of walls stepping on switches. I use them to guide the robber with lights to "danger zones". Watching tapes, it is quite effective at unnerving the robber. Nothing like seeing a light turn on without your intervention.

okami316 · 2014-01-27 15:06:15

Being able to see whether a wall is wired or not helps a lot when figuring out when the electric grill in front of you is gonna kill you or just there to scare you. Even if it is powered, unless it's at the edge of the screen, you made contact with a mobile object, or you're about to make contact, it's generally safe to step on it.

Despite me knowing all the information I still get nervous walking on electric grills.

SnakeAes · 2014-01-27 15:20:00

Wow I come back from lunch and suddenly the thread is stickied! Thanks Jason. I will do my best to keep it up-to-date!

RockyBst · 2014-01-27 15:22:28

My favourite traps are always the ones which play with expectations. For instance the classic 'dog in a wall', which I haven't seen around as much since back in version 10ish times. Set things up so your victim is herded into a specific dead-end by a horde of dogs, and like as not they'll take a saw to that inviting wooden wall. Then bam, dog in your face. Makes me laugh every time someone is caught by it.

Also works nicely to freak out people attempting to circumvent your maze from the outside.

The other classic is the leap-of-faith. Read up on precedence on the wiki (buried in the pitbull page at the moment: http://thecastledoctrine.gamepedia.com/Pitbull) if you want to understand this one.

The player moves.
Pet movement occurs.
House objects and electronics update.

Meaning you can step on to an electric grid which is powered on, then the pet moves onto a button, then the state of the electric floor (and your Schrödinger charred corpse) is determined.

I especially like the variant on this below, which has been ripped straight from my current vault:

This works on three levels. At the newbie level, opening the door at the top and seeing the scary pit incites them to turn around and go back the other way, where a cunningly inviting corridor filled with doggy death doors awaits them.

On the intermediate level, the fellow comes along and sees an unpowered trap door. But then he spies the dog, who will move down a tile when he does, hitting the button. So he bravely steps out into empty space, only to land heavily, crushing his legs and dying a lingering death.

Why did he die? Because there isn't actually any power coming into the pit from the dogs side. Instead the power to the trap door is turned on by doing a little magic dance somewhere far, far away in the maze. Oh, and incidentally this trap door works as a double bluff when it has been powered on. Because the even more eagle eyed expert viewers will notice that's a toggle pressure switch (starts on) which the dog is about to step on, which if they're wrong could switch off the power after all...

RockyBst · 2014-01-27 15:54:29

I've literally just watched two people walk into this one in the past ten minutes, so what the heck here's another gimme.

Player walks into the house from the right. Up the top, there's open ground (with scary family protections and lots of dogs, maybe an electric door in plain view). Through the door could be anything, maybe even an angry pitbull!

So, because of his initially limited visibility, he takes a step down onto the first grid which doesn't seem to have any power. He sees the third grid around the corner, but figures he's still safe. However when he moves on to the second grid, suddenly the little doggie sees him and gets agitated. If he moves backwards, he gets fried. If he moves right, he gets fried. The only ways out are

A.) Kill the dog somehow, probably using meat or a brick.
B.) Take a saw to the wall ... at which point, obviously, wall dog.
C.) Use some wire cutters.

So, for $250 you have a basic trap which potentially costs $400 to circumvent. Upgrade the dog to a pitbull, you then have the choice of either drugging him and leaving a landmine in the passage, or spending $1,200 to shoot him.

I'd say this one basic trap accounts for maybe 15% of the deaths in my house. Most of them in 4 moves.

Alaorath · 2014-01-27 16:12:05

Great stuff guys! I've taken the liberty of adding them to the "Advanced" section of the wiki.

g0m · 2014-01-27 16:46:54

Here are a few ones I've run into, as well as one of my own:

God's Scalpel

A great addition to any system, no matter how early or late in your house's life cycle. I couldn't tell you how many times I've used this at the end of a long series of traps, and seen someone navigate them all perfectly... only to fall at the final hurdle. It's a pretty good feeling, and it'll rack up those bounties in no time. Definitely recommended.
If you're up against this one...

Your instinct when you see this is to hold right and run into the electric panel. Don't. Move up or down, then move right, then move down or up again, depending on which way you moved first.
If the player has disabled vertical movement via a wall-based system, you have a few options. You can try to cut through the wall using a saw/explosives etc, or you can bring some water along to short out the panel.
The light and wispy appearance of spiderwebs belie their horrible taste. Do NOT eat them.

The Meat Cleaver

Simple. Cheap. Devilishly effective. I haven't built a single house without using this trap, and it works 90-95% of the time. Perversely, this is one of the few traps that works better on seasoned players as it relies upon subverting learned expectations, so you might want to combine it with a few dogs for the newbies.
If you're up against this one...

Every human instinct telling you to follow the direction that arrow is pointing? Think again, my friend; if you look closer, you'll see a pit there.
While glass is easily breakable with bricks, there might be a wall behind the glass. Luckily, windows are see-through.
Death in the castle doctrine loses you your house and all your money. Not recommended.

The Swedish Rutabaga

This is an ADVANCED TECHNIQUE ONLY, because unless you're a veteran of the game, there's a fair chance you'll die on this one during testing. If you do decide to go for this one, you might want to put it past a one-way path trap - either a door that closes behind you or an electric panel that activates - because if you've been playing for any amount of time, you're going to want to get the hell out of there as soon as you see this.
If you're up against this one...

I can't give you any help on this one. You're going to have to muddle through, bring plenty of tools, and hope for the best. Good luck.

jere · 2014-01-27 16:52:09

Lulz.

SnakeAes · 2014-01-27 17:01:21

g0m some of that is too high-level for me.

What makes me laugh is that some of these are actual people's houses (self-tests wouldn't display a name of the owner).

iceman · 2014-01-27 17:06:44

Thank you g0m... I really needed those laughs XD

jere wrote:

Those ones are surprisingly tricky. I try to count... 1, 2, 3, 4 Wait. Oh shit. Is 1 where I entered!?!?!?

I robbed a house like this, and I walked back in forth many, many times making sure my count was right. I didn't die, but on the way back without a dog chasing me, I picked the wrong hallway, so I would've =P

For the double sided trap door - my advice is actually to brick the door open, not step into the trap. Much less chance of the cat being out of range, or a dog being behind the door, or something like that. I got through a house this way that had 15 doors to choose from, 3 times, that looked exactly like that picture. Of course, if they set it up so that the screen doesn't scroll until you get to the door tile, you're going to have to spring the trap at least once.

I'll post some of my traps once the contest finishes.

SnakeAes · 2014-01-27 17:09:24

I have been considering the idea of a house with a failsafe. I am sure this has been tried before but I haven't seen it personally so I'm not sure how the mechanics of it turn out in actual gameplay:

If there were a way to make a power source so appealing to short out (at the mere cost of $100) that a player would almost CERTAINLY short it out if they saw it, but unbeknownst to them it also powers trap doors leading to the vault.

Once they short the power source, the other traps in the house are disabled, but now that the trapdoors are unpowered (and cannot be powered back on), the vault is unreachable without ladders (which are expensive and likely make the theft not worthwhile).

Has anyone tried this? How has it worked out for you?

Cabnormal · 2014-01-27 17:12:29

Killed myself on a self test with that one
Edit: was before I knew powered floors weren't conductive

Last edited by Cabnormal (2014-01-27 17:13:07)

RockyBst · 2014-01-27 17:12:45

It's certainly been done before. You could do it with a stupidly obvious power plant next to an electric gate blocking an entrance, with the gate being the only thing conducting electricity. Maybe put in some magic dances that also cut off the power flow if you don't do them.

DethBringa · 2014-01-27 17:18:28

Been there done that Cabnormal

Blip · 2014-01-27 17:19:56

iceman wrote:

jere wrote:
Those ones are surprisingly tricky. I try to count... 1, 2, 3, 4 Wait. Oh shit. Is 1 where I entered!?!?!?
I robbed a house like this, and I walked back in forth many, many times making sure my count was right. I didn't die, but on the way back without a dog chasing me, I picked the wrong hallway, so I would've =P

You may have been one of the people who took ages robbing me! To be frank, that was the worst thing about my design: it was so big, with so many passages, that many people took over 500 steps robbing it. I've even seen one guy who nearly had 2000 steps! He died.

ventuswings · 2014-01-27 18:54:20

I apologize but this picture seem incomplete. The door would be unpowered at the start, unless you change three tiles next to the powered trapdoor to voltage-triggered inverted switch and power source.

Also

Solutions:
Get spooked and leave the house. Cost: 0
Club the pit bull blocking your exit. Cost: 200
Short the electric floors. Cost: 200+

clubbing the pit bull will not work. Note that hallways are strategically placed that the dogs will always be even squares away from you - the most essential trick to learn for all dog-owners. Therefore to survive you need to shoot the pit bull blocking your exit, which will cost 1200.

DethBringa · 2014-01-27 19:08:33

Cheers for that, fixed the image on my previous post.

SnakeAes · 2014-01-27 19:25:50

Thanks for the clarifications ventuswings.

SnakeAes · 2014-01-27 19:29:12

RockyBst (or anyone else), for the Schrodinger's Corpse leap of faith, I'm guessing the switch beneath the pit bull is unpowered, right? Meaning that the dog stepping on it does absolutely nothing (despite the fact that it looks like it should do something)?

Last edited by SnakeAes (2014-01-27 19:29:22)

jere · 2014-01-27 19:48:38

I don't know if this is common, but it helped me repeatedly (5 separate tries over this weekend) skyrocket up.

What you see and what they see. The camera shifts right when they walk adjacent to the second hallway. They don't stand a chance.

Last edited by jere (2014-01-27 19:49:21)

iceman · 2014-01-27 22:34:36

Here's some of the traps from my house:

I just realized that many people don't know about this. It's a very effective commit gate - once you're past it, you'll need a ladder to get back. First, make sure the switch is pressed. Then, get a dog to follow you 2 steps behind. You'll turn off the power, letting you step on the safe electric floor, then the dog will turn on the power just as you step on the trapdoor. You'll get past, and the dog will be fried.

If you're facing this as a robber, either have a ladder to get back or don't plan on coming back - usually the best choice is just not to pass it.

Another version of a the "dog behind door" commit gate - if you move into the top hallway, once you pass the window, the dog will follow you, opening the powered door and cutting off your escape to the bottom left.

To avoid this as a robber, always explore the shortest paths to the exit first. If there is some way that a dog can get between you and the exit, explore that way first - if there's a powered door or something, either don't explore further or, at the very least, don't go past an empty spot where a dog could possibly see you. If you've triggered the trap, you better have a gun or club handy, or else you're dog meat.

This is a commit gate, although (in my mind) a really sneaky one. The entire room is actually there to plausibly explain the existence of the gap on the right. Once you go up the right hallway, the pit bull sees you across the diagonal, and you're blocked from going back to the entrance unless you brought a club or gun. If you set it up right, the camera only changes the step after the spot the dog sees you. The best part is, most people don't notice - since the screen only changes once you're past where the dog can see you, when you're going up carefully you can't see him, but when you're coming down quickly you don't notice that you saw a dog just before the screen changed. Then, when you try to go back to the left, he'll reach there before you.

Like before, to avoid this, always check what's in hallways closer to the exit first - if there's dogs, or a powered door with dogs behind it, they could cut your exit off.

The next 2 pictures are a more dangerous variant of the basic "line of electric floors trap". The problem with it is that you can simply walk through the trap and, once you see the pet about to trigger the floors, cut the floor in front of you with wire cutters to be safe. These 2 designs punish that strategy, but can be recognized by a wired wall connected to the beginning of the electric floors (but not to ALL of the floors). If there's a wired wall connected to the beginning of the trap, use wire cutters on the first connected electric floors, triggering any traps that might have been set without killing you in the process.

Trap on 2 levels - if you just go straight up, the chihuahua sees you and presses the button to fry you. I had a couple of people think ahead, though, and try to cut the wired wooden wall. Doing that actually cuts off the power to the voltage switch, which means the electric floors turn on, instantly frying you.

Very similar, but with a key difference - this time, power comes through the entrance of the trap instead of the end. This means that cutting the walls is perfectly safe, since it cuts off where the power comes from (hence why there's 4 wired walls instead of 1). However, if you're planning on just using wire cutters in front of you when the chihuahua sees you, you're instantly fried from behind (doing so in the previous trap would be safe).

Last edited by iceman (2014-01-27 22:35:10)

gyuri · 2014-01-28 12:05:25

Here is the basic setup of the upper left corner of my house (of course it's a bit more complicated, but you might get the picture): http://castledraft.com/editor/lq4A30

If you scout too far, it's not easy to come back. So why would you wanna go there? Because if you don't, you won't be able to get to my vault without a lot of tools. You have to go past the dogs in order to get the 'key' and then go back without getting killed.

DethBringa · 2014-01-28 12:33:00

The 4th pic with the chihuahua trap is quite funny when you have the turn on point (corner in that pic) 4 spaces (instead fo the 5 shown) to the switch. The range of a brick is 4 squares so people stuck in this seem to feel the need to throw a brick at the switch to turn it on while they are standing on the spot where they first see the chihuahua.

Happens a lot more than you would think.

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Re: Meta-Game and Common Trap Mechanics

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