No decent tutorials...

Leaf · 2014-02-20 01:14:17

Hey guys,

I play all kinds of strategy games, but most of them are really graphics intensive. This one is really interesting to me, and I was happy to buy it. The problem is... I'm not learning, I'm not progressing, I'm not understanding, and I'm not having fun. I can see it's an awesome game. I've read what I thought were the most helpful posts. I've watched an hour of some dude playing on youtube over a span of 4 videos (and man it was boring).

I'm not dense, there just is no good manual. No instruction book, no tutorial. You need something that forces people to build basic structures and then adapt them so they understand how things work.

I'm starting to understand basic game dynamics such as the dog/window or the "leap of faith," but I still have no idea how to tell if the latter is in play or not. I've read the wiki, but it's not the most in-depth thing. It doesn't have popular setups of items/tools nor does it explain fundamental ideas.

Given that criticism, I know it's still in development- and I know a lot of things will be coming some time in the next few months. My point is, I want to learn and I don't feel like I can.

So if someone knowledgeable can add me on steam- I'd appreciate it.

I'd be happy to add some youtube tutorials with my findings. Just google/youtube "castle doctrine tutorial" and you don't get anything worth while.

http://steamcommunity.com/id/supermansuperfan007gg/

Thanks,
Leaf

JoyOfTrapping · 2014-02-20 01:42:37

Hey buddy. I understand your feelings here. The truth of things is that this is a school of hard knocks type of game. The lack of information I think is there by design. I am a decent player now and pretty much everything I learned, I learned through 10% wiki, 90% blood sweat and tears. You have to kill yourself, and kill yourself a lot. This game is the ultimate testament to the maxim, "Experience is the best teacher." The purpose of your knowledge of the game is not to make you secure or defensible, because those qualities are illusions in this game. The purpose of your knowledge is simply to make you flexible and adaptable as you face an endless variety of experiential situations as you progress through your character's life span. Just keep ramming into the brick wall of the learning curve head on. Go out there and be a samurai and earn your knowledge through battle, honor, and blood. You will be a great player in the long run with this approach.

Leaf · 2014-02-20 02:00:56

For instance... why doesn't this not work:

The lights don't light up, im guessing that means the floor won't be electrified. I'm trying to get a trap to fire here.

Cool_Roxas · 2014-02-20 02:13:13

Leaf wrote:

For instance... why doesn't this not work:
http://imageshack.com/a/img842/3871/i2dv.jpg
The lights don't light up, im guessing that means the floor won't be electrified. I'm trying to get a trap to fire here.

It needs 2 switches on ON position to fire the trap. If either 1 is OFF then it won't activate.

ON + ON = ON
ON + OFF = OFF
OFF + OFF = OFF

42dustman · 2014-02-20 02:20:37

Leaf wrote:

For instance... why doesn't this not work:
http://imageshack.com/a/img842/3871/i2dv.jpg
The lights don't light up, im guessing that means the floor won't be electrified. I'm trying to get a trap to fire here.

It will be electrified, but only during self-test, not build mode. Also, in the way you set it will be always electrified regardless of the button's positions because you have connected the indicator lights directly to the power source instead of just through the switches. You should think of switches as wires that you can toggle on and off.

joshwithguitar · 2014-02-20 02:30:47

Hi Leaf and welcome to the forums!

Leaf wrote:

For instance... why doesn't this not work:
http://imageshack.com/a/img842/3871/i2dv.jpg
The lights don't light up, im guessing that means the floor won't be electrified. I'm trying to get a trap to fire here.

The lights aren't lighting up because you are in build mode where electric floors, doors and light always appear unpowered and trapdoors always appear powered (with the exception of when you return to a robbed house).

You can use the self test to check whether things power as you wish them to. If you try the setup you've shown in self test you should notice that the lights always light up no matter what buttons are pressed. If you want buttons to stop power flowing to a light or trap you need to place them on the path from the electric source to the trap - so Cool_Roxas isn't exactly correct.

Make sure you read through the wiring guide of the wiki if you haven't already:
http://thecastledoctrine.gamepedia.com/Wiring

Leaf · 2014-02-20 02:39:04

42dustman wrote:

Leaf wrote:
For instance... why doesn't this not work:
http://imageshack.com/a/img842/3871/i2dv.jpg
The lights don't light up, im guessing that means the floor won't be electrified. I'm trying to get a trap to fire here.
It will be electrified, but only during self-test, not build mode. Also, in the way you set it will be always electrified regardless of the button's positions because you have connected the indicator lights directly to the power source instead of just through the switches. You should think of switches as wires that you can toggle on and off.

Oh, interesting. Thanks.

Leaf · 2014-02-20 04:48:59

I wish I could get a refund for this game, because I really don't want it anymore. I don't know if I'll be playing it... but this final screenshot takes the cake:

You're going to have to explain to me how when I raid some dude with $800, I take 2 steps into his house and die without seeing anything... and I'm supposed to learn from that. You know what I've learned? This game is not fun. It's pointless. Even the people at the lower levels have traps that only wealthy people can destroy. How the hell did this guy pass his own self-test? There is a clear obstacle in the way of the family. So what, his family is dead? So he gets to cheat?

You have got to be kidding me!

What exactly is fun about this to anyone else? I thought this game was about deductive reasoning and puzzle solving. It's just a bunch of dutch books.

MMaster · 2014-02-20 05:04:45

Leaf wrote:

I wish I could get a refund for this game, because I really don't want it anymore. I don't know if I'll be playing it... but this final screenshot takes the cake:
https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/766x6 … 9/1zak.jpg
You're going to have to explain to me how when I raid some dude with $800, I take 2 steps into his house and die without seeing anything... and I'm supposed to learn from that. You know what I've learned? This game is not fun. It's pointless. Even the people at the lower levels have traps that only wealthy people can destroy. How the hell did this guy pass his own self-test? There is a clear obstacle in the way of the family. So what, his family is dead? So he gets to cheat?
You have got to be kidding me!
What exactly is fun about this to anyone else? I thought this game was about deductive reasoning and puzzle solving. It's just a bunch of dutch books.

His family is already dead so he doesn't need clear path for them. I understand your confusion, but you need to be patient and learn. We can help you with the learning part. People are making traps - not some kind of AI - they can figure out a lot of ways to fool you. You will die a lot in this game. A lot! And you will learn from that. Now you died because someone has made a trap that you didn't see before. It's possible that the house had some kind of clock - you can discover those by taking a few steps back and forth at the start to see of some traps are activated after few steps.
These are the kind of feelings this game makes you feel, but still - you could have seen the cables in the walls and you even had saws with you so it was entirely possible for you to survive this. You just didn't know that something like this is possible in this game, but now you know and you should remember that and use that to your advantage next time.

Last edited by MMaster (2014-02-20 05:15:14)

Leaf · 2014-02-20 05:12:43

MMaster wrote:

Leaf wrote:
I wish I could get a refund for this game, because I really don't want it anymore. I don't know if I'll be playing it... but this final screenshot takes the cake:
https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/766x6 … 9/1zak.jpg
You're going to have to explain to me how when I raid some dude with $800, I take 2 steps into his house and die without seeing anything... and I'm supposed to learn from that. You know what I've learned? This game is not fun. It's pointless. Even the people at the lower levels have traps that only wealthy people can destroy. How the hell did this guy pass his own self-test? There is a clear obstacle in the way of the family. So what, his family is dead? So he gets to cheat?
You have got to be kidding me!
What exactly is fun about this to anyone else? I thought this game was about deductive reasoning and puzzle solving. It's just a bunch of dutch books.
His family is already dead so he doesn't need clear path for them. I understand your confusion, but you need to be patient and learn. We can help you with the learning part. People are making traps - not some kind of AI - they can figure out a lot of ways to fool you. You will die a lot in this game. A lot! And you will learn from that. Now you died because someone has made a trap that you didn't see before. It's possible that the house had some kind of clock - you can discover those by taking a few steps back and forth at the start to see of some traps are activated after few steps.
These are the kind of feelings this game makes you feel, but still - you could have seen the cables in the walls and you even had saws with you so it was entirely possible for you to survive this. You just didn't know that something like this is possible in this game, but now you know and you should remember that and use that to your advantage next time.

You do realize that it's really tough to be patient when you die from something that you have literally no way of knowing exists. A clock? How the hell do you get a clock?

colorfusion · 2014-02-20 05:18:23

Leaf wrote:

You do realize that it's really tough to be patient when you die from something that you have literally no way of knowing exists. A clock? How the hell do you get a clock?

As MMaster said, at the beginning you will die a lot, and it won't always feel like your fault, but you'll slowly learn the tricks and put them to use yourself.

A clock is a somewhat advanced piece of electronics that acts like a counter or cycle. Every time you take a step it will count one up. It's pretty hard to understand one, but easy to copy out someone's design or learn how to counter them. It's not a specific tool or house object, but rather a big circuit made with normal wiring components.

Clocks will pretty much never go up past 16 steps, because they are large to build. Go back and forth a little bit and you should see if things turn and off without your input. Get the timing down and you should be able to beat the system.

Last edited by colorfusion (2014-02-20 05:23:00)

MMaster · 2014-02-20 05:18:26

To do "deductive reasoning and puzzle solving" you first need to learn what's possible, what are the basic components of this game, what kind of traps can be made, what puzzles are usually used, etc.. after that you can use deductive reasoning and puzzle solving. There is usually only one way to do that - go and die to traps that you didn't know were possible to make. You can also read wiki and sticky threads on this forum to get better idea of what's possible and what to look for when robbing houses.

Clocks are entirely possible and there are few threads on this forum about them - here is the latest one: http://thecastledoctrine.net/forums/vie … php?id=944

I highly recommend to go through the guides on the wiki: http://thecastledoctrine.gamepedia.com/ … trine_Wiki
The one talking about clocks: http://thecastledoctrine.gamepedia.com/ … lectronics
There is also nice guide about clocks on the wiki by joshwithguitar: http://thecastledoctrine.gamepedia.com/Clocks_Guide

Leaf · 2014-02-20 05:23:33

Thanks guys, knowledge is power.

joshwithguitar · 2014-02-20 05:24:53

Clocks are made using the games wiring. You can learn about how to use them from the guide on the wiki: http://thecastledoctrine.gamepedia.com/Clocks_Guide

The trick to avoiding clocks is to make sure you wait a few steps before stepping over wired floor. Clocks tend to act in cycles meaning that the trick to this house is to wait until the floors depower and move across them while they are off. You can learn the cycle lengths by visiting the house and watching them. Or, you can come in with water and take out the electric floor whenever it is powered.

The Castle Doctrine Forums

#1 2014-02-20 01:14:17

No decent tutorials...

#2 2014-02-20 01:42:37

Re: No decent tutorials...

#3 2014-02-20 02:00:56

Re: No decent tutorials...

#4 2014-02-20 02:13:13

Re: No decent tutorials...

#5 2014-02-20 02:20:37

Re: No decent tutorials...

#6 2014-02-20 02:30:47

Re: No decent tutorials...

#7 2014-02-20 02:39:04

Re: No decent tutorials...

#8 2014-02-20 04:48:59

Re: No decent tutorials...

#9 2014-02-20 05:04:45

Re: No decent tutorials...

#10 2014-02-20 05:12:43

Re: No decent tutorials...

#11 2014-02-20 05:18:23

Re: No decent tutorials...

#12 2014-02-20 05:18:26

Re: No decent tutorials...

#13 2014-02-20 05:23:33

Re: No decent tutorials...

#14 2014-02-20 05:24:53

Re: No decent tutorials...

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