Vindictive robbers

death_to_ice_cream_vans · 2014-03-09 18:01:59

This is getting ridiculous. I've spent the past week or so conceptualising, testing and refining a good starter house. Today, when I finally put it into action, I got just one bounty before a robber came in with a gun and killed my wife. He also drugged my dog. For a mere $600!

I don't understand why more people aren't chiming in to agree with this thread and push for change. It doesn't matter if you build a perfect magic dance, combo lock, clock or whatever else fancy unbreakable trap in your starter house: if someone comes into your place with four saws, or a gun and dog meat, they are going to brute their way through your defences. And it makes building your house pointless! Why spend 30 mins constructing a house when you know someone is going to enter and destroy it right away? I'm certainly getting to the point where I can't be bothered.

Lord0fHam · 2014-03-09 18:05:30

Go out and rob and get some more money before building a starting house. Or build a more secure starting house.

death_to_ice_cream_vans · 2014-03-09 19:00:27

I've heard both those arguments before, and I can't accept either of them. The first suggestion is good in that it encourages more players to rob, rather than just sit back and wait for others to come to them. Obviously, this adds to the fun of the game. However, it's not good in more ways, namely the fact that your wife is probably going to be killed the second you're out robbing and exceed the five minute grace period. Mainly, though, I don't like the idea that people should be forced to play the game in a particular way to compensate for an easily-fixed flaw in the game's rules.

Imagine if a game like Call of Duty had such complex maps that players who knew them well had an overwhelming advantage, or something like that. New players would be forced to spend their first thirty lives blindly dying, just to scout and learn the maps. No one would want to play the game, of course. That's exactly what's happening here: you're asking people to play the game in a particular way to compensate for a weakness in its makeup. Granted, my example doesn't quite match up because robbing houses is actually fun, as opposed to just dying in CoD, but I'm sure you get the point. I don't like to go out robbing initially: I like to build my house and feel like I'm protected before I leave.

The game will be more fun if diverse playstyles are encouraged. With my original suggestion, the "This place doesn't look worth it" message when a player tries to enter a house carrying more tools than the value of the vault, people can still play both ways. Robbing houses first up to try and gain more starter money, or using their initial 2K to build before leaving. Having it your way, there is only the one option.

I hadn't thought of it before, but Jason could even make it so that houses worth less than your tools don't even show up on the list. It seems like that would be a simple thing to do.

death_to_ice_cream_vans · 2014-03-09 19:03:50

Oops, I got so wrapped up there that I forgot to address your second point. I don't believe there is a starter house that can protect your wife and vault against someone with 2K of tools, and still have between $300 and $800 left over to lure non-griefing robbers in. Show me one on CastleDraft if you'd like to disprove this statement. I'd be very happy to be proven wrong.

GotABigTrap · 2014-03-09 19:18:18

with the starting 2000 I think you can choose to protect the wife from 2k of tools or the vault, but not both. For example, use thick walls, a pit, a powered door and leave the wife unprotected. On the other hand, use a dog and a shotgun. Placed correctly it would be difficult with only 1 gun.

death_to_ice_cream_vans · 2014-03-09 20:05:44

Another reason why the current situation is flawed is that it negatively impacts on the "be scared of death" aspect of the game. Jason has been very staunch in upholding this feeling. In effect, 2K robbers have unlimited lives and aren't at all scared of dying. Surely this is a bad thing.

Lord0fHam · 2014-03-09 22:26:23

death_to_ice_cream_vans wrote:

Oops, I got so wrapped up there that I forgot to address your second point. I don't believe there is a starter house that can protect your wife and vault against someone with 2K of tools, and still have between $300 and $800 left over to lure non-griefing robbers in. Show me one on CastleDraft if you'd like to disprove this statement. I'd be very happy to be proven wrong.

I'm not going to share my design cause i still use it, but lets just say it uses a clock and a magic dance. I only protect the vault though. But a 2k robber has NEVER robbed me, because of the timer. It kills them before they can use their tools.

death_to_ice_cream_vans · 2014-03-09 22:33:24

Four points then:

1. Your wife is still unprotected, meaning you're still open to robbery.

2. Even magic dances and clocks can't stop a robber cutting walls, shooting dogs and generally laying waste to a house before they step on an electric floor.

3. Clocks are advanced circuitry that many players simply won't be able to master, so we can't expect everyone's starter house to have one.

4. In line with what I said about encouraging diverse playstyles, if every starter house was a clock or magic dance type deal, the game would become incredibly boring.

Lord0fHam · 2014-03-09 22:38:45

1. screw the wife. i hope she dies fast so i lose less money when she inevitably does.
2. the magic dance is there to stop a robber who happens to get past the clock part. Also i use a powered pit.
3. i don't even know how they work. i just use a template i found.
4. i didn't say everyone had to use a clock house. my point was simply that is is very possible to make a house immune to 2k robbers.

death_to_ice_cream_vans · 2014-03-09 22:57:50

Well, I can see you don't want to be reasoned with. Good day, sir.

DarkKat48 · 2014-03-09 23:27:49

Did you ever think to spend all your money protecting your wife and leave the vault to be compromised? Do that and go out with some tools and rob a few houses then build around protecting your vault second. The vault can be repaired and restocked, your wife can not. Also if you are so intent on saving your wife you should not go out clubbing other peoples wives. Have a code of honor if you feel so unjustified by other people killing your wife. I never go out after another persons wife just for the money. Though I'm more a builder than a robber.

death_to_ice_cream_vans · 2014-03-10 00:09:39

No, I didn't think of that, and it's quite a good idea. However, it once again restricts available playstyles and won't stop someone from senselessly trashing your house. And you still lose money from it.

Last edited by death_to_ice_cream_vans (2014-03-10 00:16:00)

death_to_ice_cream_vans · 2014-03-10 00:39:34

I've been thinking about this some more. I won't be totally happy until the game is updated to stop rampaging 2K robbers, but in the meantime I've been trying to come up some useable strategies to thwart their attacks, and maybe even kill them. It seems like the best way is to use psychology and mind games.

Two immediate thoughts:

a) Put your family in the same room as your vault, or very close by, so that they use the same protection. I know this seems crazy considering you need a clear path to the family, but I've come up with a draft design which appears quite workable in this regard, involving some simple misdirection.

b) Make the vault's location obvious, and tempt the robber to brute force their way to it. That way, you can anticipate their movements and prepare for them, i.e. make an electric floor which shorts when they throw water on it, deactivating the rest in the row, but then when they take another few steps, the rest turn on.

These won't stop a robber from trashing your place, but at least they might help actually protect your money so you can survive and do repairs. I'll test these and report back here.

Last edited by death_to_ice_cream_vans (2014-03-10 00:49:36)

DarkKat48 · 2014-03-10 02:27:04

Sounds like you are on the path of better protecting your family and your vault. There are plenty of traps that are not cost effective and ways to set up protection for your wife that someone would need two pistols to get to your wife which isn't possible on a 2k kit.

JoyOfTrapping · 2014-03-10 09:27:02

If you want to achieve certain goals, you will have to "restrict your playstyles." The main reason for your challenges with this title are not your tactics or the spite of others. It is an error in thinking, which is that you should have the right to generalize your behavior and get whatever results you desire in exchange. Players that succeed at this game are adaptable; they accept the conditions of the field of play and change their behavior accordingly for every situation. Don't insist the rules be changed because you feel you have the right to generalize your behavior across the board and be rewarded for it.

Suedeo · 2014-03-10 11:07:32

This game behaves like a roguelike in that sometimes you'll get lucky and break through to survive the (tough, unforgiving) start and advance to the midgame, and sometimes you won't. Even "perfect play" and a streak of good decisions won't save your family when the Flying Fickle Finger of Fate is pointing their way.

Should you ever snag a major bounty or rob a $10k+ vault, slow down and make the most of that opportunity, because it's' your ticket to the big time!

As soon as you you can afford it, procure a gaggle of pitbulls and space them out on the (long, twisty, concrete&pit ) family path so each would require a gun to advance past (spaces are required -- if dogs are adjacent a robber can club through the line for a fraction of the cost).

Edit: If you make nothing but good decisions you'll never die - I meant to say "your family"

Last edited by Suedeo (2014-03-10 11:12:15)

The Castle Doctrine Forums

#26 2014-03-09 18:01:59

Re: Vindictive robbers

#27 2014-03-09 18:05:30

Re: Vindictive robbers

#28 2014-03-09 19:00:27

Re: Vindictive robbers

#29 2014-03-09 19:03:50

Re: Vindictive robbers

#30 2014-03-09 19:18:18

Re: Vindictive robbers

#31 2014-03-09 20:05:44

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#32 2014-03-09 22:26:23

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#33 2014-03-09 22:33:24

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#34 2014-03-09 22:38:45

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#35 2014-03-09 22:57:50

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#36 2014-03-09 23:27:49

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#37 2014-03-10 00:09:39

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#38 2014-03-10 00:39:34

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#39 2014-03-10 02:27:04

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#40 2014-03-10 09:27:02

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#41 2014-03-10 11:07:32

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