Favorite trap design theme?

xandalis · 2014-04-02 19:07:57

So, like the subject asks, what's everyone's favorite (to build/use) trap type? Personally, I've been leaning towards psyche-outs and stealth commits lately. And while it's a love/hate relationship, magic-dance enable/disables.

mala · 2014-04-03 07:43:51

clocks.

they have a couple of downside, but still lots of potential.

They put a lot of pressure on robbers.
if wired from the far side it can't be disconnected.
whenever you use a tool the cycle will advance and you'll be forced to use another one just to get tuned again.
and so on.

Lots of people do not understand how it works and how to manage it.

3/4 of my videotapes show peoples taking 100 step back and forth to understand the cycle just to die as soon as they start dancing.

seriously guys... it's 1-2-3-BZZZZZ... how come no one seems to get it?

Last edited by mala (2014-04-03 08:21:28)

poor · 2014-04-03 07:58:14

- Line-of-sight traps
- Easy-to-guess magic dances followed by single-step deathtraps
- My own proprietary commit gate design. It looks like a doggie commit gate, but will kill you if you use it that way.

eppfel · 2014-04-03 11:35:45

My favorite are traps with animal movement, which you don't see or easily miss. Still I died like an idiot in Snyder's and in high value houses they are normally to weak against brute force.

iceman · 2014-04-03 14:59:33

I tend to build giant rabbit trails, while the safe is hidden behind a relatively insecure spot that nobody expects the safe to be.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how my next house is going to fare. The whole idea behind it is to kill well-tooled, experienced robbers by convincing them they're safe. One trap in particular I can't wait to see all of the death tapes- I think it's going to make a lot of people mad

TheRealCheese · 2014-04-03 15:02:36

I really really like psyche outs of all sorts, where you are presented with several solutions to the same trap but only one of them is the true solution. Only problem with them is that if your house is visited often enough, someone is going to luck out and choose the right solution.

Blip · 2014-04-03 15:06:11

I like crazy psychological traps. One of my current ones is currently also a pretty strong counterforce trap, which I won't describe because I like my art.
I also use counterforce traps a lot (traps that discourage tool use), to the point of using them as a crutch to keep poorly built houses afloat.

Last edited by Blip (2014-04-03 15:06:19)

Lord0fHam · 2014-04-03 15:44:00

iceman wrote:

I tend to build giant rabbit trails, while the safe is hidden behind a relatively insecure spot that nobody expects the safe to be.
I'm really looking forward to seeing how my next house is going to fare. The whole idea behind it is to kill well-tooled, experienced robbers by convincing them they're safe. One trap in particular I can't wait to see all of the death tapes- I think it's going to make a lot of people mad

How do you guys build anti brute force traps? No need to reveal your specific design, but some tips would be really appreciated. Is there any way besides a paradox circuit?

Blip · 2014-04-03 15:55:26

Lord0fHam wrote:

iceman wrote:
I tend to build giant rabbit trails, while the safe is hidden behind a relatively insecure spot that nobody expects the safe to be.
I'm really looking forward to seeing how my next house is going to fare. The whole idea behind it is to kill well-tooled, experienced robbers by convincing them they're safe. One trap in particular I can't wait to see all of the death tapes- I think it's going to make a lot of people mad
How do you guys build anti brute force traps? No need to reveal your specific design, but some tips would be really appreciated. Is there any way besides a paradox circuit?

In my old house, Blood Blossom (see link in my sig), I used two effective counterforce traps. The first was a "corner of death", in which cutting in either direction once the dog sees you results in death.
The second is a magic dance, locked behind a door, on a clock-powered floor. One the robber enters, they're locked in and will die if they use tools because of the clock.

In general, counterforce traps cause tool use to be deadly, or cause tool use to prevent forward progress without cutting through thick walls.

This is in contrast to psychological traps, which are also designed to kill well-tooled robbers. Psych traps make the robber think that something is safe such that they don't even try to use tools. These traps are surprisingly effective once you have concrete walls and a simple failsafe; my current one, nicknamed "Korridor", has not been solved for over 2 weeks.

xandalis · 2014-04-03 15:55:50

Lord0fHam wrote:

iceman wrote:
I tend to build giant rabbit trails, while the safe is hidden behind a relatively insecure spot that nobody expects the safe to be.
I'm really looking forward to seeing how my next house is going to fare. The whole idea behind it is to kill well-tooled, experienced robbers by convincing them they're safe. One trap in particular I can't wait to see all of the death tapes- I think it's going to make a lot of people mad
How do you guys build anti brute force traps? No need to reveal your specific design, but some tips would be really appreciated. Is there any way besides a paradox circuit?

Well, as I've done them so far, they can be a bit space-consuming depending on what you want them to do in the event of someone trying to force past. The simplest would be trap doors: cut through a wired wall/short out the wrong power supply/floor and wham: open pit. But damn expensive for one tile. Back when I first started I couldn't tell you how many times I wound up dumping water on that hot floor tile, only to realize too late, that I'd just broken a pit-bull chaser LoF and ensured my imminent death (which was only likely a few more steps past anyway).

Eventually I'll stop dying to my own self-tests and actually have my dream meat-grinder of a house that I don't kill myself with...

Lord0fHam · 2014-04-03 16:11:28

Thanks for the help guys. My current house has some traps that if you break, cause you to have to use many extra tools. I guess that is anti brute force. Could you explain how to make or give an example of a psych trap? I don't get how to make a robber feel safe but still kill him.

xandalis · 2014-04-03 16:21:21

Lord0fHam wrote:

Thanks for the help guys. My current house has some traps that if you break, cause you to have to use many extra tools. I guess that is anti brute force. Could you explain how to make or give an example of a psych trap? I don't get how to make a robber feel safe but still kill him.

pet/window trap setups that do nothing, or that don't affect anything nearby, but waaaay further ahead on the path. order-specific pet tags... Think of Rube Goldberg machine type things, but with traps and player movement.

Oh, and about my thoughts on clocks: too much floor space, and easily broken if found, thus disabling the entire system. Of course if you're a wiring god, there's always stashing all the components all over the place. But again, then they're likely to be even easier to break while forcing past whatever obstacle is in the robber's way. But it all still depends on what the flavor of the week is in scouting behavior, I've seen an interesting range so far.

Those who're just trying to find your vault in one go will usually get caught by the psych traps (strategic weak-wall spot with a wall-dog anyone?) from what I've seen, while those who're scouting to actually crack your traps, are more likely to find your bluffs and figure out what's really going on. Either that or I'm just waaaay to obvious with my "to-the-safe" route planning.

iceman · 2014-04-03 16:50:07

Lord0fHam wrote:

Thanks for the help guys. My current house has some traps that if you break, cause you to have to use many extra tools. I guess that is anti brute force. Could you explain how to make or give an example of a psych trap? I don't get how to make a robber feel safe but still kill him.

Like Blip said, psych traps are designed to make the robber use no tools or the wrong tools. A paradox circuit is a really good basis for learning about psych traps. I'm sure you've seen (or used) this before:
http://castledraft.com/editor/Se0IPf

If you haven't seen it before, you won't notice anything out of the ordinary from a normal version of that hall. So, your plan is to walk down until the screen changes, and if there's a pet, cut the wire in front of you, letting you step on it and water your way past the rest of the electric floors. So, you cut the wire in front of you, the wires behind (and beneath) you are powered, and *ZAP*. You now know not to do that again

Another example would be the clock-powered electric floors at the entrance of a house. People don't see any pets to turn them on, it seems like just a normal commit, you're halfway down the hallway when *ZAP*! Everything lights up, and you suddenly start doing little dances at the start of houses to see if anything turns on by a clock.

I've already been hinting at one of the biggest issues with psych traps- they usually only work once. The two I've mentioned have become so common that they're practically useless at this point. Most people know how to spot the setup to the paradox trap and know what a clock powered entrance trap looks like. Instead of using other people's traps, for a good psych trap, you have to design your own- that's one of the reasons I like them so much I'd say the most important part of one is presentation- you have to make it look like something else as much as possible, and encourage the robber to solve that trap, not the real one.

Anyways, I hope that helps you design your own psychological traps! Writing this up actually helped me think of a new psych trap, so thanks for that

Blip · 2014-04-03 17:20:18

iceman wrote:

I've already been hinting at one of the biggest issues with psych traps- they usually only work once. The two I've mentioned have become so common that they're practically useless at this point. Most people know how to spot the setup to the paradox trap and know what a clock powered entrance trap looks like. Instead of using other people's traps, for a good psych trap, you have to design your own- that's one of the reasons I like them so much I'd say the most important part of one is presentation- you have to make it look like something else as much as possible, and encourage the robber to solve that trap, not the real one.

I find it really fun to design new psych traps. My completely original trap Korridor has been very successful, especially in its more secure third modification currently. I also just built a new psych trap, which I might dub Lucky, that will hopefully be successful as well.

xandalis · 2014-04-03 17:43:00

My most recent addition has nabbed 3 people so far. Still takes waaaaaay too many steps for 'em to die past 3 right now though. Of course, there's also psyche-engineering, let's call it: I'm noticing that a lot of the people who've died to my house this life, seem to think the power source is coming from a different direction. Leading to many of them walking down the death-corridor thinking it's entirely safe to do so. Or maybe it's just because they've got nowhere else to go but to try for the safe or suicide.

tigerbalm immunity · 2014-04-04 04:15:31

make a clock race look like a magic dance. it could require racing across the electric floors to beat the clock, but people will stutter step to try to guess the dance footwork. you know, for the lolz

xandalis · 2014-04-04 06:27:54

tigerbalm immunity wrote:

make a clock race look like a magic dance. it could require racing across the electric floors to beat the clock, but people will stutter step to try to guess the dance footwork. you know, for the lolz

Maybe one day. I'm still not fond of how much floorspace a clock can wind up taking up, nor how easily they can be defeated if found. In the meantime, I'll stick with my hot-floor LoF corridor... Which unless you break behind one of the walls... is only safe to go through once, in one direction. Assuming the robber grabs the correct dog to follow behind the wall...

AMWhy · 2014-04-04 08:46:15

One trap I used in a previous house was a fake clock. After opening a door, the thief is confronted by gratings flashing on/off alternately with every step. The initial assumption is a clock. After checking the clock, it becomes clear that you can just run through and the grates will be safe every time you step on them. However, after 10 cycles, all the grates stay on and the thief is fried!

The reality is a cat and a chihuaha. At the entrance, both animals are seen. The cat runs away, but is held up by an electronic door. Deep into the maze, when you open the door to the 'clock', the chihuahua steps on a plate and the cat can continue it's journey. The cat runs down a corridor, turning power on/off/on/off all the way to the end.

Most people would check it's a clock before going for it when the solution was to go for it straight away. Waiting would mean death or no way past without tools.

The Castle Doctrine Forums

#1 2014-04-02 19:07:57

Favorite trap design theme?

#2 2014-04-03 07:43:51

Re: Favorite trap design theme?

#3 2014-04-03 07:58:14

Re: Favorite trap design theme?

#4 2014-04-03 11:35:45

Re: Favorite trap design theme?

#5 2014-04-03 14:59:33

Re: Favorite trap design theme?

#6 2014-04-03 15:02:36

Re: Favorite trap design theme?

#7 2014-04-03 15:06:11

Re: Favorite trap design theme?

#8 2014-04-03 15:44:00

Re: Favorite trap design theme?

#9 2014-04-03 15:55:26

Re: Favorite trap design theme?

#10 2014-04-03 15:55:50

Re: Favorite trap design theme?

#11 2014-04-03 16:11:28

Re: Favorite trap design theme?

#12 2014-04-03 16:21:21

Re: Favorite trap design theme?

#13 2014-04-03 16:50:07

Re: Favorite trap design theme?

#14 2014-04-03 17:20:18

Re: Favorite trap design theme?

#15 2014-04-03 17:43:00

Re: Favorite trap design theme?

#16 2014-04-04 04:15:31

Re: Favorite trap design theme?

#17 2014-04-04 06:27:54

Re: Favorite trap design theme?

#18 2014-04-04 08:46:15

Re: Favorite trap design theme?

Board footer