Well tooled scout, slip or suicide? @Ronald Michael Jensen's place.

Cylence · 2014-04-10 23:47:18

I don't have a record of George John Lopez. 1st visit was well tooled.

It looked promising (not really, but he looked like he had robbed before since he was using tools and knows how to work his way through stacked dogs). Then after going back and forth checking out the place, he walks into a pit bull. Me = ?

I'm wondering if this is the return of the chain robbers. Or maybe the last hurrah of a player going into retirement. Or maybe a well funded alt scout? Either way, it was entertaining and confusing, thanks.

Was this you? Let me know.

Edit: And the tools totaled $8500 retail ($4250 resale).

Last edited by Cylence (2014-04-10 23:55:08)

cullman · 2014-04-11 05:30:29

That was me. I had a nice $30k house going, and I was trying to break Allman's for the 10th time, I stepped on a electric floor (while I had 8 waters still and was in confirmation mode, which always messes my rhythm up for some reason). I got bored and 2k robbed at 3.5k then a 5.6k and you were the 3rd and final chain robbery that I died on, then I went to bed. Today is probably the longest I haven't had an house up, since I've started playing.

I walked into the dog right by the pit right? I was out of options anyways, so I decided to give you the tools. And it definitely wasn't an alt. Though, after I died on my account in Allman's house with a stupid mistake I had two thoughts : 1) I see why people use alts to go rob when they get restless (though I still don't approve of it, and wouldn't do it myself, I think the game would be way more interesting if people were forced to use their main account when they got restless). 2) If I was to make a slightly less punishing version of this game, would this game be ruined if you were stepping to certain death the the game warned you : "Are you sure you want to step on this active electric floor tile, especially since you have 8 waters and you are only 4 tiles from the door, you total moron?" Something like that would end double tap deaths, etc.

Last edited by cullman (2014-04-11 05:41:12)

TheRealCheese · 2014-04-11 08:26:11

Heh, your 3k robbery was the house I let my reallife wife build (I was taking a break after one too many mistakes) bummed her out, her house almost made it through the night! But just before you robbed it someone left a 1100 bounty in there, and the house couldn't stand up to that kind of heat.

cullman · 2014-04-11 08:56:44

TheRealCheese wrote:

Heh, your 3k robbery was the house I let my reallife wife build (I was taking a break after one too many mistakes) bummed her out, her house almost made it through the night! But just before you robbed it someone left a 1100 bounty in there, and the house couldn't stand up to that kind of heat.

Doh! Send her my apologies. I hate to turn a potential new player sour on the game, though the game does a better job of that than I ever could

Cylence · 2014-04-11 10:13:32

cullman wrote:

...I walked into the dog right by the pit right? I was out of options anyways, so I decided to give you the tools.

Yeah, I could tell the robber knew he couldn't get anywhere else. When he ran into the dog, I couldn't help but question it being intentional and not a mistake. Thanks for the tools, but next time suicide to make it plain you were giving me the tools . Thanks for responding to my post, and letting me know my intuition was correct (chain robber).

cullman wrote:

...Today is probably the longest I haven't had an house up, since I've started playing... Though, after I died on my account in Allman's house with a stupid mistake I had two thoughts 1) ... 2) ...

I urge you to spend more time without a house up. At least a week.

I started the same way with trying to build income from a $1k material house with a $1k listing. I would scout while waiting for visitors. The pincer dog wife deathtrap is great for those, although it puts your wife at risk. It was easier to make money back then with the amount of players in the game.

I found that the $2k house is a pipe dream. I think everyone should put time into learning how to rob when they start. Their first house should be built with money from a big heist. After mapping, and probing, and recording, and dying, and revisiting. And also testing out what they found by recreating it with the free 2k. People will eventually break a house. But that takes time. And everyone is out for the quick dollar these days. They are used to games that have instant gratification and easy build up. This isn't that type of game.

This is an unfair game. People will always have more money and more time than you. That makes it inherently unfair. Try to accept it and try to enjoy the experience the game is offering. Spend your new life learning and put time into robbing until you break one of the big houses. Then after all that hard work is put into a theft, you start to put more hard work into building. Using what you've learned to craft a place that is both deadly and inviting. Work towards a complete house. And then you'll eventually get robbed if you wait long enough. Or you'll die to a self test. Step out and scout for easier to break houses now that you have the funds to make a deeper dive. Use your knowledge that you gained from doing all that free scouting to stay alive. You'll eventually die to a mistake. Either way, the paranoia at the fact that it's going to happen is the what the game is offering.

Because it offers such a frustrating death, it also offers the opposite side of the coin. I used to grind for items in Diablo II. But the feeling of an awesome item drop pales into comparison with what I got from hardcore mode. The feeling of fear when you step into dangerous areas. And the elated feeling you get when you overcome it. Because you know it's not easy. That's why I like this game.

My signature has links to my thoughts on how to progress through the game. Try it out and let me know what you think.

cullman · 2014-04-11 13:27:51

Cylence, This is how I play. I have had houses up for over a week before... for example this one was on the top page for the while my, 4th day of playing. Everyone on this board seems to think I don't know how to play because I complain about alts screwing up the game. I complain about that because the game used to be a lot better when there were more than 50-100 players playing. Here is my house from my 4th day of playing, it lasted almost a week Then I died on selftest. I loved playing back then because there were so many new players that a decent house easily generated $10k a day on it's own (without having to alt).

Again this was my first big house from Febuary 2nd. My current designs are tougher.

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Last edited by cullman (2014-04-11 13:28:46)

Cylence · 2014-04-11 15:11:59

cullman wrote:

Everyone on this board seems to think I don't know how to play because I complain about alts screwing up the game. I complain about that because the game used to be a lot better when there were more than 50-100 players playing. Here is my house from my 4th day of playing, it lasted almost a week Then I died on selftest. I loved playing back then because there were so many new players that a decent house easily generated $10k a day on it's own (without having to alt).

It's not that I don't think you can play. I saw you scouting my place and knew you had experience. I agree with you that when the players were all new and 2k diving everywhere, it was really easy to make money. It was going to end sometime or another. However, saying it was "better" because there were newbies feeding you is like saying "Basketball was better when I was playing against 1st graders." I don't mean to be offending, I'm just trying to make a point that the game is the same, it's the players who are different.

Every game has a learning curve and this one is really steep. Those who didn't learn or couldn't adapt, quit. And soon it became harder and harder to make money off of newbies. Even now, you can tell people are more cautious about giving away money. You see more tool less scouts and then returning with appropriate tools, and even wasting them before death.

I'm just suggesting that you spend some time not focusing on a house. I found burglary definitely requires more effort, but there was reward in discovering and solving mysteries. Spend a more than a couple days as a thief, casing each place, taking advantage of the free 2k and scouting. Revisit them the next day. Save all those maps. Recreate those traps you see and try to solve them by building and playing with them in self test. You can also map out those broken houses to use later when you finally go back to building a house. You will break a big vault using mostly the actual solution and a few tools, and then you can decide if you want to chain that into another robbery since you have all those maps, or you can start a house again.

Sure it was fun to build when money was flowing easily. You could explore building more often. Now that you can't do it as easily, maybe it's time to focus on other things. I just think you're missing out if you haven't gone more than a day robbing and revisiting. I'm sorry if I made the wrong assumption, but according to "Today is probably the longest I haven't had an house up, since I've started playing." it sounded like you haven't.

cullman · 2014-04-11 15:19:13

Cylence,

Again, thanks for advice, but I am already there. I've robbed Allman's house for probably more than $100k in the last 8-9 days, cause I have that one mapped out and he doesn't change it that often. It's not a matter of a game being better because we are playing worse players, it's a matter of the game being worse because all the best players have alts and that allows them to continue to play while not risking their primary properties. I just did an an experiment today. I created a house where the vault was within plain view right when you stepped in the door. You only need 1 ladder to brute force. It was a brand new design no one has ever seen before, and in it's short life only had 10 visitors in it's entire lifetime I had about 3-4k in the vault when I stepped away (enough to think it was already going to get robbed). Guess what happened? One player came in (Lydon) with a single dog meat, even though on their scout they saw how my wife trap worked and that it would kill them. Their bounty? $47.1k. 30 seconds later Dale Bishop comes in, never scouting the house before, with a ladder and picks it right up. I'll let you guys draw your own conclusions. I'd rather live in a world where the real Dale Bishop has to do the actually scouting rather than coming into my trap/test houses to pick up his alt's artificially inflated bounties. Oh guys look who is at the top of the house list? Glad I could be helpful Bishop. If there is any doubt :

* That's the other thing, why do you think there are no more chain robbers anymore. No need, everyone can dump cash to themselves via alts, therefore chain robbing is no longer a necessary strategy to get started. I love this game, I just hate that the top players are almost all cheaters.

Last edited by cullman (2014-04-11 15:33:27)

Cylence · 2014-04-11 16:05:24

Cullman,

Well, I'm glad you've been robbing often.
How do you fund your burglary attempts into the richer houses? I always found it to be very cost inefficient.
Did you map Allman's house with a single 2k life, or did you make multiple safe scouts and paying for tools to get back to the welcome mat?

As far as people farming money. It'll happen until the bounty system is altered. I'd prefer it to be family members and vaults would only add to bounty if they were killed in a $4k or greater valued house. But it hasn't changed and I'm still having fun for now.

cullman · 2014-04-11 16:47:20

Cylence wrote:

Cullman,
Well, I'm glad you've been robbing often.
How do you fund your burglary attempts into the richer houses? I always found it to be very cost inefficient.
Did you map Allman's house with a single 2k life, or did you make multiple safe scouts and paying for tools to get back to the welcome mat?
As far as people farming money. It'll happen until the bounty system is altered. I'd prefer it to be family members and vaults would only add to bounty if they were killed in a $4k or greater valued house. But it hasn't changed and I'm still having fun for now.

For awhile when I had more time I was just doing 2k scouts. It took me 4 deaths and days to finally figure Allman's house (I had about 10 different $10k+ mostly noted out at one point, including their combo lock combinations - unfortunately many of these died before I could get to them). My plan of attack is I would just go explore and take notes with suicide runs on all the big houses until i was chilled on all them. Then I would usually crack a house somewhere in 4-6k range, use that money to start my new house which I would build out until i got bored and die in robbery or self test. Now the top houses are basically unscoutable at $2k even over 5-6 days.

Cylence · 2014-04-11 17:45:14

cullman wrote:

For awhile when I had more time I was just doing 2k scouts.

Ah, so you did spend notable time robbing then. Next time don't say ""Today is probably the longest I haven't had an house up, since I've started playing."

cullman wrote:

...Now the top houses are basically unscoutable at $2k even over 5-6 days.

I wouldn't say that. My house was built off a stash I took from Okeefe only a few days ago... and he's a top house again. I peaked, and his entrance looks the same. I hit him on my second visit. Fairly lucky on the 2nd visit, but calculating the visits to check the last multiple choices it would have taken 2 more trips worst case (assuming he didn't change it).

I feel you on the houses falling off. I was doing my scouting when the painting wars were happening and a lot of work when down the drain. Right now it's seems pretty stable.

I only visited Weaver's place once, but i figured out the puzzle in the front after playing around in a self-test. Not sure on the rest of the house though.

Have any favorites you've visited lately?

cullman · 2014-04-11 17:58:37

Cylence wrote:

cullman wrote:
For awhile when I had more time I was just doing 2k scouts.
Ah, so you did spend notable time robbing then. Next time don't say ""Today is probably the longest I haven't had an house up, since I've started playing."

I was talking about robbing it was just late and I went to bed without even putting up a $2k house. I almost always have OCD about leaving some kind of trap house up while I sleep. That's what I was referring to.

Cylence wrote:

cullman wrote:
...Now the top houses are basically unscoutable at $2k even over 5-6 days.
I wouldn't say that. My house was built off a stash I took from Okeefe only a few days ago... and he's a top house again. I peaked, and his entrance looks the same. I hit him on my second visit. Fairly lucky on the 2nd visit, but calculating the visits to check the last multiple choices it would have taken 2 more trips worst case (assuming he didn't change it).

I think you are the exception, many of top houses are by design pretty ruthless with in the first 10-15 steps unless you have many ladders.

No favorites. I love this game, just don't like where it's headed.

Cylence · 2014-04-11 18:13:37

cullman wrote:

I almost always have OCD about leaving some kind of trap house up while I sleep.

Now I understand what you were referring to.

cullman wrote:

I think you are the exception, many of top houses are by design pretty ruthless with in the first 10-15 steps unless you have many ladders.

Wait, you've been to my house? It's definitely not a top house. I hover around 4-10k, spending on upgrades. Mine is actually pretty ruthless now. I used to have a wooden porch but because Okeefe's stash came with 16 paintings, Weaver was doing a little more poking than I would have liked. I needed a stronger front.

In my 2k life however, I don't need ladders, I just need the no tool solution. Sometimes it's easy, other times hard. The trapdoors don't scare me away as much as the powered doors though. Damn crowbar is out of my free money budget.

In my post huge heist life, I don't rob high level houses until my house is done and harvesting tools for me. I'm still working on upgrades. I still poke around the lower levels to see if there's any cost efficient targets. Have to catch those houses that made a bunch of money overnight and haven't upgraded.

cullman · 2014-04-12 03:34:25

Cylence wrote:

cullman wrote:
I almost always have OCD about leaving some kind of trap house up while I sleep.
Now I understand what you were referring to.
cullman wrote:
I think you are the exception, many of top houses are by design pretty ruthless with in the first 10-15 steps unless you have many ladders.
Wait, you've been to my house? It's definitely not a top house. I hover around 4-10k, spending on upgrades. Mine is actually pretty ruthless now. I used to have a wooden porch but because Okeefe's stash came with 16 paintings, Weaver was doing a little more poking than I would have liked. I needed a stronger front.
In my 2k life however, I don't need ladders, I just need the no tool solution. Sometimes it's easy, other times hard. The trapdoors don't scare me away as much as the powered doors though. Damn crowbar is out of my free money budget.
In my post huge heist life, I don't rob high level houses until my house is done and harvesting tools for me. I'm still working on upgrades. I still poke around the lower levels to see if there's any cost efficient targets. Have to catch those houses that made a bunch of money overnight and haven't upgraded.

No I don't know your house, I meant just based on your description.

Yes I play the same way, look for cost effective safe heists. The top ones are out of my reach as I always die in selftest or robbery before I can get strong enough to get a good scout.

The Castle Doctrine Forums

#1 2014-04-10 23:47:18

Well tooled scout, slip or suicide? @Ronald Michael Jensen's place.

#2 2014-04-11 05:30:29

Re: Well tooled scout, slip or suicide? @Ronald Michael Jensen's place.

#3 2014-04-11 08:26:11

Re: Well tooled scout, slip or suicide? @Ronald Michael Jensen's place.

#4 2014-04-11 08:56:44

Re: Well tooled scout, slip or suicide? @Ronald Michael Jensen's place.

#5 2014-04-11 10:13:32

Re: Well tooled scout, slip or suicide? @Ronald Michael Jensen's place.

#6 2014-04-11 13:27:51

Re: Well tooled scout, slip or suicide? @Ronald Michael Jensen's place.

#7 2014-04-11 15:11:59

Re: Well tooled scout, slip or suicide? @Ronald Michael Jensen's place.

#8 2014-04-11 15:19:13

Re: Well tooled scout, slip or suicide? @Ronald Michael Jensen's place.

#9 2014-04-11 16:05:24

Re: Well tooled scout, slip or suicide? @Ronald Michael Jensen's place.

#10 2014-04-11 16:47:20

Re: Well tooled scout, slip or suicide? @Ronald Michael Jensen's place.

#11 2014-04-11 17:45:14

Re: Well tooled scout, slip or suicide? @Ronald Michael Jensen's place.

#12 2014-04-11 17:58:37

Re: Well tooled scout, slip or suicide? @Ronald Michael Jensen's place.

#13 2014-04-11 18:13:37

Re: Well tooled scout, slip or suicide? @Ronald Michael Jensen's place.

#14 2014-04-12 03:34:25

Re: Well tooled scout, slip or suicide? @Ronald Michael Jensen's place.

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