Earl John Mitchell, history of a ticking nightmare

mala · 2014-05-05 10:48:39

So, after almost 40 days my house has finally been robbed, it's been the longest run i've ever had with a single character.

Here's the map:

The house is clock based with a 4 tick cycle, after 3 steps the entire floor will light up and the pits will close.

These are the points of interest:

the first trap is definitively one of my favorite:

The Futurama suicide booth.
On the 3rd step (entrance accounts as the 1st step), you'll be locked inside the 4 doors. Since you're frozen between clock ticks, the game won't let you move, the only way to let the cycle advance is to use an item, and the only usable one is the crowbar.
I've made tons of money with it because peoples didn't had any chance to rage-waste items once doomed.

Soon after the suicide booth you'll discover that you can dance pretty easily inside the house, 3 grid - 1 pit, just don't go back between ticks and you'll be fine.

The Dancing fire floors:
Upper left cat, Upper center dog, Rightmost dog.
If while dancing you came across one of these pets, you are dead no matter how many items you brought with you.
If you move the pet will fry you, so moving is not an option.
If you try to use an item (cut the grid or brick the pet, you cannot place a ladder while on the pit) the cycle will advance and the pit will open
The windows are not here to protect pets, but to protect the buttons, the only way i've found to survive this trap is to brick the button to lock the pit, than water the grid (beware of power direction since you're still on the powered pit).

Soon after the little magic dance, there's a room with 4 buttons, this room serves a double purpose:
It looks like a trap, if you make the wrong guess about power direction you'll find the pit unpowered, and for the same reason you cannot take a step back after pressing the second button, if you were on the right path you'll fry on the grid behind you.
But the real purpose of the room is to disconnect the upper left part of the house from the clock, giving me a backup location for the vault.

The Bunker:
To enter the bunker you first need to activate the magic dance to power the pits, than you have to meet the cat.
The cat must step on the button in the same turn the button gets powered by the clock, otherwise he will just pass through, locking you out.

After seeing Blip reaching the cat at the entrance of the bunker, i've decided to move the vault waiting for him to try to force his way in.
It has been fun to watch so many scouts walking toward the vault during the first run and then labeling the route as unsafe, after frying because of the cat

but Jere decided to start playing again and after a good robbery he decided to take his first peek at my house.
He came in with a fair amount of tools, nothing impressive but enough saws to reach the unprotected vault, and robbed me of 100k. (so sad)
I made a naked run in a 16k house i had scouted before, reached the vault and fixed the house again.

But paranoia is behind the corner, blip had mapped 1/2 of the house, and after seeing Mmaster reaching the bunker i decided to renew the entrance making it as less inviting as i could.

It lasted another week, then Steven C. Hanson Robbed me of 54k and 10 paintings.

It has been a good run, now it's time to take a break.
Soon or later i'll plan something new and i'll be back

Last edited by mala (2014-05-05 10:57:05)

tigerbalm immunity · 2014-05-05 11:24:16

everyday i am reminded that my house which i love is nothing compared to actual good houses. gl

Degen · 2014-05-05 12:19:48

Wow.....just..wow. I'm looking right at the thing and reading the description and I STILL can't understand it. I get a knot in my stomach proving my meager little house, I can't imagine trying to navigate something this massive and complex.

I'd have liked to have seen the "After" pictures, just to see how the thief broke in.

mala · 2014-05-05 12:43:32

Degen wrote:

I'd have liked to have seen the "After" pictures, just to see how the thief broke in.

in modifying the entrance i've created a weakness in the lower part, blip just went south using 2 ladders, than smashed some wire, and started using water and crowbars to break the bunker.

He visited my house lots of time, i suppose he knew the vault would have been in the lower part of the house.

MMaster · 2014-05-06 08:05:45

mala wrote:

But paranoia is behind the corner, blip had mapped 1/2 of the house, and after seeing Mmaster reaching the bunker i decided to renew the entrance making it as less inviting as i could.

I don't think it was me (at least I don't remember it). I visited your house a few times, but I never tried to get deeper (apart from last try that ended up really stupidly as you already know ). Really nice house.

I was waiting to see someone use powered doors from David Michael Scott house Your has similar flaw as mine had - 3 saws, 1 explosive, 1 meat and 1 crowbar can get through it right to the vault, if you don't step on the rightmost column of the map after seeing the cat (the cat will be stuck in corner sitting on the power source).

It's a shame that I threw away my tools when I visited you, because I had enough tools to get through it by brute force

Anyway - good luck with your new house!

eppfel · 2014-05-06 09:04:50

MMaster wrote:

mala wrote:
But paranoia is behind the corner, blip had mapped 1/2 of the house, and after seeing Mmaster reaching the bunker i decided to renew the entrance making it as less inviting as i could.
I don't think it was me (at least I don't remember it).

Jep, it was me! And I knew the cycle + door + cat, but than you changed it. Good for Blip, bad for me^^ I think from my late game experience, I will build my next house to be scout-able. It's just more fun for me watching the tapes and for robbers riddling about the traps. ...every house will be brute-forced in the end.

Last edited by eppfel (2014-05-06 09:06:22)

mala · 2014-05-06 10:08:34

eppfel wrote:

It's just more fun for me watching the tapes and for robbers riddling about the traps. ...every house will be brute-forced in the end.

you do not solve houses like that with your main, too many ways to die, the same for every other top house.
at high level solving a portion of the house will help minimize the cost, but in the end... you're going to force it

MMaster wrote:

I was waiting to see someone use powered doors from David Michael Scott house smile Your has similar flaw as mine had - 3 saws, 1 explosive, 1 meat and 1 crowbar can get through it right to the vault, if you don't step on the rightmost column of the map after seeing the cat (the cat will be stuck in corner sitting on the power source).

yes, and you can also use a ladder to kill the cat as soon as you see it, so it's even cheaper.

gotta find a better solution for the bunker, too many leaks, but normally you discover late-traps leaks only when it's too late

eppfel · 2014-05-06 12:55:16

mala wrote:

eppfel wrote:
It's just more fun for me watching the tapes and for robbers riddling about the traps. ...every house will be brute-forced in the end.
you do not solve houses like that with your main, too many ways to die, the same for every other top house.
at high level solving a portion of the house will help minimize the cost, but in the end... you're going to force it

Of course there will always be force involved. Otherwise there is no way to figure out traps without dying. But that differs from brute-force attacks, where someone, who never even solved any trap inside your house comes in with a huge amount of tools and busts you down. I don't know if I will be able to do it, but I would really like to create something like you did!
Especially that awesome Futurama Suicide Both (+10 for novel trap, +10 for cruelty, +100 for Futurama reference) Other examples would be Jensen and Geyer with traps you can figure out scout by scout.

mala · 2014-05-07 09:22:25

Degen wrote:

I get a knot in my stomach proving my meager little house, I can't imagine trying to navigate something this massive and complex.

dancing through the entire house is pretty nerve breaking during self test, clocks are the worst situation for a "finger slip".

I have to admit that i failed the test 3 times, once i've got the magic dance wrong, and twice i've totally forget about it, thus found the door locked
but in the first design you are able to backtrack to the exit, (that was meant to keep people dancing to give them more chance to came across one of the deadly pets) so i managed to exit the house and give it another try

The second one instead had a "safety cat" that kills you if you try to get out after the 3rd step (first one down the entrance), but i've never failed there.

eppfel · 2014-05-07 12:26:15

mala wrote:

dancing through the entire house is pretty nerve breaking during self test, clocks are the worst situation for a "finger slip".
I have to admit that i failed the test 3 times, once i've got the magic dance wrong, and twice i've totally forget about it, thus found the door locked

yeah I know that, died three times before I got my current house up and running, but not ever since.

The Castle Doctrine Forums

#1 2014-05-05 10:48:39

Earl John Mitchell, history of a ticking nightmare

#2 2014-05-05 11:24:16

Re: Earl John Mitchell, history of a ticking nightmare

#3 2014-05-05 12:19:48

Re: Earl John Mitchell, history of a ticking nightmare

#4 2014-05-05 12:43:32

Re: Earl John Mitchell, history of a ticking nightmare

#5 2014-05-06 08:05:45

Re: Earl John Mitchell, history of a ticking nightmare

#6 2014-05-06 09:04:50

Re: Earl John Mitchell, history of a ticking nightmare

#7 2014-05-06 10:08:34

Re: Earl John Mitchell, history of a ticking nightmare

#8 2014-05-06 12:55:16

Re: Earl John Mitchell, history of a ticking nightmare

#9 2014-05-07 09:22:25

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#10 2014-05-07 12:26:15

Re: Earl John Mitchell, history of a ticking nightmare

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