The Castle Doctrine Forums

FreeLove

Member

Registered: 2014-02-24

Posts: 98

Dear Homebuilders: Please, Never Use This Worthless Trap

For the most part, house designs are clever, moderate-to-very difficult to break (let alone comprehend), and often very space-efficient.

There is one popular commit, however, which is none of these... well, it doesn't use much space, but it's utter shite. It costs a minimum of $340, and it's guaranteed to be rendered completely useless for the price of... ONE WATER. In case you're wondering, a commit gate that costs 4 times as much to build as it costs to ignore, is not an efficient use of funds.

Now, there are a few traps are so staggeringly worthless that they can be cheaply broken, but I've never seen any so commonly used as this one. It's used in SO MANY houses, and it's shit! I used to laugh every time I'd find it, but now whenever I crack a difficult lock or dance, only to find these nerf guns filling up whole sections of a house, I just scratch my head in awe.

So consider this a PSA.

The Trap.

OK. I get it. Crowbars are expensive, and being bruteforced sucks. I get the idea, you want a guy to walk through a powered door, have it shut, and BOOM, there goes the 2K robber.

Except this stupid design doesn't do that. Heck, even dumb robbers can get past this with doorstops, and it's STILL cheaper to nix than it is to build.

Here's an example of an expensive-as-shit house. It's a guessing game house, with a couple of nice tricks at the beginning, followed by a huge guessing-game filled with these lousy excuse for commits. I drafted the entire section of powered-door-commits on the first run. As a 2K robber.

http://castledraft.com/editor/mMoAof

Why do builders stick with the idea of the trap, when the reality is that it (so obviously) doesn't work?

Trap, v2

Recently, a much more fun alternative has come up, using a toggle instead of a sticky, and a cat (or cats). Featured in several popular houses (Luna park, Iceman's house, Sparrow's), this puts the button on the outside, locking the user in.

This is much better, but still ineffective. As tempting and fun as it is to use a room full of cats, this trap is just as easily defeated by a water, it just takes enough confidence to short it up front.

Take 3:

Seriously, people, this is all you really need to change. Admittedly, the price to break it will never be a $2400 crowbar, but still, a $400 saw is more than the $340 cost of build (not counting the walls) and far better than ONE FREAKING WATER.

Trap v4: The Malone House

Seriously, just a few small improvements make this trap better. How about a chihuahua that moves in right as the screen shifts? You force the robber to choose whether to waste a saw, and you also have a little guy to possibly use in future traps! Plus you still keep your powered door.

In conclusion: powered doors have their place when complemented by pets, and when used in permanent anti-brute-force walls. But for the love of christ, please stop using them as commit gates. Just use the damn leap of faith.

Thank you.

Last edited by FreeLove (2014-06-05 04:05:00)

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I only post because I care <3

kaf

Member

Registered: 2014-06-05

Posts: 6

Re: Dear Homebuilders: Please, Never Use This Worthless Trap

Nice post. There' far too many people that use these "traps" as ultimate commit gates, however the improvements suggested (i.e. Traps v2, v3, v4) share the same design flaw.

"Take 3: Seriously, people, this is all you really need to change. Admittedly, the price to break it will never be a $2400 crowbar, but still, a $400 saw is more than the $340 cost of build (not counting the walls) and far better than ONE FREAKING WATER."

Actually the cost of bypassing this is $200 (i.e. doorstep)
200<$340 cost of build (not counting the walls)

Here's a "guessing game" design that would be a bit more expensive (and time-consuming) to guess/bruteforce
http://castledraft.com/editor/bpI4YM

Basically, a step in any direction other than forward, would close up to 6 nearest doors.
Share your thoughts.

arrowface

Member

Registered: 2014-04-08

Posts: 8

Re: Dear Homebuilders: Please, Never Use This Worthless Trap

I'll let you guys in on my ~ultimate house design: http://castledraft.com/editor/E90sQl

mala

Member

Registered: 2014-02-10

Posts: 415

Re: Dear Homebuilders: Please, Never Use This Worthless Trap

how about something like that?

http://castledraft.com/editor/hPu5wN

given free space, you can add a memory cell to the door so that it now requires 3 saw and 1 water just to be opened again.

i've also tried this

http://castledraft.com/editor/Jjctom

Last edited by mala (2014-06-05 17:12:04)

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Current Incarnation: none
Previous Houses: Ticking Nightmare - Luna's Park - Hightower Mansion - Chang's Place

GotABigTrap

Member

Registered: 2014-02-26

Posts: 200

Re: Dear Homebuilders: Please, Never Use This Worthless Trap

Assuming the robber has scouted you to the point of the trap, powered door as a commit gate, no matter how you put it, requires only a doorstop.  The trap door is far more effective for commit gates because it will always require that you cut/blast around it or use a ladder.

Here is a random idea that may work.  I'm not sure if this is quite right with the clock on/off step but, you can prevent a robber from using a doorstop by making it expensive this way

http://castledraft.com/editor/YN4VZa

If you made the dog harder to kill, the clock would prevent them from using a doorstop unless they use a ladder+water.  If correct, the trapdoor activates as you step on to it.  Power goes off once you step on the electric floor, but the dog would hit the button making the power turn on permanently on the next turn.  This is not much more expensive to bypass than just a trap door, but if you do not invest the ladder before the commit, backtracking is much more expensive, requiring explosives or a crowbar and a ladder.

Last edited by GotABigTrap (2014-06-05 20:58:19)

Kimenzar

Member

Registered: 2014-02-04

Posts: 183

Re: Dear Homebuilders: Please, Never Use This Worthless Trap

Assuming the robber has scouted you to the point of the trap, powered door as a commit gate, no matter how you put it, requires only a doorstop.  The trap door is far more effective for commit gates because it will always require that you cut/blast around it or use a ladder.

Here is a random idea that may work.  I'm not sure if this is quite right with the clock on/off step but, you can prevent a robber from using a doorstop by making it expensive this way

http://castledraft.com/editor/YN4VZa

If you made the dog harder to kill, the clock would prevent them from using a doorstop unless they use a ladder+water.  If correct, the trapdoor activates as you step on to it.  Power goes off once you step on the electric floor, but the dog would hit the button making the power turn on permanently on the next turn.  This is not much more expensive to bypass than just a trap door, but if you do not invest the ladder before the commit, backtracking is much more expensive, requiring explosives or a crowbar and a ladder.

Nice trap, but way too big.

Most of times then I use powered doors, I intend either a wall with it or want that they bring a doorstep, to get out safe again. Because it is a slot in their inventory.

GotABigTrap

Member

Registered: 2014-02-26

Posts: 200

Re: Dear Homebuilders: Please, Never Use This Worthless Trap

Assuming the robber has scouted you to the point of the trap, powered door as a commit gate, no matter how you put it, requires only a doorstop.  The trap door is far more effective for commit gates because it will always require that you cut/blast around it or use a ladder.

Here is a random idea that may work.  I'm not sure if this is quite right with the clock on/off step but, you can prevent a robber from using a doorstop by making it expensive this way

http://castledraft.com/editor/YN4VZa

If you made the dog harder to kill, the clock would prevent them from using a doorstop unless they use a ladder+water.  If correct, the trapdoor activates as you step on to it.  Power goes off once you step on the electric floor, but the dog would hit the button making the power turn on permanently on the next turn.  This is not much more expensive to bypass than just a trap door, but if you do not invest the ladder before the commit, backtracking is much more expensive, requiring explosives or a crowbar and a ladder.

Nice trap, but way too big.

Most of times then I use powered doors, I intend either a wall with it or want that they bring a doorstep, to get out safe again. Because it is a slot in their inventory.

Yeah I agree it is too big.  The whole point is, it is literally the only way you can prevent somebody from using a doorstop without pulling a ladder + water.