Marcus Justin Longoria and the quest of 155 paintings

eppfel · 2014-07-21 04:06:49

So, Longoria is dead and his reign ended, the way it began: in Douglas' house.
But he established a new record: 150 paintings

1. The door that never opens

I build this house like a few before: one novel entrance riddle, which stops the 2k robbers, so i can rob with the money the house gathers.
It amazed me, how well it worked that the door appeared to never loose power. Even until Longorias death the majority of robbers just left the tile in front of the door intact.
The trick is, you have to step on that tile, so the cat moves back and unpowers it again.
A long time I had just a leap of faith before the vault, which became unpowered entering the wrong door. Nothing more.

2. The doors that always shut

Then I was on holidays and the house had to fall (FreeLove had some fun^^) I rebuild and the unpowering cat gave me the idea to the central defense of the house: Cats shutting doors behind them. And. Finally a house again, which was wired. This approach actually prevented robbers just sawing through the wire(in a later state) or just laddering over the pit.
H1xklmv.png?1

3. The lucky scout of Mr. Powell

Than I got very lucky. I spotted weaknesses in Powell's defenses and when I tried to peak behind the cat combo lock I found just a one tile strong wall and the fortune was mine. http://castledraft.com/editor/sTkhGS
I remember the vault containing paintings as well, so I had to use the money to enforce my house. And why not work with the cats. Not very complicated to solve, but at least that gave me some funny tapes.

4. The quest of the paintings

A few more robberies quickly got me to a new record in paintings of 104. But it took just 20min for Blip to crack my house and with one painting at home he cracked my record as well.
This was also the time the house mainly came to its final state.

5. The quest of the paintings II or dying like an idiot XXVIII

I wanted another try on the paintings record and, because for some reason I did not die in self-tests in ages, why not same house again. There was Douglas on top and I tried to get his cash to collect paintings again. But my first try did not work. I have to say, it is the most enforced house I ever tried to rob. Kudos.
My second run was successful and after a week of cracking a house a day, I was soooo close. My fellow neighbor Mr. Case had 4 paintings and was willing to lend them to me, if I would need them And Mr Douglas was back and had just one painting. One painting between me and the all-time record of gathering all paintings for the first time. So I got way too excited, grabbed way to much tools and jump in the first pit

The final state of my house looks kind of like this:
oK6aH9I.png?1
But actually like this: http://castledraft.com/editor/Gi6NNq
There is a lot of space wasted, but i dig the approach of multiple pathways and multiple vault locations, with irregularity to confuse possible brute forcers. There were some tries, but Blip was the only one cracking it at it's full enforced state.
I think the house is self-explanatory and basically runs on catpower! Ask me if i'm wrong. Maybe I create a follow up of all the houses I smashed, when Case dies..

thoth · 2014-07-21 08:59:27

Hats off to you sir! Grats on the 155.

Sad to see Longoria go, I was a bit miffed that after you got to my safe yesterday you decided to run around pillaging and destroying my house like a drunken pirate. But finally getting to see the whole Longoria house makes me feel a bit better. btw I think my favorite painting you stole was that weird 'lips for eyelids' one, it was really odd, I liked it alot.

FreeLove · 2014-07-21 12:55:18

HAH!!! You bastard!!

Hahah!

Oh man, I have a funny story to share:

When I robbed the Case house, I ended up with a crapload of your paintings. I thought it would be a pity to suicide and put them back on the market, so I robbed the Correia house of his paintings, and made a makeshift house of my own (for once), out of little more than concrete and dogs.

I figured I'd go for the record, just for fun, and the only way I'd get it was if I cracked the Longoria house.

Believe it or not, I had gotten pretty damn far with my suicide scouts:
http://www.castledraft.com/editor/zJd721

And for some reason I was prettty sure the vault was up there. I didn't _quite_ have enough ladders, etc., to escape if I was wrong, but I got impatient (it's just so much more fun to suicide rob every house than it is to sit around and wait for bounties), and one day I figured "what the hell, let's go for it."

This was behind the cat:
http://www.castledraft.com/editor/IDrdbJ

Oops. (in case you were wondering about that large bounty, and explosion of Case's paintings back on the market, well... tee hee)

Anyway, I had to come back and see the vault, just for completeness' sake.

You hadn't changed the entrance yet, and come the following week, that's just what I did:
http://www.castledraft.com/editor/EGOJsi

YOU MOVED THE VAULT. THE CAKE IS A LIE.

Wonderful house!

Last edited by FreeLove (2014-07-21 12:56:03)

FreeLove · 2014-07-21 13:00:23

ps- so it was YOU who robbed Herbert Scott Powell!! I didn't even share my draft in the other thread, because I got nowhere. Interesting map, and very interesting story on how you bested it! Well done!

Ludo · 2014-07-21 13:06:29

So my name is Mr Douglas

I'm happy you liked my house.

I must admit I was pissed-off when you robbed me.
But 2 min after, I grabbed a $2000 starting house. This allowed me to buy some wired wooden walls and start again. It took me a week to get back in the top houses.

I was hoping you would rob Case (4 paintings) before me. I was quite naive !

Your robbery was very impressive. You are a great thief sir !
I used Longoria's bounty ($14800) for decorative and protective purposes.

RIP Mr Longoria.

Last edited by Ludo (2014-07-21 22:19:52)

FreeLove · 2014-07-21 14:55:15

Also, I'm very impressed someone robbed Mr. Douglas. I've tried several times, and haven't even cracked the second section. Definitely a house I'd only target with brute force.

eppfel · 2014-07-22 07:15:42

thoth wrote:

Hats off to you sir! Grats on the 155.

The record is just 150, missed it by 1 painting in Mr. Douglas house, because the remaining 4 paintings are theoretically mine.

thoth wrote:

... run around pillaging and destroying my house like a drunken pirate.

Sry, but I hate to waste tools and I knew a house like this might come back...

FreeLove wrote:

Believe it or not, I had gotten pretty damn far with my suicide scouts

Hehe, I enjoyed watching your tapes, nobody except Blip got further I think. Although this house had not the hardest puzzles I could think of, but still I was amazed how you penetrated deeper every visit.

FreeLove wrote:

YOU MOVED THE VAULT. THE CAKE IS A LIE.

There you could have got to the vault with just a little more risk. You were so close and i was lucky.

FreeLove wrote:

Wonderful house!

Thx a lot. And thx for your visits. I try building solvable houses and your very welcome

FreeLove wrote:

ps- so it was YOU who robbed Herbert Scott Powell

Yeah, actually the house was around for some time and I was happy it gathered so much cash for once. Actually I robbed it twice. The vault on the same location with just two tile thick walls, were I crushed through before.

Ludo wrote:

Your robbery was very impressive. You are a great thief sir !
I used Longoria's bounty ($14800) for decorative and protective purposes.
RIP Mr Longoria.

Thx, but still I had to try twice and you need at least 30k of tools to get somewhere in your house. You should try robbing. Otherwise, someone with that amount of cash will come and take you down. *cough*Case*cough*
$14800 is something, but I thought it would be more. I guess, because family members do not give you bounties any more.

FreeLove wrote:

Also, I'm very impressed someone robbed Mr. Douglas. I've tried several times, and haven't even cracked the second section. Definitely a house I'd only target with brute force.

I must admit I like destroying things But more I found enjoyment in finding weakness to break through. It's kind of a different game. So, if i have the money I'm just to impatient to scout that much. And Longoria made a profit from all his robberies.

Thanks for all the appreciation! And I forgot to thank Mr. Brown (if i remember correctly). After robbing his wealth and art, and killing his wife, he came toolless and gifted me his $13k bounty.

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#1 2014-07-21 04:06:49