Hightower mansion

mala · 2015-01-25 20:50:14

The house is officially complete, i will probably tweak something in the future but i don't plan on changing the layout.

It was meant to be a bunker, extremely expensive to scout and to force, but the entrance cat lock was really too much and i've decided to let people procede inside instead of trying random combinations 10-20 times in a row just to open the first door. Beside it was Eppfel's design so i've just made an entrance puzzle that you should easily understand in a couple of 2k runs.

By now 3-4 of you learned how to pass the bottom left section, and a couple are now stuck at the cat race, smashing random doors to find the way

i won't change buttons or wiring unless forced by some kind of design change, right now there are no funds in the neighborhood to try a bruteforce attempt, (exception made for Lineville but unless he has another account he has no clue about my place) so i will let you guys procede without interfering with your tries.

Have fun, bring presents

eppfel · 2015-01-26 04:24:32

I surpassed the cats and I think I know the solution for the next part as well. Looks familiar Please don't change it, it is a lot of fun right now.

mala · 2015-01-26 06:23:53

eppfel wrote:

I surpassed the cats and I think I know the solution for the next part as well. Looks familiar Please don't change it, it is a lot of fun right now.

it's fun and scary seeing someone getting this far but at some point i will have to stop you and i already have a couple of nice ideas

you've also got lucky in spotting the right door for a moment....

Last edited by mala (2015-01-26 06:26:55)

JAAM · 2015-01-26 06:28:44

AHHH 6 HOUSES WHAT HAPPEND!

JAAM · 2015-01-26 06:31:47

I did just have another look i'm not entirely sure how that dance works but i did it once without even knowing so i'm guessing it is intuitive.

Still clueless on that cat door nonsense i keep seeing those little buggers are strange beasts...

Last edited by JAAM (2015-01-26 06:32:54)

mala · 2015-01-26 07:02:59

JAAM wrote:

I did just have another look i'm not entirely sure how that dance works but i did it once without even knowing so i'm guessing it is intuitive.
Still clueless on that cat door nonsense i keep seeing those little buggers are strange beasts...

yes, the first time you've managed to get further and i honestly don't know how

the real problem is Eppfel, he's starting to get deeper, and with his knowledge of the game it's just a matter of time and he will map the entire house. i can't even threaten him since he has no house. gotta find solutions to keep him at bay

eppfel · 2015-01-26 08:32:53

Chill out. I won't take your money. I have over $200k in Limbo and I need an account without a house to keep robbing. I just want get the solution.

Ps: Seems it was really a lot of luck last time

Last edited by eppfel (2015-01-26 08:54:54)

mala · 2015-01-26 09:48:01

JAAM wrote:

AHHH 6 HOUSES WHAT HAPPEND!

i keep finding easy to force houses

Tip for the newcomers:

if your vault is protected by a door you HAVE to protect that door too. If there's just one layer of wood around it, all it takes it's a 400$ saw, not a 2400$ crowbar. The same it's true for pits of course.

there's plenty of absurdly long magic dances that can be bypassed with no more than 1k tools.

JAAM · 2015-01-26 14:34:54

mala wrote:

JAAM wrote:
I did just have another look i'm not entirely sure how that dance works but i did it once without even knowing so i'm guessing it is intuitive.
Still clueless on that cat door nonsense i keep seeing those little buggers are strange beasts...
yes, the first time you've managed to get further and i honestly don't know how
the real problem is Eppfel, he's starting to get deeper, and with his knowledge of the game it's just a matter of time and he will map the entire house. i can't even threaten him since he has no house. gotta find solutions to keep him at bay

Ok i have that little dance figured now to go find a whole shit load of ladders D:

eppfel · 2015-01-28 07:01:32

So, as promised I did not rob you! Just solved the house on a tool-less run (more presents for you). Compliments on the house. Hard to brute-force, but can (mostly) be scouted.

Last edited by eppfel (2015-01-28 07:02:05)

mala · 2015-01-28 07:37:10

eppfel wrote:

So, as promised I did not rob you! Just solved the house on a tool-less run (more presents for you). Compliments on the house. Hard to brute-force, but can (mostly) be scouted.

gg man, nice run, and you kept your word

i have a couple of different position for the vault, and some nasty trick to keep robbers at the bay, but it was fun to watch your tries. You've highlighted some weakness i'll fix next time. i was hoping for the 3 doors dog to be in front of you after forcing the door, (thus getting stuck between the powered pit and the dog) but you've just avoided to be seen, keeping it in place.

mala · 2015-01-28 18:35:59

guys, stop bringing ladders with your 2k tool kit just to use them on my first pit.... just jump, the dog will close it for you

lots of peoples seems to think the first dog is a red herring, 4-5 robbers drugged it then jumped into the pit it was fun

Last edited by mala (2015-01-28 19:23:23)

mala · 2015-01-28 19:30:09

Robbed Ramirez that jumped to 16k overnight, and modified the house solution. I know Eppfel kept his word by suiciding in front of the vault, but i just couldn't sleep knowing that someone has the exact scheme of the house

Don't worry Jaam, you won't even notice the changes, to respect your tries, every modification has been made beyond the point you've reached.

It will stay in that state until i feel threatened again.

@Eppfel: I see you've already tried again

Last edited by mala (2015-01-28 20:45:52)

mala · 2015-01-29 15:59:19

i'm experiencing something very interesting in my house, players approach to a design that seems to mislead their efforts.

many of you have mapped the first area so you know what i'm talking about.
i've already wrote about people thinking the first dog is too obvious, so it must be stopped somehow.
but an interesting pattern i've noticed it's about peoples ignoring the doors on the right (assuming one of the dogs is waiting to kill you), but once opened the south door (obviously safe) they do not hesitate in walking all over the electric floor and jump into the unpowered pit. i've got more than 20 tries like that. I've wondered a couple of days about that then i realized that it's all because that little wooden tile

the assumption here is that the doors line is just here to hide the dog, and the wired wall brings power from below to the electric floor thus to the pit activated by some kind of magic dance. If you've passed that pit/door you'll know there's a cat behind, it's there to prevent robbers to saw that tile, but that NEVER happened, no one has ever tried to pass that area by sawing the wall... and it's just one tile away from the door, plus you can easily see there's just one layer of concrete on it's right.

i don't know if that can be useful or not, but i can't stop thinking about a way to implement this kind of mislead in trap design. any ideas?

JAAM · 2015-01-29 16:34:31

Ehh its effective, i caught on pretty quick that something had to be done with the doors and now that I've explored as far as i have, i have left you alone knowing there is nothing i can do with those pesky cats.

Perhaps ill work up some funds for a raid on the cat box,

either way i just had a fun look at either Robersons, or Mclains, house I love how when you get to the trap they spell out DIE and leave you to commit suicide. Fun Times!

mala · 2015-01-29 17:48:31

JAAM wrote:

Ehh its effective, i caught on pretty quick that something had to be done with the doors and now that I've explored as far as i have, i have left you alone knowing there is nothing i can do with those pesky cats.

that's why i don't like locks, if well designed there's nothing you can do to get past but force it, Eppfel passed it after a suicidal scout with more than 5k tools (and we agreed on not changing the combination...) effective but not funny at all, i want my next house to be just as the bottom left quarter of my actual house, hard to force, solvable with brain. Of course i'll have to implement multiple ways to protect the vault, since a straight path like this one it's easily solvable by trials and errors, and it's quite tricky to design.

mala · 2015-01-29 18:44:25

@JAAM

is that you?

what was the plan? i don't get it

JAAM · 2015-01-29 19:02:03

mala wrote:

@JAAM
is that you?
http://i.imgur.com/EwumsMm.png
what was the plan? i don't get it

yes, i wanted to see if i could get the vision to shift and look further in there. I knew i couldnt but kinda just wanted to go back in there for the fun of it... enjoy your door stop!

mala · 2015-01-30 12:00:22

Eppfel what are you doing?
you've changed your mind about the money?

eppfel · 2015-01-30 12:10:58

Muhahahaha, if you won't build no new traps for me, maybe
No, just kidding. Thought there would be more changes. There are just not that much challenges out there (despite the guess-the-combo or guess-the-dance houses).
But I'm getting creative again. Builded a 2k house today I wanted to try out..

JAAM · 2015-01-30 12:28:29

eppfel wrote:

Muhahahaha, if you won't build no new traps for me, maybe
No, just kidding. Thought there would be more changes. There are just not that much challenges out there (despite the guess-the-combo or guess-the-dance houses).
But I'm getting creative again. Builded a 2k house today I wanted to try out..

what value are you at i might take a peek if i havent already...

eppfel · 2015-01-30 12:31:02

JAAM wrote:

what value are you at i might take a peek if i havent already...

It's not up. Suicided to get another 2k, because there was a 2k starter house on the list and I needed a crowbar

JAAM · 2015-01-30 12:45:46

eppfel wrote:

JAAM wrote:
what value are you at i might take a peek if i havent already...
It's not up. Suicided to get another 2k, because there was a 2k starter house on the list and I needed a crowbar

was probably me... i haven't built a house since the fall of smith...

I think im one of the few still leaving empty houses around (stopped doing too many santa runs when bad house designs popped up)

Last edited by JAAM (2015-01-30 12:48:03)

JAAM · 2015-01-30 16:38:59

God dammit mala what is the secret to that place? ive tried 2 of those doors which are not supposed to open and the third one is? what sorcery is this?

mala · 2015-01-30 17:57:02

eppfel wrote:

Muhahahaha, if you won't build no new traps for me, maybe
No, just kidding. Thought there would be more changes.

i haven't changed much, but i'm now starting to plan my next house and it will take some time. i want to try another approach, i want to try design different traps but with the same exact size, so that they may be switched, reversed, substituted, modified, and so on without modifying the general layout. The idea is to make it so that every trap has multiple exit and solutions, each one denying the others, thus forcing you to follow a single random "solutions path" without getting any hint on vault location.
I think it's a good plan, but i really don't know how much it will take to finish the project.

JAAM wrote:

God dammit mala what is the secret to that place? ive tried 2 of those doors which are not supposed to open and the third one is? what sorcery is this?

before thinking about the doors, you should ask yourself... "am i sure i've got everything right till that point?" "am i missing something?" look closer, everything is there for a reason

The Castle Doctrine Forums

#1 2015-01-25 20:50:14

Hightower mansion

#2 2015-01-26 04:24:32

Re: Hightower mansion

#3 2015-01-26 06:23:53

Re: Hightower mansion

#4 2015-01-26 06:28:44

Re: Hightower mansion

#5 2015-01-26 06:31:47

Re: Hightower mansion

#6 2015-01-26 07:02:59

Re: Hightower mansion

#7 2015-01-26 08:32:53

Re: Hightower mansion

#8 2015-01-26 09:48:01

Re: Hightower mansion

#9 2015-01-26 14:34:54

Re: Hightower mansion

#10 2015-01-28 07:01:32

Re: Hightower mansion

#11 2015-01-28 07:37:10

Re: Hightower mansion

#12 2015-01-28 18:35:59

Re: Hightower mansion

#13 2015-01-28 19:30:09

Re: Hightower mansion

#14 2015-01-29 15:59:19

Re: Hightower mansion

#15 2015-01-29 16:34:31

Re: Hightower mansion

#16 2015-01-29 17:48:31

Re: Hightower mansion

#17 2015-01-29 18:44:25

Re: Hightower mansion

#18 2015-01-29 19:02:03

Re: Hightower mansion

#19 2015-01-30 12:00:22

Re: Hightower mansion

#20 2015-01-30 12:10:58

Re: Hightower mansion

#21 2015-01-30 12:28:29

Re: Hightower mansion

#22 2015-01-30 12:31:02

Re: Hightower mansion

#23 2015-01-30 12:45:46

Re: Hightower mansion

#24 2015-01-30 16:38:59

Re: Hightower mansion

#25 2015-01-30 17:57:02

Re: Hightower mansion

Board footer