The Castle Doctrine Forums

SuperBiasedMan

Member

Registered: 2013-11-05

Posts: 2

Empty Vaults

This is my first post, so I apologise if I'm retreading old ground or missing on some of the forum etiquette here.

I just robbed a house, where I managed to get all the way into the vault, safely avoiding traps but closely followed by a pit bull.
It was close but I'd reached it and I knew I was safe... until it turned out the vault was empty.
Because it was empty, I was trapped. It didn't count as robbing the house so I was still there and died.

I'm assuming that someone else had robbed that vault, so it still counted as empty and that's why I got no money from it. (if I am wrong I'd appreciate someone correcting me)

Does anyone else think this is a bit of a problem? It means you can have technically done everything correctly in the house but because someone else beat you to it you end up getting a game over. There was no way I could've spotted that the vault was empty before entering that final room where I was cornered.
I know the game is meant to be punishing but this doesn't seem like a punishment for any mistake on my part.
Even if I reached the safe and escaped but lost money or something, it'd be ok but I personally think a game over is overly harsh.

Maybe I'm wrong, perhaps I've misread the kind of punishing this game wants to be. What do other people think about this?

colorfusion

Member

Registered: 2013-04-02

Posts: 537

Re: Empty Vaults

You're right about its cause.

It's something that can happen and that you need to account for when robbing. If you leave no way out and the money's not where you think it is then you're often left with no choice. I don't personally think it's especially unfair.

jasonrohrer

Administrator

Registered: 2013-04-01

Posts: 1,235

Re: Empty Vaults

In fact, I think I've seen plenty of scenes in heist movies where exactly this happens. 

"Hmm... it's empty.  Empty?  Empty!!  EMPTY!  EMMPPPTTYYY!"

It's actually there for mechanical reasons, because house damage is saved every time you reach the vault, so this prevents people from endlessly vandalizing a house by reaching the empty vault forever (as a way to "dig" toward the wife, for example).  After I added it, it seemed like a cool twist.... sometimes the vault can be empty.  You've always got to be able to get out safely if that's the case.

But yes, I can see how it could be brutal to a new player.  Unfortunately, there are tons of things in this game that are like that, though.  Learned once the hard way, never forgotten...

Kashlavor

Member

Registered: 2013-11-06

Posts: 1

Re: Empty Vaults

This game is 100% fair, in that death is ALWAYS your fault.  There is no randomness.