A Hodgepodge of Stuff - House Design & Wife Mechanics

Blip · 2014-01-23 19:00:06

I didn't really see any active thread either of these topics relates to, so I figured, for the purposes of conserving space, I'd bring them both up here.

First, this deals with the wife and her shotgun. This is a simple question, but doesn't seem to be answered anywhere because of the rarity of its circumstances: If the wife is running to a killed child, and walks over the shotgun, does she pick it up or ignore it? It seems difficult to discern the answer, and it depends on the implementation of both parts of the wife's code. I was wondering if anybody knew already so that I won't have to murder children to find out.

Next, I want to bring up house design. The bounty system is designed to eliminate "scary turtle" houses, but they seem to be there nonetheless, even when significantly simpler houses yield more money due to a "lure" style of design. One of my houses, built for $1500 of my starting cash, reached $10,000 from bounties within ten minutes. I've been wondering why scary houses with obvious commit gates have been generally, successful, when the optimal strategy is to build a commit gate that the robber doesn't even realize they're committing to! I'd also like to offer an apology to the guy who died with a giant bounty in my house; I know it's a cheap design, but its really funny to see people die so stupidly!

Zalethon · 2014-01-23 19:44:04

Perhaps some folks build scary turtles because they enjoy robbing other houses more than they enjoy building theirs, and they don't want to risk losing all of their cash? I have been guilty of the scary turtle because I'm new and haven't spent the time to put much thought into my designs...

iceman · 2014-01-23 20:18:06

Blip wrote:

I'd also like to offer an apology to the guy who died with a giant bounty in my house; I know it's a cheap design, but its really funny to see people die so stupidly!

I died really stupidly recently with a 9k or so bounty, so it might've been me... was yours the one with the couple of dogs, one of which I trapped behind a fried dog to explore, then stepped beside him?

Pepperarne · 2014-01-25 04:50:42

My house is protected by a combination lock, where it's very obvious that you will die if you don't guess the code (which is not gonna happen because there are over 100 combinations). I know that this "scary turtle" aproach is not profitable, but I think it's the only way to "beat" this game. My money is safe, my family is safe, but I don't have to lose all my humanity and start building Saw-like deathtraps for profit.

TheRealCheese · 2014-01-25 08:37:30

Pepperarne - Part of the beauty of the game though, is that no matter how scary turtle your house gets, if you put enough money in that safe, someone is gonna come in with a stack of tools so big they can brute force the pentagon. Because you feel so safe about your "turtle" the impact on you when it happens is gonna be that much harsher.

Pepperarne · 2014-01-25 10:25:21

That's true, which is why I think that the only way to succeed in this game is to settle. You build a defence that people can't break through without spending a huge amount of money on tools, and then you just wait. In this game, everybody loses; if you try to get richer, you'll die, or end up being robbed by someone with tools no matter what.

That's why I think that the real beauty of the game is that the only way not to lose, is to build something decent, then stop playing, maybe watch your security tapes once in a while.

That is, if you can resist coming back for one tiny, harmless, last theft.

Blip · 2014-01-25 10:53:22

Well, I think that "death trap" houses are immeasurably more effective than turtles, personally, especially with the new 24 hour chills. Even if somebody comes in with a lot of tools, they can still die really easily in a well designed house; my current design features a first section to kill anyone who tries to scout my house (which looks really tame at first), then a section to get rid of (i.e. lock in a room with brutal pit bulls and no way out) anybody who got past that by either luck or tools. People just keep dying in my house, leaving their tools behind, and I just keep profiting.

I know that sounds really harsh, but these people shot my my wife and clubbed my children to death. This is just sweet revenge...
Do I sound like a sociopath for saying all this? I think its funny how this game makes us all sociopaths. I killed a man's wife because it made me a profit, and I bet most of you have too.

DethBringa · 2014-01-25 13:00:03

Watch your cash. There have been a number of people (including myself) that have been robbed multiple times once your cash hits a certain amount. Some person will come in and magically pick the perfect way through without scouting. Then they disappear off the list of names.

jasonrohrer · 2014-01-25 17:42:26

Blip, the wife's transition from "empty handed" to "shotgun-holding" happens whenever she steps on the gun tile, regardless of the reason that she is moving.

The dead child just changes her destination from the door to her child.

I just verified this offline, and yes it does work. Of course, the shotgun has to be positioned in a place where she will walk over it when she re-routes.

iceman · 2014-01-25 17:47:26

Hmmm... if there are 2 paths open to the exit, but the shorter is blocked by a dead kid, will the wife take the longer, open, one, or will she stop and mourn by her child?

colorfusion · 2014-01-25 17:54:20

The wife goes and stays at dead children whether the entrance is blocked or not I think.

Edit: Ignore this

Last edited by colorfusion (2014-01-26 03:40:59)

jasonrohrer · 2014-01-25 19:57:41

She only goes to the dead child immediately after the murder.

In later robberies, she runs for the door again and routes around the dead body.

HOWEVER, if some living family members are blocked from the exit by dead bodies, ALL family members will re-search for the exit path, ignoring dead bodies. In that case, they'll simply walk up to the dead body and stop, if it's on their shortest path.

This has a weird consequence if only ONE family member (A) is blocked in by a dead body:

If a family member B has a clear path, and it's the shortest path, it will use it.

If B's clear path is LONGER than it's body-blocked path, it will end up walking up to the body and stopping.

This is a consequence of the cleanest, fastest way that I could implement the "wife not frozen if her path is blocked" change.

The Castle Doctrine Forums

#1 2014-01-23 19:00:06

A Hodgepodge of Stuff - House Design & Wife Mechanics

#2 2014-01-23 19:44:04

Re: A Hodgepodge of Stuff - House Design & Wife Mechanics

#3 2014-01-23 20:18:06

Re: A Hodgepodge of Stuff - House Design & Wife Mechanics

#4 2014-01-25 04:50:42

Re: A Hodgepodge of Stuff - House Design & Wife Mechanics

#5 2014-01-25 08:37:30

Re: A Hodgepodge of Stuff - House Design & Wife Mechanics

#6 2014-01-25 10:25:21

Re: A Hodgepodge of Stuff - House Design & Wife Mechanics

#7 2014-01-25 10:53:22

Re: A Hodgepodge of Stuff - House Design & Wife Mechanics

#8 2014-01-25 13:00:03

Re: A Hodgepodge of Stuff - House Design & Wife Mechanics

#9 2014-01-25 17:42:26

Re: A Hodgepodge of Stuff - House Design & Wife Mechanics

#10 2014-01-25 17:47:26

Re: A Hodgepodge of Stuff - House Design & Wife Mechanics

#11 2014-01-25 17:54:20

Re: A Hodgepodge of Stuff - House Design & Wife Mechanics

#12 2014-01-25 19:57:41

Re: A Hodgepodge of Stuff - House Design & Wife Mechanics

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