The Castle Doctrine Forums

Why not combine noise, fuel, and heat? They would compliment each other in creating practical/soft limits depending on a robber's priorities (scout? brute force? conserve money?) and restore more tension on the robber's side without, I feel, making the (rich) home owner too complacent. Fuel would limit tools to a reasonable amount, BUT with fuel alone there is no reason a patient (and rich) robber could not just make multiple consecutive trips instead of one big one with fewer tools. Tools $200 or less could cost 1 second; $400 tools would cost 2 seconds, $800 4 seconds, $1200 8 seconds, $2400 12 seconds. It's likely using tools would still save a robber time over puzzling out a trap, but this would force robbers to be very strategic about what they bring, how much they bring, and how often they use it.

Heat (like a mini-chill) is a bit separate, but I think it is necessary to compliment fuel and noise. The second (and so far only) successful robbery on my house was due to the robber making 4-5 consecutive trips with all the tools he could carry. Even if you limit the time and tools a robber can use, there still is little to no downside for a robber who keeps rushing back to your house and locking you out of it. I doubt it's Jason's intent for top players to obsessively keep trying to get into their house once they notice the same robber is hitting their place. Since there are no real-time notifications to tell you when you've been robbed or when the robber has left, heat to keep a specific robber away for, say 10-15 or 30-60 minutes from a particular house after each robbery will at least give the home owner a window of opportunity to view the video and one shot to alter or strengthen their defenses (assuming they have enough money).

Even with these three mechanics, there is still little stopping a sufficiently skilled, equipped, and persistent robber from pulling a successful heist. I prefer 30-60 minute heat because even combined with the limits of fuel and noise, it allows a persistent robber several chances to break into the house, assuming a player is at work or otherwise unable to check on their house more than once or twice a day. (9 hours away is effectively up to 17 or 8 chances, which I think is more than reasonable even with fuel and noise restrictions, considering there will be MULTIPLE robbers going after top houses). This creates tension on the side of the home owner as well as you'll need to be playing for at least 20 minutes to notice/check if someone returns with more tools and/or gets further into the house. Even if you do react, what do you change or strengthen? Then you'll need to wait and watch again... The fuel mechanic will always allow a sufficiently rich robber (and I think there would be enough of them) to go for broke after enough scouting runs, so no home owner can ever feel completely safe. 20-30 minute heat may be the best balance for robbers and home owners.

An added bonus is that you are now not only competing against the home owner, but also other robbers to be the first to successfully crack a house; at this point it's more about who is the first to have enough money to brute force a given house. I get the point Jason's trying to make about insecurity being the theme of this game, but it shouldn't have to translate into being tethered to your computer and being constantly logged into the game. That's obsessive and shouldn't be necessary.

Also, I noticed that idle players are not kicked out of their house with changes unsaved, but killed; is this only for people with starter houses or anyone? Especially without a warning, it's a bit unfair to someone who's lost their internet connection or who's legitimately been engrossed in beefing up their house defenses.