Builder's Philosophy

This was originally posted in the "Builder's League United" (Currently looking for exceptional builders) and I was asked to put it on here so that "the general population may pick it apart". So have at it.
Thanks go to SirSalami who edited parts of it (and helped out with some spelling mistakes) and Geti who pushed me to bring it up on here.

I had a nice conversation regarding builder-related philosophy with Strathos the other day. I thought I would share it here, as I never really wrote it down. There is no place for talking about personal (game related) philosophy in the harsh depths of the builder subforum.

As I see it, there are 3 (or 4) Archetypes of builder's around. Until now, I have not failed to categorize people (in my head) into these groups accordingly. This is the product of playing the game for a while. The reason this might be an interesting read to some is that it also has some real game-play applications. Having an "archetypical" image of builder-types helps you to understand them (if you categorize the subject correctly) in order to work with them if they are on your team or to annihilate them if they are on the enemy team.

1. Spikeatect

As I described it in the "Welcome" thread, "the dark mysteries of spikeatecture", this holds quite true. Spikeatecture borders on bug using. The whole point is to use spike-related mechanics to make traps the enemy can't foresee. You can use this knowledge to make bases "self defending" to a degree (by creating auto-spikes), createing one-way pathways, ect.
Spikeatecture creates constructs which are mostly unstable and easy to destroy or modified into a hazard for both teams. It's somewhat of a glass cannon.
Main Attribute: Curiosity, Experience

In the worst possible case, Spikeatects place spikes everywhere and completely ignore the dangers for their teammates. They don't bother explaining, securing or even caring about their team so much, often saying or thinking things like "well if my team is not smart enough to go around my traps they DESERVE to fall into them!", which gives this archetype a sort-of chaotic aura.
_______________________________________________
In the best possible case, Spikeatects are wary of their teammates. They will create and disable spikes quickly to disarm their own "danger zones" for incoming teammates or create "teamsafe" spike traps to begin with. Since any spiketrap is easily disabled or even turned against your own team they need to be quick with maintenance and should always have their eye on the potentially dangerous places of their construction. An experienced Spikeatect is rare as it requires a lot of knowledge and time to learn the quirky ways of spike reorientation, impaling areas and other unintuitive effects.

2. Hammerer

I described this archetype as "the brutal way of the hammer" and again, in my opinion, it is quite fitting. These types are quick with their building, always on the front line, acting almost more like a knight than a builder, as they will squash victims if they get the chance and take the risk of hammering away on enemies. Quick block dropping and quick makeshift structures to hold off enemies or protect themselves or their mates are in their repertoire aswell.
The Hammerer is quite important and it's always good to have one of these around, storming along the knights. The only downside being that they might overestimate what they can do, sacrificing themselves in a knight-like fashion to go for the last kill, leaving the knights stranded and for dead within the heart of the enemy's base.
Main Attributes: Spontaneousness, Intuition

The worst possible variation of this are the "lambs to the slaughter". They keep spawning and running towards the enemy lines, then dying immediately over and over again, eating away at your unit-count (or if you play without it they are almost as bad as being afk).
_______________________________________________
A special case are the "entombers", running up to enemy structures entombing themselves and possibly some teammates completely. Entombing is a double-edged sword. The person entombing themself can inflict massive damage to a structure, and its hard to do anything about it as the oposing team (working with bombs helps wonders but uses up a lot of ressources, you can also place teamdoors in the way to stop them from rebuilding stones). It is bad to entomb yourself for a long period of time, in this time you are basically weakening your team by one man (I am talking about the nice people who just dig away for 10 minutes in some stone slab at the enemy base they could've simply "laddered" over instead). Entombing CAN, however be useful as a last resort while cornered with reinforcements hopefully rolling in shortly anyways.
_______________________________________________
In the best possible situation, Hammerers would be the perfect frontline buddy for knights or archers, creating / using openings from archer fire to hammer people to death, throw themselves at the unguarded back of an enemy knight fighting your mate or creating high ground for knights and themselves to drop from. Quick makeshift bridges or a quick ladder up the enemy fort is a pure delight. There is nothing like a Hammerer hitting an enemy door once and then making it their own, essentially overtaking the whole structure by themselves or blocking all enemy exits in the blink of an eye.
</br>--- merged: Apr 13, 2012 6:45 PM ---</br>
3. Placer

I described Placers as players who practice the idea of "noble superior placement of blocks". Again, this is very much describing them perfectly. Placers spend a long time perfecting great buildings, basically covering the whole land in brick. One can think of it as a type of terraforming. They will always be found behind the front-line, where they fortify and secure the land allready conquered. Their efforts are important during stalemates and they will maintain structures allready built. This is also the easiest, most straight forward thing to do as a builder (as the name implies) and is what most beginners will do naturally, albeit badly. This is a very defensive archetype that values protection of themselves and their teammates over most other factors.
Main Attributes: Patience, Creativity

A horrible placer will mess with everyones buildings, thinking he knows best or "is helping" the others against their will. He will disable or ruin the Spikeatect's traps, and "improve" other Placers buildings. Alternatively they might stay far behind the front line, literally in the base the whole round just refining their buildings or working on a never to be used skybridge (since the game has allready ended). They will make "go to hell" walls that drop you right into the maw of the enemy with no way back and generally have very lacking designs. This is arguably the most annoying variation of builder possible, even worse than the bad spikeatects.
_______________________________________________
A great Placer will leave other builders to their devices (as there is usually enough room, if one fortification falls there is always another and another and another), except if it causes your team to die horrible deaths, then something needs to be done. They will consider the speed at which teammates can travel through the buildings they are fabricating (no huge towers that are hard to climb right in front of the tent) and try to fortify gathered ground immediately (this means once all the enemies are cleared out, they will go in and start integrating it into the base, making it into something your team can use perfectly). The main thing they consider is how knights and archers fight in the structure they are constructing, as they will cater to their needs to maximize protection, attacking range and angles.

(4. Alchemist)

The Alchemist is despised by most, because they regard themselves as superior, as they are using game-breaking glitches and exploits to get ahead. They will actively seek to utilize one-sided and powerful bugs (Phasing-wall glitch, backwall-to-stone, teleporting, the evasion angle, just to name a few) then repeatedly use them to surprise and anger everyone in the game. However, often it is hard to define something as a "game-breaking" exploit. Is notch-climbing a game breaking exploit? Of course not, because you can work with it. Its not unbeatable or intensely powerful, but what about the "120-ammo-from-bomb glitch" for catapults? Should you refrain from putting bombs in catapults while out of ammo because you know it will grant you 120 stone? That is a difficult question that everyone needs to answer for themselves.
Main Attributes: Ambition, Inconsiderateness

DISCLAIMER: I do realize that everyone does most of the things described here, but just because you can be categorized in a certain way doesn't restrict you from breaking out sometimes. It just refers to what people LIKE to do and what they are LIKELY to do.


Chances are if you got up to this point you care enough to read the rest aswell (Character limit leaves me unable to post the whole thing )
Continued here...

 

Nah its fine. If someone cares enough to read the first 9000 characters they will probably be able to raed the rest through clicking on that link.

 

I remember fighting strathos for the first time and thinking, "Oh shit, this builder is actually about to kill me"

Good builders are the most powerful players in the game. One good builder saves units/kills/takes territory more than any single knight or archer could ever possibly dream of. <3 all the good builders. wish there were more of you out there ;(

 

I like these categories. It makes me feel like Builders have subclasses.

Now I wonder if we could do the same for Archer and Knight....

 

I am pretty sure you could. Its not much more than a thought pattern really. You can do that for everything... pretty much.

 

Hammer them to death ! Nice post Wyeth !

 

I'm a purist Hammerer, always have been, always will be.

 

Me too ever since I started (6 months ago) I've been a full-time 'hammerer'. Also gosh Wyeth how could you not read those 9000 characters?

 

Providing you're team with a way into another castle is important. Also, backing up you're team members with the required workshops is the key to success. Traps and the like should be used in good conditions; any other time it's most likely a waste of stone. Tunneling should be kept to a minimum for the purpose of a clean game. Building stupid symbols around the base does nothing and is a waste of time. Pushing forward most of the time is the best choice. Overall i enjoyed reading you're builder ideas and i respect the time it took to write it.:)

 

So true, it's just so true.

 

call me an obsessed placer combined with hammering-

why would be based on the inability to ignore making functional "thick" (instead of say thin) buildings that arent overcome once the main idea behind the building is dealt with (high tower has ladders attached therefore no longer obstacle/spike-avocado trap is demolished by bomb/hammer- am actually obsessed with one form for base tower defenses (a nu-style form) of knee capper that is all i ever put effort into individually at intros to games-

hammering because its a war zone and builders always make prospective targets for derpy knights that think cause ur not one of them you will die instantly/ need to keep your team moving/ hold future ground instead of just being on repair duty for an eventually lost tower-

 

I can't remember the last time I placed a spike. I guess I'd fall into the Placer category, whether or not I'm a good or bad one is up to the community.

Never underestimate the power of a builder who designs an efficient path to the front line. You might not notice us, but we save you a lot of time in the long run.

An excellent post Wyeth.

 

Hmmm. I personally see it more as a continuum from pure offensive builder to pure defensive builder, with Hammerer and Placer being points along the line. I think that excelling in any point along this line is useful, but the most benefit to the team is conferred by excelling at a balanced playstyle, toward the middle of the line.

There's no point in being a Hammerer if the other team has a strong offensive force; in this case, I find myself repairing the front lines and making stone-fall traps, and only occaisionally venturing out to flank knights and collect materials. Likewise, there's less overall benefit in reinforcing the defenses if your team is maintaining a strong front line. In these cases, I either take trips up front along with the knights to convert structures, or I build dens and shops in the frontmost defended areas.

Tactics like intellegently-designed spike traps, "linepiece" delays of the enemy's advance, creation of alternate/safer lanes to the enemy, controlled destruction of enemy fortifications (whether by entombing or other means), and particularly catapult usage and supplying (which I feel is a major point that the OP missed out on) fall somewhere in the middle of this line- they are useful in a majority of situations, independent of your team's offensive/defensive situations. I feel that builders who excel at these skills and practice them often, supporting them with the "lesser" situationally useful skillsets of offensive "Battle builders" and defensive "support" builders are truly the ones who help most in public games.

 

It feels like magic the gathering types all other again (Timmy-Johnney-spike-vorthos). i use all 4 tactics often while playing builder not to the best but decent. except for alchemist in which i rarely do as it is cheating which is ban-able, and no i dont want that. in what category would a tunneler be? tunnels from your side of the base to enemies side often to pop up and steal flag...