Terry's Tutorial

We've seen a lot of discussion around builders' designs, and their particular strengths and weaknesses. But what is it that makes a fortress 'work'? Why do some designs excel in certain circumstances and fail in others?

We need to understand the various parts which go into a good design, and how they all work together.

• Walls & Pathing
• Shaft & Foundation
• Archer Nests, Catapult Perches
• Pits, Traps and Staging Grounds
• Workshops & Supports

Strathos' makes some very good points in his guide. Everyone should be acquainted with his suggestions.

Spoiler: Example #1

1. Staging Ground - enemy knights enter and are forced to fight with archers overhead and a trap at their backs.
2. 4 archer nests are packed tightly into the front wall.
3. Friendlies enter along the ground, pass through workshops towards the battlefront.
4. A shaft was later added here, to counter an oncoming tunnel and reinforce tower foundations.

Walls & Pathing

Spoiler: Minecraft Tower

Quick to build, quick to destroy. A knight with a bomb can take down a single-wide tower without any fuss, while your teammates grumble and hiss from the other side; However, when built on top of another fortification, this sort of wall may prevent enemy knights from bombjumping past your defenses. Functions as a cheap wall for castle interiors.

Spoiler: Solid Wall with Bridged Access

Solid walls have the advantage of being both strong and quick to build. This is usually the first wall anyone builds on the front. Here, team-access is provided through a stack of teambridges (faster), though they can be places as rarely as 1 every third block (cheaper). A clever knight will be able to damage the bridges and scale the wall, given the time and the opportunity.

Spoiler: Doorclimber aka Bighuge

By placing a teamdoor every second block into a wall, friends can pass freely, while enemies can not. Newbies will often build these to excessive heights, forcing teammates to drop great distances, hurting themselves to pass it. The wall is fairly strong and easy to repair, though it comes at a considerable expense of lumber. Damage to the outer wall disables access for your team, so builders will be required to make repairs.

Spoiler: Low-slung wall

A wall built 4 blocks high can be climbed over by players from either side, but with the extra height, one lone knight can easily fend off several.

Spoiler: Enhanced low-slung wall

With a few simple modifications, the low-slung wall becomes a dangerous threat to oncoming forces.

Spoiler: Strathos Wall

Designed to take heavy abuse. The doors serve as access-hatches for builders to repair the outer layer of blocks. This can be especially useful in a tunnel, where enemy builders can not easily scale to the other side, in which case, a single builder can easily hold off an otherwise overwhelming force.

Spoiler: Maintenance Wall

This is an early design of a high-maintenance wall. By placing doors on every third block, every block on the outer layer can be reached and repaired in the event of catapult fire, bombs, or builder-siege. Its major drawback is that it is limited to a thin, 2-wide tower. Strathos' design improves on this somewhat, at the cost of materials and of simple pathing. The ladder makes for simpler block-repairs, but some builders may elect to use bridges instead.

Spoiler: Kneecap Shooter aka Pillbox

I've recently seen this design popping up on a few servers, and I didn't know what it was at first. Through sacrificing some structural integrity, it affords archers a ground-level line of fire. It can be blocked by enemy builders, but those who attempt to dig through will likely be shot and killed.

Spoiler: Staircase

In early builds, players often built staircases of epic proportions; However, once a few blocks were destroyed at its base, it was found to provide cover to enemy armies. We prefer smaller staircases nowadays. The staircase has the added benefit of improving pathing through your castle to higher ground.

A note on pathing:
Fortresses incorporating any given number of towers placed in series will be subject to 'taxicab physics', a term used to describe the effect of city-blocks on a taxicab as it paths its way through the city. Being forced to make a series of turns, it will travel much further than it would have if it could move along the diagonal, as the crow flies. Towers built in succession do more harm than good because they delay your teammates as they travel towards the battlefront.

Spoiler: Ineffecient Pathing

Spoiler: Bridged Towers

View attachment 3238 To overcome the 'pitfalls' of taxicab geometries, builders often connect rooftops with long bridges...

Spoiler: Lumber Bug

...but this typically results in bugged trees, which can seriously damage a team's supply.

Spoiler: The Quick-Fix

By giving enough space (usually 15 blocks) for your trees to grow to their full height, forests can be safely cloistered.

 

I like to think the towers that aren't a visual abomination are the ones that work best. All my towers are full of saniflexes and bighuges so that might explain that.

 

Good tutorial....But a rather short one.

Also you missed 1 spoiler

 

Doorclimber = Bighuge original content do not steal

Also for your consideration

 

There are different names for it but bighuge was the first. I just call it that because it's easier to say "Wall with a bunch of doors in it" and catchier than "Door climber"

 

In one sense, yeah. Bighuge can fit because you can easily alter it to be bigger or smaller depending on the situation.

 

Pathing
The point I'm getting to with all of this is that victory depends on your understanding of the components of a collaborative design and building accordingly, in such a way that allows your team every advantage along the way. Disregard for, and poor communication with, your fellow builders, is the fatal flaw exhibited by wave upon wave of defensive builders. Every tricky jump, every time we need to stop and change directions, is another knight, waiting for backup, alone on the battlefield.


Offensive Techniques
An effective assault requires you to study your enemies' designs and uncover its weaknesses. There are some dirty tricks, though.

• Ladders are the simplest way to pass most fortifications.
• Door Capture - Once damaged, enemy doors can be 'repaired' and converted to your own.
• Walling Them In - A fortress with few exits can be blocked off, preventing enemies from retaliating while your team cuts their own way in.
• Walling Yourself In - Under archer fire, or in the middle of a fight, a builder might encase themselves in stone and proceed to cut the tower down from within.
• Tunnels are best started next to an enemy tower not from within your own throne room.

Catapults deserve their own heading
They're expensive, they're fragile, their workshop is expensive and fragile. N00bs love to fire these from well-behind enemy lines, hitting nothing. Every shot is worth another castle block or two repairs, so make it count. Catapults do more damage at close range, where they can fire at low power and still break castle blocks. Catapults are not anti-infantry weapons. They are difficult to aim, and the stone is better used against enemy fortifications. As an alternative to castle deconstruction, you may elect to position your catapult to launch your teammates over enemy fortifications. This tactic is most effective with several catapults firing simultaneously.

 

Excellent tutorial tellin noobs what not to do (eg. floor door spamming *facepalm noobs*) and giving tips to pros well done.

 

Behold! The SkyHighWay, known as the SkyWay by me.

It has numerous advantages and I build them every game now.

Spoiler

First the most obvious advantage is collapse protection from bombers, as each tower is connected to the other by the highway it wont fall if all the bottom blocks are removed. This buys you valuable time to reclaim and defend it.

Also note that the way the SkyWay is built is the most efficient I've found in terms of resource cost, it offers good protection from bomb throwers and is easier to defend if a portion is lost.

Spoiler

The SkyWay has an interesting secondary effect that I noticed, it completely changes how you path through the mess of towers that a frontline can be.

The Green line indicates pathing with the SkyWay, the Red line Indicates possible pathing without it by all three classes roughly or there abouts. Knights will path through the fastest due to gliding and builders the slowest since they have no innate movement advantages.

With the Skyway, pathing becomes extremely more effecient and you can continue to extend it out over the battle and it gives catapults and archers a fantastic vantage point.

I've won plenty of games and I would put a lot of it down to the advantages given to my team with a SkyWay. Not saying I'm king shit of fuck mountain, but the speed that your troops reach the battlefield completely demoralizes the enemy after a while.

Hope you liked my SkyWay.

 

I love you guys. *brofist*

I had originally had some formatting issues, so I decided to break it up. In retrospect, it could have worked as one post... but I've still got some issues with my spoilers, so I dunno. Maybe I'll edit it down later.

 

You, sir, are a genius.
1) All these points are solid rules that should be the foundation of every builder's play, not some sloppy "so, uhm, under such and such circumstances doing x might be better than y".
2) They're dripping with information - straight to the point, with examples.
3) It really shows how much effort you've put into preparing this. I mean, every single thought is backed up by a screenshot. It's incredible.

Sticky, please! Also, let the inbetween posts burn.

 

great info... we should make every new player read this before entering the fray... lawl

 

I demand this thread be Stickied! And then modified after the update!

 

Speaking of updates... why is it that other threads refer to build [281], while the counter on my title-screen says we're at [275]

 

The ingame number changes only after a bigger patches, small changes don't affect it.

 

Extraordinarily impressive and well designed tutorial, I love it.
Birdie159 always complains about my building capabilities, at least now I can tell (quite clearly) what I'm doing right or wrong.

I wasn't too far off, at least..

 

Archer Nests
It is to your archers' advantage to avoid bunching together, to shoot from multiple angles and to force enemies to re-aim against new targets.

Spoiler: Consider first these basic platforms.

View attachment 3246
Trees and bridges are an archer's best friends.

Spoiler: Jackalhole

View attachment 3249 A 2x2 hole can be dug into loose dirt by archers on the move, to provide cover while charging shots. Jackal is responsible for this early strategy.

Spoiler: Ramparts

View attachment 3250 The same concept applies to tower ramparts. Archers leap up onto the lip with bows drawn back. Newbuilders sometimes fail to recognize this and use the space for minecraftowers.

Spoiler: Covered Rampart

View attachment 3251 By adding a rooftop, we provide additional cover against arced shots and catapult fire.

Spoiler: Single-block Rampart

View attachment 3252 A single-block rampart provides partial cover against incoming fire with minimal interruption to friendly line-of-fire.

Spoiler: Doors as Windows

View attachment 3253 A single-high door provides greater cover without interrupting line of fire.

Spoiler: Complete Cover

View attachment 3254 "Complete Cover" nests can be stacked into a fortification. The vaulted ceiling and the bridge in the corner improve lines-of-fire.

Spoiler: Double-door platforms

View attachment 3241 Double-doors allow a wider line-of-fire, at the expense of cover. May be used as an alternate exit.

Spoiler: Archer Flooring

View attachment 3245 By flooring a perch with teambridges and extending it out past the main wall, archers can shoot down on enemies gathering by the doors.

Spoiler: Complete cover overhanging perch

View attachment 3255 Line-of-fire allows for targeting long- and short-distance targets, while minimizing the risk presented by enemy builders and bombjumpers. Weak against catapults due to a high construction cost.

Spoiler: The Shooting Gallery

View attachment 3242 The Shooting Gallery was originally seen on the popular Attack&Defend gameservers. A column of doors backed by two columns of ladders provides the most opportunity for archers to line up a shot of any hard-cover design. Even during pre-build, this is an expensive design.

</br>--- merged: Feb 26, 2012 5:07 PM ---</br>

I never claimed these were MY designs. Didn't know it was called a bighuge. Fixed.
</br>--- merged: Feb 26, 2012 5:22 PM ---</br>
Workshop Layouts

Spoiler: A note on pathing

View attachment 3257 Workshops are best placed along the path troops take from spawn to the battlefront.

Spoiler: Isolated Workshops

View attachment 3259 Workshops can swing a battle. They are expensive to build and easy to destroy. Workshops should always be fortified against attacks with teamdoors, etc.

Spoiler: Convenience

View attachment 3260 The best placement allows for convenient access.

Spoiler: Raised Workshops

View attachment 3258 Building workshops over teambridges can help prevent their destruction - or their falling into the wrong hands.

</br>--- merged: Feb 28, 2012 10:21 PM ---</br>
Shafts & Foundations

Refer to this thread, The Low-Down on Tunnels, for a discussion on the importance of digging a mineshaft within your fortifications.
TL;DR: Digging a shaft is the only way to defend against enemy tunnelers.

Spoiler: castle foundations

View attachment 3262

Spoiler: Cobblestone Road

View attachment 3263 Placing stone blocks every second tile will prevent knights from digging into your tunnels or under your towers.

Spoiler: Reinforced Floors

View attachment 3264 Where enemies gather in great numbers, a reinforced, repairable floor may stall enemy progress.

Spoiler: Tunnel Plugs

View attachment 3267 Tunnels can be filled with bricks in case of emergency, but this typically results in enemies digging under or around it whenever possible.

Spoiler: Always wall off your tunnels.

View attachment 3265 Repairable walls are more effective than plugs for halting enemy progress into your tunnels. I recommend against having teamdoors opening into offensive tunnels, as these are easily captured.

Spoiler: Corner Spikes

View attachment 3266 Avocado has done some great work around spike mechanics. They're cheap. They're effective. Use these in EVERY shaft you dig.

</br>--- merged: Feb 26, 2012 5:51 PM ---</br>

Link plz. Doorclimber is more descriptive.

Pits, Traps & Staging Grounds
Pits are largely a waste of time and resources. Especially during pre-build, when...

...but also consider that they are easily disarmed by stonebridging. It takes more time and effort to build a spikepit than it does to disarm it.
That said, they have their uses.

Spoiler: A basic trap

View attachment 3270 Spikepits provide a simple way to deal damage and slow enemy progress. Make sure to line them with stone, or else enemy knights will dig themselves out, or worse - they'll dig themselves deeper.

Spoiler: A moat

View attachment 3269 Spikepits will prevent enemies from bunching up against your walls. Unfortunately, this may put you in a position of defending with your back to a pit. Enemy knights could, depending on your design, push you into your own trap.

Spoiler: A stuttered bridge

View attachment 3272 Holes are often cut into long stretches of teambridges to prevent enemies from collapsing access. With notches cut in such a fashion, teammates can get close enough to jump across and break the siege.

Spoiler: double-level bridges

View attachment 3280 A second-level of bridges is a slightly more effective way of defending your pit traps.

...But you shouldn't really be bothering with these inefficient traps anyway.

Spoiler: It really doesn't matter how deep you dig

View attachment 3271
View attachment 3277
View attachment 3278

According to this reference, no pit ever really needs to be any deeper than 23 tiles for an instant kill... but even then, it can be unreliable due to the wall-slide effect.

Spoiler: conflicting blueprints

View attachment 3276 'nuff said.

Instead of digging a trap into whatever open space you have available, think about the gaps between your fortifications as 'staging zones'. Lure your enemies to enter your castle and attack them from all sides, or set up small advantages only your team can use. Make them fight with spikes at their backs and arrows overhead. Cut off their retreat.

Spoiler: Strathos has been nerfed

View attachment 3282 Dropblock traps no longer achieve instant kills. Small traps rarely do damage, and larger traps...
View attachment 3281
...are expensive, slow to build, kill unreliably, and can easily be used as a landing pad by bombjumpers or catapulted enemies.

Spoiler: Avocado Corner Spikes

View attachment 3274 This design bears repeating.

Spoiler: Seemingly innocous

View attachment 3275 This configuration, thx Avocado, can deal several points of damage on its own, effectively halting enemy knights as they progress, underground.

Pathing
The point I'm getting to with all of this is that victory depends on your understanding of the components of a collaborative design and building accordingly, in such a way that allows your team every advantage along the way. Disregard for, and poor communication with, your fellow builders, is the fatal flaw exhibited by wave upon wave of defensive builders. Every tricky jump, every time we need to stop and change directions, is another knight, waiting for backup, alone on the battlefield.

 

Something ate all the pictures.