Why do we have drawbridges and spikes?

1. People do not get tricked by drawbridges
2. Their sole function is simply to slow people down, but walls already do that
3. Drawbridge traps are trivial to disarm by knights and workers
4. Once disarmed they become a encourager of tunneling, even providing cover for the enemy
5. Archers can easily pass over any length of drawbridge without consequence
6. They take up a lot of time and room to make, more than a wall of comparable stalling power
7. They can't even provide a defender bonus like cover or high ground in a castle does
8. They bog down the worker menu
9. They encourage spamming lots of simple walls, as they make easy team ladders, notched wall climbing doesn't even make sense to begin with

So I ask, for what reason do we have drawbridges and spikes? I mean they look pretty, and make good table and such for machinima, but really they don't actually fulfill a good gameplay role.

I'm not saying take them out, but I'm asking what the point of them is suppsoe to be.

 

I see people fall in pits a lot. Even experienced players sometimes do, amidst battle. It's a matter of using them right too - you can even get lots of kills with a small, hidden one. Spikes have some use in blocking arrow laddering and also sneaky no-man's land placing - place them in spots where enemies fall (possibly harmful to teammates so I never do that, but I've seen it put to pretty good use). Can't disagree with the rest of the points.

 

I think that if shielding down couldn't defend you from spike damage anymore, then spike traps would be usefull again. Right now jumping into a spike trap and digging around, is a good way to push forward.

And how does one go about doing that? :D

 

You have a point, but spike traps infront of walls work beutifully.

 

Shield down to block spike damage is idiotic. No more.

 

One of the cooler things I've seen in the new build is the knock back delivered by the Knight's charged attack. I've (accidentally) knocked other opponents into spike traps before. Even the most experienced players can't always avoid this.

 

@Czubai: Yeah good point- spikes can be effective on walls to stop ninjas, god knows I've fallen prey to spikes balconies countless times. I guess I didn't really consider this as I am pretty against stuff that stops archer laddering more haha. I have fallen into a few normal spike traps myself, particularly when I go for a suicidal run to grab the flags. But I dunno, most of the time they are far to easy to spot. Maybe one day if fog of war is implemented.

@Hansel: It's the same principal as ceiling climbing but upside down.

@SpitfireXero: Well that's a good point, fun for arenas and stuff. If you've ever played me in the East Coast Arena all I try to do is shield bash you into spikes. I'm not sure how one would work that into normal gameplay. A sort of 300-esque lets do all of our business deals with your back to the giant pit? I don't know.

Someone once suggested that spike damage be based on how far you've fallen to land on it. Seems like a good start. Also I don't think making spikes take a few more hits (with a corresponding price increase) would be amiss either. As mentioned it seems like small, thoughtfully placed traps are the best, not the vast fields of spikes we see today, and encouraging intelligent placement would be one way to make them more effective.

 

The only spike pits that (used to) work and are feasible to build are the deep (16+ blocks), narrow (2, 3 blocks), and in front of a wall. If you fall in, you die. Knights can't make a save because after a certain falling height, you can't use your shield anymore. With the addition of "wall hugging", this is no longer true., even if you fill the walls of the pit with spikes, knights can just shield them (the whole 15 spikes!).

For me, spike pits are fine. The problem is that new builders (or builders that don't care to test their own designs) waste a lot of time and resources making those big, wide (yet not deep enough), filled with spikes and useless pits. Then all of the points Contrary made, apply.

Edit:
1 - As it was said, damage made from a spike should depend on the height of the fall. This should also apply to knights "shielding up": on a small fall, a shielding knight should receive no damage., according as the fall increases, the damage would be higher. Shielding a spike then would work as a damage modifier.
2 - No more wall hugging on a wall with spikes!

 

http://kagforum.com/viewtopic.php?id=752

 

Layering spike pits makes them more effective, obviously. In response to your first point, maybe we need a new, very simple block added to the menu that provides a less obvious way of covering traps. Literally something as simple as branches or leaves, or something that looks very similar to the normal surface dirt tile with just a few differences that clumsy players won't notice. Or we could all watch Home Alone again and take ideas from that...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90FR8m-zEH4

 

We need fog of war, it's as simple as that.

 

So much fog you can't see. And lightning in the background to light up the night (if we ever had night backgrounds). On a serious note, if it looked like nighttime on some maps, the shadows could help to cover a trap?

 

drawbridges should have the option to be covered up with dirt

 

Like a Link-dead 360 fog of war, or only 180?

 

Um.. I haven't played Link-dead. Sorry.

 

We need a new animation for players who die on spikes. A horribly disconfigured character impaled on a spike would be sweet, with guts and other good stuff gibbed every where

 

Anyone ever play Limbo? I want spikes like those.

 

That you, Vlad?

 

It's me, Beef.