TRAPS
What's the point of traps? You can definitely play through the whole game
without building a single one. They're expensive, they consume lots of power,
they're tricky to use & will affect your minions too, given a chance. And
they're tons and tons and tons of fun. A large part of the enjoyment of the
game for me comes from watching valiant agents die in lots of nasty ways to
my devious traps. Trap combos will also get you a small amount of cash.
For each trap after the first that takes effect, you'll see a combo rating;
2nd trap - 'Nefarious', instant +$100 cash
3rd trap - 'Malevolent', +$200 cash
4th trap - 'Villainous', +$300 cash
5th trap - 'Heinous', +$400 cash
6th or higher trap: 'Genius', +$500 cash
Genius keeps repeating if more traps take effect. So for a combo that hits
the enemy 6 times (a cheap way is to use lots of 90-degree turns and wind
generators) you'll get $1500 cash per enemy. It's not unrealistic to get
$6k for blowing a squad of thieves through the maze of death and into a
flaming prometheus trap at the end. Though it would take a long time for
even a well-designed trap system to 'pay for itself', I consider the money
more of a token reward for a job well done. The big reward is watching the
agent suffer through it and not having to tag them.
They'll also make the game easier, and reduce the hassle on you; you won't have
to tag every agent you see if they're likely to get themselves killed on your
traps. One of the most effective use of lethal traps is in a 'labyrinth'.
This is a series of corridors unconnected to your base, filled with doors and
traps. Agents break in, but they don't break out.
Personally, I like to make a short set of tunnels connecting two evil base
entrances. That way, there's double the chance that a passing agent will
decide to investigate. If you set the outer doors of the labyrinth to Security
Level 3, then your minions won't ever go in. Bodies inside don't decay any
faster than in the freezer, but the "3" rating on the door will keep your
minions from running over and carrying the bodies all the way back there,
draining the loyalty of everyone they pass and scaring tourists in the
process. If you see an agent trying to break in, feel free to drop the door
down to level 1 and let them in to watch the fun.
When agents enter a room, they can see pretty far down it. If it's a dead-end,
they'll immediately leave. If, however, there's a door at the end, or the
corridor branches off to the side they'll feel compelled to walk down and have
a look. A labyrinth is more effective when it has a bunch of 90-degree turns
than one that's a straight line filled with doors. Also, agents that have
taken near-lethal damage will want to turn around and escape the way they came.
When a sensor is triggered, all nearby agents will freeze, and the agent that
triggered the sensor has a chance to dodge the trap. Since agents tend to come
in pairs or sets, this can work to your advantage. Agent 1 enters the room,
sets off the trap. Agent 2 walks in to see what happened, setting off the trap
again, this time affecting them both.
Your minions avoid traps by transmitting a code as they walk up to the sensor;
it disables the sensor briefly, allowing them to walk past it without tripping
it, as well as any agents or tourists immediately in front of or behind them.
All traps except Confusing Pop-Up, Poison Gas & Wind Generators must be
researched before you can use them. Most traps have an activation time that
allows an agent to walk up to 2 squares past the sensor.
Although not technically a trap, you can make a 2x2 indentation off to the
side of a corridor, place a door on it and set it to level 4. Guards and
henchmen will stand at it, and when agents try to break in, they'll
automatically get tagged for capture!
NAME - Price - Pwr - Size - Ht - Room
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Crash-Test Dummy - 800 - 0 - 1x1 - 0 - In/Out
Pressure Pad - 1600 - 0 - 1x1 - 0 - In/Out
Laser Trip Beams - 6000 - 1 - 1W - 0 - In/Topside
Motion Sensor - 12,000 - 2 - 1W/1x1 - 0 - In/Out
Gas: Poison (Health/Red) - 4800 - 1 - 2x2 - 0 - In
Gas: Knockout (Green/Endur.)- 8000 - 1 - 2x2 - 0 - In
Gas: Laugh. (Purple/Atten.) - 9600 - 1 - 2x2 - 0 - In
Gas: Halluc. (Blue/Loyalty) - 8800 - 1 - 2x2 - 0 - In
Gas: Nerve (Yellow/Smarts) - 12,800 - 1 - 2x2 - 0 - In
Bees (5 types) - 8000 - 1 - 1x1 - 1 - In/Out/Topside
Wind Machine - 8000 - 3 - 1W - 1 - In
Giant Magnet - 12,000 - 4 - 1W - 1 - In
Dreadmill - 8000 - 3 - 1x2 - 0 - In/Topside
Confusing Pop-Up - 4000 - 1 - 1x1 - 0 - In/Topside
Money Madness - 20,000 - 2 - 1W/1x1 - 0 - In/Out/Topside
Misdirection - 6000 - 2 - 1x1 - 0 - Out
Saw-Blade Trap - 9600 - 3 - 1x3 - 0 - In/Topside
Prometheus' Revenge - 12,000 - 3 - 1W - 1 - In
Pit Punisher - 9600 - 1 - 1x1 - 5 - In/Out/Topside
Satan's Chimney - 9600 - 2 - 1x1 - 5 - In/Out/Topside
Piranha Tank - 16,000 - 2 - 1x2 - 0 - In/Topside
ElectroShock Cannon - 24,000 - 6 - 2x2 - 10 - In/Out/Topside
Venus Man-Trap - 16,000 - 1 - 2x2 - 0 - Out
Explosive Palm-Tree - 13,600 - 1 - 1x1 - 10 - Out
Damned Damsel - 8000 - 2 - 1x1 - 0 - Out
Monkey-Inna-Box *BROKEN* - 8000 - 2 - 1x1 - 0 - Out
Not all indoor traps can go in an topside shack.
Sensors:
Crash-Test Dummy - Not really a sensor, this is a tool to test your trap
system. When it is placed, 6 dummies will walk out of it in a straight
line, with a 5-second delay between each. They will trip any sensor in
their way, but will not change direction when they hit an obstacle they
will fall over and 'die' instead.
Pressure Pad - Trips when someone steps on it. These go great just
inside a door. When an agent is trying to escape, they'll run back to
the door and step on it again.
Motion Sensor - Covers a half-circle in front of it, trips when someone
enters the covered area. The circle has a radius of 3 squares, extending
from the middle of the square containing the sensor the middle of the
square 3 squares away. If it's offset from a 2-width corridor by
one square, it will cover the corridor in front of it. In a 4-width
corridor, it would leave a half-square gap of uncovered area between it
and the opposite wall.
Trying to use this as a substitute laser trip sensor doesn't work very
well. When you try to cover a corridor from the side, it's sensor area
will be an arc, making it difficult to time things. If you place it to
the side of a corridor and have a long-range trap shoot down the length
of it, it works great. It's also good for setting off wide-area traps
like the bees.
Laser Trip - Goes across to the next wall regardless of distance.
Although these can't be placed outside directly, you CAN make two topside
shacks face each other and make a line between them with the laser and
link them to outside traps. This can be used to detonate the explosive
trees, for example.
Unlike crash-test dummies, agents don't keep walking once they trip a sensor;
they may stop, leap over them or jump to the side. A good trap combo will
be able to tag the agent if he stops where he trips the sensor, or walks up
to 2 squares past it. For pressure sensors, you can accomplish this by
making a T-junction and having the traps attack from the side.
Most traps take a short length of time to activate, long enough for an agent
two walk two squares after tripping the sensor. This is unpredictable though
for the reasons given above.
These two traps can do damage by pushing/pulling the agent into a wall, but
they're better used for dragging the agent into other traps:
Wind Generator - Blows anything in front of it, pushing them up to
9 squares away from the wall it is placed in. They will take damage if
they hit a wall. It's useful for blowing agents into/past other sensors
and traps as well.
Giant Magnets - Pulls the agent towards the wall it's mounted in, a
reverse version of the wind generator. Although more expensive and more
power-consuming, the advantage of this seems to be that you don't have to
put it quite so close to your sensors; if someone attacks the sensor, the
explosion won't blow up your magnets too, so you only have to replace a
couple pressure pads. If these could go inside topside shacks, they'd be
uber, but they can't so I hardly ever use them.
These traps can damage the stats of the enemy, most of them are lethal.
Gas Traps - A cage drops down, filling with gas that attacks
different stats, depending on the color of the trap. If it doesn't land
on the agent, they can walk 'through' it. If it catches them, they'll
take the full effect of the trap.
Prometheus's Revenge - A panel opens in the wall and a flame gout comes
out extending 9 squares. It will damage any sensors or objects in it's
path. One way to use it would be to have a bunch of these set to shoot
across the corridor so the agent walks into them. An easier way would be
to offset a motion detector (or laser) one square to the side of the
corridor, then have the flame shoot down the length of it.
Dreadmill - A treadmill opens up. If it catches the agent, they will lose
a bit of endurance trying to keep up. It can catch multiple agents; it
will toss the agent up to two squares in front of or behind it when it's
done.
Sawblades - Big rotating blades come out of the ground to slice agents. If
it catches them, they'll probably die. The activation time for this trap
means that you will probably want to use a wind gen to push agents onto it
from a fairly long distance (say, a 7-9 length corridor) since it's
possible to drag an agent past it entirely if there's a gap past it.
Piranha Tank / Satan's Chimney - Both of these are pit traps. They're
basically a trap door that gets unlocked when activated. If an agent is
pulled/pushed past it or onto it, it opens and drops the agent in. Agents
can survive it, but will be very low on health if they do, and will
probably try to escape the island.
Pit Punisher - It does less damage than Satan's Chimney, but tosses the
agent 6 squares away from it in a random direction when it's done. You
can try to have it toss the agent onto another pit trap or a pressure pad
for a combo, though the random-direction is a kicker. It also has a short
period of time during which it can catch an agent (when they first step on
it, and then about 1 second after that), then a really long animation time
during which it can be walked over.
Bees - There's a bee type for every stat the agent has, like gas traps. When
activated, the beehive will open and the bees will start looking for the
nearest target. If they see one in range (looks like about a 5-square
range, and they can't see through buildings or walls), they'll head for it
to attack. They don't discriminate enemy vs. minion either. They can
completely drain the stat of the enemy given time, but can be outrun. If
someone manages to lose them, they'll seek for the nearest target again.
Venus Man-Trap - This thing has an incredibly long activation time, only
hits one agent, and then has a long time before it can be used again. It
must also be activated by a sensor before it'll attack. When activated,
a single agent is drawn to stand in front of it, then it attacks and
lowers their endurance stat. Build one anyway so you can research it for
the piranha tank trap. They also look cool.
ElectroShock Cannon Trap - This also has a long activation time; enough for
an agent to walk 3-4 squares from where they tripped the sensor. Once
activated, it fries all agents within 3 squares of it, then has to
recharge. Agents that aren't within 3 squares when it's ready will not
be affected, even if they walk into range while it's still running. If
you use one, it's a good idea to offset it from the corridor about 1-3
squares ahead of the sensor area. It's high heat rating means that
agents will likely attack it on sight, flushing 24k down the drain.
Explosive Trees - Thankfully, the tree itself isn't explosive, it's just a
launcher that tosses out grenades, setting off huge explosions within a 3
square radius of the tree. The delay between sensor trip and launch is
enough for an agent to walk up to 5 squares.
These non-lethal traps work ok in a base, if you put them near the
entrance of your base, they'll weaken enemies & eat up a little of their
time, so they won't notice anything amiss further in and give you a better
chance to react to them.
Confusing Pop-Up - This "police trainer" cardboard cut-out will pop up when
activated (it faces the 'arrows' side). Agents will shoot it and lose a
little smarts. I think it's biggest benefit is it stops agents in front of
it, and can be used to briefly cut off the corridor. A sideways-blasting
prometheus trap can nail the confused agent. It's smarts-drain affects
anyone nearby.
Do-Not-Press - This is unfortunately a trap, not a sensor. =( At any rate,
once activated (say, by a pressure sensor placed in front of it or motion
detector next to it), it will open up in the direction of the arrows on
it's front. Agents tend to pause at it, then push the button, draining
their attention stat; it can drop it as low as 1 in one shot. It opens
up VERY quickly, you can place it right next to a pressure pad.
Money Madness - This drains loyalty; if your own minions set it off, they'll
desert. Interestingly, there's an Island 1 outdoor version of this trap
(it looks like a cactus) even though you can't ever get it without
cheating, since the tools you need to research it aren't available till
Island 2. An agent drained of loyalty acts like a tourist for a while.
Since you have more to lose than the agents, I recommend not using this.
Misdirection - Drains attention. These are great to dot the island with
attached to motion detectors. Agents with drained attention won't be
noticing much in your base. Goes outside only.
Damned Damsel - Drains smarts. Also only goes outside. It's a big help
since the only other way to put smarts-draining traps outside is to put
a confusing pop-up in a topside shack. Feel free to dot these everywhere
and convert any shacks that had pop-ups into something else.
[Monkey-in-a-box] - This trap supposedly exists, but it looks like the
research path for it is broken. If you cheat to get it, it acts like a
bees trap; a monkey comes out, an agent will stop and look at it for a
while, then it zaps them to drain their loyalty. It seeks for the
nearest target to attack.
UPDATE: Check 'ADVANCED TWEAKING' section for how to fix this.
In the beginning, the only way to get even pathetic agents to die by traps
is to make a 'T' corridor junction. Put pressure sensors just before the
intersection, wind generators on one side, then a corridor with a gas trap
at the end. When the agent walks past the sensors, the wind gens will blow
the agent down the hall into the gas traps. They still probably won't die
from one trap.
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