The Thieves' Guide to Protecting Your ****

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The Thieves' Guide to Protecting Your ****

Postby pistolshrimp » Thu Feb 26, 2015 7:20 pm

As the March nub patch is coming up I felt like now is the appropriate time to post this. It's a guide for newbie protection from a thief's perspective. Veterans will probably not find much here of use, in fact even mid-level players will probably not find this to be very helpful. It is not a guide about better base design, although I'd like to see someone post one. It quite simply is a compendium of ways to reduce the chances of getting your **** stolen during your first couple of weeks (/months depending on your play-style). Veterans can help by posting suggestions which I will update into the OP or by posting pictures of some of the worst security systems they've come across. You will find a few of them here and I feel sometimes we can learn a lot from the mistakes of others.

About Me: A small time crook.

Each time I come upon a Leanto or a Claim I ask myself if it's worth it. Leaving a single Larceny Scent is enough to lose all the investment I put into my character. I can trespass, break walls, disable braziers, and camp outside your claim spending a day or two porting away your stuff, but if it requires too much effort for too little reward I won't bother. My alt is expendable, but that doesn't mean I want to lose her.

The following is the Commandments of what not to do when trying to protect your stuff from being stolen, learned from my stints as a thief. Inter-sped throughout there will be tips for those who can't do the main suggestions yet.

If you are new to this game here are some terms you will see throughout this document explained:
* Claim or P-Claim: Purchased in Providence, allows you to "own" a piece of land by building a claimstone.

* Homestead: Can either be your Leanto, or if you set one up, your claimstone.

* Crime!: A debuff criminals get when they leave scents.

* Scents: A track-able piece of evidence against the thief, left when they commit crimes on a P-Claim.


1! Thou Shall Not Build Thy Base Close to Providence
Where the Wilderness Guide drops you is not where you should build your base. Take a hike West a couple of hours, then build your base. You can pick up foragables along the way and learn the basics. The less people who find your base, the less chance it will get looted.

This alone will never be enough though, which is why I've written the rest of this guide.


2! Thou Shall Not Leave Thy Homestead Unclaimed
This is number 1 for a reason. Stealing from a Leanto leaves scents but does not incur a Crime! Debuff. What this means is I can sit outside your Leanto with a 41 BB Alt eating Fried Oysters and Dried Turkey Neck and take everything of value and turn around and immediately port it home or give it to a main in Providence.

For those who are new, the Crime! Debuff prevents my character from porting Home or to Providence, it also puts a limit on how much I can steal because I can't regenerate my Humours.

What You Can Do:
Buy a P-Claim in Town and Claim over your leanto or use it as your Homestead. This makes it much harder to steal from you as I have to invest in making a better character if I want your stuff.

Leantos can store 2 containers full of goods in them, this is better than leaving them in a nearby stump, but it's still very easy to steal them. You are better off picking up all the items and storing them on your person even if your over-encumbered when you log off. To steal off your character costs me a lot more than stealing out of your boxes.


3! Thou Shall Not Be Stupid When Placing Thy P-Claim
Image
Stealing from this Leanto doesn't give a Crime! Debuff. I can basically stand on the edge and reach in. For why this is bad see above.

What You Can Do:
Extend the P-Claim at least 1 tile over your Leanto, or use your Claimstone as your Homestead.


3.2! Thou Shall Not Leave Thy Leanto Off Claim
Image
Come on guys, think about it. You're making this too easy.


4! Thou Shall Not Make it Easy
Let's say you can't afford your P-Claim yet, or you're still working on your wall. I get that it takes time, there are still things you can do in the mean-time to make it hard for me to steal your stuff.

What You Can Do:
Always keep at least 1 item in your backpack, preferably more, when you log out. I suggest something stupid like granite. What this means that in order to steal your backpack I will have to steal every single item out of your backpack first, and trust me it ain't worth it. I've passed up dozens of backpacks for this reason because they were filled with cranberries and granite.

The same goes for your toolbelt, don't log out without at least one tool in there.

As for money, it's easy to grab your purse. It's an extreme measure, but I suggest if you are worried, it might help to split your coins into stacks of 5 or so. Even if you have to do like 50 stacks of 5. They don't weigh much and I'm not going to sit around paying 40 Black Bile to steal 5 silver coins, especially if you are on a P-Claim.

Remember these are not long term solutions, but they can help get your through your most vulnerable points.


5! Thou Shall Not Forget Thy Fence
You need one, even a stick fence is better than nothing. It makes navigating your claim harder, which is rarely a deciding factor, it can influence me not to bother trying out your claim.

What You Can Do:
Spend the time to build one, it's effort, but in the long run, not building it and having your stuff stolen is a lot less fun. Stone is better, but stick will do, especially if you plan on upgrading later on. Make sure your entire wall is within your p-claim or someone can knock it down without Crime!.

If you absolutely cannot build a fence and a gate just yet, a short term solution is to make a wall of objects. Makes sure they are all on your claim and there is absolutely no space for me to get on your claim. To even pick up a box, or hollow log from outside your claim costs a decent amount of Yellow Bile. This won't discourage most thieves, but it might prevent one or two while you build a fence.

Image
No!

Image
Yes (well Yesish, as you can see I got on it, because over in the far left corner the owner left a tiny spot open where I could get on the claim and pick up the drying frame, but it does illustrate the point quite nicely.


6! Thou Shall Not Leave Thy Gate Unlocked
If you don't lock your gates, you basically don't have a wall, you have an obstruction. Hands down, a P-Claim and wall with a locked gate will prevent most crimes against you. What it means is I have to make a different type of character to break in. I've personally haven't bothered knocking down a single wall since December Patch. It won't protect you from everyone, but it will against most everyone.

What You Can Do:
You can buy Pig-Iron from the player stalls. There are lots of people on these forums that will turn that iron into a lock for you if you ask, myself included. Getting keys are a bit more tricky, but there are nice folks who can help you out there too.

In the meantime, you can put an object in the wall, just on the edge of your claim, so thieves like me have to pick up the object from off claim like the object wall in 5! This is temporary at best, but it's better than nothing. Another option is building one or two items into a sign post built in the gateway right before you log off. You'll have to break it each time you log back in, but again it's a little better than nothing.


6.2! Thou Shall Not Forget to Close Thy Gate
Image
There is so so much wrong here that this is like an eye spy of bad base decisions.

What You Can Do:
Get in the habit of closing your doors every time to go in or out, even if its just for a second. It builds a mental pattern that will come in handy some day something unexpected comes up and pulls you away from the computer.

Or buy some springs out of the stalls or off the Salem Store. Springs automatically close your gates after a 10-15 seconds. Make sure you Spring all your gates or remember which ones are springed and which aren't!


7! Thou Shall Not Rely on Signs to Prevent Theft
I've come across more than a few signposts threatening me with death if I steal, but don't even have a P-Claim.

Image

Another players response:
Image

If you feel the need to make a sign make sure you have a P-Claim, and keep it simple "Will Track Scents, Have Revenge, 500 in Bank."


8! If Thee Buildeth Braziers, Thou Shall Not Allow Me To Disable Them
They take some effort to build so treat them with respect. If I have a clear path at your brazier I can disable it without leaving any scents. This is another reason why your wall and located gates are so important.

Image

What You Can Do:
If for some reason you have an unprotected Brazier and no wall, build a quick stick fence around it, or at the very least surround it with boxes until you can. After your wall is complete you can remove that fence.

Also consider Torches. They can't be disabled the same way, are cheaper to build, and could be the determining factor between someone deciding if you are worth stealing from or not.


9! Taking Over An Old Base is Smart, Thou Shall Not Let That Go To Thy Head
Taking over an old abandoned base can save you a lot of time and effort flattening land and building walls, but you still need proper security; maybe even more so because that may have been a base someone left cause they got raided.

Image
This is not proper security in case you were wondering.

What You Can Do:
Fix those damaged walls and as for those gates you can't close claim over them and knock them out and build your own. It will take time but it will help you not get looted. In the meantime build a 2 stick fence ends and your own locking gate in front of it, or try the box trick if you absolutely cannot build you're own gate yet.


10! Thou Shall Not Hoard
This is one that should apply to nearly every player in the game and which almost every player in the game ignores. It is all the more important though when you are new. If you have nothing to steal you won't have anything stolen.

What You Can Do:
Of course you want to keep cool stuff, but if you cannot protect it think about using those inspirationals or selling them on the forums. Not only can you convert these items to silver, but you will start building your reputation here. That silver can then be deposited into the bank for a fee. Yes, you'll lose a little silver, but it is a lot better than losing it all.


11! Thou Shall Not Forget To Be Active
I'd make a thread about how to best L3WT but 1, I don't want the competition, and 2, realize it's an intuitive art, where to look, when to steal and when to walk away, etc. When I did analyze it a bit as I prepared for this post I realized perceived activity factors highly into my decision of whether to chance it or not.

What You Can Do:
One of the big things is keep everything repaired. You will find that 90% of the people on the forums here are probably **** retentive when it comes to repairs; it'd probably bother us all day until we repaired it. When I find a base with damaged walls and what not I assume that person doesn't care and they won't invest the effort to track me down after I take their stuff.

Also make sure you have plenty of signs of activity. These are the things that show someone has been online recently. Burning fires, wet skins drying on drying frames, green grass on a haystack. My favorite is burning coal clamps. I suggest having one of these going at all times. Unlike racks which dry in a couple of hours, a coal clamp burns for three days, giving you space to be a little inactive.
Last edited by pistolshrimp on Fri Feb 27, 2015 1:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Thieves' Guide to Protecting Your ****

Postby trungdle » Thu Feb 26, 2015 7:22 pm

10/10 nothing better than how to protect from thieves by a thief.
You thought I quit.
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Re: The Thieves' Guide to Protecting Your ****

Postby iordanis21 » Thu Feb 26, 2015 7:37 pm

thank you!
Informative, to say the least! :)
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Re: The Thieves' Guide to Protecting Your ****

Postby Shadeen » Thu Feb 26, 2015 10:39 pm

Great read, thank you! Is there any way to build hard to destroy buildings (like chicken coops) in order to wall in a brazier, even when it's been placed within your claim's walls, for extra security? Also,what is the best way to deter access to your mine (which is now free for all) and force the thief to remain where the braziers nd torches can get to them?
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Re: The Thieves' Guide to Protecting Your ****

Postby Rubberduckbandit » Thu Feb 26, 2015 10:48 pm

Shadeen wrote:what is the best way to deter access to your mine


A wall with braziers circling your mine, preferably a brick one.
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Re: The Thieves' Guide to Protecting Your ****

Postby alprice » Thu Feb 26, 2015 11:02 pm

Great job in this thread!
Embie is my name :P
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Re: The Thieves' Guide to Protecting Your ****

Postby Shadeen » Thu Feb 26, 2015 11:07 pm

Rubberduckbandit wrote:
Shadeen wrote:what is the best way to deter access to your mine


A wall with braziers circling your mine, preferably a brick one.


Thanks, I got a wall and braziers inside of it. Could I somehow shield the braziers and the entrance to my mine in case someone was to break my walls?
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Re: The Thieves' Guide to Protecting Your ****

Postby Rubberduckbandit » Thu Feb 26, 2015 11:14 pm

Shadeen wrote:
Rubberduckbandit wrote:
Shadeen wrote:what is the best way to deter access to your mine


A wall with braziers circling your mine, preferably a brick one.


Thanks, I got a wall and braziers inside of it. Could I somehow shield the braziers and the entrance to my mine in case someone was to break my walls?


If you really want to spend the time and effort you could box in every brazier with a wall of its own and a door with a lock if you want to refuel them.
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Re: The Thieves' Guide to Protecting Your ****

Postby Shadeen » Thu Feb 26, 2015 11:38 pm

Rubberduckbandit wrote:
If you really want to spend the time and effort you could box in every brazier with a wall of its own and a door with a lock if you want to refuel them.


Okay, got it. Thank you :) Sounds like too much effort for now.
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Re: The Thieves' Guide to Protecting Your ****

Postby Argentis » Thu Feb 26, 2015 11:50 pm

Well written though I have a couple of things to say:

First off and I am sure you know you can steal all there is to steal in a pclaim with black tea. It takes a longer time and sometimes it's not worth the effort but it can be done.

Secondly, the spring helps close your door but not a few minutes after you open it, just a mere 10-15 seconds.

Then it's "hoarding" not "hording" unless you meant a horde of alt but I doubt it ;p.
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