is my homestead easy pickings?

[Kaol]

One thing i do is to try and put anything that looks like i have wealth eg anvil, sled some containers etc inside my pilgrims hovel. They can't see inside and it just looks like a poor noobs first house. You could put containers in a lean-to aswell.

Then again once you've built 30 braziers and 6 smelters its hard to look too poor.

[Sevenless]

Then again once you've built 30 braziers and 6 smelters its hard to look too poor.

Yeah it's a real catch 22. Build enough defense and you look worth taking the effort to get through. Not enough and it's too easy.

[ramuller]

These last few posts really illustrate the question I wanted to ask: what is one trying to accomplish with the wall/brazier defense?

There could be several goals:

• Trying to keep people out altogether.
• Trying to limit the amount of item loss.
• Trying to limit gratuitous vandalism (trashed fields, etc.).

Obviously, there will always be some set of raiders good enough to get in if they really want to (and to some extent, the super defense might well just become a challenge to be overcome for its own sake).

That leaves item loss and vandalism and I keep asking myself how much do I want to spend in silver and time to protect my stuff (the answer will change as my fields gain influence and I start creating better seeds and such). Also, am I more interested in just discouraging the casual raider than trying slow down the hardcore raider or someone who is raiding specifically to get me to leave what they consider to be their territory.

[ganette]

more good info, thanks,

im in a small group of 3, we are running at 0 purity in everything, as we are all new (about 1 month old) we havent gotten into purity yet. and to be honest dont really understand its function, only that its sposed to be better lol.

this is our second settlement, the first was raided by a group of 4, who killed my 2 companions, as i was out and about and stayed there during the invasion lol.

we dont see many people, in total at this new place, we have seen maybe 5 pilgrims, only 2 of which had any notion of gear on them but were still in some pilgrmim attire. no one lives within 6-10 full map loads of us, 15 mins walk in any direction and nothing but wilderness. altho there are a few leantoo's but none that have a claim to.(the lil paper) we have full scale mountains to 2 sides, which id think would be a good defence from raiders, one side is a huge lake (another 8 mapsquares long or so) so only one side truly has access from the outside. im sure the whole defence is overkill right now for us, but from all that ive learned, its mor a keep the straggling pilgrim out type situation. after everything ive learned, im really just gonna do a moderate defence. about 15 braziers since ive got half that now, and stick with the 3 walls maybe add one more to the outside.

it is obvious from the statements above, that there is no real way to protect your stuff from anyone that really wants to get in, so ill start alt banking enough stuff (bars, seeds, oiled boards, etc...) so that a restart wouldnt be so difficult next time, but beyond that, i guess go with the "lets hope they dont find us for a long time" mentality. I am rather disappointed to find out what ive found out. why would there be no way to prevent them? i dont get it. i can understand the concept of thievery etc.. but if your willing to protect your property and put the time in to build defences, then it should be just that, defended. there should be some sort of way to protect your stuff, and as i see it, even if you built 5 plank walls, with 3 layers of braziers, anyone who wants to could just come right on in and take yer stuff, given a few hours time, and a couple alts, and friends.

so i guess im going to have to adopt the build and forget ideal. and stop building with any form of connection to what im doing as it could be lost in a minute lol.
and just build with the emphasis of using it to make my character better only!

which sucks really, cause im the hermit type, who just wants to build a pretty homestead, build all the fancy tools, and enjoy a day of gathering/hunting and come home to a nice safe rest! lol

oh well.

[Dallane]

it is obvious from the statements above, that there is no real way to protect your stuff from anyone that really wants to get in, so ill start alt banking enough stuff (bars, seeds, oiled boards, etc...) so that a restart wouldnt be so difficult next time, but beyond that, i guess go with the "lets hope they dont find us for a long time" mentality. I am rather disappointed to find out what ive found out. why would there be no way to prevent them? i dont get it. i can understand the concept of thievery etc.. but if your willing to protect your property and put the time in to build defences, then it should be just that, defended. there should be some sort of way to protect your stuff, and as i see it, even if you built 5 plank walls, with 3 layers of braziers, anyone who wants to could just come right on in and take yer stuff, given a few hours time, and a couple alts, and friends.

Having good defense will keep most people away because they don't want to waste the effort. You need to be actually defending for it to be successful. There shouldn't be any defense in this game that keep everyone out while you are away.

[ganette]

yeah yer right, i agree. the fear of losing everything adds to the game, anytime im out and about and see a stranger my heart goes 1000 to nothing, and i fall into a "do i retreat, or prepare to fight" mentality. which adds some realism to the game hehe. back in the past, thats how life was, youd be out chopping trees, and someone could wander in and kill you, and i appreciate that aspect of the game. effectively defending your property should make it safe though. if im inside my encampment, and im being attacked by a raider or two, my only option SHOULDNT be logout, wait till theyve stolen everything then come back... not when i have a rifle and can shoot them. i should be able to shoot them from the inside. and it actually hurt them, not just pull me into combat with them. yeah its beta, and the combat system is evolving, as is siege and the rest, but we were online, had defenses up, and braziers, and guns and swords, and only two of them came thru the gates, they were high humor toons, but still there was nothing my 2 companions could do, but sit there and die.. or run and hope to escape..

i can agree that no place should be fort knox. but when you do build fort knox, it shouln't defend like a mcdonalds playground either..


several of you mention purity increases make breaking in easier, can you elaborate on this? i understand purity, but how does it help? ive seen mines spit out 2-3% pure ore, but i was under the impression that this only ffected a couple inspirationals. does higher purity ore made items(shovel axe etc..) do more damage to walls, trees, etc?

[Dallane]

yeah yer right, i agree. the fear of losing everything adds to the game, anytime im out and about and see a stranger my heart goes 1000 to nothing, and i fall into a "do i retreat, or prepare to fight" mentality. which adds some realism to the game hehe. back in the past, thats how life was, youd be out chopping trees, and someone could wander in and kill you, and i appreciate that aspect of the game. effectively defending your property should make it safe though. if im inside my encampment, and im being attacked by a raider or two, my only option SHOULDNT be logout, wait till theyve stolen everything then come back... not when i have a rifle and can shoot them. i should be able to shoot them from the inside. and it actually hurt them, not just pull me into combat with them. yeah its beta, and the combat system is evolving, as is siege and the rest, but we were online, had defenses up, and braziers, and guns and swords, and only two of them came thru the gates, they were high humor toons, but still there was nothing my 2 companions could do, but sit there and die.. or run and hope to escape..

i can agree that no place should be fort knox. but when you do build fort knox, it shouln't defend like a mcdonalds playground either..

stomp goes through walls ^^

[Sevenless]

Ultimately the alt bank of starter materials is a great defensive step everyone should take in case of being wiped out.

As for the rest: Think hard. If someone was just raiding for profit, not griefing. How much of your stuff would they legitimately take that you can't easily replace? If the answer is a lot, stop stockpiling. So long as you alt vault seeds you don't really need to worry about them stealing those. Iron? Use it as you make it. No point keeping it around ever. Silver? Easily alt vaultable.

No you can't entirely stop raiders, but you can discourage them and make it so if they get in losses are tops half a days work. Furthermore: Just remember it's your industry base and your ***Crafting Characters*** that are most important. Fighting can keep people out, but always do it on a fighting alt or not at all. Furthermore expect to have the character killed if you use it. Never defend with a crafting character, and be aware any form of defense might encourage them to grief you.

It's not as hopeless as it seems, and you can definitely play through the game after being hit by raiders. Long as you don't let them get kills it's not really that bad.

[ramuller]

...
several of you mention purity increases make breaking in easier, can you elaborate on this? i understand purity, but how does it help? ive seen mines spit out 2-3% pure ore, but i was under the impression that this only ffected a couple inspirationals. does higher purity ore made items(shovel axe etc..) do more damage to walls, trees, etc?

High purity food makes increasing Humours much easier, which significantly improves the damage one can do and absorb. What this means in PvP is that those villages which have been working on getting better food will have raiding force that difficult to resist. This affects breaking down walls and other structures, combat with other players, and time on the ground while under fire from braziers and the drain effects while on an enemy claim.

[ganette]

ahhh i see, like jackolanterns, and the better cabbage wrapped foods for higher humor gain, i gotcha, thanks for explaining that. thats exactly what im doing, speed growing crops, with increased influence to 300% or so, and not bothering with plenty or speed, just to get the ground values higher, faster, so i can get the better pumpkins and cabbages. ok thanks now i get it. and thanks seven, yeah i invested in about 7 alts today, and got them to my place, all appropriately named xxxiron, xxxseeds, xxxcash, etc... lol the plan is to fill their inventory with what their name is, and keep them in the background incase i do ever lose everything, and i agree, i really get the format of the game now, its not so much a crafting mmo, as it is a crafting to support the development of your toon, mmo lol , if that makes sense. everything i now do, will be to benefit leveling my humors, stats etc.. on my main and my newly made fighter toon.

this should bring down the attatchment i have with my buildings etc.. and transfer them over to my toon, hehe just worked all day, and went up almost 15 pts in humors woot. thanks so much everyone for all the information. its all crystal clear now, on what to do.