Trapper

From HiveWiki

Trapper captures weakest attacking vassal in the event of a failed attack against you.

In order to succeed, the vassals in the Trapper must be stronger than the failed attack (before applying casualties). If this is the case, the weakest vassal in the attack will be captured by the defender.

Trapped vassals are placed in the court and follow the same rules for rescuing as those seized in a conventional way.

Building	Requirements	Allows building of
Trapper	Guardhouse size 5	None

[edit] Trapping Vassals

• The Trapper is ineffective (does not work) against rescue attempts of previously seized (or trapped) vassals.
• If an attack fails, the Trapper will attempt to trap the weakest attacker.
• Trapped vassals, like seized ones, appear in the court of the victor.
• Attack value of the Trapper is based solely on the strengths of the vassals stationed there (plus Trapper upgrades)
• The Trapper does not affect rebellions.
• The Trapper does take effect no matter what area (Wall/Watchtowers/Palisade) is attacked.
• Losing a vassal to a trapper does not increase the attacker's alert level.
• Vassals in the Trapper do not participate in the attack, so they do not contribute to the defense rating, and do not take any damage.

There have been reports of the trapper capturing a vassal which is not the weakest member of the party. The Dev's are soliciting submission of battle Ids should this occur so they can debug the problem. To see a battle id, go to "view history of battles link" in attack page and scan down to the entry that is relevant. It is the number on the far left.

[edit] Build Costs for Trapper

(10 Gold buys 1 Hammer)

• Size 2 = 50 
• Size 3 = 200 
• Size 4 = 1000 
• Size 5 = 5000 
• Size 6 = 20000 
• Size 7 = 100000 
• Size 8 = 500000 
• Size 9 = 1000000 

[edit] Upgrade Costs for Trapper

(5 Gold buys 1 Anvil)

• Level 1 = 20 
• Level 2 = 100 
• Level 3 = 500 
• Level 4 = 2000 
• Level 5 = 10000 
• Level 6 = 50000 
• Level 7 = 200000 
• Level 8 = 1000000 
• Level 9 = 50000000 

[edit] Commentary

Trapper may be a useful defense in lower brackets, at higher ones it's more likely someone might dump a trojan in it, but if you have a trapper in knight/baron brackets a lot of noobs may not have figured out how to attack/not to attack trappers

If the trapper works, it catches lowest power vassal - of your title or lower (ie, will not trap a higher titled attacker) in an attack... so attacks should always include a disposable P10, unless you're in the enviable position of being a higher title than the defender and can attack using a higher titled vassal (ie use a VC to attack a baron)

Trapper works if attack fails and trapper is manned/upgraded to higher power than the attacking party

Example: 100 power raid versus 80 power defense succeeds, no trap

100 power seize fails against (80 power defense plus 10 alarm plus 40 (for trying to seize a P20 = 130) fails if trapper is manned > 100, trapper takes lowest power attacker if trapper is manned < 100, attack fails but trapper doesn't catch anyone

Attacks against the Watchtower do not harm vassals manning the trapper, so even if you beat down WT for hours, you can still lose vassals to the trapper if your attacks fail

Trapped vassals go to the court, protected by the Watchtower

Trapper busting (also called Squirrel bombing) is done by intentionally losing several low powered vassals (P10s usually) to the trapper then doing rescues at the Watchtower, either til you succeed or else intentionally failing by doing under-powered rescue attempts, then doing seize (to avoid 10 minute timer) - second method is better for quick seizes but defense may auto-heal making rescues harder. It's best to try no more than 8 times per vassal and save a couple attempts per vassal for when an attempt finally breaks through.

If you're online and someone starts dumping P10s in your trapper, be aware this is what they are about to do, and you should probably release all the trapped P10s. There are other strategies where you may not do that, but hey, you're a bright young knight, you can think of them yourself

There are other uses for the trapper than just defense.. bracket surfing, title promoting for rebellions, etc.

[edit] Related Information

• Knighthood#Buildings - Tabular summary of buildings.