Thinking about traps

[DCParry]

So, I have been playing Wasteland 2 mostly enjoying my experience, but I wanted to mention something that seems to bother me now (I assume it didn't before because I don't remember feeling the the white hot rage of simmering disappointment in these particular encounters). 

 

Traps. They should make sense. Please. Make them sensible. 

1) Don't put an exotic clockwork mechanism that shoots a steel needle covered with an obscure and deadly poison on the drawer to your dresser where Lord Peasantoppressor keeps his knickers. 

 

2) I might buy it once, if the contents of a treasure chest were so dangerous that the mere possibility of me getting my grubby little mitts on it might spell doom for all the realms, but why in the nine hells would anyone put an EXPLOSIVE trap on their VALUABLES (in Wasteland 2 where such explosives are no doubt relatively rare and could be put to better use I find it frustrating, but why would someone do this in a setting where everything everyone owns in flammable?!). 

 

Just some thoughts. Traps can add some variety and all for some tension in progression, but adding them just so someone has a chance to use the mechanics skill seems like degenerative game design. 

[BlueLion]

Agreed. I've been playing Wasteland 2 a lot too recently. I feel we should be able to judge a scene and think 'This chest may have a trap attached because of x, y and z' then we use the ability to confirm. Whereas, putting extravagant traps on any random box damages immersion.

[rjshae]

Yes, I like your thinking on this. If I were engineering it, I'd probably want to put explosive or gaseous traps in a place where it is likely to catch a large group. Such as along a tunnel where an enemy invasion force sneaking into a castle. I'd also want to put some safety markers on the area trap and add a means to turn it off, so I can use the passage as an escape route. For your valuables, a poison needle probably makes more sense, or else an electrical discharge--something the owner can counteract or endure should they accidentally set it off. If you are protecting a camp, then either an alarm or an entangle trap would be useful. Old tombs would use simple, mechanical traps that are devastatingly effective, so that they work more reliably over long periods of time. A dwarven tomb might also have a reset mechanism on its mechanical traps. Swinging door pit traps are one way to do this.