Jetstreme ∞
Cultist
Grapple Trap
I feel as though the trap variety is somewhat lacking; most of them aren’t overly compelling. There haven’t been any new traps that spawn in caves since version 1.1 (except for the geyser trap), which was quite a long time ago. Something uniquely new could be in order, yeah?
I propose the “Grapple Trap.” Here is how it would work:
This new type of trap would look very similar to a standard looking dart trap, as well as having the same dimensions. A gray-ish, 1x1 block. Grapple Traps would spawn exclusively within the cavern layer. More specifically, these bad boys will start to appear at the same depths as lava.
These traps would be wired up to a pressure plate. The Grapple traps themselves would be situated above naturally generating pools of lava, perhaps on the ceiling or high up on a vertical wall. Once a player steps on the pressure plate, a grappling hook will shoot out from the trap and grab the player. It will proceed to jerk the player toward the trap itself, and once the grapple fully retracts and the player hits the Grapple Trap block, it will promptly release the player. Again, the actual trap would generally be located above a pool of lava, which is what makes it dangerous.
More specifics:
The grapple that shoots out from the trap has the exact same stats as the traditional grappling hook. This means that its reach is 19 tiles long, as well as having a velocity of 11.5. The pressure plate that the trap is wired to will also spawn at a maximum of 19 blocks away, to ensure the trap has a chance to grab you. As implied by the velocity, you potentially have a chance to dodge by the grapple if you react quickly enough. I don’t think it would be any fun otherwise. It shoots at your last known location where you were in when the pressure plate was activated, which means it’ll generally shoot at the pressure plate.
How could a player use it to their advantage?
If a grapple trap is mined by the player, they can hook it up to red, green, or yellow pressure plates. These plates can be activated by enemy mobs and NPCs. If the player chooses to do this, the grapple trap will now be able to latch on to specific enemies (mainly those with the fighter AI), in addition to NPCs. This could help with crowd control or AFK farming. If you’ve built on a floating island, the trap can also catch an NPC from falling all the way down to the ground, or just generally keep them from wandering outside the premises so you don’t have to hunt for them on the map if you happen to need that specific NPC. I’d imagine it would be somewhat entertaining to see NPCs get flung around, as well.
To limit their effectiveness against monsters, I think it would be appropriate to have only 3 grapple traps being able to activate at a single time on screen, as well as a 3 second cooldown. Imagine setting up 20 of these traps without a cooldown right next to the enemy spawn in the Old One’s Army event! That would be no challenge at all, and that’s something that will be avoided with these limitations. I don't imagine that this nerf is the best possible way to keep things things from being excessive, so if you have alternative solutions, please leave some feedback!
Crafting
In case you'd like to make one of these traps yourself and be responsible for the deaths of many, the crafting recipe would be 1 Grappling Hook, 5 Lead/Iron bars, and 5 wires.
Upgrades
(I don't intend for each upgrade example to be added into the game. Only the decidedly best one by the developers would theoretically be added, if any)
Hopefully I explained this in a way that made grappling with the text very easy, but if you made it this far, I know it at least it had you hooked.
Something something funny joke about traps having long appendages that take you by surprise.
I feel as though the trap variety is somewhat lacking; most of them aren’t overly compelling. There haven’t been any new traps that spawn in caves since version 1.1 (except for the geyser trap), which was quite a long time ago. Something uniquely new could be in order, yeah?
I propose the “Grapple Trap.” Here is how it would work:
This new type of trap would look very similar to a standard looking dart trap, as well as having the same dimensions. A gray-ish, 1x1 block. Grapple Traps would spawn exclusively within the cavern layer. More specifically, these bad boys will start to appear at the same depths as lava.
These traps would be wired up to a pressure plate. The Grapple traps themselves would be situated above naturally generating pools of lava, perhaps on the ceiling or high up on a vertical wall. Once a player steps on the pressure plate, a grappling hook will shoot out from the trap and grab the player. It will proceed to jerk the player toward the trap itself, and once the grapple fully retracts and the player hits the Grapple Trap block, it will promptly release the player. Again, the actual trap would generally be located above a pool of lava, which is what makes it dangerous.
More specifics:
The grapple that shoots out from the trap has the exact same stats as the traditional grappling hook. This means that its reach is 19 tiles long, as well as having a velocity of 11.5. The pressure plate that the trap is wired to will also spawn at a maximum of 19 blocks away, to ensure the trap has a chance to grab you. As implied by the velocity, you potentially have a chance to dodge by the grapple if you react quickly enough. I don’t think it would be any fun otherwise. It shoots at your last known location where you were in when the pressure plate was activated, which means it’ll generally shoot at the pressure plate.
How could a player use it to their advantage?
If a grapple trap is mined by the player, they can hook it up to red, green, or yellow pressure plates. These plates can be activated by enemy mobs and NPCs. If the player chooses to do this, the grapple trap will now be able to latch on to specific enemies (mainly those with the fighter AI), in addition to NPCs. This could help with crowd control or AFK farming. If you’ve built on a floating island, the trap can also catch an NPC from falling all the way down to the ground, or just generally keep them from wandering outside the premises so you don’t have to hunt for them on the map if you happen to need that specific NPC. I’d imagine it would be somewhat entertaining to see NPCs get flung around, as well.
To limit their effectiveness against monsters, I think it would be appropriate to have only 3 grapple traps being able to activate at a single time on screen, as well as a 3 second cooldown. Imagine setting up 20 of these traps without a cooldown right next to the enemy spawn in the Old One’s Army event! That would be no challenge at all, and that’s something that will be avoided with these limitations. I don't imagine that this nerf is the best possible way to keep things things from being excessive, so if you have alternative solutions, please leave some feedback!
Crafting
In case you'd like to make one of these traps yourself and be responsible for the deaths of many, the crafting recipe would be 1 Grappling Hook, 5 Lead/Iron bars, and 5 wires.
Upgrades
(I don't intend for each upgrade example to be added into the game. Only the decidedly best one by the developers would theoretically be added, if any)
To allow grapple traps to continue being useful down the line, I think it would be neat to be able to merge a grappling hook with the grapple trap, which would result in a grapple trap that takes on the attributes of the grappling hook you merged it with. For example, if you had a Diamond Hook and combined that with a grapple trap, the grapple trap would become the Diamond Grapple Trap and have the 28-tile reach of the Diamond Hook, as well as the 12.5 velocity. The Grapple Trap’s grapple would also be converted to the sprite of the hook it was introduced to. I’m unsure how to approach combining grappling hooks that can shoot multiple hooks (which is most grappling hooks), so if you have any thoughts, be sure to let me know!
A different type of upgrade that was suggested by @Baconfry is the ability to combine the Grapple Trap with Cogs. The additional cogs would modify it in such a way that the velocity would be increased, making the trap faster and more sudden without needing to get a bunch of the same hook.
To add to what he suggested, perhaps there could be various tiers of Grapple Traps. Tier 0 would obviously be the base model you'd find without any modifications. Combining the Grapple Trap with 10 cogs at a workbench could increase its tier by 1. The velocity could increase by about 10 points per tier, capping at a total velocity of 40 at tier 3.
To add to what he suggested, perhaps there could be various tiers of Grapple Traps. Tier 0 would obviously be the base model you'd find without any modifications. Combining the Grapple Trap with 10 cogs at a workbench could increase its tier by 1. The velocity could increase by about 10 points per tier, capping at a total velocity of 40 at tier 3.
Hopefully I explained this in a way that made grappling with the text very easy, but if you made it this far, I know it at least it had you hooked.
Something something funny joke about traps having long appendages that take you by surprise.
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