Enter at Your Own Peril!

Benefits

Downsides

Benefits

Downsides

Benefits

Downsides

When building our entryway, consider what you'll need nearby. In the entryway provided below, we can see exactly how an enemy would enter. Mechanical walls require 20 power to function properly. Keep this in mind when building your entrance.The lever to the left of the left-most malachite mechanical wall opens the main entryway. The lever to the left of the right-most malachite mechanical wall opens the trap entryway. Having both gives you more options to play with. Try out which you like. The trap entryway will be gone over next. For now, let's look at the main entryway.The main entry goes into an anteroom with some visible self-powered traps blocked by a door. Doors must be beaten down by enemies, causing them to stack on top of each other to attack it. Once they break through, they're met by a few Steel-clad Soldier gnomes, training their faces off. The crates in the main room contain 120 bandages, perfect for any sustained fights. Behind them is a single crate of food and single barrel of drink. This simple method gives us complete control over when our base is open, and a secure way to handle it remaining open.: A working mechanical wall entryway is paramount to any established Kingdom. Mining out and rebuilding our walls is unreliable in its speed. This method lets you control the incoming and outgoing traffic as you see fit.: Any entryway you make will also be the exit for your gnomes. If you open your mechanical wall to let in a Merchant, an uncollected item outside your walls may trigger a gnome to collect it. If a goblin horde should spawn while you're waiting for that gnome to return, you may lose a few gnomes before you get that wall closed. More power-reliant; components must be researchedA simple Hatch entrance can have its own upsides, though they may be hard to notice at first. Hatches require only 10 power to function meaning we can find some use for the Handcrank, which only outputs 10 power. In the example provided below, we can see the benefit of a simple Hatch entryway. This method can also be accomplished with 1 Handcrank, provided it is immediately adjacent to it.Each Handcrank requires a gnome to be turning it for power, and this whole system requires 15 total power to perform. With 2 Handcranks, we can safely control entry and exit with complete accuracy. These 2 Handcranks (20 output) exceed the power requirement by 5, meaning an axle (1 power required) or gearbox (3 power required) could have been placed anywhere along that bridge.The reason this works so well is the gnome turning requirement. Say a merchant has spawned with goblins lingering outside your base. You can set one gnome to turn the first Handcrank, outputting 10 power - not enough to power our system. Now you set a second gnome to turn the second Handcrank. A pathway has opened to your Kingdom, and both the merchant and goblins are charging in. It looks like the merchant will make it, but the goblins are right on his heels. If we had used a lever, we would have to wait valuable seconds after setting the job 'Pull lever' for a gnome to respond, then have to wait based on the gnomes Mechanic skill. Using the Handcranks, our system will immediately stop acting as a floor once we hit 'Stop turning crank'. This is useful also if you notice any worker gnomes rushing out to collect an item.You can also set one Handcrank to be turned constantly, leveling the gnomes Mechanic skill (decreasing the time it takes to pull levers, reset traps, etc.). Furthermore, digging a pit below is recommended should you decide you want to trap falling enemies. The example provided shows a simple method, but you can absolutely expand to create Trickle Feeders (limiting your enemies ability to cluster), or trap pits where your enemies are imprisoned within line-of-sight of some Ranged gnomes.: Increased response time of Hatch systems when used with Handcranks; can also be done with Mechanical Walls but requires 3 gnomes unless 2 Handcranks immediately adjacent; Handcranks level Mechanic skill; low power requirement: 2 gnome requirement; still can fail if not timed right; components must be researchedA One-Way Entry is useful for pits, Trickle Feeders, dropping aggro, and unassisted entry into your base. It is helpful when making a One-Way Entry to keep a Training Grounds nearby, as it is at least partly contingent upon letting one unit through. Let's have a look at what a One-Way Entry might look like. The power source is from the Windmills behind the system, connected by 1 axle, totaling at 35 required power.Here we see our Soldier gnome venturing back across with our Main Entry closed. The first Pressure Plate he stepped on was set to 'Engage When Pushed'. This means that the first pressure plate will engage all of the hatches (making them act as floors) when stepped on. The second Pressure Plate he is about to step on is set to 'Disengage When Pushed'. Setting it to 'Engage When Pushed' is useful for creating trap pits. Upon stepping on it, the second pressure plate will briefly cause all hatches to open (no longer acting as floors) into the pit created below. By default, unpowered hatches do not act as floors. Powering the hatches and leaving them engaged lets all enemies and allies know there is an available route in and out of your base. Let's watch what happens when a gnome tries to leave our base, in this instance to collect something from outside.We see the gnome step on the plate, lose his available path, then head out to perform a different task. I call this 'the bounce'. You'll notice gnomes will cycle through bounces until the items are collected, however you still have a handy one-way route into your base. Warning: May cause crashes with merchants bouncing.Let's look at what happens when a worker gets caught up outside. In this scenario, I had left my Main Entry open to allow my gnomes to collect some materials. While they were still collecting, a horde of mants showed up. I quickly set my Main Entry lever to be pulled. Will my gnome make it in time?He heads across the Hatch bridge. Once he steps on that second pressure plate, all mants drop aggro and change pathing to head into the Main Entry (where my squad of Soldiers are training, now triggered by 'Defend gnomes'). Fortune has struck me today, as my Soldiers rush out to meet the mant army, now stacking on top of itself right on my Mechanical Wall Entry. A perfect opportunity to crush these 30+ mants all at once. Just 2 well-trained Soldier gnomes (the others were sleeping) and a few cleverly-placed mechanisms have won me the day - a perfect addition to any Procrastinators toolkit!: one-way entrance into your base for select units; should an enemy make it across with several others behind, the ones on the hatches when they open will be dropped into the pit below; can be used with other entries for added effect; if placed properly you can create one-way exits as well, practically automating entry/escape from your base: will let enemies through - have a Training Grounds nearby; other techniques may better fit your playstyleYou should now have a grasp of some basic entryways and how we can use them to our advantage. Let's move on to some more advanced techniques.