[457] Guide: Ladders

Hello people! This is a simple guide that pretends to give novice players an overall look of every type of ladder available, and may also be of interest for veterans to compare stats. I was curious about which type was the fastest.

The measurements for costs are in wood per block of height (w/b), and speeds are in blocks per second (b/s).

Normal ladders

The conventional ladders are the simplest method for climbing. Cheap, effective, but at the cost of being easily destroyed by everything but archers, and allowing enemy passage.
Knights and builders can destroy them with one hit, but they are cheap and can be placed massively: spamming ladders in an enemy base may be fairly time-consuming for the enemy to get rid of while costing little wood.









Continous:
Cost: 2 w/b
Speed: 5,1 b/s
Typical way to place them, inefficient in both cost and speed. However, it's excellent for archers that need very precise positioning near shooting windows, and it's also slower for the enemy to destroy.

1-block gap:
Cost: 1 w/b
Speed: 5,8 b/s
Half the cost, half the time to destroy, a bit faster to climb. Not so good for archers, though. It can keep functional if one ladder block is gone.

2-block gap:
Cost: 0,66 w/b
Speed: 6,3 b/s
Slightly cheaper and faster, but if one ladder block is destroyed it will be impossible to continue.

3-block gap:
Cost: 0,5 w/b
Speed: 6,9 b/s
The fastest way with normal ladders, good for structures near the base, but vulnerable in the battlefield.

Bridge ladders

Bridge ladders are a good addition to already built stone or natural walls, as they don't require planning like door ladders and can be placed as fast as normal ladders. They can be considered a balance between the two types.

Thanks to the fact they retract when an enemy comes near, they are almost immune to enemy knights. However, they are extremely vulnerable to bombs and catapults, and can often be damaged by skilled knights, allowing them to climb.

If they are damaged, they let both teams pass. If they are destroyed, none can. They are turned “neutral” with one hit, and destroyed with three.









Continous:
Cost: 20 w/b
Speed: 10,2 b/s
The fastest and most reliable bridge ladder, but very expensive and good target for bombs. Based on the jump pad mechanic.

1-block gap:
Cost: 10 w/b
Speed: 3,5 b/s
Painfully slow, even more than continous ladders. However, if a jumping pad is placed in the ground, it can act as a 3-block gap bridge ladder and without its disadvantages (see below). It is rarely used that way, though, and it is very inneficient if used the normal way.

2-block gap:
Cost: 6,66 w/b
Speed: N/A
Normal jumps can't reach, and jump pads fail to work properly. It is not used at all normally.

3-block gap:
Cost: 5 w/b
Speed: 10,2 b/s
Four times cheaper and as fast as continous bridge ladders, but it depends on the momentum from the first jump to reach each next step. If you stop during the ascent, you are stuck and must go back to the ground to try again. Most players don't understand jump pad mechanics, so it generally makes a poor choice despite being so fast and cheap.

Door ladders

Door ladders are the most demanding to build but are more efficient than the others. They have to be planned beforehand to avoid having to dig several holes in a wall, which can be very time consuming.
One disadvantage is you can't stop completely while climbing, so archers can't get steady shots in them.

If they are damaged, they continue to work normally, and if they are destroyed (which takes six hits), the enemy can climb.

They are fairly resistant to catapult fire and bombs (unless they explode in contact with them) and damage doesn't disable them. However, if left alone, knights may be able to destroy some or all of them, depending on the space left between each block. If one stone block is removed, its normal use can be disabled but may still be used with some considerations.









1-block gap:
Cost: 15 w/b
Speed: 10,7 b/s
The fastest ladder, with a good balance between cost, speed and reliability. However, a single enemy knight can destroy all the doors if given enough time (regardless of the height), which is worse considering it is fairly expensive. Not to be left in dangerous zones too long without defenders.

2-block gap:
Cost: 10 w/b
Speed: 10,2 b/s
Slightly slower and cheaper than the previous, but much more unreliable: if you stop or lose speed during the ascent, you are stuck and have to go back to the ground. On the other hand, it is harder for knights to break, as it's difficult for them to reach the next door.

3-block gap:
Cost: 7,5 w/b
Speed: 8,8 b/s
Another bit cheaper, slower and even more unreliable than the previous one. It's impossible to break it as a knight, but overall I do not recommend it unless wood is very scarce (in which case a combination of bridge and normal ladder may be better).


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I hope this is useful, please don't hestitate to make any correction.

 

Nice Guide, I hope this will end noob structures.

 

Yes, good guide. I love using ladders and I find myself using them alot more then most people... exept this guy.

 

As far as the bridge/trapdoor ladders, I've found the most elegant solution, I think.

You place one ladder right above the floor, and go up from there using 1-block gaps. This allows people who understand the fast momentum-climbing method to use it (completely skipping a whole platform with each jump) and those who aren't so learned in such ways to jump up them one at a time.

It looks like this:










I still recommend door ladders for more structure defense, however, because I've seen team bridge fortresses invaded easily thanks to a skilled bomb throw.

 

Yup, that's what I meant in the 1-block gap comment:

 

Whelp, you beat me to it. That's what I get for skimming and not reading.

 

Fuck 2 and 3-block door ladders. They've screwed me soooo many times.

 

One thing that I like to do when building a bare bones archer friendly tower is a combination of boost pads and ladders.
When you put a trap bridge above a ladder, it still has the boost pad effect, which helps make it hard for the opposing to retreat/escape with the flag after bomb=jumping.

 

Ahem, two block gap door ladders can actually get broken by knights, it's all a matter of momentum.
And as a matter of fact, a one-block ladder gap won't affect the archer's firing at all, since the height is two blocks anyway.
Just wanted to note.

 

You are right, now I remember that with good timing it can be done. Thanks for the correction.

Do you mean with normal ladders? If so, you can position yourself at almost every height, but there are tiny gaps in which you can't be. I experienced that several times as archer, when I tried to get to the perfect spot to fire through a small window, but failed because of this.

 

This is the fastest way:

 

Nope, 1-block gap door ladders are slightly faster. Try both in the sandbox.

 

noob structures will never end..
ie

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dont suppose any of those 160,000 people will ever go on here D:​

 

Drok said
"Do you mean with normal ladders? If so, you can position yourself at almost every height, but there are tiny gaps in which you can't be. I experienced that several times as archer, when I tried to get to the perfect spot to fire through a small window, but failed because of this."

Yes, I mean with normal ladders, and the reason why you couldn't fire through that window would be the gap is too small to allow a sufficent firing angle.

 

THIS is the best bridge ladder.








even noobs will auto use the jumppads now.
</br>--- merged: Aug 6, 2012 3:35 PM ---</br>
for a better door ladder:
use a one block gap, then a three block gap, then only ones:













this works in every situation!
these two designs arent the fastest ones, but if you compare the speed of the one tile gap doorladder, to the noobfriendly bridge ladder, or the antifailure doorladder, you'll see that speed is not everything.

 

Problem with the 'better door ladder' is that you have to virtually run up the tower. People tend to jump like crazy when chased, and they will just completely miss the first door (or climb it with little momentum).

On the bright side, it is quite knight-proof.

 

its teamfriendly too!
the one tile gap at the bottom gives you enough momentum to make it past the three tile gap, and then its just one tilers.
oh btw, of course the first door is at four blocks!

 

make sure to make your walls cata friendly