Arctic_Princess

((This thread is designed for Open RP. Servers are irrelevant as I will be working on AE arcs for the purpose of the thread only.

I also have limited time to spend on checking the forums and updating so this will not be (for me, the GM of the plot) a 25-posts-a-day Open RP thread.

The Plot therefore - which will unfold, change direction, and generally be unpredictable once others are involved - may seem slow-developing.

So, that aside, I shall introduce a few elements of the story and we'll see how it goes.))

/Signed. With big loopy handwriting.

Despite having played for years, I still need to open the map to click on the icon for, for example, the Train Line.

On Villains, some of the icons are so closely spaced together (and the map zoom resets after every instance) I have to zoom in every time.

Then the location marker disappears and I have to go through the whole rigmarole again.

Just had a brief glimpse of an idea seen through a dark, murky windowpane...

Hair styles currently have improved in number since the launch of City of Heroes. Admittedly not hugely, but we still have extra options for hair nowadays.

This suggestion is more of a 'Would this be feasible?' than an out-and-out 'This needs to be implemented right now! And damn the extra time required to do it!' one.

Is it possible to add a scale adjuster to hair?

So, for example, Beverley Thrills could be made longer or shorter. Or the Fat Pigtails could be made fatter or thinner (including the bulk of hair that's not tied into a pigtail).

The reason I'm asking is down to a conversation I had several months ago with a friend on a global channel about wanting a Beehive hairstyle. Several existing hairstyles could, if a scale adjuster were present, be made to look like a beehive.

Hello

I've had a gander at various times (i.e. when the store is up) to see if I can purchase additional mission slots for MA, but I can't find them.

Is this just a feature available to the US?

Placing the AE fix in GR release is, in my opinion, a bad idea.

I base my reasoning on the fact that GR will be big: content-wise, new features-wise, balance-wise.

There will be more issues to fix, as there always are in releases. And for periods of time afterwards.

On the point of letting farmers and powerlevellers be the pioneers of change, rooting out the exploits: Please... stop... spleen ready to explode.

I tested quite a bit of the mechanics of AE, plus highlighted a big exploit concerning Ninjitsu (which has now been fixed). I hope others did the same level of testing, but have no way of measuring that.

Strangely enough, spending hours creating stories on Test was not my major priority.

So I would propose one of three things (there are doubtless many other ways to do it, but these are my suggestions):

1. Revert AE to day one in terms of available mobs, and update the xp tables accordingly.
2. Spend time working on the fix to release before GR - specifically explaining why 'NPC allies' also means 'non-combat escort' and 'defendable object' to the community.
3. Suspend AE activity (development) and keep the system as it is indefinitely.

I like AE and I'm glad it's here.

Player greed: I was very naive to think that people would predominantly use AE to tell stories.

Kata tapped her fingers contemplatively on the desk.

"So he's gone nuts again."

The man speaking wore US military parade gear. His name was General Armitage and before him, in a conference room located on the top floor of a skyscraper in Steel Canyon, sat Arctic Princess and an assembled group of military technicians.

A projector screen had been set up and the 'advertisement' played on a loop.

"Doctor Edward Mechano is unstable, unpredictable, and most importantly, very good at what he does." She finally replied.

"Yes... that incident with the Freakshow a few years ago..." the General mused.

Kata nodded.

"He's capable of a lot. And our little ploy to flush him out didn't work. I suspect because it was too obvious who was trying to contact him."

"Well, we saved the effort of paperwork over the woman's inevitable death. Where is Agent Holm now, anyway?"

Kata smiled.

"And here I was thinking that you had your finger on the pulse, General. Agent Holm was reassigned to Colorado. And all the training that went into making her a double agent was wasted."

The General bit his left index fingernail, a sign Kata had picked up on that he was angry. But her job these days entailed talking to men like Armitage, who perhaps didn't see the bigger picture when it came to domestic affairs. She could afford riling him a little.

"These are trying times ahead, General. What with S.A.M. poking their head above the waterline, increased reports of portal activity from Praetoria, and we've still got the War Zone to keep tabs on."

"But that's Vanguard's remit. The War Zone I mean." The General sounded flustered.

"Yes, it's their remit to keep the Rikti at bay. However, as you know I work for the FBSA now and I'm here to remind you that it's a difficult time. For us to commit resources wholesale to combatting another of Mechano's schemes would be idiotic. We need military help."

The General grunted. He scratched his chin, the universal sign for 'I'm thinking' which required no deciperhing on Kata's part.

He was about to mention Longbow when Kata interrupted him.

"No. Ms Liberty's forces, regardless of UN vinidcation to deal with such threats, are also stretched thin enough. Their recruitment policy is questionable, and to have more deaths spread across the front page of the Paragon Times would be unsettling."

Of course, it won't stop them becoming involved she traitorously thought to herself.

"We are both doing our jobs, General. I'd like an answer within a week."

"And what if you don't garner our support?"

"Well, then I'll just have to think of something else, won't I?"

I won't be entering this compo as I'm perfectly happy to sit gawping at the lovely images presented (as long as someone posts one: and if you do post, post it in a separate thread... or on DA please! ).

Technical-wise, it sounds... sound!

I'm assuming that the reason the contact needs these Fae summoned, then sent back, is apparent in the story.

The overview with technical points doesn't explain that very well (obviously, I can understand why you'd want to keep the story development a 'secret' to avoid spoilers at this stage).

I'd be interested in testing this once published (I'm on Union in the EU, in case you are too, otherwise I'd have to wait until something's up on the system before running through and giving feedback).

Just a quick question:

If I changed a custom group that featured in a published arc, would the group update within the arc?

Or are they bound within the arc itself, and immune to changes to the base files in my critters folder?

Petitions are not allowed on the forums.

If you've got a good idea, then flesh it out and try to get more interest.

Time to add my 2.5 inf:

It's simply a legal thing to prevent abuse of the name by another party.

Register the copyright (and forum name, etc) and it prevents another company from making a game (with forums, potentially) called City of Heroes 2.

The game made by another company could easily be a platformer featuring a fluffy, blue vole who can fly at subsonic speeds and therefore nothing at all to do with the City of Heroes franchise.

Not as exciting a bit of speculation as others, but that's my take on it.

I'm finding my experience the reverse side of this, particularly with regards to AP herself.

She is, for RP purposes, a regular human. Cut her and she'll bleed: Cut her enough times and she'll bleed to death.

Game Mechanics suggest otherwise, and it's very difficult to do IC missions with her as she's very capable of slicing and dicing things.

However, I tend to underpower her. I'm not sure why, either. Perhaps it's something in the hindbrain that screams "Although it would be cool to have her backflipping, sticking a blade in a bad guy, and firing off a witty remark - don't!"

As for cosmic-level Heroes and Villains, their weakness (imo) is their cosmic level ability: Exploiting that power, or making the character realise what they are truly capable of, might just make said character collapse in a heap as opposed to using it.

It's a Cold War scenario, I guess. Plus if *everyone* ran around at that level, we'd need to come up with an even greater level. As not everyone I RP with does that, I'm happy (for the moment...) to continue underpowering my characters.

Plus I know that in the unlikely event of the World exploding (And being remade again - Actual Gods do exist on Primal Earth), somebody like Kata will always re-emerge.

My main, AP, started off with Super Jump. She wore spring-loaded boots and used to ricochet off of tall buildings, until complaints by residents were made.

It helped a lot when the Piston Boots were made available.

If I was the sort of person who thought 'But she'd die on impact with the ground' then I possibly also wouldn't like comic books and comic book universes a great deal. But I do.

Flight was then achieved using anti-grav technology (located in her belt, naturally) . I changed because Flight was easier and I was doing a lot of badge hunting. But conceptually, anti-grav technology 'worked' for RP purposes too (and travelling round the Shadow Shards...)

As has been stated before, Manticore uses a hack on the mediport system to TP around.

Super Speed is about the only power I cannot tally up with Natural Origin (under the assumption that Natural Origin, for the majority of my characters, is human).

But I've fudged other powerset choices before now. My Controller, Whirling Dervish, is an old lady who has Super Speed. She can't actually run faster than the average car on a motorway, but she's a /Stormie so the speed represents her moving swiftly through the air (also, it meant I didn't have to take Hasten, then Hover, then Fly! Practicality is a big part of it too).

I'm not sure this would be first on my list for a defensive set.

That aside, I would like to see some debuff resistance added: for instance Quick Recovery (possibly change it to Adrenaline?) could have an endurance recovery debuff resist, and Quickness could have a recharge debuff resist.

Also, add any kind of outside healing to the team and suddenly the 'benefits' of the set are not allowed to appear.

I like the idea behind the improved resistance at low health; it's similar to Super Reflexes in that respect.

However, SR is all about Defence with the resistance mitigation (which is unslottable) occuring in the passives. I see a fair bit of defense debuff, with nothing particularly bolstering defense in the first place, and with a fair amount of resistance (but not a great deal) elsewhere.

Solo, this might work out fine (but become frustrating when faceplanting - assumed with the self-destruct is that the defeated player is untargettable and so on a team would have to rely on wakies or frequent trips to the hospital).

In teams, and especially those that are reliant on tanks to take the brunt of the damage, I could see this set becoming very problematic: If a Blaster plants, unless they were silly and drew aggro back, teams can recover fairly quickly from that defeat. If the Tank drops, and has powers which encourage fighting at those very low levels of health, then all that aggro which is generated is transferred to the team. On TFs/SFs, that copuld be incredibly frustrating.

Overall I like the idea - or rather the concept - but the implementation needs more work. I think it needs to be a defensive set that works well either at full health or low health, and not geared towards the low end at all times.

Okay, no response so I will continue here:

Storage Items

Global Apartments are, in no way, SG/VG bases. As I've explained before there is no need for control, energy, or base defences in an apartment.

So I propose a system of storage items, themed, for a player's needs. In particular, I'd like to see a group of items for recipe storage.

1. Writing Desks/Bureaus - These items provide limited space to store Recipes. I propose (initially) for a 5 recipe max limit. Of course you could have several of them!

The themes, in my mind, are:

• Basic/Economy: Items such as cardboard boxes, tattered desks, metal shelving units: they would incur a minimal cost and, as a result, offer limited storage.
• French Colonial: Taking inspiration from the Rogue Isles (and in particular Cap and Port Oakes), these items would have a period look to them, providing moderate storage for moderate cost.
• Hi-Tech: This should be fairly self-explanatory. We already have a lot of the art assets for this in things like Crey labs.
• Minimalist: The same sort of principle as the French Colonial style, except with natrual textures mized with sleek metals. A lot of these themes would have access to new wall paintings and styles of lighting. The items for storage would be the same, but with a different look depending on theme.
• Medieval/Dark Age: Torches, Iron Maidens, Gothic 'windows' and arches, church pews. Not every Hero or Villain in Paragon and the Rogue Isles is a fan of super-sleek, up-to-date design.

These are just placeholder ideas: they ignore the current, simplistic Arcane/Tech/Sewer design section. Mainly because some styles will incorporate items already in those categories. Also because I'd like to see SG/VG stuff separated from Global Apartment stuff.

Floor/Wall Limitations
Using a system similar to the placing of collectible objects in AE missions (but utilising the current base building ability to place things anywhere you want them to go), I propose limitations per room on the number of Floor and Wall objects.

This would be intended to encourage creativity, and in the interest of balance for storage of items.

Currently, SG/VG bases have to put up with the unsightly portal, which is fine when you consider that the first room in the base is the portal room. I would propose that, whilst accessible from some kind of portal in the game world, the 'entrance' to an apartment (on the inside) is a door. I'm not sure if this would be customisable (makes little sense to have a factory door, or indeed the same door for every player's apartment) but only because I have no idea how these things are coded.

Floor Textures
I propose different floor textures, which will utilise the sound effects currently in place:

• Grass (I never said the apartment had to be carpeted!)
• Carpet
• Metal/Metal Grating
• Stone/Rock
• Wood
• Ceramic Tile

Lighting
Time and again, the request for windows has cropped up on the forums. Well, I propose the usual ambient lighting methods (with colour customisation, as per the current system).

Adding to that I suggest windows! Now, these would not be moving images of game zones BUT they would create their own light source, which updates as per the day/night cycle.

For instance, a Georgian-style window that emits light. During the day cycle, the light would come in (and cast shadows! - A boy can dream...) and in the evening, obviously, the light source would diminish and apartment lighting would light the area.

This could be extended to things like paper windows, casements, stained glass (with the relative colours), etc.

Mezzanine
We currently have a very limited capacity for this in SG/VG bases. I would propose a few pre-built items to help us create dual level rooms (with platforms and stairs leading to them). They would be designed to fit without taking the whole room up and objects would be allowed to be placed on the upper levels, as well as underneath.

Creating Rooms
With the initial proposal to 'purchase land' giving a maximum number of rooms for that particular lot, I propose the further ability to draw rooms (and pay a cost depending on size).

This is, to my mind, the most technically-challenging bit (aside from window lighting). I am imagining the first log-in to the global apartment:

The player is faced with the grid, empty. By clicking and dragging, the total space of a room is achieved. The cost of the room is decided at this point. Then the player clicks 'Next' and can alter the walls accordingly. Walls cannot extend beyond the limits used (unless the 'Back' button is clicked) but can be moved.

Then the entry point is decided upon.

If the plot allows for more than one room, then the next room is drawn and the doorway between the rooms is chosen.

When the player is satisfied with the general shape of the plot, they click 'Confirm Choices'. A warning message stating that the initial design process is over pops up. They can click 'Back' or 'Continue'.

Then the filling of the room with things begins!

For those not wishing to incur further costs, there wpuld be preset rooms available which have a very minimal cost. They would be on the square or rectangular side with no editing possible.

Vet Reward Items
I propose that all Vet Reward items are available for Global Apartments (including the Fliers!). They would count towards the limit for Floor and Wall items.

Costs
I propose that influence/infamy be the currency of Global Apartments.

Plots would incur a cost for purchase.

The bigger the plot, the higher the purchase cost. This is land purchase cost.

The design of rooms would add further cost depending on the changes made to the initial floor plan (but not be equivalent to the initial purchase cost).

The more basic storage items would incur small costs, with large items (perhaps some kind of fitted wardrobe thingy for massive storage?! Just a thought) incurring larger costs.

Storage would cost more than purely-decorative items, however.

Novelty Items
Radios, Televisions, Police Scanners, Computers, even an electronically-upgraded make-up compact (yes, Lady Penelope is the inspiration for that one!)

Heroes and Villains like to stay in the loop. Okay, maybe some Heroes and Villains don't, and prefer lurking in the sewers or leaning into the wind atop skyscrapers, resting on gargoyles, but an apartment should at least have some contact with the outside World.

These are all switch on-off-able.

Music - the game music is, in the main, good. I'd quite like an item to play said game music whilst in my apartment (at a reduced volume, naturally). Radios, Wirelesses, Gramaphones, CD players, Super-Ultra-Sleek Music Systems. Lovely. Higher cost to reflect that they actually do something.

Also, if a few pieces were written to be included (imagine a radio ad for Chris Jenkins: Attorney at Law ), say some classical bits or the music from El Super Mexicano (in Faultline), then all the better.

Television - rather than the random, medical x-ray photos that we get for LCD screens, I would propose TVs that, oh I don't know, have some life? Perhaps a grainy recording of Recluse and his goons (as in the Grandvilel TV stuff), maybe a few shots of GR, again some in-game inspired ads, recruitment ads from Hero Corps, Crey Life Sciences ads (etc). Oh, and the odd, over-the-top threat, from a masked Villain/mad scientist of course!

Scanners - effectively a bit of fluff that is the same newspaper/radio system we have now, although located in the apartment. The form the device takes could range from a police scanner, through coffee table/magazine racks, to AV units.

Computers (and the aforementioned compact scanner...) - Faction-themed missions: Hero Corps, Longbow, Wyvern, PPD, Cage Consortium, Crey, Council/5th Column, Vanguard (etc). Basically it's a system of arcs and one-offs accessible via these devices. This would tie in with the whole Going Rogue concept, being accessible to all.

For instance, Hero Corps need Heroes/Vigilantes to help protect a city official from a Council attack. Click the Computer, select Hero Corps Database from the list, click the mission and accept. Recruitment can occur at any stage, just like regular missions, and these things are not flashbackable. Also, once done, they are done.

I personally think it would be a neat way for Heroes and Villains to be proactive without having a 'Save the World/End the World/Rule the World' vibe.

And depending on faction, allegiances could change. Do a job for Longbow and you get a gold star and a well done. Do a job for the Council and you get a demerit. Do a job for Wyvern and, well, that's anyone's guess

I think I've squeezed out the last drops of creativity from my brain, so I'll leave you with that colourful image and see what you think.

This is just a suggestion, I am not a technical person. Actual costs, potential exploits of the systems, and omitting ideas that others may personally want to see can be filled in by whoever wants to do so.

Aha, now this I can roll with

Good on you Rotten Luck!

*lurks in the AE*

Issue 25: These Bases Are Loaded!

But seriously, some fine (and reasonably-argued) points here.

I've seen some amazing uses of the 'PVP' elements (slow fields make excellent swimming pools and hot tubs!) of bases, and these were enhanced by the unblocking of the rigid rules of base-building.

I'm not an avid base builder but I think that there are plenty of folks out there who are.

And so I think an issue devoted to bases would be lovely. Not a rehash, but a focus on design and utility:

Yes, some people want to be able to RP in bases. Some people want epic bases for a large SG/VG. Some people want both! Some people would love to see, if not the original idea, then some kind of 'Item of Power' system and a reason for bases beyond storage, RP and a fully-operational TP and medical system. Some people want all three!

Then there are those (this includes me) who'd like a base system that caters to our many alts without the need for extensive crafting of power sources and base items: In effect, apartments!

Now, I would propose a scaled-down system for apartments and I'd call it: Global Apartments.

There is no energy or control requirement, no need for base defences, and no access to medical or TP items. There would also be no access to things like SG tables and banners.

However, there is still 'rent' but it's on a Global basis: i.e. only one rent payment for the use of the 'space'. And I propose that there be rentable/purchaseable 'lots' which will vary in price. I have even come up with an amusing (to me, at least) gimmick for this:

Starter Plots (1 room)
Atlas/Galaxy: Studio Flat
Mercy Island: Hovel

Starter Plots (2 rooms)
Kings Row: Tenement
Port Oakes: Pied-à-Terre

Medium-sized Plots (3 rooms)
Skyway City: Condo
Cap Au Diable: Pad

Medium-sized Plots (4 rooms)
Steel Canyon: Penthouse
Sharkhead Isle: Multi-Purpose Unit

Large Plots (5 rooms)
Independence Port: Loft
Nerva Archipelago: Boathouse

Large Plots (6 rooms)
Founders Falls: Canal House
St Martial: Hotel Suite

Grand Plots (7 rooms)
Peregrine Island: Facility
Grandville: Chambers

Now the zone/names are just an idea to base the system on. I would advocate access to a Global Apartment in a similar way to SGs/VGs (i.e. through a portal, and have them exist in a virtual space). That way, people could be invited to the 'apartment' and the zone affiliations would not limit the 'apartment' to existing within that zone.

Hmm, before I go any further, does anyone think this deserves a separate thread? I wanted to explain the use of storage items, apartment rents, and room design.