Techbot Alpha

Ok, maybe I can simplify this a little.

Whatever the 'good vs evil' view on 1-20 Praetoria, it has more depth in discovering the evils and the reasons behind them, the various ways you have to choose from to stop them (or do nothing in some cases. Or even cause more devastation).

You see the Praetors public faces and then the darker and darker layers beneath them-
(Except Anti-Matter...I kinda feel sorry for the guy. And, lets face it, he's the only kinda good one. He refuses to allow a reactor to blow up, something which would kill hundreds)
-and understand why they are the way they are, etc etc.

Then they vanish until level 50. When it just becomes 'LolEe-vil Phalanx, smack it ina face, lololol11!'
Which is dull, dull, dull.

Basically, good writing and the (illusion) of choice versus bad writing and one path and one path only.
That clearer?

My guarenteed 'on' time is 10:30-11 onwards every day. Before that I can't guarentee being on at the moment, not without some prior notice. If a judge doesn't mind pulling a semi late one, thats not such a problem.

Think you mean 19th, Bun. 14th is today

Steel Canyon

"Hey, bud. Check it."

The Outcast nudged his companion, the two gangers pausing in their swaggering saunter through the parking lot.

"Woh...Nice wheels, man. Whatsit?"
"Ford Mustag, GT500. Twenty ten model by the looks of it."
"You read way too much, you know that?"
"Shaddup."

The pair examined the pure silver car for a moment.

"Nab it?"
"Nab it."

The car spotter glanced around quickly. Luckily for them it was quiet around, people either busy at work or not yet up. He slipped the fireaxe he still kept spare from the back of his belt, lining up on the window to shatter it as neatly as possible. No point denting your new ride, after all.

"Woh, woh, you are kidding me, right?"

The pair froze, glancing around for the source of the voice. No capes around, but that didn't matter when the damn Heroes could turn invisible on you. They quickly moved back to back, the first creating a fireball in his spare hand, the other coating his fists in thick ice.

"Where the hell are you?" the Freezer muttured, eyes flitting back and forth.
"Right here, bud."

Metal shifted, gears whirred, pistons kicked into life. Servo-tendons clenched and modular joints slid into position. With a humming, whirring finale the movement ceased, freezing the scene in place for a moment.

The Mustang was gone. In it's place stood over fifteen and a half foot of shining robotics, sleek metal and armour plated chasis. A surprisingly human face smirked down at the pair from atop the towering form.

"I think you punks need to hop it," Quicksilver suggested, flexing one large hand.

The pair needed no second bidding. Without a second through they fled, the fire axe calttering forgotten to the floor behind them.

Yeah, need to pencil something in this week.

T'be honest? I wouldn't mind unlocks throughout the game...

IF they weren't nearly all so damned repetitive.

I can think of one Unlock that is a sensible one; Defeat 100 Council, unlock Council Assault Rifles. It's not tied to a badge, or anything spectacularly hard to do. Beat the tar out of 100 goons of any class, and you get the unlock.

On the other end of the scale, we have the Nemesis and Tommy guns. I hate, hate, HATE the unlocks on those things. Redside, I had to have a freind farm the Nemesis Mole Mission in the Patron arc to get the Unveiler badge. It was boring. It was annoying. It was gated through boredom and repetition and inconvenience.

If all unlocks were as simple as the 100 Council one, I honestly wouldn't care.
As it is, though? Locking costume parts behind Incarnate levels sounds stupid as hell to me. That's 50 levels in a game that has massive precedent for being the best out there when it comes to customisation. And thats just stupid.

((Oh, to hell with it ))


Meanwhile...

Speed. That was rather important right now. If he could just- *BAM!* -keep dodging the missiles then maybe, just maybe, he'd have a slim chance.

The bridge ahead disintegrated, atomised by heavy calibre artillery fire.

Ok...make that a rockeroids chance in a piston-grinder.
"Frag."
Oh well... At least he wasn't going to be headed to the Pits solo, that was for sure.

Wheels left cere-steel plating, spinning freely over nothingness. There was a whirr and a click, and then the sound of rapidly shifting metal, gears and servos. As he spun, pinwheeling in mid-air, he set his sights firmly on the form that was above and just behind him, even as it angled down to bring him into its own sights.

"Chew on this, creep!"

The reassuring weight of his gun smacked into his palm, the sighting lock blinking red almost instantly on his HuD. He left it in single-hand mode, locking his arm and jamming the trigger back. The muzzle kicked about a nano-centimeter, if that, high yield laser blasts tearing towards the target.

The fighter-craft tried to jink away, but he was quicker. The bolts tore through hull and fuesalage, an entire wing being shorn off with one particularly well aimed shot. Beauty.

"Gyaaahhh! You....damn you...I-!"

The scream was lost as the fighter exploded, the damage too much for the chasis to take.
With a sigh, he flipped himself over, looking down at the rapidly approaching surface below.
"Oh well...It was a good run..."

And then everything went portaloid.

---
Paragon City

With a crash something large landed in a backalley, impact making the walls quake slightly.
"...Ow."

He pulled himself upright, shuffling on hands and knees to peek out from between the buildings.
"What the...Earth? How the frag'd I end up here?"

He tapped his commlink, cycling through the various bands. Oddly enough, every single one seemed to be dead.
"Hmn...What'd they call it now...Oh, Inter- Internet?"

He checked. He read. He double checked.
"Oh...frag."

Unnoticed, a car rolled smoothly out onto the road, before pulling into the next-door parking lot and slotting into a space, the driver getting out and walking nonchalantly away. As he turned down a backalley, he shimmered out of existence, the holo-matter form fading into nothing.
The car sat, idle and locked. Under the bonnet, however, highly advanced systems that had nothing to do with automotion hummed and whirred, trying to make sense of the current situation...

Weeee'll be Union till we diiiieee!
Weeeee'll be Un-ion till-we-diiiiieeeee!

I think it'd simply be better if htey fixed the glaring problems with Kheldians at the moment. Such as the mediocrity of Dwarf form, the unnecessarily long shape-shift times, lack of mez protection in human form and the lack of ANY Inherent solo, making it the only AT to be penalised in this way since Defenders go their fix.