Ad Astra
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Posts
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Quote:Actually, I wasn't even talking about making changes to the AI in this particular game. I read the OP as looking for insights about games in general.Originally Posted by Coyote_Seven
That might be what you meant, but the way you decided to put, that's not what you ended up saying.
I mean I know you might prefer to think that I'm just being obtuse. That makes it easy to dismiss your opponent's arguments without even actually rebutting them. That sort of thing happens in congress all the time! But if you can't say what you mean, how on earth can you ever mean what you say?
Anyways, did it ever occur to you that maybe the devs could keep the old AI and introduce a smarter NPC AI at the same time? For instanced missions at least. Then you could set your difficulty level to select whether you'd prefer rooms full of dumb foes that are easier to defeat, or rooms with only a few foes that are almost as smart at playing as a rival player.
Heck, that way you could even have certain areas within a zone where the NPC foes are of the super-intelligent kind. Or even better, put those kinds of NPCs in PvP zones.
from the OP
So I was trying to say that for some, smarter MMORPG enemies would be great. For me they wouldn't.Quote:tl;dr Would smart MMORPG enemies be good or bad?
Just to Clarify, this is not a suggestion for this game, rather a question on the idea of smarter enemy AIs in the genre of MMRPGs period.
Since you are speaking in terms of what the Devs could do with our game, I think we are talking about somewhat different topics. My responses were theoretical, about the whole wide world of all potential games, now and in the future. -
Quote:Same here - In answer to OP's semi-rhetorical question, no, I can;t remember *ever* quitting by accident.Originally Posted by Ghost
I don't see a problem with how it is now, neither do I see a problem with this being implemented.
Although I have disabled the annoying confirmation buttons for deletes and such... so an ability to turn these confirmations off as well would be nice.
/indeference
If it comes with a "disable" button, I will be hitting that the first time the window pops up, but if others really need it, whatever.
also /indifference, a/k/a "meh". -
Quote:Speaking of which, NSFW (Not Safe For Work) was one acronym that puzzled me for a long time and I still sometimes take a second to remember it when I see it.Originally Posted by StarGeek
For non-CoH specific ones, also try acronymfinder.com and UrbanDictionary.com (which is not always safe for work).
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I always called the suiciding to 'port to the hospital "taking the Red Line", since we have the Yellow Line & the Green Line trains.
Debt, even when you start earning it in the teens, is so easy to work off, especially if you have some patrol XP banked.
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Quote:No idea what happened to the promote/demote buttons, but on your second question:Originally Posted by Fortress_NA
Thanks for the tip. I've joined the BaseBuildersInc. channel.
Here's another question. I'm the SG Leader, and have all permissions, yet the Promote and Demote buttons for my SG are greyed out. Any ideas why I can't do either (yet can still kick)?
And what would everybody recommend for a limit on inactive time before being demoted/kicked?
(I know those two aren't directly related to building a Base.
)
Unless you need the space to add members (i.e., you have hit the cap of 150) - why kick inactive? They aren't helping/harming anything and have functionally no effect as members of the group (caveat: unless they are part of the 15 members you need to keep the 300K starting funds). Leave them there, but turn off access to storage bins and demote to the lowest level.
That way, if they *do* come back, they aren't left out in the cold. They can always ask for permission to access salvage, which you as SL can grant or not.
Note that I do recommend demoting them to help protect your stuff, just don't kick them unless you need the space on your roster.
For one of the 2 SGs I have inherited, I have members who haven't been on for over 700 days, BTW. -
Quote:Actually, I know exactly what I mean by using them. I am using them to define a gamer type that seeks to be challenged with every game they play. Because I am using it to define a gamer personality type instead of the game itself, I have tried to alert the reader that I am using the word in a non-standard way.Originally Posted by Coyote_Seven
Why are you putting "challenge" in quotes each and every time you use the word?
You should just come out and say that you don't think the challenge presented by a more intelligent AI is really much of a challenge at all.
Which, given the argument you just presented, doesn't make any sense at all...
You keep using quotation marks. I do not think it means what you think it means!
I am not trying to say that a challenging or smarter AI isn't a challenge - that's your spin, not mine. I am trying to say that there are some gamers who don't fit into the "game must challenge me" personality type. I am one of them. My games should be fairly fast moving with not a lot of strategy required. CoX in its current incarnation fits me fine.
A smarter AI might indeed make a game more challenging for some and therefore more enjoyable, but I don't have that mindset, so I am speculating wildly about the topic.
Thanks for misinterpreting it though - it shows you did read it. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Radium
After playing some games like Far Cry, I can definitively just say one thing. Smarter AI is good when you want a challenge. Dumb AI is better when you just want a cathartic experience to unwind, which is largely what this game provides.Quote:Originally Posted by Seldom
This gets to a tough dividing point. When an AI kills you with an insane attack just because it has high damage stats, it's a game thing and most gamers can take in stride and do what they need to have the right stats/powers to avoid/resist/repair said damage. When an enemy defeats them not with stats but by 'out thinking' them, game players can come away with different views. Some may say "How can I figure out a strategy to beat X foe?," while others will say "I just wanted to have fun, not get creamed by a piece of hardware!" The latter may find strategizing in a game to be a chore, and may feel belittled to be out thought by code.Obviously some gamers play for the "Challenge" but I'm with these sentiments expressed in these posts. I don't play for "challenge". I play for stress relief. Making me work harder and strategize much more than "be careful and don't aggro more than one spawn" or "get Line of Sight to snipe the boss first" would not be fun for me and I avoid games which force me to make that effort. It is also why I avoid PvP like the plague.Quote:Originally Posted by UnicyclePeon
I dont like smart AI in games where you fight lots of enemies (like you do in COH). I just want to come home, relax, and tear into some bad guys. The last thing I want to deal with is enemies that always hit and run, or that always run, or that always space away as far apart as they can so area effects miss, or always avoid ice patches, etc.
Tedious.
OP, I think your answer depends on which segment of the gaming market you are aiming for. "Challenge" gamers relish having an AI that adjusts constantly or "thinks" more. Others (like me) won't seek out those games. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Steelclaw
Cast not thine stones, brothers and sisters-ah, at those who have but recently joined the flock-ah of the almighty Doom-ah.
For verily it is said within the covers of the Doomcrier's Bible that the strong-ah of voice-ah shall be heard across-ah the forums-ah while the meek shall hide in a corner and deny-ah the Truth-ah.
Count not the post-ah counts-ah of those Prophets-ah who take forward their portents of the future-ah. For they carry-ah the Word of Doom-ah to the unbelievers and the weak of faith-ah. And in the eyes of-ah Doom; they are holy-ah.
And Brother Westley-ah... Think not-ah that thou art beyond the reach-ah of the Doom-ah! For the Doomcrier's Bible-ah does say; "Turn thee not aside-ah the Conspiracy Theorist-ah for they are blessed of Doom-ah and doth a Doomcrier be in the depths-ah of their hearts."
And now-ah, a final thought-ah for the faithful of the Doomcrier's Bible. Remember, my children-ah, the words of the First Doomcrier:
"Let us prey."Due to my Southern Protestant upbringing, I heard Steelclaw's post with the voice of Billy Graham (or perhaps Foghorn Leghorn, sometimes I confuse the two).Quote:Originally Posted by Westley
Daddy.... are you Italian? -
Nice idea, Quinch.
I would hope that SCR does not apply to it very heavily, since it was done in Skyway and FF.
/signed. -
I agree with Aett - his concerns are very valid, especially at this point in the game where folks have had no restrictions placed on characters based on origin for almost 6 years. The only way your suggestion might be feasible is if switching origins is added to the game, which seems unlikely to happen.
As far as the booster packs go, personally I bought them for costume pieces, not for the "powers" that came with them. As I said in another thread, I typically forget I even have the Mystic Fortune power and I haven't used Self Destruct since about a month after buying that booster. Ninja Run looks stupid on 99% of my characters and really isn't used by the one character it looks "right" on.
I like having Origin be only important for RP, and without a game-based effect.
Quote:This is an interesting position to take. At this point in the game, with the addition of Ouroborus and SSK - it appears that your position that everything should not be available to all characters is not the one taken by the Devs. I can't really think of anything much in the game that can't be available to any one of my characters other than SOs & DOs which don't match their origin - and which have exact equivalents for each origin, just with a different name.However, even if they never allow for Origin switching, everything shouldn't be accessible to a single toon all at once; that's why we have alts.
I can see that your concern is with homogenization and there not being enough to differentiate between origins - but you are about 6 years too late. And based on the Dev experiences during beta, etc., your concern that Origin should have meaning was apparently not possible to implement without affecting game balance and the RP focus of Origins. -
A rhetorical question (without a ?, even) does not make the topic appropriate to Player Questions.
The real question here seems to be "Is it that time of the month again?" to which the answer appears to be "looks like it is".
OP - no thank you. -
Ah - by the time you get to the end of the thread, people are throwing out their own ideas.
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Basically, upgrading your plot just gives you a larger grid to lay overtop your existing base - you can move it around a bit to line it up the way you want. You can line it along one edge of the old base (with the old base inside the grid) or just put the old base smack in the middle.
All the existing rooms stay as they were.
Also - you must have the full purchase amount of the new plot, but once you purchase it, you get refunded the price (if any) of the old plot - good to know when you are ready for another upgrade (which you will be if you have caught the base building bug). -
Any particular reason this could not have been added to the other thread in this forum called "Booster Pack Ideas?"?
The one that had its most recent post at 5:59 p.m. today and so was relatively freshly cycled to the top? -
OK, when I saw the thread title and who started it, my first thought was
"If Steelclaw ran the April Fools Event - I would be very startled, but highly amused...
"
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Quote:Yeah, you can't build massive quote pyramids on these forums any more.Originally Posted by Humility
Well, I was unaware that the forums here trimmed quote tunnels automatically. It was really more a response to the person who was being quoted by the poster I quoted, and I just included both for completeness sake.
This was really more what I was talking about in clarifying that my son's account was inactive.
Right next to the quote button is one with a set of Quotation Marks. Use that in the first post you want to reference and each other one after that and instead of a pyramid, you get an extended string of quotes to play with.
That's one change that no one has mentioned to you yet (that I have seen in your other threads) - the mechanisms of this board are different and take a bit of getting used to. Here's a stickied thread from down in City Life started by Westley with some pointers about using this version of the boards:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=184162 -
Quote:None of my characters were affected by ED. I was still so new to the whole MMO thing, that I hadn't even really been on the boards, so I didn't know you were "supposed" to 6-slot Damage, etc. It made more sense to me to spread it out and try to improve various aspects of my powers, rather than be one dimensional.Originally Posted by DumpleBerry
Hardly any of my characters were affected by ED. My main had some heals six-slotted for healing, but I respecced to three-heals, three-recharges.
I think it's the overall way it was handled, before during and after, that left the biggest sour taste. The GDN/PP just added to it.
Edit: Oh, and yes--my Empathy ScrapFender loves IO builds. -
Quote:Oops, usually I catch my own spelling errors.
=Chad Gulzow-Man;2564949
Also, there's no "a" in "Sentinel."
The name I checked was the misspelled one, BTW, so I'm not sure if it's available spelled correctly. -
What Jophiel & Aett have said, seriously.
I'm one of those who about half the time forgets I have the Tarot Deck until we are standing around the TF contact or about to go into the big final fight against the BBEG.
And even then, sometimes I use it and sometimes I don't. Since they don't stack, if people are exchanging them, I try to get the one left out.
Nothing to stress about - no one will give you dirty looks if you don't. -
Quote:This was what I was trying to get to, honestly. OP *could* go hunt out teams to let him kill AVs with them in the hopes that he gets the SOs he wants.Originally Posted by Jade_Dragon
Honestly, the amount of time it would take to run AV missions and collect Defense SOs, as low as the odd seem to be of rolling them, I'm not sure it's worth it.
Yin O's only go as low as level 13, so that's not going to help him out.
While SOs can get a nice boost to all powers, is it an effective strategy (in terms of time & effort) to join teams in hopes of getting the "perfect combination" of random SO drops?
Possibly quite doable if one has an active SG or maybe an active teaming global, but the outcomes just seem too random to me to try it as opposed to getting Green ++ TOs and starting the teaming OP describes (which sounds like a lot of fun, BTW). -
Quote:Originally Posted by Rajani Isa
And if it's been offline more than 90 days, he can do the "Invite-back" as part of that reactivation and get the "free"/extra time as well...What Rajani meant was that once you have reactivated your account, use the tool "Invite-Back" sending an invite to your son's account. That gets your account some free time for sending the invite and another account that will be 100% safe to use for the SG invites.Quote:Originally Posted by Humility
Well, my son's account is inactive as well... so just knowing the login and password wouldn't really do me much good. Might go ahead and reactive for him though. We shall see. Unfortunately, it looks like trial accounts can no longer join SG's... bleh. Kinda crappy that they give you no tools to do your own transfers and then eliminate the workarounds.
Other than that, I know it's inconvenient to use the workarounds we have suggested in this thread, but they are effective and not all that heinous an amount of extra effort.
FYI, folks in the base Construction forum regularly perform this function for each other as well, if you are looking for "references" to find a trustworthy player to help you out. -
Quote:OK, but at level 8-11, is "superior" really that mathematically significant? I'm not a numbers cruncher, but it seems to me (based on some outside the game work manipulating percentages) that even several percentage points (TOs/IOs vs SOs) increase in low values (any level 8 power) won't make that much difference.Originally Posted by Eiko-chan
Level 10 IOs offer enhancement values roughly equivalent to TOs. Low-level SOs would provide superior enhancement.
If I'm correct, then going thru all the arcane manipulations (finding parties to let a really lowbie bubbler tag along) might not be worth the time or effort, especially given the random nature of drops to get what the OP needs to slot the character.
It would be more fun to just go ahead and slot with either IOs or green ++ TOs to get going on the reason the character was created instead. -
Quote:OK, but at level 8-11, is "superior" really that mathematically significant? I'm not a numbers cruncher, but it seems to me (based on some outside the game work manipulating percentages) that even several percentage points (TOs/IOs vs SOs) increase in low values (any level 8 power) won't make that much difference.Originally Posted by Eiko-chan
Level 10 IOs offer enhancement values roughly equivalent to TOs. Low-level SOs would provide superior enhancement.
If I'm correct, then going thru all the arcane manipulations (finding parties to let a really lowbie bubbler tag along) might not be worth the time or effort.
P.S. No idea why I'm double posting, so I'm going to drop out of the conversation now to avoid the annoyance. -
She looks like a "Sapphire Sentinal" or perhaps a "Cerulean Sentinal" to me - both available on Justice as of 5 minutes ago.
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Quote:Most of the strategies offered in this thread seem like a lot of work for SOs.Originally Posted by Quinch
But that leaves the problem of finding someone to act as the anchor. Besides, SOs are as far as I'm willing to go as far as minimaxing this concept character is concerned.
Why not just grab a bunch of level 10 IOs (folks working on Field Crafter badges have tons of them to get rid of, so they are probably pennies at WW, though I haven't checked recently).
Not your original plan, but it saves you from having to hunt up all those teams for AV hunts.
The enhancement values are not the same, but at level 8, the differences are not really all that mathematically significant, are they?