Anarchus_Unbound

Watchman Mk. IV


Less than two weeks before Hermann Rorschach, the famous psychiatrist, succumbed to supposed appendicitis, his 29-year old mistress Elsa Schmidt gave birth to a bouncing baby boy. They named him Eugen (after Eugen Bleuler, one of the men who had mentored Rorschach in his psychiatric education). Hermann was in the process of making secret arrangements to take care of Elsa and Eugen when he died.

Though it was a hard life for her after that, Elsa raised their son Eugen to be strong and self-reliant. She worked long hours to provide for him, but still found the time to raise him properly. On the eve of his 18th birthday, she died of a massive coronary embolism. From her deathbed, Elsa enlightened Eugen for the first time as to who his real father was. The now-orphaned Eugen set sail for America within weeks of her interment.

Eugen lived a quiet and relatively uneventful life as a mason in Boston, and raised a family of his own. He named his eldest son Hermann, after his own father. Hermann Schmidt was a prodigy of sorts; he was an intuitive mathematician (and student, for that matter), and an avid reader of science fiction and comic books. By the age of 18, Hermann had graduated from Yale and gotten his master's degree in mathematics. He got his doctorate the next year. He was tapped to work for the (then barely six-year-old ) National Security Agency as a cipher specialist, but instead chose Bell Laboratories to work as a theoretician as part of a team developing transistor applications. He stayed at Bell Labs until they became Lucent Technologies, when he asked for early retirement, during which time he was associated with a series of projects that pushed the technology envelope. That retirement wouldn't last long, though.

As a longtime enthusiast and adherent of Alan Turing's theories, Hermann learned just about all there was to know about cybernetics and artificial intelligence, to the point of attempting a series of abortive 'home projects' aimed loosely at the creation of an android. No major successes came of his experiments, but he learned from each design error and wrote several papers on the subject, one for the journal Science. (None of those papers noted that he had done most of the work in his off-hours in a 20' x 20' basement.)

His article in Science had brought him to the attention of Crey Technologies. Countess Crey offered to bankroll Hermann's experiments and let him work in their own labs to develop them, so long as he would follow certain 'design philosophies'. Hermann accepted, and Crey slowly and carefully molded him using various techniques to the point where he had designed the first working combat droid (a concept that ran against his initial conscience and sensibilities). It is a testament to Hermann's genius and Crey's motivational power that he managed to create a working model in less than ten years from that point.

Hermann's primary work was the development of the droid's AI, though he needed to be fully versed in all facets of the production process in order to create the control software necessary to integrate the cybernetic intelligence into the droid. At about PY (Project Year) 7 the first working model was produced. For various reasons it and two other models reached the decision to escape from Crey Labs. The first model actually managed to get onto the outer grounds before it was destroyed by Crey security. After that, failsafes were built into the droids that would prevent them from leaving the labs and/or set off small charges inside that would irrevocably damage their processing units. Finally, after various fits and starts, a complete, working android was 'born.'

The one comic series that Hermann loved above all others was Watchmen by Alan Moore. He immediately identified the character of Rorschach with his paternal grandfather, and so he named Project Watchman as a tribute to him. He named the android Watchman Mk. IV (signifying that it was the fourth-generation model).

During the last couple of years he spent on the project, Hermann began to grow erratic, wandering off into fugues at random times. The docility that Crey had worked into his psyche began to show minor cracks. At times it would seem he was the Dr. Schmidt of old, lucid and moral, then he would revert to being the simpering coward that Crey had made him.

The stress of it all eventually quite broke poor Hermann Schmidt. As Watchman's intelligence was 'grown', or taught, Crey began to sequester him from his creation. The few times he was allowed contact were when it was absolutely necessary, as he was the only one on the project that knew all there was to know about Watchman. When an insoluble problem occurred, Dr. Schmidt would be consulted, and somehow through his schizoid ramblings he'd suggest a solution for the problem. This was the only thing keeping him alive.

One day, when he was being escorted to solve the next insoluble problem, he managed to grab a weapon from one of his escorts. He barricaded himself inside the lab where Watchmen was kept and began to work manically on the android, removing every failsafe he could. He managed to disable the last one about thirty seconds before Crey security broke into the lab and shot him fatally. His final action, as he fell to the ground, was to open the restraints that held Watchman.

Dr. Schmidt had programmed a codeword that would let him know that Watchman had reached the decision to attempt escape, as every other model had tried and he felt was inevitable in the next model. Watchman gave the codeword, 'Eugen', at the meeting previous to the one at which Hermann set him free. Dr. Schmidt with a single stroke ended the Watchman project and freed his creation, at the cost of his own life.

There was much destruction in the wake of Watchman's escape; many Crey employees breathed their last that day. Watchman is #1 with a bullet on Crey's Most Wanted list, but they have proved completely incapable of corralling their indestructible android. Watchman kills any Crey he meets with ruthless efficiency, then disappears into the night. No one has been able to determine where he goes, but he always seems to reappear at the most inopportune times for Crey.

Here's the extended bio for Watchman Mk. IV:

Less than two weeks before Hermann Rorschach, the famous psychiatrist, succumbed to supposed appendicitis, his 29-year old mistress Elsa Schmidt gave birth to a bouncing baby boy. They named him Eugen (after Eugen Bleuler, one of the men who had mentored Rorschach in his psychiatric education). Hermann was in the process of making secret arrangements to take care of Elsa and Eugen when he died.

Though it was a hard life for her after that, Elsa raised their son Eugen to be strong and self-reliant. She worked long hours to provide for him, but still found the time to raise him properly. On the eve of his 18th birthday, she died of a massive coronary embolism. From her deathbed, Elsa enlightened Eugen for the first time as to who his real father was. The now-orphaned Eugen set sail for America within weeks of her interment.

Eugen lived a quiet and relatively uneventful life as a mason in Boston, and raised a family of his own. He named his eldest son Hermann, after his own father. Hermann Schmidt was a prodigy of sorts; he was an intuitive mathematician (and student, for that matter), and an avid reader of science fiction and comic books. By the age of 18, Hermann had graduated from Yale and gotten his master's degree in mathematics. He got his doctorate the next year. He was tapped to work for the (then barely six-year-old ) National Security Agency as a cipher specialist, but instead chose Bell Laboratories to work as a theoretician as part of a team developing transistor applications. He stayed at Bell Labs until they became Lucent Technologies, when he asked for early retirement, during which time he was associated with a series of projects that pushed the technology envelope. That retirement wouldn't last long, though.

As a longtime enthusiast and adherent of Alan Turing's theories, Hermann learned just about all there was to know about cybernetics and artificial intelligence, to the point of attempting a series of abortive 'home projects' aimed loosely at the creation of an android.
No major successes came of his experiments, but he learned from each design error and wrote several papers on the subject, one for the journal Science. (None of those papers noted that he had done most of the work in his off-hours in a 20' x 20' basement.)

His article in Science had brought him to the attention of Crey Technologies. Countess Crey offered to bankroll Hermann's experiments and let him work in their own labs to develop them, so long as he would follow certain 'design philosophies'. Hermann accepted, and Crey slowly and carefully molded him using various tactics to the point where he was designing the first working combat droid (a concept that ran against his initial conscience and sensibilities). It is a testament to Hermann's genius and Crey's motivational power that he managed to create a working model in less than ten years from that point.

Hermann's primary work was the development of the droid's AI, though he needed to be fully versed in all facets of the production process in order to create the control software necessary to integrate the cybernetic intelligence into the droid. At about PY (Project Year) 7 the first working model was produced. For various reasons it and two other models reached the decision to escape from Crey Labs. The first model actually managed to get onto the outer grounds before it was destroyed by Crey security. After that, failsafes were built into the droids that would prevent them from leaving the labs and/or set off small charges inside that would irrevocably damage their processing units. Finally, after various fits and starts, a complete, working android was 'born.'

The one comic series that Hermann valued above all others was Watchmen by Alan Moore. He immediately identified the character of Rorschach with his paternal grandfather, and so he named Project Watchman as a tribute to him. He named the android Watchman Mk. IV (signifying that it was the fourth-generation model).

During the last couple of years he spent on the project, Hermann began to grow erratic, wandering off into fugues at random times. The docility that Crey had worked into his psyche began to show minor cracks. At times it would seem he was the Dr. Schmidt of old, lucid and moral, then he would revert to being the simpering coward that Crey had made him. The stress of it all eventually quite broke poor Hermann Schmidt. As Watchman's intelligence was 'grown', or taught, Crey began to sequester him from his creation. The only times he was allowed contact were when it was absolutely necessary, as he was the only one on the project that knew all there was to know about Watchman. When an insoluble problem occurred, Dr. Schmidt would be consulted, and somehow through his schizoid ramblings he'd suggest a solution for the insoluble problem. This was the only thing keeping him alive.

One day, when he was being escorted to solve the next insoluble problem, he managed to grab a weapon from one of his escorts. He barricaded himself inside the lab where Watchmen was kept and began to work manically on the android, removing every failsafe he could. He managed to disable the last failsafe about thirty seconds before Crey security broke into the lab and shot him fatally. His last action, as he fell to the ground, was to open the restraints that held Watchman.

Dr. Schmidt had programmed a codeword that would let him know that Watchman had reached the decision to attempt escape, as every other model had tried and he felt was inevitable in the next model. Watchman gave the codeword, 'Eugen', at the meeting previous to the one at which Hermann set him free. Dr. Schmidt with a single stroke ended the Watchman project and freed his creation, at the cost of his own life.

There was much destruction in the wake of Watchman's escape; many Crey employees breathed their last that day. Watchman is #1 with a bullet on Crey's Most Wanted list, but they have proved completely incapable of corralling their indestructible android. Watchman kills any Crey he meets with ruthless efficiency, then disappears into the night. No one has been able to determine where he goes, but he always seems to reappear at the most inopportune times for Crey.

As for StrayLight, I believe that's the name of the orbiting mansion which houses Wintermute and 3Jane in William Gibson's Neuromancer series.

Edit: On further checking, it's the Villa StrayLight.

[ QUOTE ]
I wont' avoid bosses because I am playing a superhero. If I can, I will take on whatever seems likely. That's WHY I play the game. Not to team. Not to sulk around and not fight. I do it because that's what the game is for.

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Hmm and I suppose you kill every mob you run across, including grey ones? Not completely out of the realm of possibility, especially if you're a roleplayer.

Well, then, I guess you'd better prepare yourself for debt, if tactics make no difference.

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No, but apparently you don't understand. If I leave a boss standing by the roadside, and there's an NPC he's been hassling, I also don't get the npc influence bonus or drop they're waiting to give me. So I get to watch someone else take that while they 'help' me finish a boss off? No. Wrong.


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I understand that, and really it couldn't make less of a difference to me. By the time you're 35 influence will most definitely NOT be a problem unless you're giving it all away.
But then I wouldn't likely be needing to call anyone in to help me kill the boss if we were on the street anyway; I'd just skip on by.

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Oh okay - a storm electric defender, which is to say, the "blaster" of defenders? Hrm. Yeah. Has nothing to do with build, and all strategy. Bull.

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Doesn't apply to me. I'm still out killing orange to purple minions with ease, and LT's of similar levels with somewhat less ease. The only bosses I go after are those I must, though I am still able to do so consistently. One red or low purple boss just isn't worth the risk when I see a group of 3 or 4 red minions headed by a purple Lt for me to waste just down the block. (That's like ringing the dinner bell to my storm def.) With less risk he'll clear a couple times the xp he would have fighting the boss, and be in roughly the same condition by the end of either battle. On top of that, bosses run like hell from him, where practically none of the rest do.

Btw I also have two dozen other characters across the spectrum, ranging between lvl 2 and lvl 20 and pretty evenly distributed in between. I seem to prefer defenders, though: a D3, a couple stormies, kin/rad, emp/elec off the top of my head. Just because my main is 35 doesn't mean I don't have experience with other builds.

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I have *exceptional* strategy. When I can't use it along with a ton of inspirations to solo something, it's not me or my character's build. It is, as is painfully obvious from every other post here supporting me, the game design.

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You wanna know what my strategy tells me? If I can't solo something and I really have to kill it, I get others together to help me remove it as an obstacle from my path. I have successfully completed every single mission to 35, some in group and some solo, with my main. I've needed several times to get a small group together to achieve my objective.

It is your expectations that are the problem, really. You don't expect to be able to kill a +10 mob solo, so you don't attack one. But your build now can't kill an even boss consistently, if I read your complaints aright. And you expect to be able to kill an even boss, with any build. Instead of taking the obvious (at least to me) logical option of avoiding said even boss, you use a different strategy: convince the devs that their new tough bosses are a BAD thing so they will make them easier to kill again.

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I know that within certain missions (and see above posts regarding the number of mission based bosses that are missed by flavor text) that you "don't have to" get the bosses. When I can avoid them, you bet I do.

"Bite the bullet."
But as another poster put so well, we are heroes - we are playing people to whom fighting this war against crime is their lifeblood. If I leave that villian to do his deeds again, should it be in the plotline of this game, he WILL do other things and heroes pay the price again and again. I'll only come up against a villian boss in another mission. I won't hide all the time.

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I know of no comic book superhero who hasn't needed help at some time in his/her career, and usually many times. If the enemy was too tough to be dealt with alone, they sought aid and planning from others, notably other superheroes.

OK, then, let's say you send him to prison. He gets out eventually through whatever diabolical plan he had prepared for such a revoltin' development, or he has good lawyers, or whatever. (You didn't think the writers were going to waste a good villain, did you?)

My heroes are usually more interested in stopping the villain(s) at the crucial times than at all times.

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But nor should I ever for a moment back away and say I better get someone else to do this for me. I should be allowed the option to say "I better get someone to HELP me do this" but your statements have really given me the bad taste in my mouth that says you don't know squat about a *defender* like an emp/dark. I've been playing her for only 3 months, but solid. And as I've said before, I play solo more than 90% of the time.

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I've stated my qualifications above, and as a matter of fact, I have both a D3 and an emp/elec. I play defenders for about 90% of the total time I'm logged in to the game. I am far and away a defender player. The only places you'll usually see me posting are in the General forum, the General Powers forum, or the Defender forum. I've read damn near every post in the defender forum since I've first played, a month after release. So spare me your judgments on my knowledge.

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I know the way to work a mob. I know tactics for my toon. VERY WELL. But I don't like being at the mercy of a team mate who decides to use a power poorly, run away or toward something at the wrong moment, or other such disasters. Read the other threads about why we don't like teaming. THey're quite true and edifying.

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My own experiences are edifying, even if I hadn't read all those threads in the defender forum before. I have felt the pain of pickup and adapted so as to diminish it as much as possible. Sure helps to have teammates you know and work with often. But ya know what? That's life. You adapt or perish.

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I can take out an even con mob of 5 guys, minions or lt's, with absolutely no assistance whatsoever. I can take on lt's and bosses pre-3 with thought and care. LIKE I SHOULD BE ABLE TO.

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Who says you should be able to? What Constitutional Amendment covers that? Find a damn group and work with them regularly, or modify your solo tactics.

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I don't like playing scrappers. Period. I do not have to play a scrapper. But they're the only ones able to take on bosses now, and even they are having trouble. It's not me, my tactics, my build or my inexcusable desire to solo at fault here. It is, obviously, the difficulty level being too high for bosses that used to be tough.

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Hmm...being the expert on defenders that you apparently are, you should be able to come up with a series of defender builds that can still handle bosses. Storm/elec, Rad/rad, Dark/*. Heck, you even mentioned one, my main. As for other AT's, a lot of blasters can, several builds of Tanker that I know of for sure. Pet Controllers. Scrappers are not nearly the only ones able to take on bosses reliably.

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Again this boss was two levels below me and actually conned white to me. I should have no more problems killing it as I would a minion of equal level.

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Unless they've changed the conning system in the game, he still has a point. "White" means you SHOULD be able to handle the enemy. If you can't handle a white boss, there's a flaw somewhere.

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That has never been true. Even back in the early days, everyone in Perez Park knew or learned quickly that Bone Daddies were to be avoided, even white ones, unless the players were part of a strong team. Nor has a Paragon Protector ever been as easy as any other Crey minion of the same con color.


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And many, many are. So how do you solve the problem for the tons of missions that are?

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You adapt your tactics, as you did to complete the TF. (Forcibly, I'll grant you...)

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A boss killed two squishies? Stop the presses!

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Which would be a cutting retort if my statement was "A boss managed to kill me and another character during a fight."

The difference, however, is that the damn thing one-shotted us. Getting one shotted just isn't fun to me... I accept it on some rare occasions (like AVs), but not with a single regular enemy in a mission.

And he actually killed more than two, but I SAW the two (myself included) go down in one hit each.

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And this was a Warwolf? Which I believe are scrappers? That can do critical hits? Color me unsurprised.

All I can say to those who think the game is tough the way it is now is: don't play CoV.

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Thank you for explaining that bosses are tougher than minions and lieuts. I think everybody knew that already, since that's always been the case. In case you'd like to participate in the conversation, the question is the new RELATIVE toughness of bosses as compared to other enemies, which you didn't really address.

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Here is the quote that I was answering directly in the OP:

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Again this boss was two levels below me and actually conned white to me. I should have no more problems killing it as I would a minion of equal level.

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Now that we've verified that I was actually taking part in the conversation...

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And your solution (go find other mobs to kill) doesn't do much for people who have missions with bosses in them, does it? Not everybody street sweeps 100% of the time.

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As I just said in another post and am now repeating, many bosses are NOT integral to completing a mission (I think this was a change that was put in place in I2 because I don't remember any bosses that weren't integral to their missions before then, but my characters in general were lower level then so this may be an invalid conclusion).

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We tried the 1st Striga TF last night, and it was pretty fun: until a warwolf boss plowed through our team, one-shotting us left and right. I saw one teammate go down (a blaster), then he nailed me (a controller).

Being one shotted has never been fun. Being one shotted by something other than an AV or monster just sucks.

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A boss killed two squishies? Stop the presses!

Did you finish the TF successfully?

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They were tough enough already after issue 2 came out. I abandoned a number of alts dying too often because of those, and now they're even higher.

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And so what about this didn't tell you you should be avoiding bosses?

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"Doing it right" - according to who? You? Do you play my build? Or anyone else's who've posted? Or a flavor of the week build?

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Has absolutely nothing to do with powers or slotting or anything else but strategy. Think about it. If you kill more Lt's and minions in the time that you would have been spending trying to kill a boss, you get more experience. And you don't risk debt so much. Get it?

My 'flavor of the week' is a storm/elec defender, as he has been for oh, say about the past 7 months.

Many bosses in missions are not integral to completing them...and if you street sweep, you have the choice anyway. If you think bosses are too tough, then DON'T FIGHT THEM unless absolutely necessary. Otherwise, bite the bullet, walk outside the mission, and ask for somebody to help you kill that last boss.

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If it is now impossible for me to solo kill a boss two levels above me with out a lot of candy. How is it a Boss two levels below me (My character should be a Major Boss in mobs eyes IMO) to kill me after a fairly long battle that I got him down to 1/3 his health. Again this boss was two levels below me and actually conned white to me. I should have no more problems killing it as I would a minion of equal level. Please readjust the Boss levels. Major Bosses, IIE Named Bosses in Missions, AVs, Monsters make them as hard as you want but your everyday run of the mill boss on the street and in a random mission should not be impossible to kill. Your taking the fun out of the game for those who like to solo, who only play 1-2 hours a day (Thus not using up valuable bandwidth) these people are the bread and butter of the game. They are the majority.

Again please reconsider the boss level, and just the boss level.

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This has probably been said already, but I'm not going to read 15 pages to find out. Bosses have never been as easy as minions, because THEY'RE BOSSES! Nor should they ever be. A same-level boss has always been tougher than a same-level-lieutenant, which has always been tougher than a same-level minion. Bosses are two classes removed from minions.

If you don't like that bosses are tougher, simply avoid them and go find another bossless group of mobs to kill...plain and simple. You might even find the exp faster if you do it right.