Dark_Duchess_EU

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Excuse me, but what additional "spandex" costumes do we need? We have dull spandex and shiny spandex, spandex with skirts, spandex with capes, cut away spandex, and lots of different patterns - what else can you do with spandex that we haven't already got?

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Yeah - we've got the right clothes, just need the hair to go with them now

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IAWTC (again).

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I'm always amazed that people think the people devoted to doing new content are also the people who do bug fixes and the QoL changes.

As if there's one guy working on the game and he can only do one thing at a time.

I know CoH has a small staff, but damn

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They all work together. BaB has to make sure his animations work with Jay's costumes, War Witch has to make sure her zone designs don't break the game, Positron has to check his new ideas are actually do-able by the rest of the team; and everyone has to make sure their code works.

Every single change to the game can, and most likely will, break something. It all needs to be checked and tested - so the "bug fixers" have to be called in anyway. And everything added takes time away from something else. The devs need to prioritise (which they do, much to the chagrin of a number of people), so asking for a QoL change and expecting that and everything else would be silly.

QoL changes are new content. New content likes to break. Adding more content just increases the bug list.

No one in their right mind would demand all the bugs be fixed before anymore new content. For one thing, the game would stagnate for likely years, and for another - new bugs pop up all the time. But QoL changes that a lot of people deem pointless are not especially likely to top the list ahead of "fix the bugs".

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Beautifully put. Not that it will stop the "but it's only five minutes' work so why can't we have it NOW??" mob from blathering on about it.

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When a red name confirms one way or another how much work is involved, we'll know for sure.

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Exactly, and thus you should stop saying it will be hard.

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By the same token, you should stop assuming it would be easy!

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He simply changes his appearance to suit the situation or his current mood, not to disguise himself.

Also, from an RP PoV, surely gendershifting characters add more RP options, and are a good thing? Your character can be just as confused as you are as to whether refer to them as him or her. (or possibly hir, as used for multigendered characters in certain circles).

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I don't object to this for any reason other than it's (probably) a lot of work for very little benefit. As a roleplaying hook, a gender dysphoric hero's dilemma about whether he feels more comfortable patrolling the streets in power armour or a frock and heels is very peripheral to the job of beating the bad guys and keeping the streets of Paragon safe. If it becomes clear, however, that it's a two minute job and can easily be slipped into the next patch, then fine, let's see it done. But I bet it isn't. And if it isn't, I don't want to see time devoted to it that could be spent on bug-fixing or new content.

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Oh, and costumes in and out of themselves don't serve a purpose. No more customisation options plx.

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Are you really suggesting less costume options??

[/ QUOTE ]No, they're pointing out that you are.

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More costume options = good. Nobody, I think, would disagree with this.

Doing the work necessary to make male/female/huge body and costume options available to all characters, whether male, female or huge, when this will be of interest to only a tiny fraction of players = not good. In fact, as far as I'm concerned this doesn't even qualify as more costume options, it's so far beyond pointless. It hadn't even occurred to me that anyone thought of it like that, until FFM kindly pointed out that my opinion is actually the exact opposite of what I thought it was.

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it will be difficult to implement, thus delaying the arrival of better new content

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You work as a coder for NCNC perhaps?

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No. Do you? I thought not. When a red name confirms one way or another how much work is involved, we'll know for sure. But I think I'm on safe ground when I say there are more pressing uses of the coders' time than this.

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All the costumes of my main character involve shapeshifting. Are you saying this also makes no sense?

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I don't know - I've never met your character or seen his/her character concept. But assuming he/she fits the Chameleon/Mystique template, then you already know my opinion. If you want an actual powerset to simulate a shapeshifter, why then I'll back you 100%.

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Oh, and costumes in and out of themselves don't serve a purpose. No more customisation options plx.

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Are you really suggesting less costume options?? Of course costumes serve a purpose - they enable you to not look like everybody else playing the game. The more costume options, the better!

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Exactly! And changing body type IS more options! So you're in support of the idea! Great!

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Ah, I see what you did there.

Doesn't change my opinion though.

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As for immersion please dear god remove the chest slider.

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Or at the very least, restrict the max size so that they at least look a LITTLE bit real!

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Well, it does provide an easy way to guess at the real gender of the player, if such things concern you. If it's playing a female whose chest looks like a dead-heat in a Zeppelin race, it's male, and probably under 16.

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Oh, and costumes in and out of themselves don't serve a purpose. No more customisation options plx.

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Are you really suggesting less costume options?? Of course costumes serve a purpose - they enable you to not look like everybody else playing the game. The more costume options, the better!

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Think of it like this, Thorny Devil: If time and money is spent implementing it - things much more useful, much more exciting and much more understandable may have to be pushed back on the roster.

As for those who're getting their hackles up at the "it doesn't make sense" argument: In many cases, it doesn't. Batman changing into a woman doesn't make sense, either - even if they did do it. Same goes for Superman. Just because it was done, doesn't mean it makes the slightest bit of sense.

Shapeshifters make sense. But that is a power, changing gender in CoH would offer no benefit (beyond perhaps a wider range of costume options) to the vast majority of people. I would much, much rather have a new powerset that allowed various disguises to fit in with the shapeshifting idea.

I don't for a moment believe this would be easy to implement. For instance, when they first introduced gender specific text on the badges, it took a few attempts to get it to work - and that, apparently, is just changing some text and an ID number.

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Good points. I'm against this idea because 1) it's pointless - nobody is going to get any real game-related benefit from it, and it will be difficult to implement, thus delaying the arrival of better new content; and 2) at the risk of labouring the point, it doesn't make sense!

For those quoting the Chameleon/Mystique examples, I'd back you to the hilt if you were suggesting a new powerset based around shapeshifting. Something along the lines of being able to change your appearance to mimic whatever enemy you were trying to infiltrate, like the temporary "Arachnos disguise" power you get on Agent G's arc in Faultline, to make the perfect stealther. That would have an in-game benefit and be worth the time it took to create it. But this suggestion just doesn't.

Yes, many comic-book heroes have changed genders temporarily, but these have always been part of ongoing plots. The closest analogy in CoH I can think of is the Vahz disease you contract in one arc, and have to find the cure a few missions later. I'm sure that any "real-life" superhero (contradiction in terms I know) who had his or her gender magically changed would be very keen to find the means to get it changed back ASAP.

Lastly, as a casual to total-immersion roleplayer (depending on my mood), I like to know what I'm dealing with as team-mates, and gender is a good starting point. At least I know whether to use "him" or "her". I should point out that it's irrelevant to me what the real gender of the player is - it's the in-game one that counts.

Why thank you, Professor! The facilities in the base make hacking the Candycanes so easy - although I'm sure I could have broken the primitive security system they use with the Sinclair Spectrum in the base museum.

I'm sure you've already downloaded and read it, but the file they have on you is the most extensive I've seen! I don't know why they make such a fuss. Yes, maybe the odd city block might get levelled from time to time, or the occasional bank vault get emptied, but we'd be failing in our duty as scientists if we didn't conduct extensive field tests.

There I was, taking a quick caffeine break from tinkering in the ARAD weapons lab. I just happened to glance at the base computer, and what should I see but Longbow's top secret files on every super in Rogue and Paragon, hacked wide open? I wonder how that could have got there? I mean, it's not as if I make a habit of humiliating the red and white clowns, is it?

Well, with "security" as good as theirs, I had to have a quick glance. There's some very interesting stuff in there, so without further ado, I give you the Longbow confidential file on the Rogue Isles' most gorgeous and charismatic villainess (with a few added comments by your humble scribe!)

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LONGBOW VILLAIN DATABASE

FILE REFERENCE: VA KW 10-2005-118A

Name: Kate van Nortwick

Current alias: Dark Duchess

Other aliases: Kiss 2 Kill, Ms Mayhem

Current threat level: 42 - Most Wanted

Status: Active

Action: Apprehend on sight

Field of operations

Currently known to operate in various areas throughout the Rogue Isles. Also sighted in Paragon City and, on a number of occasions, in the Rikti War Zone. <<Darlings, I’m everywhere!! I’m THE Most Wanted!! ;-) >>

Modus operandi

The subject is known to use similar tactics to those of her father Karl (cf. Dark Duke), who disappeared some eighteen months ago and whose current whereabouts are unknown. She controls a number of robot drones, which follow a similar design to those of several other notable villains on file (cf. The Phat Controller, Master Zaprobo, DO-712 Control Unit). It is speculated that these are derived from a standard template, possibly developed by Arachnos, as a significant number of villains known to use them are affiliated with this organisation (cf. Arachnos Research and Development / A.R.A.D). At this time it is impossible to verify this, as the drones are known to have self-destruct mechanisms which activate when their controller is not in proximity to them. For this reason it has proved impossible to acquire one for study, and a number of personnel have sustained injuries while attempting to do so. <<Awwww…shame! *giggle*>>

From eye-witness accounts and surveillance tapes, the subject is known to be heavily armed and equipped with a number of auxiliary systems, giving her the following confirmed abilities:

<ul type="square">[*]Flight, apparently via a compact anti-grav belt (note: Eagle Division are especially interested in acquiring this device for study, upon apprehension of the subject). Her drones have jets built into their feet and are able to fly with her when required;
[*]Invisibility and stealth, most likely via a personal cloaking device (NB her drones seem to have a similar capability, although this is not often used);
[*]Energy blast, via a powerful blaster carbine of unknown origin;
[*]Force fields, both wide- and narrow-diameter, including a near-impenetrable personal force field fitted to the subject;
[*]A wide-area repulsion field, extending out to approximately fifty feet from the subject, and strong enough to resist penetration by anything with significant mass (note to operatives: this field does not resist projectiles, energy blasts or bullets);
[*]Concentrated force bolts, powerful enough to knock most targets off their feet.[/list]The subject has also been observed performing emergency field repairs to her drones, and is suspected to have access to advanced nano-technology. Unconfirmed reports indicate that she may also possess a number of other high-tech weapons (mostly stolen), including a Quantum rifle (cf. Kheldians). &lt;&lt;Confirmed reports indicate that I’m gorgeous too!!! ;-)&gt;&gt;


Personality profile

A number of the subject’s former associates have been interviewed, and their comments combined with the psychology profile compiled on her by Dr Tybalt of the Zigursky Detention Facility. &lt;&lt;Good old Dr Tight-Butt! I loved our little chats. In fact, I liked her so much that I painted all the targets in my gunnery testing range to look just like her. Amazing what it did for my accuracy! &gt;&gt;

The subject was suspected for some time to be a borderline psychopath, but this is not now thought to be the case. She is, however, completely amoral, quite capable of distinguishing between right and wrong but highly selective in how she uses this knowledge to influence her behaviour. &lt;&lt;Amoral? It’s just high spirits, y’know? Daddy always said I would go far!&gt;&gt;

She is sadistic, sardonic and cynical, with a strong streak of unnecessary cruelty, which she is able to conceal disturbingly well under a veneer of charisma and personal magnetism when she wishes to. She attaches no more value to the safety or liberty of others than she does to the value of the property she steals and destroys. How much of this may be attributed to her upbringing as the only child of one of North America’s most notorious criminal masterminds, and how much to her own sociopathic tendencies, should be investigated in depth by detailed psych-evaluation when she is apprehended. &lt;&lt;Tell you what…if any of you chumps get anywhere near capturing me, you can have exclusive rights to my life story!! As if! ;-)&gt;&gt;

Her physical abilities are classified as trained-plus. She has no meta-abilities, but is a skilled acrobat and gymnast, with extremely fast combat reactions. Of course, the bulk of the fighting is done by her drones, but she is also known to be an expert marksman and martial artist. It is suspected that her abilities are enhanced with cybernetic implants – she is known to have purchased a number of these on the Rogue Isles black market. &lt;&lt;Let’s face it, lovers…I’m perfect, and you all want to be me! But there’s only one Duchess!&gt;&gt;

She is known to be very vain, and her tendency to frequently change the look of the costumes she wears have sometimes made it difficult to identify her. All her costumes share two characteristics, however. Her eyes are always covered, whether by goggles, a cycloptic visor, or designer sunglasses – these various devices are thought to incorporate a sophisticated heads-up display. She is also easily identified by her waist-length blonde hair, which she almost never covers. &lt;&lt;Hey Lamebows! You’re just jealous, sweethearts! I can’t help it if you hit every branch when you fell from the ugly tree, can I? *kisses*&gt;&gt;

She is also known to have a healthy sense of self-preservation, frequently fleeing from her crime scenes (usually by means of fast flight – she has been observed flying at speeds in excess of 80 miles per hour) and leaving her robot drones to cover her retreat. This behaviour may result from her earliest experiences as a minor villain (cf. Kiss 2 Kill), when she acted as a sidekick to her father (cf. Dark Duke) and was eventually defeated and captured while he escaped, resulting in a lengthy period of incarceration. &lt;&lt;And the old goat didn’t even try to break me out, did he? Considering where he is now, and what I did to him when I DID get out, justice is served!! Ha ha!!&gt;&gt;

The subject has pyromaniac tendencies, although not to the same extent as the most notorious firebugs (cf. Flambo, Pyra Girl, Ronnie Ronson). Her drones are fitted with flamethrowers, and when she is operating, more buildings tend to catch fire than could readily be attributable to normal collateral damage. &lt;&lt;WHOOOSH! Pretty fireballs!!&gt;&gt;

Her preferred criminal activity is robbery, most frequently of banks and other financial facilities. It is not known why this is the case, as she is known to already be independently wealthy. We suspect that she simply enjoys the challenge of cracking the most secure facilities, as a test of her abilities. &lt;&lt;Bling!! Diamonds are a girl’s best friend, y’know??&gt;&gt;


Notes

The subject is known to hate Longbow operatives, for reasons unknown, but possibly connected to our earlier destruction of two of her father’s base facilities. She is known on occasion to risk her own safety by remaining in a danger zone in order to inflict additional harm on our personnel. The best documented example of this is her treatment of Nullifier Gould (cf. Atrocities perpetrated on Longbow personnel: Gould Incident), of the Nerva Archipelago pacification force. Gould and her squad were ambushed by the subject’s drones, and despite valiant resistance, were rendered unconscious. The subject then stripped Gould of her uniform, bound her, strapped her into an Eagle jetpack taken from one of her defeated squad members, and set the controls to fly her at maximum velocity into the Agincourt control tower. &lt;&lt;*giggle* You should have heard her scream too!!&gt;&gt; Only prompt action by Eagle Trooper Carson of the Agincourt duty platoon prevented Gould’s almost certain death. (NB: Nullifier Gould remains on extended sick absence, and is not expected to resume active duty). &lt;&lt;*sob* Poor little flower!! Did nasty Duchess fwighten her? Ha ha!&gt;&gt;

The subject has since been observed wearing pieces of Gould’s uniform when raiding Longbow facilities. It is speculated that she does not do this in order to masquerade as a Longbow operative, as she does not wear Gould’s mask, but rather as a calculated insult to Longbow. &lt;&lt;Hehe! No spit, Sherlock!! Did you work that out all by yourself?&gt;&gt;

She is currently suspected to be on the “active” roster of Vanguard (cf. Transcripts of acquired Vanguard personnel databases). This has never been officially confirmed by that secretive organisation, despite strong representations from Commander Baxter to Lady Grey, along with a summary of known atrocities committed by the subject. Vanguard’s response has been their standard one; that every volunteer is needed to resist the Rikti threat, whatever their past activities (cf. Vanguard’s employment of known criminals). &lt;&lt;Hey Longbores, just be grateful that for now I hate the Rikti more than I hate you! When I’m in charge of Vanguard, and Lady Grey is MY pet, then you’d better get ready for a REAL war!! xxx&gt;&gt;


Outstanding arrest warrants

Attempted murder: one count (cf. Gould Incident) &lt;&lt;Hey it was self-defence, right?! *giggle*&gt;&gt;

Unauthorised use of Longbow property: 18 counts (cf. Gould Incident)

Armed robbery: 59 counts

Arson: 346 counts

Unauthorised flight into Longbow airspace: 12 counts

Theft: 217 counts

Assault: 128 counts

Assorted misdemeanours including damage to property, vandalism, reckless endangerment, carrying offensive weapons in a public area, use of offensive language to Longbow operatives, trespassing, resisting arrest, and littering: 1,804 counts (total). &lt;&lt;Oh come on...a girl has to have hobbies, right?? xxx&gt;&gt;

Summary

The subject is extremely dangerous, and caution should be taken when approaching her. If available, squads engaging her should be led either by Wardens, or of officers of the rank of Captain and above, as she is known to be vulnerable to the specialised abilities of the most powerful of Longbow personnel. The closest we have come to capturing her is when she came face to face with one of the Ballistae on active duty in Nerva Archipelago. On that occasion, she barely escaped after the efficient destruction of her drones. &lt;&lt;Yeah RIGHT! I nearly had the big creep. You should be GRATEFUL I let him live!!!&gt;&gt;

Nonetheless, she must be captured at all costs. As well as for the Gould incident, she must be made to answer for a huge number of other crimes (listed above). Her arrest, trial and conviction are a top priority for Longbow.

&lt;&lt;Supplemental file note: Hey, Candycanes!!! You want me? Come and get me! You know your little poppet’s cutesy uniform looks better on me than it ever did on her, don’t you? Face it, she was no oil painting…flying her head first into the concrete would’ve been a kindness to her! But if you want her clothes back, I dare you to take them from me!!! I’ll be nice, I promise…I’ll kill you quickly!! ;-)

*kisses* DD xxxx&gt;&gt;

Add another one here to the long list of Trick Archers who have encountered this problem. I'd love to think they're going to fix it - it's not just the occasional non-ignition, but it can easily be 20 instances in a row. Takes a lot of the fun out of what should be the crowning glory of the TA set.

Can't really comment on Flash Arrow...Fleur Mortelle, my lvl 50 TA/A, has never used it. I took Entangling Arrow as my compulsory in TA and have never really regretted that.

One thing I will say though, is don't take both! There are so many powers you just have to have at higher levels - you don't want Flash and Entangling bunging up slots.

As for natural builds, Fleur is 100% natural, and proof that you can get all the way to Hero of the City with no travel power. She has Hurdle, 3-slotted with Jump SOs, and Sprint, 4-slotted with three Run SOs and one Jump. 3-slotted Hurdle is about the same speed as unenhanced Fly, and she can jump over the height of lampposts (blame it on extensive gym work and vitamins!) The 30 second jetpack device takes care of any awkward cliffs and walls, and she can even get around in Terra Volta with a bit of forward planning!

Good luck with your TA/A - I can truthfully say that levelling Fleur is the most fun I've had with any of my alts.

Fantastic news! I know the great man has been pushing hard for this in the last few weeks - good to see all that effort pay off.

Congratulations Zaprobo!

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If assault bot dies, then you resummon it . I think its much more difficult keeping the weaker bots alive which is where twilight grasp comes in so handy. Its easier summoning one bot than 3-5

And like Syn said, robot/dark shouldnt be having problems with most EBs.

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I'm bots/FF and I find Repair invaluable for EBs, situational elsewhere. But as I have no other heals (apart from the random input of Lake and Palmer, and the only time they ever seem to want to heal is when it isn't important), it's very handy being able to bring Emerson the Assault Bot back from a handful of hps to showroom condition in a flash. Resummoning him is far less attractive an option if he's busy holding aggro from an EB. By the time he's been resummoned, double-upgraded and bubbled back to how he was before he got destroyed, the rest of the bot squad are in pieces on the floor and there's an EB bearing down on my squishy self.

Besides which, I have Repair three-slotted for recharge, and I activate the emergency overcharge function (pop Hasten for all you technophobes) before EB fights. It makes a BIG difference.

Joining a SG is definitely the best move you can make. Most of the Defiant SGs are friendly and helpful, and it's a great way to team with people regularly. Random teams tend to be no better in CoV than CoH, and are usually harder to find too.

Thanks Doc, I will keep an eye open for one of you! ARAD looks like just the place for me.

The dastardly Dark Duchess seems to have found herself without a VG...how could that have happened?

An insanely violent (but cheery with it) tech based Bots/FF mastermind (currently lvl 39 and rising), I'm looking for an active and friendly VG to join. I have a year's experience in game and am happy both to team and to mentor the ickle baby villains (ahh, bless!) as long as they can put up with Emerson's squeaky leg joint. Never can seem to be able to fix that properly.

Send me a PM on this board or an email in-game, or grab me if you see me. Thanks!

Seeds ftw! The best dominator power out there. Slot it for range and confuse duration as soon as you can, fire it off at a mob, then stand around chuckling evilly as they kill each other. Pick off the ones still standing, then on to the next mob and do the same. It never gets old!

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Tank!
(/macro Tank petcomall goto agg)
Need a tank? Sap some aggro form a large spawn? Run your henchmen into the middle of mobs using goto with them set to the aggressive stance. They'll all pick different targets, thus distracting the mobs from the Stalker sneaking around the back, the Dominator prepping to do a Domination-fueld AoE Hold, or absorbing alpha strikes so the Brute can get in and work his magic.

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Now that is very very useful. I had no idea they all picked different targets - that's going straight onto the power bar!

I have a "Fetch" button, which sends one battle drone (Crosby the suicide bot) forward on his own to attack. Once his first shot goes off, he gets recalled on Passive (if he makes it back without getting blown up) ready for the rest of the lads, waiting with me on Aggressive, to administer a nice alpha strike on the poor goon he just aggroed as soon as it comes into range.

As a fellow Bots/FF Mastermind, I feel your pain...and I haven't even got the second upgrade power yet. In practice though, most team mates won't mind hanging about for the time it takes at the start of the mission, for the benefit they're going to get from having the bots around, and personally I've learned to live with the time it takes. If I need a quick summon, I just buff the assault bot and maybe one defender, then go, and buff the others in action (defenders first, then Crosby the suicide bot, then the other drones). I'd say the only thing essential at mission start is to have the AB carrying all the upgrades, simply because of the amount of hurt he can dish out - the drones can get theirs later, if they live that long! At higher levels, they are more useful as ablative armour than as offensive tools.

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Does anybody have any experience of this?

I am merc/traps and I want to remain invisible but I;ve never used the power and the description says you cannot use powers that affect others.

1)Can I still order my henchman around?
2)Does the leadership and supremacy buff still apply when i'm invisible?
3)Can I lay traps at all?
4)Can I hand insps to me henchmem?

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Yes, no, no, and yes.

By far the worst penalty of using invisibility in combat is losing Supremacy, and in any case you'll find enemies will often target you despite being invisible. Stealth works fine in this instance - you have a defence buff, and your pets still get all the advantages of you being around.

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The toughest thing in the world to play well is a normal, everyday person. Why do you think all the rubbish actors do action movies?

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Because they're actually half-alien demon robots?

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I knew there had a be a logical explanation for Steven Seagal's "acting" career...

Mine (the humans at least) range from 14 (Little Miss Stinger) to 45 (Johnny Clean). Pandaemonia is several millennia old, and has never regarded chronological age as important anyway.

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i only really am bothered with it when people are OOC and still pretending to be the same gender as the char when they are not.

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It gets irritating when you are teamed with someone who insists on asking OOC questions about you. I try to make a point of never going OOC other than in /tells, and then only for very specific purposes and with people who know me in real life. I just wish more people in the game were able to do the same...!

For the record, my (many and varied, hero and villain) characters are roughly 2:1 female:male, and I do rather enjoy playing the opposite gender. But every active character of mine has their own distinct personality (including one who is clinically insane), so gender isn't always an issue.