Electra Carmine

At this point, almost in confirmation of the words, the robot began its march onwards once again, no longer hindered by battle damage to its mighty legs. Unlike the weak, "living", members of the court, it had nothing to lose by advancing and would know no fear, even to the point of its eventual destruction. This was why the most sinister of masterminds controlled robotic minions, for they were unwavering in their loyalty and steafast in their commitment to the villainous cause.

As the Court appeared to be in retreat, there was nothing to lose by going all out. The robot surged forward at double speed, unleashing deadly arcs of energy from its remaining arm cannon. At the same time, hidden launchers flung cannisters of deadly, poisonous gas in all directions. Finally, as the defensive shield powered down, the armoured plates of the beast began to crackle with energy, as the hull was electrified, to deterr further assault by personnel threats.

Dr Carmine Smiled as she studied the glowing screen. Being a villain has great advantages in situations such as this and she was about to use one of those to great effect. A deft touch upon the controls signalled her dastardly plan to her spider drones and far away, on the battlefield, her order was heard and understood.

***

One of the larger drones, paused from its task of welding new plates onto the armoured body of Dr Carmine's war machine. It scampered up to the shoulder that once housed the cannon and it took a secure perch with its magnetic feet, looking upwards for its new target. Sure enough, there was the news helicopter, trying to get close to the action, so that pictures of the incident could be broadcast to the TV sets of eager viewers.

The Spider drone made a gutteral belching sound and spewed out a long tine of sticky fluid, which caught onto the pontoon of the helicopter as it made a pass over the incident scene. Like a lassoed steer, the helicopter pulled this way and that, its engine whining as it tried to free itself from what was now a hardening winding cable. The drone held tight and started to reel its prey in, now assisted by other drones that also fired out their own sticky ropes.

In but a matter of moments, the blades ceased to spin and the helicopter was dragged down onto the back plate of the battle strider. It had been cocooned, though the terrified news crew and pilots could be seen from an exposed window. The spider drones dragged the vehicle to the armoured front of the walker, securing it in place with yet more webs. Now anyone daring to fire upon the war machine would have to deal with this human shield of helpless victims. With that, the drones went back to their repair tasks and Dr Carmine, many miles away, sat back in her chair, seeming pleased.

Back in Grandville, Dr Carmine studied a holographic presentation of the battle. The green and red glows of friendly and hostile units, respectively, made patterns across her reflective goggles. Grandville was not the most practical of places to navigate and certainly not the most friendly, but the vast web structure that covered it made a fine psychic transmitter and that allowed her to have a good idea of what was taking place in the battle, despite Astoria's mysterious nature.

She was thus far not greatly concerned. Her robot had many failsafes and there were far more plans than just "A and B". So far the opposing walker had not made a serious challenge to her creation, so she allowed it to sit behind its shield, to re-gather the advantage once again.

***

Back on the battlefield, the shield glowed brightly and many hatches began to fling off their lids and release a myriad of repair spiders which scuttled towards the damaged cannon and leg of the walker. It began a process of self repair and the tiny crawling drones welded, rewired and replated the damaged parts, chittering excitedly to one another as they went about their tasks.

There was a series of small explosions from within the frame of the advancing robot and it lurched to one side, limping and coming to a halt. This was followed by yet more flashes from within its fuselage, culminating in a shriek of tearing metal as one of its mighty cannons drooped and came free, falling to the floor like a collapsed chimney stack.

It stood there, looming out of the Astoria fog like some morbid monument, while the sparking of torn wires and connections sent a cascade of tiny motes bouncing off its armoured legs. It twisted its torso slightly and evaluated the newly risen enemy that had made itself known as protector of the cathedral. In anticipation of attack it ceased its firing and the air crackled around it, forming into a glowing, protective shield bubble, of the sort Dr Carmine was known to use for personal defence.

Yup, on Union there were lots of people working for and getting Master of Lady Grey, even with all this tough difficulty.

Union - Balls of Steel!

You win a good stomping by its mechanical legs i sense!

The titanic machine was oblivious to the tiny winged figure that had set off to engage it, for such beings were insignificant compared to its size and countless feet of armour plate (or so its creator believed). Though it appeared to move slowly, each giant step covered great distance and it began to close the gap between it and the Cathedral. Masonry and twisted metal rained down about it as it ploughed unabated through obstructing buildings. Nothing appeared to slow it at all.

Only the presence of the tank prevented it from obliterating the enemy. Such a vehicle was a notable threat and warranted immediate and hostile action. There was a tremendous, echoing blast and the air was filled with choking ozone as the walker began an opening volley with its colossal energy weapons. Blasts of plasma cut a swathe of devastation towards the tank, cleaving an abandoned shopping mall in half as if it simply was not there. Molten metal, burning concrete and a cloud of debris rained through the Astoria fog and pelted those on foot below.

There was a sound like thunder in the distance and it grew louder with each passing moment, shaking the walls of the Cathedral and causing all but the most sure footed combattants to grab nearby objects for support. It was as if some deific being had roared in fury and struck at the very earth with its mighty fist. Dark Astoria was lit up as if by the light of a thousand suns.

One of the tower blocks on the horizon, already weakened by years of abandonement, burst into flame and came smashing down upon the earth. The Light dimmed, but the building was a-glow, consumed by molten plasma and lit up by flames that made the fog appear to be opening unto the gates of hell itself. Something was flung from the wreckage and it hit the street near where the Tank had come to rest. It was the nose come from some sort of missile, with the searing metal outlining the Arachnos logo triumphantly.

This was no attack missile, however, for it had carried a payload far more destructive than mere nuclear weaponry. There was a clanking and a scraping of metal against metal and a titanic form of industrial creation rose up in shadow from the burning ruins. The ground shook again as the behemoth creation took its first massive metallic step towards the scene of the battle. Without breaking stride, it crushed a group of Longbow vehicles that were scrambling through the streets to assist the besieged heroes.

"You think that tank is a match for my most impressive creation?", called out the voice of infamous science villain, Dr Carmine, over her colossal robot's broadcast system. "The Court of the Blood Countess may doubt the power of my scientific expertise, but today i shall prove who within the court is the more valuable innovator! Quake in fear you tiny fools! Muhahaha!"

I didnt really get much out of this video. Things like wings and so on are old news. I would much rather hear some genuine discussion of the expansion and the thought process that has gone into it.

Just what is this "next level" the game is going to? It shouldnt really include the fact that the game does well on character customisation.

Of course, i would have accepted that had some of the vidoc talked about the mutant pack. We know that pack has caused much dev discussion and it would be interesting to get an insight into that.

You picked an odd time to leave wow, as the cataclysm expansion will be around soon. I`d advise you to keep your account open and to take a break rather than wandering off seeking the promised land.

I think these days that having more than one game subscription is a good idea, rather than calling simply one a home. I remain subscribed to warcraft myself, but i have recently reopened my cit of heroes account and am having much fun with this game.

What i would say is that city of heroes is a lot of fun. There are good people here and the welcome i recieved was a good one (be sure to join some channels). So long as you enjoy a game, then its worth paying the subscription and logging on whenever.

City of heroes is a different thing to wow. It's a simpler game in many ways, but it does offer a lastable and different game experience that is well worth taking part in. That is why it is still here after all these years.

Don't turn your back on wow, however, as you *will* be playing it again when cataclysm comes out.

Well, was expecting this topic to quietly move down the forum list, but some replies have popped up, so i thought i would post once again.

I`ve been back a short while now, a week i guess and it took a little while to find my feet again, but i did so.

Overall the welcome i have recieved has been positive and folks have been very helpful, especially over the various channels that i chose to join. I got the wings i wanted after figuring out the invention and auction systems.

At the moment i am quietly levelling up my characters, grouping here and there when i can and roleplaying on and off. I like pvp, so i have been a bit sad to see how empty places like warburg are, but i figure that all the players now have top level characters, so recluse's victory is where its at.

The one handy leg up i got was that my character was quite old and had lots of the old base salvage. Converting and selling that proved a good start to getting "cash" and that meant i didnt have major problems sorting out new enhancements as i levelled.

Just a matter of getting to 50 i guess, so i can be where the action is.

Thankyou for the reply, Lady A.

I loosely followed events as i was away and one thing i heard about was the inventions that came about. I remember seeing "tech-wings" and thinking how amazing they were. One day i shall get myself a fancy pair of flappable wings, as i`m keen on the flight power and it would be nice to have something that gives that a visual appeal (i know the wings do not give the power themselves).

I have fond memories of flying around.

I`ll certainly say hello when i get the game working.

Hello all, i`ve been away a long time and thought that now would be a great time to return to city of heroes and villains.

I have fond memories of my mastermind and have never found a pet based class that compares in any mmo i have played since.

I was also pleasantly surprised to see that, with the new expansion, i can finally make a mastermind that can go on the hero side of the game and that can enjoy the social side of sitting about under that giant atlas statue *grins*.

I previously played on the other server, due to a bad choice by my supergroup, which has long since gone. As i`m a roleplayer, now is a good time for me to create a new character on Union.

I`m very keen to make some contacts and to have some friendly people to talk to (perhaps on teamspeak 3). I would be grateful for any names or suggestions, so that i can say hello and get to know folks before the expansion comes.

Lets hope the game works on my computer.....once its done patching and hello to one and all.