Ex_Libris
-
Posts
3904 -
Joined
-
Base Showcase
The Omega Force
Who is your base designer and who are your supergroup
leaders?
Mister Power (aka MP) and I (R. Son) are mainly the designers. Leaders? There
are a few: Mister Power (Co-Founder), R. Son/EMP Anton LeVay (Co-Founder),
BoltTorch, Grillo, Wave Tsunami, and, although he's not a leader anymore I'd
still like to give credit, because he did help out a lot during his term as a
leader, to Heatkin. Each Leader helps in their own way, and it's proved to be a
harmonious system. You just have to have unconditional trust between each other
to pull this off.
Which server is your base on, and is it a Hero or Villain SG?
Freedom - Hero
When was your supergroup established?
Circa 2004.
How many players are in your supergroup?
We're past capacity. We have members spilling into minor branches. All-in-all,
30% are active on the worst day.
What is the approximate value of your base?
84,733,616 prestige.
How much time do you spend working on your base? How much time have you
invested so far?
Personally, a few hours a day... if there is a need. I've put over 100 hours
into it; Mister Powers has put in MUCH more.
What is your favorite base item? Least favorite?
Favorite - Scorpion's Surprise. Least Favorite is the Raid Teleporter, for
obvious reasons.
What is your favorite thing about base editing? Least favorite?
I love the system we were given, although obvious tweaks can be made. I'm
grateful for the opportunity to give our SG their own mark on the game. Don't
have a least favorite.
What is the highest thing on your wish-list for new base items?
None, we have everything.
If you could give just one piece of advice to a new base editor, what would
it be?
Save up, then edit. It's much easier creating a base on a big budget than
having your plans squashed by insufficient funds. If you have an active SG, try
to make SG mode mandatory. It helped us a great deal!
Anything else you'd like to add about your SG, your base or the base system
in general?
Expanding the style bases can allow might make for a more unique approach.
There is pretty much only arcane or tech. Most people don't use the Japanese
style of decorations, if only because it doesn't really fit any specific GROUP
of characters.
-
Market Watch
The View on Blue
Career Day Part 2
In Part 1 of the Career Day series, we talked about vendoring - picking up
inexpensive items on the market and selling them for a profit to an NPC.
Vendoring is a fine way to get a brand new character some walking around money,
but it's hardly a glamorous profession. Vendoring is the CoH equivalent of
collecting recyclable bottles from other people's trash cans and turning them
in for a nickel each. This week we'll take a step up in the world and learn a
little something about crafting.
Let's start with a very simple, brand-new crafting opportunity. Walk into the
Consignment House and click on one of your friendly neighborhood Wentworth's
representatives. Take a look at the large inspirations. Find the cheapest one -
probably accuracy or damage resistance. Put in bids for three of them. I've
found that 5,000 influence each is enough, if I let the bid sit overnight. Once
you have your three large inspirations, take another look at the prices. This
time, find the most expensive large inspiration. It will probably be defense.
Right click on one of the large inspirations in your tray, and you will get an
option to combine those three into one new inspiration of any type. Pick the
most valuable, and poof! Your three cheap inspirations are now one expensive
inspiration. Drop it on the market, price it appropriately, and wait for it to
sell. I've been able to sell them quickly at 50,000 inf. This ability to
convert inspirations is one of the nice quality of life additions from Issue
12. It's no get-rich-quick scheme, but you can turn a profit with it.
When most people think of crafting, they think of Invention Origin Enhancements.
The first thing you should do, if you haven't already, is run the Invention
tutorial at the University. The professors will walk you through the mechanics
of crafting. I'll talk about the economics of it. Like any business, you have
two numbers to consider: how much will it cost you to create your product, and
how much can you sell it for? You have three expenses: the recipe, the salvage,
and the crafting fee. Let's look at Common IOs first.
The crafting fee is simple - it's printed on the recipe. The cost of the recipe,
if you buy it from the crafting table, is a function of the crafting fee. Do
you remember how to calculate the vendor buyback price of a recipe, from the
last career day article? Well, the table price of a recipe is four times the
vendor buyback price. You can also buy the recipe from other players on the
market. I find that it's usually cheaper to buy recipes on the market, but
faster to buy them on the table. As always,
Paragon Wiki helps. You can see a list of every common IO, at every
level, showing the crafting cost, the NPC buyback amount, and the crafting
table sale price.
If you want to make influence by crafting common IOs, you should memorize some
of them. Once you memorize a recipe, you never need to buy the recipe again. A
list of memorized recipes will be added to the usual list of options at the
crafting table. By using your memorized version, you also get a 50% discount on
the crafting cost. For high level recipes, that makes a big difference. In
order to memorize a recipe, you need to craft it over and over... sort of. It
gets a bit complicated. For example, say you want to memorize the level 35
Damage recipe. You need to craft 11 level 35 enhancements and 11 level 40
enhancements. The enhancements can be either damage or knockback. The two are
grouped together in the badge system. Once you have that badge (the Arms Dealer
badge) then you can craft both damage and knockback enhancements, at either
level 35 or 40, with no recipe and at half crafting cost. For the full list,
say hello to
ParagonWiki again.
The last piece you need is the salvage. It's inescapable. If you are crafting in
large quantities, then you have no choice but to get the salvage from the
market, and prices there vary. If you keep crafting the same things, you will
get a feel for the prices.
Guardians of the Golden Age by
ProphetX
Which IOs should you craft? Look at your own enhancements. What do you see? A
lot of damage, a fair bit of accuracy? Maybe some endurance and recharge
enhancements? Those should be the first ones you consider. Look on the market
and check the prices. Try putting in a few low bids on crafted IO's and wait
overnight. If you buy some, list them for high prices and let them sit for a
spell. This should give you a sense of the high and low swings over the course
of a day. Compare these prices to the cost of crafting the IO. Some will be
profitable, and some will not.
One fact will jump out at you: some enhancements are dirt cheap. They sell for
far less than it must have cost someone to craft them. What is up with that?
The answer, in a word, is badges. Some people don't craft to make enhancements.
They are doing it to make badges. Once they have the IO's, though, they might
as well dump them on the market and try to make a little something back. If you
are in it for the money, do not compete with badgers. They will undersell you
every time.
Once you find an IO which is worth crafting, and memorize the recipe, how much
can you expect to earn? Let's look at damage as an example. Everyone needs to
do some damage, and who wouldn't want to do more? If you buy a level 30 Damage
recipe from the crafting table, and craft it without the memorization badge, it
will cost around 75,000 influence, depending on the price of Masterwork Weapons
that day. If you have memorized the recipe, then you only pay 20,700 in
crafting fees, plus the cost of the salvage. You can sell that enhancement for
anything up to 75k, and it will be a bargain for anyone who hasn't memorized
the recipe. Suppose you split the difference and make a profit of 25k per
enhancement. With a tray of ten, that's 250k. If you do that every day, twice
on Saturdays, you could make 2,000,000 inf per week. Of course, if everyone who
reads this column starts crafting level 30 Damage recipes, the price will drop.
There are other recipes and other levels, though.
Remember, most people play CoH because they want to be superheroes, not
manufacturers. A lot of people will be grateful for the chance to buy crafted
IO's from you rather than spend the time doing it themselves. Even if you
ignore the discount for memorizing a recipe, people are willing to overpay for
an enhancement to avoid the inconvenience of crafting. That's why crafting set
IOs can be profitable.
A good way to get started crafting set IO's is to study the recipes you receive
as drops. Instead of just looking up the recipe when you go to sell it, look up
the crafted enhancement as well. Sometimes there is no difference between the
two, but it's not uncommon to see a crafted enhancement selling for hundreds of
thousands, even millions, more than the recipe. Just be sure to take the other
costs into account. High level recipes have high crafting costs, and rare
recipes sometimes have very expensive salvage requirements. Keep your eyes
open. Sooner or later you will stumble across a situation where you can buy a
recipe for a small price, scoop up some cheap salvage, craft the enhancement,
and sell it for a big profit. These niches can close up pretty quickly
sometimes, so I try not to have a lot of inventory sitting around. There is
definitely money to be made, but the risks are higher than with crafting
commons.
The last form of crafting I want to mention is base salvage. I honestly don't
know a lot about it, but you can craft base salvage or invention salvage into
components which can be used for enhancement station buffs or creating base
objects. Sometimes those can be sold for a profit.
ParagonWiki knows more about it than I do.
Of course, you may be one of those people who would rather crush than craft. In
that case, go hunt. Kill Helions!
-
Community
Fan Fiction Spotlight
Seriously,
Why Doesn't This Ever Happen?
By
TeChameleon
The Blaster ignored the general warning over the Vanguard channels, and put out
a call of his own. "The Rikti ruined my day off... what say
we ruin their day in return?" he commented over the general
broadcast channel. "I think if we splatter a few of their
dropships, they'll get the idea."
This idea was greeted with general enthusiasm, and in surprisingly short order,
a tidal wave of violently-conflictingly-coloured spandex was roaring upwards on
rocket boots, wings, capes and antigravity, as dozens of superhumans and
friendly super-powered 'visitors' gave the first dropship a... warm...
welcome. The A-Bombs in its hold detonated spectacularly before a single one
hit the city, and the brilliant cloud of supers turned their attention to the
next.
Five or six of the heavily-armed dropships were disposed of that way, although
several still got through, dropping their loads of bombs... and then the troops
started porting in.
Sort of.
Energon X frankly stared as the portals wavered, distorted, and started
disgorging both startled Rikti... and... "Soldiers of
Rularuu..?!?"
I have to say something from the onset. I was not paying attention to this
story. I don't know what stopped me, if I was too busy or if I was turned off
by the material (how I could have been turned off by the source material is
beyond me), though I recall that, for some odd reason, something in my head
classified it as a roleplaying thread I didn't think I had the time for.
However, the fact of the matter is I erred greatly in letting this thread get
away from me.
The premise is simple: The Rikti invade, and that happens to be at a moment when
the Rularuu break through the dimensional barrier as well. Of course, all sorts
of havoc ensues afterward.
You may remember TeChameleon. The author of a certain
Henchman's Diary, TeCh has a tendency towards comedic undertones, so of
course there are laughs to be had while reading how heroes, Rikti and Rularuu
wage war with each other.
Now, the story suffers a little from the constant back-and-forth between readers
and the author throughout the thread. However, one must take into account that
this was started at a time when a regular Fan Fiction Spotlight wasn't a
feature in the Scoop. My suggestion is to skim for TeCh's posts.
Steal This Article
(Please Don't)
So I'm going to be as serious as I can, which isn't much at all, regarding a
recent event. A certain member of the paper who puts recipes into the paper
might have been accused of infringing on something that may or may not have
been food related. That's the long, safe version. The short version is that
someone thought MistressNoire might have illegally borrowed a recipe that she
used in an article. And in response, we elected one lucky person to write about
it (me) through the "fair" game of "First to Say 'Ow' Writes the Article". On a
high note, I got all the way up to "Head in Blender". But here it is, my
slightly correct response.
First, aforementioned recipe poster did not steal the recipe, and even if she
did, it wouldn't be worth it. Most of us remember a certain conflict with a
comic book distributor. The last thing we need is Martha Stewart's gestapo (in
matching shoes and waistcoats) throwing stale loaves of bread through our
window. Second, you can't trademark food. Otherwise most villains would have
tried to trademark water already and sell it for $15 a bottle. Third, recipes
are facts. Milk+Cereal = Milk and Cereal (or Cereal and Milk, but semantics).
Facts can't be copyrighted, or else Newton's ghost might copyright gravity and
make us pay a dollar per step on sweet, sweet ground.
Yes, most of us are villains, myself included. But I'd rather face the cops then
have to deal with a pack of rabid lawyers in the American court system. Most of
us go out of our way to not get sued. I even have to change things around so I
can't get sued. Hence why Screw-Loose, MERCS 2 and Lazy Sunday are altered
parodies and not their original titles. I can use names so long as I'm smart
enough to get permission, like with the Ascendant movie musical. And all in
all, most of us would rather steal Manticore's couch or put angry bears in kids
cereal than plagiarize anything.
As a final note, I'd like to reference a previous precedent. A certain
supervillain from a comic series, who I shall refer to as "Giggles", tried to
trademark fish with smiles carved into their faces. And Giggles' request was
denied because you can't trademark something that's just a slight alteration of
a perfectly natural thing, from substitutions in a recipe to drawing a mustache
on the Mona Lisa. So I guess my final point is this: she didn't steal it
because she had her own version of it for a very long time, we have no reason
to infringe and anger organizations into attacking us because we don't get paid
for this job, and United States copyright and trademark law is incredibly long
and confusing. That's our official response, and I hope we stick to it. I
promise, legitimately funny junk next time I write. Or at least my attempt at
it.
-
The City Scoop
Spandex Spotlight
Sovereign Starlette
Well, this is a pain. I was told that a very important job had to be done, and
that I was perfect for it! But that job turned out to be interviewing other
heroes for the Scoop!
What the [expletive deleted] is that all about?! -Im- the one who took
out the Clockwork king SOLO. I- have over 450 badges! Im the one who [Ed.
Note: self-important rant removed due to word count limit]
Okay, now that Ive vented and calmed down, it's time to find someone whod like
to have their mug and dirty secrets plastered all over Page 3, which nobody
ever reads anyway. Atlas Plaza is usually a good place to find heroes more than
willing to ignore their jobs to babble on about themselves, so I went there,
and found the usual assortment of robots, aliens, catgirls, monsters, demons,
romans, and the occasional normal super-hero type who looks like they got
costume advice from an old 1960s comic book. I seriously dont know how or why
Serge and the other icon staff let people get away with that sort of thing.
Anyway, I found the leader of the Star Emperium,
Sovereign Starlette, standing in her usual place on top of City Hall,
looking over all the younger heroes... or Atlass butt. I couldnt tell. Ive
had a couple past dealings with her, so I decided to give her a go. It took me
a while to get her attention, as she seemed to be preoccupied, telepathically
speaking to her teammates or something, but I managed to get a few answers out
of her...
Patty-Sue Ivanova: Excuse me, Miss Starlette?
Sovereign Starlette: (giving an annoyed sigh) Yes?
PSI: Sovereign Starlette, I'm here on behalf of The City Scoop,
and I'd like to ask you some questions. If you don't mind, that is.
SS: The City Scoop? Very well.
PSI: Great... I guess. I can tell you're enthused... Anyway,
let's start with the basics. I hear you're an alien of some sort? Is this true?
SS: I am, yes.
PSI: Ah, from whereabouts?
SS: I was the Empress of the great Democlean empire in the
Democles system. It was destroyed when our sun went nova during an attack by
what I now know as the Rikti. Yes, they do indeed traverse the depths of space,
as well as invading Earth.
PSI: (Not having the gall to ask what her race did to cheese
off Nemesis...) Oh, wow, sorry to hear about that... Is that why you've come to
Earth, to hunt the Rikti down? Or was it because we have pizza?
SS: Not exactly. My ship crashed here in 1947, followed by a
Rikti ship. That same Rikti ship is the one that crashed in Roswell, New
Mexico. I stayed because I had nowhere else to go and, to a point, I feel the
Earth could use people like myself.
PSI: Your ship? So, are there more of your race here?
SS: No. I am the last of my kind, as far as I know. I ordered
my people to abandon ship before the crash.
PSI: Ouch, sounds rough, but not too unheard of. So in that
vein, then, your supergroup, the... Star Empire? Star Emporium... uhm... Shoot,
my notes aren't very clear, forgive me...
SS: Emperium...
PSI: Ah, that's it, thanks! Anyway, I take it that your fellow
supergroup mates are not members of your own race, obviously, but other aliens?
SS: Aliens and Earth beings, yes. Originally, the Emperium was
for aliens only, but we saw need to take heroes of all races, creeds, etc.
PSI: Let me guess, civil rights and political-correctness
groups were seeing your "aliens only" club and crying "foul"? Or were you just
looking to expand to help better serve the people you protect and all that sort
of thing?
SS: No, it was more so to get the Vanguard off our backs. While
they were grateful for my help in the original invasion, they still have
difficulty trusting aliens.
PSI: Aaah... Ooh, shoot, I should probably ask about your
powers or something... My editor will have my head otherwise.
SS: All my people, like myself, have wings with which to fly.
Other powers, however, are only passed on through my family's bloodline. My
heritage innately gives me super strength that dwarfs that of the Statesman ten
fold; super speed; impenetrable, invulnerable skin; and, like my father, I have
the Agony Gaze. A powerful searing blast that can be shot from my eyes.
PSI: Wow, with an assortment of powers like that, it's amazing
there's still any crime left for anyone else to fight...
SS: I don't generally waste my efforts on common thugs and
thieves. Oh yes, and I'm also quite resistance to psionics as well.
PSI: (At this point, I was starting to feel a bit threatened)
Resistant to psionics? Remind me never to piss you off, then... On that note,
you seem like you have other things on your mind so I'll wrap this up real
quick... You've made a good name for yourself: you run a Supergroup, and I've
seen you in action... yet you spend a lot of time on this rooftop. Any
particular reason for that?
SS: I spend more time on Rikti, giant monsters, and more
dangerous foes. I like the challenge, and thugs and thieves are something for
lesser heroes to deal with. Like my praetorian doppleganger, the Sovereign
Tyrant. Now THERE was a challenge. Though, I did destroy her utterly in the
end.
PSI: You destroyed her WHAT? Er, wait, "utterly"? Okay, yeah, I
misheard you there. (At this point, S.S. smirked... finally, a reaction from
her, I was beginning to think she was a statue!) Well anyway, what you said
about thugs and thieves makes sense. So, unless there's anything else you'd
wish to add, about yourself, your teammates, or anything...
( But before I could finish and we could wrap this thing up, the skies turned a
disgusting greenish gray as sirens and alert klaxons went off, while the
warwalls energy fields dissipated... Yup, You guessed it.)
SS: Speaking of Rikti...
(Sovvy powered up to prepare for battle, ready to enact some small vengeance on
behalf of her people, and ours, while I, uhm, decided, to, uh... strategically
withdraw"... Had to get this article finished!)
Vol. 2, Issue 6
July 3rd, 2008
This Issue:
Upcoming Events
July 5th:
July 6th:
July 9th:
July 11th to 13th:
July 13th:
July 18th:
-
This message is to notify the Community that our East Coast Servers and all public services provided by these services will be down for a period of 1 hour for unexpected maintenance.
We will be bringing the servers down at 1:00 PM CST, we apologize for any inconvenience.
Discuss the maintenance here!
Regards,
Ex Libris -
OP has been updated with the last changes. Thank you for your contributions.
Ex -
Sorry gang the rules aren't in our court. The contest is hosted by Toyota and Gametrailers.com so they will be your rule source and place to go for clarification.
I hope that helps, at least a little.
Ex -
[ QUOTE ]
Lighthouse, will this Pocket D VIP Pass be handed out on other days beside Saturday? Saturday is sold out, but I think I can make it there for Friday.
[/ QUOTE ]
We will be passing out the VIP passes all days of the show, of course the event is Saturday night so Sunday will be for collectibles if we have any left over by then.
Regards,
Ex -
Edition 54 of "The City Scoop a publication for Supers by Supers!
Im sure most of you feel the same way: What did we ever do without the weekly Scoop?
If you have concerns regarding the content of the Scoop please direct your comments via PM to Lighthouse or Ex Libris.
If you would like to do a feature article, have an event covered, or join "The City Scoop" team please PM Snow_Globe or Pants_Stealer
If you or someone you know should be considered for Behind the Mask Teldon
If you need some Advice contact Lady_Athyna or would like to Ask The X contact LiquidX
Finally if you have a Classified Ad or Recipe you would like included please contact: LadyK or MistressNoire
Discussion on the latest edition of "The City Scoop" is located here. -
Edition 54 of "The City Scoop a publication for Supers by Supers!
Im sure most of you feel the same way: What did we ever do without the weekly Scoop?
If you have concerns regarding the content of the Scoop please direct your comments via PM to Lighthouse or Ex Libris.
If you would like to do a feature article, have an event covered, or join "The City Scoop" team please PM Snow_Globe or Pants_Stealer
If you or someone you know should be considered for Behind the Mask Teldon
If you need some Advice contact Lady_Athyna or would like to Ask The X contact LiquidX
Finally if you have a Classified Ad or Recipe you would like included please contact: LadyK or MistressNoire
Discussion on the latest edition of "The City Scoop" is located here. -
The City Scoop Staff
-
Puzzles
-
Classifieds
Do you have an event coming up? Are you going to attend an upcoming event? Do
you want to see or even write an article for The City Scoop? Drop a line to an
Editor-in-Chief a week in advance, and you too could be a guest writer for The
City Scoop.
Want your character to be interviewed by Scoop Man? Send a PM to HumanMiracle!
Lost: Paradigm Shift Device. Contact Demented Cynic at Portal Corp. by Friday.
Remember to bring Hawaiian shirt.
Introducing Two-for-Tuesday at El Super Mexicano! All regular quesadillas just 2
for $5 all day Tuesday!
LOST: My pet Alpha Bomb has been lost. Last time I had him he was on Protector.
He has been last seen on Champion, but bounces to different places. He is very
sly and can go by different names, but he always responds to Yo Gamma. If found
please contact Crimson Betrayal.
Want to be part of the VEAT Army? Yes we are an offshoot branch of the FUSION
empire in the Protector dimension loyal only to Ghost Widow. We are destined
for greatness.
Ghost Widow has ordered my organization to form a new sect in support of special
operations. I will recruit within our ranks as well as go outside of our known
coalition. These chosen members will go to an academy for training as various
Arachnos soldiers. While I do not like to be told how to run FUSION, Widow
assures me that I will be rewarded for forming this group.
My first order of business is to choose villains among my organization that
display some of the following qualities: Mind control, knowledge of poisons,
stealth, acrobatics, weapons fighting, and most importantly do not display fear
and that would die if I ordered them to do such. I have at least 20 in mind
from my 150 Villain organization that fit this criteria. Over the next few
weeks I will begin listing them in preparation for training.
This training will consist of a series of trials and strike forces ordered by
Ghost Widow. More to follow soon.
Want to know more?
Please come to the Veat Army Project.
Attention:
All stalking kitties.
Mantid has learned kung-fu. Do not attempt to eat!
ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT RIBS at InFront
Steakhouse!
Thursday night is all-you-can-eat rib night at InFront Steakhouse. Come in after
4 PM, mention this ad, and get endless plates of our mouthwatering baby back
ribs for only $14.99!
The Cooperative Story project is in need of authors. You can locate the current
work
here. Support, commentary and introductions are located
here. The idea is simple: Find an author you know well and can work
with, and write a story together. At present, all styles are welcome. We look
forward to your contributions.
Help Wanted: Writers for The City Scoop. Please contact Snow_Globe,
Pants_Stealer, or Marcian_Tobay for submission details.
"TO: The Sinclair Syndicate. Just a public note of thanks for always being
there, even when the viewing public doesn't know that it's you. Without your
help, some of the coolest shots in my videos would never happen (to say nothing
of me meeting deadlines). And in case you missed it, the I-12 teaser was
dedicated to you guys. Thank you. - Johanna Sinclair."
Lost: One sense of humor. If found, please return to Agent Omega.
Hiram Giovanni's Deli and Pizzeria
Food, Fence and Forgery
"Everything's Kosher"
WANTED: Fan Artist to draw my character. I cannot offer much compensation other
than any of the wares I would otherwise sell on the Auction House. If you are
interested, please contact Hakuro de Killer on the Virtue Server
Head of the Thug Security Task force is looking for new pryotechnic thug. IQ
required, and tank like urges removed (or supply your own self rez). Thanks Mal
Boneface
Lost: Hub of the Wheel of Destruction. If found, please contact Azuria. P.S.
Please do not use to construct deadly wheel of Destruction. Thanks. -Azuria
Need to sell something? Post it in The City Scoop Classifieds. Send PM to
EnnVee while LadyK is on Vacation.
-
Base Showcase
The Defenders of
Paragon
Who is your base designer and who are your supergroup leaders?
The base designer is Bayne. The SG leaders are Bayne, Exodus, Korporshutz,
Nightclub, Red Switchblade, and Xanatos.
Which server is your base on, and is it a Hero or Villain SG?
The SG is on Virtue. It is a hero group. We have 4 hero SGs that make up our
extended SG, as well as one villain SG.
When was your supergroup established?
The Defenders of Paragon was established three years before CoH went live. The
SG existed on the original CoH forums during development, and was first brought
to life in the closed beta testing of the original release of CoH. When the
game went live, the SG was formed within the first few hours of the Head Start.
How many players are in your supergroup?
Our group has in excess of 100 players which account for over 400 characters in
our affiliated TDOP SGs.
What is the approximate value of your base?
The base is worth somewhere between 20 to 30 million Influence. I've haven't
spent the time to add it all up.
How much time do you spend working on your base? How much time have you
invested so far?
I spend maybe four hours a month on the base right now. In total I've spent
probably 200 hours or more editing the base as we have expanded it from the
original size to what it is today.
What is your favorite base item? Least favorite?
My favorite base item is Autonomous Expert System (AES). My lease favorite base
item is the Item of Power holder.
What is the highest thing on your wish-list for new base items?
My highest wish-list item is not a new item, but an intentionally designed
method of creating objects using a Z axis (height above the floor).
If you could give just one piece of advice to a new base editor, what would
it be?
My advice for a new base editor is to pay attention to the little things. That
table with enhancements in it needs to be emptied before you decide to do
something to it or else you risk loosing what was in it.
Anything else you'd like to add about your SG, your base or the base system
in general?
Preferred Method of contact: Registering at our website and posting on our
forums. Although meeting up with us in game is just as desirable.
Description:
"These guys have been around since the beginning and I'm sure they'll be here
'till the end!"
-Paragon city mayor on the subject of the Defenders.
Paragon City is full of crime and villains. The city cries out desperately for a
hope, an answer, a defense from the evils that fill it. The Defenders of
Paragon serve that hope and protect Paragon City. We shall use the powers
gifted to us to there fullest extent to defeat evil wherever it exists. We
stand for truth, justice, freedom, and righteousness. We are the ray of hope in
Paragon City's darkest hour. We are The Defenders.
It is accurate to say the Defenders are like the JSA of Paragon City. We are
comprised of the best of the old and boldest of the new. We pay homage to the
excellance that is the comic book industry through the characters we play. It
is because of this that we have such a wide variety of members and such a
brilliant mix of superheroes on the team. We have members at all level ranges,
and look to promote a roleplay-friendly family spirit in our supergroup.
We're not a "clan" or "guild." We are Superheroes.
The Defenders of Paragon are comprised of several in-game supergroups. All of
The Defenders of Paragon groups function as a branches of a single supergroup
for most game purposes.
- Bayne
-
Encounters
The People On:
Arachnos Chosen Ones vs. The Midnight Squad
As I took a break from my rounds around Kings Row, I stumbled upon the entrance
to the glorified club, the Pocket D. Thinking it would be easier to corner a
hero or villain this way since there would be no where for them to run, I
entered. As I moved, unnoticed, through the crowds, I saw the hero's hero...the
bartender. He was casually swaying along with the music, not doing his job
which was being done by the heroes surrounding him. I approached him from the
side counter, away from most of the heroes, to see what he thought about the
recent happenings since the re-emergence of the Midnight Squad and the numerous
amounts of new Arachnos soldiers...
Scoop Man: Hey there, can I get a bottle of water please?
Bar-Keep: Yeah I'll--oh!! Scoop Man!
SM: That's me. Mind if I asked you some questions? He pulls out a pencil and a
notepad.
BK: Uh, sure! This...this isn't going to get me in trouble with DJ Zero is it?
SM: Not unless you have some dirt on him I should know about. He grins
humorously.
BK: Oh! Oh no no... What would you like to know?
SM: I'd like to ask you about all the new Arachnos recruits around here.
BK: Oh is that all? Whew, well it certainly does create some interesting
conversation let me tell you. The heroes are all freaking out with the new
recruits. They're thinking they might get over-run in Bloody Bay or something.
SM: Have you ever seen any of them or talked to any recruits?
BK: Oh sure! They pop in and out of the blue side to heckle the heroes, but
nothing serious. It's like theyve got a "Free Pass Badge" on or something.
They think they can do anything now.
SM: You sound resentful. Any reasons why?
BK: Resentful! Oh heck no. It's great business! Lots of heroes are buying drinks
because they're pissed off about one thing or another BECAUSE of the recruits.
SM: So you support the large consumption of alcohol of heroes on the job? Kind
of taking advantage of them don't you think?
BK: What?? I didn't say that! Did...did I say that? I dunno maybe it SOUNDED
like I said that but I didn't!
SM: Right right right. How do you feel about the Midnight Squad? Do you think
that having them come back into the lime-light could help even out the odds for
the heroes?
BK: Well I can't say much for that. I don't know too much about them to be
honest but I have been seeing more and more heroes with Midnight Club badges
and it kind of makes me feel good.
SM: Why's that?
BK: Well, it's like a having one big club looking out for you, you know? Like,
the unity from friendship and all that jazz makes them stronger than the
military unity from Arachnos.
SM: So you think the Arachnos soldiers aren't as strong as the heroes? They just
have strength in numbers?
BK: NO! I mean uh, the heroes have powers and all that and the uh the soldiers
are uh...is- is Lord Recluse going to read this?
SM: Don't know. I get a lot of circulation.
BK: Heh... no, uh, no comment.
SM: I see, well it was nice talking to you. Thanks for the insight from the
people, I appreciate it. And thank you for the water.
BK: Yeah...yeah sure thing. The Bar-Keep pours himself a drink nervously as
Scoop Man leaves, notepad in hand.
As I left the bar, I knew what my next objective would be...find one of the
so-called "Chosen Ones," and see what they had to say about this. I didnt
think it would take me long to find one, but it would take me a while to find
the right one to talk to.
-
Community
The Fan Fiction Spotlight
The
Neighborhood Watch
By:
drrmidnight
Recently, the forums took note of the return of drrmidnight. Along with that
return, it was brought to our attention that the return of the Neighborhood
Watch was shortly on his heels.
As it stands, we're presented with a story going on in the background of the
general hub-bub of the City of Heroes universe. The main character is a
newcomer to the city, not even a hero as the story opens, and he is slowly,
meticulously introduced into the world we, the players, know so well.
Then the shock kicks in. The character, Doc Midnight, simply doesn't have the
time to do the job slowly and Ray Danner isn't learning quickly enough to keep
up. This is currently the theme of the comic, a classic "Passing the Torch"
scenario that is being stretched out so as we can see the training that is
usually so oversimplified in normal comics as to be almost a farce.
The comic seems to be very meticulously developed. Several scenes are cut in
very novel methods, with locations and characters recognizable as other areas
seeming much different with only a simple shift in camera angle. To get these
kinds of images has to be a difficult job for the author, and it's a good yarn
at the same time.
In the end, the story works. It's a good read, and with luck, we'll see more of
it in the future. I know I'm hooked.
Writing Your Own Fan Fiction
Developing characters
A story is something that happens to people.
Think about your favorite action films. When I think of Armageddon, the moment I
always remember is the moment when Bruce Williss character yanks the air hoses
off Ben Afflecks suit to force the decision of who stays and who goes. In The
Empire Strikes Back I remember Luke, I am your father, and I love you, I
know. In Terminator, its Come with me if you want to live. For that
matter, in Terminator 2 its Come with me if you want to live.
Fan fiction for the 'City of' world can take many different genres from
character driven to action, but always remember: a story is something that
happens to people. Is anyone going to care what happens to your characters?
A character that people care about must be distinctive, likable, interesting,
have realistic flaws (temper, arrogance, stubborn), realistic emotions (fear,
anger, jealousy), and should be physically appealing but not physically
perfect. No one is perfect, no one is motivated solely by duty and altruism.
Your characters will be more likable and more believable if their motivations
are realistic. Yes, absolutely, real people do have a sense of duty, but we are
also motivated by fear and reward. Let your character make mistakes and bad
choices, allow him to be selfish occasionally. Ultimately, it will make people
care more about him.
Finally, your character is a hero (or a villain,) but its not an interesting
story if he easily vanquishes all obstacles. The opponent should present a
challenge, in fact, should probably have an early win over the hero so that
your main character has to learn and overcome in order to win in the end.
If your characters are not interesting, believable, and likable, your stories
will not interest your reader. As you work on your fan fiction, always keep in
the front of your mind: a story is something that happens to people.
-
The Original Tank Mages SuperTeam
Time for another SuperTeam. If you recall from my previous articles, a SuperTeam
is a carefully crafted themed team designed to roll over mobs quickly and
easily. The ATs, power sets, and even individual powers are chosen to provide
maximum team buffs (often including the Leadership pool), plus AoE debuffs and
damage. This week I'll talk about the Tank Mages, a SuperTeam I ran right after
Sonic Resonance Defenders came out in
Update 5 (August 31, 2005).
What is a Tank Mage? It's a single character with great defense (Tank) and
offense (Mage) that's often ranged. This is generally viewed as a bad
combination from a game designer's point of view, but a great combination from
a player's point of view. Thanks to lots of stacked buffs, this SuperTeam
turned Defenders into Tank Mages. The ideal Tank Mage team is composed of 2
Force Field Defenders, 2 Sonic Resonance Defenders, and 4 Kinetics Defenders. I
started this SuperTeam during the same update as the Global Defense Reduction,
but we certainly didn't see any problems. This was also before Enhancement
Diversification. I'll include current numbers for buff stats below, but
understand that we had higher buffs when we originally did this SuperTeam.
The Force Field Defenders provide effectively capped defense, meaning mobs only
hit us 5% of the time. They have two individual bubbles (15% defense to most
attacks) that last for 4 minutes, plus a PBAoE toggle in Dispersion Bubble (10%
defense to all attacks). Slotted and double stacked from the 2 Defenders, that
adds up to 78% defense. Add in stacked Maneuvers for about 44% more, or 122%
defense total. We rarely got hit. Even without the individual bubbles (when the
FF Defenders got lazy), we were hard to hit.
The Sonic Resonance Defenders provide capped damage resistance to all but Psi
damage. They have two individual bubbles (20% damage resistance to most
attacks) that last for 4 minutes, plus a PBAoE toggle in Sonic Dispersion (15%
more). Slotted and double stacked that's 109% damage resistance to all but Psi,
but Defenders are limited to 75% Resistance. The hits that made it through the
Force Field bubbles didn't hurt much.
The Dispersion Bubbles gave us significantly more than Tanker level status
protection, except to Sleep. Sleep was the biggest hole in our protection as it
would take down our toggles, and sometimes lead to a cascade failure.
The Kins add all the usual Kin buffs including Transfusion (Heal), Speed Boost
(+Recharge, +Recovery, +Movement), Siphon Power and Fulcrum Shift (mob -Damage,
team +Damage), and Transference (+END). This was before stacking in the buff
bar, and we'd often have the entire visible bar (55 buffs) filled with Fulcrum
Shift icons.
We chose a variety of Secondary power sets, but Electric Blast was pretty
popular. It added more damage mitigation in that stacked Short Circuit was
enough to drain mobs of all their endurance. It also had 2 AoEs that could hit
16 targets, and they worked well when surrounded by massive numbers of mobs. I
had originally recommended Dark Blast due to the higher damage, but I highly
recommend going all Electric Blast now. The most effective play style is to sit
right in the middle of the mobs so you benefit from Transfusion, Transference,
and Fulcrum Shift, and the most effective secondary for that play style is
Electric Blast.
This is the SuperTeam where Blazing Imp started using Team Teleport and Group
Fly. Team TP kept everyone together inside the Dispersion Bubbles, in range of
Leadership, and close enough to benefit from Transfusion and Transference on
nearby mobs. We all ran Tactics, and that let us hit while running on
Invincible. The SuperTeam ran before aggro caps were introduced, so we were
able to herd large numbers of mobs. We'd TP into the middle of a spawn and
unload AoEs, usually defeating most of the minions and Lieutenants, and then
repeat for several more spawns. Eventually we'd stand still and finish off the
mass of bosses trailing after us. Group Fly gave us all Knockback protection,
which was easier to maintain than having the Kins spam Increase Density all the
time.
This is also the SuperTeam where I learned that you want as few builds as
possible. Some people level fast, some level slow, some play early, and some
play late. It's rare that you'll get a team of 8 people with the right power
sets and level distribution to actually play together. In the end, a single
team of 8 stuck together and half hit 50 the same night.
The biggest problem we had was that mob would run away after we sucked out all
their Endurance. If I were to do this team again, I'd replace 2 of the Kins
with Fire/Kin Controllers. Stacked Hot Feet would slow down the runners if Fire
Cages didn't immobilize them completely. I'd also do just a single team,
because the power set and level distribution would usually be messed up in a
large "everyone is invited" style SuperTeam.
Like the Fire/Rads, slotting was a bit strange. After the Kins got Fulcrum
Shift, there was no need to slot for damage. Tactics meant no need to slot for
significant accuracy. Stacked Speed Boost meant no need to slot for endurance,
since we didn't run out as long as the Kins were paying attention. We mainly
slotted attacks for recharge and secondary effects, like endurance drain in
Power Sink.
Feel free to grab a few friends and try this, and PM me if you have any
questions on it. I'm currently running a
VEAT SuperTeam on Justice, though it has lost critical mass. Maybe I
need to start a new SuperTeam.
Next Week: A New PvP SuperTeam
-
The City Scoop
Goin' Green
I know, you're wondering "Veng, why is such a powerful villain contemplating
helping the environment?". Well, the freakin' Devouring Earth have set up camp
outside of my VG's base, and I'm trying to make them leave. It's like every
time I break one, a couple take its place! But we should try to help the
environment. Even Aeon is with the totally clean and side-effect-free PTS. So
here are a few power sources to consider that will help the environment but
hurt people like nature intended. Now get off our porch!
Nictus Energy: If the Freakshow realize you can use this stuff to power Tanks,
why not power appliances? A Nictus power adapter draws dark energy from Nicti
(or Kheldians if you've beat up enough cops) to power whatever you want.
ANYTHING. I adapted the toaster the other day, and things haven't been better!
Now my toast tastes like pure hate and malice covered in butter. Save the
environment and make the world a more evil place!
Time Energy: So after an experiment with a coat hanger, a six-pack of energy
drinks and a bathtub full of duct tape, the leader of my VG adapted our Pillar
of Ice and Flame into a power source. And after plugging the fridge in, some
weird stuff has happened. The ketchup bottle is always full, food never expires
and sometimes when I open it, there's a full breakfast waiting for me.
Although, he did plug the teleporter into the Pillar, and I haven't seen him
since. *shrug* Since I don't understand the complex mechanics, I'm just going
to eat my cereal and not worry about it.
Mu Blood: Developed by the CoT, this incredibly unstable source is kind of hard
to power, which is why the few times I've seen it, some Heroes have been using
them. It's not like us Villains can just harvest some Mu and Recluse will turn
a blind eye. Bases powered by Mu blood tend to be....odd. Whispers of wars past
echo down the corridors, the lights are tinted red, and everything is all
static-y. And Arachnos attacks seem to increase against you. I'm not exactly
one to get energy through genocide, so I'm just gonna pass.
Troll Power: This is simple. Go to Skyway, grab a couple dozen Trolls. Put
sandwiches on strings, put the Trolls on treadmills in front of the sandwiches.
Duh. It's the villainous way to harness the power of the stupid for evil! Or
conversely, you Heroes are letting the Trolls vent their anger and are
preventing them from causing harm and destruction. Plus, you can always party
with them and harness the power of dance! Note: Dance is not a viable energy
source ever since the lawsuit M. Jackson v. E. Bunny. Disregard the notion.
Sapper Tech: Pretty easy to understand. After breaking a bunch of Malta faces,
they're rather eager to give you anything you want. After modifying a Sapper
rifle, you basically have a mobile energy source that can power anything you
want. There is a catch, in that stuff needs to be nearby for you to sap power.
Modify the antenna of your car, and zoom by as people's engines spontaneously
fail. Or just move to Cap Au Diable and live under the power lines. Make sure
to anger the energy demons for extra potency.
Funny story. The DE are gone, but now there seems to be an angry mob in front of
our base. I'm not sure whether to make a deal or turn the sprinklers on. Still,
make sure to help the environment in the most evil/heroic way possible. Or I'll
gnaw your face off. Save the whales and send me hate mail!
Vol. 2, Issue 3
June 27th, 2008
This Issue:
Upcoming Events
June 28th:
June 29th:
June 30th:
July 5th:
-
This announcement is to notify the Community that the North American Official Message Boards will be unavailable starting at 8:00 AM- 12:00 PM Central Monday morning.
The estimated down time will be less than 3 hours.
If you have threads you would like to be kept through this process please make sure to make a recent post or contact someone on the moderator team to mark the thread to be saved.
Any questions please don't hesitate to PM Lighthouse or Ex Libris or the moderators Niviene & Koschej.
Regards,
Ex Libris -
OP has been updated.
Ex -
OP has been updated.
Camo, the html tags happen once I post because I have settings that allow for both.
It is a good idea to keep a saved file for you to update on your end with new guides that filter in, also I normally remove the portion of the address from url= to /showflat so that the guide will show up as Villain and Hero friendly.
So effectively putting in an address of url=/showflat(cut at end of first numbers) will net you the guide url in whatever version the other user is logged in and viewing from.
The only case where this won't work is if you are using the links outside of our boards, in which case you need the boards.cityofheroes or boards.cityofvillains for links like that to work properly.
Let me know if you have additional questions and thanks for the updates.
Ex -
I gave tons of clues even quoting Shakespeare in the effort. It doesn't get better than this teaser until the real deal shows up to blow your mind.
Not everything in the Matrix is controlled by us.
Ex -
For all you media fiends we have something planned that we will be officially announcing next week. So get your goggles on and get ready for a wild ride! Stay tuned for more details early next week.
To discuss this topic please join us here in the multi-media forums!
Regards,
Ex Libris -
For all you media fiends we have something planned that we will be officially announcing next week. So get your goggles on and get ready for a wild ride! Stay tuned for more details early next week.
To discuss this topic please join us here in the multi-media forums!
Regards,
Ex Libris -
And I thought folks would be sad they were missing our party!
I'm here to clarify a few things that have been brought up in this thread.
1) You must be an attendee of Comic Con to get a pass.
2) You do not have to be +21 to get a pass.
3) You must be +21 to attend the party which is at a local club in San Diego.
4) There are 1000 passes, so it is first come first serve, although we will allot a certain amount daily.
5) There are also 1000 passes to the party that do not have an exclusive item for non-subscribers.
It is always tough in Community Development and building to please everyone. If we had to do this we would ultimately do nothing.
We understand the concerns, and the unsettled feelings, however we are going to take advantage of the opportunities we have to do fun and dynamic events when we are able. Ultimately growth and success of events like this will mean growth and success for future events and we have to start somewhere.
Again if anyone has any concerns please feel free to drop me a line at exlibris@ncsoft.com.
Regards,
Ex
