Ex_Libris

CHAPTER ONE

Sarah sat quietly on the grassy hill, watching the most magnificent sunset she had seen for a very long time. She was above the treeline of the forest here, and if she leaned back her entire field of view was full of reds, oranges and purples. There was a slight chill in the air, a cool breeze coming from the South, but it didn’t bother her. This was a rare moment, and she would milk it for everything it was worth.

“I guess I should not be surprised to see you here.”

She didn’t turn to look at the young man who had interrupted her thoughts, she knew Brother Crelis’s voice well enough. The young monk was her tutor in ‘self-awareness’. A subject which everybody seemed to take very seriously, though Crelis himself was probably the most laid-back of all the brothers.

“Where did you expect to find me?” Sarah asked absently.

“Your first evening off in four months, I thought that a teenager would like to spend it in town. A night club, a movie, something to let you forget who and what you are… even if for just a few hours.”

She turned to look at him, “What would be the point? I would still have to go back to the monastery at the end of the day.”

“Does that trouble you?”

“No, no, I’m happy with the work we’re doing.”

Crelis smiled, “No you’re not – but it is kind of you to say so.”

Sarah turned her eyes back to the sky and watched it in silence, noting how much the patterns and colours had changed in so little time.

“Normally we would be in training at this time,” Sarah said, “I have not seen a sunset since Summer.”

Crelis nodded, “I have missed them too, that is why I came here. I did not mean to disturb you.”

“It’s alright, I appreciate the company.”

“If it is company you seek, why are you not in town?”

“Better to be all alone, on my own, than all alone in a crowd. I would walk in, make friends of convenience, and then never see them again. It would be a waste of time. I’m leaving soon, I can tell. The Abbot tries to hide it but I know the time is near. I can’t believe he thinks that I’m ready.”

“Do you think that you’re ready?”

Sarah laughed, “You never stop being the tutor, do you?”

“It was a reflex reaction.”

“Well I don’t feel ready. I guess I’m comfortable with the combat training, but I still have doubts about my faith.”

Crelis smiled, “It is not a sin to ask questions, Sarah, what troubles you?”

“Sometimes I just… do you ever wonder whether we’re the victims of an extraordinary hoax? That maybe the world mocks and ridicules us because they see, and we do not?”

“I do. Sometimes I do. Do not let your doubt trouble you, I’m sure even the Abbot has such thoughts on occasion. It reflects the streak of humility that I have come to admire in you, you accept that you could be wrong.”

Sarah was not satisfied, “But what if God does not exist? It is so hard to believe in someone whom I have never seen, to put my trust in reports which are almost two thousand years old.”

Crelis pointed towards the West, “What does the setting sun say to you?”

Sarah nodded and repeated one of many lessons, “Yes, yes, I know, the creator has revealed himself through the majesty of his creation.”

“Is that all?”

“What else is there?”

Crelis smiled, “What did Brother Armaway advise us not to do during last month’s Solar Eclipse?”

“He said don’t look at it, of course.”

“Of course. The sun is bright, and beautiful, and it provides us with warmth without which we would die. Yet we cannot look straight at it, it is too powerful for us. But now, with the sun hidden by the mountains and the sky filled with clouds, we are treated to a most dazzling display – a reflection of the sun’s brilliance. Do not ask to see the Father face-to-face, you would not survive. But we see the reflection of his majesty every day. Were we not made in the image of God? Did not Jesus say, ‘If you have seen me, you have seen the Father’?”

“I guess so,” Sarah pondered Crelis’ words as the light continued to fade and dark, purple clouds stretching towards the West, like folds of satin cloth. “I just wish I knew what He was doing.”

“God works, in all things, for the good of his people. What more do we need to know?”

“Well, for a start, how about when am I leaving and what am I being trained for? I mean, I’m grateful that the Order took me in after my parents died, but I’m growing tired of not knowing. I still don’t know why a peaceful Order is training me to fight, it just doesn’t make any sense. What use is a high-kick going to be if I am turning the other cheek?”

Crelis sighed, “That is a good question. I think everyone at the monastery would give you a different answer. What do you think?”

“Well, Jesus could have called down an army of Angels to defend him when he was arrested, but chose not to, so it can’t just be for self-defence. I can’t believe I am going to fight for my country, since almost all wars are fuelled by corruption and greed. Who then am I to fight for?”

“For them,” Crelis pointed towards the town to the North.

“What do you mean?”

“People like them, at least. I know where you are going, Sarah, though I’m not supposed to tell you. You are going to Paragon City, and you will be leaving very soon. There is much work to do there, more than any of us can comprehend. There are many who will try to stop you…”

“What kind of work?”

Crelis smiled, “If I tell you, the Abbot will have nothing left to reveal. He does so enjoy revealing things.”

Somewhere nearby a twig snapped. Sarah swung her heads towards the sound, expecting to find nothing, and was startled to see a tall man facing them. He was hard to see in the fading light, but his clothes were dark and his face masked. He was standing perfectly still, mid-stride, as if he was hoping to avoid detection.

“Sarah…” there was concern in Crelis’ voice, but before he could continue Sarah saw movement all around them. At least a dozen other men had emerged from the darkness, all similarly garbed

“I am about to tell you to do something,” Crelis whispered to Sarah, “you must obey instantly without any question or hesitation.”

Sarah did not like this at all. The men had encircled them, but they kept their distance. She observed that Crelis’ stance was of a man prepared to fight, balanced on the balls of his feet with his knees bent.

One of the men stepped forward from the group with an air of arrogance about him. He wore a long, dark coat and a cloth mask which hid the upper half of his face. Sarah could not see any weapons on the man, but his hostile intentions seemed obvious.

“Crelis,” the man said, “I never thought that you would become a monk, of all things.”

“It is better,” Brother Crelis replied, “than what I was – what you have become.”
“We have no complaint with you, old friend. Walk away.”

“You know I can’t do that Trilesk.”

The dark man shrugged, “A shame. We have already killed your brothers at the monastery, I guess you will have to join them.”

“Sarah,” Crelis said, “run!”

She ran. It broke her heart, but she ran, for she had already guessed what Crelis’ instruction would be. She darted towards the men waiting behind her, who flinched at her speed. One of them stepped forward and reached out to grab her, but she seized his arm and used his own strength to send him flying through the air into the other men. She took advantage of the confusion to leap through the gap in the circle and run at full speed towards the forest edge. They would not catch her, she was certain that she could outrun them.

Sarah wanted to turn back to see Crelis one last time, but could not. One false step could have her trip and fall, plus she knew what she would see. Crelis was a skilled fighter, but could never match so many opponents. Sheer weight of numbers would bring him down. Even if she had fought beside him, the result would have been the same.

By the time she had reached a safe distance, Sarah knew that she had done the right thing. That did not stop the tears from welling in her eyes. She sat against a tree, shrouded by shadow, and wept.

In all things God works for the good of his people, so Crelis had reminded her, so the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome. She glared at the sky, now black and lifeless, and said, “What good could possibly come from this?”

((Best advice I can give....hmmmm. Starting off just hang around some RP'ers and chat. Keep it light hearted......just like real life.

There's no need to go overboard and plan out a detailed history and everything right from the get go. You may have an idea what you want 'Solo' to be....and RP'ing with some folks could help you flesh out those details. RP isn't tough....all it takes is a little practice.

If you want to take a different direction with the character and it doesn't mean changing your powers totally, altering your responses to reflect a mood, etc will be noticed by folks you RP with regularly.....and in turn the 'change of direction' can become an RP theme in itself.

So basically kick back, relax and above all......have fun. ))

You can solo orange with just Fire Breath and Fire ball +aim and buildup. You open with Fire Breath and end the fight with Fireball a total of about 5sec and all mobs are down.

At best the mobs will get 1 round of attacks on you and most mobs will no kill you in that round. There will be no second round of attack when they are face down.

The "problem" with your view is that it´s low lvl. Fire rain is great at low lvl but at high lvl it don't have the dmg to kill anymore.
With your tactic an orange group would shoot 4-5 times before you even lay down Fire Rain. 4-5 Times from 10 orange is can be around 3000-5000dmg think you can take that?

Only suggestion so far, I was scrollign through my bindings to see what I had done. So then I wanted to add the next one. I made the changes and hit "Store Bind" and instead it overwrote my old one. I didn't see it had switched to "Update Bind". So maybe allow a way to cancel the edit mode and go back to new mode.

P.S. Doh, just noticed. You're missing Prestige Power Rush. It's the one I got from Gamestop. At least I'm pretty sure it's called Rush....

P.P.S. Just tried adding a binding to numpad0 using team with a parameter of "$target, Do you have any free inspiration slots?" except without the double quotes. It will not output that binding to a file. It's stored and can be seen in the binding list, just doesn't output.

Is there a limit to the number of story arcs you can complete?

I ask because, although these are the ideals, why not just do ALL missions?

Found a problem with my bind_load_file commands, I'll have the fixed version up shortly.

If walking ten blocks clothed in King's Row is going to get you mugged, walking naked the same distance is going to get you mugged AND arrested. Crazy Baby Boom found this out the hard way.

making his merry way down the street to the next water mainline (amazing what a cold shower can do isn't it?), a cop car pulls by and slows down on his right. To his left, a pack of Skulls come barreling out of the alleyway.

it was like a scene out of an old western. Good guys on one side, bad guys on the other and an innocent caught in-between.

"hey buddy, zip 'em up. We gotta arrest you and these fools," the cop and his buddy train riot guns on the skulls and Crazy Baby Boom. The Skulls in return pull out pieces, gats and another gang related pain dealing parephenelia. Boom just grabs his gear and tries to subtly remove himself from the soon-to-be conflagaration.

"Sorry, guys I've got laundry to do," he says not too apologetically.

"You can put me down now... Ive got to do some repairs" Nathan said, nudging Lobe's back with his foot.

As the massive hero lowered him to the ground, Nathan closed his left eye, using the retinal screen installed there to preform a self diagnostic scan.

"Stupid bloody fifth column..." He muttered, flipping open a compartment in his left boot, revealing a few tools and various spare parts. Selecting a sodering iron and what looked to be a long steel spike, Nathan reached around, removing a small sheet of armored plastisteel from his back.

"Well... need a new one of these." He said to noone in particular as he tossed the armor plating aside.

The small group of heroes watched curiously as Nathan began to repair the damaged circuits on his back with one hand, skillfully sodering the broken cybernetic links back into place as he reached back down to his boot and pulled out a replacement peice of armor of about the same size as the one he had just thrown away.

"There we go." He said as he fitted the new armor securely over the repaired circuits and replaced his tools into his boot compartment, snapping it shut. "Much better"

Standing, Nathan expanded his dispersion field around the group, nodding to them curtly.

"Dont mind the field, I just feel safer with one up at all times, one of my quirks I suppose..." He said.

Thanks Gek, have been a fan of all your hard work since beta.
I had to wait 26 levels to fit Hasten into my build, and I am praying that it will not be changed. I know things change all the time, but since beta the two major draws to the game for me have been that our characters are superheros (dont need near as much nerfing as other MMORPGS because our powers should be extraordinary) and that we can feel confident when we use a hard earned power slot, it won't be wasted.
I can tell you at 24th-26th it is a long wait to get that next slot, can only imagine the wait from 34 to 36
My main concern is one that will affect my 26th level Magic hero tho. It was my understanding that no matter what origin we picked we would have the same rights as any other origin.
However after much research in game and on the boards, I have come to find that since I chose a Magic origin, Endurance Recovery SO's (for one, Flight speed another)are not available to me but other origins get them 30-35ish. People saying this is a bug in the game. Mutants supposedly get them at 27 other origins at 32.
My 32nd level friends have done the quest to open their special contacts, Mutants get em, Magic does not.
I built my character with endurance recovery as my primary enhancer to my group. These SO's are very important to my build.
Irregardless of me and my woes, you Devs have been wonderful about including us, your customer base, in all of the decisions you can, and you keep us one of the most informed player bases in the gaming world.
So, I want to say that this deserves something, those people who chose Magic Origins and any other ones that may have bugs deserve to know if a fix is forthcoming (or should we remake our characters as mutants who get these SO's at 27th), even better an estimated timeline for a fix.
This should be a fix for sooner rather than later as it seems all the origins should have the same ability to get origins if we meet the quest criteria that others do.
Last night when I was grouped the Mutant Defender had their SO's while the Magic Defender seemed quite useless when the Mutant said, "Nah let me do that, mine are better".
Thanks for your help and all your hard work

Woot. I saved it, thanks!

For those wondering about the differences between now and beta:

In beta, defenders did 85% damage of a blaster, had equal endurance costs, and more HP... Basically, they were super blasters.

Consider the situation now, after the recent endurance cost improvements of other classes: Defender now hits for 65% damage of a blaster, powers cost 10% more, HP identical. Now for example add AM, JUST ONE BUFF THAT WORKS ON THE WHOLE GROUP. It gives 25% damage boost, 33% endurance recovery, some unknown amount of haste, run speed, and status effect resistance.

I think there can be no question that defenders are a much bigger boon to a group.

[ QUOTE ]
The ideas, questions and comments that people keep posting are constantly making me view this stuff in a new light. I love it! Doing this kind of stuff is what I liked about programming back before I got sucked into the corporate machine. Somebody has a goal, then a whole bunch of people go "Yeah! I want that!", and band together to make something great (or make a great thing even better)!

[/ QUOTE ]
Virtually everyone I know in software (myself included -- I write Intertial Navigation Systems software for Honeywell) feels the exact same way. It's pretty sad that I exceed expectations for output and efficiency with the amount of time I devote to actual "work."

Hey Ahzurdan,

I think you read my previous post before I edited it... yes, after a bit more study, I realized that the double sprint didn't cause a problem. A VERY elegant solution to some of the problems we've encountered. You will still toggle sprint on and off if you're running left (A), but not forward, and then press right (F) before releasing the first, but it'll be so quick, and you need to stop to change directions 180 anyway, that it won't be noticeable.

I'm so optimistic, and impressed, that I've already modified your files to use the keys I prefer, and can't wait to get home to test it. Well Done!

Gnarly

Well Done WeaponX!

Clever and useful. I'm making this a favorite in case I ever make a healer.

[ QUOTE ]
File mantinance and updateing would be much easier under a linux system or if I took the time to set up a programming enviroment again. I do not have any problem writing more files to keep the system robust, but it is cutting into my playing time and real life keeps raising its ugly head.

[/ QUOTE ]
What do you think I provided you with an account to, my WinME box?

Overview
----------
This /bind setup allows you to use one key to target only your teammates by cycling through them. The unique thing about this setup is that you can specify the number of people in your team (2-8) and your position in the team (1-8) to take yourself out of the targeting loop. This cuts out the need to press the button twice when the cycle reaches your position in the team.

Download
----------
You can download the files you will need from here: http://web.utk.edu/~cjones7/CoH/Select.zip

Installation
------------
This is probably the annoying part. I'm quite anal about the directory structure I use, so this version of the bind requires you to unzip the "Select" folder and all its subfolders into your "C:\Games\CoH\Binds\" Folder. You're going to have to manually create those folders if you don't already have them to use this version of the bind setup (more on future versions later).

Once you have extracted the files to the appropriate location, you need to load the setup file through the in-game GUI by typing "/bind_load_file C:\Games\CoH\Binds\Select\Select.txt" in the chat window.

Usage
------
When you load the binds, the following keys will be bound to these defaults:<ul type="square">[*][C]: Cycles forwards through your teammates. The default party size is 8, and it cycles through all 8 players including your avatar.[*][Shift + C]: Cycles backwards through your teammates. The default party size is 8, and it cycles through all 8 players including your avatar.[*][Ctrl + Numpad0]: Reloads the setup file located at "C:\Games\CoH\Binds\Select\Select.txt".[*][Ctrl + Numpad2]: Specifies your party size to be 2.[*][Ctrl + Numpad3]: Specifies your party size to be 3.[*][Ctrl + Numpad4]: Specifies your party size to be 4.[*][Ctrl + Numpad5]: Specifies your party size to be 5.[*][Ctrl + Numpad6]: Specifies your party size to be 6.[*][Ctrl + Numpad7]: Specifies your party size to be 7.[*][Ctrl + Numpad8]: Specifies your party size to be 8.[/list]Once you have selected your team size, the following keys are re-bound with the noted improved functionality:<ul type="square">[*][C]: Cycles forwards through your teammates. The party size is now the size you specified, but it still cycles through all players in the team including your avatar.[*][Shift + C]: Cycles backwards through your teammates. The party size is now the size you specified, but it still cycles through all players in the team including your avatar.[/list]The versatility of this setup comes into play after you have specified your party size with [Ctrl+Numpad(2-8)]. So, once you have input the size of your team, you should determine your position in the team. When you have your team panel open, the player at the top of the list is the team's leader and is considered to be in Position 1 for the purpose of these binds. The player directly below the team leader is considered to be in Position 2. Following this trend, the positions increment as you step down the list, to a maximum position of 8, which is the player at the bottom of the list for an eight player team. Once you have used this for a while, this will become easy to distinguish at a glance.

To specify your position in your team:<ul type="square">[*][Alt + Numpad1]: Selects the First position in a team.[*][Alt + Numpad2]: Selects the Second position in a team.[*][Alt + Numpad3]: Selects the Third position in a team.[*][Alt + Numpad4]: Selects the Fourth position in a team.[*][Alt + Numpad5]: Selects the Fifth position in a team.[*][Alt + Numpad6]: Selects the Sixth position in a team.[*][Alt + Numpad7]: Selects the Seventh position in a team.[*][Alt + Numpad8]: Selects the Eighth position in a team.[/list]If you specify your group size to be under eight, only the positions up to your maximum group size can be selected. Once you have selected your position, the following keys are re-bound with noted improved functionality:<ul type="square">[*][C]: Cycles forwards through your teammates. The party size is still the one you specified earlier, but it now cycles through other players on your team only -- it excludes your avatar.[*][Shift + C]: Cycles backwards through your teammates. The party size is still the one you specified earlier, but it now cycles through other players on your team only -- it excludes your avatar.[/list]Note that you can re-specify the size of your team at any time, but when you do so you will also have to re-specify your position in the group. I figured this was the easiest way to set it up since there's no way to know whether somebody abover you or below you in the list would be the cause for the change in group size.

Future Versions
-------------
I'm willing to bet that most people would prefer to install this somewhere other than "C:\Games\CoH\Binds\". I wish that the whole community could come up with a standard to use so that we never had this issue again, but we haven't yet -- so please give me some feedback for what directory you would prefer this to install to. I'm sure there are at least a few typos I need to catch with this many files involved, so if you find something that isn't working properly, please let me know.

Also, I'm not exactly happy with using the 'C' key for this bind. I'm considering using the tilde key (~) right above tab in addition to 'C' since it places your hand right next to the number keys. Hopefully this will save time between targetting and casting.

These look like nice binds, and I especially like the inclusion of Super Speed. My first thought, however, would be that they're not as robust since in battle you often mistakenly press 2 opposite keys at the same time, like w &amp; s, or especially a &amp; d since they each use different fingers.

But after looking and thinking more, and editing this message maybe they just momentariy slow you down to no-sprint or hover modes for a split second while the 2 illegal keys are pressed, but they don't break?

I can't check them out, however, because I can't get into the game right now. If they do work that way, I may adapt them for my own use. Quite clever, and a good way to reduce the increasingly massive amount of files we're getting with our 1 key combo = 1 file binds.


Gnarly

Another little addition that might help, Wasabi: Add commands to reset hover and/sprint on your reset keys. You know, using:

While on the ground, to make sure nothing is activated:
powexec_name fly$$powexec_name hover$$powexec_name sprint$$powexec_unqueue

While flying, to make sure only hover is active:
powexec_name sprint$$powexec_name fly$$powexec_name hover$$powexec_name hover

These, added to your forward 0 type commands, and the bind_load_file, will set everything right with the world. Since my setup uses 2 separate keys, one for air and one for ground, I use the Shifted version to reset in either mode, and therefore the resets are just 'hardwired' once in my keybinds.txt and never changed.

Gnarly

In Wasabi Joe's defense, I'd like to point out that these are not bugs. His programming is fine, it's your FINGERS that are out of control

Seriously though, he is rightly trying to minimize the number of files required by not including key combinations that should be impossible or at least uncommon because they use the same finger. Ok, so it turns out these combinations are needed when these binds are used in the heat of battle, but his binds are correct.

Anyway, I applaud Wasabi Joe for his patience and persistence in continuing to modify his binds. I did these myself, for the esdf keys, and also had to add a lot of extra little files for impossible combinations. As the number of files grows, keeping them all up to date, or even making a small change like removing mouselook in all of them, becomes VERY time consuming and tedious. I eventually said "OK, they break rarely enough now that I can just hit the reset keys when they do."

So THANK YOU, Wasabi-Man, for all the work. If you didn't do it, I probably would be, and I sure wouldn't want that!

Gnarly

Jotun: It's a robust setup that allows you to specify the number of party members and your position in the party to allow the 'C' key to cycle forwards through your teammates and [Shift+C] to cycle backwards.

Carrying the new member, Nathan, Lobe followed the others as they made their way back to Boomtown's security gate. A muffled thud caused him to look west. Off in the distance a smallish cloud of smoke slowly rises above some ruined buildings and disipates. "Gee, I wonder what that was?"

The others, apparently missing the mumbled words, keep moving.

Then a forlorn look shadows Lobe's face. "Poor Mr. Brown, yup. Now he has no where to live," he laments, saddened by Mr. Brown's loss.

A single remaining brick from his passage through the afformentioned building's wall, falls from its unstable perch upon Lobe's left shoulder. It lands on the cracked asphalt and dissapears beneath Lobe's left foot. When Lobe lifts his foot, all that remains is a grey dust, which quickly dissipates in the stiff breeze. Lobe doesn't notice.

I'll add that as soon as I get done writing my new team_select bind setup.

Supergroup Name:
Paragon Mechanized Defense Squad
Leader:
Atlas Prime
Contact:
Ingame, Forum PM, E-Mail ( [Censored] )
Group Description:
This squadron has been brought to life by Paragon City Intelligence
in order to create a versatile defense force against any bio-lethal threats.

To Serve. To Protect. To Enforce.

( this group is meant to result in an actually roleplaying ... thing.
there are 3 things necessary to enter:
1. a "robotic" char
2. some kinda story behind ya
3. that thing that makes u laugh at ur boss, when he tells you that u suck ... humor

i'd be glad to welcome anyone interested. 'til then ...

Does your smoke grenade ever miss? Also, is there a point to getting both smoke grenade and cloaking device?

First, should I be taking smoke grenade asap?

Second, what exactly are swarms? Is it a mob type, or just a way of saying a big group.