JelloMold

All items have been showing the price bug for a loooong time. About a year, at least.

....



I sat staring blankly at the screen, drooling just a little bit after reading this. You've just described a little piece of heaven.

Should nothing come of this ever, thanks for the dream.

I'm inclined to believe that somewhere along the line the 14k 'soft limit' went out the window. I've got multiple bases at or above that line, one of which sits at 18k+, gets extended daily use (RP), and has been at this point problem-free for most of a year now. I know that the 'hard' 20k limit on decorative items exists, because I hit it while decorating the gym for the group's prom last year.

Wall Banners can get a *fairly* uniform color going on. There's a little bit of texture shading to contend with for certain shades, but nothing too bad. Most colors will show up slightly grayed out.

For a large screen, I'd recommend using the large wall banners from the Wall Items tab. Just set both your SG colors (on the Supergroup Settings page) to the desired color and go to town.

I'm not aware of any means to get a green floor, however. We can get white, gray, and several shades of brown pretty easily with desks and cabinets. There are some items that are 'invisible' from below, though. Depending on the angles you need, you could place a Floor Tile from the Room Details tab for your subject to stand on midway up a wall of large banners, then put your camera below the tile and have a full-body shot of the character in a sea of green.

For usable rooms (with cameras and the like) 16 feet (four safes) seems to be ideal. 12 feet (three safes) is workable, but can get tight. If there's more horizontal space (fewer walls) to swing your camera, then the tightness is less of an issue.

Bonus fun fact: The absolute minimum clearance that a character of ANY height can walk 'under' is 7 feet. This applies equally to a 4' imp and an 8'+ mohawked dragon.

Yes for RWZ, no for Cimerora. Hacked telepads are new incoming base items that look exactly like the current telepads, require exactly the same salvage to create, cost a little more prestige to place, but can hold six (6!) zone beacons instead of the usual two (2).

1. When I've done it, I use the large glass for the windows, since they can overlap without clipping so long as you rotate every other one 180 degrees.

2. The large lights might be useful for a moon or something, but I haven't played with that option. For some illusion of closer/farther stars, try using a mix of the regular Wall Lights and the Wall Light (Off) variety.

3. Setting the 'stars' directly on the black banners works fine. All you lose is some of the lights' backing which you don't need. Pulling them forward allows them to 'move' more as you walk by, but that actually hurts your illusion in this case, since stars are so incredibly distant that they appear stationary.

Example shot from Westbrook Academy's Temporary OOC Anniversary Celebration Moonbase:

You hit the big ones that I know of in the OP except for one: SG banners in large numbers. I don't notice it affecting much until the number gets into the dozens, but there is a notable effect. Other specific items in the high polygon and movement categories: plants/planters and tech monitors (with the flashing screens).

And for the love of all things bright and beautiful, hide the clipping.

One of The Arcadium's coalitions is about to enter an open enrollment period. For details, see the post here or check out Westbrook Academy's website.

Name: Westbrook Academy For Metahumans

Currently Recruiting: We will be taking applications from November 28th to December 11th. We recruit differently than most groups preferring to get a batch of new members every few months to give them time to get acclimated with the group.

RP Level: We are a medium to heavy RP group. Our SG Channel, team chat and local are all treated as IC space. The only OOC chatter here should be for clarification. We have a separate global channel for OOC communication. In addition to this we have over arcing story arcs. These story arcs are group wide events that effect all characters in the group in some way. We also focus on long term effects and consequences from IC actions. This is not a group to go flying by the seat of your pants but as such becomes a very strong cohesive RP environment.

PvP Level: We have no PVP focus.

Theme/Concept: Westbrook Academy is a private secular high school founded by the late William Westbrook (a former hero who died in the Rikti Invasion). It focuses on the every day lives of teenagers who are dealing with the abilities they have. In addition to all of the normal problems a teenager faces there is also the additional challenges of being a part time licensed hero.

We have a serious RP style which is melded with a traditional comic book world. In a city of heroes, powers are commonplace. The lunch lady might be a mad scientist and the janitor might be an ex super villain. This doesn’t mean that the characters or the stories they have to tell are goofy; in fact, it’s just the opposite. In our world, we take a very realistic approach to our characters and the consequences for their actions. The idea is to create an interesting dichotomy by taking a comic book world seriously. For comic references I recommend “Top 10” or “Astro City.”

Lastly Westbrook is a low powered SG. For the most part we are just teens with powers who patrol. There is no room for demigods, supermen, or otherwise extremely powered individuals in this group as it would break our over-arcing story arcs.

We ask that prospective members read our Roleplay page for a clearer picture of our scope and scale.

Activity: We have a medium sized and very active player base. Prime time for our group is typically between 9:00 PM and 1:00-2:00 AM EST most nights. There will always be at least a few people on during these times but often as many as 15 or 20.

Requirements for Membership: We ask that you sign up on our website. We have a formal process for handling applications which can be found here. Keep in mind that the SG as a whole is low powered and as such your character should be designed to fit. Your character must also be a high-school student.

Leadership: @Johnny Awesome, @Cyhiraeth, @JelloMold, @TheMindfulFool, @Trayce1

In-Game Contact(s): @JelloMold

Out-of-Game Contact(s): Our web site’s forum.

URL: www.westbrooksg.com

Coalitions: The Arcadium. The Arcadium is a project started by one of our members. It is a shared RP space that groups may coalition with. For more information please contact @JelloMold.

Other Details: We will be having a public RP night, rooftop stargazing in Atlas Park, on Wednesday, November 30, starting at 9 p.m. EST for prospective members to get a feel for our RP style and the characters we have to offer. Send a tell to one of the leaders on Wednesday for which instance of Atlas Park and which rooftop.

The times they gave in the announcement were 7 EDT to 12 EDT, which means Eastern Daylight Time. Now, I can't be sure why the patch was on daylight savings while the rest of us were on Standard (6 EST to 11 EST), but I am happy to greet our gift from the future.

The same thing happened to me with the Paragon points stipend. I got October's on 10/12, and then nothing in November. I opened a support ticket, and they informed me that I don't get any more points until December 1 and that I somehow have the correct amount of points on my account right now. I'm guessing either I can't read a calendar (November's still a month, right? It didn't get the Pluto treatment and downgrade while I wasn't looking?) or something went wonky when the fix for the stipend dates went in.

I really wanted that Halloween pack, too. Major bummer.

If he's allowed to be in the SG (meaning he has the necessary tier of Paragon Rewards, which I believe is "anything past the freebie"), then he should be allowed to enter the base. I've heard tales from long ago of bases that have been 'shut down' for inactivity when they go unused for an extremely extended period. If the legends I heard are correct, a GM can fix it. I don't know what kind of in-game support premium accounts are getting, so I don't know how easy or difficult that attempted fix might be for him.

I am absolutely in love with my forcefield defender, the one with all nine of his primary powers in his tray and used.

Detention field with a couple cheap +Mez Hami-Os locks down every AV I've tried it on up to and including Ghost Widow in the STF lieutenants fight. One shot, and the fight is that much easier. Romy doesn't beat on us with his sword while we burn down his angry puffballs. Riptide doesn't skewer us while we slaughter his pal. No one calls for air strikes while we chase that damn teleporting Duray around Skyway City.

The KB and Repel toggles are magic in BAFs. Not only does it keep the minion escapees milling around in confusion while they get mowed down, but it very clearly highlights the KB-proof lieutenants for especially angry doom. And Terra Volta trials have never been more dull. The only reason to actually kill the mobs 'attacking' the core (I'm told they attempt to hit it or something, but I've only run it on my FFer.) is to give yourself something to do.

Repulsion Bomb, in addition to doing as much damage as my defender's first blast in a nice-sized aoe, also knocks most of the mob off its feet (good-bye alpha strike) and stuns a good chunk of them. Paired with Psionic Tornado, only the very lucky enemies get a word in edgewise before they're dead. And it doesn't hurt that everyone it touches gets a healthy dose of Interface debuffing.

Forcebolt's usefulness has already been covered.

My forcefielder doesn't use every tool in his kit in every fight. I have a Kin if I want to start twitching like a child with ADHD and a twelve pack of Mt. Dew. However, there is no task I've encountered that my forcefielder can't make easier. And then he makes you unhittable and unmezzable because he's got some free time.

Long overdue update to the coalition listing and preview pictures. Shots of the Magic Store will be added as soon as I take them.

Several wall items will allow you to place other wall items on them at an angle. My favorite for this is the Large Wall Light, but it is by no means the only one that works.

Placing the rotated item in just the right spot usually takes a bit of trial and error with the Cubicle and Wall Light. When you 'break' the item's box like this, it can be difficult to predict exactly where it will end up.

By sheer accident found out that the Bullseye emblem still shows up like it should. Then went through and tested every single symbol, but only the Bullseye seems to have eluded this bug.

That doubles our options.

This business model sounds right up my alley. Pretty picture for pretty picture is pretty close to a fair trade in my book.

At the very least, I'm interested in seeing what you'd like done. I have a mall and a school campus on Virtue I can show you in lieu of a resume. My global is @JelloMold and I should be in game this afternoon and tonight.

I have a base that regularly hovers in the 18,000-19,000 range and has for the past six months at least. So far, no instances of disappearing into the void. It seems doable to me, but your mileage may vary depending on which items you use. Motion (trees), particle effects (torches), and high polygon count (pale wood book shelves) have proven to have a negative effect on base performance in large numbers and/or concentrations.

....This is amazing.

Neo, you absolutely rock. You have created one of my new favorite toys. I may never do anything productive ever again.

I couldn't think of a better place to post this than the guide that got me excited about playing a FF Defender with all nine primary powers.

A use I don't see listed for Detention Field is multiple-AV fights. Most AVs do not resist intangibility. What this means for fights like Nictus Rommy and any AV fight in the Sutter TF is that the team only has to worry about one angry purple enemy at a time. With two standard Recharge IOs and a few +recharge set bonuses, the power is ready to cast as soon as it wears off and Rommy (and all the ambushes tied to his untouchable health bar) watches helplessly as the team demolishes his three pretty little clouds of hate.

What makes this power shine like none other is two Acc/Mez HOs which (contrary to what the power info tells you in game) increase the magnitude of the effect (not the duration). So armed, my defender can hover onto an STF, take the 'unmezzable' Ghost Widow out of the lieutenants fight with one shot, and watch the controllers wet themselves with jealousy.

It's not the most-used tool in my belt, but it's worth the power choice + three extra slots every time I get to ask my team which AV they want to fight first.

I've only worked in tandem with another builder once, and it was with a friend. We operated under the understanding that an area one person was working on 'belonged' to them unless a specific invitation said otherwise (Like, "Jello, while I'm working on the second and third floors, could you take the staircase?"). The client was one of the hands-off sort, but he was very careful to get the other builder's approval before signing me on to help.

Hopefully the beginner level is when the builder learns about clipping and what a terrible thing it is, both aesthetically and for performance issues in the base. The sooner a new builder learns to spot and hate clipping, the safer the world becomes for puppies and democracy.

I'd describe the intermediate region as placing two items in/on top of each other (like a Sack inside a Wastebasket or a Small Planter inside a Square Altar), basic stacking (one thing on top of another), and basic floating (getting things into the air with Floor Safes/Lamps and Floor Tiles). This is when it becomes useful to get used to thinking of base items in terms of their height, width, and depth (3X4X4 'feet' for a Small Counter, 4X4X4 for a Floor Safe, etc.) and what space is required for a toon to walk through (3 'feet' horizontal, 7 'feet' vertical, steps up at 1 'foot' increments). At this level, the builder can create a usable space.

Advanced is when things start sinking into the ground or other items at specific depths to create specific looks. It involves more detailed work on the illusion that the items created are 'real', exploring new ways to use the tools available to make things the editor does not include (appliances, furniture, arcade games, etc.). This is also where you could go into the use of Cubicles to bring wall items off the wall (Cabinets as walls, Single Power Cable 1 as refrigerator handles, picture hanging, etc.) and stacking 'down' from the ceiling with lights (Fluorescent light stairs, railings, and maneuvering lights into lower-level rooms). At this level, it would also be appropriate to discuss polygon count and how it relates to base lag much more strongly than raw item count (how the pale wood shelves tax the graphics card significantly more than the dark Small Bookshelves because of the extra work required to render each little surface and so forth). At this level, the builder has mastered functional spaces and is working toward beautiful spaces.

My two inf.

If you're willing to log off the character for long enough, you can set the Leader Auto-Demote and use it to sneak your way out of power. When you're demoted that way, the position goes to the person at the next-to-highest rank who has logged in more recently than you.