Master Zaprobo

Looks like you have an inventor type on your hands so go for Robotics/Traps Mastermind.

As for a name, how about going for a title-based one. Doctor, Professor, Dr, Prof, or even military titles as you mention military - General, Commander, Lieutentant...

Then comedy (a la General Mayhem) or serious (Professor Carmen)? Did he take on a "villain name"?

I would recommend Dr Carmen or Professor Carmen. Why be overtly villainous when you let the lasers do the talking?

So, you're advocating a change to the Ninja Primary from having ranged attacks to melee? Not sure if that's particularly safe since we're a squishy AT - the current archery attacks suit, as the ninja henches do use bows.

The Secondary set certainly couldn't be Martial Arts, as we have Buff/De-buff Secondaries and not damage-based ones.

Maybe some MA powers could be squeezed into the Patron Powers.

It's even worse (better?) as a FF Mastermind. Set teammate (pref. a Corruptor/Dominator) on auto follow, set henchmen on Follow/Agg. Dependant on relative hazzard consider popping on PFF. Return once in a blue moon

Of course, as you say noone would ever do that!

Give a backstory, or a description of the character you have in mind or even a screenshot of the character you're going to create!

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My main peeve is with the medic from the mercenary powerset.

On Passive he does not heal, as expected. However, sometimes when set to defensive or aggressive he will stand well within heal range of a wounded henchman and do nothing. <...>

It's not like he heals for much anyway so a reliable heal would make him less of an annoyance.

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Perhaps an AI solution would be when in Aggressive he concentrates on attacking, and keeps the base AI they have now so they will apply healing and buffs in moderation (overriden by an "Attack my Target"). When in Defensive, they are more diligent about applying buffs and will do this in preference to attacking.

This could also map over to the Protector Bots from the Robotics set.

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I expect this may be due to other henchmen classing as allies in the same way they respond to each other being attacked.

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I met the same problem while there was only one MM (me ) in the team.

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Interesting... could there be a holdover from henchmen classing other AI mobs as allies?

Was it a mission where two groups of mobs were fighting and causing actual damage to each other or an object? (rather than just being an animation)

Forcefields is just a very team orientated powerset, same as Empathy (although Empathy actually has even less self-affecting powers).

Perhaps a rejig of the powers could be in order so that maybe things like Force Bolt, Repulsion Field, Detention Field and Repulsion Bomb are available before they are already.

For a solo'ing Defender the debuff sets (Trick, Dark, Radiation, etc.) are much more useful though, I agree. Doesn't mean that the set is broken though.

I love both my FF/* Defender and */FF Mastermind (though FF does appear to work better as a secondary).

I'm sure by now several people may have noticed a few issues with the artificial intelligence of the henchmen. Most of this may well be inherited problems, but regardless there are problems. Many discussion in the US testify to the fact, but it's about time we did this locally!

Thought we might want to thrash out a few of them - what you've seen heppening, why you think it happens and what you would want to happen instead.

Note that this is for bugs you see in the AI, not for workarounds to said bugs. Also, and this is my pet peeve from the US forums, the inability to select ranged or melee combat for a henchman is not a bug - it is intentional on the part of the developers (so don't list it here!)

So, with all that said let's get underway...

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Ninja Criticals
All henchmen are hard-coded to prefer range or melee. Zombies prefer melee, Drones prefer range for example. This sometimes goes awry and they will behave contrary to expectations. That is normal enough and copeable.

There are times, however, when henchmen should immediately head into melee. Specifically for Ninjas when they use Placate or Hide. Or if Smoke Bomb is used on a Ninja henchman so they can Critical. They should, at this point be forced by the AI to use their most devastating single-target attack that is currently available in melee range. Not throw caltrops, or fire a bow thus wasting the power or ability.

Burn Patch/Caltrop Fear Effect
I'm sure this also has been noticed when a henchman lands in a Scrapyarder Demolitionists Burn patches, or Tsoo caltrop fields. They flee as per a regular mob and stop responding to commands. Awful.

Ideally, they should flee out of the patch then resume their orders. Or, if currently fleeing and issued a goto or follow, to follow that command instantly. The only command they should ignore is a Stay.

Defensive/Follow Team Aggro
This is a new one I've started to encounter when on teams, and usually with Masterminds aboard as well. I can be apart from the team completely, with no mobs nearby but if my team engages some distant mobs my henchmen will suddenly decide they need to get some action too and start heading towards them.

I expect this may be due to other henchmen classing as allies in the same way they respond to each other being attacked.

They're my henchmen, and should only be responding to direct threats to themselves or myself. Under these circumstances, they should just stay put.

Group Flight
Possibly an issue with the power itself combined with the follow AI but henchmen will not keep up with a Group Flying Mastermind if he does not make frequent stops to let the catch up.

A minor niggle, as this can be alleviated by setting a henchman on auto-follow then issuing goto commands for that henchman but annoying nonetheless.

Henchmen should travel at a slightly faster speed than a Mastermind using Group Flight so that they can catch up with the player, and compensate for the decision time that a henchman has before it follows anywhere.

Group Teleport
This Group Travel Power is a nightmare for Mastermind though as currently the henchmen do not get the 3-5sec hover that a player does. This means as soon as the Mastermind starts trying to teeleport into the air rather than along ground level, their henches will plummet.

The appropriate hover time needs to be coded into the henchmen themselves so that this Group Travel is viable again.

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Any others I've missed? Or any observations on the above?

Not great! Dispersion never did really provide much in the way of defense in the first instance - it's main feature is the status protection.

3-slot it with defense if you have the slots spare, but don't worry otherwise.

I don't like hitting the PvP Zones until I have status protection (if available) and am as close to the limit of the zone level as possible (to have the full range of attacks and powers).

Of course, being a Robotics/FF Mastermind instantly puts me at a disadvantage unless I take Personal Forcefield (which I hate doing, as it cuts off my henchies from Leadership, Supremacy and Dispersion)

That's why I have a Brute, Stalker and Corruptor that are being built for some light PvP

A team is handy to arrange though when attacking, as team members will always respawn at the same point in a raid (attackers respawn at any corridor between rooms).

Well, I'm very fond of Master Zaprobo's mad scientist vibe - he couldn't punch his way out of a wet paper bag, but can certainly construct a laser wielding robot to do it for him!

Other than that, I'm runnig two killer robots and one Praetorian Earth version of my CoH Hero.

I would reccomend a Robotics/* Mastermind though - and if you do him in a scientist style I'd love to see you over in Arachnos Research and Development

While */Dark has best roleplay synergy with Necromancy, it works perhaps best with Mercs and Robotics as they both stay at range - making Twilight Grasp easier to use, Dark Fall in use without you getting into melee range and Tar Patch creating a handy barrier between the mobs and your fire team.

Dark is one of the multi-puurpose secondary sets. The other multipurposes being Poison and Traps (FF is all +Def/Knockback based and Trick Arrorw all debuff based).

Sounds good! Feel free to invite and commence spammage as required!

The trick is to get as many as possible as that provides a nice fertile ground for advice! I'm a whizz at most of the Mastermind Primaries but apalling at the secondaries so for good advice I need more people!

Edit: Invited a bunch of nice Mastermind types to join using the Find Window (search narrowed by AT) and got a nice crowd. Had a goot discussion and shared a tip or two for PvP and pet controls - so it works *g*

Just need more new faces!

True, though I'm not sure about the ettiquette of spamming invites to every Mastermind I see

/e holdtorch

Excellent!

Maybe

Be nice to have a hero group to face off against

We're all over the place

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maybe we have to '/e praise' on the summoning circles

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Now that would make me laugh

New addition...
Masterminds Global Channel Guide v1.0

Masterminds Global Channel Guide v1.0

The Introduction
It can be hard getting help ingame, advice on powers, or tactics for your AT. This is multiplied when you have a brand-new AT like the Mastermind which has no comparison in City of Heroes (let alone other games).

How do you create a macro for henchman control? When should you summon your henchmen? Should you use them for Alpha Strikes? What does the Ninja/Robot/Merc/Zombie final summon look like? What powers does the L32 power grant?

All these (and more) can be answered by your fellow Masterminds, if only they had somewhere to coongregate. Well, now they do with the introduction of "Total Cat" to the EU servers - the "Masterminds" Global Chat Channel.

The Basics
In order to join the channel, and get access to the best support resource for Masterminds (other players) you need to join us on the Global Channel. Simply type the following into your chat box...

/chanjoin Masterminds

You're in! You can view any other members by bringing up the Friends window, then changing the drop-down from "Server" to "Masterminds" You can send things to the channel with the command "/send Masterminds <Your message>"

Tabbed Chat
You can leave this in with your regular messages but I would recommend creating a new tab for the channel - this will segment it away from your other channels, and also provide notification of when there is a new message. To achieve this...

- Right-click on a chat pane
- Choose "Add Tab"
- Click on "Masterminds" in the right-hand column
- Click on "< Add"
- The tab should automatically name itself "Masterminds"
- Click on OK

You will now be able to see a new tab in the pane you right-clicked on in the first step. This is where all the Mastermind chat will show up (although you may need to edit other tabs to remove it from appearing elsewhere).

The Bind
Of course, typing in /send Masterminds all the time may get repetitive, and as such a quick key to do so would be handy. I like to use the "]" key, as it is near the enter key on the keyboard, and is not used for any other function.

To do this, simply copy then paste the following line into the chat box...

/bind ] "show chat$$beginchat /send Masterminds "

This will prefix your chat with "/send Masterminds " all ready for you to type a message to the masses!

Feedback
If you have any feedback on the channel or the guide, please do leave it in this thread! And join the channel - the more people who join up, the better resource it becomes!

- It is not just a straight "Kill All Demons"
- There are clues about what to do ingame, but possible not enough
- Speculation has been rife about the Possessed Scientists and the Watchfires

Been interested in reading about this but not got a character high enough to join in! I had enough problems with the Ghost of Scrapyard

What are you going to use all that endurance on? You have Stamina and a vast quantity of EndRdx in your powers. I'd suggest dropping the entire Fitness line, and go some either a few more Secondary powers, or some Medicine powers.

For a nice mix I'd take Aid Other (Medicine), Repair (Primary) and Personal Forcefield (Secondary).

No need to slot for more than two EndRdx in any toggle (especially with an "inactive" build like you are using) so shift the extras into boosting the three new powers suggested above.

Seen a lot of good advice recently about popping an EndRdx into Protector Bots as they eat through their own endurance very quickly and need the boost.

Otherwise, that's all I got for you!

Defense is the prime option for a Stalker as with a little luck it allows you to stay in melee and have your "Hidden" status click back in for a sneaky critical.

I went for Energy Aura for that reason (and to be thematic with a Robotic concept)

Yeah, he said it on the UK boards too :P Check the General Discussion forum