MrOsterman

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Hero1 did a remarkably good job with the documentation for AE. It really is worth reading.

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Is it on the forum somewhere?

It might be a glitch. I'm testing a mission (It's up now in beta) and the boss of the second mission is a MM. I use my troller to test and if I give her a single break from lockdown she summons her soliders.

Is the MM summons interuptable? I didn't think it was otherwise I'd guess that maybe once it's interupted it has to go through the cycle. Was this a one time deal?

Name: American Welcome
ID: 177925
Length: Long - 5 missions
Level range: Suggested 30+

It begins with a basic mission to rescue a hostage held at the Paragon Public Schools Administration Building. But clues at the scene don't add up, leading the heroes into detective work, investigations and finally putting an end to a diabolical plan.

My first published arc.

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There are bars and bartenders in the game. Alcohol references are a-OK.

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Excellent point. The challenge of course is not to turn it into a beer bashing mission because I am rather fond of beer myself. I tihnk though I've stumbled onto just the right plot twists to make the beer secondary to the overall story.

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And if you're going to have an EB and throw in allies, if you make them less than a Boss then you should not have bothered as they're simply going to die during the EB's alpha strike.

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That's not entirely true. In my first real arc, the last mission features three Aly's who represent teen heroes you've rescued who don't intend to just run for the door. All of them are built as Lt's, and the end boss is an EB with a medium gaggle of guards, and I've understood he's quite beatable.

Of course there are some other twists to that last fight. Maybe I need to make my EB at the end 'hard' rather than 'standard'....

Mr. O

(Shameless plug since I can't search for the arc number here at work: American Welcome is the arc's name)

I'm working on a mission arc inspired by the Buffy episode "Beer Bad" where in a bunch of college kids have a bit too much to drink and only after they're well into their pints realize they are devolving into cavemen. I was going to tweek this for CoH a bit, but the more I've thought on it, how much trouble am I risking by having a story arc that is about, well, beer?

Hey all, I got a few PM's but I'm not sure those artists are still available and interested. So I'm doing this again.

We had a winner at the end of the 1st Marking Period.

Troy would like to be "Le Ninja Americian" who is a Ninja/Gadgets Mastermind colored with black and silver. His sysmbol is a set of numchuk's (or perhaps just the fist since CoH doesn't have that) and his catch phrase is "Donne moi cash monnaie!"

*shrug*

Next kid to win is going to be a hero whether he likes it or not...

So is someone still free/ interested?

Mr. O

Just asking again. For good or ill the student most excited about immortalization on the "Hero Board" already has her picture, but it would be nice to aquire one for each report period through out the year.

Thanks again to those that volunteered. I'd love if someone can volunteer again. No real time constraints.

Mr. O

Grr... stupid Internet ate my last attempt to post this.

The first marking period ends on Friday. I want to thank Starchasm again for giving a drawing to the winner of the Hero/Villain of the week going into the end of the first progress reports. The young lady winner now submits all of her weekly answers "in character".

Is there another soul that can step up? I should have a name by Wednesday and would like to share it with them on Monday of next week. I know that's asking a lot and I'm very appreciative of the help and support I've gotten so far.

Thanks again!

Mr. O

Physics:
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Mission of the Week:

Background:

Team science is left with a quandary. People are receiving terribly painful and nearly fatal shocks from their cars. While they are stunned from the shock of static on the car, a thug appears from hiding, takes their purse or briefcase and runs off. The problem is that team science has no idea how the cars are being charged.

What they do know is that a villain pair is in town: Electron Diva and The Bouncer. The Diva can create a strong static charge in her own body, and the Bouncer is strong enough to lift an entire full dumpster one-handed.

But the Diva’s fingerprints are on file for an earlier arrest and none of her prints appear on the charged cars. We also know that she doesn’t just walk up and let the static “arc” between herself and the car. These charges are also pretty significant, much more than the usual charge you pick up just getting in and out of a car.

The Mission:

You are tasked to explain how it is possible, for the Diva, who can only create a static charge on her own body, is able to charge a car with such a large amount of static electricity without touching it.

Evaluation:
The best explained answer will receive hero of the week honors.


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Math:
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Mission of the Week:

Background:

Yet another fiendish bomb awaits your skills for disarming. Again, the Dark Riders have left you a calling card:
Their complete sum is 14.
Double the first is half the second.
The last and 6 is the sum of the first and second.

The Mission:

Determine the 3 digit combination on the lock so the bomb squad can defuse the bomb. You have until 2:17 Friday.

Evaluation:
The first correct answer with work shown will receive hero of the week honors. Your solution must have algebra. No guess and check.


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Enjoy (and no worries about the kids, they were due today.)

Mr. O

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How small can you shrink a 6ft female before you are unable to hear her speak? You need to research the length of human vocal chords, range of human hearing and the average frequency/pitch of adult speech.


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At 6 feet tall, we can assume Commander Inertia speaks at a vocal range averaging 200 Hz (source wikipedia). If her vocal chords are shrunken, then the pitch of her voice will increase until they leave the range of human hearing at 20kHz. This is an inverse relationship
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>
200Hz = x in x = 0.072 inches
20000Hz 72 in</pre><hr />

Don't worry, I'll post the question of the week at the end of the week so there's no fear of students seeing the right answers here.

Mr. O

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Good to know I was right, but, at least at my middle and high school, we were MacGuyver-like in our ability to find the answer without doing the work. Example: one kid brought in a filled soda bottle, and drank it during a test. What the teacher didn't know is that the kid had written notes on the interior of the soda bottle's label. Don't know HOW the teacher missed it but, meh, was yeaaaaars ago. So, yeah edited post and covered bases. Teachers, FTW.

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Now adays we have them doing that with water bottles, taking pictures of the test with a camera phone, texting each other answers during a test, it's nuts.

But, part of the job, right?

Mr. O

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Excuse me, I happen to hold a degree in Electrical Engineering. I think I would KNOW the difference between Algebra and Calculus.

*huffs off*

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Both of you two. Up to my desk. I'm calling your parents and letting you explain to them what just happened here!

Mr. O

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What do the adults have to use?

I have the numbers!!!

But I won't post if oyu don't want me to.

But one is odd and one is even!



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Well I shared this one just becuase of the in-joke about the Jewel of Hera.

I don't think any of my students are coming here and and looking for answers so I don't care if you disect it and share. A lot of my math kids did this one this week. Not many tackled my physics question which was in short form:

How small can you shrink a 6ft female before you are unable to hear her speak? You need to research the length of human vocal chords, range of human hearing and the average frequency/pitch of adult speech.

That one I only got 2 answers on and they were both wrong.

Mr. O

I just thought I'd share this week's Question of the week with you. If you'd like to see them on a regular basis (starting next week) they'll be on my class blog at mrosterman.blogspot.com

Mission:
A second bomb has been outside the MAGI vault. It is believed that this bomb is intended to destroy the famed Jewel of Hera. Of course most heroes in Paragon would be happy to see the thing gone, but the mayor has asked you to assist Team Science in unlocking the mechanism and disarming the bomb. The following note is attached:

Triple the first and remove the second and you have 17.
From 17 take 3 and you have double of both numbers together.

What are the two numbers?

(THe kids have to do this with algebra)

Mr. O

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again, great work Star. also, very nice of you to help MR O out with this lil project he had goin for his class. I am sure the gal who won this will love it. very nice...very nice of you indeed ~

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She does.

She walked in this morning, saw the picture of herself as a villain tacked up on the board with the other villains, and said "This is SOOO cool!"

Thanks from both us.

Mr. O

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Really cool piece, what a lucky student!

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Yeah well what she REALLY wanted was a month subscription to CoX.....

Of course now that she's won she can't win again but I expect her to keep doing the extra credit cuz she's coo' like that. Good kid. I just wish she'd stop doing so well... people are going to think I'm going easy on her cuz she plays DnD and other stuff her teacher does.

*shrug*

Mr. O

I appreciate the support guys. I'll send out some PM's in the morning to see if I can get you lined up for the 5 week mark (next week) and the 9 week mark (in 4 weeks) to add heroes to Team Science or Villians to The Dark Riders. Right now two kids are neck and neck on points so I might have them both submit profiles and then let them know by "unveiling" the new hero when it's done.

Is that enough time? If I send you some stuff to work with, is a weekend long enough?

Mr. O

We are nearing the end of the first Progress Report Period and I have a few students vying for space (and extra credit) with the mission of the week. So far only my physics students are trying, but I may have made the math problems a little too hard at the start so many math students may have given up already.

If I were to offer up a "You're a hero" kind of prize at this stage then I'd have one winner every 5 weeks. I'm not an artist so I am at your mercy as to how often we can do this. I would LOVE to do one now, with the progress report to help get some interest in doing the problems again.

Would I have a volunteer? I can send you the student's school ID pic, their chosen color scheme and maybe some powers they pick off of a list. I'm thinking I might be a true nerd and let them check off from the CoH builds what kind of "hero" they want to be.

Again, my students and I are very appreciative!

Mr. O

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Team Science!

...some reason I keep thinking of the old Superfriends saturday mornin cartoon when I read that...heh. eitherway...definately a cool idea at work here. ~

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Oh the name's campy as all get out, I know it.

But the goal was to have something specific to school topics and I've got my "standards" for most hero groups represented among the heroes:

The Event Horizon - Charismatic leader with powers that require thought to use well (grav troller)

Cmdr. Inertia - Tank. Nuff said

Cirrus and Stratus - The quirky young couple of kids in wuv.

The Mortal Wombat - the Laconic loner

And then there's the bad guys: The Dark Riders

The Red Mask
Lady Blight
Contagion
The Warmonger

But yeah I was kinda blown away when a kid asked if an award could be "becoming a hero". Right now every week the "Best" extra credit question goes up as a "Hero of the Week" so I figure I'll just keep a tally and the student with the highest total of Extra Credit at the end of the marking period can get the honor of "becoming a hero" on the board.

Seems fair and minimizes how much I need to beg drawing time.

Mr. O

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This is an awesome idea! Heck, if you provide the kids with a character template similar to what you'd find on a COH character (like head details, colors, body armor/costume design, power sets) I'd love to try one or two. I don't draw enough any more, and I really should.

Heck, you should offer (with parental permissions) to have a trial code sent to the year's best students...

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Well let me get to the week 5 mark (progress reports) and if I have a clear "hero of the month" or for that matter any students who actually DO the extra credit then I'll see what we have to work with. It's just neat to see some artists willing to volunteer some time to this project.

What is likely to happen is that I could email someone their school pic (with parent consent) and a quick "My super powers are to ______" from the kid and then get back something we can add to the bulliten board and put them among The Event Horizon, Cmdr. Inertia, Cirrus and Stratus and The Mortal Wombat as part of TEAM SCIENCE!!!!



Thanks guys. If you want to touch base/ commit you can drop me an email at MrOsterman(at)walledlake.k12.mi.us

Mr. O

Starting this year I am doing a "Mission of the Week" in my math classroom. On the side board I have pictures and profiles of the hero team "Team Physics" and their rivals "The Dark Riders". Each week they get a bonus question to solve and can earn extra credit. Each question has a superhero theme to it, in some way.

So one kid today asked if they could be heroes, like REAL super heroes and get their pictures on the board. Now I can't draw and I'm not quite comfortable making a "version" of my students in CoH. But if I had a "winner" for say the 10 week marking period it might be neat to have someone (with parent consent) take their school pic as a reference and draw "them" as a super hero.

So.... anyone willing to volunteer to help out a teacher?

Mr. O

I have to agree:

The Test Server is NOT NOT NOT for testing your build. It is for testing the game code before it goes live. It is a nice PERK of the test server that you can copy a live character to it and see what happens when you level.

But you should not NEED to have the HD space dedicated to an entire seperate client just play the game.....

Mr. O

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But then how would they form your focus group..

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Through recruitment screening and pre-selected demographics. It's kind of complicated and since I do this for a living I could write several pages on the subject that I'm sure no one would care about.

For once, I won't.

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If you work in SE Michigan drop me a PM. Teach math and would love to know more a) for class and b) incase I get tired of teen age crap.

Mr. O

Okay, put that way, yes. On board with focus groups.

I just feel that "online" sounds easy but misses something when it comes to sharing ideas. Even chat rooms are nice but you're still bound by your ability to type, and you lose things like body language, inflection, subtext... you lose all non-verbal communication. Things like watching for eye contact.

But it doesn't really matter. While it's nice that Cryptic and Jack like to tell us stuff from time to time, they're not bound to do it. And we can't expect much more really. The real question is, are we going to be loyal enough to stay when the next Hero MMO comes out?

Mr. O