Silver Gale

Mad props to the devs for this.

(I know some people will complain incessantly about everything and just shrug and say "good, for once" when a change goes the way they asked for, so I figured I should give some mad props where they're due.)

(I'm not quite sure what you'd want to do with insane mock-ups of various objects, but I like the sound of the phrase. "Mad props". Just from the sound of it, you know it's got to mean something good.)

Um. You want to know about me?

I'm nothing special, really. I haven't been made with special powers like Romeo or Oscar. I haven't been trained like Charly. I had a normal home and parents and I went to school just like most kids.

Except I was a freak. Nobody wanted to be my friend. Everyone was always making fun of me, shoving me, taking my things and breaking them. I always ate lunch in a corner on the ground because I wasn't allowed to sit at any of the tables. I always had to sit way at the back of the classroom so they wouldn't throw things at me and pinch me, and I never heard what the teacher was saying and my grades were terrible.

I said I'd tell the teachers and the others just laughed and said if I was a snitch then they'd make things worse for me. I tried to tell my parents but they just said it's normal for kids to argue a bit and that it would all stop when we all grew up.

At least I could go back home for the night and on weekends. I could sit in our library and read books and just try not to think about going back to school.

But then my parents sent me to camp.

They said it was only three weeks. They said I spent too much time in the house and needed fresh air. They said I should stop worrying and try to have fun.

Just thinking about spending three weeks with other kids - three weeks, including nights and weekends, away from home - made me shiver and feel sick. I cried, I begged them not to send me there. I got told to stop making a scene and go to my room.

I took a few of my favourtie books with me. I tried to always stay in view of the counsellors so the other kids couldn't pick on me without getting in trouble. They did it anyway. So I got to sneaking back to my cabin, huddling in my bed and reading my books.

Of course they came looking for me. I heard them outside the door. I curled up on the floor and wished I could disappear. I didn't move, I barely breathed, and all I could think of was "be invisible... be invisible..."

And then they came in and the most amazing thing happened. They couldn't see me. They looked under the covers, and under the bed, and behind the curtains, they walked right past me and almost tripped over me, but they didn't see me.

....and then one of them grabbed my book. He said- he said something about the campfire that night. He wanted to burn it! Wanted to burn *my* book! My *friend*!

I got more angry than I've ever been before. I followed them to the campfire, and saw one of them get his lighter and I just - I exploded.

I kicked them. A lot. Hard. I never thought I could kick that hard. The one with my book was surprised and went down immediately - the others saw me and tried to defend themselves, but I was too angry. And I kicked them until they fell and started bleeding and didn't stop until they weren't moving...

When I finally snapped out of it I was horrified. I heard the counsellor coming and I just ran into the woods, clutching my book.

I don't know how long I ran after that. I made it to a big house - some rich peoples's summer home - and an older girl there saw me. She invited me in, gave me hot cocoa, and told me to calm down. She was very nice, but I was really scared that I'd just kill someone and the police would come at any minute and take me away. She told me to wait and went to the phone, and I started thinking invisible again and went looking around the house. I found some good black hiking clothes that were my size, and some food, and then I got out of the house again. The girl never saw me.

I didn't know what to do. I just went deeper and deeper into the woods and hoped I could get lost and die so I wouldn't have to go back and go to jail. Instead, I found Charly and her team.

They told me it was all right and I could stay with them and they wouldn't turn me in to the police. They treated me like a regular person.

They checked later and told me the kids I kicked weren't dead, just very hurt and in the hospital. I looked at my book and just said "good". Charly told me I didn't have to stay with them and I could go home, but I didn't want to go. I wanted to stay and learn to be tough like her.

I still have a lot to learn. Everyone's so much stronger than me and I still feel kinda bad about killing people if I'm not very angry. But I think it's worth it to have a place where I belong.

I go where Charly goes and I do whatever she says. If you want to hurt her or any of us, I'll kick you. A lot.

I'm Sierra Foxtrot.

And if level 11-16 Winter Horde is still too much for you, here's a route in Atlas Park!

http://silvergale.gotdns.com/silverg...s_presents.jpg

Same caveats, only use it for badge hunting. And when you have the badge, consider cleaning up the stray snowmen so the lower-level characters don't have a nasty surprise.

I just got the Toy Collector badge, so I figured I could share my secret present grind method. I worked out a route in Steel Canyon that takes me next to 20 present spawns, and takes about 7-8 minutes with Fly.

http://silvergale.gotdns.com/silverg...l_presents.jpg

I ran around this loop clockwise. I usually got around 9-12 presents in each iteration (more in the "quiet time" just before reset).

Please only use this grind method to get the badge, and only if you've already gotten tired of looking for presents on your own. If everyone starts using this route to grind prestige, nobody wins.

My own take on two items in this thread - Broadcast is definitely an OOC channel and I treat it as such (same for all Global Chat channels). I usually remove Broadcast from my Chat tab so it never gets mixed up with Local.

Talking tactics in ((OOC talk)) during a mission is a conevniant shorthand. IC, what's happening is that the team is discussing the best plan of attack or saying "Okay, we need to find those drugs/art objects/secret files". Putting it in OOC talk just saves time from having to use the character's own voice.

Personally, I can't really think of anything that I find particularly jarring towards RP. I can always go with the flow and RP around things. Heck, I sometimes make little jokes that play on the unrealistic aspects of the game, like the one time I invited a friend's character to the team, chose a mission and RPed a conversation over Team chat on the way to the door. When I got to the part where we agreed to help each other out, I said "Well, I have a lead on a possible Lost base in the sewers right here where we just happen to be standing.".

Youenman!

To be fair, you can go in, talk to the guy and get out before your PvP timer, uh, times out.

It's like the Hollows. Yes, it gets pushed on you, but only so you know it's there. You can go in, talk to one guy, then leave and never set foot there again.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
In development.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is this the new and improved "Soon™"?

[/ QUOTE ]

No, the scale goes (from least to most time until the change is made)

On the Test Server
Next issue (currently this means 7)
Soon
In development
We have plans
On the back burner
Good idea!

Silver Gale talked to him for a bit and tried to teach him some useful information.

I, uh, didn't realise what the "correct me" button was for until late on.

Gale has a website too. She even gave DN a link. So, um, if you want to return the favour, it would be might neighborly.

This is some funny stuff!

Ditto on the Tsoo-hatin'. [censored] Tsoo.

Images are broken all throughout the Expedition section (nooooo-!!).

Just wanted you to know, your website is one of my favourite CoH resources, and I always keep it open in a separate window while I play the game.

That said, I have a tiny complaint. I liked the contacts chart much better the way it was before, with hypelinks to the various storyacs and badge missions in the table itself. With the new version, it's more difficult to tell at a glance where I can get the interesting missions. What's worse, once I get to the contact sub-pages, the on-mouseover pop-up always winds up right on top of the mission/arc name, and I have touble clicking it to see the details.

I'm grateful for the work you put in this website and I certainly don't mean to sound like I'm whining, but just for the record, I liked it better the way it was before.

This is hilarious! My favourite bit:

[ QUOTE ]
Ascendant: Well, of course they're going to use it to try and kill me, Saul.
Ascendant: Why else would a bunch of supervillains want a kid's cereal laced with the one rare radioactive element I'm vulnerable to?
Ascendant: No, I don't think they just want a well balanced breakfast.

[/ QUOTE ]

Great work on both this and the phonecalls. You had me in tears by the end. Beautiful story.

I prefer lists that order badges the same way the game does, and I find alphabetical order much less helpful. But that's just me.