Techbot Alpha

I15 - Civil War. Fifth Anniversary of Paragon being bombed. Civilians finally get sick and tired, and all hell breaks loose as super powers are lumped in with aliens/mutants/magic and the like. Boom.

Back OT please guys. That sorta thing belong in the questions or technical, or maybe discussion section.

Anyone got any more ideas/opinions on more surprise and less feeding players the fact their about to get jumped?

[ QUOTE ]
3 Tailor Missions for Heroes Side that are more fun:

Tailor Mission 1 (level 20): Rescue Serge's models from Freaks. Simple door mission at back of Icon, Dressing room and make up area. Basic level 20 freaks harassing models dressed in various costumes (perhaps a contest before introduction to get your character's costume as one of the ones a model has on), rescue the hostages and beat up the Freak Tank leading the raid. Humerous dialogue, fun map, yay.

Tailor Mission 2: Crey are trying to steal a new material from the Icon labs, go there, beat down Crey Agents, protect several new costumes from being destroyed and stop someone escaping with a sample. New map type, mix of lab, studio and Icon.

Tailor Mission 3: Nemesis is trying to impose public decency on the Atlas Park Fashion Show! Beat down the Prussian Prude's forces and rescue the women and men he was trying to cram into more suitable clothing! Uses the fashion show map from the Mender TF.

[/ QUOTE ]

/SIGNED! XD
I sometimes think the playerbase has more creativity than the Devs, when it comes to missions certainly. I fully understand if the tools they have to use dont let them do some of the more creative things, but Hunt and Contact 'Missions' seem so...outdated/horrible/sinful/rage-inducing/boring...all at once.

For Villains you should have to steal things for the Facemakers and suchnot.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Problem with the current no level engine Ollie is that somehow they are to easy for a lvl 50 and way to tough for lowbies.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's their health, which is the same as a level 30 enemy (I think...ish). They scale up or down so you'll do the normal damage you would expect against an equal conning enemy, with the same degree of accuracy. This means a level 50 can crush them even more easily than the normal enemies they face, and a level 1 is still incapable of hurting those enemies due to their masses of health.

I've actually made a thread that pointed this out about Rikti Invasions before, that you should always SK people as high as possible so they can do more damage. Unfortunately this simple concept is just way too advanced for many people to grasp, and they won't listen, ironically telling you that you have 'no clue'.

[/ QUOTE ]

They should scale the damage of the players up when fighting those enemies, then, only if they are below 25. In fact, if they made the Rikti Code go to lvl 25 (mid-way) and took it from there...
Well, I know Id love to see a game with no 'levels' as such. Time spent = ammount of powers, cash, a few perks or something. But I still dont believe it should really affect the level of damage and suchnot. Of course, all that would require a much more complicated creation process, possible something like Fallouts SPECIAL system to use as a base to build on and suchnot...
Meh, speculation

[ QUOTE ]
You might want to look at this thread.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmmmmmmm...Interesting *and* a bit humerous =P
-beard stroke-

The Chief lifted his head, and there was a hiss of in-drawn air from his frontal grill.
Wolf and Fox spun as he swore loudly.
"Chief...?"
"MOVE!"
The brothers were swept up both bulky metal arms, and the trio exploded through the wall of the building like a rocket, the Chiefs jets sending them corkscrewing through the air to land as far away as possible, depositing them in a heap a decent way away from the building...

[ QUOTE ]
I think they should be replaced with the new-style "Contact X in zone Y would like to see you" popups, like those presented in respect of Montague Castanella.

[/ QUOTE ]

^ This, /Signed. Very much so.

What was left of the door hit the floor and promptly dissintegrated. A trio picked its way into the room, stopping short as they took in the gory scene around the MMM recording studio.
"Oh god..."
"...Ouch..."
"This isn't the work of anyone I know..."

The first two voices were definately human, although the were fully clad in suits of powered armour. The blue and white of X21 Ice Wold and the red and orange of Z22 Pyre Fox were fairly well known around Paragon, at least amongst the likes of Longbow and Vanguard.

The third voice belonged to Chief Centurion Z1, Honourary Longbow Member and a Vanguard Captain. The large Kaarinian stepped forward slowly, metallic feet attempting to avoid the layers of bodies and parts, the red glow from his eyes sweeping the room. He looked up slowly, technoid wings arching as he took in the sphere that hovered in the middle of the room.

Fox and Wolf were both edgy, and Wolf kept sweeping the room with his assault rifle. Fox had both fists clenched, and the larger gauntlet on his right hand was pulsing faintly with contained heat, ready to burst into flame at a moments notice.

Slowy the Chief stepped forward, reaching up and tapping the sphere with one metal digit...

-Drools with anticipation-

So, still in the works from the sounds of it, and possibilities in the near/distant future;
-Editable maps (long term)
-Ambushes and triggers
-Cinematics (When they can make one that isnt worthy of Satan )
-Hopefully we will get to create slightly more custom enemy mobs someday, but its still good looking to me.

Now, this is an issue that really has me gunning really looking forward to it and the arcs I have planned. One question to put out, if anyone can read deeper than me;
Would it be possible to use the Robots from Bots MMs as independant enemy classes/skins? Seeing as you can already fight a Lich without an MM in one Redside mission. Or may that not be possible?

Because I dont think you can do all the arcs through Ouro, Birdy. Most of hte badge ones, yes, but Im not sure you can do some of the more 'standard' arcs through it.
-Ignorance-
Agreed that for me this is no issue. I like to feel like Im making progress on my alts and such in the hours I get, not having a horrible ammount of exp to mow through all the tme + debt. Still interesting though.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Problem there is that people will simply use it to farm Family or Freaks, ad infinatum, or use them to get certain badges really easily, totally negating the point of the thing. They either need to dissalow that, which they say will be so, or spend an unrealistic ammount of time moderating each and every mission that goes up there.

[/ QUOTE ]
Not true.

If MA can be used to create farms as you describe then I have no problem with people doing that for their own use, as long as there's a way to identify and avoid these for people who don't want farm maps.

Some people will always farm. It doesn't really affect anyone who doesn't want to farm, so why stop them if that's what they want to do for their idea of fun?

The simple fact that you object means, I presume, that you wouldn't use MA this way. Neither would I. Nor would many others. So the system won't be 'abused' (if indeed it is an abuse) by everyone.

The best bet, as I say above, is to have a good MA tagging and search interface - so that if you want farms you can find them easily and if you don't want farms you can avoid them just as easily.

Tbh if it takes a dev 2 weeks to create a good indexing/tagging/search system for MA then that could be the best possible 2 weeks development for the future of MA. i.e. if people can't search easily and just get semi-random missions then MA could fall in to relative disuse compared to how it could be used with a good search.

Think of it like trying to use the web with no search functionality - so no google et al, no wikis... A good search engine could easily make or break MA.

[/ QUOTE ]

Totally agree here. Farmers already can farm their hearts out. But now they can get their beloved freak farms from lvl 1 to 50. Fine for them it is of no interest to me. I like interesting NEW stroyarcs and stories. I have done the old missions time and again and I welcome the idea of new opportunities this brings.

[/ QUOTE ]

The Devs won't do it though, for the simple reason that the majority of the City may as well simply not exist, then. I know its no perfect arguement, and one I dont really agree with either, but being able to go from 1-50 like that is, presumably, what they want to avoid. /Assumption.

Agree with the need for a decent search feature, definately.

The Future is very simple;
Go play Fallout 3.
Now tell me that thats not going to happen, sometime. Its probably just a matter of time. Fortunatley by then I will probably be very very dead And possibly laughing my socks of in whatever happens to be the next life/afterlife.

On a less serious note, did anyone else start to cackle if/when they blew up Megaton? :P
Oh, wait...thats...kinda serious...XD

Oh dear, oh dear...

[ QUOTE ]
The thing I am fearing most with the MA is that they announced that it wont work like a normal mission reward wise. I want to be able to level up to 50 with the MA missions only.

[/ QUOTE ]

Problem there is that people will simply use it to farm Family or Freaks, ad infinatum, or use them to get certain badges really easily, totally negating the point of the thing. They either need to dissalow that, which they say will be so, or spend an unrealistic ammount of time moderating each and every mission that goes up there.

[ QUOTE ]
Defeat fails the mission. Makes sense. Teams can ressurect fallen members, but if you're solo or the whole team wipes, you lose.

Encourages teaming by making soloing more risky in a reasonable and realistic way, and teams will care more about falling back and regrouping (and using 'phase shift and leg it' powers) instead of hanging on to the bitter end because it doesn't matter and you might as well lay out all the DPS you can before coming back.

Even better when there's only one guy standing, who goes freaking nuts with inspirations and Tier 9 powers to save the day, or your blaster heroically detonates himself to stop everyone getting scrubbed.

[/ QUOTE ]

Definately dont see that working, t'be fair. Some missions atm, especially AVs, require some getting used to and multiple attempts. I d'know, let the devs thing of something, or some brainy forumite XD

[ QUOTE ]
Of all the things I have ever lost, I miss my mind the most.

[/ QUOTE ]

-Pulls across the Dettol jar- Found it =P

-Grumbles about the Americans. At length-

[ QUOTE ]
worst part of "go here, do that", is when you get a new contact from one person, and go to another zone to see them, then the first mission they give you is to go to another zone altogether.

[/ QUOTE ]

This. The prime example is Jose Brogan who, after foot slogging all the way too him (it takes much longer at low lvls...) he then sends you off to see Winscott in the Hollows...Joy of joys. Badly thought out, IMO.

Hmmm...Civil War with Longbow vs Heroes, when it turns out how, actually, Longbow are nothing but a group of vigilantes and headcases wrapped up in their own egos...
Just like Civil War, nearly. /Signed?

Maybe a reputation of sorts? The more you get beaten up, certain contacts will refuse you missions, until you can prove you can actually stand up for an entire mission. Maybe with specific needs for specific contacts (proven yourself against Malta/Nemesis/other toughies, etc. )
But yes, debt makes no sense. If anything, getting beaten would make a Hero/Villain learn anyway, e.g. dont do that again.

[ QUOTE ]
Some rather simple (in theory, at least -eyeroll- ) ideas

[/ QUOTE ]

That line was added in *just* for you, Birdy

And yes, Rikti Code with a bit of tweaking across the whole game would make things, at least in my opnion, better.
For example, there is no difference, at the basest level, between a Hellion ganger and a Malta agent. Their both still human. HOWEVER, one has had military spec ops level training, better equipment and suchnot, while one doesnt. That would have to be taken into account, but, still, I think that code is a way forward. *A* way...

In regards to arcs, like I said, hopefully MA will add much more flavour to that. -fingers crossed-

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I Miss...Debt

[/ QUOTE ]

Me too

[/ QUOTE ]

You can have my spare, if you like?

Some rather simple (in theory, at least -eyeroll- ) ideas, simply to give a few more jumpy moments to the game.

-Take the text and any warnings of ambushes out. They are NOT ambushes at present, they are delayed assaults. An ambush is where you walk around a corner and come nose to nose with ten, black painted Arachnos assault rifles, with a Crab Spider Webmasters at the back with all guns raised, the Wolf Spiders leering down the sights at you and at least one of them going, in a graty voice; "'Ello treacle..."

Not; "You wont get away, Agent Suchandsuch!" from halfway across the map, through walls and all. Or a handy note in the mission title saying "Fend off Arachnos ambush".

-More touches like the Stranded Women in the Hollows. One of the few neat little touches that got added, rather than unnecessary mobs like the Skulls. Things that make it feel like a Heroic thing, or a trap to be overcome.

-Instead of radio/paper missions, ad nauseam, give generated arcs that, although minor, at least have some sort of point to them, I appreciate that someons got to come up with them, but thats part of hte point, isnt it? Not a cut and paste mission over and over and OVER again. Throw in a few proper ambushes, a few little interesting twists, stuff like that. Hopefully this might be resolved with Architecht, but I guess we'll need to see.

-Make it easier to get around in Paragon so that people can actually investigate more of the stuff that doesnt normally get touched. The paper should be a readable paper, with adverts for things in different zones, or news snippets about said zones. Things that will entice people, get them interesting in a zone, not just make it the next place within level range for x, y and z missions and the obligatory bank run.

More Variety! Add some life to the city! Add a few shopfronts, with people coming and going, add some schools or something. For a City, Paragon lacks in just about everything. YES it should be focussed on the Heroes and Villains, because thats what we play, but the only time it sort of feels like a believable place is when RP'ed as such, and events chain up a bit. If you walk down a street or anything, it doesnt feel alive. It just feels...wierd.

Anyway, end rant. -returns brain to tub of Dettol-

The one problem with base raids always seems to be the danger of stuff getting busted. Now thats stuff cheaper, maybe it might not be such an issue, but its still a thought.
Also, I dunno about anyone else but its sometimes refereshing to have to face the unexpected.
Scene 1) Hero defeats last mob and starts packing up the stolen items. Right until a shot clips the wall next to him, and he turns to find a rank of Hunter types watching him. "I say, chap; surprise, wot? Get 'em!"

Scene 2) Cant think how it would be, but basically take out all the shock factor. Even the supposed 'ambushes' have a handy text bubble pop up, even when the mob is half a map away. Takes all the suprise/shock out of it.

/Signed

Mainly for the bases of SGs that are *designed* to be public, such as the Fourth Wall bar, Somewhere In Paragon, and suchnot. The irony of those groups is that they are NOT public, you need a coalition to enter the base. Also, What would be nice is some sort of Central Teleport Hub.
More use in Heroes, that one. I mean, come on, who here finds having to use the two monorails *fun*? Hmm? Or getting to Faultline without a base teleport? Certain hazard zones too are swines to get to, which might well be one of the reasons for people simply not going to them, becuase the journey required SUCKS. And before people say 'Dont be lazy', some people dont like having to do a load of running around to get to the fun stuff, and Hero side does have far too much of having to hike about. Either they need to really comb the missions set in arcs so that people dont need to jog around so damned much, or they need to make access easier.

My Tuppence happeny worth. Still signed.

SHINIES!
AoE Confuse and Placate, as the enemies fight each other over a bag of shinies thrown at them

Or, yes, Squirrels. Thems be evil, I tell yur!