TheShattered

I think it's something to do with what the servers can and can't do.

It'd be nice, certainly, but probably never going to happen.

((Give it a day or two (or more), yes ))

Pitcher nodded

"Proper deployment can begin in a week or so, though if people want first looks, that can be arranged for a sooner time, i'd have to travel back and ask, however. Be sure to leave contact details with the people here, so we can contact you when it's time."

Pitcher looked about the room

"If that's everything, then you can all go your separate ways for now. I'll contact you all when the time comes."

Pitcher gestured to the large lupine individual

"Operation Thaw will begin in a few days, in that time, you can ... get prepared, my superiors will be the first to greet you on the other side, unless I can convince one of them to come here first, which I might have to anyway."

Then turned to Vyera and paused for a moment, then tapped at his computer

"We -think-, coupled with a lack of significant meta human peacekeepers, that either an alien being had crashed into the Poles, and with nothing to stop it, took control of the climate and spread out from there.

Or, that it's magical based, as there are these strange cultists we sometimes see who don't seem to get attacked by the ice monsters. They're certainly not friendly, that much is clear, and are of course, suspects until proven otherwise."

As for the source? It started at the Antarctic and spread from there, though within a few months it had also begun to spread from the Arctic, and eventually began to crop up in colder regions as the ice and snow made it's advance to the equator."

Pitcher shrugged

"The resulting fleeing and panic was catastrophic. Instead of looking for a end to the cause of the advancing ice, countries squabbled amongst themselves about who would take refugees and so on. In the end, the people who couldn't escape the ice were either killed or survived in underground shelters."

A woman in a suit put her hand up, and was bidden to speak.

"So, you're telling me that the hottest places were -also- frozen over?"

Pitcher nodded

"The ice doesn't respond to climate changes, only direct sources of fire. We tried bombing it from the air with fire bombs, but the weather is almost always too bad to fly for longer than an hour at best. We tried planting incendiary charges, which were somewhat successful, until the ice monsters caught onto us and stopped us at nearly every turn."

She nodded and continued

"So, what you're saying is that they can't stand fire?"

Pitcher nodded again

"As -ice- monsters, that's a given. The ice itself will retreat from man-made fires, but the sentient creatures will fight on if they're set on fire, before melting. They'll often throw themselves onto a fire to try and douse it, as we found with large oil fires."

Pitcher thought for a moment

"We simply want to go back to the way things were. As .. desperate as we are, we're not going to sit back and do nothing. It's a fight we've been doing for a very long time."

He took a deep breath, stuttering on it for a brief moment

"I've seen too many people die to stop fighting now. If there was any other way, I wouldn't be here right now. But as it stands, it's the only chance we've got."

He shrugged and spread his arms wide

"You're all free to just walk away and never look back, I'd say there'd be blood on your hands, but you all don't seem the type that would care."

A man in a suit near the front cleared his throat

"You presume quite a lot, ambassador. Anyway, these .. regulations are a bit .. strict? No lee-way? After all, we are your proverbial knights in shining armour."

Pitcher gave the man a stern look, and flicked his eyebrows

"Not my call, just do what we've instructed until you meet a higher-up, I'm sure they'll be willing to grant some flexibility."

Pitcher then leaned forward, and pointed at no-one in particular

"As it stands -currently-, we want all ice monsters eliminated, destroyed at the source or something like that, because it's our planet, and we've suffered for long enough. Everything else .. subject to change on arrival."

Another person put their hand up, but spoke before being gestured to

"That doesn't seem entirely fair, ambassador. Call us paranoid, and i'm probably not the only one thinking it, but maybe this could be a trap?"

Pitcher scoffed

"You're paranoid, with the numbers we have, I doubt we'd last a week. I don't really know how to make you trust us without showing you first hand, so you'll just have to go off of gut feelings."

He leaned back and lightly tapped on the podium

"Alright, any more questions?"

Pitcher scratched his brow. This had been one of the things mentioned to him before he left, but hardly thought it would come up. Then again, this wasn't exactly a normal crowd.

"Well, not my call to make, but personally? I'd be against anything like that, but I can't speak for my superiors thoughts on the matter. As for hiding or fighting? We'd prefer to stand and fight. I doubt any of my colleagues would be content to sit out a fight that concerns them, despite the dangers."

A woman in a suit put her hand up, and Pitcher nodded for them to continue

"If you expect any significant help, then you need to understand that we need to set up our own base of operations on your side. I don't think you have the space, or appreciate us shouldering in on your bases of operation.'

Pitcher raised a brow, not a fan of the idea but knew that there'd be no other way.

"Concerning bases of operation, something can be discussed. You'll understand why we'd like to keep such bases a distance from our own."

The woman nodded and scribbled some notes down. As she did, another man in a suit put his hand up, and Pitcher bid him speak.

"On the topic of 'moving in', don't you think it could be a doubly beneficial thing? You have a significantly reduced population, and it's no lie that here we .. have concerns about over-population. By your terms, it would be a good bridge building scheme that makes both parties happy?"

Pitcher sighed and folded his arms

"I can't confirm nor deny anything, but I only speak for the NPA, like I said. Whilst there is space, sure, this is our home you're talking about, and we'd rather not go the way of the Indians."

The man smiled.

"We're more civilized than we were back then, sir."

"Noted, but my point still stands. Next question?"

Pitcher had to admit, the question had thrown him slightly. He tapped at his own computer a bit before answering.

"Well, I can only speak for the NPA, that's New Provinces of America .."

He said this mainly to stall for time as he brought up some numbers on his own computer

"We don't tend to keep a check, unreliable communication, sudden disappearances of entire camps, but roughly in the region of quarter of a million, spread out over Canada, North America and South America, give or take a thousand."

He took a deep breath for a moment, thinking

"As for relocation? That's not my call, but I don't imagine so. Though, if any citizens are eager to leave then I suppose, but like I said, that's not my call."

A man at the front put his hand up. Some might recognize them as the hero Azurewing, mainly due to his blue robes.

"Sorry for the tangent, but don't you have any meta-beings of your own to help combat these threats?"

Pitch nodded and gave a quick point of acknowledgment

"Yes and no. We have metas, but not in the numbers you boast. It's always been that way."

Azurewing nodded and bid the others continue.

A few moments pass, and a few more people arrive, some of them looking decidedly more "heroic", others, just in suits

Pitcher checked his watch. There was about two minutes left before the conference was supposed to begin. He took the time to organize himself, look as smart as he could in his white-camo combat uniform, and go-over mentally what he needed to say, though, with his computer that wasn't much of a problem.

About one minute later

Pitcher stood up and took a deep breath. He nodded to the two guards at the back of the room to close the doors, signalling that the conference was now in progress.

He cleared his throat before he spoak. His voice seemed .. weathered, almost weary, as if from an old war veteran.

"Thank you all for coming. As you've been informed, there is a situation arising in my home dimension, which you call Cold Earth."

He tapped at the laptop to flip the slide to a plain slide titled "COLD EARTH", then he tapped it again, bringing it to a slide titled "Situation". At this point, several of the gathered produced notebooks and pencils.

"The situation is this. There are creatures, beings on Cold Earth we just call 'Ice Monsters'. For a while now, they've been slowly advancing upon what encampments we have left. They kill and destroy everything they come across. If they aren't stopped soon, there won't be a single human left."

He tapped again at the laptop, bringing up a slide titled "Ice Monsters"

"Ice Monsters are, from what we can tell, animated chunks of ice. Animated by what, we don't know, but what we do know is that they're deadly, there's a lot of them and they don't like anything that isn't them."

He tapped at the laptop, bringing up a slide titled "Environment"

"Before we let you loose, you need to understand the environment you'll be in. At the best of times, you're look at -60 degrees centigrade. This is the best you'll get. Other times, you're looking at -80 up to -100. Even with what i'm wearing, that'd freeze me solid in a few minutes."

He took a pause for a moment, then continued on the same slide.

"The weather is overcast, always. Wind speed can either be nil, or up to 80 miles per hour. If you're caught out in that ... Enough said."

He let that sink in for a moment, then continued on the same slide

"As well as Ice Monsters, you'll also come across some of the fauna that has become ... a bit more feral. Among other things, there are Icescale to look out for, gigantic, snake-people who'll kill you without a second thought. There's also the Snowhide, these odd, ram looking things that walk on two legs. They're strong enough to smash open a steel door, so that's something to watch out for. As well, there's Arachnos and Nemesis remnant forces out there.

He tapped at the laptop, flipping to a slide titled "Equipment"

"Equipment is everything. Even if you feel like risking your life, you gotta bring the proper stuff through. We're not letting anyone die on our watch due to negligence."

He eyed the audience critically. He doubted this applied to the majority of them, mainly to their goons they'd undoubtedly hire.

"The following is obligatory: Thermal vest, thermos-flask, signal flare, digging tool, sidearm, goggles (Preferably ski-goggles),winter camouflage and walkie-talkie or long-range radio. Anything else you bring is up to you."

He tapped at the laptop, flipping to a slide titled "Reward". Several of the audience leaned forwards.

"Reward, which I know you're all so interested in. There's still lots of natural resources buried under the ice. You're welcome to a well of oil, provided you can find and access it.

He tapped the laptop again, bringing the slide to a close. He dusted off his hands briefly, and picked up a few booklets he'd laid out

"If you weren't listening or forgot any details, these booklets will tell you everything you need to know."

He put them down and looked over the audience again.

"Any questions?"

Pitcher looked up briefly to inspect the crowed, and the clock hanging on the wall. Not long now. He returned his attention to the chunky handheld computer in his hands. From the appearance of the computer, it was apparent that Cold Earthers had no care for appearance or aesthetics, instead opting for functionality and durability. It'd likely have been dropped, stepped on and heavens know what else, but barely had a scratch on it.

He turned to the smaller laptop that had been given to him to run a powerpoint on. He didn't think much of the laptop or the projector, but as is often the case, pictures speak louder than words.

As he turned back to his own computer, he looked over the gathered crowd again. A harsh upbringing had made him quite good at reading people's faces, and knew that few to none of the gathered there had any heroic intentions. That would figure, but he did have one card up his sleeve to snag them ..

Time to break out my favorite reaction GIF:



Even though i'm T9, I still subscribe for:

A) The benefits it brings, as have been named
B) To help fund the company make the game I love

And, I'll always say it when something VAGUELY about this topic crops up, If someone got what I paid [A LOT OF MONEY] for, for free, then uh .. yeah, there'd be problems. BIG PROBLEMS.

The current model is fine. Leave it alone. It doesn't need discussing.

Inside the Portal Corps. Building, Conference Room 3A

The Conference Room was quite cold, having been kept a few degrees below room temperature all day.

Several men and women in suits sat waiting in their chairs looking notably cold. These were representatives of companies and organizations that had taken an interest in the Cold Earth problem, mainly due to the potential reward.

At the front, just behind the podium sat the main issue of the conference, the Cold Earth Ambassador. Captain Arnold Pitcher was clad in his usual patrol uniform, a chunky suit of a large thermal coat and trousers, several layers of thermal clothing and a special weave bodyglove. He still wore his helmet, though had chosen to remove his goggles and mask. For him, the temperature of the room was unbearable, being unthinkably hot compared to the climate he was used to. Unfortunately, the room wouldn't get colder without introducing some heavy duty AC, or a few open fridges.

Though weapons had been forbidden in the conference room, the Ambassador had refused to part with his sidearm. Experience had told him that without at least one gun on him, he could be a dead man in an instant.

He briefly looked at his digital watch. "Still lots of time yet." he thought to himself. He briefly looked over the seated men and women. He couldn't help but feel a bit of disgust. To him, they looked like vultures, praying on their vulnerable state for the sake of money. He swore, if they weren't in the predicament they were in, he'd give them all a piece of his mind.

Alas, this wasn't the case, and his duty was clear, to get help no matter what.

Cold Earth is a morbid, ice-covered wasteland. One of the many versions of Earth floating in the continuum of space and time. For years now, the few scattered remnants of civilization have been under siege by the frozen terrors that stalk the planet. In an attempt to save themselves, they have contacted Primal Earth, requesting help from any and all who will give it ..

Cold Earth is another of many possible Earth dimensions that exist. In this Earth, a new Ice Age was brought about near the start of the second millennium, give or take a few years. The advancing frost grew at rates not even thought possible, driven by some malign force. Normal civilization doesn't exist, only existing as sets of colonies linked to each other. The frozen wasteland holds many terrible beasts, including monstrous Snakes, horrifying icy demons and worse. The humans here, whilst advanced, simply do not have the resources to fend off the slow march of the things that dwell in the wasteland, and turn to Primal Earth for assistance. In return, they've offered a share of their own natural resources, which are plentiful due to the gradual decline of civilization.

An ambassador currently resides at the Portal Corps. building, and intends to make a open conference some time soon.

((This is a RP Plot i'm throwing out there for reasons. Anyone that has access to a dimensional portal can join in for any reason.

Conference can be whenever, but the sooner the better. I'd thought either Saturday OR Sunday, depending.

Send any questions to @Aerial Assault

Though some of this can be done in Forum RP, I'll be making relevant AE arcs, and there should be some RP in-game))

No actual input, but the thread title made me think of this:

Read the title:

No.

Edit: Reading the rest of the thread:

Oh look, it's this again. With a redname reply, which is a pleasant surprise.

Obligatory repeat of everything said, though, I don't think a RP channel would work. I mean, is it going to ask you some Lore questions or something before you're allowed to enter? :P

Nice spine she has there

Although its better than Statesman preparing his Crotch Cannon, something seems a bit 'off' about how she's twisting there ..

Looks like a typical case of "Show upper AND lower assets!"


In any case, if this becomes a regular thing, the login screen changing every Issue, then I approve of it

For the reasons stated.

Let's have something original, rather than "It was powers ripped straight from X archetype, BUT it can do X damage instead."

I'd love to point out everything wrong with this, but i'd be here a while. Basically, when people want something 'Epic', they usually DON'T mean 'Something that can do everything perfectly', but an Archetype that has something wholly unique and 'Epic' to it.

Being able to do everything is none of those things. It's boring, it's overpowered and invalidates everything a RPG stands for i.e. If one class can do everything perfectly, why bother with other classes?

This idea looks like it sits too far in middle ground.

At a glance, it looks like:

• It's pets won't perform as well as a Mastermind (In that case, play a Mastermind)
• Won't be as strong and nowhere near as tough as a Brute (Especially without mez protection, in that case, play a Brute)

It -sounds- fun, but honestly, It'd end up being a nightmare. Melee is where most of the damage is, and, without some very powerful nukes or toggle defensive powers on, it'll quickly turn into a bloodbath that they won;t walk away from.

Essentially, it's a class that performs worse at both things it is a mash-up of, in which case, why not simply play a Brute or Mastermind?

What makes VEATs special is that, unlike the Blaster or Corruptor/Defender, the VEAT gets teamwide buffs that are pretty decent, as well as some exotic damage types (Toxic) and some fairly nasty debuffs and crowd control. And if there's more than one in a team, they can really lay on the hurt. And if it's a team full of VEATS ... well ...

It could be argued that Peacebringers are simply tougher Blasters, but Blasters can't A) Heal without a power pool B) Tank (As in, taunt and survive) without a power pool. Warshades are quite unique in that a lot of their powers require defeated opponents (See Tri-Form Warshade) and have some reliable forms of crowd control (Maybe only one or two things at a time, though)

If there is a new class ever announced, i'd rather it have something unique to it, rather than simply being two AT's that got fused together, and the parts they rely on thrown away.

That's not so much variation as much as cranking the difficulty a bit.

See, i'm not a "hardcore" gamer, and tend to play the squisher types, or the ones that don't deal much damage. A random +1 spawn can make or break them. However, when I get a +0 mission with only even conning mobs at the front and at the very very back (So everything else is +1), I start frothing at the mouth and pick up a new mission.

My suggestion would be: Two options, a) I want this setting here and nothing else or b) Gimme everything you have! Because everytime the above scenario happens, It only serves to infuriate my relaxation time (My relaxation not consisting of frantically eating inspirations on a single spawn)

In terms of enemies having varied powers? Yes. If you want a challenge, that is. I'm in the habit of making challenging enemies that aren't simply cranked to the max on steroids (I.e. minions with EXTREME powers, all of them, basically)

Example:

A mob with Trick Arrow using Oil Slick. Another mob with lots of fire AoE's ..

A minion that buffs it's teammates with force fields.

And so on.

This stems from Malta, Tsoo, Freakshow and so on, in that you have specific enemies that require defeating first (or last) due to various reasons. Enemies that prevent 'steamrolling' by doing something to seriously hinder heroes, or buff their own allies, such as popping in to 02 Boost a Boss, then popping out again.

So, with my AE groups, I try to make power combinations that compliment each other to make a challenge, like Lieutenants with -ToHit debuffs, and lots of minions with Defense sets.

All of this, as opposed to "Laser Guns, Energy Fists, Sword Arms" basically, something other than just raw damage.

TL;DR Mobs need more imaginative powers, not just "Stabby Sword"