TopDoc

OK, I finally managed to test Resistance. This was all done on Live. My level 9 Rad Defender used Enervating Field against an even level mob and did 37.5% more damage than without it. That's the current base Resistance debuff for EF. My level 36 Rad Defender against a level 1 Hellion did +172.5% damage, which is exactly what I would expect given that the resistance debuff scales like damage. (You do 4.6 times as much damage to mobs 35 levels below you.) EF from a level 50 Controller let me do +180% damage, which means the Controller base Resistance debuff is 30%, as the damage multiplier is 6.0 for mobs 49 levels below you. With both EFs, I only did +300% damage. I should have done +352.5%.

So the Resistance debuff cap is +300%. Sonic Siphon is +30%, and I'll assume the AoE version Disruption Field is the same (correct me if I'm wrong). With 2 Sonic/* Defenders, we're at +60%. Counting only AoE (Howl) at 20%, and given the Recharge Reduction from Speed Boost and maybe slots, every */Sonic defender can Howl fast enough to stack 2 debuffs for +40%. With 6 /Sonics, we can cap the Resistance debuff after the second set of Howls. I'll have to check the timing to determine if the debuff from the first set will still be active when the third set comes around. Given that the Howls won't be synchronized, and there's a chance they'll miss, and they'll only hit a limited number of targets (which may be different that the targets hit by other people), it looks like we'll be below the Resistance debuff cap most of the time with only 6 people. Against bosses, using single target attacks (Scream?) with debuffs between the Howls, we'll easily reach the cap.

At the moment, I'm going to HIGHLY recommend that everyone take Sonic Attacks as their secondary.

NOTE: I won't turn anyone away from the SG if they're Defenders with the right primary powers. You can play a Kin/Dark or FF/Psi if you want. I won't turn people away if they refuse to take Leadership. I won't turn people away if they take Stamina. But take a look at the previous builds I posted. They are designed to be played on a team containing characters with similar builds. And they rely on teammates having certain powers. If everyone skips Assault and Tactics, you're gonna miss a lot, and damage won't be capped till Fulcrum Shift. If half of the team takes a non-Sonic secondary, the damage won't be maxed. Will we survive? Probably. But the object of the SuperTeam is to make the best choices for the good of the team.

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I think a better team would be:

...

What do you think?

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The double FF and Sonic Controller and Defender pairs mean everyone will be about as safe. But I think it would move slower, attack slower, do less damage, level slower, and have to worry about Endurance more than a SuperTeam like the one I've described here. I do not think it would be better. I like moving fast, attacking fast, doing lots of damage, levelling fast, and not having to worry about Endurance. But "better" is subjective. What's your definition of better, and why do you think it would be better?

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i think one person shoud have psi mainly cause of one reason....

it gets a early sniper....

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Dark gets a Snipe at level 4, and it has more and better AoEs. 'Nuff said.

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I didn't select Electrical Blast for the energy drain, in fact you'll probably find that with a team like this you won't even notice any secondary effect beyond -Res. Electrical Blast was chosen for the 2 early AoEs (Short Circuit deals almost as much damage as Ball Lightning with similar slotting) and Tesla Cage to some degree.

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Sonic Attacks has Cone attacks at those same early levels, 4 and 10, plus another "minor" one at 28. And it has the universally useful -Res secondary effect.

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At 40+ you start running into stuff (other than robots) which is heavily Psi resistant, if you just streethunt to avoid those then your damage type does not matter. Psi Blast also has to wait until level 28 for a second AoE and you have to take a subpar single target blast at level 1.

Spreading damage types isn't a bad idea, but you should not overspecialize in Psi unless you enjoy frustration against robots and massive /Sonic isn't good AoE capabilities either.

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I agree that Psi isn't a good choice. But I can't understand why you think /Sonic lacks AoEs.

Just a word or two in response. OK, maybe a little more than that.

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Local_Man: Have you thought about having a common name/costume element or other such thing to identify team members?

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Not yet. But I'm thinking now that you asked...

The SG is all Defender. I think Blue and White would be appropriate colors, with some sort or Shield as the chest symbol.

Why are we together? I like the idea someone came up with for an all Destroyer SG in CoV. We're together because no one else wants us. The Kins have been kicked out of teams because of their unreliable heals. The FFs and Sonics are tired of hearing "r u healer". We've sat around LFT for hours.

Then one day, someone (Tanker Wannabe) realized that we didn't need other heroes. Certain combinations of powers working together could make a team unstoppable, far better than a team with non-Defenders. So he went around carefully recruiting the proper Defenders, explaining the idea. He was just looking for enough people to form a single team, but word spread.

In no time he was being hounded, in live and on test via global chat. I mean on the phone. Everyone wanted to be his (global) friend. There were a lot of Defenders who really wanted to make a difference, but they just couldn't because they were always rejected by non-Defenders. So Tanker Wannabe created a Super Group to organize the Defenders.

He turned into his own worst enemy. He found himself rejecting Storm Defenders, Rads, Darks, and even Empaths, because they didn't fit his vision of the perfect team. He felt sorry for them, but he wasn't willing to compromise the group he was trying to put together. He would often discuss their abilities and potential, but none of them could come up with a reason why they would be better that his preferred Defenders, Kinetics, Sonics, and Force Fields.

Tanker Wannabe wasn't quite so sure what the perfect Defender attack was. He thought it was Sonics, but he wasn't quite sure. In the end, he allowed any Defender with the proper primary power set in to the SG.

[I think Technology origin characters would work best based on the mobs we'll likely face. But that doesn't really have anything to do with the SG background.]

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WingedKagouti: [various things about Rads replacing Kins]

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Accelerate Metabolism is great, but it doesn't belong here. It takes a lot of slotting with Recharge Reduction to make it perma. It provides less than half the Endurance Recovery that Speed Boost does, and it can't be slotted much to enhance that. That's not enough to allow people to skip Stamina. It provides a smaller Recharge Reduction bonus than Speed Boost. It provides a smaller run speed bonus than Speed Boost. It provides the same damage buff as Siphon Power, and is better in that respect because it doesn't need a target. But Siphon Power can be stacked at least twice with a little help from Speed Boost. (This is important in slotting, see below.)

Radiation Infection reduces mobs To Hit and Defense. We have Force Fields and Tactics which do the same thing, though far better and against every mob.

Enervating Field reduces mob damage and Resistance. We have Sonic Bubbles and Sonic Attacks which do the same thing, though far better and against every mob.

Rads don't get anything like Fulcrum Shift or Inertial Reduction.

Instead, Rads get Mutation and Fallout, which can only be used if your teammates are defeated. Maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but I don't see people on this team being defeated very often. Rads also get Holds in Choking Cloud and EM Pulse, and a Slow in Lingering Radiation. Given the defenses in this team, I don't think mobs need to be held or slowed.

Once the characters hit 32 and the Kins get Fulcrum Shift, it'll be easier to be capped all the time.

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You could also go 2x Kin & 2x Emp with the Emps focusing on RecAura & RegAura.

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Kins have Transfusion at level 1. I hear it's a large AoE, and heals 23% of your HP. It has to hit, but we have Tactics for that. Slotted well, it should be all the healing the team needs. Empathy heals should rarely be needed. Speed Boost 6 slotted for END Recovery is a huge amount, and is probably comparable to Recovery Aura. It's available at level 12. Stacked 3 or 4 times, that's all the END you'll ever need. You have to get perma-Hasten and 6 slot Recovery Aura for Recharge Reduction, and even then it's 90 seconds on and about 50 seconds off (last I knew). Fortitude is great, but every buff it provides is already provided by someone else in the team with the exception of Psi Defense and Resistance (assuming the Hero Planner is correct). This team will avoid Psi damage like the plague. And Fortitude has a long recharge, so it can only be maintained on a few people. My Emp/Dark Defender is only 29, so I can't comment on Adrenaline Boost. But I can't see it being good enough to warrant replacing a Kinetic.

Emps don't have the team damage or movement buffs to replace Kins. It may well be possible for 2 Kins to cap damage and movement, but I don't see where replacing a Kin with an Emp improves the team.

I'd like to keep the team composition as simple as possible. It was simple with Buffer Overrun, any Rad/* Defender or */Rad Controller would do. But even then, level differences can cause a big problem. What do you do when you have 8 people separated by a couple levels each?

With this project we need a specific combination of powersets. It looks like there's a lot of interest in this project, and people will have their favorite builds to play. There may be enough people to have several teams. People may play outside of the SG. People will definitely level at different rates. It's going to be hard enough to make a team with 2 FFs, 2 Sonics, and 4 Kins.

Could we replace a Kin with an EMP and still do well? Probably. Ditto for a Rad. But it would be better to replace a Kin with a spare FF or Sonic, in order to keep people around the same level. Every team will need 2 FFs, 2 Sonics, and 2 Kins. Beyond that, 2 Kins provide the greatest benefit, but any 2 will probably do.

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Possible templates:

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One thing before I comment on those... This team will go through multiple stages. I thought attacks would need more slots at lower levels, but I just realized that stacked Siphon Power will let you cap damage from level 12 on. Here are the stages...

Levels 1-3: Single target damage, Kinetic Siphon Power enhances team damage, Resistance debuffs from Sonic attacks improve damage more. Mobs fall down really fast. Attacks are slotted for 1 Accuracy.

Levels 4-11: Howl!!! AoE and stacked Resistance debuffs for teh win. Entire groups start dropping as fast as minions used to.

Levels 12-13: Speed Boost at 12 means Siphon Power can be stacked at least twice. Attacks are damage capped!

Levels 14-31: Tactics means no need for Accuracy. You don't need to put ANYTHING in your attacks!

Levels 32-50: Fulcrum Shift doesn't really add much, since attacks are already capped. But it does debuff mob damage.

Now for your builds...

Too many slots in attacks. Attacks get their base slot, and even that isn't needed after level 14. Is that backwards or what???

No need for Maneuvers. FF and Dispersion Bubbles should be all we need. Also, Maneuvers is a fairly small buff and does not provide Defense from AoE attacks. I suppose if you can't find anything else worthwhile (which is possible), you might want to take this.

No need for Vengence. Defeat should be very rare. It buffs Defense, Accuracy, and Damage. None of those need to be buffed.

No need for Amplify or Aim type powers. That's a personal buff, what are you thinking!!! :-) If you have a huge Accuracy bonus from Tactics and your damage is capped, Amplify and Aim are a waste.

As you saw, you have a LOT of slots to play with when you don't need to slot your attacks. In fact, it's REALLY hard to spend them all and get a worthwhile benefit!

You also have a LOT of power picks to play with. It's hard to pick powers you'll actually use. Remember, with the Recharge Reduction of Speed Boost, you'll be able to chain your best 3 to 4 attacks.

I'd slot up the bubbles ASAP.

Here's a couple of my builds, thrown together rather quickly. Feel free to rip them apart. The Kinetic has Teleport, along with Recall Friend with Shadow Shard range. The FF took Power Mastery to use Power Buildup before bubbling the other FF. This will let them get decent defense even against higher level Bosses with only a single set of bubbles. Sonic should probably do the same, to have better resists against Resistance debuffing mobs.

You want AoE attacks when you're in a big team. Dark appears to have better AoE attacks than any other set. But the AoE attacks in Sonic Attacks may be all you really need. You can easily spare the slots to 6 slot Howl and Shockwave for Recharge Reduction. Combined with Speed Boost, that may be enough to let a Kin chain them and either Siphon Power or Fulcrum Shift.

Archetype: Defender
Primary Powers - Ranged : Kinetics
Secondary Powers - Support : Sonic Attacks

01 : Shriek acc(01)
01 : Tranfusion hel(01) hel(3) hel(3) hel(5) hel(5) hel(7)
02 : Siphon Power acc(02) recred(7) recred(9) recred(9)
04 : Howl acc(04)
06 : Recall Friend rng(06) rng(11) rng(11) rng(48) rng(48) rng(48)
08 : Scream acc(08)
10 : Assault endred(10)
12 : Speed Boost endrec(12) endrec(13) endrec(13) endrec(17) endrec(19) endrec(21)
14 : Tactics thtbuf(14) thtbuf(15) thtbuf(15) thtbuf(17) thtbuf(19) thtbuf(21)
16 : Teleport rng(16) rng(23) rng(23) rng(25) rng(25) rng(29)
18 : Inertial Reduction jmp(18) jmp(34) jmp(36) jmp(40) jmp(43) jmp(46)
20 : Shockwave Empty(20)
22 : Increase Density damres(22) damres(29) damres(31) damres(31) damres(31) damres(36)
24 : Grant Invisibility defbuf(24)
26 : Transference endrec(26) endrec(27) endrec(27) endrec(36) endrec(37) endrec(37)
28 : Siren's Song Empty(28)
30 : Stimulant inttim(30) inttim(37)
32 : Fulcrum Shift recred(32) recred(33) recred(33) recred(33) recred(34) recred(34)
35 : Shout Empty(35)
38 : Dreadful Wail recred(38) recred(39) recred(39) recred(39) recred(40) recred(40)
41 : Dominate hlddur(41) hlddur(42) hlddur(42) hlddur(42) hlddur(43) hlddur(43)
44 : Mind over Body damres(44) damres(45) damres(45) damres(45) damres(46) damres(46)
47 : Telekinesis endred(47)
49 : Aid Other hel(49) hel(50) hel(50) hel(50)


Archetype: Defender
Primary Powers - Ranged : Force Field
Secondary Powers - Support : Sonic Attacks

01 : Shriek acc(01)
01 : Deflection Shield defbuf(01) defbuf(3) defbuf(3) defbuf(5) defbuf(5) defbuf(7)
02 : Scream acc(02)
04 : Howl acc(04)
06 : Insulation Shield defbuf(06) defbuf(7) defbuf(9) defbuf(9) defbuf(11) defbuf(11)
08 : Assault endred(08)
10 : Shockwave acc(10)
12 : Dispersion Bubble defbuf(12) defbuf(13) defbuf(13) defbuf(15) defbuf(17) defbuf(19)
14 : Tactics thtbuf(14) thtbuf(15) thtbuf(17) thtbuf(19) thtbuf(21) thtbuf(23)
16 : Shout Empty(16)
18 : Hover fltspd(18) fltspd(21) fltspd(23) fltspd(31) fltspd(31) fltspd(31)
20 : Repulsion Field endred(20) endred(25) endred(33) endred(40) endred(43) endred(46)
22 : Stimulant inttim(22) inttim(33)
24 : Aid Other hel(24) hel(25) hel(27) hel(27) hel(29) hel(29)
26 : Aid Self hel(26)
28 : Siren's Song Empty(28)
30 : Resuscitate inttim(30)
32 : Grant Invisibility defbuf(32) defbuf(33) defbuf(34) defbuf(34) defbuf(34) defbuf(37)
35 : Force Bubble endred(35) endred(36) endred(36) endred(36) endred(37) endred(37)
38 : Dreadful Wail recred(38) recred(39) recred(39) recred(39) recred(40) recred(40)
41 : Power Buildup recred(41) recred(42) recred(42) recred(42) recred(43) recred(43)
44 : Temp Invulnerability damres(44) damres(45) damres(45) damres(45) damres(46) damres(46)
47 : Total Focus disdur(47) disdur(48) disdur(48) disdur(48) disdur(50) disdur(50)
49 : Conserve Power recred(49) recred(50)

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Neko_Lurker: See you on protector TopDog

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Why do people call me that so often?

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PhoenixCreation: I also have a TS2 voice comms that we can use if we so with (actually anybody can use it). It is a dedicated server so it can handle as many of us that wish to use it. When we finally meet up, I'll give out the URL.

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Sounds good. :-) Get it? SOUNDS good. never mind.

Thanks, it will come in handy.

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Labrynth: 1. Do res debuffs work directly off of total damage? (ie. your attack has a base of 10 dmg, its enhanced to do 100. would a 30% debuff make that damage 130?)

2. Is there an easy way to test accuracy? (I want to test out the debuff on liquify, but with its constant knockdown, it would be near impossible to test through lots of trials and checking to see how often they miss)

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1. Yes. Your numbers are a little off though, given the damage cap. An attack with a base of 25 damage will be capped from a +300% bonus at 100. That damage can be further increased by resistance debuffs of at least +150% to 250.

2. There is no good way to test Accuracy or Defense, especially now that the numbers are fairly small. You should start with Hero Stats though. I tried doing it manually long ago for Maneuvers and Hover, and found it takes 500 to 1000 attacks to get close to real numbers. You probably need 5000 to 10000 tries to get a solid percentage.

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Major_Napalm: I'd like to get in on this SG too, please add me to the list.

I'm sure alot of people will have at least a couple of toons, I've started a Kin/Elec on Protector today. I'll look for you, Topdoc. Are you going to be using TankerWannabe on Protector too?

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Just join the global chat channel. It's public.

I'll probably use "Tanker Wannabe" if it isn't taken on Protector. But I may only make up a character to reserve the name, and roll a level 1 Kin/Sonic when Update 5 goes live.

As to making characters, I wouldn't go too far. If the Resist debuff cap is +300% (possible), or it isn't capped at all (which I doubt), then I'm going to HIGHLY recommend EVERYONE take /Sonic. Here's a little table with different Secondary power set combinations. It assumes we have 2 Sonics (Primary) with Disruption Field (30% Resistance debuff) against even level mobs.

0 Sonic, 8 Other = 12.8 * capped damage
1 Sonic, 7 other = 16 * capped damage
2 Sonic, 6 other = 19.2 * capped damage
3 Sonic, 5 other = 22.4 * capped damage
4 Sonic, 4 other = 25.6 * capped damage
5 Sonic, 3 other = 28.8 * capped damage
6 Sonic, 2 other = 32 * capped damage
7 Sonic, 1 other = 35.2 * capped damage
8 Sonic, 0 other = 38.4 * capped damage

If the resistance debuff cap is +300%, then 6 /Sonic Defenders will cap the Resistance debuff against even con mobs. Since we can easily fight higher con mobs at nearly the same rate, we could use 8 /Sonic Defenders. But again, only if the Resistance cap is +300% or higher. If the cap is +150%, we could still use the full buffs from 4 /Sonics against +3 mobs.

Let me end with some questions. Can anyone see a good reason to take anything other than the Sonic Attacks secondary, looking at it from the SuperTeam perspective? Is the END Drain of Electric Blast useful at all? Dark has 3 cones and an AoE Disorient, but would they actually be used?

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Rufus: I think the team looks something like:
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2 Dark Miasma Defenders - mainly to patch the psi-hole.

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Nope. Darks just don't contribute enough. We would have to give up 2 Kins, and their associated Speed Boost and damage bonuses. That's a major hit that we just can't take. Also, it would be another power set we would need to coordinate when forming teams. Instead, we avoid Psi heavy factions. Problem solved.

Bad news on Resistance. I can't determine it at low levels with Sonics. By the time we stacked up enough attacks (with Resistance buffs), even bosses died.

We had 3 Sonics using Howl, Scream, and Shriek. Those are all 20% Restance debuffs. We had 1 using Sonic Siphon, which is a 30% debuff. We were all level 4 versus a level 4 Eidolon, which doesn't appear to have any resistance to our attacks or debuffs. We tried against several bosses, but they were too fragile. I saw a Scream get up to +150% damage right before a boss died. Note that these were level 4 chars, so accuracy was a bit of a problem.

I'm going to bed somewhat early tonight. I'm not going to be on tomorrow night, but Thursday I'll grab as many Rads as I can and we'll try EF. Maybe that will give us the answer.

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curbludgeon: Just to add my two cents on Kinetics:...

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Take another look at my later posts. It looks like we'll have 4 Kinetics in the team. That means 3 Speed Boosts on the Kins, and 4 on the others. Taking the Fitness pool only helps yourself. Speed Boost is better than all of the Fitness powers combined except for Health, and it can be cast on every teammate.

Four Kinetics means 4 Transferences, recharging in about 12 seconds each. If everyone takes Tactics which I REALLY STRONGLY recommend, they'll hit 95% if the time against +4s. Of course they won't be needed. I'd like to see you run out of Endurance with 3 fully slotted Speed Boosts on you.

Transfusion when 6 slotted for Healing will heal about 70% of your HP, and has a recharge time of about 3 seconds. Again with Tactics it will hit 95% of the time.

The SuperTeam is a completely different way to play City of Heroes. Ignore personal buffs. Focus on team buffs. A single person with Tactics is supposedly as good as an Accuracy SO in every power of every person in the team. One Assault is the same as a Damage DO. Carry this further. Every one power or slot you save everyone on the team is 7 powers or slots they can use to make the team better in some way. Very quickly, you find the team can take and slot every single team buff power that will be useful.

I want unlimited Endurance without having to take 6 slotted Stamina. I want high damage AND fast recharging AND high accuracy BIG NUKES. I want to 6 slot buffs and other useful powers without having to worry about cookie-cutter slotting my attacks for 1 Accuracy / 5 Damage. I want great Defense and Resistance, without having to play a melee oriented Tanker or Scrapper and waste a lot of powers and slots. And all I have to do is convince enough other people that they can play the same way if they want, and keep things organized once it gets going. (Don't worry, I'll stop preaching completely once this gets going and we have enough people. I'm not out to change the way everyone plays, I just want enough people to team with.)

It took a while with Buffer Overrun. I had to bribe people to play in an all-Rad Defender team, just to get them to try it. Lots of people didn't take Leadership. They took Hasten, Stamina, and Stealth because they wanted to play outside the SG.

Maybe the same thing will happen with Tank Mages. Or maybe I'll get enough people who want to play the same way I do, at the same time I do, and I'll have a lot of fun getting to level 50 in a month.

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Shadow_Hit: Would there be a set time/day where most can get on at the same time?

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I'd hope most every evening. I start around 8:00 PM EST, and I end between 11:00 PM and 2:00 AM. While there are some who play more than I, there are probably plenty who play less. Maybe the fanatics like me can alternate 2 different chars, just so we can always have the right mix of chars if someone is missing.

Sounds great. Protector it is. (Now we wait for people to complain that they can't do it on Protector.)

I did some testing with my Sonic/Sonic on the test server. The first 3 Sonic attacks, Shriek, Scream, and Howl, all debuff Resistance by 20% versus even con mobs. That means that attacks do 20% more damage. This is adjusted for level differences the same way damage is. Against +2 and +3 mobs (our likely targets), I think that brings it down to about 16% and 13%. Howl cycles in about 12.6 seconds, and the debuff lasts 13.7 seconds. I didn't get Activation and Recharge times, but I'll do that tonight. I'll also try to get level 10 on my Sonic/Sonic so I can test Shockwave. With enough Recharge Reduction, I expect we could alternate Howl and Shockwave. Based on the descriptions, it doesn't look like Shockwave has a Resistance debuff. But that still means we have a double Howl Resistance debuff per /Sonic char.

I'm assuming Disruption Field is going to be somewhat similar to the Sonic attacks, around +20%. As such, it looks like most of our Resistance debuff will have to come from the Sonic Attacks secondary. Tonight I'll get Activation and Recharge times for the first 3 attacks, and I'll try to find another Sonic to see if we can cap the Resistance debuff. With another */Sonic, I should be able to determine if the cap is +100% or below. If the cap is higher than I can easily test (+200% or more), then we may go all */Sonics. I really like Dark Blast, with an AoE Disorient and 3 cone attacks. I also think Electric Blasts would be nice, with Short Circuit 6 slotted for Endurance Drain. But DPS is king, and we should be able to manage just fine using Sonic Attacks.

The Sonic Attacks secondary has 3 Cone attacks, which is good. The last one is a Sleep with minor damage and long recharge, which is bad. Sleep is completely useless in big AoE based teams, and the Minor damage and Long recharge are discouraging. The second cone has knockback, which can be bad. As Tanks we likely won't need to use Knockback for damage mitigation. But if everyone on the team has Knockback attacks and Repulsion Field or equivalent, we might as well learn to use them effectively. I expect every combat will start with Siphon Power / Fulcrum Shift, Howl, and Shockwave. We'll see if we need anything after that.

So stop levelling your FFs and Kins on Virtue. I'll do some more testing tonight, and hopefully I'll be able to determine how many */Sonics we want. If we're gonna have mostly Sonic Attack secondaries, we should probably all start out at level 1 when Update 5 goes live. There's no reason for me to level up a character except to start the SG, but that's a minor consideration.

So I guess I'll consider a different server. My slots on Freedom are spoken for. Neko_Lurker doesn't want Virtue. I'll give priority to any server with a level 50 char willing to bankroll us.

One more thing... SuperTeams earn more Influence than normal teams due to fighting higher class mobs (Lts and Bosses have a higher Inf/XP ratio) and getting more Enhancement drops to sell (more yellow mobs). They also need less Influence than normal teams (fighting higher level mobs means higher level Enhancement drops which can be used longer). But there will still likely be a gap at 22 and 27 where we won't be able to buy a full set of SOs. That's why I'm looking for a level 50 char to help bankroll us.

Finally Origin... If we go mostly */Sonics, we'll be doing Smashing and Energy damage. This team has a major weakness to Psi damage. Speed Boost at level 12 means we are effectively immune to END Drain. The best mobs to fight are Clockwork up to 20, and Freakshow up to 50. Those both drop Tech Enhancements. I recommend Tech Origin characters.

As part of my new project, Tank Mages, I'm levelling up a Kinetics Defender. I just got Siphon Speed and it's pretty amazing. Slower than Super Speed, but not my much. At level 6, it's a 46.46 f/s bonus. At level 7, it's 46.82. Given those two very close data points, it looks like the following...

Siphon Speed +44.3 + LVL * 0.36 f/s

I'd guess it's exactly 85% of Super Speed. That means 3 SOs should cap your running speed at higher levels. I can see now why people say that Kinetics don't need a travel power. Between this and Inertial Reduction (untested so far, but it lets you jump pretty high), they've got 2 Travel powers in their Primary power set.

Testing indicates it does not suffer from Suppression. :-)

Note that it is an attack. You have to hit an opponent. If you do, you get the movement bonus and a Recharge Reduction bonus, while the mob you hits gets a Slow (movement) and a Recharge Reduction debuff. It lasts a minute, but takes about that long to recharge. All in all, a nice power to have, but a small chance it won't work.

OK, just read through Ladioss_Sopp's Kinetics guide (great data there). So I've got a few more recommendations...

I always told people in Buffer Overrun that they could get by without Stamina. Accelerate Metabolism could be made perma, and stacked 8 times it gave the equivalent of several Staminas 6-slotted. Of course you usually have to slot AM heavily for Recharge in order to make it perma. Well, Kinetics Speed Boost is a significantly larger boost (2 to 3 times as big), and it can be 6 slotted with END Recovery. Starting with level 12, Endurance will NOT be a problem. You do NOT need to take Stamina, unless you plan on playing outside of the SG.

Transference at level 26 is just sick. With a couple extra slots, you can fully drain a non-AV of Endurance, and fill the Endurance bar of every teammate nearby. Imagine using a BIG NUKE, and then having a teammate use Transference to completely fill your END from a nearby boss. Even running Leadership, Dispersion Bubbles, and attacking fast, we will NOT have Endurance problems.

The Recharge Reduction bonus of Speed Boost is 50%. The Sonics and FFs will get +200%, while the Kinetics will get +150% (can't target yourself). Of course the Kinetics also get a small Recharge Reduction bonus from Siphon Speed, so they may hit +200% as well. No need for Hasten, with it's minor +70%.

Speed Boost also provides a significant run speed increase. I'll be testing it when I get it, and believe me when I say I know how to test movement powers. At level 12, Speed Boost will give everyone Super Speed. At level 18, we'll get Super Jump as well from Inertial Reduction. I recommend the Kinetics take Recall Friend, and maybe Teleport (6-slotted for range). But that's all the team will need. Other than Teleport, no one will need a travel power! Of course you can easily take Hover, 6-slot it, and REALLY move. But not many tanks use hover.

That's the beauty of SuperTeams. This team is incredibly more powerful than each individual member. A few power choices from Primary powersets means no one needs Fitness, Speed, Flying, or Jumping. (Stamina and Hasten haters, welcome to Utopia.) Everyone can take Medicine, just in case the bubbles run out in the middle of combat. Everyone can take Leadership, which combined with more Kinetics buffs means there's no need to slot attack powers for Accuracy or Damage after level 32. No need for slots in Recharge Reduction either, due to Speed Boost. All of those spare slots can be used to make your buffs, debuffs, and other powers even more powerful.

[ QUOTE ]
WingedKagouti: ...
Disruption Field is less -Res than EF, it can miss (quite frequently too) and it doesn't accept Accuracy enhancements.

You need to stack some 8-10 Blast DeBuffs to cap or 5-6 if the target is hit by Sonic Siphon, so unless you have 4 /Sonic spamming Howl (with perma-Hasten) you can use another character with an AoE -Res DeBuff, assuming that both Sonic/ have Disruption Field active.

[/ QUOTE ]

I wonder if the lack of Accuracy Enhancements on Disruption Field is a bug or intended.

Looks like I REALLY need to test the resistance debuff. But given the Recharge Reduction of 4 stacked Speed Boost, 4 /Sonics spamming Howl may be overkill. Howl is going to recharge pretty fast. I guess I know what I'm testing tonight.

OK, trying to address all of the recent issues...

[ QUOTE ]
FashionSense: The change in power order for Sonic Resonance will help, since the sonics will get a res debuff at level 1. However, I'm thinking that only having 3 people on the team with res debuffs isn't going to be impressive enough.

[/ QUOTE ]

That really depends on the Resistance debuff cap. I'm really gonna have to test that. Once the patch with the Sonic debuff power at level 1 goes through, I'll gather up as many Sonics as I can on test and find the cap. And I'll also find out how much a single debuff does. And I'll have to test the debuffs offered by the Sonic Blast AoE powers. Ideally we want to have mobs debuffed to the cap, and not a whole lot more. Assuming 2 Sonic Resonance defenders (not 3, see below), this will let me determine how many Sonic Blast Defenders we want.

[ QUOTE ]
Neko_Lurker: i'm game, any server but virtue

[/ QUOTE ]

Unfortunately, that's where I'm planning to do this. I've done lots of solo and I've done big all-Rad teams with Buffer Overrun, but I've never done much RPing in CoH. So I thought I'd start this SG on Virtue, the unofficial RP server.

[ QUOTE ]
WingedKagouti: A single Sonic Resonance Defender can cap the resistance of another non-Tanker/Kheldian (Statesman claimed 77% total resist for a single Sonic Resonance Def). You will only need 2 of those if you want the Sonic to be capped.

...

2 FF should be good enough, 110% Def should cover all realistic settings.

4 Defenders to turn the entire team into virtual Tankers, decent mez resistance too. Clarity from both SRs will cover the Sleep resistance gap.

This leaves you with 4 Defenders to up damage and cover healing gap, I'd suggest Kin, Dark, Rad and TA. Not necesarily one of each, but those 4 should provide what SR & FF doesn't.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds good. I didn't really want 3 Sonics and 3 FFs. But I do want everyone capped with both Def (OK, really 5% to be hit) and Res. I won't take Statesman's word for it though, just on general principle. As long as it's close though, the double Sonic and regular Dispersion Bubbles should cap Resistance and Defense even on the less defended chars (who can't bubble themselves). Looks like I may need to keep levelling my Sonic/Sonic on the test server to check this.

Thanks for mentioning Sleep, I forgot about that one. I do recommend a couple people take the Medicine Pool, and that has Stimulant. Between that and Clarity, we should be covered. Otherwise, mez heavy mobs could cause a team wipe if they sleep the Dispersion Bubblers, then hold everyone.

So given this information, we may want 2 Sonics, 2 FFs, and 4 Kins. Here's a quick analysis of the other Defender primaries you suggested.

Darks don't provide anything except Psi resistance. It would take 2 to cap that, at least based on the current numbers (25%?). I'd rather not use 2 slots on a char that will only rarely be useful. Granted a single Dark with Shadow Fall fully slotted with +3s could put everyone (including himself fortunately) at 60% PSI Resistance. I could see allowing Darks in, and shuffling people when there's a need to face Psychic enemies to include 1 in the team. But they'd be the black sheep of the SG.

As the founder of Buffer Overrun, I know what Rads can do. But in this SuperTeam, they aren't needed. Their debuffs (RI, EF, and LR) aren't needed. In the New World Order with limits on the number of mobs you can debuff, it's better to buff your team than to debuff the enemy. Sonics and FFs do better damage mitigation, and Kins provide superior team buffs.

Trick Arrow doesn't provide any team buffs, and that's a big part of making a SuperTeam. We don't need Control, and FF and Sonic handle damage mitigation. We don't need Resistance debuffs; Sonics can do that at level 1, and we can have Sonic Secondaries to cap the Resistance debuff.

Kins are the best choice for non-bubblers. With 4 Kins, we probably have enough healing (given that we're ALL going to be tanks). Kins have 3 buffs that really make them ideal. Siphon Power at level 1 and Fulcrum Shift at level 32 are the slot saving powers. Four Kins with Siphon Power give a +100% Damage boost. Add in Assault at 120%, and you can cap damage with 3 SOs. Once chars hit 32, the Kins can alternate (or even stack) Fulcrum Shift, and you won't need to slot your attacks for damage AT ALL to cap them! That slot saving will let you fully slot buffs, debuffs, or other non-attack powers to make them more effective. Also, Speed Boost is great all around. Stacked 4 times, it lets everyone (even pre-travel power SKs) run REAL fast, even in combat, probably with no suppression. It gives a HUGE END Recovery and Recharge Reduction bonus when stacked. Since it can be 6 slotted, you can triple the END Recovery if you want. From level 12 on, the team will attack FAST and have no END problems.

[ QUOTE ]
Flamejet: Why would you need more than 2 FF? As one with fully-slotted shields provides 55% defense, wouldn't 2 floor most enemies?

What would you do against psychic opponents?

[/ QUOTE ]

I didn't know the numbers for Update 5 FFs. If it really is 55% Defense, with more for a second Dispersion Bubble, then 2 should be sufficient.

Against psychic opponents, you find a mission from another contact. :-/ Or bring in the one Dark Defender we keep in a closet for just such emergencies.

[ QUOTE ]
Ninjassin: Sounds like great fun. Will you be doing this tonight? (Sunday). I'd like to join up. I think my preference would be Sonic/Arrow, but I'll take whatever needs there are.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, I was gonna try it on the test server, but I couldn't get people together. Not many people interested in trying my ideas, they want to do their own. PUGs with exact requirements are not easy to put together. I think I'm gonna have to wait till Update 5 goes live to get this going. And when it does, I expect some people will want multiple chars in the SG. I certainly will, to cover a hole if the regular FFers all happen to be busy some night for example.

I mentioned before I'm gonna do this on Virtue. I've started levelling a Kin/Dark (named Tanker Wannabe) solo, and I'll create the SG when he hits 10. I've also created the Tank Mages global chat channel. I'm thinking we can get the FFs and Kins together and level them up to 10, then park them till Update 5 hits. Then we SK the Sonics and they'll catch up real fast. Actually we could go higher than 10, say 12 just to get Speed Boost. But it would be nice to wait for the Sonics.

Since Tanker Wannabe was my first Virtue char, I'll probably make a FF and Sonic char for the SG as well. After all, people will come and go, but we'll always want to have the same mix of power sets.

[ QUOTE ]
Razanar: I would love to do this once it comes live. I could be Kinetic/Dark or Sonic/dark, but if you need me to go FF/Elec I could also do so.

This sounds really fun. I'll see if I can get a group of friends to do the rad/rad idea as well. =P.

[/ QUOTE ]

Secondary choices are still up in the air. I had thought 3 Sonic Resonance Defenders would be enough Resistance debuff, but now we're down to only needing 2. As I mentioned above, I really should test the Resistance debuff cap, and that will let me determine how many Sonic Blast chars we could use. However, I expect we'll have the Sonic Resonance Defenders be Sonic/Sonic, so the rest of us can make chars and level them to 12 while we wait for Update 5.

And as I mentioned, I expect some people will have multiple chars. You can make a Kin and a Sonic if you want.

If you want to try all-Rad, check out Buffer Overrun (in my sig). That was my first SuperTeam experiment, and it's worked very well.

In closing...

I'll be playing Tanker Wannabe up to 12, and I'll make the SG when I can. (I'll probably hit 10 tonight or tomorrow.) If anyone wants to join me, just look for me online between about 8:00 PM EST and 11:00. If you don't see me, try a /tell to @TopDoc.

If any level 50 char on Virtue wants to help bankroll the SG with Influence, it would be appreciated.

If you hate the Defense and Resistance nerfs, rebel by joining us! You can still play like a Tank after Update 5.

If you lost your big pet farm and can't hardly Control, join us!

If you're a Blaster and like how Defiance increases your damage, think about what it's like to have capped damage all the time. Consider that a Defender can out-damage you once we massively reduce the mobs Resistance. And compare your HP increase to our capped Def and Res buffs.

I'd like to get a core group of 8+ people that play nearly every night, in order to help keep the levels close together. If there's enough interest, we may be able to get 2 or more teams going every night. If we level at the same rate as Buffer Overrun, we should be able to do Croatoa about a week after Update 5 goes live (after all the 50s are done badge hunting). And the truly dedicated will hit level 50 in a month.

And if I'm lucky, I can do this all before CoV Beta.

In this team, people will ideally have 6 FF Bubbles, 6 Sonic bubbles, 3 Dispersion Bubbles, 3 Sonic Dispersion Bubbles, 8 Assaults, 8 Tactics, 2 Grant Invis, 2 Speed Boost, 2 Inertial Reduction, 2 Increase Density. That's 42 buffs, minus the ones you can't cast on yourself. The word Unbreakable comes to mind. How many buffs fit on a line?

I tried the Tank Mage team tonight. I came REALLY close to dying once, but that's because I was the lowest level char and I was leading. Unslotted bubbles are not nearly as good as slotted ones. No one died. The levelling rate was a bit slower than expected. As is usual at lower levels, Endurance often ran low. I expect Speed Boost will help, and Stamina later.

Getting the right people together was hard. I expect it will continue to be hard till enough people read this and want to join.

I'll be continuing Saturday, and probably Sunday, Monday, etc.

I'm big on SuperTeams. That means teams that are more than just a group of people playing together. SuperTeams are teams that are SIGNIFICANTLY more than the sum of their parts.

My first SuperTeam was all-Rads. Why is an all-Rad team a SuperTeam? Because the team buffs and mob debuffs, stacked up to 8 times, are just sickly overpowering. See the SG link in my sig for the gory details. I founded the Buffer Overrun Super Group and recruited lots of Radiation/* Defenders and */Radiation Controllers. It took me 6 weeks to level a Controller from 1 to 50. We had another round of recruiting less than a month ago, and we already have multiple level 50 characters. I could make another Rad, but I want to try something new.

With Update 5, my new SuperTeam is gonna be Tank Mages. You know, the thing Statesman always says he is trying to avoid. A Tank Mage is a ranged attacker with great offense and defense. Why is it bad? Well, you don't need anyone else. You just stand there and blast mobs at range. No need for Tankers or Scrappers to Taunt, Challenge, or Provoke mobs and manage agro. No need for Controllers to control the mobs. Tank Mages have enough Defense that mob attacks can be ignored. You blast at the mobs till they decide to run, then you snipe the runners!

What AT do you need? Defenders. Nothing else. What sort of Defenders? Mainly Sonic Debuff (soon to be Sonic Resonance), and Force Field. How does it work? At low levels, Force Field Defenders can give teammates bubbles that provide Defense against most forms of damage. Sonic Debuff Defenders can give people bubble equivalents that provide Resistance. Stack a few Force Field bubbles, even the reduced ones from Update 5, and you'll drop a mobs chance to hit down to 5% for most forms of damage. Stack a few Sonic bubbles, and you'll hit the 75% Resistance cap. You will hardly ever be hit, and if you are it will hardly hurt.

How many of each Defender type do you need? It takes 4 Sonics at low levels to cap Resistance, only 3 at level 12 with some Dual Origin Enhancements, and only 2 at level 22 with Single Origin Enhancements (based on the numbers I've heard). Note that since they can't bubble themselves, the Sonics would have significantly reduced Resistance if there were only 2. Against mobs with -RES debuffs, that could be deadly. You don't really need to cap Resistance at low levels, since mobs don't hit too hard. That means 3 is a good number of Sonics to have for the entire 1-50 range. I don't know about the numbers for Force Field, but I would expect 3 would be appropriate. Using 4 of either would be overkill, and we have a limited number of slots.

Protection from status effects is important too. Force Field Defenders get Dispersion Bubble at level 12 which provides protection from Hold, Immob, and Disorient. Sonic Debuff Defenders get a sonic equivalent. Stacked 6 times, taking into account the 5% chance to be hit, you don't have to worry about those status effects. If you're worried about Knockback, take Acrobatics.

That's the tanking part, now for the Mage part. How can a bunch of Defenders do a lot of damage? Well, Sonics get a debuff that can lower mob Resistance. Stack that a few times, and the mobs are gonna be taking a LOT more damage than usual. Anyone know the resistance debuff cap? Defenders get a decent DMG bonus fron Leadership : Assault, and you can stack that 8 times if everyone takes it. If you have Assault, you might as well take Tactics, to give everyone a huge To Hit bonus (huge when stacked 8 times). (No need for Maneuvers, it's useless compared to Force Fields.) Attacks can be slotted for damage only. If I've done my math right, you can slot attacks with 5 green Damage SOs and be at the damage cap. No need to take Aim, it's a wasted power.

Also, no need for Defense, Damage, or Accuracy Inspirations either. I found with all-Rads in Buffer Overrun that Inspirations are almost forgotten.

It looks like we only need 6 Defenders to make us tanks. That leaves 2 more slots for other chars. Why 8 players? You get more bosses, more mobs, higher level mobs (for teams of 6+), and a high team size XP bonus (x2.3). That means more and better Enhancement drops, a higher Influence/XP ratio (so you can buy better Enhancements), and faster levels all around. SuperTeams are big teams.

To be a SuperTeam, the other 2 slots have to make a significant contribution to the team as a whole. Defenders again are the best choice. Granted Blasters could do higher damage, they don't help the team. And believe me, this team can put mobs down fast enough without Blaster damage. The last 2 slots are for Kinetics Defenders. They have a situational Heal, which is probably all we'll ever need (when someone forgets to refresh bubbles). They have Siphon Power and Fulcrum Shift, both of which increase the damage capacity of the entire team while reducing the damage done by mobs. This means higher team damage at low levels, and the ability to respec slots out of attacks at higher levels, ideally to improve team oriented powers. They have Increase Density to protect against Knockback, the only thing Dispersion Bubble doesn't cover. It also acts as Clear Mind in case someone is mezzed. They have Speed Boost and Inertial Reduction to give the team faster movement. Speed Boost and Transference help with Endurance, and Speed Boost also provides a Recharge Reduction bonus on everything. Kinetics Defenders fill the holes in the team nicely, and reduce downtime.

We should also discuss Secondary power sets. Remember the SuperTeam concept; you want power sets that work well in the team. AoE is VERY GOOD, as you'll always be facing large groups of mobs. When I refer to AoE below, I'm referring to the fast recharge AoEs, not the BIG NUKES at the end of each secondary.

Electric is OK alone, but should work well if several people take it. Given the Leadership bonuses, you can slot up the key powers for heavy Endurance Drain. Stacked from multiple people, it might be effective at stoping mobs from doing much. While we're not too worried about mobs attacking, it's still a good idea. It has 2 AoEs (one is PBAoE) that come at very low level and a virtual pet.

Energy is not good for this group. It has 2 AoEs, but one comes at 35. It does knockback, which isn't all that necessary. There are better choices.

Dark is a serious contender. It has 3 cones (one Immob, one Knockback), plus an AoE disorient, and decent single target damage. It gives mobs a -ACC debuff, good for AVs or buffed mobs that might otherwise hit through the Force Fields. It even has a heal at level 35. What's not to like?

Psychic is probably another one to skip. It has 2 AoEs and various status effects, but it falls far short of Dark.

Radiation is fairly good. It has 3 AoEs (1 PBAoE), 2 of which come early, but 1 comes at 35. Single target damage is fast but lower than dark. The attacks give a -DEF debuff, which can help at low levels.

I don't know enough about the new Archery set to make an informed decision. Compared to Dark, can anyone tell me how it rates?

Sonic Attacks are probably not necessary unless they have nice AoEs. Their secondary effect of -RES debuff is already handled by the Sonic Debuff Primary.

I think the following is the best mix or primaries and secondaries.

3 Sonic/Dark Defenders
3 FF/Elec Defenders
2 Kinetics/Dark Defenders

Why those? Let me explain. But first you have to remember, these are Tank Mages. They are not afraid to get into melee combat. They have the equivalent of Update 4 Invuln Scrapper Ressitance with Invincibility for Defense.

Step 1: Everyone jumps RIGHT INTO THE MIDDLE of the mobs!
Step 2: Sonics use -RES debuffs
Kins hit Siphon Power (bosses) or Fulcrum Shift at level 32
FFs hit Short Circuit (near bosses)
Step 3: Kins hit Transfusion (bosses) if anyone needs healing
Everyone backs up a bit, with the Darks using cone immobs
Step 4: AoE or single target attack till everything drops
Step 5: Refresh bubbles or other buffs if necessary

There are a couple other aspects of a SuperTeam. For Movement, it would be nice if 2 or more people took Teleport with Recall Friend. They can move the entire team around quickly and easily, and it's great for moving SKs before they get their movement power.

It would be nice if 2 or more people took Concealment: Grant Invisibility. This will give the entire team full invisibility.

It would be nice if 2 or more people took the Medicine pool. An out of combat heal will often be handy, Stimulant may be necessary against particularly mez heavy mobs, and you never know when you'll need a Resuscitate.

Everyone should take Leadership, most people will take Fitness, and most people will take a conventional movement power (Flying, Super Leaping, or Super Speed). Note that the Kins can give Inertial Reduction, and we'll have TPers, so Hasten plus Super Speed works just fine for movement.

That leaves one extra power pool from the above set. If the Kins skip a movement power (because they can), they can pick 2 of the above. Between 8 of us, we should be able to cover all of the pools with lots of overlap.

By the way, this isn't all carved in stone. Only the primaries are carved in stone. Secondaries and pools are not. If you really want Archery, go ahead. If you really don't want Leadership, then skip it. But remember, every team oriented power you take helps the entire team.

One last thing... Pick you enemies! This team is very weak against Psychic enemies. We avoid them! The best targets are those who are weak to negative energy. We fight them a lot! Simple.

This is my plan. Does anyone have any constructive criticism? Is there anything I missed? Anything you would do differently? If so, please post here, and explain why it would be better?

Finally, I'd like to try this out on test. I'm probably going to be on the Test Server tonight (Friday, July 22) around 9:45 PM EST in Atlas Park looking for people to try this. My global chat handle is @TopDoc on live and test.

If you want in, feel free to post here to reserve a spot. But make sure you're on by 10:15 PM EST tonight. Otherwise, it's first come, first served. I'm only available in the evenings, though sometimes I get a little spare time on the weekends. I usually play from 8:00 PM EST till 11:00 or midnight or so.

If this works out very well, I'll likely want to continue it once Update 5 goes live. Those interested can post here or otherwise let me know. We'll pick a server.

Let me start by reserving a character. I'll be a FF/Elec Defender. For pool powers, I'll take Leadership, Fitness, Speed, and Teleport. I like Teleport, and I used it in all-Rad teams to move people around fast.

FYI, I noticed some new commands in demo files while testing update 5. The new commands are "HP" and "HPMAX", both followed by a floating point number if I recall. I expect this is so that you can see status bars (or HP at least) in demo recordings.

I can use it to help with mapping. I wrote a script to find things in a demo file. I have my high level char run around a zone in a search pattern. I've used it on many of the lower level zones to locate contacts, mob spawn points, and other interesting things. This will let me map mob levels as well, based on their HP.

And when CoV comes out, I expect to have a lot of fun with it.

Nope, I haven't tested Hurdle and SJ to see how many SJ slots are needed. And suddenly there's some other stuff that's a higher priority to test. Sorry :-( I'll try to get around to it soon.

That's actually common with story arcs. I've recorded most of them, and noticed the difference. Something similar can happen with certain TFs. At the very start or sometimes in the middle, there can be 2 different missions. It will offer you one at random first. Nothing special happens after you finish the first one. Once you finish the second one and return to your contact, you get an extra paragraph in what your contact says. The growing clue only gets created or updated when you complete both missions, and the text refers to both missions. It's just a way to mix things up a bit, so you don't do exactly the same thing every time.

[ QUOTE ]
For simplicity, I'll assume 300 end and no recharge.

[/ QUOTE ]

Unfortunately, the "no recharge" completely invalidates your results. Without Stamina you recover 1.66 END/second. It takes about 3 seconds to teleport, so you recover 5 END in that time.

Taking recharge into account, and using a reasonable value for END, we get the following...

0 SOs: 100 END/(15 - 5 END/hop) = 10 hops
3 SOs: 100 END/(7.5 - 5 END/hop) = 40 hops
6 SOs: 100 END/(5 - 5 END/hop) = infinite

Without Stamina you'll definitely need more slots in END Reduction if you want to go a long way. But remember that you'll be recovering about 5 END per hop, and that's significant. With 3 END Reduction SOs, you're only losing 2.5 END/hop. That's a low enough rate that you can TP a pretty long way.

With 6 slotted Stamina, you're around 3 END/second, or 9 END/teleport. A single SO END Reduction Enhancement makes a Teleport cost 11.3 END, while 2 make it cost 9 END. With Stamina you can just use a single slot for END Reduction as you can teleport across even long zones while only slowly losing Endurance. With 2 slots in END Reduction, you can teleport forever. But 1 slot is probably best, as it gives you the most flexibility. When you really need to TP a LONG way, just pause an extra second between hops

Also Red, take a look at my SG site in my sig, and the the Mission Logs forum. I have complete logs for all of the Kheldian arcs except the last one. It looks like you're missing a few. Feel free to grab those too. I've recorded a LOT of the game in my mission logs if you're looking for anything else. Just ask. I think my SG forums only have the Kheld and Striga Isle stuff.

I actually wrote this up long ago, but I have no idea where it is. Probably got pruned. But here's the way Contacts work. Feel free to steal what you want and include it in your Contact Info Red.

There are different types of Contacts.

Origin Contacts

You start with 1 of these, based on your origin (hence the name) and starting zone. For example, characters with a Magic Origin starting in Atlas Park will always get Azuria as their first contact.

There are usually multiple Origin Contacts for each Origin for every 5 level range. For example, Laurence Mansfield, Paco Sanchez, and Genevieve Sanders are all Magic Origin Contacts for levels 5-9. You can only have 1 Contact in a given Origin and level range, so you will only get one of the above.

You only get 1 Origin Contact in the 1-4 level range, but you usually get 5 (one from each origin) after that.

Origin Contacts will introduce you to another in the same level range when you reach the Colleague relationship level, if you don't already have a full set. They will introduce you to the next level range up Origin Contacts when you leave their level range, or one level earlier if you're at the Confidant relationship level. They will introduce you to a contact of the same Origin. For example, Azuria might introduce you to Laurence Mansfield at level 4 if you're at the Confidant level, but she'll do it at 5 or higher regardless.

After you do a single mission for Laurence Mansfield and reach the Colleague level, he will introduce you to a level 5-9 non-Magic Origin Contact. You can do a single mission for that new contact and be introduced to yet another. Continue and you'll have all 5 Origin Contacts for level 5-9.

If you get them up to Confidant, they'll all introduce you to new level 10-15 contacts at level 9. Otherwise they'll wait till 10.

One final example for Origin Contacts. If you talk to Azuria for the first time at level 30, she'll introduce you to a level 5-9 Magic Origin Contact. Talk to them and you'll be introduced to a level 10-14 Magic Origin Contact. Repeat till you get a level 30-34 Magic Origin Contact. You can then do missions for them and get introduced to another level 30-34 Origin Contact, and repeat to collect the whole set.

Extra Contacts

These are similar to Origin Contacts, but they aren't really Origin Contacts. I think they exist just to give extra Story Arcs when a given level range has 6. Steven Sheridan and Angus McQueen are the only ones. An Origin Contact will introduce an extra contact of the same level range when you reach Colleague Level.

Store Contacts

These are contacts that have special stores. There's (from memory) Serafina, Mark IV, Agent Six, Penny Preston, and Holsten Armitage. They sell level 30 and 35 SOs. They will only sell to characters who have completed a single mission for them, and they will only offer the mission to level 30+ characters. There's also Ghost Falcon who sells 40, 45, and 50 SOs, and will only offer his mission to level 40 chars.

Store Contacts will only show up on your Contact list while you're doing their mission.

New Zone Contacts

These Contacts were added for the missions in new zones. They are introduced by missions at the appropriate level. For example, the first level 5-9 mission you will likely get is to visit Lt. David Wincott in the Hollows. However, you can just talk to him or Stephanie Peebles on Striga Isle or General Hammond in Firebase Zulu, and they will appear in your contact list and be available.

New Zone Contacts follow a strict line of introductions. For example, Lt. David Wincott will introduce you to Flux, who will introduce you to Julius the Troll, who will introduce you to Talshak the Mystic. You will only get these introductions after finishing all of their missions, or by out levelling them. The Shadow Shard contacts are all in the same level range (40-50?), but The Hollows and Striga Isle have half their contacts at the lower range, and half at the higher range.

This needs to go into the next version, and I'm posting it here to remind myself and let other people know...

In another thread about Super Speed and suppression testing, WeirdBeard said:

[ QUOTE ]
Many (but not all) Stealth effects (versus NPCs and/or PCs) in the game are suppressed for 10 seconds after attacking a foe or being hit by a foe.

The movement attributes of the SS/SJ/Flight powers are suppressed for 4 seconds after attacking a foe.

Superspeed happens to have both types of effects, and thus both are suppressed for the appropriate amount of time if you attack a foe. The fact that the duration for the suppression is different for the two different effects is as designed. If you think the Stealth component should kick back on after 4 seconds for SS, that's certainly a valid opinion and should be brought up to the designers, but it's not a bug. Hope that clears things up.

[/ QUOTE ]

And later...

[ QUOTE ]
Suppression on attack has always been timed from when you activate the power (not including interrupt time, if it is interruptable).

[/ QUOTE ]

This thread so long ago is what inspired me to create the Buffer Overrun SG. I looked at the ATs as Arcas did and determined that an all Radiation team could do it all. Accelerate Metabolism at level 2 for Defenders gives great buffs, and is overpowering when stacked 8 times. All of the other buffs and debuffs are incredibly powerful when stacked a few times. As a result, Buffer Overrun has 16 level 50 chars now, and we've recently started recruiting for BO-TNG (the next generation). We started Friday, and people were in their mid teens 2 days later. If you want to try playing in a superteam, check out the link in my sig.

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I founded an all-Radiation SG, and a group of 8 level 2 Rad Defenders could run around with Sprint and 8 stacked perma-Accelerate Metabolism at a speed of about 82 f/s. That's fairly close to the Flight speed cap and base Super Speed at level 2! Stacked this way, Accelerate Metabolism and Speed Boost are fully functional Travel powers.

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If you want to see for yourself, check out the following. This was my big project a few months before the movement guide. It's great fun, and you get to play CoH on fast easy mode. You do massive damage, huge END Recovery bonus, fast attacks, great fun, all starting at level 2. I hit level 50 in under 250 hours, which I believe is very fast for a non-PL'd character.

We're recruiting for wave #2. We're hoping to get enough critical mass to have a group of 8 rads on every night.


Buffer Overrun Recruiting

Nope. The Mito drops are better than the Hami drops now because they're level 53 SOs. For a single attribute, you're better off with a 53 SO than a 50 HO. Given the effort and reward, going on a Hami raid just isn't worth my time.

Ya know, the devs always say the risk should equal the reward. For a level 50 char, nothing in the game is a risk, since debt means nothing at 50. I guess that means there should be no reward for playing a level 50 char.

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In my experience (with just one SO jump enh each in Hurdle and Combat Jumping) the combination is just slow enough to control well, hopping around a battle.

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Well, I've started a new DM/Inv Scrapper on Justice to get back into playing. (My Freedom slots are basically full, and I really wanted to play a Scrapper for a while since I never have. I get to rediscover the joys of no SG and no Inf. Maybe I'll enter a costume contest. :-) Hurdle and Sprint together let me leave everyone without a travel power in the dust. But it's slow enough I can easily see the mobs ahead of me and avoid them, even while going full speed.

I got Combat Jumping at 10, and the extra control is OK. I can turn mid-jump and get over most any wall. Unfortunately it makes you bump your head inside missions a LOT. Hurdle by itself was a small enough height bonus that I could tap the space bar quickly and move without getting hung up on much. Combat Jumping is a slightly larger height bonus, and added to Hurdle it's annoyingly high. Kind of like using Super Jumping inside a mission. I should hit 14 tonight or tomorrow, and I'll get to see how that works.

I forgot to test the Super Jump + Hurdle cap in my guide. Since the Fitness pool is so common, it makes sense to get Hurdle if you are going to use Super Jump, as you can probably cap your jumping speed with fewer slots. Looking at the numbers, you should be able to cap jumping just using the default slots in Super Jumping and Hurdle. But given the funny way jumping works, I'm gonna have to test it to make sure.

By the way, I forgot to mention a GREAT trick you can use with jumping powers! You can jump up to the top of buildings quickly and easily. I did it with Hurdle, but it works even better with Combat Jumping. There are small ledges at the bottom of windows, often between floors, and various other places. Run up to a building, hold down the space bar to jump and "w" to go forward, and use "a" and "d" as needed to move sideways to find ledges. It's a WHOLE lot faster and easier than taking the stairs. It makes that "Defeat 10 CoT in KR" mission go really fast, since they're usually on building tops. Unfortunately it doesn't work on smooth buildings, like many stores and offices. I hear it can be done without any jumping power, but I haven't ever managed to do it very well. Maybe if I played more alts at low levels I'd develop the skill.