tiredinnuendo

Yeah.... I really went off on a tangent there, didn't I? Sorry about that. Didn't mean to jump on ya. I agree completely with your statement about the PvE "minigames" in PvP zones making PvP more interesting.

One thing though...

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The devs specifically said they don't want anyone soloing AVs, multiple times. AVs on Invincible, if I remember correctly, were added because people complained about not being able to even try. That the *attempt* was important to them.

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Yeah.... Want to buy some swampland in Florida? It's cheap!

Whenever the devs comment on what they expect a hero/villain to be able to handle, it's always been dramatically under par. Always. They do this because their numbers cater to a sub-par player.

If they said, "The average hero or villain should be able to handle a spawn of six to eight +3 minions," there'd be riots as people complained about how underpowered they were. It doesn't matter that I can handle a spawn of that size with all my characters. I've been playing video games and using computers *way* longer than could ever be considered healthy. Most people haven't, and as a result they have to set the numbers with the mainstream.

But they know damn well that people way better than me play this game, and the sad truth is that they cannot make AVs possible for newer blood without making them soloable for the total min-maxer. Can't be done. So yeah, AVs are soloable, but the devs would never say so.

- J

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What some might see as the inconvenience might be seen as the whole purpose of the existence of Archvillains to others. You're dismissing that possibility because you only see it as an inconvenience, but creating the requirement to gather a team to defeat them might be the whole reason for the existence of Archvillains. Not everyone finds gathering a team to take on something a burden.

They don't spawn at all difficulty levels so that teaming isn't forced. They spawn at the highest level as a compromise solution to give players the ability to decide if they want to solo them as an EB, or gather a team for them as an AV. The fact that it allows some people to set for invincible and then attempt to solo them might be an inintended side effect.

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Well, getting a team isn't an inconvenience for me really, I'm pretty much always at least duoing, which is enough to take down pretty much anything short of a Stirke Force with no problem.

The point I was making about inconvenience was that if the devs really really really really didn't want people soloing AVs, they wouldn't have them spawn when you were solo. Period. If they changed it so that an AV spawned if you were duoing on invincible, that would still meet the aforementioned requirement of having the option to take an EB or gather a team for an AV, but they didn't do it that way. To repeat: They have built the game so that someone playing on "Hard" mode will encounter AV's solo.

What this tells me is that the devs are admitting that the hardcore soloists who are both skilled and, beyond that, patient enough will be able to solo AVs, and they'll let them. The devs are real people. They know that someone with a high skill level will do better than someone completely new to gaming. But they can't say, "AV's are soloable if you're good enough," because all of a sudden you've got a drove of players responding, "I know I'm good enough but I can't do it! Make AVs easier!"

So they say, "Yeah. They aren't soloable." But then leave in the option to solo them for those with the patience to spend over an hour faming temp powers to deal with every AV encounter.

- J

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The rest of this is expansion upon a flawed premise: that 3:1 is a cap, and this evidence shows it to be broken. These items you point out simply mean that the difficulty slider is there to allow players who can and wish to do so to attempt more difficult missions.

The point, however, that AVs have been stated by the Devs to be team-based content still stands. They simply don’t have an issue with people being able to solo them occasionally.

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I respectfully disagree. I see it this way, and it should be noted that some of the below is my guesses.

1) The devs like AVs pretty close to the way they are.
2) The devs *cannot* make a statement that AVs are soloable with enough planning and prep time, because no matter how hard she tries, my wife will not be able to solo one. She's very new to gaming and the skill level just isn't there. If the devs said they were soloable with enough planning, it would frustrate her, and other customers as well.
3) The devs can't make statements like, "If you're good enough, prepared enough, and patient enough, you can do it," because of the problems listed in 2. But they're all thinking it.
4) (this is the most relevant point) The devs put in a feature that downgrades AVs based on difficulty and team size. It didn't used to be there and it is now. When they put it in, they made a deliberate choice to make AVs spawn when you're solo on invincible. If they really didn't want you soloing them, they wouldn't have done that. The only other possibilities are that they are stupid or that they want to inconvenience you by making you downgrade or get a team at the end of each arc.

So, have the devs stated that AVs are team content? Sure. Do they really mean it? I don't think they completely do. I think that statement panders to my wife and those like her who don't want to feel like they should be able to do it.

- J

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We're actually agreeing here, as that's what I'm saying.

The line on AVs is that they're team content. That's the intent. They don't want the average player soloing them.

They aren't, however, overly concerned that some players under specific circumstances can solo them.

I would hazard to guess that they keep an eye on what builds and powersets are doing it, and how often, though.

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Sweet. We agree.

.... can I have some Foo IOs? I hear they'll help me solo AVs.

- J

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The rest of this is expansion upon a flawed premise: that 3:1 is a cap, and this evidence shows it to be broken. These items you point out simply mean that the difficulty slider is there to allow players who can and wish to do so to attempt more difficult missions.

The point, however, that AVs have been stated by the Devs to be team-based content still stands. They simply don’t have an issue with people being able to solo them occasionally.

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I respectfully disagree. I see it this way, and it should be noted that some of the below is my guesses.

1) The devs like AVs pretty close to the way they are.
2) The devs *cannot* make a statement that AVs are soloable with enough planning and prep time, because no matter how hard she tries, my wife will not be able to solo one. She's very new to gaming and the skill level just isn't there. If the devs said they were soloable with enough planning, it would frustrate her, and other customers as well.
3) The devs can't make statements like, "If you're good enough, prepared enough, and patient enough, you can do it," because of the problems listed in 2. But they're all thinking it.
4) (this is the most relevant point) The devs put in a feature that downgrades AVs based on difficulty and team size. It didn't used to be there and it is now. When they put it in, they made a deliberate choice to make AVs spawn when you're solo on invincible. If they really didn't want you soloing them, they wouldn't have done that. The only other possibilities are that they are stupid or that they want to inconvenience you by making you downgrade or get a team at the end of each arc.

So, have the devs stated that AVs are team content? Sure. Do they really mean it? I don't think they completely do. I think that statement panders to my wife and those like her who don't want to feel like they should be able to do it.

- J

P.S. As to the nukes and Shivans thing, I've never actually seen a good argument for reducing them. "They're unbalanced" does not work as an argument when you're not balancing them against anything.

Ever since the last time I got into one of these discussions, I've been trying to stay out of it, but I just don't learn.

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2. The design *purpose* of the Shivans and Nukes is obviously to be allowed to use in the most challenging circumstances the player might face. Restricting them from being used in those situations circumvents their design purpose. Why continue to have them at all?


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To make PvP more interesting.

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Perhaps PvP on your server differs from PvP on mine, but I have never ever ever ever seen someone effectively use a Shivan in PvP. They're slow and have stupid AI and any idiot can joust away from them effectively. Nukes can be effective in PvP *once*, but after that, you've just used up something that takes you 20 to 30 minutes to get for about five seconds of glory. Who in the world would bother? The PvP rewards would become useless and no one would get them, kinda like the mini-heavy you can get from RV is now. Hell, most people don't even know it exists. Why? Because it's not worth the time, so no one gets it. I don't like suggestions that make content useless.

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The presumption is that the only people who get them are people who are willing to tolerate PvP, and such people don't count.

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How is this worse than the current situation where the only people who *don't* get them are those who can't stand PvP, and *those* people don't count?

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This will sound mean, but it's true. People who can't stand PvP don't "count" in this sense because they aren't experiencing the whole game. If I hate Strike Forces but want to fight the entire Freedom Phalanx on my villain, I have a choice of either getting over my hatred or not getting to see that fight. People who aren't magnetically repelled from PvP zones "count" because they're willing to experience that aspect of the game, and get all the pains and pleasures that come with it.

If I didn't like levelling, would it be fair for me to demand that your level 38 power got nerfed? No.

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The irony is that this suggestion takes something away from the PvE experience, but doesn't replace it with anything. Its an Anti-PvE suggestion, it just doesn't look like one because of (what I believe to be) the mistaken belief that without Shivans and Nukes, the devs would improve the PvE experience in ways a lot of people seem to believe they are currently *prevented* from doing, but which I would assess as having essentially zero probability of occuring. So its an anti-PvP suggesstion, and an anti-PvE suggestion simultaneously. I seem to be in a minority of one that sees it that way, though.

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The problem here is that, when people suggest they be restricted, it is because they know the devs don't want us soloing AVs, and are hoping to provide a suggestion that prevents the powers from being made worthless in PvP. Also, many people making the suggestion do believe that the Devs might lower the difficulty of the LRSF if those weren't usable in it.

It's a pro PvE suggestion that is intended to remove any impact on PvP. Again, it may be made using false assumptions, but it's not made for the reasons you think it is.

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Here it comes.....

Ready for it? Say it with me now!

Bull.

I hear lots of people going on about how the devs do not want people soloing AVs. This is true to the extent that they don't want *everyone* to be able to solo AVs without trying, but really, *look* at the damn game mechanics. Look at how difficulty levels work. Let's examine the following facts:

1) The devs know that some players solo AVs. They do. Clearly. They also know some folks like it.
2) Up until a little while ago, the devs clung to their "1 hero = 3 white minions" mantra. This was blatantly untrue before ED and still is today. Why did they cling to it? Did they just not know that someone with decent skills could handle four white minions? Or are they catering to the lowest common denominator with that statement?
3) If you set your difficulty to relentless/invincible and solo, you will get AVs. Not EBs.

Now then: Which is more likely?

1) The devs forgot that setting the "required heroes to spawn AV" counter to 1 for invincible would force people to solo them.
2) The devs want soloers to never use invincible.
3) The devs want soloers to have to change their difficulty one notch down at the end of virtually every story arc from 35 on.
4) The devs know damn well that some folks can and like to solo AVs, and know that if you factor in all the time it takes to get the temp powers and take the guy down the xp/time ratio is such that it's not a PLable thing. Therefore, they left in the option, while saying that they aren't technically supposed to be soloable to make sure they don't set people in the mindset that everyone should be able to handle it.

AVs are soloable and the devs know it. And if they change the temp powers, the AVs will still be soloable by certain builds using certain tactics and other, different temp powers.

Leave the Shivans and nukes as they are. They're a great example of "fun" farming (as opposed to riding around picking flowers for and hour to make fire resist potions) that provides a kind release from the static mission formula. Making them worthless would effectively kill this activity.

- J

Bring us some figgy pudding.

We won't go until we get some.

- J

A ten million prestige, three year vet reward is a *bad* idea. Beyond the obvious problem that it would be completely useless on the villainside because they don't have enough zones to justify the cost, even on hero side, how many SG's have ten million prestige to spend on teleporting? How many have someone who's had a three year constant subscription? How many have both? That number there, that's how many get to use the three year reward. I bet it's a small number, compared to the overall size of the playerbase.

And yeah, I'm aware that ten million is an excessive figure (maybe), but it's an example as part of an overall point. A vet reward that results in a single, extremely high-cost, destructible in raids, base item which is only considered useful to the heroside half of the game and takes the place of existing content is a bad plan, for the obvious flaws which should be evident in the above, as well as the fact that the devs have said that they want vet rewards to have a bare minimum of practical function, and to mostly be cosmetic carrots to get people to stick around.

Do they need to centralize teleporting (i.e. add more beacons per teleporter or something similar)? Yes, of course. But the plane is not the way.

- J

The "trigger pads" seem to be a bit larger than an exploration badge point, from what I can tell, and it is possible to avoid them all, but it usually takes a certain amount of dumb luck. I know the route that takes you through the atlas mayhem without spawning any longbow (except for the ones that pop right at the bank door, which are pretty reliable in the lower level mayhems).

I don't think the spawns are entirely random. I think there are maybe thirty spots that can spawn longbow and when you enter the mission, a random fifteen of them (or so) are chosen.

- J

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At the three year mark, maybe making teleporters redundant is something they should consider. You could free up all that space in the base and get a slightly cooler way of getting around. Sign me up.

The teleporters would still get plenty of use from the late subscribers. I think this could at least be considered.

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Don't get me wrong, I am *all* for having a one-stop teleport shop, but there are several folks who would call that overpowered. Especially in Heroes, that would be one teleporter room instead of a billion, and that's probably a bit more of a bonus than they want vet rewards to be.

- J

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I disagree. It gets back to the player perceived value vs cost. The effort and annoyance involved with teleporters is too much, and I say this from the point of vew of a SG that had a telepads for all the COH zones until the recent expansion.

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Allow me to put it in simple terms and cater, briefly, to the worst side of humanity.

*ahem*

OMG DEVS! Tihs SG i know can teleport to all zones IN ONE ROOM and tehy dont need plot upgrade or anything to get porter. u said vet rewards would just be for looks an not overpowered lol good job!!!one!! and now if you aren't in a SG with a three year guy you have to join one or try to recruit one becuz no1 will build all teh porters anymore is so unfair devs NERF NERF!

If a flier that allowed you to teleport to all zones from one room in the base was a 3 month reward, this kinda flak wouldn't happen, but it's the 3 year. Dealing with multiple telepads is annoying (I'm coming from the perspective of a SG that has them all as well), but giving certain groups such a decided advantage in base-building would be a bit more unbalanced than vet rewards are supposed to be. Especially since Heroes and Villains have such a gap in terms of zone numbers.

To paraphrase the above, the devs have shown that, in their opinion, if you can build two 2x2 teleport rooms with 2 porters each or one 5x2 room that holds 4, the bigger one will cost more than the two little ones, even though they effectively take up the same plot footprint. By your idea, we'd have a single room replacing the functionality of two 2x2 rooms villainside, but it would also replace the functionality of *six* 2x2 hero side rooms. How do you price a piece like that? Does it just cost more for heroes? Do you factor in the price of the plot upgrade that they no longer have to do? You're asking for a flier that costs ten million prestige. God help you if your SG gets raided for an item of power. I was worried about my generator being blown up.

And all this is still beneath the original point of: The devs have said that vet rewards are small, and mostly cosmetic, and not supposed to give any real advantage in PvP or PvE. Something like this would cross that line, and even if it did cost ten million prestige there'd be someone [censored] about it.

- J

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At the three year mark, maybe making teleporters redundant is something they should consider. You could free up all that space in the base and get a slightly cooler way of getting around. Sign me up.

The teleporters would still get plenty of use from the late subscribers. I think this could at least be considered.

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Don't get me wrong, I am *all* for having a one-stop teleport shop, but there are several folks who would call that overpowered. Especially in Heroes, that would be one teleporter room instead of a billion, and that's probably a bit more of a bonus than they want vet rewards to be.

- J

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Thing two: Functional vehicles. Yeah, this won't happen, because they added a sucky plane as the three year vet reward.

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I also agree that it won't happen...but I was thinking, what if they made the plane a functional portal to any zone in CoX? Like if you are team leader, you click the plane and it brings up a zone menu...you select the zone and enter. Once the rest of the team clicks in, you get your loading screen to the appropriate zone and everyone shows up there. Heck, maybe they could even place your plane in the zone as a temp teleporter back to the base or to another zone? Could this be done?

I mean...okay, we're not going to get to fly the damn thing but could we make it be good for something besides prettying up the place?

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I think doing that would make teleporters redundant, which they're unlikely to do. If vehicles are going to do something, it has to go beyond simple zone teleportation. Not that it's a bad idea, I just don't see it happening. I don't see my idea happening either, though, so I suppose the point is moot.

- J

There are two things that would make bases the place to be for me. I'll list them now:

Thing one: Danger Room. Everyone requests it. You get "modules" for different villain groups and AV/Heroes by defeating them, similar to gladiators. You can then "train" fight them in the Danger Room. It'd give me a way to show off the game to friends, and also a place to try out an archvillain that I personally haven't fought yet.

Thing two: Functional vehicles. Yeah, this won't happen, because they added a sucky plane as the three year vet reward. But imagine, your SG has a team of about 4 fighting a Giant Monster. Because the devs have done everything they can to make Giant Monsters as not fun as possible, no one is helping and they're stalemated. You jump into the base and get into the plane. Your graphic is now replaced by that of a flier, and you can't use your normal powers, but you get the plane's powers to control (they'd function like temp powers). They'd be heavy on -regen and do a fair amount of damage, but the downside is that you can't get any xp while using the plane. The plane would also be a good way to clear hunt "x" missions that require you to kill things that only spawn at +3 to you. If the plane is damaged, you repair it with salvage (thus giving all those groups that have 400 useless components laying around something to do with them).

- J

This was originally posted as an answer to a question on the base forums, and as I wrote it it kind of became a guide. I intended to leave it at that, but it was requested that I make it official by reposting it here. This guide is intended for people who are new to base building. It gives them the basics of the editor as well as some sample base options. Also useful for folks intending to start a one-man group (which was the original case it was built for). So.... uh... onward to the cut/paste!

We'll use the abridged style. Either read the whole guide, just read the notes if you want the quick and dirty, or skip to the bottom for some examples.

First off, single *person* SGs should not be single *member*? If you can stack the group with alts, it'll give you more prestige to play with initially. There are few things more depressing that starting a single member SG, getting the base, and discovering that you can't afford enough fluff pieces to adequately decorate the entryway.

Note number 1: Every member in your SG up to 15 will give you a bonus 20,000 prestige to play with.

Assuming that I've talked you into padding your group as much as possible, you'll have at least some starter prestige. 300,000 at maximum. This will not be sufficient unless you're looking for the "base" to serve as an apartment with only the decorative pieces. If you are, you're done! If not, you'll need to keep gaining prestige (actually, you need to do that either way, since there's rent and all).

Note number 2: The most efficient ways to earn prestige solo are to run missions on invincible (PvP zone missions give more than normal zone missions) or, get a heavy in Recluse's Victory and start nailing pillboxes. Each turret gives almost 300 prestige.

So you've got 300k prestige or less and need to spend it. Here's some basic notes that you'll need to bear in mind when designing your base.

Note Number 3: Bases consist of rooms, doorways, functional items (teleporters, crafting tables, etc), and fluff items (desks, lamps, bookshelves).

The items and rooms you place in your base will usually have some sort of function ascribed to them. You don't just put down a 2x2 "room". You put down a 2x2 medical room, which will allow you to place a rez ring, but not a teleporter, because teleporters go in transport rooms.

Most functional items that people really care about when they first start off are actually pretty cheap. The problem is that the items you don't care about but still need aren't. I'm referring here to control devices and power devices.

Note Number 4: Most functional items require control and power to operate, which are gotten from control and power items, respectively.

Control and power devices are one of the biggest limitations of base building. They're expensive, require their own room, and never seem to put out quite enough of what you need. This was addressed earlier when the devs added the oversight center (a starter control room, 3x3, also can hold a worktable) and a combo power/control unit which puts out just enough power and control for the basics.

Note Number 4: Bases also have plots. Your default plot size is 8x8. You can only place rooms within this grid. The most efficient (read: cheapest) way to place rooms IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO BUILD A FULL BASE is three rows of three 2x2 rooms. Your base will resemble a tic-tac-toe board, but it's the best way to start if you're looking to build a full base. For just beginning, it's probably best to plan to use the oversight center and switch to this model when prestige allows.

Not much to say on plots beyond the above. For a starter base, you won't be expanding your plot in a hurry, at which point my "guide" won't help you.

Note Number 5: When placing rooms/items, it's important to remember that all rooms must have one block of separation between them, even if you don't intend to put a doorway between them. There can be no items in doorways. Functional items are particularly finicky about where they can be placed in relation to a door.

Again, not much to add to that note. Just have to try it and see what works. One thing to tack on. If you do somehow manage to get something where the game thinks it shouldn't be (this is easier than you'd think) the game will decide that your base is broken and won't let you change much of anything else until you've removed the offending piece. It will not tell you what the offending piece is. Have fun guessing!

Note Number 6: In any given room, you can adjust the wall texture (use the "current room" button if you're having trouble seeing the textures), the lighting (there's a tab in the window located by default in the upper corner of the screen), and the ceiling/floor height (same window as the lighting, default tab).

It's important to note that, while changing the floor and ceiling height can be fun, if the room is not high enough, some items won't fit no matter what you do. I usually open all my rooms up to full height at first, then condense where it's appropriate.

Note Number 7: You've probably noticed that some items seem redundant. This is because bases are set up to be either magical or technological, and every functional item has a magical or technical equivalent. For crafting tables, for instance, the basic forge looks magical and makes magic-looking items, and the basic worktable looks tech-like and makes tech items.

For the most part when starting out, the differences in magical/tech are aethstetic. This does not hold constant. Some items are smaller when they're tech than when they're magic or vice-versa. This may or may not be intended. You can mix and match items, for example, have a magical energy source powering a technical control room, so you might want to look into which items fit best into the spaces provided.

Note Number 8: Some functional items have auxiliary connections, and some functional items are "auxiliary" items, which plug into these connections. Auxiliary items will do nothing if not plugged into a "main" item.

An example here would be as follows. A mainframe gives you control, and is your main control item. Since on basic plots, you can only have one main control item, your extra control will have to come from auxiliary items, such as a database. A database will plug into your mainframe and generate more control for your base, but if you place a database without placing a mainframe, the database gives you nothing.

Note Number 9: Crafted item placement. When you craft an item on the worktable, you'll have to enter a special form of base editor mode. It's accessed in the entryway, just like normal editor mode, but instead of clicking "Edit Base", click "Place Personal Item".

Once you've build an item, you still have to pay for it. No one knows why. If you decide to sell it back later, you'll get the prestige back, but the salvage you built it with is gone.

Note Number The Last One: Because you're going to ask, all the basic items you want are available to pick and place with the default base stock except two. Teleporters much be crafted, and you will need a basic forge/worktable for this. Teleport beacons must be earned, and you'll need to touch every exploration badge point in a given zone while in SG Mode to get one.

Don't worry, they don't take all that much salvage to craft. It'll be cake.

Specific Base Design Plans

Okay.... I think I'm done with the "notes" section. If you didn't before, you now have a basic idea of how to build a base and what goes into it. Now, how should *you* start? That's really up to you, but here are some pointers. Note: Numbers may be a bit off, as I refuse to load up the game to check them.

When you first start off you'll have your entry room. Kinda bland, huh? Most folks want to get right to building the teleporters, but you'll need some other stuff beforehand. I recommend putting in an Oversight Center first. At 50,000 prestige, it gives you a 3x3 room to decorate that can hold one control device, one storage device, and one workshop device.

For the control device, you should put down the combo unit. I forget the exact name, but it's in the control items list and it's around 25,000 prestige. Now your base has power, and can support a few basic functions.

So let's get to those functions. I cannot stress enough that you'll want to put a salvage rack somewhere in the oversight center. That stuff piles up fast. Those run around 15,000 prestige, I think.

Then it's up to you. If you're more interested in being able to rez at your base, add a med bay (2x2 room, 50,000 I think?) and put in a rez ring (10,000 prestige).

If you're wanting teleporters, you'll want to build a basic worktable (put it in the oversight center). That'll run you 25k prestige, but will let you refine your salvage, which I'm not writing a guide on. Once you can build your teleporter (requires six of one of the basic components, as I recall), you build it. Then you'll need a room to put it in.

There's a special 1x2 room called a teleport bay which allows 1 teleporter and 1 teleport beacon. Build one of those, then drop your porter in there (15k prestige) and a beacon to the zone you want it to port you to (5k).

If you have the prestige for it, you can combine both of these for a base that you can rez in and teleport out of.

One more item worth bringing up is the inspiration collector. These are special storage items that cost no energy or control and hold 100 inspirations. They're very useful and I really recommend picking one up if you have room for it.

So, let's look at total cost (not counting fluff items).

Base 1: Rez Capable
Oversight Center: 50k
Med Bay: 50k
Combo Unit: 25k
Rez Ring: 10k
Total: 135k Prestige

Base 2: Teleport Capable
Oversight Center: 50k
Teleport Bay: 50k
Combo Unit: 25k
Telepad: 15k
Beacon: 5k
Total: 140k Prestige
(Note, this base assumes that you build a worktable, crafted the teleporter, then sold the worktable back)

Base 3: Teleport and Rez Capable
Oversight Center: 50k
Teleport Bay: 50k
Med Bay: 50k
Combo Unit: 25k
Telepad: 15k
Becon: 5k
Rez Ring: 10k
Total: 205k Prestige (again the assumption about selling off the worktable)

Base 4: Full deck starter base
Oversight Center: 50k
Teleport Bay: 50k
Med Bay: 50k
Combo Unit: 25k
Telepad: 15k
Becon: 5k
Rez Ring: 10k
Basic Worktable/Forge: 25k
Salvage Rack: 15k
Total: 245k prestige

Once you're ready to move past base 4, you should have a firm enough grasp of base design to head forward on your own.

Some tips and tricks (not many though)

1: The Rent Trick
Everyone needs to know the rent trick. To understand the rent trick, you must first understand that rent moves in cycles. Each cycle lasts two weeks.
Cycle 1 is right after the base is created or (later on) right after rent is paid. Rent will be due in two weeks.
Cycle 2: Rent is due. Do *not* pay rent now. Nothing bad will happen
Cycle 3: Rent is past due, your base shuts off. This is the ideal time to pay rent. Even if your base power has only been off for 5 minutes, paying rent now will force cycle 3 to complete before you can begin again at cycle one. In this manner, you pay rent every 6 weeks instead of every 2 without losing function in your base.

2: Buy! Sell!
This is pretty basic, but since anything can be sold at full value at any time, there are ways to make items, use them, and then lose them again that will save you some money. Obvious applications are to build a worktable, build the item you need, and delete the worktable again. Another popular thing to do in one-man groups is to build a telepad with one beacon, and whenever you need to go somewhere different, sell the beacon you have and buy the appropriate one. This way one teleporter goes to all zones.

3: Oversight centers, the cheap housing alternative.
If you ever consider buying a studio (decorative room) or something, use the oversight center. It's 100k cheaper and still fits unlimited decorative items.

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Hope this was helpful.

- J

I don't know about this idea, it's good in theory, and there's certainly a market for it, but I wonder how much of one...

Here's what I see happening:

They add the "doorway to the apartments" item and I put it in. Jim the Villain goes in and, after the initial load screen, decks out his place, putting up decorations, maybe a functional item (personal storage locker maybe) or two, and then looks around. "Ah..." he says. "Can't wait to show the guys."

He exits his room and, after the load screen to get back into the base, looks for "the guys" who he wants to show. But we're in a mission.

"Guys!" he says. "I made a room!"
"Congrats."
"Can you come see it?"
"We're in a mission right now. It's a two-parter, so we might be awhile."
"Oh.... but I put a bed in there and everything."
"That's good Jim. I bet that bed is exciting. We're busy."

Undaunted, Jim goes out into the world and runs into Joe the Guy Who Plays Villains But Pretends to be a Hero in Disguise Because He Only Ever Had One Good Character Concept and He Already Used it in CoH.

"Hey Joe, come and see the room I designed."
"Okay."
(Joe joins team)
"Um... Jim, I can't get into your base. I keep getting kicked out."
"Yeah. There's a bug. You'll have to quit your SG."
"I'll have to do what? What's in this room anyway?"
"There's a bed and some posters and a locker."
"Yeah.... so long Jim. I have to murder people because I'm a hero in disguise."

Jim is depressed, but he goes to Mercy and waits for someone to roll up a new villain. Eventually, Johnny Newman pops up.

"Hello Newman. You're new and therefore not in a SG. Want to come see my room in my base?"
"k"
(joins team)
(enters base)
(base kicks them)
"Darn, sorry Newman. Bases do that sometimes. Let's try again.
(Waits for the load screen yet again)
(Waits for the personal room load screen)
"So this is my room Newman, what do you think?"
"Im in UR locker, stealing UR stuff."
"Wait! I'm supposed to be the only one who can use those."
"lol newb these are bugged. thx for Hami-O's!"

fin

- J

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I think the idea would be more along the lines of the proposed "Global" SG list Posi has hinted at, where a person can put all of their toons into one SG if they choose, but only actually occupy one "slot" as far as the game is concerned, seeing as how only one of those characters can be on at a time. You could still belong to multiple SGs if you wanted, but you could also have all of your characters contributing to the same sg at the same time as well. This would benefit pretty much everyone - the small sgs would be able to maintain all their characters in one place, and larger sgs would be able to allow all their members in the same sg without having to branch out in 8 directions and do more clerical work to keep things focused than a lot of RL jobs. It's true that smaller sgs shouldn't be punished for preferring a tightly knit, small group, but larger sgs shouldn't be punished for having a large, active playerbase either.

-M

[/ QUOTE ]

Ah ok! If this is what was referred to then I'm for it. But then there is another problem I just thought with this. What if that "account" that has 12 characters as part of the SG decides to leave? What happens to presitge that those 12 characters earned? What if those 12 chracters on that "account SG slot" had earned 100K each? Or what if that account turns out to be an [censored] who no one in the sg likes and they demand that you boot em. (or even if a majority demands that you boot em?) Do you keep them to keep the prestige while annoying your sg, or do you let them go and loose out on 12 * 100K prestige?

[/ QUOTE ]

Er... when you kick someone you do not lose the prestige that they have earned.

- J

TheConfessor has posted several times about scrapper power at higher levels, and has posted a video of him soloing a +2 (I believe it was) AV. Didn't even look like the fight much phased him.

His point was that certain AT are a bit on the overpowered side, but my point is that soloing those things is doable right now if you have the right build, and if you don't, they should be more than manageable in a group or three or more.

If you want to recruit a level 50 every time you run one of those missions, so be it. I have friends that are reasonably close to my level, and if they aren't on, there's always the pick-up option. I'd rather have a good fight that I can say I was a part of than be the short, loud-mouthed kid from high school who would go get his large friend or big brother whenever he got in trouble (we all remember this kid, I'm sure).

- J