twelfth

You know, I'd never actually looked at the original thread as it was well underway and didn't see the conceit. It's really cute. So, with that in mind, I'll request that you give a runthrough on Task Force Mutternacht #349522. For best meshing, I'd recommend a hero toon (although it is presently marked as a neutral arc).

I might need to check it for the i18 back/middle spawn corrections, so I'll be making some time for that this weekend. In any case, I recommend running with Bosses on, as the arc was written with that in mind and it will keep the occasional boss-level allies from dropping too fast on you.

I'll have to check back on my played arcs, but I did want to add a bump to:

Of Sound Body and Mind (#13107)
The Invasion of the Bikini-Clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space (#61013)

I asked this on the MA Arc Finder channel last night, but maybe I'll find some more detail to the answer I got (no disrepect to Lazarus who helped)

I'm looking for the Primal Earth version of Calvin Scott (not the Praetorian Resistance leader) to use as a contact on an AE arc. I can't seem to find him in the contacts list...

But looking at Arc #1085 by @Atiaxi, an MA version of the Calvin Scott TF, the model that is used for the contact looks really, really close to what pics I can find of Scott online. I've tried making a custom for the contact - but the facial options don't seem to fit what I find online (no surprise) OR what @atiaxi used for her contact model. Even fiddling with the facial scales I can't seem to capture it.

So, I'm just curious if maybe he used to be a contact (and was removed), or if he's hidden somewhere in the long, long list of contacts, or if I am just failing on how to construct a decent custom. Another possibility is that it's just a civilian/bystander model that happens to use the same face model (but who knows which other NPC it might be).

Anyway, help would be appreciated.

Related to this: I actually lost my countdown after the last patch that fixed the timer exploit. I didn't use the exploit to get the alignment power. I still had my alignment (vigilante) and had gone through the required seven days. But when I check - I had no alignment power and no countdown timer (which means basically that I now have to re-run the 10 mishes and morality mish to get back to "countdown" status).

Anyone else have this problem?

The short version of a lot of your questions is this: Many of the new mission features that you see in GR are not available in AE/MA .... yet. As new issues are released, MA usually gets an update or upgrade or two to bring it closer to the tools that the Devs have in designing missions.

BUT! You can do a lot of the neat tricks and stunts that the "regular" non-GR content pulls off, usually with some fairly simple methods. And you can "fake" some of the newer content with some savvy work with the editor.

ALSO! Hi, welcome to the MA Forums and the MA Creator community. We are totally glad to answer questions and if you want a review or someone to help playtest a mission - let us know.

Okay I have to roll a new villain now to try this out.

Aeropunk - Storm/DP def with a steampunk/dieselpunk/magitek theme. He uses the flintlock model of pistol as an "airgun" that fires non-lethal compressed directed gas attacks at his foes (with slight modifications for supercooled, superheated, or noxious gas rounds). For reasons that unknown even to him, Aero can generate localized fortean phenomenon, including spontaneous dust storms, rains of gear oil, smogfields to conceal himself, and dust/grime devils (not sure what to do when he gets to lightning storm though).

Selene Dioscuria - MA/SR scrapper. The SR is played as spatial disruption, spatial hypersense, and teleportation/flash steps to avoid damage. Because her abilities warp space (and light, in the case of her stalker version), all of the powers are recolored to match "light warped" versions of whatever her costume colors are at the time - so when she moves it looks like she has distortion effects following her. Her MA is just MA, but I do narrate that her Martial Arts appear completely impossible and impractical as she's learned just from watching video games and movies =)

Honestly, if you're bringing a Corr, you're basically golden on any SF team. You are either bringing protection (buffs/defenses) or you're bringing debuffs to tear down the large mob sizes, or to soften up the AVs. There's really, AFAIK, no reason a "solo-friendly" secondary isn't going to contribute signficantly on a team. As far as primary goes, it's really just a matter of what color you want your damage to come in.

As long as you know your powersets, and your playstyle is compatible with your team, you can really bring any sort of corr into a SF team.

I have definitely not seen that the Auctioneer/Marketeer day job appears in the Trading House. However, you can get it at the Resistance Base in Imperial City if you're at the "Resistance Black Market" kind thing.

Well I know my VG is running the COP on Saturday, has this posted yet?

Also, As with the posters above: Flares isn't bad as a low-level choice to keep your attack chain running at low levels, but it usually does not make the cut when once you get to higher levels. At the point you want to respec (or use another build), drop it for Fire Blast. It doesn't recharge that much slower and you can always slot it (franken or use multi-aspect IOs) for additoinal recharge.

Blaze is a pillar of the set. Yes, you will really want, and yes, you will want it to have more range - and you can slot it for more range! I have mine slotted for some additional range. It won't ever reach as far as your main blasts, but you can give yourself a little wiggle room.

Blazing Bolt is playstyle dependant and sort of situational. It's great for solo, and good for pulling if you want to do that. With some interrupt reduction you can actually put it in as a out-of-chain damage dealer. Your playstyle might not go for it, but if you plan to go solo here or there, think about it.

Inferno: Dude, you're way, way over reacting to the nuke crash. I'm not sure what your pools or defense numbers look like, but here's a basic combo for you: Red Insp (+dmg) + Aim, [run in to mob], Anguishing Cry (-resist) + Inferno. MASSIVE DEATHENING. Pop a blue when finished and let your team wipe up the stragglers. If you don't have a blue available, just don't do it. Some playstyles really play up constant use of the nuke if you can mitigate the crash (conserve power, power sink, transfusion, blue insps) or have reasonable defense available.

Remember, your PRIMARY is FIRE blast - it's the highest damaging Corr set. You are meant to deal damage. Don't shrink from it. Your heals are secondary; they're important but secondary. Not to mention that the lions share of your powers AREN'T Heals - they are buffs and debuffs. You're not a healer. You're Fire and support. Don't cut yourself short.

I had no idea that Enforced Morale had a +recharge component...

*looks at own 38 /pain corr*
*wince*

I'm not sure how to calculate global recharge but I'm guessing this could be a serious, significant boost to lowbie teams or doing Malefactored teams (such as for SFs, etc) where your global recharge might be lower. I was already taking this power for the anti-mez, but this is a great reason to keep it pasted on everyone.

You can use the search function to sort for something like "show only arcs I've played", so if you can remember the name of the Arc you liked, you can then do another search by the author's global. It's a bit labor intensive, but it is something that the search function will let you do now.

Completely forgot about this contest. Dang it. Will there be a gallery of the winners?

Actually there is an offline editor, but it hasn't been updated (that I know of) since i14. It's still operable for the very, extremely basic elements of drafting an AE Arc, but not much more. I used to use it at work until the IT guys locked all our machines from recognizing the USB ports.

Laz, I think they might still be there - I definitely didn't play that arc until well after i10. I don't think they are objectives or anything, but they were on the map...

Only ideas I had were in relation to that American Legion event. Sorry :/

Those mole machines also show up in a Vanguard mission I believe. I was ANNOYED when after a good seven to ten minutes of smashing at it that I got zero XP.

More to the OP's point - what is going on with the Marchand office map?

Please direct your question to the Brute forum. Farming using the AE is pretty much the issue on this board that will cause you to get flamed like a ....great big, flame..attracting...thing. The majority of the responders here are the people working VERY hard to legitimize the AE as a tool for something other than Farming.

Heh, this will be interesting, since three of my toons inhabit the same physical body.

Celine Dioscuria (Brute/Stalker): Celine is a walking nerve. Probably a translucent form of a bipedal predator of indistinct morphology, but beneath which is easily visible the throbbing, raw and bloody skein of the anatomy of the human nervous system. That is, except for her head, which is a strange and vertiginous void. She has a mind, but where does that mind lead to? (For those who don't know her, while her psychic/astral self is rather inhuman, her physical body is actually very human)

Selene Dioscuria (Scrapper): Selene is a whirlwind of various bits of herself. Standing still (or at least being inert) she would look like a relatively normal version of herself. However, if she is actually conscious, her body fractures into bits and pieces of anatomy, memory, and emotion. Brillant lights, all-devouring shadows. While she might act in harmony, she is never acting as a whole.

Fang Widow Foyle (Widow, duh): Aurora appears much as she once did a long time ago, as human Blood Widow. Her uniform and her spiritual self is tainted, however, by a frightening and horrible shadow wrapped within her "body". Occasionally it will surface as some alien monstrosity of twisted flesh and wrecked bone, but mostly stays under the "surface". She too has a tether from her wrists and heart back to her master.

Others:

Lady Burlesque: Tessa's spiritual presence is actually extremely normal. Because underneath every goddess is a simple woman. Her shadow, on the other hand, is deeply textured and far more glamourous than she is, but with a palpable sense of cold allure and haughty entitlement.

Cryopulse: Her spiritual self actually splits into two people. One is an older, adult version of herself, a bit wrinkled around the eyes and a little heavier around the physique. Experience dims but deepens her eyes. With her is a much younger child-version of herself open-hearted and bright-eyed, only a bit scuffed around the edges. In contrast to the normal adult-child dynamic it is the younger-self (Soul) that leads the older (Ego).

Jaime Synge: Looking at Synge through the Sight is asking for a headache. Synge initially looks like himself, stained by common sins and pettiness. Then, his skin begins to ripple with saturated arcane energy, wreathing him in blue soulflame, crowned with a halo of orange arcs of pagan thunderbolts, and accented by a pair of wings formed of sullen forge-fire. Which is about the time you notice his body is crudely and cruelly pierced and threaded through with thick, ugly, heavy grey chains (left over by his capture by the Legacy Chain). Beyond that, his spiritual form explodes into thousands of other overlapping soul forms - resulting in his appearance being much like a Hindu icon illustrating multiple prior incarnations. Within that burns a tight, dense ball of white-hot flame - one that expands and can easily swallow the viewer, blinding them just as easily as if they were staring directly into the sun.

I have other toons, but don't know their characters well enough to say.

My favorite part is the fact that the guns actually shoot rendered bullets, it's not just a pew pew and flash effect. Someone in Beta had pics of one of the bullets exiting the barrel.

I'm going to chime in here and note that Choking Cloud is probably a reasonably skippable power. There are builds out there that include it, but indicate that it's an all or nothing power. Either skip it or grab it and six-slot it for utility. For me, I wouldn't plan on taking a power that essentially requires six-slotting to become useful.

On DP, you can probably wait for a little while on Swap Ammo if you haven't gotten it yet. The need for the secondary effects really isn't necessary until you've got some damage to use it with, so don't feel you have to jump on it immediately at lvl 6 (or whereever it opens). Note that most of your attacks in DP have an innate acc bonus (1.10 vs 1.00), so slotting can be a bit less painful. Slapping a Damage Proc in Pistols doesn't go wrong, and if you can afford to grab an Achilles Heel (-res) proc, do so. Present opinions suggest that Empty Clips is probably the most skippable power in the set (or at least can be respec'd out of, or eliminated on an alt build).
Suppressive Fire... I'm not sure on this one. I've got my DP/Rad at 35 and haven't taken it yet. I might take it at this point but it'll be situational.