Point / Counterpoint

By
Bowfling

This is the eleventh in a series of point-counterpoint articles,
which will review commonly requested player suggestions, and review the pros
and cons of those suggestions.

This week's subject... Travel Power Movement Suppression

POINT:

One of the earliest forms of easy risk free combat was the ability
to fly or hover outside of the attack range of a critter. Fly had an accuracy
penalty in it, which was designed to counteract this somewhat. Later, an
accuracy penalty was added to Superjump and Superspeed, and was generally
disliked by players. So a new penalty was designed that served to minimize the
ability to engage in risk free combat, Movement Suppression.

Ever since movement suppression was added, it has been a topic of
discussion. In general, by reducing a characters movement speed to unbuffed
amounts (as if the toggle was turned off.) the ability to move into and out of
combat situations was significantly reduced. Numerous tactics evolved around
using travel powers in combat, perhaps the most commonly known one being
Jousting. The switch to movement suppression occurred at the same time as PvP
was added to the game, creating the suspicion that the change was made because
of PvP tactics.

In the end movement suppression and the conjoiner in stealth
suppression offer the developers a method by which they can prevent the usage
of certain powers in ways the devs may not have intended, while still allowing
them to be used for their intended purpose. It also avoids some other penalty
being used to replace suppression, one which might otherwise be more disliked
such as the accuracy penalty. In addition, suppression may act as a balancing
effect on players who would otherwise outperform the devs' expectations.

COUNTERPOINT:

But there are also some negatives associated with movement
suppression. For some players rapid strikes are part of the vision they have
for their characters. Unlike an accuracy penalty, which can be compensated for;
the only work arounds for movement suppression involve using powers not
available to all characters. Because of this, some people feel the immersion of
the game is disrupted when suppression activates. In addition certain PvP
aspects are impacted, since most critters do not have travel powers but most
players do. Furthermore, some of the reasoning for adding suppression may have
changed since suppression was added, as many fundamental changes (ED, GDC, and
inventions) might reduce the need for suppression or even render it obsolete.
It is also possible that having had suppression for so long, players who
originally did not prefer and accuracy penalty may now favor one, or some other
penalty. Perhaps the devs will take another look at means to prevent
undesirable battle tactics, while still allowing players a certain freedom to
play more to their own vision of how they want a particular character to
behave.

A recent thread on the subject can be found
here.

Server: Virtue

Founded: November 29th, 2007

Number of Members: 100+ (and growing!)

Approx Base Value: 7 million prestige

Who is your base designer and who are your supergroup leaders?

Zynite Yunox, Founder, Leader, and Base Designer

How much time do you spend working on your base? How much time have
you invested so far?

I work on it daily, constantly trying to improve it with
necessities, and sometimes just decoration!

What is your favorite base item? Least favorite?

Our meeting room because it has such a special 'feel' to it, but
that may be because I have a throne in it, and I sit in front of the room,
facing the crowd that acknowledges my presence!

I don't have a least favorite. I've worked on the base for a long
time, and I am always trying to keep it to my members’ likes.

What is your favorite thing about base editing? Least favorite?

The customization! I LOVE that you can design your base ANY WAY YOU WANT. It
could be arcane or tech...It could be a sewer hideout or a Chinese training
facility. You can choose how you want it to look without any limit (except your
prestige limit, of course!).

My least favorite thing about base editing are the prices of
plots/base areas. I mean, honestly, who is going to accumulate over 100 million
prestige? There are less than 50 SG/VGs that have even over 50 million
prestige. The prices just seem a little absurd.

What is the highest thing on your wish-list for new base items?

Nothing at this point, really. Anything that got itself on my wishlist at this
point would be useless other than for looks.

If you could give just one piece of advice to a new base editor,
what would it be?

Conserve you prestige. Start your base small, and build up from
there. If you try to build a giganticnormous (yes, I just said that!) base,
there is no way you are going possibly get a good base for the time being. So,
just be wise with your decisions!

Server and Side:Champion Server, hero side

Established: Around Sept 27, 2005

Number of Members:Between all the divisions, we have over 450
members

Value of Base:120 million

Who is your base designer and who are your supergroup leaders?

XxBudweiser8xX designs the base with valuable input from every
member of our SG. We wanted a simplistic layout with full functionality in Base
Raids and a great look.

We are made up of a "High Council," based on the same idea of the
famous "Round Table" of legends. We are all equals and each have an equal say
in all operations. We include any and all SG members in all decisions made. Our
leaders are:




XxBudweiser8xX, Azure Reign, Twisted Guy, Devils Spawn, Athena Shadow, Stg.
Klaw, Hindenburg, Wutink, Soldier Prime, Viking Queen, Forces Align

We have many more in our five other Division SGs:


Protectors of Neverland Reserves, Protectors of Neverland Academy, Protectors
of Neverland Genesis, Protectors of Neverland Raiders, Protectors of Neverland
Elites

How much time do you spend working on your base? How much time have
you invested so far?

Our base has been in its current configuration for about sixty
days now, but I still spend a few hours a week tinkering here and there. All
together, time spent designing, re-designing, rebuilding from the ground up is
approximately 350-400 hours

What is your favorite base item? Least favorite?

My favorite is the Fusion Generator, and my least favorite are the
empowerment stations.

What is your favorite thing about base editing? Least favorite?

My favorite thing about the base editing is the ability to create
a personal place for us in this Superworld. My least favorite thing is how the
room editor will not let you edit unless a room is connected to another room.
This complicates base upgrades greatly. If you have certain set rooms that you
will not be upgrading but need to move, it makes it extremely difficult to
properly do this.

What is the highest thing on your wish-list for new base items?

Windows, different locations like space, underwater, artic, and
desert, the Cathedral of Pain trial, landscapes like water, dirt, grass, snow,
and rock, the ability to create statues of our characters to place in base
(this is an SG favorite), the Cathedral of Pain trial, better control over
salvage bins and enhancement tables, so we can prevent the rare salvage and
enhancements from being wiped out. the Cathedral of Pain trial, personalized
banners like "Welcome the the P.o.N Base", multi-leveled/2nd floor, a "kiosk"
that we could "call" Wentworths or the Tailor, the Cathedral of Pain trial,
arena kiosk to place in base, personalized pictures/the ability to put up our
own screenshots, the Cathedral of Pain trial

MonkeyHead

Guardian Server

Where on this dirtball do you live?

North Texas, currently. A small town called Vernon.

What do you do for a living?

Well, I'm a freelance writer, and I also own the local movie
theater, which my wife and I live above in a converted loft. It's pretty
nouveau-bohemian.

So what was the weirdest movie or event you had there?

Vernon's a small Texas town, so we can't get TOO weird. Not yet,
anyway. But we've had several midnight movies for things like Harry Potter 5
and Rob Zombie's Halloween. They weren't weird, per se, but they DID bring out
the, shall we say, more colorful... people in this town.

How long have you and your wife been married?

Four years now. She's a veeeery patient woman.

Does she play City of with you?

No, but she LETS me play every day, which is nice for stress
relief, escaping, etc. She'll watch geek-stuff with me, but draws the line at
CoX. Her style of video game is something like Myst. One of her favorite things
to ask me is, "Honey? Are you thwarting evil in there?" On occasion, I have to
tell her, "No, I'm committing mayhem!"

Do you two have any children either two or four-legged?

Nope. Got a 20 year old niece that visits from time to time, and she brings her
little dog with her. We want a dog of our own, as soon as we can find something
that isn't a mix of rottweiler and pit bull. Texas. What can you do?

What would be your top five songs of all time?

That's a mean thing to ask me on Elvis' Birthday!



“How Many More Times,” Led Zeppelin, “I've Got You Under My Skin,” Frank
Sinatra, “I've Got a Right to Sing the Blues,” Jack Teagarden, “Girl U Want,”
Devo, and the “Theme from Jonny Quest,” Hoyt Curtin. And I'll give a million
influence to anyone who can make sense of that list!

What are your five favorite movies?

A little bit easier for me, this is a movie that, when I'm
flipping channels and see it, I'll stop and watch it, even though it's cut up,
commercialed, and sitting on my dvd shelf: Raiders of the Lost Ark,
Ghostbusters, The Blues Brothers, The Great Escape, and King Kong (1933)

What TV shows could you not live without?

Very little, I'm afraid. I really only like the shows that
continue to surprise me. Stuff like Heroes and Lost (cox faves, I know). The
Shield is one I came late to and flat-out love. I trend more toward the FX and
HBO shows rather than network stuff, generally. That said, I get more TV from
DVDs than live and in person. My wife and I got hooked on Battlestar Galactica
that way.

What books and authors would you say are your favorite?

Well, I'm a Robert E. Howard scholar, so that one is a real given!
I like Donald Westlake, Michael Chabon, John Steinbeck, and Dorothy Parker. I
tend to prefer muscular prose, but I've been known to read and enjoy urban
fantasy. Really, I read a little bit of everything. Right now, I'm reading a
biography of P.G. Wodehouse. But it was Robert E. Howard that made me want to
become a writer.

How did you end up picking your home server?

When I first signed up, I had a buddy who had higher level toons
on here (and I got lured with the promise of influence). I wish it was more
meaningful than that, but it's not. I DO consider Guardian my "home" on CoX,
though. Great group of folks there.