The City Scoop! ~ Front Page ~ July 3, 2008
By
Ex_Libris,
Posted on: 2008-07-03 16:26 in Announcements
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Fan Fiction SpotlightSeriously, Why Doesn't This Ever Happen? By TeChameleon The Blaster ignored the general warning over the Vanguard channels, and put out a call of his own. "The Rikti ruined my day off... what say we ruin their day in return?" he commented over the general broadcast channel. "I think if we splatter a few of their dropships, they'll get the idea." This idea was greeted with general enthusiasm, and in surprisingly short order, a tidal wave of violently-conflictingly-coloured spandex was roaring upwards on rocket boots, wings, capes and antigravity, as dozens of superhumans and friendly super-powered 'visitors' gave the first dropship a... warm... welcome. The A-Bombs in its hold detonated spectacularly before a single one hit the city, and the brilliant cloud of supers turned their attention to the next. Five or six of the heavily-armed dropships were disposed of that way, although several still got through, dropping their loads of bombs... and then the troops started porting in. Sort of. Energon X frankly stared as the portals wavered, distorted, and started disgorging both startled Rikti... and... "Soldiers of Rularuu..?!?" I have to say something from the onset. I was not paying attention to this story. I don't know what stopped me, if I was too busy or if I was turned off by the material (how I could have been turned off by the source material is beyond me), though I recall that, for some odd reason, something in my head classified it as a roleplaying thread I didn't think I had the time for. However, the fact of the matter is I erred greatly in letting this thread get away from me. The premise is simple: The Rikti invade, and that happens to be at a moment when the Rularuu break through the dimensional barrier as well. Of course, all sorts of havoc ensues afterward. You may remember TeChameleon. The author of a certain Henchman's Diary, TeCh has a tendency towards comedic undertones, so of course there are laughs to be had while reading how heroes, Rikti and Rularuu wage war with each other. Now, the story suffers a little from the constant back-and-forth between readers and the author throughout the thread. However, one must take into account that this was started at a time when a regular Fan Fiction Spotlight wasn't a feature in the Scoop. My suggestion is to skim for TeCh's posts. | Steal This Article |
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The View on BlueCareer Day Part 2In Part 1 of the Career Day series, we talked about vendoring - picking up inexpensive items on the market and selling them for a profit to an NPC. Vendoring is a fine way to get a brand new character some walking around money, but it's hardly a glamorous profession. Vendoring is the CoH equivalent of collecting recyclable bottles from other people's trash cans and turning them in for a nickel each. This week we'll take a step up in the world and learn a little something about crafting. Let's start with a very simple, brand-new crafting opportunity. Walk into the Consignment House and click on one of your friendly neighborhood Wentworth's representatives. Take a look at the large inspirations. Find the cheapest one - probably accuracy or damage resistance. Put in bids for three of them. I've found that 5,000 influence each is enough, if I let the bid sit overnight. Once you have your three large inspirations, take another look at the prices. This time, find the most expensive large inspiration. It will probably be defense. Right click on one of the large inspirations in your tray, and you will get an option to combine those three into one new inspiration of any type. Pick the most valuable, and poof! Your three cheap inspirations are now one expensive inspiration. Drop it on the market, price it appropriately, and wait for it to sell. I've been able to sell them quickly at 50,000 inf. This ability to convert inspirations is one of the nice quality of life additions from Issue 12. It's no get-rich-quick scheme, but you can turn a profit with it. When most people think of crafting, they think of Invention Origin Enhancements. The first thing you should do, if you haven't already, is run the Invention tutorial at the University. The professors will walk you through the mechanics of crafting. I'll talk about the economics of it. Like any business, you have two numbers to consider: how much will it cost you to create your product, and how much can you sell it for? You have three expenses: the recipe, the salvage, and the crafting fee. Let's look at Common IOs first. The crafting fee is simple - it's printed on the recipe. The cost of the recipe, if you buy it from the crafting table, is a function of the crafting fee. Do you remember how to calculate the vendor buyback price of a recipe, from the last career day article? Well, the table price of a recipe is four times the vendor buyback price. You can also buy the recipe from other players on the market. I find that it's usually cheaper to buy recipes on the market, but faster to buy them on the table. As always, Paragon Wiki helps. You can see a list of every common IO, at every level, showing the crafting cost, the NPC buyback amount, and the crafting table sale price. If you want to make influence by crafting common IOs, you should memorize some of them. Once you memorize a recipe, you never need to buy the recipe again. A list of memorized recipes will be added to the usual list of options at the crafting table. By using your memorized version, you also get a 50% discount on the crafting cost. For high level recipes, that makes a big difference. In order to memorize a recipe, you need to craft it over and over... sort of. It gets a bit complicated. For example, say you want to memorize the level 35 Damage recipe. You need to craft 11 level 35 enhancements and 11 level 40 enhancements. The enhancements can be either damage or knockback. The two are grouped together in the badge system. Once you have that badge (the Arms Dealer badge) then you can craft both damage and knockback enhancements, at either level 35 or 40, with no recipe and at half crafting cost. For the full list, say hello to ParagonWiki again. The last piece you need is the salvage. It's inescapable. If you are crafting in large quantities, then you have no choice but to get the salvage from the market, and prices there vary. If you keep crafting the same things, you will get a feel for the prices. |
Which IOs should you craft? Look at your own enhancements. What do you see? A lot of damage, a fair bit of accuracy? Maybe some endurance and recharge enhancements? Those should be the first ones you consider. Look on the market and check the prices. Try putting in a few low bids on crafted IO's and wait overnight. If you buy some, list them for high prices and let them sit for a spell. This should give you a sense of the high and low swings over the course of a day. Compare these prices to the cost of crafting the IO. Some will be profitable, and some will not. One fact will jump out at you: some enhancements are dirt cheap. They sell for far less than it must have cost someone to craft them. What is up with that? The answer, in a word, is badges. Some people don't craft to make enhancements. They are doing it to make badges. Once they have the IO's, though, they might as well dump them on the market and try to make a little something back. If you are in it for the money, do not compete with badgers. They will undersell you every time. Once you find an IO which is worth crafting, and memorize the recipe, how much can you expect to earn? Let's look at damage as an example. Everyone needs to do some damage, and who wouldn't want to do more? If you buy a level 30 Damage recipe from the crafting table, and craft it without the memorization badge, it will cost around 75,000 influence, depending on the price of Masterwork Weapons that day. If you have memorized the recipe, then you only pay 20,700 in crafting fees, plus the cost of the salvage. You can sell that enhancement for anything up to 75k, and it will be a bargain for anyone who hasn't memorized the recipe. Suppose you split the difference and make a profit of 25k per enhancement. With a tray of ten, that's 250k. If you do that every day, twice on Saturdays, you could make 2,000,000 inf per week. Of course, if everyone who reads this column starts crafting level 30 Damage recipes, the price will drop. There are other recipes and other levels, though. Remember, most people play CoH because they want to be superheroes, not manufacturers. A lot of people will be grateful for the chance to buy crafted IO's from you rather than spend the time doing it themselves. Even if you ignore the discount for memorizing a recipe, people are willing to overpay for an enhancement to avoid the inconvenience of crafting. That's why crafting set IOs can be profitable. A good way to get started crafting set IO's is to study the recipes you receive as drops. Instead of just looking up the recipe when you go to sell it, look up the crafted enhancement as well. Sometimes there is no difference between the two, but it's not uncommon to see a crafted enhancement selling for hundreds of thousands, even millions, more than the recipe. Just be sure to take the other costs into account. High level recipes have high crafting costs, and rare recipes sometimes have very expensive salvage requirements. Keep your eyes open. Sooner or later you will stumble across a situation where you can buy a recipe for a small price, scoop up some cheap salvage, craft the enhancement, and sell it for a big profit. These niches can close up pretty quickly sometimes, so I try not to have a lot of inventory sitting around. There is definitely money to be made, but the risks are higher than with crafting commons. The last form of crafting I want to mention is base salvage. I honestly don't know a lot about it, but you can craft base salvage or invention salvage into components which can be used for enhancement station buffs or creating base objects. Sometimes those can be sold for a profit. ParagonWiki knows more about it than I do. Of course, you may be one of those people who would rather crush than craft. In that case, go hunt. Kill Helions! |
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The Omega Force | |
Who is your base designer and who are your supergroup leaders? Mister Power (aka MP) and I (R. Son) are mainly the designers. Leaders? There are a few: Mister Power (Co-Founder), R. Son/EMP Anton LeVay (Co-Founder), BoltTorch, Grillo, Wave Tsunami, and, although he's not a leader anymore I'd still like to give credit, because he did help out a lot during his term as a leader, to Heatkin. Each Leader helps in their own way, and it's proved to be a harmonious system. You just have to have unconditional trust between each other to pull this off. Which server is your base on, and is it a Hero or Villain SG? Freedom - Hero When was your supergroup established? Circa 2004. How many players are in your supergroup? We're past capacity. We have members spilling into minor branches. All-in-all, 30% are active on the worst day. What is the approximate value of your base? 84,733,616 prestige. How much time do you spend working on your base? How much time have you invested so far? Personally, a few hours a day... if there is a need. I've put over 100 hours into it; Mister Powers has put in MUCH more. What is your favorite base item? Least favorite? Favorite - Scorpion's Surprise. Least Favorite is the Raid Teleporter, for obvious reasons. What is your favorite thing about base editing? Least favorite? I love the system we were given, although obvious tweaks can be made. I'm grateful for the opportunity to give our SG their own mark on the game. Don't have a least favorite. What is the highest thing on your wish-list for new base items? None, we have everything. If you could give just one piece of advice to a new base editor, what would it be? Save up, then edit. It's much easier creating a base on a big budget than having your plans squashed by insufficient funds. If you have an active SG, try to make SG mode mandatory. It helped us a great deal! Anything else you'd like to add about your SG, your base or the base system in general? Expanding the style bases can allow might make for a more unique approach. There is pretty much only arcane or tech. Most people don't use the Japanese style of decorations, if only because it doesn't really fit any specific GROUP of characters. |
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Dearest Readers, I wasn't able to finish my article on time for the veggie meals. Sorry about that, but as of right now I've been MIA, due to real life being crazy at this time. I am getting ready to go on vacation in a couple weeks! I thought I could keep up with both the Scoop and getting things ready, but even more stuff came up. Never fear! I will see you all when I get back! Until then have fun, and enjoy these German recipes from EnnVee! - Mistress Noire | |||||
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The PvP SuperTeamTime for another SuperTeam. If you recall from my previous articles, a SuperTeam is a carefully crafted themed team designed to roll over mobs quickly and easily. The ATs, power sets, and even individual powers are chosen to provide maximum team buffs plus AoE debuffs and damage. This week I'll talk about a new PvP (Player Versus Player) SuperTeam I plan to run really soon. In fact, take a look in the PvP Questions, Guides, and Builds forum and you'll probably see my thread. Now, this isn't a SuperTeam for PvPing. I don't have a magical combination of ATs and powers that will let a team win every PvP match. It's a SuperTeam for leveling up PvP oriented characters. If you want to level up a PvP char fairly quickly with other PvP oriented people in a PvP friendly environment, then this SuperTeam is for you. First, what ATs and powersets belong in this SuperTeam? Since you can't mix heroes and villains, this SuperTeam article will focus on heroes. Take a look at the Test PVP League Sign Ups for a clue. It's all about ranged damage, buffs, debuffs, and mezz. Hero side, that means Blasters, Defenders, and Controllers. Sure there are a few Tankers and Scrappers, but we won't have them in the SuperTeam. No Kheldians either. No one even bothered to enter one in the event above. That's just the way PvP is. Now, I can't just allow ANY Blasters, Defenders, or Controllers. That way lies madness! The SuperTeam needs some basic things in terms of AoE damage and team buffs, and that requires certain ATs and power sets. So I'll model this somewhat after the Scrapper SuperTeam. We want AoE damage, and Blasters with the Fire Blast primary are the perfect PvP oriented choice. They get AoEs in Fire Ball, Rain of Fire, and Fire Breath all at low levels. But they also get some fast activating and high damage attacks, which is why they are great for PvP. There isn't a Secondary powerset that goes both ways, but Energy Manipulation is usually viewed as the best PvP oriented secondary. The core damage component of the team should be Fire/Energy Blasters. I think 3 chars in a team of 8 is a minimum. | Empathy Defenders play a key role in the Scrapper SuperTeam and in many PvP teams, so we'll want a couple of those. Fortitude plus lots of stacked Leadership: Maneuvers will cap the Defense of everyone in the team. Clear Mind will keep everyone from getting mezzed. Heals will keep everyone alive. At higher levels 2 Empaths can alternate and maintain Recovery and Regen Aura on the team all the time. That means we want at least 2 Empaths in a team of 8. That leaves a few team slots open for other chars. There are plenty of different builds that work well in PvP, and they can fill those extra spots. Defenders are preferred because they bring the most to the team for PvE, but Controllers and Blasters are welcome as well. My "perfect" PvE SuperTeam of PvP chars would probably consist of 4 Fire/Energy Blasters, 2 Emp/* Defenders, and 2 Sonic/Sonic Defenders. Now, I haven't kept a close watch on the PvP forums, so I don't know if Powerset Proliferation or an evolution in PvP tactics has changed which sets are good for PvP, but I'm sure someone will tell me if I'm off base. Characters should be built for SuperTeam oriented PvE (Player Versus Enemy, meaning regular mobs controlled by the CoH servers). That means everyone needs to take Leadership for Maneuvers somewhat early. Add in Assault and Tactics later, and the team will be doing awesome damage. The Empaths can completely ignore their secondary early on, but they'll eventually want some attacks or they'll get bored. No need for anyone to take PvP oriented powers like Phase Shift during the SuperTeam. Once you hit 50, respec to your ideal PvP build with everything you want. The PvP SuperTeam will level 1 to 50 rather differently from other SuperTeams. PvPers are often interested in getting every edge possible. That includes Accolades like Task Force Commander for doing the 6 main TFs. PvPers also like the unique loot that comes from TFs. I expect this SuperTeam to be very TF oriented. I wouldn't be surprised if people level up from 12 to 50 almost entirely in TFs.
Feel free to grab a few friends and try this, and PM me if you have any questions on it. Better yet, check the PvP forum linked above. I plan to run a PvP SuperTeam on Freedom a couple nights a week. The emphasis will be on organizing lots of TFs with balanced teams. Next Week: The PermaDom SuperTeam | ||
 Community Event: Support Our Troops.This event was hosted by Dolls on the Triumph server with their Coalition and friends, The Girls of Nukem High, Les Femmes Mystique, Paragon Recon Unit, The Demolition Girls, Feline Fellowship and Shadow Souls-Illuminati. This was done to show support for our troops and those who have loved ones that are gone, going or have been called to duty. Thank you to all that came and for your support. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Edition 55 of "The City Scoop a publication for Supers by Supers!
Early Edition due to the upcoming Holiday weekend, enjoy!
If you have concerns regarding the content of the Scoop please direct your comments via PM to Lighthouse or Ex Libris.
If you would like to do a feature article, have an event covered, or join "The City Scoop" team please PM Snow_Globe or Pants_Stealer
If you or someone you know should be considered for Behind the Mask Teldon
If you need some Advice contact Lady_Athyna or would like to Ask The X contact LiquidX
Finally if you have a Classified Ad or Recipe you would like included please contact: LadyK or MistressNoire
Discussion on the latest edition of "The City Scoop" is located here.
The City Scoop
Spandex Spotlight
Sovereign Starlette
By Patty-Sue Ivanova
(edited by
Emperorsteele)
Well, this is a pain. I was told that a very important job had to be done, and
that I was perfect for it! But that job turned out to be interviewing other
heroes for the Scoop!
What the [expletive deleted] is that all about?! -Im- the one who took
out the Clockwork king SOLO. I- have over 450 badges! Im the one who [Ed.
Note: self-important rant removed due to word count limit]
Okay, now that Ive vented and calmed down, it's time to find someone whod like
to have their mug and dirty secrets plastered all over Page 3, which nobody
ever reads anyway. Atlas Plaza is usually a good place to find heroes more than
willing to ignore their jobs to babble on about themselves, so I went there,
and found the usual assortment of robots, aliens, catgirls, monsters, demons,
romans, and the occasional normal super-hero type who looks like they got
costume advice from an old 1960s comic book. I seriously dont know how or why
Serge and the other icon staff let people get away with that sort of thing.
Anyway, I found the leader of the Star Emperium,
Sovereign Starlette, standing in her usual place on top of City Hall,
looking over all the younger heroes... or Atlass butt. I couldnt tell. Ive
had a couple past dealings with her, so I decided to give her a go. It took me
a while to get her attention, as she seemed to be preoccupied, telepathically
speaking to her teammates or something, but I managed to get a few answers out
of her...
Patty-Sue Ivanova: Excuse me, Miss Starlette?
Sovereign Starlette: (giving an annoyed sigh) Yes?
PSI: Sovereign Starlette, I'm here on behalf of The City Scoop,
and I'd like to ask you some questions. If you don't mind, that is.
SS: The City Scoop? Very well.
PSI: Great... I guess. I can tell you're enthused... Anyway,
let's start with the basics. I hear you're an alien of some sort? Is this true?
SS: I am, yes.
PSI: Ah, from whereabouts?
SS: I was the Empress of the great Democlean empire in the
Democles system. It was destroyed when our sun went nova during an attack by
what I now know as the Rikti. Yes, they do indeed traverse the depths of space,
as well as invading Earth.
PSI: (Not having the gall to ask what her race did to cheese
off Nemesis...) Oh, wow, sorry to hear about that... Is that why you've come to
Earth, to hunt the Rikti down? Or was it because we have pizza?
SS: Not exactly. My ship crashed here in 1947, followed by a
Rikti ship. That same Rikti ship is the one that crashed in Roswell, New
Mexico. I stayed because I had nowhere else to go and, to a point, I feel the
Earth could use people like myself.
PSI: Your ship? So, are there more of your race here?
SS: No. I am the last of my kind, as far as I know. I ordered
my people to abandon ship before the crash.
PSI: Ouch, sounds rough, but not too unheard of. So in that
vein, then, your supergroup, the... Star Empire? Star Emporium... uhm... Shoot,
my notes aren't very clear, forgive me...
SS: Emperium...
PSI: Ah, that's it, thanks! Anyway, I take it that your fellow
supergroup mates are not members of your own race, obviously, but other aliens?
SS: Aliens and Earth beings, yes. Originally, the Emperium was
for aliens only, but we saw need to take heroes of all races, creeds, etc.
PSI: Let me guess, civil rights and political-correctness
groups were seeing your "aliens only" club and crying "foul"? Or were you just
looking to expand to help better serve the people you protect and all that sort
of thing?
SS: No, it was more so to get the Vanguard off our backs. While
they were grateful for my help in the original invasion, they still have
difficulty trusting aliens.
PSI: Aaah... Ooh, shoot, I should probably ask about your
powers or something... My editor will have my head otherwise.
SS: All my people, like myself, have wings with which to fly.
Other powers, however, are only passed on through my family's bloodline. My
heritage innately gives me super strength that dwarfs that of the Statesman ten
fold; super speed; impenetrable, invulnerable skin; and, like my father, I have
the Agony Gaze. A powerful searing blast that can be shot from my eyes.
PSI: Wow, with an assortment of powers like that, it's amazing
there's still any crime left for anyone else to fight...
SS: I don't generally waste my efforts on common thugs and
thieves. Oh yes, and I'm also quite resistance to psionics as well.
PSI: (At this point, I was starting to feel a bit threatened)
Resistant to psionics? Remind me never to piss you off, then... On that note,
you seem like you have other things on your mind so I'll wrap this up real
quick... You've made a good name for yourself: you run a Supergroup, and I've
seen you in action... yet you spend a lot of time on this rooftop. Any
particular reason for that?
SS: I spend more time on Rikti, giant monsters, and more
dangerous foes. I like the challenge, and thugs and thieves are something for
lesser heroes to deal with. Like my praetorian doppleganger, the Sovereign
Tyrant. Now THERE was a challenge. Though, I did destroy her utterly in the
end.
PSI: You destroyed her WHAT? Er, wait, "utterly"? Okay, yeah, I
misheard you there. (At this point, S.S. smirked... finally, a reaction from
her, I was beginning to think she was a statue!) Well anyway, what you said
about thugs and thieves makes sense. So, unless there's anything else you'd
wish to add, about yourself, your teammates, or anything...
( But before I could finish and we could wrap this thing up, the skies turned a
disgusting greenish gray as sirens and alert klaxons went off, while the
warwalls energy fields dissipated... Yup, You guessed it.)
SS: Speaking of Rikti...
(Sovvy powered up to prepare for battle, ready to enact some small vengeance on
behalf of her people, and ours, while I, uhm, decided, to, uh... strategically
withdraw"... Had to get this article finished!)
Vol. 2, Issue 6
July 3rd, 2008
This Issue:
Community
Fan Fiction Spotlight
Steal This Article
Market Watch
Base Showcase
Food & Recipes
SuperTeam
Support Our Troops!
Comic
Upcoming Events
Official July Calendar
July 5th:
Guardian:
The
Guardian War: Arachnos Rises, Paragon Falls...
Liberty:
Ghost
Legions 4th Birthday Bash!! - Costume Contest
Pinnacle:
Independence
Day Fireworks (Pinnacle Style) and CC
July 6th:
Guardian:
All
MasterMind Imperious Strike Force
July 9th:
Liberty:
Ghost
Legions 4th Birthday Bash!! - Katie Task Force
July 11th to 13th:
Victory:
Shard-a-thon
July 13th:
Victory:
THE
Q PRIDE PROM!
July 18th:
Liberty:
Ghost
Legions 4th Birthday Bash!! - Faathim Task Force
Herracane by Miserie
Widow's Chain by
imagesbyalex