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I'd like to think it's the Center writing the letters since that character never does anything. I'd hope a certain future event forces him to be more interesting.
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But that's what makes him awesome, he casually reads a paper while villains slaughter his forces.
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Unless there's a graveyard under Atlas Plaza, there shouldn't be any Shivans just because a meteor landed.
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To be completely honest, there's no way there isn't. The Rikti came and massacred the city and it's defenders, after all. Do regular citizens even have access to the Emergency Medical Transporters? Could they withstand thousands of people being teleported at once for an ongoing period of time? Plus, the Rikti made pushes towards the hospitals once they saw people were making stands there.
To further cite an example.. even before the Rikti came along, Paragon City was a city of heroes. Afterwards, there were EIGHT.
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Actually, I don't believe that the humans even had the Emergency Medical Teleporters until AFTER the Rikti War. We derived that from salvaged Rikti technology, So, any heroes killed would STAY dead anyway. (Unless there were some healers on the front lines, and there probably were.)
to 
TO THE END!Villains are those who dedicate their lives to causing mayhem. Villians are people from the planet Villia!
I've got my take on what the whole Coming Storm is in the arc I wrote immediately upon watching the Going Rogue trailer. As you can guess, I think that it's going to be related to Praetoria and a possible invasion. I figure this'd be the perfect thread to point at my sig and smile.
@BigAngry
Moderator of the COH Livejournal communities.
http://community.livejournal.com/city_of_heroes
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To further cite an example.. even before the Rikti came along, Paragon City was a city of heroes. Afterwards, there were EIGHT.
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Nah, there were many more than eight. That "Surviving Eight" thing was a conceit that should never have made it out past beta.
For minimal proof, consider that every member of the Vindicators lived through the war, and that MS. Liberty is specifically mentioned as fighting in the opening hours. Likewise for Miss Liberty, who is still alive and well and apparently in some sort of position of responsibility at Freedom Corps.
Additionally, all of the current members of Vanguard (excepting the Dark Watcher) and the core membership of The Midnight Squad were alive and, presumably, active during the War. Never mind the international heroes who were busy defending their own countries. Ajax, whatever became of him afterwards, was the only known survivor of Omega Team (until recent events in the RWZ, of course).
I don't know how they rationalize the "Surviving Eight" these days or if they even do. It might be something they hope everyone forgets about. Best I can figure is that the "anomalous" heroes were those who didn't participate in Alpha/Omega day for whatever reason or had duties other than fighting on the front lines. That would make the "Surviving Eight" literally the only surviving members of Alpha Team, or at least the only ones who remained in Paragon City after the War.
Like so much of the backstory, this is one of those areas where canon is obfuscated to the point that nobody knows the real answer except the people in charge of the "story bible" and they aren't telling.
As far as that goes, can the term "Surviving Eight" actually be traced to any current canon game story material? I would find it amusing but not terribly surprising if it turned out to be a holdover from the original pre-alpha Cryptic forums and not a part of the Live game canon at all.
IIRC the Surviving Eight are the surviving eight members of the pre-war Freedom Phalanx, not the only eight heroes who actually survived the war (of which there are many more than just eight).
Storm Summoning is great because it makes you better than everyone else in the game. - Camma
Knockback is mitigation. It won't be removed just because meleers ***** and moan. - Chaos Creator
The Coming Storm ran into a tropical inversion and was downgraded to The Coming Low-Pressure Area.
"Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty."
"Nothing is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man."
- Thomas Jefferson
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Each time, you prevent a particular scenario for the coming storm, you change the time stream (that is the idea, after all).
This allows for another menace to come to maturity.
Maybe this new menace then blossoms into a full blown catastrophe that is considered the 'coming storm'.
So, you take care of this particular storm... And allows another scenario to play out and another serie of events to receive the label 'coming storm'.
In this view, each of the Mender is correct and their own particular pet project is/was/will be, the 'coming storm'.
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Interesting , This is why I love the CoH , story telling.
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Shiva, Rularuu, The 5th, Nemesis, whoever's using Kheldians as rocket fuel, all make their bid for world domination/world destruction either all at once or one right after another (while everyone is still recovering from the last crisis) until the universe implodes in a great big ball of DOOOOOMMMM!!!!
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Don't forget the Second Rikti Invasion. Not this namby pamby one we're having now, the one in twenty years that destroyed humanity utterly and chased Holsten Armitage to our time.
I had a piece of fan fic that I ought to finish some day, that had this idea as the foundation. That is, that you could change the nature of the Apocalypse but the Apocalypse itself was
inevitable.
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You wrote Terminator 3?
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Well, it's a classic science fiction concept.
It was used in the recent (relatively) movie version of the the Time machine.
And, to some extent, it seems to be how it now works in the Terminator universe, mostly so that they can continue produce sequels, money grabbing jerks!
It is the way to deal with time paradox, the time stream sneak around and the paradox does not really happen.
After all, in our situation, if we manage to prevent the Coming Storm, Nemesis would have no motivation to travel back in time. Ourobouros would not be founded, hence, and the Coming Storm would not have been prevented, after all. Which means, Nemesis would travel back in time, and it would be. Which means, it would not...
While I am typing that, I am wondering if we are going to see some zone changes (maybe like in Recluse victory)
What about the Battalion?
They're only rumors, so far. I don't remember where I first heard of them, but I think it was an old discussion about new endgame content. The Battalion are an immensely powerful alien race (their power was supposedly going to be represented by them being resistant to players' powers, thus requiring special temp powers to defeat--I personally hate that idea 
). There are virtually no in game references to them, although according to one of the Rikti history arcs the Rikti have had a run in with them in the past.
Check out this from Twilight's Son's mission in the Ouroboros intro arc: [ QUOTE ]
For you, I'm sure this is hard to believe, but there is a storm coming. More destructive than any before it. This galaxy holds a threat that is far superior to the Rikti race. This threat is the one that rounded up my kind to fuel their battle fleets as living energy cells.
[/ QUOTE ] Unless he's being deliberately deceptive, he's saying the storm is going to be caused by a powerful alien race--the same one that destroys the Kheldians. As further evidence, the clue you find in the mission appears to contain astronomical data, and in the next mission whoever is responsible for the storm uses Shivans (which could presumably be controlled by a powerful enough spacefaring civilization) as scouts.
Virtue:
Grul Doctor Pinnacle Swarm Caller Pity Fist Smashdozer Dhuuln
Ho yeah...
I didn't thought about the Battalion, but it does make a certain sense.
*Old spoiler*
I think to recall that there were suspected to be the alien race that metamorphosed the ritkis in their original dimension.
<QR>
What doesn't really make sense about the meteor thing is how incredibly intact Atlas Park is after the impact.
With the handy dandy Earth Impact Effects Program I did a bit of calculation. Now, I guesstimated the diameter of the meteor to be 8m, and with that size it's almost impossible to have a clear impact unless the material is extremely dense (about 1/3 denser than iron meteors), and comes at a very steep angle.
Now, with a steep 90° angle, a density of 11,000 kg/m3, and the typical entry speed of 17 km/s, the meteor should make a crater almost 400m in diameter, and tumble down buildings and things at a much greater distance. (See the results and feel free to play "destroy the earth with giant meteors", it's fun! )
Players' Choice Awards: Best Dual-Origin Level Range Arc!
It's a new era, the era of the Mission Architect. Can you save the Universe from...
The Invasion of the Bikini-clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space? - Arc ID 61013
It seems likely that Statesman and/or any number of other villains played a part in slowing the meteor's descent in an effort to reduce the devastation.
"You don't lose levels. You don't have equipment to wear out, repair, or lose, or that anyone can steal from you. About the only thing lighter than debt they could do is have an NPC walk by, point and laugh before you can go to the hospital or base." -Memphis_Bill
We will honor the past, and fight to the last, it will be a good way to die...
Haven't read the whole thread yet (some interesting stuff here!), but wanted to throw this in.
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We haven't heard anything about it for a while now.
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I remember back in mid-'07 (or was it '06? Anyway, a while ago) when it was announced that the Big Awesome Return Of The 5th Column, with crazy story advancement and everything, was going to happen at the beginning of the following year.
So 18 months after it was actually supposed to happen (and approximately a year after I completely gave up and forgot about it), it's been reannounced and looks like it really, truly, will happen, for reals this time.
My understanding is that there really is a big outline of the overarching story that is still being followed. I would be very surprised if they let the loose ends drop. But I will not be surprised if it takes another 5 years for the Storm to actually happen.
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It seems likely that Statesman and/or any number of other villains played a part in slowing the meteor's descent in an effort to reduce the devastation.
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Even then. Going by the calculator, the minimum entry speed for an actual meteor is 11 km/s. However, set the speed of entry to the lowest possible the calculator will take (1 km/s), and the crater is still 111m in diameter - and that's after losing almost 90% of its kinetic energy during reentry!
If they had the power to slow it down so much that all it happens is that it cracks the pavement a little bit, they could have sent it packing back into space.
EDIT: Oops, read the numbers the wrong way around, it's actually under 90% kinetic energy loss.
Players' Choice Awards: Best Dual-Origin Level Range Arc!
It's a new era, the era of the Mission Architect. Can you save the Universe from...
The Invasion of the Bikini-clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space? - Arc ID 61013
My vision for the Coming Storm.
A simultaneous invasion of zombies, rikti, rularuu, shivans, praetoreans, and another entirely new time-traveling foe responsible for warping the fabric of space-time. When these invasions begin, the entire zone is transformed into a random time period that could be thousands of years in the past, or thousands of years in the future.
Imagine a Steel Canyon or Atlas Park that looked like something out of Star Wars, or something fairly prehistoric. Now imagine it flooded with enemies in vast quantities by time-warping foes intent on the absolute annihlation of the human race. If they can't do it at one point in time, they'll do it in another.
*sigh*
If you're gonna dream, dream big.
P.S. Yes, I know it's completely improbable, as it would require multiple complete redesigns of every zone in the game subject to invasion. But great googily moogily would that be fun.
P.P.S. And, oh, the lag!!!
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It seems likely that Statesman and/or any number of other villains played a part in slowing the meteor's descent in an effort to reduce the devastation.
[/ QUOTE ]
Even then. Going by the calculator, the minimum entry speed for an actual meteor is 11 km/s. However, set the speed of entry to the lowest possible the calculator will take (1 km/s), and the crater is still 111m in diameter - and that's after losing almost 90% of its kinetic energy during reentry!
If they had the power to slow it down so much that all it happens is that it cracks the pavement a little bit, they could have sent it packing back into space.
EDIT: Oops, read the numbers the wrong way around, it's actually under 90% kinetic energy loss.
[/ QUOTE ]
Well in that case, they probably used the P.L.O.T. device to stop it.
"You don't lose levels. You don't have equipment to wear out, repair, or lose, or that anyone can steal from you. About the only thing lighter than debt they could do is have an NPC walk by, point and laugh before you can go to the hospital or base." -Memphis_Bill
We will honor the past, and fight to the last, it will be a good way to die...
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It seems likely that Statesman and/or any number of other villains played a part in slowing the meteor's descent in an effort to reduce the devastation.
[/ QUOTE ]
Even then. Going by the calculator, the minimum entry speed for an actual meteor is 11 km/s. However, set the speed of entry to the lowest possible the calculator will take (1 km/s), and the crater is still 111m in diameter - and that's after losing almost 90% of its kinetic energy during reentry!
If they had the power to slow it down so much that all it happens is that it cracks the pavement a little bit, they could have sent it packing back into space.
EDIT: Oops, read the numbers the wrong way around, it's actually under 90% kinetic energy loss.
[/ QUOTE ]
Well in that case, they probably used the P.L.O.T. device to stop it.
[/ QUOTE ]
I've said it before and i'll say it again. Trying to argue about physics in a comic book game is like trying to arrange a gravel driveway so all the pebbles are the same size, shape, and color. You can do it, but it's much better to just accept it for what it is and move on.
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It seems likely that Statesman and/or any number of other villains played a part in slowing the meteor's descent in an effort to reduce the devastation.
[/ QUOTE ]
Even then. Going by the calculator, the minimum entry speed for an actual meteor is 11 km/s. However, set the speed of entry to the lowest possible the calculator will take (1 km/s), and the crater is still 111m in diameter - and that's after losing almost 90% of its kinetic energy during reentry!
If they had the power to slow it down so much that all it happens is that it cracks the pavement a little bit, they could have sent it packing back into space.
EDIT: Oops, read the numbers the wrong way around, it's actually under 90% kinetic energy loss.
[/ QUOTE ]
Well in that case, they probably used the P.L.O.T. device to stop it.
[/ QUOTE ]
Y'know war walls?
Ever try to fly really high? Yeah, what happens?
War ceiling.
Having Vengeance and Fallout slotted for recharge means never having to say you're sorry.
methinks the coming storm is linked to the going rogue expansion
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The Gaythering Story?
[/ QUOTE ]
So, Council then? 
Virtue:
Grul Doctor Pinnacle Swarm Caller Pity Fist Smashdozer Dhuuln
I'd like to think it's the Center writing the letters since that character never does anything. I'd hope a certain future event forces him to be more interesting.