Sky Raider Jump Bots

AAAAAARGH! All my level fifties took so much damage from that bade joke they got EXP debted back to level one!

Anyway though, on the note of the sky raiders, I've always felt that they were a group with a cool concept but needed more, namely a human boss or two, and some tweaking on the coding so the skiffs only appear on specific missions.
Also probably bump down the Jump Bots to Lt. rank since them being so expensive and valuable doesn't seem like it'd help expand their operations at all, but they had a cheaper and more cost effective version, then yeah. Also, the jump bots could stand to have some integrated weapons into their systems.

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow City of Heroes is a game about freedom of expression and variety of experiences far more so than it is about representing any one theme, topic or genre.

I'd love it if the Jump Bots had an attack where they flip around and burn your face off with their jet boosters.

Yes, the official reason, to be concise, is that "a wizard did it."

Alternatively, "The Rule Of Not Sucking". Because you know there would be boatloads of complaints if you couldn't call normal contacts while in Cimerora, or Cimarora contacts from the normal time stream.

Literally, in this case

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

Like the Nemesis Jaegers? Excluding the rank and names.

"Now's my chance to prove myself to Lord Nemesis!" "...I say Corporal, did the little bugger just talk?"

But yeah, you get that in any group that has not-normal-human members: Vahzilok zombies in Atlas and Galaxy doing their best Hannibal Lector impersonation, Troll bosses making epic speeches, and Council bots chatting casually with warwolves about the game last night.

I like the idea of having a new, human boss for the Sky Raiders, though. A Field Tactical Commander, personally promoted by Duray himself because of their aptitude in the unique field of aerial infantry combat and tactics. Or something.

As for Rodoan's suggestions as to the nature of Jumpers, I recall doing a radio mission where the Raiders had stormed the local police station in order to free a captive boss, in this case a Jump Bot. Looking at your two suggestions, the evidence leans toward the former rather than the latter: if the 'bot is just a stand-in for a real person, mounting a full-scale rescue op only makes sense if the robots are really, *really* expensive/difficult to manufacture. And even in that case, why would the police lock it in a cell instead of just deactivating it and stuffing it in a broom closet? If the Jumper was the embodiment of a deceased individual, however, it all makes sense: you get your man out of there, and the cops probably won't just shut the robot off if there's a ghost in the shell.

Do you mean a "Boss" boss (a group ranked as Field Tactical Commanders), or an "AV" boss (1 named Field Tactical Commander)? Currently, there are only 2 named AV's (I believe), and despite how annoying Captain Castille is, I must admit he's, well, colorful. Duray's got a spot of color too. And that's sadly lacking in the Raiders as a whole. Everyone is aqua and silver, which is really great for highlighting their 1940's serial movie villain appearance, but really dull eye candy for repetitious in-game encounters. Having another colorful AV would be nice. Or department color-coordinated jump suits. Black pants, nice bright red targetable shirts, that sort of thing.

I'd also go for either more classes in their ranks, or more exciting animation from some, such as several have suggested here with the jump bots.

Which brings up another question: with the current engine, can NPC's cling to walls? ceilings? 'Cause jump bots would be a whole new level of scary fun if they could scale walls and cling to ceilings while attacking, like some mechanical bug.

Because they if they were any better they'd be steam powered. Did no one notice that the highest ranking officers in Sky Raiders are basically channeling some far off commander of mysterious origin?

*cough*

They're dumbed-down Nemesis Fakes. All the intellect and oversight, hidden, with just enough modern technology to distract from the truth.

It's true!

to be fair, if you were reading the us forums at the time, there was a brief but fervant push for all kinds of 300 inspired things that ranged from silly to potentially offensive in the modern setting(i recall one poster asking for a "persian" enemy group, im sure anyone of iranian enthnicity may have facepalmed a bit there) so it was a somewhat kludgy solution to a somewhat difficult request, but you cant exactly say that kludgy shoehorning in of historically dubious settings is exactly out of place in a comic book inspired world.

And in this case, it's canon. Well, the part where the Sky Raiders are a Nemesis front, at least, is.

Yeah, it happens alot.

Hercules Titans telling jokes, PPD drones talking about being sick of patrolling etc.

Although I won't downplay that possibility, I seem to recall reading that one of the devs has a degree in some form of ancient history like Greece or something. I would bet that played into it as well.

And I want clunky robot costume parts too!

Yeah, that was Jack Emmert I think, apparently he's big into Greek and Roman history. Of course Cimororororia came about long after he'd gone.

The Devs do have a habit though of spinning out up and coming power sets by giving them to new enemies first, so maybe that had a bit to do with it too. A convergence of "Hey, we've got this cool new Shield set technology" combined with "Hey, this 300 thing is pretty cool and people on the boards seem to like it too"

The worst thing about the zone was that in the issue they released it they hadn't any content to put in there bar a TF/SF. The Arcs only came along an Issue later which was a bit rubbish.

Now we just need explanation for how Malta gets Zeus Titans into those same little rooms.

The backstory for the powers (the box of Pandora) and the backstory of the Kheldians which includes a Nictus presence in Ancient Rome both far predate the movie 300.

Cimerora is just an extension of the established backstory accessible with the addition of time travel which was added to give an in-game rationale for flashbacking.

Exactly, which would let Rodoan's #2 corellate with the jailbreak scenario: Even if it's just a robotic stand-in, letting it get disassembled and examined might just expose the secret (even though we all kinda know anyway), as well as allow Nemesis and Raider tech to fall into the "wrong hands".

No wonder the Jump Bots explode when defeated...

Which brings up the question, why was one Jump Bot put in jail? I mean ... shouldn't he have exploded?

He probably explodes later when the player defeats him.

He's waiting for the "autopsy" technician to show, then will blow up. Take out the guy capable of learning the truth. Two birds, one stone.

They're ordered from IKEA and assembled in place, much like Council Bunker-In-A-Box you see in caves.

The PPD allows cops imbedded with alien face-suckers to reach the top ranks.