Arc ID 391172 - Operation Fair Trade

Arc Name: Operation Fair Trade
Arc ID: 391172
Faction: Longbow, PPD, Arachnos, Malta (cameo), Knives of Artemis (cameo) -- heroic alignment
Creator Global/Forum Name: @GlaziusF/GlaziusF
Difficulty Level: Hard
Synopsis: Crimson asks many things of heroes. Infiltration, investigation, extraction, and sabotage: all covert and deniable, all to save the world. He asks these things of you, and one thing more: you must turn your back on Paragon City.
Estimated Time to Play: 60-90 minutes
Link to more details: CoH Mission Review entry

Notes from the author:
Or, how to use 100% of arc space with exactly one custom enemy. Several recolored groups appear, to what I think is good effect, but there's a lot of stuff to do and read.

Important note: the Malta do not actually constitute a primary enemy group in any of the missions. So for all of you sapperphobes out there, rest easy.

This arc has recently been revamped as a result of PoliceWoman's comprehensive review. For technical reasons this required a republish. The ID has changed to 391172, and I've edited the first post to reflect this.

The arc's name has been changed to "Operation Fair Trade", in the hopes of avoiding sticker shock. No substantial changes have been made since the last revamp. Though I haven't a clue how to tweak the title of the thread.

Decided to take a cue from you and post this in your own thread instead of mine. Especially since it wasn't officially submitted for the contest, though I think it possibly should have.

The Player Goes Rogue: In this arc, Crimson convinces you to go undercover to infiltrate Malta who are working on an upgraded version of their titans and can't be allowed to continue or else they could take over the world. And of course, in order to get undercover you have to do some bad things, like steal billions of dollars, raid the MAGI vault, and defeat Sunstorm and Crimson himself, with a little help of course. Near the end, you begin questioning your motivations, but everything turns out all right in the end, allowing you to join an elite squad of vigilante minded superindividuals.

The Arc as an Arc: I think this is an excellent challenge-style arc. There are a lot of tough opponents, and I had to hosp and re-hosp in several cases. Looking back at a review from PW I realize that I attempted this arc at one point, but quit after the first mission because I wasn't up to the challenge at that point. Aside from that aspect, the story is heavily detailed and very interesting. My only real problem with it is some of the missions are so filled that I started getting mission fatigue - I was ready for the mission to be over about 2-3 objectives before it was actually over. And at the end of the arc, it felt like the end of your character's journey, which in most cases it won't be.

As-I-go tweet notes below.

#CoHMA Playing Operation Fair Trade # 391172 by @ GlaziusF similar in theme, but not submitted to Aeon's 3rd challenge.
#CoHMA Contact is a discarded laptop, useful for finding information and not leaving a trail.
#CoHMA M1 "Should You Choose To Accept It": Crimson sends me a video message asking me to get my hands dirty for a good cause and rob MAGI.
#CoHMA M1: There's lots of different colored text all over the place, it's hard to tell what's supposed to signify what.
#CoHMA M1: He says it won't be easy, we'll see about that. And the artifact in question is Henri's Rosario, though not sure what that is.
#CoHMA M1: Warehouse is filled with Arcane Longbow, I guess at higher levels they hire mages to help.
#CoHMA M1: Ahh yes, I've seen this map before, great choice with all the odds and ends in the back room.
#CoHMA M1: What the crap! A giant demon appears right on top of me!
#CoHMA M1: Took down the demon and found the Rosario - I think more commonly known as rosary beads.
#CoHMA M1: Sounds like Malta's trying to upgrade their Kronos Titans, and need a super. Looks like I've been set up for undercover work.

#CoHMA been a few days, finally continuing Operation Fair Trade # 391172 by @ GlaziusF
#CoHMA M2 "Conventional Law Enforcement": I'm supposed to hit a bank that has some master codes in it. That'll show Malta I'm all in.
#CoHMA M2: I'm also to steal some money from some offshore accounts, as well as put Sunstorm down for a couple weeks using the Rosario.
#CoHMA M2: Sunstorm is massacring me, I finally finish him off, and he rezzes.
#CoHMA M2: Ahh, it feels so nice to steal billions... wait, I'm not a villain, I'm undercover. Still...

#CoHMA M3 "Knowledge of Your Actions": I defect tomorrow. I "bought" some villain's old base and will be meeting up with Matla there.
#CoHMA M3: Interesting, the computer is all dirty and desheveled. Is that a computer option, or is that because of the map?
#CoHMA M3: I found the cameras and see Crimson come in through the entrance. As I fight him, waves of Malta show up and see the melee.

#CoHMA M4: With the Malta in Warburg under no security. Still able to get messages from Crimson.
#CoHMA M4 "Dispose in The Usual Fashion": Apparently there's an Arachnos who's trying to get on Malta's good side also. Time to take him out
#CoHMA M4: busy texts are fairly useful - a quick recap of what the mission is.
#CoHMA M4: Nice series of chained objectives all showing up right next to each other. And Arachnos psychic controlled my Malta ally.
#CoHMA M4: Geez, there's betrayals out the whazoo in this arc.
#CoHMA M4: I'm beginning to have doubts about where this is all headed, if I'm really working for Crimson, if I'm doing the right thing.

#CoHMA M5 "Good Luck, Burnt Matchstick": Look, my name's in the title. How nice.
#CoHMA M5: So I'm working with KoA to fight Black Scorpion who is working on a new alloy that could make Kronos Titans nigh unstoppable.
#CoHMA M5: I kind of feel like this arc is raising an awful lot of questions, but is ending up just making things more confusing.
#CoHMA M5: I've got 3 KoA sisters to rescue, wondering if I should try to lose them. They will help with Black Scorpion, but might betray.
#CoHMA M5: Found a second arachnos computer I can't click on yet. This is a huge caves/Rikti caves map.
#CoHMA M5: Well, two of the sisters have already betrayed. I think I should find Black Scorpion while I still have a little help.
#CoHMA M5: I keep wandering around the map, and new stuff keeps popping up that wasn't there before. Making things more confusing.
#CoHMA M5: Black Scorpion wasn't as hard as I expected. And mission is finally over. Interesting, but mission fatigue was kicking in.
#CoHMA M5: Story continues in the souvenir as I join an elite squad of heroes. Too bad it doesn't really happen this way.

I was playing a level 38 fire/fire tanker. I hosped once or twice on the EB Behemoth (fire resist + healing flames just wore me down), a few times on Sunstorm, and I think once if there was an EB on M3 or M4 - I forget exactly.

Crimson has decided that popular names are too ambiguous to reflect the truth of the matter at hand and now refers to Longbow as "Freedom Corps", Black Scorpion as "Ernesto Rodriguez" (and his researchers as "Ernesto's Engineers"), and Sunstorm as "Officer Carter". All relevant forces are now at a suitable level of declassification.