Arc #474611, "Cole In Your Stocking"

Arc ID: 474611
Keywords: Solo Friendly, Drama
Length: Very Long (5 missions)
First Published: 12/14/2010 07:23 PM
Morality: Vigilante
Level Range: 1-24
Enemy Groups: Antimatter's Clockwork, Neuron's Clockwork, Praetorian Police, Arachnos
Description: A Warden cell leader needs your help...to STOP the Resistance from stealing Christmas!

Yes, it's a very Praetorian Christmas. Five missions, nothing bigger than a Boss. There is an ambush or two; this is Praetoria, after all.

The level range really should have been confined to 20-24 for plot reasons, but I left it open so lower-level characters can fight at their own level. I really wanted a 40-50 arc but not enough of the higher level Praetorian mobs were imported into AE. Also, none of the signature characters appear to have made it either, which was very disappointing.

This fills my arc slots, it's the last from me for a while. Enjoy, and merry Christmas.

Sounds interesting and I am pretty bored so I'll give it a try.

A comment:

Typing as I play through:

Mission 1:
Like how the setup of the mission plays on the division between Warden and Crusader.

Mission 2:
hm. Praetorian Clockwork. Now beginning to regret that I didn't turn my difficulty for doing an exemped MA mission. Ah, well, I'm using FemFury, she *should* be tough enough even at level 24.

Oh, good. Researcher dialogue explains the acronym. Hee.

Like the Warden appropriate text when releasing researchers. Feeling pretty morally pure for Praetoria so far. (wonder if that will last)

Hm. Freed two researchers. Got the toy objective. Killed all clockwork on the map (confirmed by last two showing up in red on mini-map). Been through map several times, can't seem to find last objective. Some computer terminals that are "You Can't Complete This Objective Yet." when clicked.

Ah, finally found the triggering glowie. Now to run all the way to the other end of the map for the other stuff.

Three glowies all at back of map that need to be clicked to end mission, but only first one gives clue? Why do I have to click the other two if I get the needed info from the first one?

Mission 3:
Triggered patrols making for a little hacking drama to get the data.

hm. why no mediporting for him when I beat him?


Mission 4:
ah, Crusader persistence. A virtue at times when fighting against the state. but mostly an annoying stubbornness.

The contact dialogue and the accept text gives just enough sense of frustration to take the edge off the plot "going backwards" a bit

Helen's choice of out of town help makes things interesting, and ties in nicely to the developments later in the Praetorian plotlines.

hm. Defeat all. But.... plot justified. And not a bad map for it.

Clue confirms my suspicions about the motivation of that faction's involvement. Makes sense.

Mission 5:
liking the text for taking out the security computers

hm. how is he back? I thought no mediport in previous mission?

Pity we don't have access to signature Praetorian characters in MA yet. I think your idea of having IVY here would be cool.

And Xmas is saved... thanks to ME! Well, mostly... kinda... sorta.


Overall comments:

Took me a while, but that's my fault for leaving difficulty high when doing a lower-level MA arc. Racked in some good tickets though, because of that.

Solid story. Flows well. Fits very well into themes and mood of Praetoria. No canon violations.

And a good job of making a seasonally flavored story that doesn't get into silly or cheesy territory, or break the sense of connection to the game world as it stands.

Rated 5 stars in game for being well worth my time.

A good, well-crafted arc. Maybe not a huge "wow" factor, and there are other arcs by the architect-author that I like better. But it fits the season, and it definitely deserves more plays than it has.

Thanks for the review!

Force Majeure does mediport when you beat him...the dialog is a bit misleading I guess. "No...mediporting...." was meant to express denial or disbelief at his defeat followed by a mediport. I should probably change that.

Played it through. Decent arc, fit my Warden character just about perfectly. The "" in the final mission's objectives is a little too cutesy for me.

Have you considered making a custom stand-in for IVy until she's implemented?

Meh, a fake IVy wouldn't really come close. That's a custom model.

I'd also have to change the story, since I went in a different direction when I found IVy wasn't available. Probably better to leave that money on the table.

Another five-star comment (bringing the arc up to a mind-numbing four plays ):

Review – Cole in Your Stocking
Arc ID: 474611
Character- Level 16 Arachnos Soldier
Deaths- None

You did a great job with this arc. Not once did I feel frustrated or bored. Most of my feedback is overwhelming positive so I apologize for that. This arc is very well done and I had to be picky about my negative criticism.

Story- Your text and formatting is nice and readable. Even with all the divergent factions you explain things thoroughly enough so that it makes sense that you are fighting the Resistance, Prae Police and Arachnos. Christmas text is subtle and not overwhelming. Nice job. In many instances, you mention other factions and people doing stuff like invading bases and such. This made me feel like I was part of a larger world and helped immerse me in the story.

In Mission 4- your waiting text mentions Arachnos and uses the words been prepared. This text is awkward since it can trigger before you enter the mission. The contact is assuming that I have already been in the mission and that I have ran into Arachnos even though I have not.

Gameplay- The overall pacing and difficulty of this arc is spot on. You use patrols nicely. I had some moments where I waited for a group of cops to pass by a door so I could sneak behind them. It really added to the feel that I was infiltrating these labs.

One thing about the Resistance is that they use wacky handles instead of their real names. The opposite goes for Prae Police, they tend to use their real names like Praetor Duncan instead of handles like Dominatrix. You are more likely to find a Resistance leader named Swimming Pool than have a common like Boris.

Objectives- Great use of objectives. The use of dynamically spawned objectives usually bothers me. For some reason it did not bother me as much in the arc.

Mission 3- search text for computers is too long. Make the text shorter or make searching longer so I can finish reading the text.

Overall, good work. I rated it 5 stars

Some recent comments on the arc, all from the same person:

Quote:

[Tell] 2011-01-12 02: 09:47 Message From xxxxx : Feedback on Architect Mission Cole In Your Stocking: M1 briefing: underprivledged familes -> underprivileged families. Considering the premise is that I'm with the Wardens, a little weird that the Resistance in this mission immediately shoots first. When I finally get to Boris he seems surprised I'm "selling him out" but I've been killing tons of resistance on the way to him. No dialog in entire mission except for Boris and his ambush. Suggest adding patrols or a "front" boss with dialog ordering the men to attack me or something. [Tell] 2011-01-12 02: 13:25 Message From xxxxx : Suffering some whiplash in mission 2 having foiled the Crusader's attack on the toys, now going to probably stop the toys from being shipped [Tell] 2011-01-12 02: 20:48 Message From xxxxx : M2 the "computer" glowies actually are desks with no computer on them (nitpicky) [Tell] 2011-01-12 02: 21:47 Message From xxxxx : Oops, nm, that glowy was the "action figure". I wonder if it should be in a crate instead of a desk though? Probably ok as is if you like it that way though. [Tell] 2011-01-12 02: 24:13 Message From xxxxx : "intented" -> "intended" (Say it ain't so, SANTA!) ... also if the SANTA device makes you receptive to authority, shouldn't I be affected by it since I picked up the action figure? [Tell] 2011-01-12 02: 36:18 Message From xxxxx : M3 felt a little redundant with M2 (both basically hacking computers to find out about the toys), consider cutting one. Felt like too many patrols in M3 but that might just be my level 3 talking, would be ok at level 24. [Tell] 2011-01-12 03: 03:55 Message From xxxxx : M5 dialog "Vetranno" should be "Vetrano". In briefing, I thought it was weird that the Wardens launch an attack on the toy factory right after we break up the Crusader attack on the toys. [Tell] 2011-01-12 03: 12:23 Message From xxxxx : Souvenir: underprivledged -> underprivileged. Liked Force Majeure's reappearance in M5. [Tell] 2011-01-12 03: 14:05 Message From xxxxx : Overall: felt M1 needed more content. M2 and M3 were too similar, either cut one or make them more different. Had a lot of whiplash between stopping Warden attack on toys and attacking the toys myself, I understand what you're getting at [Tell] 2011-01-12 03: 15:25 Message From xxxxx : but think it needs to be a little better justified, it seemed like twice I stopped the Crusaders, then the Wardens basically did the same thing. Liked the minor characters introduced.

I've fixed the typos and tweaked some small details (fixed the patrol spam in act 3, changed the text for the action figure clue in act 2, other minor changes). I'm pretty happy with the arc's story, though. I know acts 2 and 3 are similar but I feel it's necessary for the player to have to go back for more information on SANTA once the truth is known. I considered having the player abduct a researcher in act 3 so the Wardens could beat the information out of him, showing that when push comes to shove they're not that much different from the Crusaders, but decided that was blurring the lines a bit too much.

Most people (of the whole 11 that have played the arc ) seem to have bought the distinction between what Donovan has you do and what the Crusaders would have done, so while it may not have worked for this commentator I disagree that changes are needed.

Review as part of the CoHMR Aggregator project.

@GlaziusF

Playing this on a Praetorian-range broadsword/shield scrapper, +0/x2 with bosses on.

---

The Resistance Crusaders are going to explode an orphans’ Christmas, because it comes from Cole. Yeah, that works. And I have to break faces to stop them. Yeah, that also works.

Mr. Boris Loff from KR sector drops. He’s got a stock description on him, but okay, this is the intro, it’s good to start simple. Apparently what spawned this is somebody’s leak that the toys were going to mind-control the kiddies. I imagine every Crusader with two sticks of neodynamite to rub together is going to want in on this thing now.

---

Well, it’s off to investigate the production facility, and smash as many Clockwork as possible so it looks like random vandalism.

Wow. Neuron’s Clockwork seem to work under Vahzilok rules. There are spawns of like eight minions in here just standing around.

Anyway, I pick up an action figure and check a computer. It drops a clue about there being three other systems, but the navbar just says “find the other computer”.

There is just one computer. (And one poor lab monkey headed out for grocery shopping.) Apparently the toys really do have mind-shaping inductive circuitry in them.

My contact confirms we’re really up against it. Yeah, not surprised. As it is we come out of this as enemies of children or passive enablers of mind control.

I don’t suppose we can just haul these up to the top floor of Crumpet Tower and wait for everyone to start singing without any presents at all?

Yeah, thought not.

---

Okay, so it looks like there may be some kind of master console, and if we disable that then the kids get their presents without the extra special brainwash. This is a worthy cause.

Butting heads with PPD: also a worthy cause.

Ah. I seem to have walked right into a trap. Now to override security before it all comes down on my pretty little head.

I fight an energy/energy armor member of Powers Division, who does a good job of replicating the PPD uniform and aesthetic - at least as far as I can tell under the swirlies -- and find the schematic.

---

And the Crusaders are back on the march. Yeah, I figured this would happen. ...though perhaps unintentionally, the contact’s bug text ruins what you may have intended as a surprise.

The opening scroll also makes mention of them, but they’re really not evident in the early parts of this warehouse. Maybe you could put a patrol of them up front instead of Resistance?

Ah, looks like the Arachnos were dimension-hopping in order to yoink some of this here advanced technology when the opportunity presented itself. This is a reasonable motivation, at least.

And perhaps that’s the last of it. Though with this anarchy, who really knows?

---

Now I take advantage of the good ol’ radiation man vs. lightning man rivvalry to get at the master control through a back door. ...at least, that’s the theory. My contact has given up hope of anything going according to plan.

Don’t believe in the plan, buddy. Believe in the me who believes in the plan.

The PPD patrols are talking about “Vetrano”, not-Ghost probably-not-Widow-either, who is apparently here to recover something? Aw man, she’s gonna be the end boss?

Man, what the hell kind of hideous chance to hit do these lieutenants have? Admittedly they ranged into +1, but they’re not missing through my shield and three lucks.

Anyway, the Powers Division guy from the third mission returns. He goes down just as readily, though.

Okay. seeing as how the mission completed, it seems like BV led the distraction rush on the main facility? Maybe my contact could name-drop her.

No clues for finishing this mission up, though. Odd.

Another thankless effort by the Wardens. More resistance soldiers down than elements of Cole’s regime and he gets all the good press anyway. (Not that this is hard when you own the press? But regardless.)

---

Storyline - *****. Okay, so part of it’s the novelty, this being the first MArc I’ve run set in the revealed Praetoria of Going Rogue. But damn if this ain’t a good encapsulation of the dead-end desperation of the Wardens, who thanklessly try to hold back the velvet glove of Imperial oppression and take a few shots from the iron fist of Resistance anarchy in the process. I was actually amazed and slightly heartened that it ended on as positive a note as it did -- I expected to have at least the by-now canonical option to narc on the Resistance at the very end, perhaps via a timer on the last mission and a note from a Praetor.

Not that the arc’s weaker for not having it, but I thought I’d mention it.

Design - ****. A little too much Praetorian labs. Don’t get me wrong, Praetorian labs are certainly visually interesting and generally effective to fight in without being restrictive. But three of them in the arc, and two of them in a row, is a little much of a good thing. I think you could reasonably sub in a shiny gold office at some point without much loss of storyline justification.

The couple of customs who appear in this arc are generally appropriate for their enemy groups to the point of looking and functioning like they a “special boss” rather than a de novo custom.

There’s a little in the way of incidental detail - the lab monkey in mission 2, for example - but missions are largely empty except for their essential objectives. I wouldn’t mind seeing a few to lighten the mood or twist the knife, as appropriate.

Gameplay - ****. While the customs aren’t unreasonable and there isn’t much in the way of backtracking, for whatever reason the Praetorian clockwork really tore me a new one. I suspect this is because they spawn via Vazhilok rules - two minions appear instead of one - but unlike the Vazhilok they function primarily at range.

I’d suggest perhaps creating “custom standard” groups in the Architect, basically composed entirely and exclusively of Clockwork, to bring them a normal spawn density, and/or making the last mission PPD with incidental Clockwork rather than the other way around.

Detail - ***. A couple of misleading bits - a computer in mission 2 dropping a hint about there being three systems left when there was only one, and the surprise invocation of BV in mission 5 when my contact didn’t really mention her, giving me the impression that she was one of the complications he’d been worrying about. The Resistance leaders are also missing bios, just using the generic officer description. You might as well ride their terrible names for all they’re worth.

Overall - ****. Definitely a fitting Praetorian holiday arc, with a very solid plot that carries it through minimalist design, enhanced Praetorian difficulty, and what may be artifacts of incomplete revisions.

Thanks for the review! I'll take the suggestions into consideration.

You did nail exactly what I was going for with the storyline, which for me (as usual) is the most important part. I didn't work in a "morality choice" partly because the MA is poorly set up for that, but mainly because it just didn't feel right for a Christmas arc.

Loved the arc. If you were trying to highlight the conflict within the Resistance I would say you succeeded. The fairly dark storyline, flamboyant enemies (Arachnos) and only limited success at the end gave the arc the feel of an RTD-style Doctor Who Christmas Special (not in quality, though - those tended to be some of his weakest work).

I think the best thing about this arc, though, was the dialogue. It was snappy, and did a good job of sketching out the personalities even of minor characters who only had a few lines. ("Hail...Arachnos...")

EDIT: Thinking about the Christmas specials seems to have left me thinking that Arachnos had two Ss. That's Rachnoss ("Noooo! My childreeen!"). Fixed.

Thanks! Glad you liked it!

Yet another missed comment:

Since this has been recently bumped, I figured I'd add a link to the video review I did for this arc. On Your M-Arc #4

Another five-star play and comment:

Quote:

Was a little unsure at the initial mission briefing, but as soon as the idea of mindcontrolling christmas toys came up, I was sold on it. Hmm do you think that something similar was done by Statesman ?

No, but only because he wasn't bright enough to think of it....