Darmian

Based on further chats around this proposed mechanic I've had the following tweaks suggested to me, and I like them but like anything here are up for discussion. 1) These missions to have an intro tip drop at the correct level range as a prequel, like Mortimer Kal's Wizard's Weakness. Doing that unlocks the contact avatar in whatever area they're located. 2) Contact avatars not to be a green glowing AE type but just to look like a generic NPC, and then to morph to the arc's actual contact when the mission is selected. 2) Contact avatars when in generic form to reel off exactly how to use this entire system in the first place! 4) Apply the 5 doors needed in the correct zone. 5) If you want to bypass the intro tip then the main arc to be available via the base computer like regular tips already are. Variations on this: The initial tip to appear in the Police Scanner/Newspaper/Gold equivalent (Message Man/Clockwork). Some discussion on the places I've suggested as avatar placement areas are that the Red and Blue versions are a bit out of the way. Studio 55 is pretty central to Gold though. Again, we're just looking at leveraging existing assets. As I've said elsewhere, the actual arcs themselves are a whole other kettle of fish to discuss. Thoughts?

Personally I've reconnected with a few old friends who I haven't spoken to in a while, nothing wrong with that, life just takes you to different places, but now we have a regular day on here to meet up and chat and do a few missions, explore random new stuff in the AE and then laugh like maniacs when something crazy wipes us. Not to mention all the NEW people I've met on here who are simply great.

Yup yup. Thoroughly agree on your posts and with the intent. Above (& cross posted) I am looking at a barest of bones mechanic to leverage all that into the game with the least amount of work, so that your "drag and drop" could just be implemented. LOL. Now, "least amount of work" is an assumption on my part, but I can't see HOW it could be as much work as Holymittens' mini arcs in 2019.

Okay, not a typo but where else am I going to put it? From the Sgt Schorr arc. Surely something could be added here?

Obviously a point for later, but if an AE was set in the Shadow Shard for instance, amongst other odd places, then perhaps this system would need tweaking/additions. I'm really looking at it as a building block to getting more content into the game world without (apparently) excessive new coding.

Now that I think about it I had done Dean's arc normally but I missed his text when I went through the caves. Then I redid it with ouro and there it was. Had to go to him in person because I couldn't call him, but it worked.

It's hilarious that Chimera, the "villain", is a much more reasonable and interesting character than his Primal double. Maybe because he can do all the things Manticore wants to, but knows the rest of the Phalanx will kick his head in for if he does?

Weirdly I HAVE done this through Ouro and Dean spoke to me and I got the cutscene and the Honorary Bro badge. So ...hmmm.

That's true. And yeah, finding them is the thing. I know what I proposing here is really only a "halfway house" sort of thing, but it's a possible start maybe?

WOOO!

It's a bit quiet in the Mission Architect section so I'm reposting this cross link here. The original post IS a bit rambly. I'm still thinking about how to streamline it. There can be discussions about what could be in it, strict lore/canon guidelines, etc. That's frankly all for later. Right now I'm just looking at Avatar in a zone/AE in Base Computer/5 doors.

Fallen enemies, slain councillors, the whole works. You'd need two types though. One as "set decoration", grisly thought but as you say atmospheric, and individual ones that are pretty much human collectibles. You CAN simulate a body, but you need a non objective friendly boss in dead slab animation, and hope for no guards, but they almost always appear, so they have to be friendly too. And if for some freak reason those guards get into combat your "dead guy" might get up!

If you want some more Praetorian based malarkey, check the last three AEs in my signature. In that order. With the caveat we don't have access to the choice mechanic or most of the maps we need, and I did a sneaky workaround for that in the second one. These three are all Loyalist ones by the way. I'm working on a Resistance set. As for compensating for the choice? I had to make do with more clues and more reading.

Depends where you are too. We have a dedicated Praetorian origin SG on Reunion so we get regular enough small teams, 3 to 4, a few times a week. And all the above. Great content, great zone design, And....(gets on soap box...) you can keep going after 20! Just head into First Ward! (...gets off soap box...) And even if you leave, don't design a Praetorian with the intent to be a hero or a villain later. Just enjoy the arcs along the way, you can decide at the end what you want.

If you have a look, there's absolutely oodles of space in these three areas. Studio 55. Two levels at least. Rikti Monkey Fight Club. One level but two angles to show the area. And Paragon Dance Party. Which has the classic warehouse layout, so there's space on the way in to here too.

So Avatar in one of the three named areas. Mission List from AE console ported to the Mission Computer in SG bases, and 5 doors assigned. Yeah, it SOUNDS simple.

I play on Reunion. If I went by the stats then it's pretty much the lowest pop of the lot, and to some "dead", but I've always got teams, plenty of stuff to do, no problems. If I'm on at 3 in the morning however then it looks even deader to anyone on the North American shards. Either way, I get my game in.

There surely has to be somewhere an abandoned lab could be sited in the Underground and in First Ward.

Well, the delay is a shortcoming if the longer route is a genuine issue. Sure, it might be for some, but no more than travelling to any contact for the first time since you can't usually call a contact for your first meeting anyway. The upside is it could get more content into the actual game world and take out the "unrealness" of doing it through an AE data stream. Yes, obviously we'd all want more fully realized material like we already have and like the material produced by @Piecemealand @holymittens previously. But those obviously take a lot longer. So...

Nice idea but won't work. It's not the TUNNEL that's the issue, it's simply that Praetorians cannot go to Primal Earth unless they "naturalize" as a Primal by taking the Rift Mission at level 20. Some of us don't leave, and plenty aren't level 20, so there's that. TUNNEL will just not work for you.

I suppose it's essentially a halfway house between AE arcs and in-world missions.

So how am I going to take part in a Praetorian Costume event WHEN I CANNOT GO TO KALLISTI WHARF?* I'd like to suggest that that particular contest be held in the Magisterium in Nova Praetoria. Everyone else can go there, we can't go everywhere else 🙂 *Yes, I know I can make a copy of my costume, but you know, once would be nice.

One of the takeaways from a recent(ish) Weekly Discussion was the possibility of leveraging the AE for further content, along the lines of tip missions. Seems reasonable. There is good stuff in there, might just need a tweak or two to align it with everything else. Thoughts here are sprawling/rambling so feel free to take this apart to see what might or might not work.* As with everything it is easier said than done. Tip missions are usually single missions while the majority of AE SFMAs are not. Those usually hit 5 missions. Usually. This brought up the concept of a "tip arc", and in this context "tip arc" is simply a catchall term for an AE length arc of missions. That in turn led to a discussion about keeping them separate from regular tip missions., especially since the majority of AE arcs have a definite contact rather than a mysterious radio message, or a note slipped into your drink at a nightcub. Populating the game with myriad new contacts, or writing code to repurpose/add to existing contacts is no doubt code heavy and time consuming. And isn't needed. If we leverage the AE missions we can leverage the entire AE structure as well. Notional idea: We have three areas in the game world. Paragon Dance Party, Rikti Monkey Fight Club and Studio 55. Apart from the odd RP session in the second, of those the first two are mostly dead space. Studio 55 gets a small bit of traction as a hub from Praetoria to Pocket D (and Bobcat as a contact). Stick at least one AE contact Avatar in each of those places that can generate any appearance etc whatever, just as they do in any AE. Now for the other bit! One of the "complaints" I get from some players is that however good an AE mission might be it's still not a "real" mission. The suspension of disbelief is not there because of the nature of the avatars and the green beam. SO...add part of the AE console to the base Mission Computer allowing you to select the arc you want to do, then off you pop to see your by now generated contact in the aforesaid place. You step into Paragon Dance Party and there they are, waiting for you. All you need now is 5 doors. That's it. 5 doors. So step out into the game world and head to a door! If this were to utilize the quasi TF function of the AE then you could just invite further players after you accept the mission, rather than it being locked to the player/same alignment team in a base. Will they give full XP/drops? Dev's Choice missions already do that, so why not? Will they cost 1 Reward Merit to play like other things in the Mission computer? I don't know. Even if they did it's 5 times cheaper than what's in there already. Ok. I could have expressed that a lot more concisely. And some will see it as convoluted but it is an attempt to achieve the suspension of disbelief without literally recoding every AE and adding contacts and everything. *Caveat. This next sentence may offend. If you only reply to this to start a gate keeping argument about how Paragon Dance Party/Rikti Monkey Fight Club/Studio 55/the entire game itself should be left as they are "because", then you need to go play on an i24 server somewhere because you're not contributing,

I reckon as the only European shard, and sited in Germany, Reunion will not be merged with any of the others, even if mergers were to happen.

When ye report back obviously we'll have a LIST of things for ye to do!