Ultimo

So... scrapped the whole mission. Just can't get the damn thing to WORK. In trying to rebuild it, came upon a usual problem... it's god damn impossible to make an enemy that is in any way balanced and playable. I was testing the mission with my L11 Thugs/Poison Mastermind. He came upon a Boss with Kinetic Melee and Kinetics. The boss was built as an AV, but appeared in the mission as a +1 Elite Boss. His AVERAGE attacks were doing 500-600 damage. His WEAKEST attack did 350, his strongest did 1700 damage. The character he's fighting has 768 health. With the invulnerability toggle on, attacking him continuously, by the time my Mastermind defeated him, he had suffered over 147,000 damage. TELL ME THIS IS BALANCED. 147k damage to a character with 768 health. I didn't even give the boss the most powerful of the Kinetic Melee attacks. Ok, rant over. So, the issue seems to be finding a way to have the mission EMPTY of enemies until after you meet Citadel. A second issue is that I can't attach multiple events to a single objective (meaning that I can't have all the patrols, rescues and ambushes happen when you activate the bait computer - the second objective). So, let me describe what I want the mission to do, ideally. You enter the mission. You are to meet Citadel at the back of the base (which was once a Council base). As you pass through the base, you will encounter several other heroes who are just hanging out, as well as a couple of patrols of generic allies (Council, Circle of Thorns, etc.). When you meet Citadel, he will accompany you to the second objective, which is a computer containing false information. It is the bait for a trap that will be sprung in the next mission. When you activate the computer, there will be an ambush. When it's defeated your task is to escape the base. At the same time, the enemies will all spawn: Several Brass Legion patrols will appear in the base. The heroes you passed coming in will need to be rescued from more Brass troops, and there should be ambushes when you're freeing them. Near the exit will be a boss blocking your way. Get past him to escape. Originally, I had the player gathering allies as he moved through the base instead of rescuing them later. The problem with this is that they made the mission far too easy, obliterating everything in seconds. Citadel ALONE is able to do this, so I'm trying to limit this aspect of it. So, given that this is what I want the mission to do, HOW do I do it? Any suggestions?

Well I mean, look at the shape of the head and jaw. Almost identical. Look at the lips, slightly thicker than average. Look at the heavy lidded eyes and the prominent brows. Maybe it's me. Either way, I think he'd have been a FANTASTIC Two-Face.

I read recently that the DCAU version of Lex Luthor was based on Telly Savalas. In retrospect, I definitely see it. However, I recently came across a picture of Christopher Lee as a young man, and I swear he looks JUST like the DCAU Harvey Dent. You tell me...

Yes, no guards. If, as you say, this means the objective autocompletes, that would explain what's happening... but not why it didn't happen that way before.

Ya, he's an ally... but it was working correctly before I published it. The other allies also have ambushes attached to them, but THOSE don't appear until you go to them. It's not consistent. I'll have to tinker with it some more... this thing is taking forever to make properly.

The mission is supposed to play like this: You're trying to lure the enemy into a trap. In your base is false information you want them to capture, that will bait them into the trap, which is sprung in mission 5. You enter the mission, and the map is empty except for a few other heroes (allies you can collect if you wish) and allied patrols. The first objective is to talk to Citadel, who is waiting at the back. The second objective is to activate the computer that contains the bait. When you activate the computer, there's an ambush you need to fight off. I would have preferred to have all the enemies spawn at the same time, but you can only attach one event (the ambush) to the computer objective, so I attached the enemies to your meeting with Citadel. So, the way it's supposed to go, you go through the empty base and rendezvous with Citadel. This is supposed to make all the enemy patrols and bosses spawn. You then go to the computer and interact with it, which spawns the ambush. You then need to fight your way to the entrance, defeating patrols and bosses along the way. The problem is that the patrols and bosses aren't spawning when you talk to Citadel, they're spawning immediately, and so are already in the mission before you ever reach him. I checked the triggers and they seem to be correct... so I'm at something of a loss. I may end up redesigning the whole mission.

Well, unpublished it. Fourth mission is misbehaving. There are a bunch of patrols that aren't supposed to start until after you complete the first objective... yet for some reason they're present immediately, before the objective has been reached. Same with a couple of bosses. I checked the settings, and everything looks correct... any idea why it might be doing this?

Some good ideas, thanks!

So, this might sound like a strange one. I have a mission in an arc, in which the player is supposed to go into his base to meet Citadel before the base is invaded and they have to fight their way out. There are supposed to be 5 other heroes in the base at the time. Presently, I have them as allies you acquire as you go in, BEFORE meeting Citadel. The result is a team of 7 Elite Boss heroes obliterating every enemy they see, with no challenge. My thinking was to change things around, and make the mission's first objective to go meet Citadel. The other heroes would be RESCUES, where you would go through the base to make sure THEY get out safely as well, saving them one by one. The issue with this is, I don't know how to have them appear in the mission before they become Rescue objectives. If you see what I mean. I'd like them to be in the base, just going about their business, but then later find them as rescue objectives with enemies around them. I mean, I could have them spawn after meeting Citadel, but then the base would be empty, the heroes wouldn't be there for the player to at least SEE before needing to rescue them. It's late, I'm not sure I'm being clear... but is there a way to do this?

What I ended up doing was making it a collectible. You go to meet Citadel in the mission, then go to the computer and activate it, which initiates an ambush. I had hoped to have several ambushes come in at once, because the premise of the mission is that the enemy is invading the players' base of operations. The reasoning is a little complicated, but the idea was to have the player gather several other heroes together before meeting with Citadel, which would activate the collectible. Interacting with IT would start the ambushes... but because you're going to have Citadel and several other superheroes, I had hoped to make the ambush be as large as possible, so it would still be SOME kind of challenge. I mean, 4 minions and a lieutenant is no challenge at all to Citadel, the player and 5 other elite bosses. Unfortunately, it wouldn't let me attach more than one ambush to the collectible. It's the 4th mission in my new AE arc, which I published tonight (The Brass Men), if you want to try it out and see what I mean. The original idea for the goal was supposed to be that the player would gather his allies, fend off a HUGE number of enemies, then fight their way out of the base through another huge number of enemies. Unfortunately, I can't get huge numbers of enemies to spawn, no matter what I do. It's a little maddening, I'm still considering alternatives to how I have it set up presently.

OK! All five missions are up, and ready for some testing! Give it a try, and let me know what you think. In particular: Are the enemies too difficult? Too easy? Are there any obvious flaws in the plot, or spelling errors. Are any of the custom characters (many of whom are based on existing characters) TOO similar to the characters they're based on? Can you suggest any changes to the mechanics of the missions that might better represent what's going on in the story. Of course, I welcome any and all feedback! Thanks!

So, I'm working on the 4th mission in my story arc, but I'm having a couple of problems. The idea is, the map should be EMPTY except for a couple of allied I've provided. You go to the back of the map, where you will talk to the last ally (Citadel). When you talk to Citadel, it's supposed to spawn a defendable computer. The idea is that the enemy are supposed to come in and try to destroy it, but you're there to try and prevent them. This presents the first problem, the defendable object isn't THERE until you talk to Citadel, so you don't know WHERE it is, to defend it. The second problem is that it spawns enemies all around it, the moment it spawns. They never try to get to it, and never really try to destroy it, they're just kind of standing there until you arrive. This brings me to the next issue, that enemies that are supposed to spawn once this objective is complete aren't spawning properly. There are supposed to be 10 patrols and 2 bosses that spawn, but I've seen maybe 5 patrols, and the bosses NEVER spawn. Finally, the next thing is that the mission is marked COMPLETED once you defend the object. You still have to get to the entrance to escape, but I'm thinking perhaps the fact the mission is completed is preventing the spawning of the patrols and bosses. Is there a way to make it an objective to get to the exit? Help! (I'm going to try having everything spawn when you talk to Citadel, see if that works)

I've actually changed him up a bit. He's based on my Warhammer 40k Chaos Lord, who had a daemonic sword that devoured souls.... so I really prefer him having a sword. Ideally, he'd have a pistol to supplement the sword, but that's not possible, so I gave him some blasts instead. This should also make him a little easier to take down, because there's no more Invulnerability on him. Let me know if he's too easy now.

Ok! Up to three missions now. Working on the fourth one. First three are published if anyone wants to try them, and provide some feedback. Thanks again!

Ya, that's Marko. He hits pretty hard too... certain power sets are like that, Beam Rifle (which the minions use) is another that hits kind of hard... but at least the minions use only one or two attacks.

Tasker. Ya, I took my L15 Brute in there, and ALMOST got him, but then found myself permastunned, slept, held, and then stunned some more. He was down to around 10% health, too. It's the Psionic attacks, they definitely sting.

Ya, I should have posted, I've added the second mission in the arc, it was pretty straightforward. I had to fix Angrief in the first mission, he nearly oneshotted my Tank character (who is L30 and pretty decently tough), so I had to change his power sets. I gave him the Electric Control set, but I'm finding he is still kind of overpowered against melee characters, because he zeroes their endurance in 2 seconds, no matter what they do... which means you can't do anything against him... and I HATE that in any enemy. If the players aren't allowed to do anything, there's no GAME, if you see what I mean. I may reset the game scale so it's all L50... that DOES raise lower level characters to that point, yes?

I could really use some feedback on this first mission... I just tried it with my Tanker and found I couldn't do damage to the boss (Angrief) AT ALL... and the boss has no defensive abilities at all. He's supposed to be one of the WEAKER bosses... if he's completely invulnerable to any character, then I'm concerned at the difficulty.

Ok, I changed the first map, the new one is better anyway. So, I published it. There's five missions, but only the first one is really playable. I'm hoping people will play the first mission and give some feedback. It's up to you if you try the other missions, but they're very unfinished at present. Any thoughts would be useful. If you DO play the subsequent missions, I'm most concerned by the difficulty of the bosses. It's all VERY MUCH a work in progress... but I appreciate any thoughts or criticisms.

What the title says, can we get a Minimal FX option for Field Operative? It's part of a "realistic" gadget set, so it would be nice if we could do away with the constant glow and the endless mind numbing droning hum.

Yep, I've redesigned him a couple of times, but I'm much happier with him as a Blaster. The Devices set is WAY better than Traps, and the beam rifle just suits his Mad Scientist vibe. Much happier with him like this. I appreciate the feedback!

Well... the thing is, I want to be able to play and enjoy the missions myself, and most of my characters are around L20-30. Against even the WEAKEST attacks from an EB, they crumple like tinfoil. Only the Tankers can last any longer, but it's not by much. If the don't want to change the existing levels of foes, perhaps they can add a level in between Boss and Elite Boss... where it would have the Boss level damage, but Elite Boss level health.

The first power in the set (Single Shot) has a bugged animation when flying. Instead of firing from the airborne pose, it instead fires as if you're standing on the ground. I believe all the other powers in the set work correctly.

So, to provide some numbers. I ran the tests with Mr. Mech, my Beam Rifle/Atomic Manipulation Blaster. He has 1093 health. My average attack does around 120 damage. I created a version of my Tanker, the Canadian Shield. The AE version of him has 778 health and does 239 damage with Hurl, as a BOSS. As an ELITE BOSS, but spawned as a BOSS, he has 2040 health and does 398 damage with Hurl. As an ARCH VILLAIN, but spawned as an ELITE BOSS, he has 4858 health and Hurl does 558 damage. As a Boss, my Blaster will defeat him, potentially with ease... and this is a TANKER character, so sturdier than, say, a Mastermind or Controller or something. As an EB/Boss, my Blaster is doomed. There's NO WAY he can do enough damage before he's wiped out. Three hits, and he's dead... and those three hits will come in less than 2 seconds. Beyond this is irrelevant, really. So what we have are enemies that are too flimsy as Bosses, but do decent damage, and sturdy enough as Elite Bosses, but do too much damage. A middle ground is needed. My thinking is as I said, just reduce the damage output of EBs and AVs. This is actually consistent with something I learned YEARS ago playing pen and paper Champions. The enemies the books provided were built much like the enemies here, where they did more and more and more damage, to the point where the heroes couldn't possibly withstand them. I cut their damage back to a level similar to what the heroes could do, and all of a sudden they were a LOT more fun to fight. Battles weren't over in a blink, so there was more drama, and more tactical variety. The heroes are more fun to play if they get to fight back. The battles get drawn out, so you get to use your attacks more often, and that's more fun than attacking once (or being defeated instantly). Doing this might also remove the need to have EBs and AVs spawn as anything other than EBs and AVs.

So, I've been really struggling with making an AE arc with appropriate enemies that anyone can fight. I've been considering it for a while, I feel the problem is excessive damage from Bosses or better. Basically, if I make an enemy as a BOSS, they're far too flimsy for a start, and are defeated far too quickly. Their damage is HIGH, and they're capable of taking out my Blaster character in 2-3 hits (and they WILL hit that often at least). Making them ELITE BOSS level increases their damage so much that they'll take out my Blaster character in 2 hits, and then, only because they can't oneshot him. More sturdy characters can take a couple more hits, but as EBs they have so much health there's no way to do enough damage to them before you're defeated. Therein lies the problem. Bosses: Too flimsy, damage is a bit high. Elite Bosses: VERY sturdy, damage is excessive. Arch Villains: VERY sturdy, damage is excessive. I think what's needed is to scale back EB damage output to Boss levels. This makes them superior to Bosses because they're more durable, but still manageable enemies to fight. In any case, some kind of review of the power levels of these characters is called for, it's just impossible to find a balance point at present.