Ultimo

The wandering heroes seem to be a problem, because they might wander into, and then defeat, objectives the PLAYER has to defeat. Perhaps if I put the "wandering" heroes in as BATTLES, where they're fighting some enemies in a static location... That way, they wouldn't wander into the objectives, and if the players needed the help of the NPCs, they could lure them back to where the heroes ARE.

Got it sorted... took a few reinstalls, but I got it sorted.

Once upon a time, someone provided a link to a list of powers for AE characters, and I can't find it. The idea I was tying to fulfill was to create a boss character with a melee primary and a defensive set (eg. Super Strength/Invulnerability), but then to add powers manually to the critter file in the game folder (so, I could make a "Superman" with eyebeams and frost breath). The person (I don't remember who it was) provided a link to a list of sets and powers that I could add to the file. Does anyone else remember where the list is? I've done a search, but I can't find it... my search-fu is weak.

One of my favourite things is finding creative ways to use the limitations of the AE system to my advantage. The biggest problem I have is with the damage output of the custom NPCs, especially once they get to Elite Boss. I just hate leaving awesome looking powers OFF the character because they're broken.

Ok, I had to unpublish it, it's become unplayable. Every time I try to run through it, the last two bosses refuse to spawn. Tasker is dependent on the Executioners being defeated, and Marko on Tasker being defeated... but Tasker won't spawn. I suspect it's the wandering heroes... If THEY defeat an objective boss, it might prevent the player being credited with it, and thereby break the mission (since the player can't complete objectives the NPCs already defeated). I'll have to tinker some more.

Ok, I've made some substantial adjustments. I discovered that I can have multiple identical boss objectives (in this case, they're all Lieutenant level "bosses"), and use that to trigger the "final" boss. So, I've replaced many of the patrols with these bosses. I should also say, I'm looking for feedback regarding the difficulty of the foes too. The minions are meant to be individually weak, but strong in numbers (ie. they can heal each other, but not themselves, and the lieutenants and bosses just add other buffs...) The Elite Bosses... well, they suffer from the design of the game... I tried making them Bosses, but they're too fragile. As soon as I make them Elite Bosses, they become oneshot machines, doing ridiculous amounts of damage. I don't want to imagine what Arch Villains would be like. The result is that I can't take many of the powers without making the EBs utterly overpowering. But... I will consider any feedback on the subject.

To flesh out the villains... The Brass Men are a combination of my old Warhammer 40k Chaos Legion, mixed with Parademons. Marko is a minor general, as is Tasker. Later bosses are FAR more challenging and are based somewhat on Darkseid's elite (including Steppenwolf). They're all still kind of works in progress. The main, final bad guy is Lord Malephar, the Primarch of the Brass Legion, and he's based substantially on Darkseid. Taken together, they're actually enemies of Super-Star, my Superman homage (who might turn up in the mission, it selects allies randomly). My goal with characters who resemble existing ones is to make them resemble without outright copying... As such, some may end up being adjusted as I go. Like I say, it's all a work in progress. The actual text intro into the mission is yet to be written, what I put there for now is really just a placeholder to give some context for the mission for testing. I appreciate all the advice! Thanks!

So, I went to update my Defender's build to use Storm Blast, but discovered my version of Mids doesn't include the set. So I selected the update option and updated the program... which closed itself during or after the process, but now it won't launch at all. Anyone else have this problem? Is there a fix, or do I have to redownload and reinstall the thing?

Great suggestions, thanks! The wandering heroes (and villains) were there more for flavour, but also to make some fights easier. When soloing, you can lure tough foes into one of the ally groups. The wandering foes are a good point. Not sure how I would do "fixed pockets," do I put them out as bosses, perhaps pick a generic boss minion or lieutenant as the "boss" and have them as objectives? I could then make THOSE the objective of the mission and be rid of the Defeat All...? On that point... is there a way to set a series of objectives as an objective to unlock a final one? For example, suppose I put out a number of Lieutenants as Defeat Boss objectives, say 10 of them. Is there a way to have a final boss, an ACTUAL boss, like Lord Marko, appear only after all 10 lesser bosses are defeated?

So, I'm planning out a story arc, and one of the missions is expected to be an alien invasion of the city. The mission I'm working on is set in Steel Canyon. I've published it, just a single mission, in order that people can playtest it a bit and offer feedback. Please give it a try and let me know what you think. What I'm going for is a titanic invasion battle, similar to what we saw in the Avengers film (the first one). I've added a few wandering heroes who are helping out, you might recognize them 😛 Anyway, try it, and let me know what you think of it. It's posted under my ID, @Ultimo1

I made another version of him that was Electric Controls and Traps, but I rather dislike the Traps set. So many of the traps are really difficult to get anything out of. Poison Trap? Oh look, the enemy all went the other way, or the team already wiped them out. The Devices set for Blasters is a little better... but only a little.

Ya, a lot of my characters are based initially on existing characters... but I always try to move them somewhat away from them. I'm sure sometimes I'm more successful than other times. Captain America, for example, is hard to make an homage to, because there's only so many ways you can do a character in red, white and blue. In any case, I did consider making Mr. FF a bots Mastermind (he's called Mister Mech, after all), but it didn't quite feel like Mr. FF, who tends to personally use gadgets rather than sending bot minions into battle. As I think about it, in a fight, Mr. FF gets personally stuck into melee, and uses his gadgets as support and as finishers... He's hard to simulate.

So, I've posted about this before, and I'm still kind of struggling with a character. He's meant to be based on Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards... but of course, there's no stretching in the game, so I'm having to fudge a bit to reflect what he DOES with the stretching. Looking at Reed, in the comics he has two powersets, his stretching (which provides durability, melee and control feats) and his inventions. My current version is a Blaster, Beam Rifle (representing his invention... we often see Reed produce a giant weapon of one sort or another) and Atomic Manipulation (which has some melee and some controls). I like it... but he's just so flimsy, and Reed should be better able to stick in melee. So once again, I'm wondering how people might build a character to reflect Mr. Fantastic and his abilities. Any thoughts?

I don't think I'll be making him, alas. The name he had (and has had for nearly 30 years since I first created him) was Mythos, but that name isn't available. I could try renaming him something else, but it wouldn't be HIM anymore, if you see what I mean. I'd thought to make him a Willpower/War Mace Tanker. This would suit both Thor and Hercules (Thor with his hammer and Hercules with his club). Pools would include Medicine and Leadership for Holmes, Fighting, which would suit both Hercules and Holmes, Flight, so I can give Hercules Air Superiority, and Flight for Horus, then the Flame-based Epic pool for Horus' stellar powers. I couldn't come up with anything for Robin Hood, but there are other mythological characters he could become... Medusa, or something from some other pantheon. Anyway, I appreciate the ideas, and I hope it posed a fun problem for everyone.

I did create the character for Champions Online, but there was better power selection flexibility. My plan was to do something like Biostem suggests, to take a "base" powerset, then supplement with pools for all the other characters. Naturally, the costumes would reflect the various characters. Is there a bow attack temp power? I could do Robin Hood with that. Anyway, some good thoughts here.

So, many moons ago, I created a character for the old Champions pen and paper game. The concept of the character is this: He's a child, perhaps 10 years old, with a mutant power that allows him to alter his physical form and powers; a shape-changer of sorts. However, he has no real control over this power, which causes him to change form when he shifts to one of his multiple personalities. When he changes form, he takes on the attributes and personality of the character he's turned into, believing himself to BE that character. He has several personalities. Hercules. Greek demi-god, possessed of great strength and durability. Horus. Egyptian god of the sun, possesed of the power of flight and the power to project light and heat effects. Thor. Norse god of thunder, possessed of the hammer Mjolnir, and the power of the storm. Sherlock Holmes. Victorian detective, gifted with great powers of observation and deduction. Robin Hood. Medieval archer and rogue, the greatest archer in England, and a fine swordsman. In theory, he could transform into other characters... all fictional, except to him, when he BECOMES them. The difficulty is in trying to create a character that kind of emulates these abilities. Some things can be captured by pools (eg. Hercules' super strength might be simulated with Air Superiority and the Fighting Pool), but other things, like Thor's hammer or Horus' light powers... I'm not sure about. So, as a challenge to the community, how would YOU go about creating this character for City of Heroes?

I have no problem with that. In fact, I kind of like it. I'm reminded of how Thor is frequently utilized in the Avengers comics, back in the day. Very often, he wouldn't be part of the main attack. He'd be hanging back, building a storm to a massive crescendo while the rest of the team keep the enemy busy until he's ready... then he would unleash the full fury of the storm in one titanic attack, to finish off the enemy.

So, even way back in live days, I made a Defender character based on the Chinese storm god, Ch'ih Sung Tsu. I made him Storm/Electric Blast, with Teleport Other and Sorcery powers (for flight and Translocation). But, they've brought out this Storm Blast power set, and I'm considering recreating the character again as Storm/Storm. However, I'm not sure about it, I don't know how effective this new set is... and I've got him (rather painfully, what with trying to resolve the horrendous endurance issues of Defenders) to L35. I'm not sure I want to go through another 35 levels of leveling a Defender again. So, my question is: What's the new set like? What are its strengths? Weaknesses?

Ya, I tried reducing the font, but it became unreadable before it all became visible. What's needed is a means to adjust the size of the "windows" the pools appear in. Is there such a thing?

Ok... another question now that I have it working. The power pools as listed are only showing three of the powers. Trying to scroll through them is awkward... and I don't remember needing to do that before. Is this a change? Is there a way to alter the presentation of the powers so the pools can all be visible?

I'm... not sure. I don't think it asked me to select anything. Let me reinstall and see if I missed something. EDIT Aha! I didn't notice there was a selection on the page where you choose the destination folder. That solved the problem! Well spotted, thanks!

I don't have discord or github, so I'm posting here. I downloaded what I thought was the most current version of Mids, from the website https://midsreborn.com/ I uninstalled the older version I had, and deleted everything from the destination folder, then installed the new version to that folder. I ran the program, and went to start a new build for my Mercs/Radiation Mastermind. However, I found that several power sets were completely missing, including the Radiation secondary and Experimentation pool. I tried to update from the dropdown Help menu, but it produced an "Unhandled Exception" error. It says it's Mids Reborn v3.5.5. It did let me continue, but the power sets were still missing. So, I downloaded the zip file from the website, uninstalled the version I'd just installed, deleted the folder and unzipped the new version. The zip file says it's v3.5.7. However, when I ran it, it was exactly the same as before, and when the error occurred, it said it was v3.5.5. So, I'm baffled. Am I downloading the wrong thing? How do I fix this?

Actually, I made my Speedster a Tanker as well. When you look at these kinds of characters in the comics, they tend to be the ones getting the attention of the enemy on THEM, creating openings for the team... I'm reminded of the Angel, WAAAAY back in X-Men #4, where they were assaulting Magneto's fortress. Angel flew nearby to draw fire while the other X-Men approached and attacked. Or the Battle between the Avengers and the Exemplars where Quicksilver was dashing around distracting all the enemies while the other Avengers took advantage of the distraction. Spiderman is this kind of hero too, jumping around taunting bad guys while fighting them... and even Captain America is a Tanker, his colourful costume and shield intended to make HIM the focus of enemy attention while Bucky would operate more freely. I know, Cap and Spidey aren't speedsters, I'm just pointing out characters sometimes fill roles you might not expect.

Well, not quite 50/50%... at least 10% needs to be sharks.

While true, presentation is half the battle. Maybe MORE than half.