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Shocktacular

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Posts posted by Shocktacular

  1. Continuing my "sun saga":

     

    The Sun will appear to align with the tower daily between 8:50 and 9:30 local standard time (between 9:50 and 10:30 local daylight time), using an estimated azimuthal angle of 139 degrees (variation is around +/- 8 degrees depending on which side of the island you're on). 

     

    The estimated altitude required for the Sun to appear to be exactly atop the tower is 23.5 degrees, although it varies slightly depending on if you're standing on top of the rocks on Turtle Island or on the flat part, as well as your individual height (variation is about +/- 0.8 degrees).  The variations in altitude and azimuth due to the geometry of the island mean that there are two ranges of dates during which the Sun may appear to be directly atop the tower when viewed from somewhere on the island, each lasting about a month.  The first range is from January 25th to February 22nd, and the second is from October 19th to November 14th.  Between November 14th and January 25th, the Sun will appear to pass behind the tower rather than above it during its alignment.  Between February 22nd and October 19th, the Sun will appear to be above the tower during its alignment.

     

    I hope this helps, somehow.  In any event, I had fun doing it! 😄 

     

    Once again, I recommend the badge text be changed to say "the morning sun" rather than "the rising sun", for the sake of astronomical accuracy. 😛 

    • Like 1
  2. Another thought occurs: The Sun will appear to align with the tower by appearing directly above it once a day every morning, since it appears to travel southward as well as upwards from the point on the horizon where it rises (the exact time will vary somewhat throughout the year, but it will always be in the AM hours).  Therefore, I suggest that the text for the badge be changed to say "the once-a-day alignment of One Statesman Tower with the morning sun" instead of "the rising sun".

     

    I'm also going to work out which dates (if any) the Sun will appear to sit exactly at the top of the tower, as well as what time of year (if any) that the Sun will be blocked by the tower, but to do that I'll need to measure how tall the tower is, the distance between the tower and Turtle Island, and any difference in elevation between the base of the tower and Turtle Island (if anyone already has those numbers, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know what they are).

    This is fun!  I like doing this stuff!  I'll post again when I've got it figured out.

    • Like 1
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  3. On 7/2/2025 at 10:37 PM, Shocktacular said:

    Hey, nitpicky detail here, but...

    ... the text for the "Tourist Trapped" badge says:  "Many who visit the Wharf take a paddle boat out to Turtle Rock Island as a "must see" location. Known for its curious rock formations, incredible views of the Wharf, and the once-a-day alignment of One Statesman Tower with the rising sun, tourists end up here taking photos more than any other place in the Wharf." (emphasis mine)

    The position on the horizon that the sun appears to rise from shifts slightly from day to day, so a perfect alignment wouldn't happen more than once or twice a year (once if it's on either solstice, twice otherwise).  I know that this is nitpicky, but I'm an astronomy teacher, so this bothers me a bit. 😛 

     

    Edited to add:  It's also possible that the angle between Turtle Rock Island and One Statesman Tower is such that, at Paragon City's latitude, the alignment with the rising sun will not happen at all.  I'm going to be working on this over the next few days (otherwise, it won't leave me alone 😛).

    Okay, I got a map of Kallisti Wharf, drew lines from the island to the tower (center to center and either side), and measured the angles.  The flattest angle possible is between the southwestern corner of Turtle Island and the northern side of the tower, which measures 131 degrees from North (pointing slightly east of southeast).  For the Sun to rise in alignment with the tower as seen from Turtle Island, it must have an azimuth of 131 degrees when its altitude is 0 degrees (on the horizon).  Whether this alignment is possible or not depends on the latitude of Paragon City. 

     

    I haven't seen an exact latitude, but we know that Paragon City is in the state of Rhode Island and has the Atlantic Ocean to the east.  Based on an actual map of Rhode Island, this means that Paragon City would need to be somewhere between the city of Narragansett and Point Judith.  The latitude for this area is 41.4 degrees north (with a more specific location, I could add more digits after the decimal, but this covers that region).  

     

    The Sun rises at it southernmost azimuth on the Winter Solstice, which is on or around December 21st.  From that latitude, the southernmost angle the Sun could ever rise at is 121 degrees azimuth.  I checked other locations in the state of Rhode Island and multiple calendar dates and could not find any location at which the Sun would ever rise at the required 131 degrees azimuth.  Therefore, the sunrise will NEVER align with One Statesman Tower as seen from Turtle Island.  Sorry. 😞 

     

    This was good practice for my astro-knowledge, though. 🙂 

    • Like 1
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  4. Hey, nitpicky detail here, but...

    ... the text for the "Tourist Trapped" badge says:  "Many who visit the Wharf take a paddle boat out to Turtle Rock Island as a "must see" location. Known for its curious rock formations, incredible views of the Wharf, and the once-a-day alignment of One Statesman Tower with the rising sun, tourists end up here taking photos more than any other place in the Wharf." (emphasis mine)

    The position on the horizon that the sun appears to rise from shifts slightly from day to day, so a perfect alignment wouldn't happen more than once or twice a year (once if it's on either solstice, twice otherwise).  I know that this is nitpicky, but I'm an astronomy teacher, so this bothers me a bit. 😛 

     

    Edited to add:  It's also possible that the angle between Turtle Rock Island and One Statesman Tower is such that, at Paragon City's latitude, the alignment with the rising sun will not happen at all.  I'm going to be working on this over the next few days (otherwise, it won't leave me alone 😛).

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 2
  5. Wow, the HCdevs are going through lots of builds for this Page, and I want to thank them for that. 

    Thank you HCdevs for your commitment to getting these things right before releasing them onto the main servers.  Your dedication to quality is greatly appreciated and is one of the many things that makes HC a true continuation of the original game. 

    Take your time. Get it right.  We'll be here.

    • Like 5
    • Thumbs Up 4
  6. I always had trouble with Blasters because they always felt too squishy to me.  However, in my determination to get one of every AT to 50, I rolled various combos in the hope that something would click.  Then I saw another player's DP/Martial Blaster and decided to try it (he was herding mobs and playing mostly in melee, so it looked reasonably sturdy).  I'm so glad I did!  It's a great combo.  DP is very versatile with the Swap Ammo power, which also lends itself to some interesting proc opportunities, like being able to put Slow sets pretty much anywhere (another thing I did was put the Lockdown: chance for +2 mag hold in Suppressive Fire along with the Chance for Hold from the Devastation ranged set, so now it's a decently reliable hold power whether I have cryo ammo equipped or not).  I really like Martial because Burst of Speed lets you get into and out of melee quickly, Reaction Time slows incoming meleeists down so they don't just run up and gank you, and Ki Push is very useful for getting the few that DO get to you back out of melee range (plus it's friggin' HILARIOUS to use. I call it "super yeet").  Putting the Defiant Barrage status protection proc in one of the two first ranged powers helps prevent/escape mez and even if that doesn't work, Inner Will is a good "get out of mez free" power, plus an emergency heal.  Overall, I highly recommend it.

    • Like 1
  7. OP, it seems like you could deal with the "boss-pet is my #1 guy" by playing it like the first T1 pet gets promoted when you get the T2 pet, then promoted again when you get the T3 (boss) pet and you keep recruiting new guys to fill the lower ranks.  This also works with the "I'm starting out small but building up to the big time"-type story progression in-game.

  8. I'd like to bump this since I, too, am looking for a mind/psi build for similar play.  I've heard that they can be really good... IF you know how to play them.  I've wanted something with mind/ so I think I might be giving this a try soon.

  9. Okay, I think I've got something for you:

    IkHfMoM.png RT8xjr8.png

     

    I kept the face, hair, and bow. I went with a short-sleeved jacket as a sort-of remnant from the "sweet girl" days (since it looks a bit like a t-shirt) and put a bit of blue in there to match her hair and make the costume more interesting.  I used the Arctic pattern on the gloves, pants, and boots because of her ice powers.  I tried to mostly use blacks, greys, and dark colors, but since her hair stands out, I felt okay making her chest detail stand out a bit.  Anyway, I hope you like it!

     

    The costume file is attached.
     

     

    IceArcher.costume

    • Like 3
  10. 19 hours ago, Lazarillo said:

    I initially wasn't interested, but after how potent it's made me feel when teammates have it, I'm thinking about giving it a try.

    Torn between Earth/Marine Controller (coral crystal theme) or Demons/Marine MM (Lovecraftian horror).

    Why not both?

    • Microphone 1
  11. I've been teaming with a nightly group who are all currently doing Marine characters.  I've made an elec/marine corruptor who's pretty fun.  One of my friends has a beast/marine MM that he absolutely loves.  I've also started a fire/marine controller because I've seen them mentioned in various places, but she's still a lowbie for now.

  12. I saw a bit of discussion in the Beta feedback forums, but I thought I'd make something that more people are likely to see.

    Now that Marine Affinity is out, what are you guys pairing it with? What ATs are you using it on? Are there any pairings that are especially synergistic or anti-synergistic? What do you think of the set overall?

  13. On 3/12/2024 at 7:49 AM, Ankylosaur said:

    Standard Map Ideas

    This is probably far too big to ask the devs to do, but reflecting on it, I am surprised there is not an "outdoor forest" series of small, medium, large maps as standard maps that used the kind of "forest tunnel" system that you see in Perez and Eden. Like caves you could have various combos of tunnels and reconfiged of the same basic parts to create unique variants.

     

    Similar to the ShadowHunter mission in the Number Six arc, seems like this could have been a thing.

    This. So, SO much this. 
    I'd also like some sort of "desolate area" like in the crash path of the Rikti ship where there's some city wreckage and bits of things but it's mostly barren (maybe have some hills or something to keep it from being "too boring"?).

    • Thumbs Up 1
  14. I know that they used to be mutually exclusive, but I thought that was changed a few months ago. I'm not completely sure, though.

    I also took Group Invisibility instead of Superior Invisibility for this reason initially. I remember considering re-working my build after the adjustment, but I just didn't have room for SI without getting rid of GI and I wanted to keep GI to help protect my Phantasm.

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