cranebump

In AE, the ones who follow politely are Allies. They have settings for following behavior. The gangs who show up and shadow you are friendly ambushes, whose main job is to vector to you in battle (in their overly “friendly” way). I’m guessing regular mish NPCs follow similar patterns.

My not so favorite comparison to the experience related by the OP: I'm scripting mishes in AE, and someone is multiboxing toons through fire farms, all of which have that ground pound ability. They can all be standing there for several minutes, slamming, slamming, slamming away, until the player shows back up and sends them back in (to the asteroid map, I'd wager). My whole screen shakes constantly. I know, I know -- I can go to the little room in the back where all that is shut off. Or I can fiddle with settings, etcetcetc. Still, I'm just like, What exactly are you up to while this mass of same-looking characters is minioning away in here?

Just the GOOD stuff, amigo. Just the good stuff.:-)

Welcome back!

This. What's exceptional is subjective. Dev's choice DID give us a window into some quality work. But even that is subject to the tastes of the reviewer. One reviewer's masterpiece is another's yawnfest. I DO think the filter button is a good idea, especially since I'm regularly searching for SFMA arcs.

Talking to new people? For God's sake, don't be yourself! That can only end in disaster! Oh, wait -- we're not giving advice our mothers gave us? Errrrummm...hookay...

My main is the KR Devil. Vigilante. Guns and arrows. I could see him popping up in Tips mishes as an ally or an enemy.

Do each of the 4 choices chain to a single “End Mission” objective? Trying to figure out how an actual “Choice” can work in AE.

I switched the timer to an hour. Thought about completely dropping it as I have eschewed use of that with all my new mishes. Went ahead and kept it, but gave plenty of time for any clue reading. Left Freitag's old man yells at cloud verbiage.:-) (And he did admit he gets triggered by Rocky and Bullwinkle.):-) Thanks again!

So, per the recent Lost Girls run by @CellyEl, went back through and found the following things to fix:

Oh, man. I have a doppelgänger.:-) Thanks for running that. That’s one I completely forgot about. If you send me the formatting flubs, I’ll give them a fix. and it didn’t occur to me that it would probably be a good idea to have some guest reviews. It would certainly increase the number of arcs that get seen and recognized. Thanks @CellyEl! I need to get one of yours in here. Send me a suggestion for what you’d like featured.

I think I must agree, based on the number of blasters I play.:-)

I have at least 1 homage (to Cap). And then I have a toon that is “suspected” to be the alter ego of an on-game contact. A second toon is an homage due to the fact that he, too, is suspected to be an in game contact and that contact is definitely a nod to Black Panther.

I’d say the KR Devil. AR/TA blaster. Because I’m fond of the Row, and like “unpowered” chars (generally).

I AM a gd macro.:-)

Well I DID make a custom named group using the psychic clockwork, so…. (man… Ain’t no Way I’m going back to look at 32 different arcs)

I think we all have plenty of good PuG experiences. But reading about a well-oiled machine (of which there are so many) is much less interesting than rubbernecking the occasional shitshow. It's weird, but when things go wonky, I find myself enjoying the experience (in some weirdly masochistic way). Proves I'm still playing with humans, in all their, um, "splendor.":-) That said, I DO try to avoid being the cause of it. But sometimes, well...you just have one of those moments (I'm looking at YOU, me-playing-a-scrapper flying back to Pos1 steps after dying, with a jetpack, then turning it off so you can drop right in the middle of a CoT gaggle next to the steps [owowowowowowowowowow!..fwump...]).

Shout out to the authors who've responded to my reviews! Thanks for giving our community some great stories (and keep it up!). Now, as for this thread... In order to keep the Short Reviews thread focused on your stories, I'm requesting that any responses or discussion about your arcs be placed here. I enjoy reading what everyone has to say (and learning from your experiences and from your arcs! [I've seen some tricks I'm flat-out stealing]). If you'd like to respond, or maybe give me some recs, please drop them here. Bear in mind: I have a new job that allows me less time than my previous, cushy employment did, so I may be a bit slow (I'm also an old fart, so that's another reason for being slow, but let us now dwell on the glories of Ben Gay at this time). Anyhoo, feel free to drop your lines, thoughts, musings, general bitching about AE limitations (these are a given, but gdit, we must voice them!), and anything else you like. In the meantime, keep those stories coming, folks. This is one player (among many) who appreciates what you do. Visualize Whirled Peas, Crane

I think players will get the full payoff of your story as you develop it in subsequent arcs. And you've touched on the the agonies of he system completely. It's quite a lesson in economy, made harder the more original your milieu. There's a desire to do a lot of verbiage in MISH begin and end text, which, for a player desiring depth, is a godsend. But your average player, I think, will gloss that stuff, because the average player is just there to get a taste of something new (which you have given them, in spades). As I've done more and more scripting, I've taken to a middle-of-the-road approach, which, in many cases, relies on the shorthand that a bit of lore connection provides (shortcuts and all that). Mechanically, the way you approached the reconstitution of the team is exactly the way it should be done (path of water--you take what the engine gives you, and you did, including those niggling little boxes). Of course, you'll find that polishing in AE is the same as with any other writing -- you can polish forever, but, at some point, you'll just decide, Well, this is as done as it's gonna be. I can only say the initial process gets easier and swifter the more you do it (though, as always, some small agonies will remain). And that, as a first foray, this was good. So, no worries about that! Btw, welcome to the SFMA club, hombre. We're glad to have you!

Hoo boy...I have Psychic Clocks in one of my arcs, too. Wonder if I should check it out. They aren't mixed with anything. Maybe I'm safe?

NPI: Leucochloridium [ID: 44863] by @TwoDee [Author and Board sig] This 4-mission oldie but goodie (from 2021) begins with a wellness check on First Warder Darius Cross, handed to you by in-game contact and EPA rep Kyle Peck. Initial check reveals Cross has disappeared, and we’ve got Carnies involved. Further investigation reveals DC’s gone a bit ‘round the bend (don’t do drugs, kids–or do, as it turns out [you’ll see why]). We find out there’s more to Cross’s mental bender than we originally thought. Along the way, we get a Grant Creston appearance (HUZZAH! [it’s just a clue ref, but that’s okay]), the world’s shortest AE mish (M3, which, due to lucky placement [I think?] had me traveling about 50’ inside a LB base and clicking a glowie [after a, er, "warm reception"), a very empathetic and emotional Kyle Peck (dude had me feeling weepy–and it wasn’t even about me), and a load of sensory details early on (in particular, smells…lots of smells...and disgusting stuff stuck to my body and...well, you'll see). It's Interesting story with some nice touches (esp. The VERY clever and novel escort mish in the finale [bravo – that was cool]). A bit of back-and-forth in some missions (placement in AE is tricky, at best). Ditto to clue arrangement, which is a slave to objective placement and how the player proceeds (translation: you’ll have to scroll up and down a bit, at times, which is pretty typical of AE stories, to be fair). There’s a big last map that would play very well with a team looking to smash some mobs (and a nice surprise in there for those teams). Presentation of “Peck the Empathetic” was more interesting than your standard fare contacts. And the final reveal is pretty twisty, to say the least. A nicely done arc. A teary-eyed Peckish Seal of Approval, for a nice story (relating to [or at least understanding] the "bad guys" is always a feather in the cap) and a clinic on how to drop clues early on to set up your ending. Enjoyed it! PLAY IF: You like a twisty little “ghost” story with your Carnie soup (there’s others, but “Carnie Guisada” is TASTY). Play with a team if you want to have a nice rumble on a good-sized, interesting finale map. (NOTE: Be sure to do a web search on the title – it’s kinda gross, tbh.):-) P.S. There are quite a few NPI stories available. Might be worth a run, as well, based on this one.

Yep. It's a choice you end up making in the AE meat grinder. My thing wasn't the non-canon part. That happens all the time. It was the nature of the setting.. I tried to make it clear, too, that that was a me thing. Pretty sure most casual players won't care about things like that when they run your mish. They'll enjoy your customs. For my part, I truly hope that, in belaboring the real-world stuff, I didn't detract too much from what is a well put together arc, cleanly written and designed, with a coherent story. For a first time arc, it truly is very well done. The rec I received to play it is from someone whose opinion I greatly respect. They certainly liked it, and I did, as well (apart from the strange things I obsess about). FYI: I served in Japan for 3 years. WELL acquainted with the JSDF. You mentioning it brought back some memories.:-)

Yup. Same here. 3 slots in sprint. Boy was I marginally fast!

+0/x2-3 usually. I can usually handle more minions on any AT. After that, just depends on how it’s going. I’m usually not in a super hurry to level up when soloing. I like the merits from arc completions.

What exactly does “a well-rounded team” mean to you? And then this: if you’re forming the team, then isn’t the burden of team composition on you? If you don’t want multiple trollers, then make that clear in jour recruiting (though it should be a given that if each of the trollers had completely different powersets, your “well-rounded” diversity could be inherent in that). I dunno. I think if I’m consistently having some sort of issues with teams that I run, my first diagnostic step would be to look in the mirror.