cranebump

The Industrial Revolution, like others of its type, will also put a lot of people out of jobs. I do think this is different. It’s dealing with emulating our intelligence, to the point where it may be indistinguishable from our own someday (perhaps even superior?). We’re ultimately always creating extensions of ourselves, from old style telescopes extending our eyesight, to dish washers that replace our hands. Ultimately, we’re saving time. But to do what? If we can create devices to emulate the fruit of our creativity, what then? Where then is our time spent, when everything we could do is done for us? I realize this is personal for me, having always been writing and creating (mainly as a hobby). I won’t have to use anything like ChatGPT to do that for me. But others will. They’ll use a machine to provide an outline, and their novel will be written for them. Then, they’ll ironically take credit for doing nearly nothing. Yeah, that’s the extreme, pessimistic view. Until, or if, we see such a thing, I’ll live in hope that our collective wisdom proves to be enough.

Probably enjoying the great vending machine coffee and tootsie rolls.

Next toon=Bran Stoker.

I guess once it's able to roll dice, I'll no longer be GMing anything.

I have it on my Friday morning agenda.:-) Did some tweaks to Asa Ronan earlier, and am working on Potter's Field (mainly trying to figure out how to bring it to a close).:-/

The comments were about CC effects and the DP group (the PPD Stingers). When I checked their powers, it looks like I had designed them to be viable all the way to L25. Rather than tweak every group, I bumped the lvl range to 15-20. I assume that, since the group grinded their way through at 15, a bump in PC powers was the simplest fix. That said, because the mish includes Vazh, which top out at 20, I had to maintain that as the max level, rather than ramp up to, say, 20-25. You never really know how things will actually go until tests, but I do test all my arcs extensively, albeit solo. So team feedback is invaluable. Hopefully, this will keep the arc challenging, but not over-powered. As a general warning to anyone not familiar with AE missions, however, I would advise always having some insps available before going in. Custom enemies can be a bear, but part of the fun, we hope (if I can speak for others here) is dealing with and overcoming these unique threats. Which means you might run into stuff you don't usually find in the regular game. That can be a fine line to tread, though, so feedback is key to ensuring that the "E" in AE is just that, for all involved. Thanks again. Let me know if you rerun it, and how it comes out. Or anything else of mine you may run across. I always hope to get better. Shine on heroes (and skanky-ass villains),:-) C

Man, TN, you're dead on when you wonder what would this look like at x8, etc.? I ask that every time I run an @Darmian arc (well...I mutter it...usually while I'm flat on the floor, or running away like a cretin).:-)

First off, let me thank steel frost, FourthSurvivor, Heat-Transfer, and Fate Evaness for running Of Guns and Asa Ronan. I am hopping on it today, and will check on the customs. I may just push things up to 20 to make it more reasonable for teams. Bear in mind that I design with soloists in mind, and I usually expect exemplared toons, IOs and such. That said, the challenge should be tough, but fair. It sounds like some things may not be, so I'll make a pass at it, for sure. Thanks much. If you run anything else I've designed, be sure to hit me up. The key word in AE is Entertainment, and I definitely don't want to take away from that. Thanks again, Crane

Last predictions I saw on this was around 2028-2030. But those predictions were at least 20 years old, and we seem to be moving faster than anticipated.

I’m aware of this. I should have added that this shows the limitations of the AI. It produces generic, soulless text. As one should expect from a machine, I suppose.

Reran Veluta Lunata. She does NOT sound like this at all.

I went to Brick for the Vig mish, chose the response, “Why don’t you call the police?” then received no mission. I guess the contact took my advice.

Seriously. I was gonna ask ‘em, “What’s your hurry?” My advice. Run AE story misses. Slower pace due to lower XP, and many contain new creatures.

Obviously this: Or, well, THIS:

Absolutely true. But I think it can also be true that the new arcs are overwritten. Watkins felt like that to me. You get sent on an overmap glowie run that I’m not certain added much value. It felt like a good part of that mish was testing different story mechanics. It was still better than a lot of the older arcs, though. No contest. (But it wasn’t better than Laura Lockhart, Bane Spider Ruben or Stockwell/Eagle Eye, imho).

On the plus side you can give your enemies storm blast. (Look! A new widget!):-)

Well, of course it would be better. But wishes and horses and if’s and buts and all that. This is the “budget” we have.

I thought the info dump on the previous Watkins arc was a bit much, as well. But you could skip through it if you wanted, and the arc was fun overall. I also thought the s rioters were trying to give us something different, and a bit more complicated, for which I applaud them. That said, I never considered how things might run on a team. Without cut scenes, teams are generally left out on all arcs. Unless you run all in voice, they’re just not going to get much of that detail. And I think that maybe (maybe) it’s to most people’s taste to just run the mishes and pound some enemies. Which means arcs with depth and detail are probably meant to appeal to the solo experience. Not saying this is either good or bad. It’s just what this game gives us, as it currently is. I’ll have to run the new stuff to actually render a worthwhile opinion. And I already have questions about the tilt toward the grey alignments (though we DO have plenty of love for heroes and vills elsewhere). But new content is new content. I’ll always support that over another powerset.

Well, there's Snakes, Legacy Chain, Wyvern, Scrapyarders, Coralax, Slag Golems, Luddites, and Wailers, to name a few. Longbow is certainly more present than one would think they'd be (though, if you're a villain, these are the guys trying tp stop you). As for Arachnos, I don't think we can really get around this group, it being, you know, sorta Lord Recluse's private country and all that.:-)

Running solo back in the day, just hitting L10 or 12 or some such. I hop out of SC South Tram, hang a left, head toward University (for reasons I can't recall). Run into an Outcast mob that has a Brick in it. I get KB'ed up and into the adajcent building. Toon ends up with just his legs sticking out the side of a wall (maybe through a window, but I can't recall that clearly). Had to stop and admire that for sec (and lament the fact I wasn't on a team for others to see it).:-)

Dragon's Tail and Eagle's Claw, I believe. And that's a good rec. Base MA is super "kicky," though you can choose some "fisty" animations instead, iirc.

Brute will give you a good balance of damage/defense. If you want to wade in and smack stuff, that's a good way to go. That said, nothing beats a blaster for taking down stuff from afar. You can get a good mix of ranged/Defense with a Sentinel, but you'd have to run some toggles likely. I've enjoyed (insert primary ranged damage set here)/Regen Sentinels a lot, since they mitigate endurance problems. If you intend to solo, might want to consider an Energy/Regen blaster. The knockback will keep foes off you. Once in game, I suggest playing the Outbreak Tutorial, since it will walk you through power uses, inspirations, and basic mission mechanics. Then play the story contacts, either Habashy, and/or the origin contacts. These missions will feature straightforward objectives and small maps. You might want to do Twinshot in Atlas, since this is a tutorial arc that has some interesting (if not obnoxious) characters.

My hate is well-developed, Zhym. I can embrace them both.:-)

Hey. Speak for yourself, I still hate that bastard.:-)