cranebump

The system has a star rating and a comments section. Anyone who posts an SFMA arc should expect to hear some sort of commentary (especially if they label it as “looking for feedback”). If it wasn’t a serious attempt at story, the author should’ve responded as such, then changed their arc description to reflect that. Instead, this childish person questioned the reviewer’s “moral compass” then proceeded to bomb them with poison pill ratings and reviews. The writer’s response is therefore pretty surprising, given that context. You indicate here that GG is somehow at fault for offering commentary. But this seems to conveniently overlook the fact that, by postIng their work without a clear disclaimer, the writer is automatically subject to the rating system. Regardless, the author’s subsequent actions are just plain juvenile douche baggery, and should be dealt with in some way.

I'd report the player. Revenge rating is abuse. You have their original reaction, and then their subsequent ratings. Feels like a conduct violation of some kind.

Can anything be done? Nope. The author of that particular arc is thinned-skin and immature. Of course, you point out typos. Then, if you're the author, you fix them. It's free proofreading, for goodness sake. And if there are a ton of them, it's a huge thing, because it detracts from the enjoyment of the story (not to mention, it makes the author look careless and/or incompetent). Bottom line: this person does not want to improve. They just want to be patted on the back. (And I still don't get the "moral compass" comment). P.S. You SURE you don't want to share the Arc ID? 🙂

Greetings. I've been mulling over a villainous TF analogous to Pos1&2, but on the Vill side. For this project, my plan is 2 parts, with lvl ranges commensurate with Pos. I did not go with a standard contact, however. With that in mind, here is the first draft of Part 1: Design/Test Notes: Ran this several times with a L23 Dark/Sonic Blaster on default difficulty. He has Sudden Acceleration KB to KD slotted in 2 powers. The rest are just SO's. Some of the custom minions in gave me minor problems. The synergy is interesting, and could get dicey if there were a lot of them. The Finale End Boss is intentionally tough, since I anticipate teams running this (though it is easily soloable, mishes 1-4). Had to switch from the map I preferred for Mish 4 (Marchand's Office). If fit thematically, but that empty space up top is just a permanent red herring, so I went with a more traditional office setting, and changed some of the dialogue. On "Rescue Welch" mission, I am questioning whether he should just stand there and wait for the player to complete mish after the first rescue attempt. As it is now, he accompanies, and helps spray down "Loyal Citizens." This seems wrong - unless he proves to be a real douche bag in Part 2 (which my ideas for are very global and general, at present). Other than Welch, I intentionally avoided any allies or escorts, since I wanted this to be about the team. Anyhoo, that's it for now. I'll begin scripting on Part 2 immediately. I anticipate having a completed second arc for testing next week (unless I get REALLY productive and fast). Thanks in advance, Crane

Sonoir was available on Everlast for my dark/sonic blaster.

Officially submitting:

Thanks for the run! If you mean mish 3, the arachnos spawns are randomized. I didn’t get a single Fortuna in any of the test runs (did get Huntsmen, though). Sorry, but that’s out of my control.

True - 12-year olds are people, too darnit!:-)

Well, there goes my dream of running my Sonic/Storm, Opera WIndfury.

Roter Schadel? Or maybe Rotergeist (red ghost)? Or maybe a combo of the various IDs, like Malik Schmidt.

EMP arrow. Twip. BZZZZZZT! (Drool, sway)

NOTES; Tested with an Exemp'ed L18 Beam/Traps. No issues. Lore wise, this arc takes place before prior to formation of Outcasts (which is a partial explanation for its low level range). Because it's so low level, I kept maps small, and mobs pretty simple. I like the story. Not sure how much I like the missions. They seem a bit...plain... Thanks in advance, Crane

I worked on scripting for additional AE arcs.:-)

Fighting an AV by oneself. And since I’m playing characters rather than testing builds I’ll use whatever it takes not to get stomped.:-)

Couple shouts out to @Darmian and @Kyksie. These guys always run my AE arcs and provide valuable feedback (esp. Darm, the lore king, from whom no pesky typo escapes notice!):-)

I should have something for you fairly soon. Thanks for sponsoring!

I guess what I’m trying to say is to capture the spirit of Mr. Fantastic. There is no way you can truly simulate the powers he has, so don’t try. Just have echoes of who he is that make your tribute obvious. In Astro City, Kurt Busiek doesn’t have a straight Fantastic Four, but he plays on the idea of them with the Furst Family. He doesn’t have Spider Man, but sort of tangentially pays tribute via Jack in the Box. No Superman, but a Samaritan. It will be clear to whom you’re paying tribute in the way the character is written, and what his role is. Plus you have 3 of the 4 pretty directly copied, so...everyone’s gonna know. Long story short: my character will essentially be Reed Richards, but he’ll have to use what the engine provides. Since I’m constrained by that, there’s no reason for me to worry about being accurate. I’m designing something with a faint silhouette of the real thing. In the end, that might actually make my final concept more interesting (and usable, within the constraints of AE).

I would make “Mr. Fantastic” a master mind. Bots. I might not even use him as an NPC, but rather as the main story contact. His main “super” is his genius and problem solving capacity. he would be the one holding the team together at HQ.

Recently ran a red solo toon. Stuck with PO till L20. I ran Radio, though I may be one of the few people who really doesn't like that contact or its arc. It's still as good or better than what I'd most what I'd run on Blue at that lvl.

Thanks for the feedback. @DougGraves. You bring up some useful points. I'll address this one: Enemy Diversity: I think diversifying the Stingers with more minion types would be easy enough and justifiable, given the nature of the team. As far as Ronan's dupes go, I'm a bit more limited, premise-wise. The Dupes are based on the idea that they're essentially him, without his inherent super power. So, they can fight hand to hand, use guns, melee weapons, etc., but nothing else. Other than rooting through powersets to find weapons/attacks that fit that cosmetically, there isn't much I can do about them. There is a bit of room to add a couple more basic types, though. I didn't touch certain powersets because it didn't feel like they made sense, given that a Dupe must either punch you, or pick up available weapons and attack. My takeways: *take a look at the Cop faction. There's room for critter expansion there. *see about dropping in more Fam/enemy battles. It would make sense to have those in Capston mish. I was just worried about it cutting into #/enemy spawns. Thanks again!

Used to be Rad/Rad DEF.

Run solo. Learn as you go. Might actually be a better experience, overall, since it would be at your own pace.

Well, when you put it that diplomatically...:-)

Completed mish with L38 Exem Dom (Grav/Shuriken). faceplanted a few times (not paying attention to health bar like I should've). Made use of a pull on final boss, and popped domination just as he was weakening, so I melted his ambush mobs. This is a weak toon, so consider this a very doable arc. Still had some back-n-forth on mishes 3 and 5, mainly due to randomness of spawns. Considering eliminating "Save Vito, Jr." from last mish, and just have it a boss takedown, intimating that he has the wife and son hostage, and must be dealt with.

Second test of tests: Ran with L24 (exemplared, non-optimized) Elec/Elec Tanker, whose only multitarget is Sands at L15 Lost the escort in M2, which messes with the narrative. Since Escort text said, "Tougher than he looks," I increased his defenses. Main issue was I didn't clear the route before grabbing him, and didn't properly engage baddies. One of 'em strayed and "BAM!" down went my mish obj. Reworked spawn points on M3 to mitigate running back and forth. LAST MISH: Ambush is a BEAR. Am running again with another toon to confirm whether I need to make that easier. Player can exit if they just bring down the boss, and he is spawning as an LT every time, so the jury is out on this. Text looks good so far. [UPDATE: Found mistake. NAME placeholder should be formatted to place in character name; fixing after test run]