Dynamo-Joe

It's a possibility. The thing is - back in Paragon Studios, from what we've heard, the ideas were in flux. They started that construction as a "Just in case we DO go in this direction" kind of thing. But it wasn't set in stone. Further ideas connected to that were at least a partial reclamation of Boomtown for a Spaceport/Airport. OR - Merging Steel Canyon and part of Boomtown. OR - Creating a new small zone that supposedly fit between Boomtown and Steel Canyon. OR - that was one of the original reasons for creating Kallisti Wharf. OR - the launch pad would BE in north Steel Canyon. (I doubt I'd believe in that one, but eh... ) At this late date. It's hard to say.

Close Hailing frequencies.

That looks SO much better than it does currently!

I once made a suggestion about an underwater zone that would use existing assets as much as possible and be interesting. And I was told the explanation for why true swimming doesn't actually work in COH. (As mentioned above, "swimming" isn't really swimming, it's running with a different animation etc) The one place it APPEARS to work (that one cave in Cimerora is basically a bit of an illusion. You're not actually breaking the rules, it's simply that the "floor" level drops down a bit under that bridge and you don't notice because you can't surface under the bridge anyway. That being said - when we were having discussions about all this, we thought it could be worked around by changing the rules somewhat. Instead of tying the swimming animation to the run powers. Change it in that zone so that it was attached to the FLYING powers. And by default they have to be on all the time for every player (no end usage at all). In effect, every player gets an invisible "Jet pack" that they can't take off in the zone. No effects or collision model. OR - make it so that the entire zone effectively induces a "group fly" effect on all characters within. Also - we have submarines in the game already - and the models for them are full models. Not just surface models. I think they are usable base items now and you can view them in full in the editor. So - either "anchor" the sub for entering the zone in one spot or make it a "flying" vehicle that can move around the zone a bit like the Rikti Drop ship. Speaking of that - my initial idea for the zone was to build the zone using the Rikti War Zone as a starting point. And then add things to it. Why? Because of the initial Intro Movie way back in 2004 that showed Statesman taking down TWO Rikti motherships. We know where ONE went. Where'd the other one go? My proposal was that it went out over the ocean and sank. And thus you have the impetus for the new zone. The second Rikti Mothership was found and zone events could be built around scouting it. Going into it. And fighting off other villainous groups that wished to exploit it. The zone as I said - would start off as the RWZ. But instead of War walls, replace those models with the walls and natural pylons you find in the Redside version of the Hamidon Zone. That deep deep crater pit it's in. Use those models to build up all the side walls of the RWZ Map and re-texture the ground too. Remove all the building ruins. Or change them into something else. (Maybe Coralax structures on the far side of the zone from the Mothership?) Fill with water all the way to the top. (assume you're too deep to make it back to the surface without help from the submarine) Change the lighting. Voila! Now you no longer have a city zone. Now you have a deep underwater canyon off the coast of Rhode Island! One of the wildest ideas floated was to change the entire look of the Rikti Mothership texture. Plot twist! When you finally get a good look at the thing, it no longer looks Rikti. Now it looks like ARACHNOS tech on the outside! Using a similar aesthetic to that of the Arachnos Fliers and other bits of that unique tech look of the Rogue Isles. The basic shape of the ship would be the same. But it's obvious that the heroes have a problem because Lord Recluse has been a very busy Supervillain! That idea wasn't mine. But I liked it enough to mention it. In short - the idea was to create a unique zone with different movement rules that were adaptable to any player character. But keep the asset development to a minimum. No new textures (or at least minimal new textures). Re-use as much as possible but still make the experience interesting enough to be fun to explore and do stuff in.

If I recall correctly, the minions that are summoned look like characters and do have collision meshes. But they are not in fact, proper entities. It's hard to describe. But the way I remember being told about it is that each pet is a bundle of powers rather than an actual summon like a Lore Pet. And the "Bundle" is tied to a specific look (or two looks for upgradable minions). So - unlike a Player character or even a Lore pet. It's extremely difficult on the programming end to disentangle the actual "character model" from the "bundle of powers" without breaking the whole thing badly and causing massive glitches. Or - in other words - Masterminds were an example of a "kludge" or work-around bit of code that did the job adequately enough to be stable for release back when City of Villains went live. But it's one of those "look at it wrong and it breaks" type of code. To make Mastermind pets truly customizable, you'd basically have to rebuild the entire AT from the ground up to work in a completely different fashion.

I actually got a pic of Jack In Irons on his Throne in the Croatoa Forest. Yes! It actually happens from time to time! Moments later, He woke up due to his flatulence igniting all the torches around him. So I ran. 😅

I am exactly (or as close as makes no difference) as old as the Star Trek franchise from first actual broadcast of "The Man Trap".

I think (THINK) I found that image on imgur originally. Regardless of the source - it sums up MY feelings on the matter perfectly. Anybody around here old enough to remember mood rings and pet rocks? 🤣

I know this is radically off-season, but sometimes the Youtube algorithm moves in mysterious ways. And I have to share - because - Real Life Eochai!

I'm not sure where in the Nemesis order of battle this guy would go - I'm using the name "Nemesis Golem" as a place-holder name. But in concept this should be about as tall as the Nemesis Warhulk, and unlike the Warhulk, be prioritized for melee combat (super-strength). Also - perhaps it's piloted. But perhaps not. If this is anything like the Warhulks, maybe recolor that central "roundel" on the chest as a window/port-hole of sorts?

Nemesis Air Soldier:

Oh hey! I remember these! Classics! I gotta go back and re-listen again!

That's awesome! And you know what that first image reminds me of? The "Big Zam" mobile armor from the original Gundam series in 1979. It was basically a flying, walking pocket battleship compared to regular mobile suits!

While I'm thinking about it - I have another "Magitech" armor add-on for a mecha suit. This is the Dynamo Banshee. And this is the normal appearance of the mecha. And yes, I kinda went wild with the design, comparatively speaking. ( "Tell you what. Throw a little hot-rod red in there." "Oh yes. That should help you keep a low profile." ) ^_^;; This is my only Mecha character who started on redside. And also likely the LAST of my Giant Mecha characters. (I feel like I've kinda mined the field sufficiently) By concept, Banshee is the only SENTIENT mech of the Dynamo line - though he does partner with a human pilot. By powerset he's meant to be a reflection of my main, Dynamo Joe - Sentinel, Beam Rifle. But where Dynamo Joe is set up to withstand damage. Dynamo Banshee moves fast enough to outright avoid most of it (Super Reflexes) And the Banshee duo encountered Magic foes much earlier than Joe did. Running through the First Ward and Night Ward Arcs. So here's the Magitech Armor and Weapon used in the late First Ward and Night Ward arcs for Dynamo Banshee: I may make other mecha designs in the future. But probably just as design theory. Not as playable characters.

That would absolutely rock so damn hard! As an enormous fan of mecha in general, the above backpack (The AB7 Afterburn) reminds me strongly of the FASTpack used by the Valkyries in the original Macross series and movie. And it was both a thruster pack and missile battery (or optional beam cannon). If the AB7 Could fire the same "Macross Missile Massacre" that the Praetorian Commanders (with their missile backpacks) do... DEVS! WE NEED AN ADDITION TO THE MUNITIONS EPIC POOL!!! STAT!! :D

COAST TO COAST!!! (A friend back on live had this awesome base that was set up as the Space Ghost Coast to Coast talk show studio. :D )

So, I've got Dynamo Joe running the Dark Astoria arcs. This is his normal look BTW: And it seems... incongruous to have a guy in a mecha suit doing arcs based so heavily on magic. I started thinking about attacks from Mot and the Knives of Vengeance etc, not to mention the high level Circle of Thorns and that DJ's defenses against those would naturally be lacking. Maybe his return attacks might lack something as well. I know that in the game, this doesn't matter. But I like my own headcanon to stay relatively consistent. I think about these things! So - going back to Final Fantasy games as far back as FF6. I remembered a word often in use in those games - Magitech. Now in those stories - you had MECHA and other mechanical weapons that were powered by magic and often used it directly to attack and defend. But they are still mechanisms at their heart. So what would Dynamo Joe look like if they stripped the suit down to it's frame and layered it back up with armor that had runic protections and weaponry that was amped with mana energy? Why... ultimately, I came up with something that looks like ... THIS: Does he look the part for Dark Astoria now?

😁👍 I couldn't help it - I saw the above, and my mind IMMEDIATELY remembered the following:

BTW - related to Becky - was her original game model a standard Tarantula Mistress? It's been over a year since I last ran Vernon Von Grun's arc. And I just did again yesterday. And noticed Becky's upgraded character model. Was she always this look? Or was her look altered for the first mission in the Dr Aeon SF? (Things often go by so fast I rarely get a chance to look more closely) And if so, is her model in Von Grun's arc a change to make sure she matches up with the DASF model? This is in no way a complaint. I LIKE what's been done here. Just wanted to be sure that my memory wasn't playing tricks on me!

Oh that's not even the most awful thing the newbie freakshow likely get tagged for. It's dealing with the OTHER end of that procedure that's THE WORST. And that's all I need to say about that. You can figure out the implications for yourself. :P