Techwright

An incident the other night involving Giant Monster Babbage during the Synapse Task Force got me thinking of a couple of things I'd like to suggest. 1) Would it be possible to make Giant Monsters like Babbage immune from the police teleporters based at important spots like train stations? I don't remember any arch-enemies on the streets in such a manner, but I'd assume having anything higher than an elite would probably be a good thing to have immune. 2) Would it be possible to generate one Babbage in Skyway per Synapse Task Force, regardless of how many task forces have reached that point simultaneously? I would assume a similar situation for any strike force/task force that generates a key character on the streets. I believe Malta has a giant robot that does this, though I don't remember what event generates that. The case: We were running the Synapse TF, had just come out of the mission that triggers Babbage, and we struggled to find him. Turns out, another TF team had exited a nearby door triggering Babbage first. I didn't see this but the teammates who did reported that Babbage moved too close to the police teleporters at the Skyway South tram station and was whisked away, ending two teams' efforts to engage it.

Watch Commander is a heavily retooled Martial Arts/Shield scrapper from the original game. Originally he was going to be something of a night watch, but I finally stopped avoiding the obvious Captain America influence and decided to embrace it. I then was curious to see how Street Justice worked with Shield Defense, so I rolled a somewhat beefier-looking tank, and decided "if it ain't broke, why fix it?" The Patriot Protector is the result. Both share the same costume sets, as I see one as cousin to the other. Though besides the helmet design, there's not much original, their appearance seems to resonate with people.

My main is a recreation from the original game. He's my main because he's the perfect balance, for me anyway, of a theme that's near-and-dear to me, powerset functionality, rich backstory, and costuming options that really make that theme come alive. I even won an award and artwork of him back in the original game simply by walking late into a room where a large costume-with-backstory contest was being held on that very theme. I stood with other viewers, curious to see what was going on, and maybe get a few costume ideas, and the organizers noticed my guy and insisted I participate despite being late. That surprising response kind of sealed the deal to stick with him. I also play very aggressively as him. The powerset just fits my thinking.

I removed Help and General from Global and installed General on the default Help tab. There's enough General chatter still showing up on Help that I thought it an appropriate melding.

Sounds like they might be using a shapeshifting travel mode which can be acquired via the PW2 salesfolk. They weren't fighting in that mode were they?

Posi 1 at the doors. Shaka when the walls fell. (translation: you're not wrong) Melee, it's any sapper, since so many of my melee have toggle defenses. worse if they also are slamming you with accuracy debuffs. So the Coven witches, as well as Malta sappers, and electrical Freakshow to boot. Ranged bane would be any NPC that should not be able to do it, but somehow manages to 1-shot my ranged character, despite my having just waded without a scratch through hordes of his allies. Worse, I've had them do it after I've popped a handful of orange inspirations of multiple tiers.

Yeah, I saw that moment on the screen and my reaction was somewhere between "oh, yeah, I know what that feels like" and "hey, he stole that from me!"

This has likely been my problem as in Homecoming, I've never gone for the sets until I hit 50, sticking only with the standard crafted enhancements. Until now, I've never needed to go for anything else.

Base travel power: Adhesion -- able to stick to cave and building walls and surfaces, allowing for fighting in new directions. Combined with Super Speed, the speedster can now run up/down buildings and tall vertical surfaces without the need to buy a jetpack for those top areas. Second tier travel power: filament swinging. (concept under development) You have a tech kit that has two strong-tensile filaments each with a small anti-grave device at the end. Firing/throwing these up into the air, the a-g unit will lock onto a position and hold it while you swing beneath it to fire off the second filament, then retract as the second takes control. One tap deploys the device a second tap stops it at the length you want and starts the swing. Alternatively, you can fire the a-g device at an opponent to act as a fighting projectile, then reel back in. In caves and tight spaces, the filament can be fired forward of your position and rapidly reel you in towards the a-g unit for a speed move. Note this isn't web-slinging (which I'm not sure we can legally do), nor is it technically grappling hook, since both of those require a surface to grip. The anti-grav "baton", let's call it, allows for mid air swings, no vertical surface necessary.

When I first came to the original game, that moment with the superhero feel was the moment when my character stood on a roof in Steel Canyon. I looked down, had a moment of panic where my real life vertigo kind of kicked in, then ran the character off the roof and hit flight on the way down, arcing out into a smooth flight path. In Homecoming, I'm now used to all that, so the superhero moment would be a pick between my tank stomping the ground and sending a tight mob of villains flipping onto their backs, or perhaps that "I'm still alive?" moment after something has gone wrong, the team is overrun, panic sets in, and my energy blaster is standing hip deep in bodies, on his last few health and energy points, having just dropped the last enemy after a furious fight. Seeing as that's usually a tank surviving and not the blaster, it's a heroic moment.

Thanks for that clarification. Using that description, I might suggest Shego, one of the villains for Kim Possible. Shego has a "Kirby crackle" green-black energy for which I've never heard an explanation. Though she tends to use short ranged strikes, she hits with charged fists as well. In fact, her signature starting move is to power up those fists and go into something like a boxing stance. I don't believe she's ever shown with super strength.

It does practically scream "Use me!" Since this is Rhode Island, so close to Massachusetts, I could see a Cape Cod-styled village and former tourist hangout (before the war) on the cape, not unlike the pictures I've been shown of Provincetown, on the actual Cape Cod.

I suppose you'd have to define "energy", which is a really nebulous term. Psylocke, for example, uses "energy" in a blade punch, but it's psychic in nature. Electro, well, he uses electrical punches, but they're another form of energy. Atomic Skull uses radiation energy, Iron Fist uses chi energy, Invisible Girl can use force field energy to punch with if needed, and so forth. So a clearer understanding of "energy" would help. Also, if I understand you correctly, you're looking for characters that release energy as the actual punch? I'm confused because unless you're referring to a technology hero/villain, the person's arm becomes the conduit for that energy to be released, effectively running through their muscles, which you've just discredited. I can think of one hero who may qualify: DC/Milestone's Icon. I don't know him that well (his comics went into print around the time I stopped collecting), so I did a quick read. He does have genetic super strength, but that is not the only super punch he can deliver. He has the ability to manipulate positron energy which he can focus into bolts (range), but also reshape the energy into a punching force. It's listed distinctive from his genetic super strength.

I cannot recall a blue-side task force that features the Knives of Artemis. Is there one, blue or red? If not, was it ever a stated intention to have one? I almost never encounter them on the PUGs I run with.

Yours is an interesting concept. Not to derail my own thread, but as a counterpoint to the mortality idea for Statesman, how about the control of the Well? We've already heard from Lady Jane that Stateman rushed to power, and "pulls his punches", so to speak, lest the Well take greater control of him. What if that threat were front and center? He's using his power less and less because the Well is pulling at him more and more with each fight. He sees a point of no return looming in his future, and is guiding a new generation to take over before the Well remakes him into a being of power with no moral code, essentially becoming a major threat to hero and villain alike. His sometimes unpleasant nature is a result of that destructive possession by the Well.

I prefer KD. Either way, they're going down, so might as well control the fall. Two reasons: 1) Melee can continue to reach them without a lot of running around. 2) Should bonfire be used to save a team in trouble, it will not have the risk of flinging opponents next to those teammates who have pulled back (usually the most vulnerable ones at that moment).

I've always felt a COH/V 2 should not retell the story of this Paragon City again. We've already got plenty of canon lore showing a myriad of universes, so start again with Paragon City of a different universe. Differences between the two should allow for things such as a "city layout [that] makes a bit more sense". It also allows for certain key dead figures to still be alive, or for that matter, for entirely different figures to take their place.

Might be good to refresh the memory as to what the colors represented: red / rage orange / avarice yellow / fear green / willpower blue / hope indigo / compassion violet / love black / death A lot of the Freedom Phalanx would be green. Back Alley Brawler practically is willpower personified. Numina would likely be blue or indigo.

^^^This. And it's really hard to pin down, as you have to ask yourself, "which Batman?" for that matter, "which average person", and "which earth?" The character has been rebooted and retold so many times, and in radically different ways that it would be hard to come up with one standard as to how Gothamites react. And DC has had multiple universes, just to add to the confusion. If that weren't enough, Batman has at times actually gotten hold of superpowers (lantern rings for one) or swapped with a superpowered person (Superman in the Batman costume) which can only mess with the minds of those who thought they had him figured out. The Batman I first watched as a kid, Adam West, the "Bright Knight", was very obvious to all that he was a natural/technical fighter. (Don't knock him, he's all we had for 2 decades.) Likewise, I think it pretty obvious that Val Kilmer's and George Clooney's Batmen were also probably readily known as natural/technical. Michael Keaton's interpretation as well as that of Christian Bale, both start with a deliberate misdirection towards the supernatural. So yes, Gotham thought those version were superpowered. Over time, Gotham begins to realize the Bale Batman is not superpowered, and of course many of his enemies already figured it out. Kevin Conroy's Batman has had several iterations, but going on the one that started it all, "Batman: The Animated Series", I'd say there may have been a few that wondered at his abilities, though his enemies clearly understood what his limits were.

You almost need another origin "Cosmic" to describe Ego. It's practically a fusion of all others but technology.

Weren't Apex and War Witch also original characters in the comics at first, and then added to the game when Croatoa opened up?

That's a really fantastic job! 👍 The plushies...were they the Freedom Phalanx, or did somone custom-make players' characters?

"What do they feed you...?" "Steel...Steel and pig iron furnaces so hot a man forgets his fear of hell. When you're hard enough, tough enough...other things..." -- quotes from "The Quiet Man"

Took me a slow moment (duh...), but, yeah, it makes sense. 👍

I could get behind this with a couple of additional points: 1.) "special train station" could be a stacked station: tram up top, buses and/or ground train on lower level. Then just adjust the Croatoa station to reflect the new transport. 2.) Casinos suggest organized crime, at least in the old-school sense, and since IP is next door, and is a major hub of Family activity, it would be a natural spill-over. I'd want a line coming off that stacked station and heading into the west side of IP, say middle west, and new material added to the west side of IP, opening it up to more than dreary runs to the other side for brief adventures. IP is big enough for 3 stations. 3.) Casinos also suggest the Rogue Islands and might present an opportunity for blue side to have some of the villains from the casino on the islands put in an appearance.