Techwright

How many more LEGOs do you need to move forward?

"Snarky was on the team/league. " LOL, I was wondering if that would show up. You did not disappoint. 🤣

Reminds me of a large factory for which I did contract IT 2 years back. There were a few elevators, a lot of stairs, odd halls and rooms, twists and turns, and hazard areas with moving equipment on tracks in the floors. I remember thinking "If only I could photo this place, it would make an excellent CoH building design". They did have a few elevators that ran straight up and down, but due to the complexities of the buildings, those elevators didn't all go to uniform floors. So the cargo elevator, out back, would solely reach several areas within a tower, and share access with the other elevators on the conjoined first 2 floors. One of the elevators reached a couple of basements the others didn't, and so on.

Ah, poses. That's something I forgot to mention. One of the sci-fi bases had NPCs standing next to each other, ostensibly at some controls, and the two had synced up, matching movements. Humorous and creepy. In this context, does "storage" apply to other things as well, like the empowerment stations with their temporary boosts? That is, are things beyond parts storage also entwined in the base code?

Very much this. I've built some nice looking portals, a composite of many parts and it's time consuming to build each one from scratch, and get the parts aligned just so. I'd add that I'd like to have a line in the base builder listings exclusively for grouped items. It's definitely a step forward to highlight a group and say copy/paste, but even better would be the ability to store it for future reference. If I could push that idea to the limit, I don't know if the parts are stored server side or client side, but if the latter, having access to them for another character/base would be great. Such might also allow for the sharing of a grouped item if someone really takes a shine to it. I don't know if it is possible, but I'd like to suggest looking into broadening the costuming options for NPCs placed in the bases. I was thinking on this while touring the sci-fi bases, seeing NPC character appropriately placed but wearing civilian clothing while sitting in navigation chairs, examining engine computers, etc. Not the players' fault, just the limitations of the current game, but NPCs with a sci-fi or at least military uniform would have been a better fit. Taking this to an extreme, could function of (perhaps not all functions) the costume maker for player characters be ported over to allow NPC costumes? Probably not a unique costume per NPC, but say a limited number of uniform costumes in a base: male, female, huge, or perhaps a few extras for those wanting the Trek blue/red/gold type look, as example. Even if never possible, having additional NPC costume options would be nice: military, wilderness/rainforest, polar, pirate, medieval, Roman, etc. I'd additionally like to suggest that new variations of the active workshop items be created for the specific purpose of incorporating them into vending areas of the player's creation. So not necessarily a new structure, but a new clickable spot that can be merged into a player-made construct. With such, bars, vending machines, ice cream shops, etc, all become functional commercial businesses, especially for role playing. Taken to the extreme: allow for a player-named menu. By example, an Empowerment Station looses the Supercollider skin, becomes a flat pattern-less panel added to a vending machine, quick market checkout, base cafeteria or bar register, etc. and from it, an "increased recovery" buff is player-named as "Scarlet Steer Energy Drink" and "increased recovery" becomes the description to the new title. This could free other things for greater creativity as well, such as enhancement tables and salvage racks. I know there are top-tier base creators who've found tricks for hiding the current constructs (Dacy, I think I observed you creating something hiding constructs like this in your sci-fi base's dining hall) but this would simplify matters.

On target, and I'd add that one of those techs not used for anything other than fighting is the medical teleporters. Last I knew, the real world has only been able to teleport small amounts of information. So with those, the timeless factor is achieved by sci-fi projection down the timeline, as well as the old-school phone booths and cars from days gone by. And, of course, we've a story arc dealing with the fallout of severely restricting that medical teleporter technology.

It must be an extension of Rule #29 of Peter's Evil Overlord List: "I will dress in bright and cheery colors, and so throw my enemies into confusion." Substitute "use an effect" for "dress". 😁 I find the timing of this thread interesting. I just started a new earth/dark dominator tonight and when fine-tuning the colors at it's creation, I was shocked that Dark Assault/Gather Shadows (note the name) fires off with a surrounding rainbow of colors which seems to project from the body. What it does not do is gather shadows to the body. So I switched it to Soul Noir. I mean, "noir" means "black", yes? Now it has almost-black spheres swirl around your character...while projecting a rainbow of colors from the body. 🤦‍♂️ Incidentally, have you ever run an earth/dark dom, Snarky? While it is definitely a glass cannon, I found its really a fun build, and by level 20, it was starting to show as fairly powerful. I suspect were I to focus more on better enhancement slotting, the character would be even greater.

The recent plaque in Talos Island facing Dark Astoria gives the year of the Mot attack as 2012, so Homecoming definitely holds that 2012 is at least happening, though additional plaques elsewhere might move the needle even further into the future. We've also now got smartphone related emotes like texting. Not sure when those were added, and while it's true that one could text on a Blackberry in 2009, it does point to a time after 2004. Frankly the blending of various technologies old and new, phones, cars, etc., gives the game a distinct alternate universe feel, much like the 1989 Batman movie blended 1930s/40s aesthetics with late 1980s aesthetics to create a fantasy Gotham and made it timeless.

Aaah, thanks. Now I understand what @Oubliette_Red was meaning by "league" in context. While it was Friday night, and on Excelsior, I'd not put it past folks to try that. And now the other servers are probably going to start a Saturday Night Synapse event tonight. 😁

Slowly working my way through these and what I've seen so far is remarkable. I'm constantly amazed at what people are able to get out of a base system I'd previously considered clunky and antiquated. I no longer hold that view.

Hmm...that's a reasonable idea, however we fought at least 4 Babbages throughout the invasion, maybe 5. And twice we were tag-teamed by two of them. I'm not sure I've ever heard of a Synapse TF that generates multiples.

I've seen multiple Kronos robot attacks in Talos many times now, including in the original game. If I understand correctly one of the Malta arcs (Crimson?) triggers it. Tonight I saw something I cannot recall seeing in 19 years: a multiple robot attack with half of them Kronos and half Babbage. In fact, I can't ever recall seeing Babbage in Talos Island, and it's one of my favorite hang out spots. What triggers this kind of attack?

Playing catch-up. I've still got episode 6 to watch still, but episode 5 may just be the best animated X-men episode of all time. Episode 6 may derail my viewpoint, but it's looking more and more like they're working towards an interpretation of the Age of Apocalypse, my favorite X-men arc of all time. I'm not much for the music scene, my tastes run too old school for the mainstream, but whomever scored this episode did an awesome job. The positives having been said, I realize the slogan is "mutant and proud" but maybe the pink see-thru guy might want to put on some trousers, or at least a swimsuit in public?

That name! As soon as I saw it, I felt I wanted to see someone from Georgia or Florida create Okee-Wan Fenokee.

Glacier Peak was trying to aid you. I'm making the assumption you didn't realize what GP was implying. Go to the Ouroboros zone and click on the pillars of fire and ice in the building. These will give you a chance to play out most missions you've advanced beyond. You can replay them, too, though that doesn't sound like your style. You can recruit a team to play them with you, if you so desire. You should know that once you commit to a mission, while you are on it, you'll play at its level. If I recall correctly, it will be the highest level for its range. If you're a badge hunter, this will give you a chance to complete any mission badges you may have missed.

One step closer to Praetoria...

I've two ways of doing this: 1. I create the "evil twin", or a version from another dimension, since we've got Peregrine Island to foster this. 2. For my main, Major Ray Gunn who is a "space ranger", I've used his look as the uniform for other characters, altering the look slightly to denote rank, specialization, or alien nature within the space rangers.

Looks like he'd go through a lot of drum heads in his career, and I do mean "through" them. If you're in the knacker and tanning business, absolutely.

After watching a (supposedly) professional science video where the topic of discussion, the star Betelgeuse, was repeatedly pronounced similar to "Bagel Goose", I decided to consult "professional" pronunciation videos to see if my 8th grade science teacher was more accurate in pronouncing it "Beetle Juice". I'm so glad I did. I'd never have figured out the "correct" pronunciation. 😏

Which of the Dark Astoria badges are you referencing? 😁

On a nondescript secondary roof ledge next to an apartment TV aerial apparently.

My latest creation. What started as an homage piece to DC Comic's Mad Hatter gradually went farther down the rabbit hole with a deliberately wacky and slightly-disturbed look. Although I've had villains before, he's actually my first character of moral ambiguity. I see him as occupying all four points on the moral compass merely due to whim. (Oh, and just in case: for any reader in a culture where the expression doesn't exist, "Lid" is slang for hat, but also for the mind. "Flipped his lid" = "gone crazy".) Loony Lid Technological Psy/Mental Blaster

I assure you, I did not product place. I'd never endorse the services of The Family.

@Player2, thanks for the constructive feedback. Your description makes a certain sense, though why the original team put these items in at least 3 different categories does not. Had they all been in a single category, I would have grudgingly acknowledge it. And the two bow ties, with different variant choices at that, just seems to confirm (IMHO) that the process was not handled correctly. But I do accept that we might have an action figure with only so many attachment holes, as you describe. I do like your comment regarding using asymmetrical to resolve the issue, or at least work around it. I'd not considered that possibility, though I'm not sure how it would work for the Upper Body/Shoulders category, since we already have it for each shoulder, unless it can be extended to a 3rd for the neck. Hypothesizing, since I've no idea of coding, an asymmetrical chest detail option might allow for something else I've always hoped for: main chest detail and pocket chest detail side by side on most any chest piece except jackets.

I'm not suggesting new neck features. I'm suggesting a retooling of the costuming categorization system which hopefully will distinguish neck items into their own category, and possibly provide greater creative options as a result. Currently under Head/Detail 2 we've got several lower face items such as beards, mustaches, gas masks, and cybernetic jaws, but we also have things like the Jester neck ruff which is clearly a piece for the neck. In addition, if we move down to Upper Body/Shoulders, we have our standard assortment of shoulder/bicep coverings, but then we also have things like Bowtie and Spiked Collar, again things that are strictly neck features. I'd like to suggest retooling to add Head/Detail 3, or perhaps Head/Neck Detail, and under it move all the neck features currently in other categories, including the Ascot wherever it is. I've lost track of it, which just goes to show the need. Having all neck features in the same category will make them easier to find. [EDIT: Found it! Under Upper Body/Chest Detail along with a host of other items that should probably be "Head/Neck Detail" as well.] It is also my hope that in creating Detail 3, this releases these features from blocking others in their current category. For example, I currently can either have a beard or a Jester ruff, not both as they are restricted by Detail 2. With the proposed solution, I can have the Jester ruff and add either a Handlebar Goatee or a Van Dyke for a more interesting look like that of a Shakespearean jester. Likewise, I could take Heavy Gold Chain or Spiked Collar, currently limited by the Upper Body/Shoulders category, and add my choice of them to one of the spikey shoulder features for a more bad-to-the-bone look. To head off one concern, there are features that by nature cross over multiple locations on the body: Head/Detail 2: Reaper and Head/Detail 2: Breather 5 for examples. The former shows a swath of cloth covering the lower face and neck, the latter showing a breather mask with a tube running to a chest-mounted filter. For items like these, I'd propose that they be placed on the bases of where the focus of the item is. In each of these examples, the focus is on covering the mouth and nose, so they'd remain as Head/Detail 2 items. Lastly, though I cannot recall any specific items, if there are any other categories having listings that seem out of place, I would suggest a re-evaluation for them as well. [EDIT #2: This suggestion implemented would likely clear up some other confusion as well. One currently can have a Upper Body/Shoulders/Bow tie at the same time as they have a Upper Body/Chest Detail/Bow Tie. Hopefully, we could get one bow tie option, under Neck Detail, and still keep the Polka Dot variant]