Ankylosaur

This has been subsumed, with some modifications, into All that Glimmers as the penultimate arc of the series. (All That Glimmers 4.2)

I was thinking about pulling this down, as the lore is a bit off in it, and I have heavily expanded on part of the core idea in All That Glimmers. (The First Ward evacuees finding a new home in the reclaimed Astoria area) This plot is quite different though and as it was the inspiration for All That Glimmers, am leaving it up there for now.

Its a little meta?

Unpublished this as a completely redone version of it is part of the All That Glimmers series. (All That Glimmers 2.2) It's underlying plot is similar, but it is no longer redside, the flow and motivations are different, the contact, maps, and even final boss are different, and it ties into something much bigger...

So that was fun - totally redid M2. As @Kyksie said up above, it was a little odd to have a low level Paragon Cop go to Praetoria. As much as I loved the idea of the PPD Officer exchange, it felt a little weird in practice and is way outside the lore. But, there was a map I have been trying to come up with a reason to use, and it fit well, level-wise, and now that I have a human form warshade character I came up with a way to use it. The map is the sprawling skyway tram map. And here is how I used it...

Its funny how you can find things buried somewhere in the Architect months later... This arc is a Kheldian / Praetorian story and one of the big limitations there is the lack of AE toons with kheldian powers. Working on another arc, I just found one, Romulus - hidden away at the bottom of a long list of longbow. Recasting/coloring/naming him as a villain nictus (Stardust) lets me insert a named character who you can encounter in more than one mission. This provides some good continuity as this arc also spans years (simulated by each arc mission advancing in level range, and you remembering them - you and your contact are advancing in your careers throughout too). I have been able to use him in M1 and M3. This also changed the level range of M3 a little and made the encounter with the shadow freaks a bit more focused. (I pulled out the rikti freaks as I use them in All That Glitters to better effect). It only took a year to stumble upon him. 🙂 I may even redo M2 to use him. M2 was a hard mission to build but takes a little liberty with the lore... There never was an officer exchange program between Praetoria and Prime. 🙂

Just to be clear wasn't that I disapproved - just that I died a lot. 🙂

I had a big issue with the onslaught of Olympian Guards too - even on the improved version. But I tend to probably make my stuff too easy with allies and the like. 🙂

You can do some creative things with escorts. They have a dialog option when you meet them and when they arrive at their destination, and can change behavior when you arrive (like wander off or betray). But its the kind of thing that works best in VERY specific situations and maps that have real front, middles, and backs in distinct areas - preferably different levels. One of my first successful attempts at this was in Rularularian Mission 4 - it worked better than I had even hoped. It uses the nemesis shard map which has a big outdoor area and small interior, and it goes a little something like this... Setup Flynn, your contact says he will go in to the mission before you. Mission entry pop up says "Flynn talks to you in an earpiece and says 'Come meet me on the platform'" (Discovered if I filled all the slots, he always showed up in the same spot - I'm presuming it follows a specific load order. Will never touch the sequence I have the load items in as a result.) Flynn is an escort set to empty, and non combat - the map is set to empty and manually populated with friendly mobs. The outside area only has allies so that while you escort him he can't be killed so you won't fail. The interaction You meet him and he says "Hi" and he has a destination set to another escort (Julian) inside that small room. You lead him to that room following the waypoint and to Julian. Upon arriving Flynn is set to exit so he exits through the door to the small room saying "I'll step outside". Julian is an escort set to empty, who says "Hi, take me to that wall glowie." Arriving at the glowie he says "click it." (In the same room are other glowies with optional info to keep the interaction going longer - you know something will happen when you click what Julian wants you to click, so you just might linger and try the optional clicks. When you do, as suggested above, the clue says "Julian tells you about this glowie." ) And then you click the wall glowie. The unexpected bonus Flynn comes back in from the outside! He is a Soldier/FF MM and set to trigger when the glowie is clicked and this time is an ally set to aggressive. He actually comes in through the door saying "we're under attack, let me call the troops" He then proceeds to summon his minions. Outside wisps and some battles trigger too, so you go out with him and clean up. So yeah - with some planning, the right map, some luck (like the platform and the door), and some finagling you can do some things, but it is surrounded with loads of qualifiers. 🙂 I have a few other missions where I managed to pull something like that off, even M3 of the same arc, but nothing as (surprisingly!) successful as that one.

A few folk like Kadabra Bill, Sigil, and Cyrus are not in there either... https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Generic_Heroes but easy enough to recreate

Look at the map description. It will let you know if you can place 4 bosses in the back. When you place each of the four "fight a boss" encounters - set the Surrounding Enemy Group to empty. Set the map to empty too. All four will be in the back room, though spaced out and without minions.

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4.x - When It Comes To Paradigms, Shifts Happen What just happened speaks to huge changes in who holds the most sway in the magical world. Can you influence these shifts in power? 4.1 Summonings in The Archipelago (35-44) WIP The victims make a last ditch effort to turn things in their favor. 4.2 Ninjas in The Wind - (45-52) New players on the magic scene shake things up! 4.3 Gods in The Planes - (45-52) And the ultimate plan is revealed....

3.x The Spirit Realm Now that you have foiled the Doomsday Contest, the magical potential lingering in the air is high. Things seems to be crossing the veil to our world, but are they coming on their own or is someone drawing them here to a greater purpose? 3.1 Shunting in Croatoa Archmage Hellewise thinks the veil to the spirit world is thin enough in Croatoa that she can modify her Night Ward shunting spell to work there. Help her out? 3.2 Banished in The Spirit Realm The spirit realm is breaking through at magical nexuses, Astoria finds itself under attack! 3.3 Incursion in Oranbega The spirit realm's incusion extends into Primeva through itsmost powerful nexus.

As mentioned above, this story begins with a fork in the All That Glitters series. All That Glitters 1.3 involves a lot of magic that only has a small element in the rest of Glitters. So we pick up the story after that magic bit is resolved. The bridge really is just the connections made with the Legacy Chain for now. The premise is that with Mot contained, Astoria is ready for the reclaiming. Meanwhile, out on Refugee Island that is in the New Praetorian arcs, there are a lot of ex-pat Praetorians looking for a home. Anna Palatine of First Ward and the other residents of the area (e.g. Carnival of Light, Forlorn, Shepherds, First Ward Citizens) see an opportunity to help reclaim Astoria so offer to move on in if they can have the area as their new home. They're used to fighting to survive, and its better than being penned up on the island. 2.x The Doomsday Contest Several groups all seem to be pursuing a different end of the world event. Can you stop them? 2.1 Death in Light Astoria (or Death from Light Astoria, or Living Abroad in Light Astoria) - 20 -29 Banished Pantheon Soldiers and Coralax are coming up out of the ocean on the Astorian peninsula threatening the New Astorian's home! Will you help these Praetorian ex-pats? 2.2 Drowning In the Vigilant Isles A lead on the another contestant group leads you to... 2.3 Destruction in the Shadow Shard Finally a lead to the last contestants plot and it is out of this world!

All That Glitters The All That Glitters Series explores the fallout of new Praetorian tech and ex-patriots in Paragon after the fall of Praetoria; the premise is that surely some gang will try to gain advantage because of this. The series levels as it progresses, with 4 trilogies of arcs that tie together, and all build to a big finale. The idea was that a Vigilante can start with this at level 1 and grow with it (among their other missions of course too). I set the missions in the zones that were (approximately) level appropriate to make it feel like it all fits naturally into the world. All That Glimmers Well, Glitters is complete now, (other than fixes players may send in or small tweaks). So my mind wandered to the magic side of the same story. Magic in Praetoria was purged by Cole, except for those survivors in First Ward. So unlike All That Glitters that starts at level 1, this series picks up at level 20, with the Citizens of First Ward making a home for themselves in a previously, and still, dangerous place, Astoria - now that the threat from Mot is over. And here is how it shaped up: 2.x The Doomsday Contest 2.1 Death in Light Astoria (20-29) - Final 2.2 Drowning In the Vigilant Isles (25-30) - Final 2.3 Destruction in the Shadow Shard (25-33) - Final 3.x - The Spirit Realm 3.1 Shunting in Croatoa (30-39 ) Final 3.2 Banished in The Spirit Realm (34-39) Final 3.3 Incursion in Oranbega (35-41) Final 4.x - When It Comes To Paradigms, Shifts Happen 4.1 Summoning in The Archipelago (40-44) Final 4.2 Ninjas in The Wind - (45-52) Final 4.3 Gods in The Planes - (45-52) Final

Continue to make small refinements here in case that third person ever explores the series. 🙂 What ended up being 2.3 was the second arc I wrote in the series and while I hinted at the reasons Langston was building a Power Plant in Paragon, none of my own thinking was really refined. As the whole endgame could use a bit more foreshadowing - I put in some more conjecture there about portals to praetoria, consciousness transfer, trying to get out from under Aeon etc. In 4.2 - where you end up going to Praetoria - I am considering integrating some of the elements from Ninjas in the Wind - like a few cyber Samurai because they can fit and i love how that mob turned out 🙂 And still considering an "All that Glimmers" series that focuses on the magic users from Praetoria and their emigration stories. It would be a fork after 1.3 where there is a lot of magic. So then a parallel 2.x and 3.x explores the Carnival of Light et al. in Primal earth Generally thinking that no one really wants the content though - but the ideas keep stewing regardless.

I have a few arcs where I hope the player just runs with the fact that the transformation/resurrection happens in the same room but a different spot. 🙂

Several options but all work arounds. Empty Set the map to empty Only spawn the number of mobs you want in each area (e.g. if middle takes 16 mobs, put in 8 bosses with mobs. make the boss you choose an LT if you can) Spawn something innocuous. e.g... Fill a mob with will o' the wisps, or citizens, or ghost victims or spectral pirates or something Place them as an ally boss or patrol in the spots you want to be empty. they are just flavor - especially if they are well below your mission level (like spectral pirates) Unimportant defendable object Fill your "empty" slots with it set the mob to empty or ally or both and test basically populating the "empty" spots with a flavor object As to never trigger options - i would think something like an ally that is non combatant might work. Set the trigger to be them when they die, which they can't do - but all i can think of on the spot. 🙂

Can vouch that @Darmian's The Spark of the Blind was a great story well told! My Resistance Praetorian felt right at home. If, like me, you've been troubled with how to explain that the TUNNEL network takes you to a pre-catastrophe Praetoria, you might enjoy my newest arc. I took a stab at explaining that in Ninjas in the Wind in my sig. Definitely not an official premise but ties in tightly to the CoH lore with a splash of the AMA lore thrown in.

Played this with my Praetorian resistance toon and it was great fun with very tight missions and a lore-rich story. Really good to be able to extend my toon's story in his native land. @Darmian keeps fanning the golden flame to bring us great stories for the goldsiders...