Ankylosaur

You can set it to empty and use boss allies as well if you need a group. You can set it to hard to have that group be big and can give them animations (e.g. like boom boss for the boss and dance for the group - or soapbox for the boss and listen for the group, etc.) they won't truly be non-combatant of course but if the groups are spread out, like ravers in the front and middle and boss and enemies in the back, they won't likely encounter one another.

This "should" work... find a map with only two "any type" in the final "back" room - something where both are close. set map to empty set ally guards to empty set boss guards to empty (i think you can do that if not make it an ally that betrays when rescued) The boss will not truly be guarding, but will be alone in the room with the Ally. If the player runs by the ally the ally will join the player - you don't need to defeat the boss first - but depending on your story that may be ok.

And sadly, that map, which should be a great map for an AV finale with a main enemy appearing in the office or roof proves particularly useless as there is actually no back keyed in on the map, if I recall correctly. I believe outdoor maps are essentially treated as a single room, so I think because of limitations in the system there was no way to designate front/middle/back.

@charlie - thanks for these - just heavily used them in my latest arc! [Neutral] [46-54] The Ghost In The Machine - Arc ID: 33968 (Even left a clue in there with a thanks for the mobs because without them, I never would have bothered to try to execute my story idea. I did do a few modifications and repurposed a couple of your AV uniques as bosses. Thanks for sharing your hard work!)

Adding in my latest for consideration. Hopefully has broad AE appeal as it is about AE. [Neutral] [46-54] The Ghost In The Machine - Arc ID: 33968 The AE system is being hacked - will you help defend it or expose its secrets? --- Jan 2021: I have since based a multi-arc series on this arc, so it is now renamed as All That Glitters 3.3: The Ghost in the Machine is about the 8th mission in the series.

The AE system is being hacked! Will you defend it or help expose its dark secrets? [SFMA]

Yeah - keep that feedback handy. 🙂

So I played through the entire trilogy of trilogies. It's hard to sum up or do justice to it all when there is so much content. Really loved getting to know the gang that hangs around Atlas Park speaking to reporters - creative idea! Here I am with (almost) the whole gang in the final mission! Some great little tactics to help you keep the story straight and a real attention to detail across all of it. Among the 45 missions there were some real stand out great experiences. As you can imagine there is a lot of plot here - but the plot payoff is big. I know I had to take a pause and think through its implications - its a little hopeless which hits hard, but the scheme is big enough to support this and anchored in the lore. Some great writing in that final reveal too. If you are looking for a big sweeping story, give it a run!

@Darmian - these were those extra skulls I mentioned if you want more high level ones.

Played a warshade on live but back before IOs and new power pools... Thinking of focusing on a triform or maybe human only and wondering why no one seems to ever include the mez protectors in the builds I can find. Does anyone successfully run a Warshade with Acrobatics? Or maybe you've managed to make Rune of protection (or whatever the sorcery power is called) permanent?

The original build had combat jumping and super leap. Any reason you left off Acrobatics for a little mez protection?

When Carnivals Collide! - Roguish Arc: 33211 The Praetorian refugees are building a new home outside the war walls of Paragon City. Help the Carnival of Shadows remind the Carnivals of Light and War that there is already a Carnival in town. [SFMA]

When Carnivals Collide! The Praetorian refugees are building a new home outside the war walls of Paragon City. Help the Carnival of Shadows remind the Carnivals of Light and War that there is already a Carnival in town. [SFMA] --- I'm going to be making a few runs to polish it up and look for errant typos, but its ready to go. Inspiration Hope you are willing to give it a run and hope you have fun at the Carnival! Feedback welcome and encouraged! Please be kind with stars while it gets a few extra coats of paint and let me know if there is anything that needs fixing or tweaking.

I can echo that too - I have seen the same issue. Also saw the inverse issue on a Praetorian outdoor map which said it would allow 17 front and 17 back. It let me publish with well over 17 but they wouldn't show up as it really only had 17 spots to put mobs.

OK - so that makes more sense. 🙂 There is a conspicuous absence of ray gun weilding space aliens in that screenshot! 🙂 I was also wondering where I was telling the player how they feel about something. Thanks @cranebump for clearing that up - it was not my arc at all. 🙂 I did use a Kallisti map so easy to confuse. I'll say the RWZ escort routes were all sort of messed up - I understand how annoying that can be for author and player... And that Seraph map from Hammigedon was escort waypoint madness too. Anyway - Future Storm's Past is ok at least.

A few from my Condemning Croatoa arc. I don't quite have Monty's face right... Percy Winkley.critter MONTAGUE CASTANELLA.critter War Witch.critter I'd actually change up war witches powers now - but not sure its worth bothering 🙂

Thanks! glad to hear it was mostly issue free. Hope it was fun story too... 🙂 I looked to try to fix that issue you mentioned. I actually don't have any escorts in mission 3 because I found them to be buggy. (Mission 2 is just collections so nothing to see there.) I do have allies though and suspect that's what you encountered as they are also buggy. So they are set to empty (no mobs guarding them) so when you approach them they say something. I also have them set to "Do Nothing" so they don't follow you around. So when you leave them they stay put, but when you return to them - they do in fact follow you - ignoring the do nothing. So the vanguard person who asked you to go sign in to the computer could end up following you into the back - going to the door to get there, Maybe that's what you encountered? I should have probably had them all just say they were heading off to board a Rikti ship to join in on the raids on the Battallion's asteroid ships...

I too tend to author with the soloist in mind. Even for that just fixing that unaware text bug would go a long way to making the in-arc story telling so much better. In my own AE hierarchy of needs, I can’t even want to want anything higher up the pyramid without that.

I forgot about this - I could have used your Delilah for my Return to Faultline arc but ended up making my own 😞

Great to hear it and thanks for wanting to explore! All of mine are story based and self-contained. Most are even tied to the lore - exploring a thread or hook that’s already there. A couple: Rularularian and Robolution were/are even devs choice on Homecoming. Save the diver, Save the world, and The Serpent Beyond The Horizon won player contests back on live and there are lots of others to explore there too, and I think The Hammiggedon arc won one here when scrapbot was still evaluating arcs here. The others are newer than that. If you do explore them - hope you enjoy them and if you run into any quirks or typos please let me know! All feedback is appreciated.

Applying Reflections Effects on the first screen might get you close enough.

Adding, for your consideration: Future Storm's Past - 32791 The Dark Watcher has called you to Vanguard. He believes that you hold the key to beating The Coming Storm. Explore your future's past! [SFMA]

Just finishing up Phandelver and it is a lot of fun. Unlike older modules, you can have multiple hooks at one time, and once they start exploring the wilderness, they can loose the main thread - so just be ready to help guide them a little. Oh and read up on Venomfang online and how people handle him - he's an easy TPK so be sure to role-play him not just have him breathe on everyone... Oh - and if you like DMing and creating adventures - as you can see from my sig, AE is a good story telling device too. 🙂 If they do end up enjoying it and want to continue the adventure, I hear Storm King's Thunder is a good follow-on. By the time they make it to THundertree they will know if they want to keep going, so get your next adventure early enough to throw in a few hooks that can continue the story.

Moved it to Looking for Feedback (Beta) now - I think it's done. As always - open to feedback to refine it further. The latest tweaks

Thanks so much! Thrilled to have Robolution called out - the resulting extra plays are the best gift al!l Thanks again for keeping Dev's Choice going. It's got to be a lot of work to play through and evaluate all the submissions. (And I encourage everyone to check out other arcs in AE too if you want to explore unique stories. The Mission Architect part of the forums is a great place to look for new content to try out if you want a story you have never run with your toon before! You can also search for [SFMA] in AE to find Story Focused Mission Arcs.)