Ankylosaur

Its true. The main reason I started logging into old ones was to update things to take advantage of new options when they come out. I wanted the newer Penelope for return to Faultline since I made it in 2020. (In fact there are two AVs and a boss pet version - wonder if one of them is Penelope Mayhem). My Gaians (a DE inspired mob) got updated with some nature powers, and Merulina now has Water Blast! The AE gives even when it muddles things a bit. 🙂

@ZamuelNow - its true about the multiple things affecting it. @cranebump - I think it would only be a problem if they were in a custom mob. I recalled that I have a low level toon sitting in the very quiet King's row, and if I go into the AE editing room that has helped open arcs in the past too. Maybe there are less toggles on things on him to calculate, or the zone is quieter. Whatever the reason, I was able to load and edit Return to Faultline. So now the new Penny Yin took the place of the old one and the psychic clockwork are functioning again. Whew! In my experience, it's once I get over 40% of the file size (which I think is about 5 times larger than it was on live - so not complaining about it - glad to have the extra space 🙂) when I start timing out with the mapserver opening published arcs. This one was no where near that big at about 28%, so not sure what was up with not being able to open it previously. I'm usually on Indom, and was in Cap on my first go. Things are a lot busier these days, so maybe that had something to do with it too. This time I edited at 7 AM eastern - a lot quieter.

This got a couple of plays which is great! But at 4 stars, I do wish I had some feedback so I knew what to improve. If you happen to have played it and have thoughts to share I am all ears. Was it too hard? Too easy? Did you not like the story? Too long? Too short? Were there typos? Were the allies too weak? Too strong? Too many clues? Too few? Did it rely on you knowing the Night Ward story too much? Or did I overly re-explain it? Oh and the one question it answers that reveals a lot about the plot is...

I just realized several of my arcs were broken with the lastest update - it has to do with using mobs that were also updated Psychic Clocks In Return to Faultline, I had mixed in Psychic Clockwork with the old Antimatter and Neuron clocks into a single mob. it no longer recognizes the psychic clocks, I presume because they have updated purple eyes now. I could re-add them to my custom mob but can't open the arc without timing out on my current computer. If I have a published arc with too many customs in it - whenever I try to open it I get the map server timeout - wish there could be an exception on that when opening an AE arc. 😞 (Wanted to put the new Penelope Mayhem in there and discovered the whole arc is broken.) When I try to play it, it just does not start - no contact hologram... Rikti Monkeys In Monkey Business, which involves the Monkey Fight Club, I had Rikti Monkey mobs recolored to team green, red, and blue and renamed them to match the monkey names in the fight club. Those must have gotten updated/removed with the lady gray update. No more Banananator. I can recolor a single monkey now for each team. but we lost some versions of the underlings to give me the three I needed to give them their unique names. At least I could fix that one. Rikki Blaster I also have run into an issue with my Langston Lab mob. My Xenologists used Rikti blasters, and I guess the costume part got renumbered? I could easily fix this one at least.

Oh and the Steel Canyon SERAPH map - that one is so close to great as a map, and so rife with problems. There is a Front location in the back of the interior. Because the front is an exterior in Steel Canyon a few destructible police vehicles would work great until one is in the back of the lab. Despite the map looking like there are several middle locations, there is only one. Escort markers seem to go wonky. And yet I still have used it a few times...

I ended up using it to write big chunks of the story in my latest - I've done similar with just a word doc, but found the character counts really handy! Thanks for putting this together.

I did something like this with a Pawn Shop - I think there is a jewelry store too maybe? In mine though you were investigating a crime scene I think. M1 of All that Glows 1.1 if you just want to peak at that one mission. The owner was just a boss ally, and he would say something when you came in, and you would then examine glowies which triggers the ambush. In my case though the boss could fight so made sure he could hold his own. You could probably make them really tough with no attacks?

Another little note - I find Dominator assault sets make for great a offense option as they mix themed melee and range. And now if Arsenal is in there, can finally have someone who can carry a gun and punch while still being able to give them a secondary.

Pandemonium in Night Ward Design notes I have been wanting to do something with Night Ward for ages. it's a kooky place, and after chatting with Darmian about it, he shared some things I had not found, and found a few myself. If you know any of my other stories, you know I like to find hooks that were never explored, or that I think are hooks that maybe no one else does. Because it feels like the next stage after Night Ward never happened - it feels like it is loaded with them. You could argue that Dark Astoria is the next stage with Diabolique and the Talons going there of course. And that right there is a story hook too - what is Night Ward like without them? Anyway, here's some of the things I tried to work in, much of it from that convo with @Darmian years ago now... Souls There are some special ghosts around. There are two ghost heroes that show up in different places. Darmian had included them in an arc at one point - part of Powers Division - while they were still alive. He shared their names and stories with me and I worked them in (though how they became dead is my own interpretation.) And I found the dead milkman, who appears in the same spot regularly. He died while driving his bitchin' camero. See pictures by clicking the link arrow in the header below. Angels And then there are the Angels of Mercy, scattered throughout. https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Angels The Bereaved Demon And wayyyyyy down in Bedlam is a demon and a bunch of "Banished hoardlings." Loved who? Well I had to work that in too. Of course the bigger questions were, what has changed in Night Ward now that the whole Sister Serene arc is over, the Talons and Diabolique have left, and arguably most of the Black Nights have returned to the eternal prison to guard it. Plus - depending on where we pick up - what has been happening in Praetoria while you were hanging in Night Ward. And another question that I can't even ask here without revealing a bit of the plot. And there is the infusion of something new. A tie in with the All That Glimmers series where the Drudge were collecting something in Primal. With the Talons leaving - someone's going to fill that void. And if you want to see any of the folks above, or catch up on at least one interpretation of how the balance of power in Night Ward may have evolved, you know where to go... 🙂

Some of the funky unique maps have one thing in common - a custom final room. For whatever reason, I presume because they were originally used for some sort of scripted scene, these "backs" are not usable, making these interesting maps/locations less useful. Seems like this could be fixed though. Marchand's office - as you noted and well known. The Map details does say that there is no "back" but if you look on the mini map, on level 3 (not his office) there is a blue "back" dot in the middle of a wall sounded by corridors on Floor 3 of 4. Snake Cave - Sthenos' Lair Freaklympics - you can add glowies to the back though A couple of other funky ones Faultline - High Rise - the first floor is outside. Within range of outside is the Faultline Arachnos tunnel, which is not accessible by the player from this location. This means that if you put something to spawn in the front, it might spawn in the tunnel. You can get there by using test mode, putting a few objectives to "front" and jumping to the next objective. You can actually take the tunnel all the way out to a complete and empty faultline map if I am remembering correctly - there is no blue border preventing you. Nerva Primeva - I think because it is one of the only maps that is outdoors without a war wall (except for Croatoa and the abyss), and in water, I have used this little one a few times. Because it is small it has a clear mini-map that shows there should be one rescue point and four collection points. Even in game where it is used, such as in Maria Jenkins to represent Praetoria, it might use those spawn points, but for some reason we don't get them in AE. The map details has no rescues or collections spawn points. Wish this could be fixed. Praetoria outdoors - These seem to claim that there are an equal number of front and back locations, and lets you set them without a "too many" error. So, for example, it might say there are 10 front and 10 back, and let you place 10 IDF bosses in the front and 10 ghouls in the back. But then when you go to play it - no ghouls appear because in fact, there are only 10 spawn points total.

They added a couple of Cimereroan maps awhile ago that have front/middle/back and the COT floating island does too. That’s all off the top of my head, unless you count the winter map, which has an interior so works with it.

I just published a new arc for the first time in many moons. The short version is that a few folk who had played All That Glimmers, really liked the Neo Tokyo groups and wanted to see more of them. I didn't want to start something about Primal invading or befriending Neo Tokyo so was stumped for ideas, until I instead thought about writing for the Goldside character who ends his or her time in the Praetorian arcs and wants something to do on their way to 50. So this merges the premise behind how I integrated Neo Tokyo into a new path to it, starting in Night Ward. It is three arcs. Neo Praetoria 1: Night Ward... Diabolic Changes - Arc ID: 60478 After completing The Magician's quest, Sir Agnan of the Black Knights has need of your help. A new threat jeopardizes the balance of power in Night Ward. (Goldside series that continues the Praetorian story, picking up after The Magician's arc in NIght Ward.) Neo Praetoria 2: First Ward... Hamidonic Changes - Arc ID: 60742 The Angels of Mercy you saved want to grant you boons to help you escape Night Ward and reach Neo Praetoria by traveling through First Ward. [SFMA] Neo Praetoria 3: Warburg... Warburg Never Changes - Arc ID: 63157 After the assault on Neo Praetokyo, Ma Soong wants to shut down the portal on Prime earth that broke through her wards. Professor Echo has a portal open and ready for you to head to Prime Earth and end the threat in Warburg. Hope you have fun giving any of it a whirl, and as always, very open and appreciative of feedback to help me polish the story I put together. (A little worried I went a little clue crazy and tried to stuff too much detail in - but trying to keep things tighter than some of my other series.) And, if you're so inclined, I appreciate you being generous with stars in its early days while kinks may be being unkinked.

My approach Minions - I tend to keep the minions as mostly offense - no buffs or debuffs, and unless there is a reason for a special armor or a blaster secondary, I often just use invulnerability and the non toggle powers as a secondary to give them light resistances with no effect on appearance. Maybe a Dull Pain. LTs - are usually more interesting with controller/defender types showing up with buffs and debuts Bosses - vary based on the theme of the mob but tend to be offense again and have an armor set to go with Allies - tend to make them EBs so they survive if there is a big group - and they tend to only appear when there are AVs - but I am not all that consistent on that. In an arc I am working right now I might have some Lts who allies Like Cranebump I go for 100% so people can get the full XP - however, on Homecoming, they bumped up what was needed to get to 100% making custom mobs tougher than before - I think this was related to farming.

Alright again 100% spoiler - but I am loving the summarization of a story arc using ChatGPT. Here was the first pass: Then it occurred to me I could ask it to do it in second person past tense and got something much more like a regular souvenir. Unfortunately my OZ arc is too big to open because of all the customs. I time out trying to open it so this will not make it in there - so if you ever play it - consider the above your souvenir. 🙂

So I hardly ever take the time to write Souvenir Clues. By the time I am ready for that, I am usually kind of "written-out" If I have one in there, it was usually written months later. But I had an idea - ChatGPT is great at summarizing things, so I copied the text from the mission file and in seconds had a summary. This of course is 100% spoiler, but thought I would share...

I hear you. 🙂 So I finally started fiddling around with a new mission and decided to take a look at this ambitious tool you put together. Mighty impressive! However it looks a bit daunting to put all this in twice and then try to keep it in sync with the actual mission file. In practice, have you found yourself detailing everything in it? I may try it out for the major text blocks that I create though - like the mission text and maybe even character texts. It got me thinking though - I wonder how hard it would be for someone who has access to the source code to package up the editor as an offline standalone editor for the local file. Throw in a spell checker and my needs would be met. 🙂

Great to have you back! Your Mission Architect Handyman thread helped me refine my approaches a lot back in the day! https://web.archive.org/web/20120904230151/http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=216857 (with Clave_Dark_5 there too) I mean there you are at the bottom on page 1 of Heraclea’s guides too - a welcome surprise to have your stories back in the mix indeed! https://web.archive.org/web/20120905041527/http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=233077 So yeah - you can go read those reviews on the forums... 🙂

Really enjoyed this series - and some more fun customs in the finale! Some clever mechanics in this last one too. Loved speaking to my team.

Thanks @cranebump and @Zhym This series takes place after the fall of Praetoria - so time wise is later. The Lt is not a critical character at all - I just needed someone as a base commander of the Longbow Base in Nerva in both Glimmers 2.3 and 3.1 and threw him in because he was an interesting unique character. Normally I look into the lore, but missed this. (I did the same with Crow at one point in Glitters 1.1 til Darmian pointed it out.) I can just rename him and all would be well - except for the task of finding all the spots where I mention him. He is now Lt. Aamir Agarwal in both missions where he appears. Hopefully I caught all the spots!

And to you too! Loving the playthrough as always. Nerva has so many folk that are in AE, I wanted to include them in this massive war that is unfolding. (like Psimon Omega and Crimson Revenant - and was fun to bring in Hornet since Wyvern is around too. I think you missed one in M2 - Granny Beldam wandered over from her island too.) Someone mentioned that Lt Tendaji may be dead, so apparently I missed some lore there - should probably fix that but might just leave it. 🙂 Oh and yeah - as to Desdemona and Pendragon - there are ways to populate maps in such a way that they are not captured, got a little titred of fiddling with AE and just conceded to the limitations. Anyway - once you wrap M5 - you know who's behind all this and why! Sort of - cause - ninjas? Happy Holidays! Engineria deserves a rest. 🙂

My impressions/ideas... (And is Officer = boss, infantry = minion. and the last one an LT?) Minions One attack seems pretty weak depending on the level of this. I often give them one or more of the invulnerable non-toggles to minions as it is trivial but gives them something small that does not muck with costumes. Russians - Based on your description, the Russian officer could be a merc mastermind with maybe only infantry and a machine gun -warmth would be kind of a funny secondary 🙂 but not realistic enough. Also snipe in practice may have the opposite effect you are looking for - will mobs might aggro sooner if they can shoot further - bears testing. Italians - Officer could be pistols/grenade from Devices Japanese - Seems odd to me to have a Ninja in WW2. Could give the infantry guns/blaster martial arts and instead give the officer the katana and Smoke Flash from ninjitsu or something for support. For what it's worth, I tend to have minions and bosses as combat types and LTs as support.

updated with Possessed Scientists

There is a way to have an ally without guards - but he will not patrol. You can kind of do the reverse though. Set the ally AND the map to empty for him to spawn without guards. Alternatively he could just be a friendly boss also set to empty if you don't want him to interact with the character. You can manually populate the map with enemy bosses, patrols, defendable objects, etc If you populate with patrols, because he is already free (as he has no guards) I believe he will fight the patrols that stumble upon him. I think that will work anyway - and may be the best you can do I think.

In things we give Thanks for during Thanksgiving - I've got to give it up to @TerroirNoir2 and this cable channel and Engineeria! And yes - the story continues! Pendragon is still taking advantage of Primal cell phone tech despite his ridiculous gauntlets with Shoom calls or FacemakerTime or the like.

Though I did not write up the rest - enjoyed it! Fun adventure though...