Ankylosaur

It also got me thinking about other ways to accomplish this and I came up with rushing players at the door... The Rush Set a map to empty so no mobs will spawn automatically. Populate the map with bosses also set to empty AND set the bosses to flee for the door when they have no mobs. Alignment choices Now if they are set as allies, they could look like people fleeing hysterically. But if they are enemies? Well that seems pretty unkind...

So I realized, as I shared in another post, that a BIG. boon for me would to be able to have the game continue to ping the map server while you are opening an AE file. If my AE files get too big, mainly because I have too many custom groups, then the game times out with the map server and I disconnect. This means for practical purposes, I can only have arcs that are at about 40% of the allowed file size.

When the homecoming devs setup architect, they generously expanded the file size to what 'feels" like about 4x the size of live. I say that because on live I had a few that were pushing the limits that were around 25% on Homecoming. With all that extra freedom, I'd love to use that space, but practically, I can't. If it gets too large, opening the file disconnects me. It seems like the game stops pinging the map server while trying to open the file. So my max is somewhere around 41 or 42% I think. I'm currently working on an arc with loads of customs. My workaround is to manually move extra customs into a holding group that is not used by the arc. That way the files are smaller but it's tedious. I can move them all back while I have the file up just before I publish, but I won't be able to open the arc again of course. So just curious - does anyone else encounter this? What's your your "practical" max file size percentage?

I feel like there is an occasional map with people on it who run when they encounter baddies. OK, one map? The Skyway Tram map has citizens on it and they flee when they encounter your bad guys. Mostly they stroll around despite the obvious dangers of doing that pretty much anywhere in Paragon City.

+ 1 To just about everything above. Boss Alignment Change I would think the Boss surrender thing would be pretty easy as you can already set a “Flees at %” trigger on bosses, and for escorts you have the “Betrays” trigger to change their alignment with a special dialog on betrayal. Stitch those together and betray in reverse, and let the clue appear when that happens and Voila! Says someone who doesn’t know how to code. 🙂 More Powersets One other thing I would like see are the missing power sets. Like: /Nature, /BIo Armor, Rad Melee, etc & the Kheldian sets for mob variety. Even with the new “use any power you want but the mob gives no XP” feature, those are unavailable. Kheldian Powersets For Kheldians, kind of like how FF is a unique tweaked set different from in game since it has Aid Self, if the Kheldian sets are just a special limited set of abilities that fit into the 9 powers for primary/secondary, that would be great by me. I'd put the Kheldian attacks under Dominator sets since the "Assault" sets have a nice mix of melee and range in one powerset. I would think "Peacebringer Assault" and "Warshade Assault" would too, but might make sense under scrappers instead to have the armors together with it. And the fact the armor secondary sets would have no status protection seems like no big deal as no one really uses status on mobs anyway.

Was putting the bobby-like Drudges on this misty street map the whole reason I wrote this arc?

Do you mean the industrial ones? They are unique maps that were originally used in the portal missions. I think Citadel was the platform one, and the other one is used with the Eagle/Falcon/hawk or something guy who sells enhancements in PI. It's his one mission. I think it may also be in a portal corp mission. I used them in All That Glitters 2.3 to represent Terra Volta locations, though at the time I searched Terra Volta to see if they were really there, and they are not. They could possibly be in Crey's Folly, but I don't think they are - I think I looked for them but it was ages ago. As AE maps they don't have the toxic smog nor the murky waters. On the other hand the "ruined city" map is actually the upper corner of Boomtown. (Used that in boom Times in Boomtown.) Also the "flooded ruin" I had heard is the upper levels of Boomtown flooded but never bothered to really check. It is reskinned/used for the Praetorian "Last Bastion" but otherwise shows up in a few portal corp missions I think. Makes me wish they would use the spawn points from the original and give us the reskinned version too. The king's-row-esque ones are unique too, as are the steel-canyon-esque ones. The Council Outdoor map uses the style of the Riki War zone, so I placed it there but outside the war walls in my ATG mission set there - but it too was an originally a portal map. (Started as a 5th Column map until they were removed from the game for awhile and for a short period of time, it lingered with the old 5th column art - would be nice to have both versions 🙂 )

I think you can find your persons in the character "My Characters" tab to convert them

Based on the popularity of this, working on something else... I had a whole multi-arc series about the coming storm planned - built out the mobs, anchored it in the pvp zones - leveling up through the zone levels - featured a bit of herts of darkness vs shining stars as pvp anchors - felt like I had some neat ideas coming together - some twists, some turns - but - after ages of hammering away at ATG, based on the numbers playing it, another series is not what people are looking for. 🙂 So yeah - something else... #analytics #readtheroom 😉

Wait - are they talking about me - am I trapped in my Wonderland arc? Can't say it doesn't feel like I am trapped in AE 🙂

So interestingly, spectres are part of the Midnight Squad mob. Are they ghosts of the dead?

I was also thinking in terms of them being rescues, so they can be in their own group that never is used in a position where they would fight, or bring them in as allies. As a rescue or ally - just choose non combat. For extra measure, you can right-click them in the group list and turn on "Don't autos-spawn" - or make them AVs as they never autospawn (as long as there are non AVs in the group).

I gave up on using persons ages ago because of this. I just make non-combat bosses if I need a person.

What cranebump said, plus it can be good say something in the mission pop up to direct them. “Fred bolted into the first room. Why does he always charge ahead?” Or some such conceit.

Previously on All That Glimmers, you defeated the 3 D plots of Death, Drowning and Destruction, only to find that Mu'Vorkhan was somehow involved, and that he wanted them all to fail. He had some big aspirations that he would help make possible by increasing the ambient magic potential through all those summoning attempts... But you killed him ending that. But who was he communicating with? Let the shunting commence with Archmage Hellewise! Wondering if I should include a "Previously On" into clue from time to time or maybe some Architect Souvenirs. I did include a souvenir at the end of 1.3 that better explains the four paths that fork off of it - but that's probably enough and all I have for now.

Spycraft & Spidermen on Twitch at about 20 mins in!. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1743627208 So great to see! Thanks again for exploring AE on SundAEs (the AE seems to also mean Aeon on Sundays 🙂 )

Not sure I can take any credit for it - it's all @LordRassilon 🙂

It's fascinating watching a group play your arc - it's like a user test - and users always approach things differently than you might expect. For example, I tend to reveal a lot through dialog, but in the playthroughs I've watched, dialog often goes unnoticed. I had the Hamidon speaking through people he controlled as part of the hive mind and the way to signal that was through ALL CAPS but not sure that was noticed. Also, other more minor things go unnoticed, like DJ Magman reciting "She Blinded me with Science" lines - I mean the whole conceit of the ally being Penny Sakamoto and the event being a "Flaming Man" concert is just to set up a character like DJ Magman to say "Good heavens Miss Sakamoto, you're beautiful!" A long way round for a joke that went unnoticed 🙂 ) On the other hand - in this playthrough's case - the bios of characters are often read, leading the player to get to more detailed info that I usually presume goes unread. You have to go a bit out of your way to get to it. But the players really got more of the story through that. Great to watch and learn.

No - I think it was @cranebump who had a thing. 🙂 And I recognize now one of my things is bombarding with clues. Oh and errant typos.

Just to connect some dots - If @LordRassilon. who posted above is Valeyard, the author of this arc, well, Valeyard is also MollyMauk76 on Twitch... And you can watch the color updates in the lastest SundAE https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1736854952 I enjoyed it too - a fun run - looking forward to the rest!

MollyMauk76 on Twitch is running AE arcs on Sundays (or SundAEs.) on Everlasting. Last night, my Genesis and Geneticists of the Coming Hammiggedon and @Darmian's Dark Deeds in Galaxy City part 1 & 2 were on... Give it a looksee. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1736854952

Return to Faultline on Twitch at about the 3-hour minute mark. Unfortunately, Trivia was going on at the same time, so many of the nuances were lost - but it's still fun for an author to watch. You'll see he is doing several AE arcs. SundAE is a regular theme. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1722829694

Robolution on Twitch! Many thanks to MollyMauk76 for continuing to explore AE stories on Sundays. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1729820890

Wow! I'm glad you found some pain relief! The tech support use case I've heard (Where rather than trying to look across an entire knowledge library for the right document, it can find the answers) but have not heard of medical advice. Pretty amazing!

I'm counting on it! 🙂 And maybe I can take solace knowing that my occasional typo is a clue to players that it was done by a human.