huang3721
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Posts posted by huang3721
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25 minutes ago, huang3721 said:
I can't find the plaque. It's a history plaque, isn't it?
Nevermind. I found it.
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On 4/21/2024 at 11:41 AM, Techwright said:
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.
I can't find the plaque. It's a history plaque, isn't it? I am going to visit Paragon City once again tonight. I've spent too much time going back and forth between Praetoria and Pocket D.
20 hours ago, MrAxe said:The CRT monitors have got to be a clue as to the year.
^Maybe the Corp can't disrupt its operations during the transition to newer hardware.
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It is up to you. The game doesn't explicitly tell us the year.
IMO, judging by the Rikti War's effect on the populace, it was probably around 2004. My hunch is all the post-Praetoria War events took place within the first decade of the 21st century.
However, Homecoming devs add their own story from issue 27 onwards, so maybe the year is closer to the 2020s. Who knows?
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20 hours ago, WhiteNightingale said:
Matt Miller (you know, the game's lead designer) would have a word with you, especially since he explicitly said, in no uncertain terms, that incarnates are the game world's gods (I'm sure the AMAs are there somewhere).
Sorry for being "that guy" again.
I don't find any statement in the AMA from any dev that equates Incarnates as gods.22 hours ago, WhiteNightingale said:What happens is that the incarnate power moves on until finding a new vessel.
Incarnate power can't move on its own.
The devs liken the power to static electricity rather than a sentient being. When a powerful entity perishes, other entities can gain the power by giving it the path of least resistance toward themselves.
I'd say the transfer happened in Merulina's case. The Leviathan was the most compatible vessel compared to other Shapers. Without a vessel to contain it, the power will lay dormant until it dissipates.
The AMA:
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According to Marchand, Hamidon killed Shadow Hunter. Tyrant revived him in the Emperor's Sword incarnate story arc.
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I have one who started in Praetoria and the "double" from Primal Earth. They are far from alike. The difference was due to the destruction of Shroud City and the Hamidon War, changing the Praetorian's family tree compared to the Primal's. Different families led to diverging upbringings. One trained to serve the Emperor from an early age, while the other had a more normal childhood, fighting evil only after the first Rikti War a decade later.
The only similarity between these two characters is they don't like the celebrities. Athanasia loathed Reese (and the Top Dogs) and joined the PPD to avoid seeing his face too often. On the other side of the rift, Namanari wasn't happy with Freedom Phalanx's handling of the war. -
I made a script to do "/copychat [tab]" every 0.1 seconds, then parse the text inside the clipboard. Using that parsed text, my toons would react whenever someone hit them with sleep, fear, knockback, etc. They would also react when their health falls too low.
I wanted my toons to become more talkative and let me do "a one-man RP". Let's say, I would become their mission control.
I wrote a dozen monologues to be randomly blurted when certain events happen. One problem is they become repetitive fast. Each level has dozens of mobs, so either I have to write a hundred monologues or make my toons less likely to yell something when an event happens (p<=10%).
Also, I suppose a Praetorian surviving the horror of war would react differently to a fresh graduate of Steel Canyon University when both of them get hurt. That means another set of monologues for each toon and each event. So, I quickly abandoned the idea.
Anyway, since the thread is about programming, is there any way to read the memory while playing CoH? Not writing, just reading. For example, it would be great to know the location of all critters on a map. No more playing hide and seek in the Orangebagel or those mine caves. I am an amateur coder (emphasis on amateur), but I know a bit of C/C++, Python, and BASIC.
edit
Oh, you were talking about our character's ability to program, not real-life examples. Whoops, sorry.
edit again because I've already commented, I guess I should write these:
I think writing a program is dull. Admiring paintings or statues is one thing. Watching the artist paint or sculpt the art from beginning to completion is another thing. So, the RP may need some artistic liberties.
People can make it relatively fast and easy. A superhero (robot?) can write and compile on the fly. Re-compiling and restarting the OS (during a hostile base takeover) happens fast enough that it can still fight off the intruders. Even better, they may be able to upload the program into foreign hardware and force it to run the program (similar to the Independence Day movie).
IMO, the hardest part is figuring out the audience. How many artistic liberties before the act of programming turns into magic and ruins the RP?-
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21 hours ago, cranebump said:
“The Poetics” pushes “plot first” for a good reason. If the story makes no sense, nothing else I do can save it.
Even if the story makes no sense or barely exists, a good design can save it. I think this is where we differ in opinion. I (and probably some authors here) don't speak English. It is unfair for me to focus on storytelling (using a language I don't quite understand) while reviewing.
A good level design, however, transcends storytelling. Anyone can appreciate a good design. A challenging design, IMO, is even better.
I don't believe in Kyksie's assessment because the "time waster" is, in my opinion, the best part of the second mission. The mission objective is similar enough to the previous objectives to give a sense of repetition. However, it throws a curve ball by putting clues in the dialogue instead of the mission objective. I rarely see authors using AE's bugs like this.
21 hours ago, cranebump said:If it’s a typical AE mish, all of the targets’ text pops at once, unless they’re located in different floors (and even then, it no guarantee they won’t). This means that even the text isn’t always helpful, unfortunately. I wouldn’t know how it came out in this one, though.
Should the dialogue fail, we'll have a standard outdoor map scenario. It still gives a sense of progressive difficulty through the arc.
On the other hand, make the second mission objective easier, and we'll have three similar objectives back to back, spanning two outdoor maps. Not good.
Also, the author made an unfortunate error on the first mission. IMO, this error made Kyksie's time-waster statement baffling. By all means, Kyksie should spend more time on the first mission than the second.
21 hours ago, UltraAlt said:You can't please everyone ... most of the time.
It's true, but this one is weird.
On 1/13/2024 at 11:26 AM, cranebump said:Kyks sez: EDIT: also, one mission has several EBs who are set to flee, making them almost impossible to defeat, which I found kinda annoying.
Including the big bad end boss. She ZOOMED off. With a burst of speed. The rescue objective was right next to the EB, so I stayed to clear everything and finish the rescue, and the mish. But...I had the boss whittled down and was going to kick her ass when she buzzed off, leaving me feeling unsatisfied as a player.
Why do people want to defeat all objectives in a single run? Some objectives are optional and more challenging, so a failure or two should not be a big deal.
Feel unsatisfied? Try again next time! Bring more friends! Bring their friends' friends! Lower the difficulty settings! (The last one is more effective than complaining in the forum.)
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My hunch is that many players take a glance at their mission, run to their next objective, kill anything in between, and repeat until they complete the whole arc. Such way of problem solving often results in this gem:
1 hour ago, Kyksie said:To complete it you have to defeat a particular spawn, but there's no way to know which it is, so you have to plow through and mop up every group until you hit the right one.
The time waster (Spoiler):
SpoilerThe dialogue hints at a captive "Ninja Grunt" rather than the usual hostile critters. Let's find him. /target_name is very helpful in this case.
Voila! -
I ran this story arc solo as a blaster with the difficulty set to (+0/x1).
The story arc has three medium maps and one outdoor map. Each map has one or two objectives and is quite plain (no linked, timed, or failable objectives). IMO, the arc is for anyone looking for a relatively short story.
All enemies are custom critters. Most of the challenges come from ambushes and the optional EBs/AVs hiding in the map. Since those EBs/AVs are optional, the difficulty remains flat through most of the arc, assuming no accidental bumping with said EBs/AVs. I like the optional EBs/AVs as an additional challenge in this simple arc.
The author wrote several homages to pulp fiction. Interestingly, they put a good portion of them as NPC information, which means someone will miss those if they kill the enemies without checking the info boxes first. This results in a seemingly barren story arc.Also, as others have pointed out, the story arc still needs polishing and spellchecking.
Thanks for writing this AE. It's enjoyable despite the errors.
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6 hours ago, cranebump said:
anytime you get anyone taking the time to actually give you feedback, that's typically gold, because it happens so infrequently
Not really. From 2023, 20 people (discounting Ultimo, Ankylosaur, Darmian, and you) posted their story arc(s) in this forum. Only eight people didn't get a review (60% got at least one). Whenever people post their arcs here, they are more likely to get a review or feedback.
Why should we feel honored by this guy? You do a much better review than him. Why?
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Out of three replies, only one guy ran this arc, and even that guy couldn't do a decent review.
On 12/30/2023 at 3:19 AM, Kyksie said:On the plus side, there actually is a plot and it actually makes sense, the custom mobs are well done and not too hard, and there are no time wasters. On the downside, the writing isn't great, it's lacking in details (i.e. blank interact bars) and there are a gazillion spelling errors.
Of course, there is a plot. The OP wrote it at the very top of this thread. Here it is, just in case you missed it:
On 12/13/2023 at 9:25 PM, StorytellingMonkey said:Something sinister is happening in the streets of Paragon City. After dark, a thick mist rolls in to obscure the streets and teenagers have gone missing. These don't seem to be normal gang related abductions.
What makes it well done? Is it because the mission was easy enough for you?
Is this AE good for solo or team play? What is the most memorable thing from this mission? Does this mission emphasize story-telling? Is the mission funny? Are there easter eggs? How about the difficulty? How about its length? Is it farmable? What do I need to know as a prospective player? In your opinion, is there any concrete way to make it better aside from fixing typos and adding text?I hope Guy#2 will play this soon and have something better for this thread. (Assuming he wants to do a review and not merely quoting people).
Last but not least, Guy #3 wrote a wall of text that has nothing to do with this AE. Crane, you are the best reviewer here. What happened?
Also, is this necessary?
On 1/3/2024 at 11:56 AM, cranebump said:Be honored, by the way, that Kyksie reviewed your stuff. It’s been a good while, and you were chosen to break the silence. You even got a compliment. Kyks won’t give you that unless you actually earn it.
Why should anyone in this forum feel honored by his review? IMO, his review is often shallow and lacking. Is he the grand arbiter of mission architects? He doesn't even practice what he preached.-
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My next mission was in Terra Volta (beat up 30 Freaks), so I went to the gate entrance and clicked one of the guards.
Nothing happened. I checked my cursor and realized maybe I clicked him wrong.
I moved it slightly downward. It didn't register.
I hovered my pointer over his chest, his kevlar, his belt. Still, nothing happened.
How about his shield? Nope.
Then, I tried his "lower part..."-
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IMO, the fbsa wiki is very good for this purpose. People can write a very detailed origin story without concern about character limits.
In-game bios should be brief, however, as people often only have limited time to read those things.(Usually while waiting for the rest of the team to show up, queuing for tf, etc)
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My second attempt to understand whatever the OP has written up there:
On 11/26/2023 at 1:44 PM, CoeruleumBlue said:The fact thatEvery CoH hero origin has two allied and two opposing ones (Does it?) made me golike"oh, this must be the mana colors!" So, Idecided that these were how they must bearrangedbased on the fact anything else gave me results that I thought were way too weirdthem like this:- White: Magic
- Green: Natural
- Red: Technology
- Black: Science
- Blue: Mutation
Magic (White) in superheroes/comic books is
usually likea religious thing, orelse literally everything superheroes and villains do would just be "umm, it'smagic."Green is natural
because, well, it's natural, it's also like "less magic"(obviously) and they (who?) can still use tech (why?), which is red(yes),and tech is like less science.*The OP forgot to describe Technology(Red) here. *
Science(Black), on the other hand, often balances out religion (how?) and is often seen as
like thisFaustian bargain of progress (Non-native here. What does this phrase even mean?), though some people candefinitelyuse science and religion, especially the mutants. (Does it means mutants can use science and religion better than people?),who are definitely blue.I have to see
themMutants as blue because I see science and magic as being way more extreme origins (non-sequitur), tech and natural are more down-to-earth (more non-sequitur), andthenmutantis just out there doing its thing and managing to somehowcombine science and magic. (What does it have to do with seeing them as blue?)
Also mutation and change in MTG is a (mostly?) blue mechanic, equipping weapons is mostly red, increasing stats is mostly green, doing whatever but there's a cost is mostly black, banding together different beings is mostly white.
The most important thing was preserving the order of the relationships. (What order?) I can't violate that since that's literally what inspired this. (?)And tech on red would be weird. Making magic and science not be black and white kind of allows some other options, but that kept ending up with magic on green and mutant on white and tech on black and other things that just seemed really weird to me. This is the one where nothing seems obviously weird to me.IMO, since the OP doesn't explain much, it would be much better if the OP just draw two tables. One for mana colors and one for "mostly" mana colors.
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1 hour ago, Glacier Peak said:
What
It reminds me of that old cartoon opening sequence:
Long ago, the Fire Nation lived in harmony. Then, everything changed when Fire Nation attacked itself...
Or, something like that.
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Longbow's purpose is to counter and destroy Arachnos, while Vanguard's is to protect Earth from alien/interdimensional incursions. They can't do much against an unaligned, super-powered American lunatic hell-bent on doing nasty things. (Usually, this is where FBSA steps in).
Hero Corps is more or less an Auction House. They match Supers with people or governments willing to pay for their service. They also have a global reach (something that Freedom Corps is lacking). If I'm not mistaken, aside from the Freedom Corps, no other entities have the same capability as the Hero Corps.
I don't think they are redundant. Maybe because they don't show up often in the later part of the game, they seem superseded. Just leave them alone until the HC Team can figure out a story or two featuring those guys.
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I am probably the weird guy here because I use a comic book time scale. IMO, Issue 23 opened so many problems. (Incarnates, Praetoria destruction, its tech transfer, the incoming Battalion, etc.) Therefore, something had to happen in the next few months. My suspension of disbelief can't accept Paragon City (and Rogue Isles) went into stasis post-Issue 23 for a decade.
IMO, the First Rikti War happened only a few years ago. (The lore said 2002, but it wouldn't make any difference if it happened in 2012 or 2022.) The small timeframe explains why most of Paragon City areas look like slums with homeless people everywhere. There were too many disasters in such a short time. Also, xenophobia is rampant cause the Second Rikti War is still ongoing.Speaking about multiverse, I consider CoH and CoH: HC as different but identical universes. In the COH universe, most of my old toons have retired and moved on at the end of Issue 23. Yes, I lost contact as soon as NCSoft pulled the plug. Although I can no longer interact with them, they are still there, minding their business as ordinary citizens. As their story had concluded when the sunset came, I don't see any merit to recreate my old toons from CoH.
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Goldside.
I love it so much that I kept playing its contents and story arcs over and over again.
Also, I was very lucky. When I started playing my Praetorian toon back in 2020, I met with Darmian. Playing as a team (even with only two members) is much better than playing alone. It was a great journey.
Problems:
- Most of its contents are in the low-level bracket and they are harder than its Primal counterpart. Starting a new gold toon is more challenging than red or blue.
- Some people feel the morality system isn't quite adequate.
I used to lurk at nearby hospitals (or First Ward's field hospital). Offered to team up with people and finish their mission. Or just helping them survive First/Night Ward.
Wasn't quite successful. Pretoria is more or less a single player map and people often returned back to Primal after a few rounds of First/Night Ward.
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10 hours ago, TheOtherTed said:22 hours ago, UltraAlt said:
I don't know, but I'm pretty convinced that the word "coward" came from "cowherd".
Not sure what this has to do with anything, but it was too good not to quote.
One quick google search:
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8 hours ago, pawstruck said:
How the hell do you rationalize surviving even a single burst of rifle fire
IMO, it works both ways. My somehow vigilante felled a huge swath of Nerva Spectral Daemons with mere normal bullets. Good old kinetic bullets powered by Newton's law of motion.
Edit
He also did it in a single night. Alone. One should wonder how many bullets he brought (and fired) on that fateful night.
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Even better, on the first mission, if you play through the map quickly enough, you'll have TWO Twinshots. Double the loon double the fun!
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IMO, this is an example where "just wait until the price stabilizes" doesn't make sense. Because the item in question is a Common Salvage, how long is the reasonable waiting time? An hour? Fifteen minutes? Everyone can go to Ouro, select a mission with arcane enemies, set its difficulty to -1x8, and run it.
For example, when I ran Defeat Goddess Hequat Mission, I got two spirit thorns from the 98th and 109th Mu critter. In Catch Dr. Aeon, I got three from the 37th, 48th, and 59th Arachnos critter. In Get Void Hunter rifles for Abyss, I got four from the 111th, 135th, 233rd, and 263rd Council critter. None of these mobs are arcane type.
I will get the correct common salvages after defeating around 100 critters, so I won't wait since I can get them in less than an hour. Or, from another perspective, paying thousands of Inf* to skip killing 100 critters doesn't quite make sense.
Low-level toons would take longer to kill 100 critters, but I am sure it's quicker to run a few missions than waiting for the price drops.
council.csv mu.csv arachnos.csv mu.txt arachnos.txt council.txt
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4 hours ago, Go0gleplex said:
It doesn't depend on gravity to run.
That's an interesting point. Praetoria sits only a few meters above the river. Yet, it has tunnels with waterways (Lethe) and barges beneath it. The underground river should flood the tunnels, IMO.
I can assume Lethe is an isolated artificial river, and Praetorians waterproof the whole islands. The assumption creates more questions than answers, though.
Nice catch!
Where do they go?
in General Discussion
Posted · Edited by huang3721
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The soldiers went to the infirmary deep inside the mothership. Like humans, the Rikti have teleporters, but theirs are much more advanced. With this technology, the Rikti can repel human attacks without any casualties.
MSR (Mutual Survival Review) serves as a training session for both sides.
Yup, humans got their teleportation tech from the Rikti.