Hostages and Stealth Fields

[Andreah]

I think it would be a Huge QoL improvement if hostages, at least in radio missions, could see through stealth. 

 

It's always a mess trying to figure out who has a stealth field, convincing them they have a stealth field, explaining why it's a bad thing, but only right now, and then teaching them how to turn the $#!$!% thing off until we get the hostage out.

[krj12]

I agree.   But I will be shocked if it's ever implemented, since it's been suggested over and over and over.

[TemporalVileTerror]

I was thinking about this problem, and while my idea may not be a feasible solution . . . what if we added a "middle man" to these hostages and similar escort NPCs?

 

Since, as I understand it, the issue is one with how the hostage NPCs are coded to use the same stealth detection as enemies in the game, and changing one would change the other . . . what if an intermediary, invisible-to-players high-speed flying small-bounding box NPC was added.  Think of it as the Prestige Power Pet Wisp, but the player can't see it at all, and it would be moving at max Flight speed.  This new NPC would have the absolute minimum value for their Stealth AND the absolute maximum value for their Perception, and be completely immune to damage and effects from all sources.  This invisible NPC then follows the player, and the existing hostage NPCs get reprogrammed to follow the invisible NPC.

 

There could be some problems, naturally.  But I'm curious as to how feasible it would be, and if it would at least be worth experimenting with for a while.

[Andreah]

It occurs to me there's another option: 

 

A NEW POOL 😮 

 

The "Mission Pool"

 

It has powers in it to make doing missions more straightforward. 

 

Power: Hostage Lasso: use this on a hostage and it will follow you and only you through thick and thin until the mission completes or you are defeated or release it.

 

Power: Hostage Carry: use this power to sling the hostage over your back. To carry to the door. You cannot use any offensive powers while it is active, but any and all movement powers including teleport.

 

Power: Glowie Sensor: use this power to mark the nearest glowy on the map for the entire team.

 

Power: Mob Sensor: Use this power to reveal the locations of all mobs within 150' as map triangles.

 

One more power would round it out to five. Ideas?

 

I have it!

 

Power: The Bouncer: Use this power to bounce stuck teammates or mobs out of walls, ceiling, and unreachable positions.

Edited March 14, 2021 by Andreah

[TemporalVileTerror]

Perhaps a non-Prestige version of Reveal?  Granted, when Reveal had a cooldown of 30 minutes, that would have made more sense.

In any event, maybe -that- Mission Pool idea is worth its own, dedicated thread?

[Starforge]

I was honestly just thinking something like Reveal as a fifth power.

[Andreah]

It was a bit tongue-in-cheek as a suggestion, but it's growing on me. If such a pool existed, I could see taking them.

 

There may be ideas for more serious powers related to missions and a thread would be a good place to mull them over.

[TemporalVileTerror]

Well, if not a Pool, then at -least- potenitally as Craftable or Day Job Temp Powers, neyh?

 

 

BUT to the original topic of this thread . . . 

At the very least, I wouldn't mind having a "Combat Walk" Toggle.   Drop my character's speed to the same value as pre-Inherent Swift days, without disabling all my Survival Toggles.

I find that Swift is the -biggest- problem when it comes to escorts getting lost all the time.  If I could just slow down -by JUST a little bit,- then it wouldn't be such a problem.  Which is only further exasperated when I play a character with something like Quickness or Lightning Reflexes, or got hit with The Fool or Heightened Speed from the Prestige Roulette Powers.

 

Edited March 14, 2021 by TemporalVileTerror
Additional conditions.

[Darkneblade]

How about just make them mini-pets? As I understand pets always follow their summoner except few cases (You are on high ground, pet can't fly).

[TemporalVileTerror]

I believe the issue there would be the player defeat conditions, @Darkneblade.  Normally if a player is defeated, then anyone else can pick up the escort duty.  If an NPC becomes a dedicated Pet to the player who rescue them, then that may cause an issue where granting the Pet to another player post-defeat become conflicting code.

I'm not an expert though.  So, if your solution works and is more feasible; YAY!

[Andreah]

There is one possible change, but it might not be the best for every mission.

 

Have the hostage run to the door on their own. But, they stop if any mission or ambush mobs are within 50' of them -- i.e., they're re-captured.

 

All the team has to do is make sure all the mobs on the way out are defeated, and the mission will complete in due course.

[Razor Cure]

I know this has been suggested a ton. WOuld be super cool to hear from an actual dev/coder person, to at least finally settle the 'super easy fix, but never done' vs 'some obscure code/power reason.'

[Black Zot]

14 hours ago, Andreah said:

There is one possible change, but it might not be the best for every mission.

 

Have the hostage run to the door on their own. But, they stop if any mission or ambush mobs are within 50' of them -- i.e., they're re-captured.

 

All the team has to do is make sure all the mobs on the way out are defeated, and the mission will complete in due course.

 

Or just do what many missions do already and have the objective complete immediately when the hostage is initially freed, no escort necessary.  Can't use the coding as an excuse when the code's already there to make it happen.

[srmalloy]

17 hours ago, Andreah said:

Have the hostage run to the door on their own. But, they stop if any mission or ambush mobs are within 50' of them -- i.e., they're re-captured.

I'd be happy if the random NPCs running around would run to the nearest exit when you showed up. About the third time one ran between my Brute and the mob he was pounding, pushing him out of melee range, it stopped being cute. Or the steady stream of panicking civilians running through the cluster of heroes in the plaza/parking lot in Peregrine Island while they're fighting the raiding Rikti.

[BigHeavy]

23 hours ago, TemporalVileTerror said:

At the very least, I wouldn't mind having a "Combat Walk" Toggle.  

wouldn't  RP-walk  (the walk power) suffice?  It shuts off all powers...could be dangerous though...

[TemporalVileTerror]

Hence the inclusion of the word "Combat" in the name:  I want my Toggles and Powers to still be accessible.   I just want to use the original default movement speed from when the game was originally released.

[AerialAssault]

Some of the newer, post-GR missions do feature hostages, escorts and allies which will follow you through stealth, so it's definitely possible.

 

Hell, if ambushes can see you through stealth, there's no reason the rescue target can't.

[Andreah]

11 hours ago, srmalloy said:

About the third time one ran between my Brute and the mob he was pounding, pushing him out of melee range, it stopped being cute.

As the song goes, "Don't tug on Superman's cape"

Edited March 16, 2021 by Andreah

[MsSmart]

Totally agree!

 

But should be in any mission or TF, in fact the stealth field should extend to cover the hostage as well!

 

Sue

[MTeague]

On 3/14/2021 at 4:00 PM, Andreah said:

Power: Hostage Carry: use this power to sling the hostage over your back. To carry to the door. You cannot use any offensive powers while it is active, but any and all movement powers including teleport.

 

Need a redside version where you bonk them over the head before doing the fireman's carry.

[Herotu]

Being able to increase... (what is it, Perception?) on allies is a thing, isn't it?