Bloated task forces & Architect

[Techwright]

Just curious.  Has anyone attempted to create a refined version of one or more of the oft-complained about task forces?  I realize it would be the instanced missions only, not any travel or street-level events like Babbage, but I'd be up for seeing how people creatively refine these. 

 

I've not done any architect work since the original game, but I seem to recall a limitation on missions?  So maybe an alt-TF would need to be broken up into parts?

[Darmian]

@Take Oneexperimented with the Synapse TF witih "Clockwork Rising", to see if a lot of the extraneous malarkey could be cut from it.

[Darmian]

8 minutes ago, Techwright said:

but I seem to recall a limitation on missions?

Well, it depends what you want!  5 missions per arc/slot is the max, but you can go for a Part One, Part Two and so on (I did this) that either just continues the story or works like a contact telling you to come back when you're the next viable level for their missions.

[Kyksie]

I ran through "Clockwork Rising", it was a bit generic but still good.

 

I'm the first to recommend trimming the real Synapse TF to about half it's size. Of all the things you need to do to get accolades, that's probably the most time consuming and least fun, unless it's an RP TF where your character's father was murdered by the Clockwork to get his dentures, letting the player do the Inigo Montoya bit when encountering the King. However, the devs have stated that you can't just push a button to turn an AE into a real arc, so no luck there.

[Take One]

1 hour ago, Kyksie said:

I ran through "Clockwork Rising", it was a bit generic but still good.

 

I wanted to make it close to the original while cutting some of the chaff. If I was to make an entirely new Synapse TF it would have been about Crey instead.

 

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However, the devs have stated that you can't just push a button to turn an AE into a real arc, so no luck there.

 

The intent was to see if it was possible to fit the gist of the story in 5 missions, which I believe it was. The devs can do with this knowledge as they wish. I have no doubt that they can "fix" the TF if they really want, however they want to do it. As far as I know they haven't played my arc anyway, but now, if the question comes up, I can point to it.

Edited May 1, 2021 by Take One

[Darmian]

No, they can't just push a button and turn an AE into a "real" arc...or can they?  It's still just doors!  You write an AE, get an external door assigned rather than the green code beam, which is just a door, and bingo! (Yes, I'm simplifying but even so.)

[Kyksie]

IIRC the live devs said as much. The code structure is different.

[Darmian]

On 5/1/2021 at 11:13 PM, Kyksie said:

IIRC the live devs said as much. The code structure is different.

You're right,  you can't just just convert them.  The mistake here I think is believing you actually have to. If you're replicating a regular mission, like a tip mission as a for instance, and not using cutscenes/on screen dialog boxes/branching arc choices, you really shouldn't need to convert at all.  You just need a contact to send you somewhere and a door to generate the map inside.

Edited May 4, 2021 by Darmian