Focused Feedback: Dr. Aeon Strike Force

[AerialAssault]

The premise behind the Brickernauts is not unlike an Embalmed Cadavers self-destruct, except cranked up to 11 as is befitting for a challenge mode.

 

Carefully prioritising targets will make the whole thing better. Singling out the Brickernauts first means you don't have to worry about them later. Leaving them for last means you can avoid their explosion at your leisure. Creating a typical mob mosh pit where you can't see them is a recipe for disaster.

 

 

[hieronymusboss]

Aaaand here's PART THREE of my suggestions and tweaks for the written parts of the Strike Force.

This covers everything from the first "ripple" to the beginnings of the finale mission. The finale suggestions will be its own doc. Not necessarily because there's that much to go over - but because I'm anxious to get this out now, but I'm currently stuck trying to solo Zoe and Mr. Rodney, and haven't cracked them yet. So here's everything up until that point! Hope its useful. Again SPOILERS lie within.

 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/16Y8rg8cmN_xNGGTRJezgQ4BKqrPJeh4UVDQwxbGNguo/edit?usp=sharing

Edited November 15, 2021 by hieronymusboss

[Replacement]

On 11/14/2021 at 12:22 PM, Cobalt Arachne said:

But a warning indicator showing you exactly where that is was intentionally excluded,

 

Not gonna say it needs it, lest of all a big tutorial red zone, but some thematic and subtle floor ripples that suggest the approximate size would be swell, particularly since it's double the size of some of the other "stay out" pbaoe effects like Protean and Arakhn.

[golstat2003]

1 hour ago, Replacement said:

 

Not gonna say it needs it, lest of all a big tutorial red zone, but some thematic and subtle floor ripples that suggest the approximate size would be swell, particularly since it's double the size of some of the other "stay out" pbaoe effects like Protean and Arakhn.

 

This is a great idea!

[twozerofoxtrot]

At some point between the beginning of Mission 2 and end of Mission 3 I got credit for a Vanguard Sword kill for the new badge.

 

I rushed to the end of both, with the exception of downing all the contestants at the beginning of 2, so I'm not sure wherein there is a Vanguard? Maybe Flambeaux is flagged as one?

 

Just reporting in case it's a bug. Not exactly farmable and minor, but just in case this isn't WAI.

[twozerofoxtrot]

Not sure if already reported, but Sonic Nade (at least on Mission 4) needs to have it's InfoTab description fixed.

[LQT]

There's a ramp in mission 1 that AI pets, including the Secretary, really can't manage well. I've seen both fail to descend down the ramp on a few runs now and the only way to get them to properly travel is to slowly guide them down.

[Booper]

Release Candidate 1 Updates:

 

Dr. Aeon Strike Force [Focused Feedback: Dr. Aeon Strike Force]

New Strike Force: Chasing Fool’s Gold [Dr. Aeon] (Villain, Level 35-50)

The supervillain genius, Dr. Aeon, has begun to take notice of suspicious unscientific activity going on within Aeon City! Such things are inconceivable! None can be permitted to befoul the glory of his utopia!

 

In his unparalleled brilliance, he has decided to enlist the service of local villains for the purpose of helping him maintain and enforce order! Definitely not to deflect any potential responsibility or liabilities from himself! Never!

 

However, even his immaculate mind couldn’t predict the culmination of this plot. Decades of planning see the rise of an unexpected threat of which Dr. Aeon played no small part in helping create, in more ways than one!

 

Strike Force Contact: Dr. Aeon, Aeon City, Cap Au Diable

• Located atop the balcony of the Arachnos administrative building in Aeon City; This location can be reached through the elevators with rounded doors located inside the lobby.
• Also available through the LFG tab.

Completion of the Dr. Aeon Strike Force will give players the option of selecting a new enhancement category as a reward called D-Sync Origin Enhancements (DSO) once every 18 hours.

The Dr. Aeon Strike Force also features brand new musical compositions, created specifically for it!

 

Bug Fixes and Changes:

• Using the Dimensional Grounding Ray any time on a Golden Brickernaut will interfere with their delicate AU technology and cause the targeting of their self-destruct pack to lose Friend-or-Foe scanners, hitting players and Gold Brickers alike. This will appear in the combat log as "Uncontained Power Core Meltdown".
• Using the Golden Throwing Wrench against a Golden Brickernaut while it's counting down to self-destruct will also cause this interference.
• The Golden Throwing Wrench no longer applies its guaranteed Mag 2 Confuse on Brickernauts (it still has a 10% chance to confuse).
• Adjusted the Aeon explains cut scene slightly; Player 7 is now texting and facing away, Player 8 is now plotting.
• Fixed typo "postules" to "pustules" in ASF Mission 5, Ripple 2's pods.
• Added fix to the bioelectric pustules that drops them to 0.01% HP after being drained; Their drain wasn't happening consistently in testing.
• Added damaged texture for Golden Roller once he drops below 50% health.
• Prevent objectives from Roller and Midas from triggering out of sequence.
• Remove doors from buildings that will phase out.
• The Vanguard AVs now properly receive buffed stats at high difficulty options.
• The Luddites now properly receive buffed stats at high difficulty options.
• Pets summoned by the Vanguard AVs now properly inherit the phase volume of their owners.
• Text fixed in the Ripple Resonator power that incorrectly refers to it as a Disruption Arrow.
• Fixed missed PsiCurse dialog that referred to Flagg instead of Apex.
• PsiCurse now properly recognizes Praetorian characters as level 50 for dialog qualifications.
• Fixed a few NPC powers that would crash the client if viewed.
• The fights in Mission 5 and 7 that have phases now flow properly as a stacked dependency and teams that damage the boss very quickly will not break the encounter.

[Cenozoic]

The ASF is a great addition to the lineup!  The whole thing is over-the-top in a very entertaining way.

 

Ran into one frustrating caveat:  Zoe can fly away while Held.

 

So I'm soloing the ASF, and I am fighting Princess Zoe.  She is held (mag80 steady state using Power Analyzer) and then she gets up and runs away.  That is ... not realistic toward the game mechanic of being held.  Otherwise she would have gotten up much earlier.

 

Respectfully requesting her "run away, spawn baddies" mechanism is suppressed while Held so that mez is recognized correctly.  Otherwise the whole "use support to win" mechanism ignores the Mind Controllers like me whose only contribution is mez.  

 

Thanks for reading, and this SF is a blast!  

[Ruin Mage]

That's working as intended. She will ignore -fly and holds during her 3 "run!" moments.

[Zhym]

I'm working my way through this solo (we'll see how the AV fights go...my character is fully IO'd but not min-maxed by any means), and while it's a great arc, one thing sticks out at me so far:

 

In Part 4, why isn't there an option to hear Professor Echo out?

 

I get that it's a Strike Force and most teams are going to burn through the dialogs anyway.  But it's weird that the dialog forces the character into a "No talk, fight!" response, compared with other dialogs where the character does at least seem to have a choice of fighting or talking (e.g., the tournament doorkeeper), especially when the fight results in a bit of an infodump anyway.  The whole thing could easily have had an option where you listen to what Echo has to say and he teleports out.  It's the first point in the SF where the only choice was something my character really wouldn't do.  And if all I'm going to do is attack Professor Echo, why would I stop to talk to him in the first place?

 

Was there supposed to be another dialog tree there that didn't make it in?

Edited November 28, 2021 by Zhym

[Fira]

So far, played through as duo with a friend on 4x8 Vilainous, intending to check up on things difficulty wise, take time to explore the maps (6 hours.. lots of looking around, object finding and discussing) then 3x8 with a full team (much shorter) to explore usage in a team setting.

 

If I had to try to write a short and honest review for Dr Aeon's SFMA Collection, I'd want to say that it clearly has by far some of the best content in the game in it. Even though there are some rough edges (some typos, way too much text even for SFMAs, some awkward details eg. textures, bit bumpy boss balancing) and continuity can get a bit convoluted, the scenes overall are impressive, with clear attention to detail, interesting enacted situations, actual boss fights unlike most rest of game, and almost everything in these regards is absolutely top-notch, with some insane ideas! (fitting!) - not to mention I'm a huge fan of Cap and the idea of pushing the Goldbrickers further, though perhaaaaps that's a bit far.

 

However I'm still a bit sad for Dr Aeon and all the work he put into it, because his SFMA Collection could probably have been made into like one full SF and two Whole Signature Story Arcs with a bit more assembly work instead, and these would likely be the three best arcs in the game. But instead seems he hacked the AE screen to force playing the Collection in alphabetic order, in one go, with a team, and promising some DSO rewards or something, so it's a bit messy and people are just going to blindly run it without a care...

 

[VulnaviaPhibes]

I'm just popping in to say how much I love Becky the Tarantula Mistress, and that I love that she's getting some well-deserved screen time, and I really appreciate the makeover the art team gave her! The pink is so swanky, and I love the custom decals! Hot Mess Express indeed... ❤️

 

(It has always been my headcanon that tarantulas customize their exosuits with stickers and decals and stuff and it's amazing to see that confirmed with my favorite tarantula of them all :3) 

 

All the little details, like the beds in the smelting factory, the multiple clickable pizzas, the secret Crey experiments, not to mention the new music... SO much love went into this release, and I want you to know that I appreciate and ❤️ you. ^_^

Edited November 29, 2021 by VulnaviaPhibes

[Doomguide2005]

     Just noting that when I looked at entries in CoD2.0 the Gold Brickers are not listed as doing what I expected with their Sonic weapons.  I expected to see a resistance debuff (like with Wailers and PC Sonic Assault etc.) instead the effect is a damage debuff.  Is this correct?  Is the entry incorrect or lacking an additional effect.  In short, what's up?

[Bopper]

4 hours ago, Doomguide2005 said:

     Just noting that when I looked at entries in CoD2.0 the Gold Brickers are not listed as doing what I expected with their Sonic weapons.  I expected to see a resistance debuff (like with Wailers and PC Sonic Assault etc.) instead the effect is a damage debuff.  Is this correct?  Is the entry incorrect or lacking an additional effect.  In short, what's up?

The info you see in City of Data was last updated in August. You might be seeing a lot of outdated information.