World War Two

[Ultimo]

So, I've been tinkering for a while now, trying to make a series of missions set during World War 2.  I've made one mission now, it would actually be later in the series, being set in Europe after D-Day, but I'm struggling with some of the other theatres.  I'd intended to have a mission from each significant area (North Africa, Sicily, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Berlin and the Pacific), but I don't know how many missions I can include in the arc, and I can't decide on maps.

 

The difficult ones are North Africa and Sicily.  I can use the St. Martial and Mercy Island maps for Europe, even Berlin, and Croatoa can stand in for parts of Eastern Europe and the Pacific.

 

Anyone have any suggestions for maps I might use?

Anyone know how many missions I can include?

Edited April 24, 2022 by Ultimo
Added a photo

[Jiro Ito]

You can have up to 5 missions in one Arc.  If you need more space, you could write multiple arcs as part of the same overarching storyline.

 

As for maps, you could use some of the Cimerora maps for North Africa (under Unique - Cimerora and Unique - Newly Released).  Unique - Outdoor will have a lot of forests and burning or destroyed cities that you could make use of.

 

I read in the AMA that part of the reason they never went back to revisit this era (which includes the rise of Statesman as well as Brass Monday and some other interesting things) is the difficulty in creating all new artwork to match the era.

[Ultimo]

Ya, I did consider doing separate arcs for each warzone... but I dislike doing that, I prefer my stories to be all in one arc (though, that does tend to make them rather long).

 

I'll look over the Cimerora maps again, though.

[Frozen Burn]

Love the concept!  And yes, 5 Missions to an arc.  I could certainly see a player having to do 5 different missions all over the world in 1 arc.  Or, if one geographic area is particularly "troublesome," do a couple missions in a row at that locale before moving onto the next (maybe, 3 separate locations in 1 arc).  And then arc 2 can be "phase 2" of the plan... or maybe, doing the covert op work in arc 1 to set up the invasion in arc 2.  ....just some thoughts.

 

Anyway...

• You are spot on with St. Martial and Mercy - they are perfect for those Euro city looks. 
• There are some Nerva maps that give a good "jungle" feel that could be for Pacific theatre. 
• There's an Aracnos Submarine Base map that has an underground submarine port - that could be cool to use.
• There's an outdoor Grandville map that could be used for a beachhead invasion.  
• Numerous cargo ship maps that can be used
• There are different outdoor factory maps (Mercy, Sharkhead, Cap Au) that could be used "blow up munitions factory" or etc
• Cimerora maps are perfect for Sicily / Italy.  
• Croatoa maps could be used for Western Euro farmland battlgrounds
• And of course, there are the usual outdoor wooded maps (also burning) as mentioned above that could be used.
• Manticore's Mansion map has a nice euro / castle feel.  The tech back room may be a little too modern, though.
• Cap Au WSPDR map also looks European and there could be potential for the radio building - save or sabotage? 
• Older outdoor city maps could be useful - the ones with the brick buildings.  There is also 1 with carnie tents that could be used for Eastern Euro "gypsies."
• Faultline and Echo: Faultline maps could be useful.  Bomb or save the dam!
• Port Oakes Ship Yard map - Destroy the new Axis Freighter! ... or Save the Allied ship building yard!

So many good options to use!  

 

Unfortunately, nothing really suits North Africa theatre.  But maybe you could to a cargo ship "off the coast of North Africa" to satisfy that?  

 

Good luck!  Please post when you have them up and completed - I'd love to play through it.

[Ultimo]

Ok, I've published it as The World at War.  Right now, there's two missions.  I'd welcome any feedback.

 

The first one is set in North Africa, using a Cimerora map.

The second one is intended to be the THIRD in the series, but there is no #2 yet.  That one will be in Sicily once I decide on a mission.

 

Of note, I'm trying to decide what to do with the various superhuman enemies and allies you meet.  I feel like they're just to easy as Boss level enemies, but I'm not sure about making them Elite Bosses, as there are occasions where there will be several wandering together as a patrol.  What do you think, is it unreasonable to make them Elite Bosses?

Edited April 27, 2022 by Ultimo

[Techwright]

Too bad one cannot import bases to be used as mission maps.   Dacy posted one the owner named "Karma" that would be perfect for Sicily street fighting

 

[Ashington]

oh that brings me back..waaay back to the Freedom Force Sequel, where they traveled back in time and fought the third reich.

 

WARNING! flashing images and silver age superheroes!

 

 

Edited April 27, 2022 by Ashington

[cranebump]

Looks like Tombstone crashing through the window there:-)

[Ultimo]

Ok, it's up to three missions now, a little rough around the edges, but the basic stuff is there.

First mission is in North Africa

Second mission is in Southern Italy

Third mission is in Europe

 

Fourth mission is planned for Berlin

Fifth will take us to the Pacific, Guadalcanal

 

Any thoughts or feedback would be great.

[Ultimo]

Anyone finding them too easy?  Too difficult?

I've been debating upgrading all the actual villains to Elite Bosses, with certain ones to Arch Villain.  Any thoughts?

[KC4800]

I roleplayed it with a Merc/Poison MM on easy setting 0/1. With all the wandering mobs, I think it was a smart move on my part. Trying to find all of them on a kill All mission 3 would have maybe turned Frustrating. I do really love the maps you chose for the different countries. If I ran this with a Tank or a Brute, might find it too easy though. That's the challenge with these isn't it?

[Bay]

On 5/1/2022 at 12:07 PM, Ultimo said:

Anyone finding them too easy?  Too difficult?

I've been debating upgrading all the actual villains to Elite Bosses, with certain ones to Arch Villain.  Any thoughts?

Me again. @Bay that ran it when you only had the one mission published. Back again with more input and a smile!

 

As with all feedback, I understand I'm just a single person with my personal preferences, so I genuinely hope you get a variety of unique feedback to be able to leverage mine into an average. Disclaimer done...

 

Ran this at +3/x5 on a Bio Armor/Energy Melee fully Incarnate Tank, Bosses on after the first mission. I loved the difficulty, even in the first mission with Solo Bosses turned off. I was reminded that I have Inspirations and I really should be using them, lol. 

 

Feedback relative to all missions:

-I'd consider minor tweaks to the mass enemy groups. Add in a Sergeant to fill the Lieutenant rank and then 'upgrade' the Officers to Bosses, for both enemy and friendly NPCs. This is more of an immersion point as you wouldn't encounter that many Officers out in the field, but also understanding this is a comic book game.

 

I really, really liked the Sand Scorpion mission. Like, really liked it to the point I gabbed a couple of screenshots because the spawn points were, in my opinion, boarding flawless.

 

I will agree with KC4800 on the third mission. I don't mind every enemy group being a patrol. I don't mind Kill-All's. I don't mind outdoor maps. Individually, lol. Now, with a team I can see the (current) final mission becoming very hectic very quickly, just like a 'real world' warzone and I like that idea. However, I ran it solo and I had to keep reminding myself I was running this to give feedback and because everything up to that point was awesome so hitting my 'Leave TF' macro would have been a cheating disservice, lol.

 

All-in-all, I have this thread kept open in a separate tab to ensure I don't miss any updates/progress. I've attached one of the screenshots I took because the overhead spawning couldn't have been any better.

[Ultimo]

Much appreciation for the feedback.

 

I realize the soldiers are all pretty easy, I kind of wanted that to allow the heroes to feel like Captain America beating up the hordes of bad guys... until they meet the actual superhumans, who are MUCH sturdier stuff.  Most of the superhumans are Bosses, though, so I wouldn't want to upgrade the Officers to that level.  I might make them Lieutenants, though.

 

I should also say, much of the text is going to be overhauled, so don't worry too much about that side of it.  The only thing I'm not sure of is how to change the size/colour of the text (such as in the title, and perhaps in the chat bubbles of certain bosses).

 

The next mission is set to be during the attack on Berlin.  The heroes will be called upon to attack the hideout of one of the more powerful of the German supers while the conventional troops are engaging the normal troops in Berlin proper.

[Bay]

2 hours ago, Ultimo said:

The only thing I'm not sure of is how to change the size/colour of the text (such as in the title, and perhaps in the chat bubbles of certain bosses).

No idea how to manipulate in-game speech bubbles, if you even can, but I do know you can do all sorts of fun stuff with the mission text from the contact.

 

This link should take you right to the text manipulation section of an AE guide on the HC Wiki.

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Mission_Architect_Tutorial_100_Series#Tricks_with_Text

[cranebump]

The command for text size is called “scale,” and is not available for all text. For example, you can tweak clues for color and such, but not the text that shows when you complete a glowie click. Those always come out green. 

[Ultimo]

Fourth mission is up, but I'm debating switching the map.  One issue is the ally I included.  His presence makes the fight with the boss far too easy, so I'm pondering how to include him.

 

Anyway, it's there if anyone wants to give it a try.

 

Also, all the ratings were reset, I couldn't republish the arc after editing it locally... so any ratings or reviews are welcome.

[Ultimo]

Ok!

 

So, I've finished all the missions up, and revamped the dialogs.  I swapped the map in the first mission, I'd like to hear opinions from those who played the original map... which do you prefer?  The current one, through the pass, or the old one, the castle?

 

As usual, all comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

 

 

[Ultimo]

Has anyone tried it?  I've had no feedback here or in game...

[Ultimo]

Still hoping for some feedback...

[Doughboy]

I just did the first mission of this arc and really liked it. The map worked well as North Africa.  I ran it solo at +4x8 with my WWI themed shield tank. The minions were red to me but I noticed the EB was level 54 which was great. The reinforcements arriving near the end was a neat touch. 🙂 

 

I'll probably run this again just because I really like the WWII flavor.

 

Nice work!

 

UPDATE: second mission is great. Really looks like Italy. The German supers are really tough. I'm enjoying this even though they've defeated me twice. That Pestilence and his healing plants are the worst! Hahaha

Edited June 11, 2022 by Doughboy

[Getaways]

Just finished.  I really liked the retro look with the WWII theme.  Liked the mysterious figure at the end and curious to know what happened in the aftermath (trying not to bring spoilers).

 

[Doughboy]

Finished the arc at +1/x8 on my DP/MA blaster. Really enjoyed it!  Can't wait to see the next mission.