Rikti toons?

[Ender Shadowborne]

3 minutes ago, biostem said:

 

I am not offended.  Your question was ill formed and lacking in clarity.  There are a lot of powers available if we were to go the archetype route, though.

Okay, but.... nevermind....

[arcane]

There’s already a lot of semi-friendly Rikti on Excelsior tho tbh

 

Cons as friendly and helps other players at least, but bit of a grump

Edited April 25, 2022 by arcane

[BurtHutt]

12 hours ago, Ender Shadowborne said:

I know the answer is that they'll never be a thing, but hear me out: In theory; could Rikti player characters become a thing? I know that most likely they won't be a thing, but I suppose I'd also like to know why, barring skeleton differences, of course... I mean... just wondering, really...

I think it's very feasible. I don't know if I'd want to see it as a priority but that would depend on what it entails. I really like the Khelds due to the shapeshifting and all that - fun concept. It's superhero stuff - always an option! 

[Lazarillo]

14 hours ago, Rudra said:

You mean aside from the lore that says players discover the Lost are turning into Rikti not earlier than the late 20s, the Vanguard (among other forces) are looking for Rikti with signs even in the starting zones telling people to report Rikti sightings for apprehension, the availability of some weapons not accessible to players (that I know of), or the fact the Rikti don't become friendly to humanity until the 40s?

The lore says players don't discover "the Malta group" even exists until near the end of an arc you've been fighting them all along, only for Roy Cooling to come along 20 levels earlier and be like "you know, the Malta group, everyone's heard of the Malta group". 

 

Or how they are just randomly outed in the newspaper all the time in Grandville.  Maybe that's the trick.  Rikti are fine to play as long as you're on Redside.

[Rudra]

The Roy Cooling arc is one of the things that makes me leery about adding things that changes the lore. Because his arc does show Malta early but all the other Malta content addresses their presence as a big secret you find out later. It is a lore disconnect that ruins the experience. And Grandville is a 40-50 zone, so them being mentioned in the papers there all the time is no different than Peregrine Island where the radios mention them all the time. At that point, they are a known group.

Edited April 25, 2022 by Rudra
Edited to add "other".

[krj12]

I would really like to play a Rikti.  It would probably be less work just to add a new Rikti body type, and use existing assets for armor pieces/faces.

New AT would be interesting, but heck of a lot of work on the devs.

 

[Lazarillo]

1 hour ago, Rudra said:

And Grandville is a 40-50 zone, so them being mentioned in the papers there all the time is no different than Peregrine Island where the radios mention them all the time.

Malta don't show up in police scanner missions.

[Rudra]

Shows how much time I spend blue side....

 

Anyway, the level range of Grandville makes the effective time line for the character appropriate for Malta being known. They have already been exposed by that point.

Edited April 25, 2022 by Rudra
Edited to remove extraneous word "to".

[zenijos10]

17 hours ago, Rudra said:

You mean aside from the lore that says players discover the Lost are turning into Rikti not earlier than the late 20s, the Vanguard (among other forces) are looking for Rikti with signs even in the starting zones telling people to report Rikti sightings for apprehension, the availability of some weapons not accessible to players (that I know of), or the fact the Rikti don't become friendly to humanity until the 40s? Aside from that? I don't really know. Since time is fairly fluid in the game, it would be possible to justify a friendly Rikti early in the game, aside from Montague's arc. The question then becomes, how do you fit the Rikti into the lore with the power sets available? Or would they be limited to Rikti weapons like the Arachnos Soldiers? And how fun would it be to play a character that looks like every other Rikti except for armor colors?

What if the ability to use Rikti costumes/ powers was a patron pool.  

They used to do a community idea discussions and I suggested it back then.  Just because it is relevant, here is my original unedited suggestion and accompanying mission:

 

Quote

 

Rikti Patron Pool (Hro'Dtohz)

Same powerset, two different mission arcs to get it (or do one of the others).  I made two broadstroke versions for ranged vs melee, but probably 2 sizes doesn't actually fit all ATs.  These are all powers possessed by Rikti.

Melee Characters:
Rikti Rifle Ranged, Energy, Foe Knockback, Disorient
Accelerate Metabolism Ally +Speed, +Damage, +Recovery (less potent than defender version)
Activating this power emits radiation that increases the running speed, attack speed, Endurance Recovery and Damage potential of all nearby allies. Affected Ritki Metabolism is increased so much that they become resistant to effects such as Sleep, Hold, Disorient and Immobilization. The Riktis are not protected from such effects, they just wear off faster.
Fusion Pulse Ranged Energy, +Energy DoT, -RES (all), -Regen
Dominate Ranged, Foe Hold
Transponder Player can create an inter-dimensional Transponder for 60 seconds. A total of 3  Rikti soldiers(1 conscript, 1 guardian, and one Chief Mentalist (Lt))  can teleport in through this Transponder to join their allies and more will come to replace fallen soldiers while the portal is open. This power has a long recharge. The Transponder can be destroyed.  Pets will stay spawned for 5 minutes, even if the transponder is destroyed or gone.

Ranged Characters
Rikti Sword Melee, Energy/Lethal Foe Disorient
Resistance Auto, Self +Resistances: Smash, Lethal, Energy, Psionic, Resist Sleep, Confuse, Fear
Greater Rikti Sword Melee, Energy/Letha) Foe Disorient
Paralytic Aura PBAoE, Energy, Minor Damage over Time, Foe -Recovery, -Spd, -Rech, Fear
Transponder Player can create an inter-dimensional Transponder for 20 seconds. A total of 3 Rikti soldiers(1 conscript, 1 infantry, and one Chief Soldier (melee, Lt)  can teleport in through this Transponder to join their allies and more will come to replace fallen soldiers while the portal is open. This power has a long recharge. The Transponder can be destroyed.  Pets will stay spawned for 5 minutes, even if the transponder is destroyed or gone.

 

 

New Villain Patron Arc: Hro’Dtoz
Probably the player must be a member of the Midnighters and Vanguard.  Of course, the story could be slightly altered to change this to avoid needing those badges.

 

Hro’Dtoz, leader of the Rikti Lineage of War has sent out word that he is willing to make a deal with any earthing who becomes an agent for him- word got to you.  He will grant them a governorship when the Rikti rule.  In addition he will outfit them with Rikti Technology in the meantime.   The Villain never onces plans to betray the Earth, but a good plan here would be a great way to strike a blow against the Rikti, get some new tech, and possibly look like a hero for the world.  They need to at least hear Hro'Dtoz out.

The Villain uses their Vanguard clearance and covertly steals plans needed to build the necessary technology to make contact with Hro’Dtoz.  The Villain discovers that other than Vanguard, the only known entity to possess this technology is Nemesis.  As a member of Vanguard it would be unwise to rob them, but Nemesis...  They definitely have it coming.

 

Mission 1: Retrieve subspace radio command board from Nemesis
After the player gets the item they are able to contact Hro’Dtoz on the appropriate channel.

Hro’Dtoz does not trust the Villain. “Character Reputation: Dubious. Trustworthiness: Miniscule.”  
Hro’Dtoz makes it clear he will not trust the player unless they perform 3 treasonous tasks against Earth.   

1. Get him working codes to a portal and place it where he can bring in an invasion force.

2. Retrieve Excalibur and give it to Hro’Dtoz at the Portal.  Hro’Dtoz will not send in troops until he is sure the villain has handed over the actual Excalibur.

4. Plant a virus in the Vanguard communications array designed by Hro’Dtoz that he can activate on demand.  Hro'Dtoz will not send troops until he has control of the communications systems.

 

 

Mission 2:  Defeat the Elder Fae guardians
Hro’Dtoz has very good intelligence on Excalibur and will not be fooled by a Replica Sword, he will only accept one that matches the correct energy signature he has. Clearly he intends to give it to the Honoree in order to make the Honoree undefeatable.  

The player learns that Ms. Liberty has been working with the Midnighters so they can perform some research on Excalibur in order to free Hero One from his Rikti captors.  Using their Midnighter membership the Villain covertly accesses the files on Excalibur learning there is hope that if the Honoree holds Excalibur he may be able to mentally recover from what the Rikti did to him.   The villain believes they can now be the one to save Hero One.  An Excellent PR move that might make it easier for them to operate in Paragon City.

After some surveillance the villain learns that Ms. Liberty lays the sword on the ground whenever she goes to visit Statesman’s grave.   The villain does not see the need to face Ms. Liberty or be seen.  Instead the villain will take a helicopter and use a high powered magnet to grab Excalibur when she sets it down.

After returning to their base of operations, the villain is surprised to discover they have been mystically tracked by the Fae Guardians of Excalibur.  In order to keep Excalibur they must defeat the 5 Elder Guardians.

 

Mission 3:  Get location map of Praetorian Portals
The villain was right, this will be an excellent way to further their stature and strike a possibly fatal blow against the Lineage of Blood.  The Rikti are not aware of Praetorian Earth.  The villain can exploit Hro’Dtoz’s ignorance.

The villain must break into Portal Corp to retrieve the location of Praetorian portals and several processing unit parts needed to make them work.

 

Mission 4:  Defeat all Devouring Earth
The villain learns there are currently several abandoned portals in Praetoria in areas overrun by Hamidon.  The villain will explain to Hro’Dtoz they they will set up a portal in the basement of a large building in the heart of Paragon City.  Because Hro’Dtoz thinks he is traveling to Primal Earth he will not understand the building is surrounded and infested with Devouring Earth, at least not until it is too late.

The player must temporarily secure the large portal in Neutropolis long enough to make it appear to be Primal Earth and trick Hro’Dtoz as he looks through and performs test readings and insures the communication array is compromised.  The rikti computer virus and invasion force will be against Hamidon controlled Praetoria and praetorian computer systems not Primal Earth’s. 

 

Mission 5: Defeat the Avatar of Hamidon
Just as Hro’Dtoz is preparing to enter the portal to make the deal the villain is attacked by the Avatar of Hamidon and more devouring Earth.  The player the must defeat the Avatar before Hro’Dtoz can figure out something is wrong.

Conclusion: Hro’Dtoz and the Honoree and small contingent of soldiers come through the portal with the Honoree. Before you hand over the sword, you ask for the promised tech.  Patron Powers unlocked. You also get the badge “Intergalactic Backstabber”.  Hro’Dtoz gives the sword to the Honoree who raises it in the air triumphantly. A slight gleam is his eyes tell you something has changed in him.

Hro’Dtoz turns towards the Honoree.  “Rikti Home world disagreements: Excalibur solves.”  Surprisingly, the Honoree turns and exits through the portal as more troops pile through. It appears it didn’t work and the Honoree is still under Rikti control.

No matter, the Lineage of War isn’t going to survive the day- they were the real problem anyway, not the Rikti as a whole.  After the last of the troops come through the villain closes the portal and opens a new one back to Paragon City.  They place a small charge on the portal device and it explodes moments after the villain leaves, stranding the Hro’Dtoz and the Rikti troops surrounded by the Devouring Earth.

 

Alternate Hero Arc
There could be a similar hero arc with C'Kelkah as the contact attempting to thwart the giving of Excalibur to Hro’Dtoz.  The player thwarts the theft, but learns from the Midnighters that it may be the key to saving Hero One.  They recruit Ms. Liberty who agrees to give Excalibur to the Honoree.  With Lady Grey’s help they set up a similar trap to the villain story.  Hro’Dtoz and his forces are stranded in Praetoria, the Honoree goes back through the portal seemingly unchanged.  C’Kelkah offers Rikti technology to the player as a reward.  Patron Powers unlocked.  The player gets the badge “The Hand of the Lake”.

 

 

Edited April 25, 2022 by zenijos10

[biostem]

37 minutes ago, Lazarillo said:

Malta don't show up in police scanner missions.

I'm confident I've faced off against them in that pretty rare "Pawn Shop run by Ex-Freakshow" police scanner mission that rarely shows up...

[Teirusu]

The most I'd imagine we'd get, in the foreseeable future, could be access to the various toggle-able costume models that you can pickup during the Halloween event.  It's a pretty common request so I could see that happening eventually.  I'd imagine they'd need to come up with some system for us to get them though.  Maybe as random recipe drops or what-not?  Unfortunately, those toggles are not customizable but it's a start.  The problem with making anything Rikti related customizable is that they don't have any original development assets, just the stuff that's in the game archive.  So, trying to make that stuff cusomizable is working backwards, in many cases.

 

Beyond that, more of the random Rikti weapon models they have for things like AR and Beam rifle would be fantastic.  The NPC models and the weapons could cover most of what is needed to make a player Rikti.

[biostem]

I wonder how janky it'd look if they just offered some of the Rikti head models as alternate costume pieces, similar to the various beast/cat/animal ones we already have.  It may not look perfect, given the fairly distinct Rikti physique, but CoH players are a creative bunch.  Also, while we have a Rikti blaster model for robotics MM laser rifles, they aren't available to beam rifle or AR users, so maybe that can also be rectified.

[Ender Shadowborne]

5 hours ago, BurtHutt said:

I think it's very feasible. I don't know if I'd want to see it as a priority but that would depend on what it entails. I really like the Khelds due to the shapeshifting and all that - fun concept. It's superhero stuff - always an option! 

Thank you!

[Ender Shadowborne]

3 hours ago, Lazarillo said:

The lore says players don't discover "the Malta group" even exists until near the end of an arc you've been fighting them all along, only for Roy Cooling to come along 20 levels earlier and be like "you know, the Malta group, everyone's heard of the Malta group". 

 

Or how they are just randomly outed in the newspaper all the time in Grandville.  Maybe that's the trick.  Rikti are fine to play as long as you're on Redside.

Which kinda defeats the purpose of the Traditionalists being a blueside-friendly group....

[Ender Shadowborne]

2 hours ago, krj12 said:

I would really like to play a Rikti.  It would probably be less work just to add a new Rikti body type, and use existing assets for armor pieces/faces.

New AT would be interesting, but heck of a lot of work on the devs.

 

Someone here suggested that before, can't remember who or when though...

[Ender Shadowborne]

43 minutes ago, Teirusu said:

The most I'd imagine we'd get, in the foreseeable future, could be access to the various toggle-able costume models that you can pickup during the Halloween event.  It's a pretty common request so I could see that happening eventually.  I'd imagine they'd need to come up with some system for us to get them though.  Maybe as random recipe drops or what-not?  Unfortunately, those toggles are not customizable but it's a start.  The problem with making anything Rikti related customizable is that they don't have any original development assets, just the stuff that's in the game archive.  So, trying to make that stuff cusomizable is working backwards, in many cases.

 

Beyond that, more of the random Rikti weapon models they have for things like AR and Beam rifle would be fantastic.  The NPC models and the weapons could cover most of what is needed to make a player Rikti.

Easy, just use the same assets that makes the Rikti customizable in AE as a starting foundation, and if the devs decide to get more extravagant, they can build from that

[Rudra]

Eh. If I'm going to play a Rikti, I'd rather play a Rikti. Not a character cosplaying a Rikti while wielding their non-Rikti power sets. Making an epic AT out of them shouldn't be that difficult. All their powers already exist. All the animations for said powers already exist. (Edit: Their character models already exist. )The only real hard part I can see is: populating the power sets, branching the AT into its possible shredouts, and testing it to make sure it is competitive with the other ATs without overshadowing them. I'm not a dev though. The only other difficulty I can see would be establishing Rikti contacts for the Rikti players to explain their story/journey through the game via Rikti player story arcs like the Kheldians and Arachnos get.

 

Hells, you could start the player off as a Lost like someone said, then at trigger level, they become Rikti and follow their chosen path. Though that would make the player character a Restructurist. Or just start as a Rikti as I described, and you start off as a Homeworld Rikti that progresses through the Rikti contacts. If you are a blue sider, you are a Traditionalist. If you are a red sider, you are a Restructurist. Plot could be you are a Rikti scout surveying Earth factions for the Rikti until late game. You could even start off with a normal character look as the Rikti gene plan your appearance to not alarm the populace until level 24 or whatever, where you unlock full access to Rikti powers and weapons, and pick up your restored Rikti appearance.

Edited April 26, 2022 by Rudra

[Ender Shadowborne]

3 minutes ago, Rudra said:

Eh. If I'm going to play a Rikti, I'd rather play a Rikti. Not a character cosplaying a Rikti while wielding their non-Rikti power sets. Making an epic AT out of them shouldn't be that difficult. All their powers already exist. All the animations for said powers already exist. The only real hard part I can see is: populating the power sets, branching the AT into its possible shredouts, and testing it to make sure it is competitive with the other ATs without overshadowing them. I'm not a dev though. The only other difficulty I can see would be establishing Rikti contacts for the Rikti players to explain their story/journey through the game via Rikti player story arcs like the Kheldians and Arachnos get.

 

Hells, you could start the player off as a Lost like someone said, then at trigger level, they become Rikti and follow their chosen path. Though that would make the player character a Restructurist. Or just start as a Rikti as I described, and you start off as a Homeworld Rikti that progresses through the Rikti contacts. If you are a blue sider, you are a Traditionalist. If you are a red sider, you are a Restructurist. Plot could be you are a Rikti scout surveying Earth factions for the Rikti until late game. You could even start off with a normal character look as the Rikti gene plan your appearance to not alarm the populace until level 24 or whatever, where you unlock full access to Rikti powers and weapons, and pick up your restored Rikti appearance.

You do pose a valid point, though, because I like unusual things, a Rikti with different powersets would be pretty interesting to me, but then again, that's just my opinion...

[TheZag]

I havent played every arc so im not sure where they exist outside of AE,  but there are rikti that have transformation power of some kind to look like normal humans.  The first costume slot could have rikti options and the rest could be normal costumes and it would still fit with those disguised rikti that exist ingame.  And across all the different rikti,  there is a fairly decent variety of powers to fill the majority of an epic archtype.  There are plenty of powers that can fill the gaps and with just 1 or 2 new powers it could probably have a very unique feel in gameplay.

 

Shoot a guy and then slash him with your blade-axe-blaster.  Then open a portal for reinforcements while dropping some radiation emission style support.  Drop some holds with mind control powers and then that stalagmites foot stomp and teleport in an A-bomb to finish the job.

[Ender Shadowborne]

18 minutes ago, TheZag said:

I havent played every arc so im not sure where they exist outside of AE,  but there are rikti that have transformation power of some kind to look like normal humans.  The first costume slot could have rikti options and the rest could be normal costumes and it would still fit with those disguised rikti that exist ingame.  And across all the different rikti,  there is a fairly decent variety of powers to fill the majority of an epic archtype.  There are plenty of powers that can fill the gaps and with just 1 or 2 new powers it could probably have a very unique feel in gameplay.

 

Shoot a guy and then slash him with your blade-axe-blaster.  Then open a portal for reinforcements while dropping some radiation emission style support.  Drop some holds with mind control powers and then that stalagmites foot stomp and teleport in an A-bomb to finish the job.

Oh yeah, like the Kheldians with their shapeshifting abilities?

[Rudra]

28 minutes ago, TheZag said:

I havent played every arc so im not sure where they exist outside of AE,  but there are rikti that have transformation power of some kind to look like normal humans.  The first costume slot could have rikti options and the rest could be normal costumes and it would still fit with those disguised rikti that exist ingame.  And across all the different rikti,  there is a fairly decent variety of powers to fill the majority of an epic archtype.  There are plenty of powers that can fill the gaps and with just 1 or 2 new powers it could probably have a very unique feel in gameplay

 

3 hours ago, Rudra said:

You could even start off with a normal character look as the Rikti gene plan your appearance to not alarm the populace until level 24 or whatever, where you unlock full access to Rikti powers and weapons, and pick up your restored Rikti appearance.

Kelly Uqua. Kel'Uqua. She is who I was citing in my comment that you are trying to remember.

[biostem]

23 minutes ago, TheZag said:

Shoot a guy and then slash him with your blade-axe-blaster.  Then open a portal for reinforcements while dropping some radiation emission style support.  Drop some holds with mind control powers and then that stalagmites foot stomp and teleport in an A-bomb to finish the job.

I would rather see something like this:

 

Primary: Rikti Tech (these are your blaster and blade powers).

Secondary:  This is where things get interesting - you get a few basic abilities, like some armor toggles, but then you need to select a "track" - a support one, where you can open portals to call in drones & conscripts, plus some radiation and forcefield powers, (culminating in the ability to don a heavy assault suit), or an "inner will" track, where you gain access to mentalist and perhaps kinetics abilities.

[Rudra]

20 minutes ago, biostem said:

I would rather see something like this:

 

Primary: Rikti Tech (these are your blaster and blade powers).

Secondary:  This is where things get interesting - you get a few basic abilities, like some armor toggles, but then you need to select a "track" - a support one, where you can open portals to call in drones & conscripts, plus some radiation and forcefield powers, (culminating in the ability to don a heavy assault suit), or an "inner will" track, where you gain access to mentalist and perhaps kinetics abilities.

Add a third track/shredout for arcana where you pick up priest or magus abilities, and I'm sold.

Edit: Hells, call it "Heretic" instead for being anti-Rikti since it is a Restructurist approach.

Edited April 26, 2022 by Rudra

[biostem]

8 minutes ago, Rudra said:

Add a third track/shredout for arcana where you pick up priest or magus abilities, and I'm sold.

Edit: Hells, call it "Heretic" instead for being anti-Rikti since it is a Restructurist approach.

In looking at the Rikti entry for the Wiki, it seems that the priests mainly have mental/kin abilities, so that'd be covered in the "inner will" track I mentioned, though I could get behind one for the magus, which appears to use fire, ice, & lightning abilities...

[Jiro Ito]

I definitely want the power to summon an army of monkeys