What additions to the AE would we like to see? (Within reason!)

[Darmian]

So yeah, pretty much as the title says.  What additions would we like to see in the AE?  I say within reason, because some things in game are based on scripts and so on and the AE code is janky as hell so things like multiple choices and so on are probably beyond an addition and would need a full rewrite.

 

 

[TerroirNoir2]

Well, ol' TerroirNoir here is not a writer, just a player of SFMA arcs, but I reckon that more maps would be the first thing anyone would ask for.  I reckon.

[cranebump]

I'd like to have bosses TP out before they're killed. Or have them surrender, then talk to you. 

 

Other than that, adding the power pools to the selections list for critters. I want some of my bad guys to have super speed.:-D

Edited March 23 by cranebump

[d4verman]

18 minutes ago, cranebump said:

I'd like to have bosses TP out before they're killed. Or have them surrender, then talk to you. 

 

Other than that, adding the power pools to the selections list for critters. I want some of my bad guys to have super speed.:-D

 

I'd like that, myself....and of course, more maps. 

[Jiro Ito]

For sure more maps, and power pool access would be great to give some Sorcery or Science Experimentation flavor, etc.

 

I'd like it if we could write arcs for 8-16 player leagues.  I think the game needs more content for groups of this size, and what better way to create more of it than to outsource to the AE writers?  I say this without any understanding of what it would take to make this possible.  I have lots of ideas for these and would love to try writing them.

 

Wish #2:  The ability to put the next mission door inside your mission, such as, TinPex or Sutter where you fight bad guys outside, then go into the sewer, then out the other side of the sewer.  This would go so well with my 16 person trial "The Liberation of Warburg" where you fight Rogue Arachnos in the city, then dip into the sewers to clear out Arachnoids and capture scientists, then hop back out to defeat Marshal Blitz once and for all.  You know, just as an example.

 

Wish #3:  What is it called when you play a character's personal story, and you become that character?  For example "Deadlock's Personal Story," where you become Deadlock and have access to only his powers?  I'd love to have this mechanic, for example, if you were on a Liberation of Warburg story and had the optional objective of clicking a computer in the Malta base and suddenly YOU were driving a Kronos Titan, with access to the Titan's powers instead of your own.

 

Wish #4:  Shapeshifting?  Fight a scrawny nerd only to have him play a "drink potion" emote and turn into an 8' minotaur.  Fight a monster of a boss, at 25% health he surrenders (hat tip cranebump above), changes to costume #2, that of your story contact who's been begging you to stop the monster the whole time.

Edited March 23 by Jiro Ito

[Darmian]

5 hours ago, cranebump said:

I'd like to have bosses TP out before they're killed.

That's an oft heard request that I would also like.

 

5 hours ago, cranebump said:

Or have them surrender, then talk to you. 

That particular one may be a scripting thingy that AE can't take.  I dunno.

 

4 hours ago, Jiro Ito said:

I'd like it if we could write arcs for 8-16 player leagues. 

Now that's interesting!  Since the AE uses a sort of pseudo TF team effect.

[Jiro Ito]

Sorry D, your subject said "within reason," I may have failed the assignment =P

[Defeat All Snakes]

Look man, I'll settle for what we have working as intended someday.

[huang3721]

I think someone should fix the missing AE button/menu soon. 

Also, I'd like to see the manual for *.storyarc files. Some documentation on how they work.

[LordRassilon]

I would like to see the older outdoor maps get reorganized to include front, middle and back locations.  I'd also like to see a "Talk to Person" objective under advanced goals...so we could actually click on a character and get a full chat window (would be nice to not have to convey everything through rescue dialogue or clues).  And lastly I wish the bug would get fixed where unaware hostages and their captors all trigger their unaware/noticed dialogue all  at once when you enter a mission...and actually only spoke as you got near (that one's a bit irritating and really gives too much away  :D).

Edited March 25 by LordRassilon

[TerroirNoir2]

5 hours ago, LordRassilon said:

I wish the bug would get fixed where unaware hostages and their captors all trigger their unaware/noticed dialogue all  at once when you enter a mission

Agreed! Though I'm told that some writers have a way of mitigating that.

[cranebump]

1 hour ago, TerroirNoir2 said:

Agreed! Though I'm told that some writers have a way of mitigating that.

Patrol spawns after objectives, spouting some sort of minor clue sometimes work. But you really can't use the "unaware" dialogue (and many other types) without it popping all at once.

[Darmian]

Bodies/injured.  I'd love to be able to add casualties to a map.

 

 

[cranebump]

1 hour ago, Darmian said:

Bodies/injured.  I'd love to be able to add casualties to a map.

 

 

And civilians running around in terror.

[Ankylosaur]

+ 1 To just about everything above. 

 

Boss Alignment Change

I would think the Boss surrender thing would be pretty easy as you can already set a “Flees at %” trigger on bosses, and for escorts you have the “Betrays” trigger to change their alignment with a special dialog on betrayal. Stitch those together and betray in reverse, and let the clue appear when that happens and Voila!

 

Says someone who doesn’t know how to code. 🙂

 

More Powersets

One other thing I would like see are the missing power sets. Like: /Nature, /BIo Armor, Rad Melee, etc & the Kheldian sets for mob variety. Even with the new “use any power you want but the mob gives no XP” feature, those are unavailable.

 

Kheldian Powersets

For Kheldians, kind of like how FF is a unique tweaked set different from in game since it has Aid Self, if the Kheldian sets are just a special limited set of abilities that fit into the 9 powers for primary/secondary, that would be great by me.  I'd put the Kheldian attacks under Dominator sets since the "Assault" sets have a nice mix of melee and range in one powerset. I would think "Peacebringer Assault" and "Warshade Assault" would too, but might make sense under scrappers instead to have the armors together with it. And the fact the armor secondary sets would have no status protection seems like no big deal as no one really uses status on mobs anyway.

Edited April 11 by Ankylosaur
added headings for different suggestions

[Ankylosaur]

So I realized, as I shared in another post, that a BIG. boon for me would to be able to have the game continue to ping the map server while you are opening an AE file. 

 

If my AE files get too big, mainly because I have too many custom groups, then the game times out with the map server and I disconnect. This means for practical purposes, I can only have arcs that are at about 40% of the allowed file size.

Edited April 11 by Ankylosaur

[Chronos]

I don't know how hard this would be, but I'd like to be able to splice together pieces of other maps.  Probably not directly (that'd be a monster of 3D editing), but by floors.  Like, you know the second mission of Tin Mage, where you start in the Vanguard base, teleport to a portal room in Portal Corp, and then fight your way out to the courtyard?  I have a mission where it'd be perfect to start at the portal room and fight your way to the courtyard (but without the Vanguard base part).

[CraterLabs]

I'd like there to be multiple ways to end a mission.

 

And the Water Blast power set.

[Ankylosaur]

Here's a tiny and super specific one.

 

On the Nerva - Primeva map, it clearly shows on the map preview, one rescue spot and 4 collection spots, but only supports bosses. In the PI level 50 missions that use it, you do collections. Would be nice to have the map support what it clearly is capabie of. 🙂

[cranebump]

On 4/12/2023 at 9:56 PM, Chronos said:

I don't know how hard this would be, but I'd like to be able to splice together pieces of other maps.  Probably not directly (that'd be a monster of 3D editing), but by floors.  Like, you know the second mission of Tin Mage, where you start in the Vanguard base, teleport to a portal room in Portal Corp, and then fight your way out to the courtyard?  I have a mission where it'd be perfect to start at the portal room and fight your way to the courtyard (but without the Vanguard base part).

Good idea. I just reran FL's Nocturne mish, which features sewer map, then you exit into an FL outdoor map to destroy sub, take on the boss.

[Rayden36]

I would love to see more mobs out on the streets in game myself, and an Unlimited amount of mobs in AE, for use that like to spend their time in ae instead of dealing with the mess out side of it, Raise the lvl from 54 to 58 or so. with incarnates the content becomes easy as hell at times, An if a Dev looks at this Fix the damn mapserver crashing problem,

[MHertz]

1. An AFK message when I’m in the editor.

2. Being able to change the contact on a per-mission basis.

3. A pony.

[TerroirNoir2]

17 hours ago, MHertz said:

2. Being able to change the contact on a per-mission basis.

TerroirNoir here is no AE author, just a player, but I've seen plenty of writers talk about this particular one.

[cranebump]

18 hours ago, MHertz said:

2. Being able to change the contact on a per-mission basis.

Yep. Give us that, plus the ability to link maps within missions, and there's suddenly a lot of drama we can create.

 

I don't know if I mentioned this, but just being able to permanently place objectives would solve most of my time sucking aspects of mission prep.

[TerroirNoir2]

On 3/25/2023 at 12:09 PM, LordRassilon said:

I wish the bug would get fixed where unaware hostages and their captors all trigger their unaware/noticed dialogue all  at once when you enter a mission...and actually only spoke as you got near (that one's a bit irritating and really gives too much away  :D).

 

Come to think of it, @Darmian, I've never seen this happen in your missions.  Nor yours @cranebump and @Ankylosaur.  Is there a secret to this?