New Heroic Arc (3 parts-lf feedback)

[cranebump]

 

Arc 1 Design Notes:

• We return to KR once again (can't stray from my gal for too long).:-)
• Low level (15-20). Tested with an SS/Invul L26 Tank, outfitted with basic Enhances (mainly DOs-he's a Long Rider toon). A bit dicey with some of the finale bosses (considering his powersets, you can probably guess what his vulnerabilities are). Didn't die, though! (most of this is easy)
• Namesake toon exemplared down and cruised through it.
• Mish titles: various leadership and business books. There is no logical reason for this
• This is planned as a 3-parter. I'll need more slots for that, though.
• If you've run my previous stuff, you'll recognize some old faces.
• Have not run on higher settings yet. Will try it with a hardy toon, just to check it out. If you run on such settings, or on a team, I am (as always) interested in critter synergy.

 

Arc 2 Design Notes:

• Level increase to 25-30 (representing a time gap in the story)
• Mostly a straight up solo arc, and by that I mean, very few allies (and the ones there are optional).
• Callbacks, but mainly as part of the narrative.
• I may have overdone it on a certain set of bad guys (synergistically...maybe...I was running with a L26 tank with no IOs or sets).
• Every major NPC should have a story, for those who like reading them.
• I think I finally caught all the typos. I'm not holding my breath.
• I'm not sure why the mish title is half orange up there. Maybe it's just tipsy.
• Mish titles: Hamlet. All from the same speech. Though I can't say they necessarily match the missions.

 

Arc 3 Design Notes

• This one is VERY rough. Feels like all the mishes need a bit of a punch-up. Custom critters from earlier arcs are much tougher than what's here, so I may need to look at that. 
• Used some maps I've never used. I'm iffy on them, at present, but should make interesting runs for any teams.
• Experimenting with narrative focus, making this a story that is basically being recounted after it happened, while you're playing through it. I think I confused myself a few times with tenses and stuff, but I've rationalized this as due to the nature and state of mind of the person telling it.
• I DID have a major glitch in M1, where a glowie spawned in an area I could not reach. Only did that once in the test runs, though. Hope it's an outlier.
• Mish titles are Self-Improvement type books, like the first arc.
• Minor level bump to piggy-back on Fallout 2. Couldn't justify a major bump, since time passage between 2 and 3 is minimal.
• Did a lot of reading on epigenetics, which is this theory that lived experience can pass into DNA, and then get "written" into offspring (i.e., the parent passes emotional responses to the child, who might experience them without really knowing where they come from). This functions as a sort of explanation of where all supers come from, as revealed on the last page of text.
• Only 5 clues. That's weird. For me, anyway.
• This puts the lid on Mobius and the Wards, as far as I'm concerned. Unless I come up with something that makes sense.:-)

 

Thanks (again) in advance,

Crane

Edited June 24, 2023 by cranebump

[TerroirNoir2]

FERGAWDSAKE.

 

Slow down!  I was almost at the end of @Darmian's and then they start writing again.  Now you!  I'll be on to Potter's Field ASAP.

[cranebump]

Well, for what it’s worth, the next couple will likely be July projects. 

[Zhym]

Just finished this one.  A great start to what looks to be another intriguing arc (or is it a continuation of a previous arc?).

 

My only complaint (maybe you can sense this coming) is the defeat-all missions.  Both of them are on really large maps where it's easy for stray mobs to find out-of-the-way places to hide. 

[cranebump]

Yeah, I thought about that. But the contagion aspect of it made me feel these were justifiable choices. (At least they’re not combined with timers:-)  it’s just two missions right? If I remember right, one of them is a medium size map, and the other is large. The large one has a couple of corners in the big central warehouse location. I did not think the first clear all was too difficult.

 

Speaking of timers: at some point this summer, I’m going to take a look at ordinary people again and take the timers  Completely out. That series is the introduction that culminates in Mobius. I really want to take another pass at it now that I have a better idea of what I am doing than I did when I created it

Edited June 5, 2023 by cranebump

[Zhym]

2 hours ago, cranebump said:

 it’s just two missions right? If I remember right, one of them is a medium size map, and the other is large.

It is two missions.  And both maps seemed pretty big to me, though I don't know how they are classified in AE.

 

The first was the worst of the two for me—I had to go back and track down the stragglers.  I can't remember if that was the office or the warehouse map, but the warehouse map in particular has that intersection room with two levels, plus stairs everywhere, and lots of handy corners to hide in.  I think I could have tolerated one defeat-all, but when the second came around my reaction was, "What, again??"  And from my recollection, the defeat-all isn't quite as justified from a story or mechanics perspective the second time, since there are other objectives that work just as well. 

 

My general design tip would be that if even when a defeat-all is justified by the story, use a small map.  Defeat-alls on large (or "AE Medium") maps run the risk of getting tedious, IMO.

 

Or maybe it was just that I started the arc around 11:30 last night, thinking I'd run it quickly before bed.  :)

 

 

Edited June 5, 2023 by Zhym

[cranebump]

So, I checked the settings. Mission 2 Defeat all is a small map. I'm leaving it as is. Mish #4 is Medium. I think the rationale was to capture everyone so they wouldn't report to the higher ups. Anyhoo, I'll check on that one. I think that's a big warehouse. I don't feel like M2 is asking that much, though.

Edited June 5, 2023 by cranebump

[cranebump]

Alright, I went back and fiddled with M4 so it's not a Defeat All. It's basically a Boss Subdual/Collect Objective. All it took was a minor edit to Contact's verbiage to justify the change. M2 stays as is, though. It IS a small map, after all.

[Zhym]

17 minutes ago, cranebump said:

Mission 2 Defeat all is a small map.

Huh.  I guess my calibration of large vs. small depends on whether I'm expected to defeat everyone on the map. :)  Or maybe "small" on the office map means "only two floors."  Anyway, just as an FYI, I think mission 2 is the one where I had to spend a fair amount of time doubling back and track down the stragglers.  But if it's a small map per AE, it's a small map.

 

BTW, does AE not have the bank map available?  I was a little surprised to find myself in an office when the mission text sets it up as a bank robbery.

[cranebump]

Know what? I just thought of something:

Spoiler

Verbiage in M2 patrol says "They won't harm you if you don't threaten them." I'm thinking maybe this is a prisoner rescue, then the hero could mop up, because the civiies would calm down. So I'll take a look at that one, too. It's a small map, But I just went back through it, and it does have several levels.

 

[cranebump]

26 minutes ago, Zhym said:

BTW, does AE not have the bank map available?  I was a little surprised to find myself in an office when the mission text sets it up as a bank robbery.

It does, but Bank maps have a very small number of objectives and glowies. So I had to go with a Savings & Loan, and use offices.

[Zhym]

19 minutes ago, cranebump said:

It does, but Bank maps have a very small number of objectives and glowies. So I had to go with a Savings & Loan, and use offices.

"Private banking."  They don't serve retail customers, so it doesn't look like a regular bank.

 

Just a thought.

 

ETA: Actually, there's a fancy office building with a big atrium at the entrance that might work nicely for that.  Either you or @Darmian have used it as a "law office."  Maybe it's Praetorian?

 

ETA2: Of course, the problem with private banking is that they wouldn't have any cash on site, which would make a "bank robbery" difficult unless you brought a team of hackers with you.

Edited June 5, 2023 by Zhym

[cranebump]

I think so, but it’s very open. And I like the hole in the floor on the current map serving as how the robbers got in.
 

FYI: My bank idea is based on USAA, an insurance company that serves the military. So I guess it has a more select clientele. 

Edited June 5, 2023 by cranebump

[Zhym]

Once again, it's a shame people can't make custom maps for AE.  A classic bank map with a tunnel dug underneath it—and with more room for objective and glowies—would be perfect.  But I can also see how that could balloon the size of the client if every AE author were able to make their own maps.  And that's even assuming that the AE authors could also build the pathing into their maps, and that farmers couldn't exploit it, and...yeah, it's just better to pretend an office building is a bank.

Edited June 5, 2023 by Zhym

[Zhym]

57 minutes ago, cranebump said:

And I like the hole in the floor on the current map serving as how the robbers got in.

That does remind me of something, actually.  While I find the location tips in the objective text really helpful (especially the one about an objective being on an upper floor), I was a bit confused in this map because I wasn't sure whether "back" meant the back of the office building or down the tunnels.

 

[cranebump]

14 minutes ago, Zhym said:

That does remind me of something, actually.  While I find the location tips in the objective text really helpful (especially the one about an objective being on an upper floor), I was a bit confused in this map because I wasn't sure whether "back" meant the back of the office building or down the tunnels.

 

Maybe clue should be "Tunnels?"

[cranebump]

FYI: I have removed all timers from Ordinary People 1, and am currently running through it to fine-tune it.

[cranebump]

So, running tests on second arc of UNLOCK, and...

Love it when my true self comes out...