Wreaking havoc

[srmalloy]

When people are running around opening presents, they get a 'Naughty' result and spawn some hostile snowmen. If they're in a large enough group and unlucky, they'll spawn a Winter Lord, and the message "A Winter Lord is wreaking havoc" will go out as a zone message. But when you find it, the Winter Lord is just standing there among the other snowmen in the spawn, not hurting anything.

 

Now, I know that there are NPC-destructible objects in the zones; in Kings Row, for example, you'll occasionally see something like "Gravedigger Assailant has defeated Car" when an NPC has done enough damage to an environment object to destroy it. I don't know if it's possible, but it would enhance the immersion if, when a Winter Lord spawned, it would be given some sort of random-walk path through the zone where it would attack the destroyable environment objects it passed by, so that a) it's legitimately 'wreaking havoc', and b) isn't waiting in some static location for heroes/villains to show up to beat it into the pavement.

[Rudra]

Unlike in Safeguards and Mayhems where the map is filled with objects to be destroyed by the player or the mobs, I think those destructible objects you see in King's Row are spawned as part of the Skulls or Lost spawn that is attacking it.

 

(Edit: Yep. Just saw it in King's Row. Found a damaged car that someone cleared the Skulls from. Logged off to another character for a quick badge, then logged back on the checking character again. The damaged car was not present. Then a little bit after, a car spawned with three Skulls attacking it. Those destructible objects in King's Row are part of the spawns attacking it. Not always present on the map.)

 

Edit again: Also, to the best of my knowledge, there are only 3 zones that have those objects. King's Row as part of the spawns that appear already attacking the vehicle that spawned with the mobs, Brickstown as part of the Prison Break event, and Nova Praetoria as part of the Protest event. (Edit yet again: Well, 4. The Longbow Chasers in the St. Martial event aren't enemies, just targets, so they count as destructible objects on the map too.)

 

Edited December 26, 2024 by Rudra
Edited to remove redundant "the".

[TheMoneyMaker]

3 hours ago, Rudra said:

Unlike in Safeguards and Mayhems where the map is filled with objects to be destroyed by the player or the mobs, I think those destructible objects you see in King's Row are spawned as part of the Skulls or Lost spawn that is attacking it.

 

(Edit: Yep. Just saw it in King's Row. Found a damaged car that someone cleared the Skulls from. Logged off to another character for a quick badge, then logged back on the checking character again. The damaged car was not present. Then a little bit after, a car spawned with three Skulls attacking it. Those destructible objects in King's Row are part of the spawns attacking it. Not always present on the map.)

 

Edit again: Also, to the best of my knowledge, there are only 3 zones that have those objects. King's Row as part of the spawns that appear already attacking the vehicle that spawned with the mobs, Brickstown as part of the Prison Break event, and Nova Praetoria as part of the Protest event. (Edit yet again: Well, 4. The Longbow Chasers in the St. Martial event aren't enemies, just targets, so they count as destructible objects on the map too.)

 

I don't think it's specifically tied to zones but rather the spawns themselves, at least it is with the cars in Kings Row. It probably works the same way as those spawns where you have police and villains in a showdown, basically a mixed spawn of enemies and allies, but with car or other destructible objects it would be enemies and objects that can't fight back. Seems like it would require some extra coding to add to the WL spawns, but since the coding already exists for other spawns elsewhere in the game it seems like it should be doable.

[srmalloy]

45 minutes ago, TheMoneyMaker said:

Seems like it would require some extra coding to add to the WL spawns, but since the coding already exists for other spawns elsewhere in the game it seems like it should be doable.

I was throwing it out as something to create an alternative to the WLs just standing around chilling waiting for the players to show up to beat on them, and make it more like they were actually 'wreaking havoc'.

[TheMoneyMaker]

6 hours ago, srmalloy said:

I was throwing it out as something to create an alternative to the WLs just standing around chilling waiting for the players to show up to beat on them, and make it more like they were actually 'wreaking havoc'.

Fine suggestion if you ask me. I was just pointing out that it does seem like what you're asking could be adapted from existing code.

[Ultimo]

There ARE objects around the various zones that at least react to stuff going on around them (eg. trees shed leaves, mailboxes toss letters around, garbage cans discharge garbage).  Given that this is so, perhaps they could add some other objects that react similarly, throwing debris or changing to have some other textures imitating damage.

 

It's something I've suggested before, actually, for Super Strength, which just doesn't feel all that super.  It's the presentation.  If you watch any fight between super strong foes, there's ALWAYS a ton of collateral damage.  Adding some of that to Super Strength attacks might make them seem more super... and making "destructible" objects in the zones that react to damage happening near them might be a good way to do that.

[Marine X]

3 hours ago, Ultimo said:

"destructible" objects in the zones that react to damage happening near them might be a good way to do that.

Actually... Stand under a non pine tree and use Footstomp repeatedly and you end up with a leaf pile and broken limbs all around you.

[Snarky]

On 12/26/2024 at 5:16 PM, TheMoneyMaker said:

I don't think it's specifically tied to zones but rather the spawns themselves, at least it is with the cars in Kings Row. It probably works the same way as those spawns where you have police and villains in a showdown, basically a mixed spawn of enemies and allies, but with car or other destructible objects it would be enemies and objects that can't fight back. Seems like it would require some extra coding to add to the WL spawns, but since the coding already exists for other spawns elsewhere in the game it seems like it should be doable.

So then “spawns” of destructible objects could be added to any map.  

[TheMoneyMaker]

6 minutes ago, Snarky said:

So then “spawns” of destructible objects could be added to any map.  

Technically, because they are just spawns like anything else, but it's possible that maps where objects like cars in Kings Row have dedicated spots so that the object spawns make sense. Just guessing, but the locations where you see mobs attacking a car on the side of the street have been coded on to the map to possible spawn like that or a regular spawn without object. Adding objects to Winter Lord spawns means that wherever the winter lord spawns an object will show up there that might not make sense. Consider just the locations in Atlas Park where you've got presents in the street, on the sidewalk, on rooftops, and so on.  You would probably have to code individually for each spawn location to have an object show up that would make sense, such as some sort of rooftop appropriate object for rooftops, a car for the streets, etc. Might be easier to have Winter Lords spawn with non-combat civilian NPCs (like mobs that spawn with PPD officers to have shootouts) and they only run around in terror as they're being attacked because you could explain random civilians running in terror almost anywhere.

[Snarky]

39 minutes ago, TheMoneyMaker said:

Technically, because they are just spawns like anything else, but it's possible that maps where objects like cars in Kings Row have dedicated spots so that the object spawns make sense. Just guessing, but the locations where you see mobs attacking a car on the side of the street have been coded on to the map to possible spawn like that or a regular spawn without object. Adding objects to Winter Lord spawns means that wherever the winter lord spawns an object will show up there that might not make sense. Consider just the locations in Atlas Park where you've got presents in the street, on the sidewalk, on rooftops, and so on.  You would probably have to code individually for each spawn location to have an object show up that would make sense, such as some sort of rooftop appropriate object for rooftops, a car for the streets, etc. Might be easier to have Winter Lords spawn with non-combat civilian NPCs (like mobs that spawn with PPD officers to have shootouts) and they only run around in terror as they're being attacked because you could explain random civilians running in terror almost anywhere.

it happens...

[TheMoneyMaker]

11 hours ago, Snarky said:

it happens...

Yes but even when it happens for real it still doesn't make sense

[Snarky]

32 minutes ago, TheMoneyMaker said:

Yes but even when it happens for real it still doesn't make sense

[Luminara]

All that crap cons grey to them.

[TheMoneyMaker]

23 minutes ago, Luminara said:

All that crap cons grey to them.

That's no excuse for ignoring destructible objects