Dev Diary - Blackwing Industries: On Wings of Hexagons & Chrome

[Arnabas]

I haven't done any content that explains the lore behind them yet, but for a peacekeeping/ police force, it seems odd that they are attacking my heroes...

I'm guessing they must attack all super-powered beings on sight, regardless of whether they are heroes or villains.

[El D]

35 minutes ago, Arnabas said:

I haven't done any content that explains the lore behind them yet, but for a peacekeeping/ police force, it seems odd that they are attacking my heroes...

I'm guessing they must attack all super-powered beings on sight, regardless of whether they are heroes or villains.

 

I just ran through the zone and had no issues with any of them outside of the 'spawn as hostile' mobs. Do you have a taunt aura active? Anything that pings against NPCs will provoke the neutral mobs into attacking the player.

[ZamuelNow]

On 6/29/2025 at 10:38 PM, Reiska said:

I think you're thinking of Blackwell, re: the billboards.

 

Well, that's embarrassing.  I guess I was thinking of a Chris Jenkins type situation and assumed wrong.

[High_Beam]

3 hours ago, Forager said:

The content doesn't tell me what you disagree with, or why...

 

But ok. Nevermind.

I didn't want to spoil for those who have not done the content yet, I am not that kind of Beam.

Spoiler

I have heartburn with the these creeps being allowed to take over law enforcement because of some PPD screw up, or whatever other weak maguffin that is only partially explained.  It breaks multiple layers of story canon and is just BS.  No city would cede that much power to a group like this, its too much of a suspension to swallow.  If shit was that bad, Longbow (a FBSA sanctioned entity) would have been assigned.  Someone watched Robocop one too many times and said, yeah, that's what we'll do but we will call them BWI instead of OCP, even though the Crey Corporation was already groomed for that very idea with the Paragon Protectors.  And since you can target them outside, especially the giant Gundam flying around, there is not "oh dear, its a total shock that these guys are creeps." reveal.  Samuel Morse couldn't telegraph that shit any better.

They are a great enemy group to fight, tough, interesting design, etc.   But the justification for their being there, garbage.  Statesman (the hero character not Jack Emmert) would have ended that crap with a quickness just like he and the Phalanx delayed Foss's questionable expansion of Hero Corps or the Countesses Paragon Protector Program.  Corporate policing never serves the public; in comics, in movies or in real life.

[Triggerhappy938]

What are the odds that they are a Nemesis plot?

[Crasical]

16 hours ago, TalynDerre said:

 

Mechanically, they fight more like Super Sky Raiders than like Malta.  Their doctrine of "use bosses to draw fire while dropping high-tech support buffs" is very Sky Raider-esque.  Also, with their specialist AI, they try to get around the tanks and target the squishies.  Malta, on the other hand, is based around targeting the tank super, nuking their defenses down (between Sappers draining END and the rank-and-file imposing -DEF debuffs) and then taking them out with ludicrous single-target damage.

 

So they feel very different to fight, even if they have a very similar narrative vibe.

 

It seems like Cobalt Arachne's intention was that they are not just different, but harder to fight than Malta is, describing them as a difficult endgame group like Vanguard and the Soldiers of Rularuu. It's not an issue of 'these are two different military groups, equally dangerous, but with a different tactical doctrine', this is straight up 'Blackwing has an extremely similar narrative vibe to Malta, but are just better at being anti-meta paramilitary than Malta is.'

[Platter]

So far I really like the Blackwing enemies, but mostly I just wanted to say that your work on hardmode content is really fantastic.  The Aeon Strike Force is the best in the game, in my opinion, and I hope we'll see more content like that in the future!

[Raiden Dirty]

I hope some story content gets released for all of this soon.
The new enemies are great... but I'm wondering why they're there.
What they're working toward.

Why now?

Why not last month, or the month before?

 

I guess I'll have to stay tuned for the next exciting episode of Dragon Ball Z.

[El D]

1 hour ago, Raiden Dirty said:

I hope some story content gets released for all of this soon.
The new enemies are great... but I'm wondering why they're there.
What they're working toward.

Why now?

Why not last month, or the month before?

 

I guess I'll have to stay tuned for the next exciting episode of Dragon Ball Z.

 

The general why is already addressed in the current Kallisti Wharf content and lore write-ups - the pre-existing PPD division was corrupt and got ousted, and Blackwing was brought in to manage Kallisti Wharf in their place. Given the co-op. nature of the zone it actually makes more sense frankly. The PPD wouldn't permit villains or rogues, same with Longbow or Wyvern, and allowing an organization like Crey or any out-and-out villain group to take over Paragon City's shipping port was never going to happen. This is also the first major zone showing the post-Praetorian War influx along with the morality-shifting and plot evolution of older factions from past arcs. Having a new organization not tied to any of the old ones by previous conflicts makes Blackwing a perfect neutral party to all of them. Vanguard theoretically could have worked, but they're an actual military organization who I expect still have their hands full managing the fallout of the Rikti War and the Praetorian War (plus keeping watch for any future threats).

 

Also, while a bit more meta, the overall usage of neutral mobs in Kallisti Wharf is a way for the game mechanics to reflect that Blackwing is actually doing a pretty good job. All these divergent elements are mostly playing nice with each other (at least on the surface). Hence why the story arcs are put in for player characters to dig into things more deeply.

Edited July 2 by El D

[Starhammer]

On 7/1/2025 at 2:11 AM, Crasical said:

 

It seems like Cobalt Arachne's intention was that they are not just different, but harder to fight than Malta is, describing them as a difficult endgame group like Vanguard and the Soldiers of Rularuu. It's not an issue of 'these are two different military groups, equally dangerous, but with a different tactical doctrine', this is straight up 'Blackwing has an extremely similar narrative vibe to Malta, but are just better at being anti-meta paramilitary than Malta is.'

Malta also strikes me as if they're more appropriate to espionage storytelling. Sure, the firefights are the stuff of action movies, but I could see them fitting in better with the sneaky stuff than Blackwing does.

[Cobalt Arachne]

Malta and Blackwing are somewhat similar in that they're both anti-meta paramilitary utilizing high tech to overcome combat strength differences against meta human danger, but their ideology and methodology are quite different.

---

 

• Malta Operatives push against meta dominance for the good of normal humankind, their motivation is well documented and their goals understood.

Malta uses suppressive techniques to take down singular strong targets by wearing them down with persistence and overcoming their protections to defeat.
I like to picture Malta as a coordinated take-down effort on a single super threat, every soldier layering stuns and sapper blasts on one target that could bring down even an Invulnerability Tanker like Statesman with time.
 

• Blackwing Industries are paid to defend Emil Christie's investments in Kallisti Wharf, their base motivation is financial, but Emil Christie's the source of that money and his objectives are untold at this stage of the story.

Blackwing use crowd control techniques to entrench themselves in their spawn position and wear down foes by countering common player tactics.
I picture Blackwing as a defensive phalanx, moving together as a single organism linked psionically by the Coordinators to complete objectives quickly. They plan for their enemy to come to them, so they wear them down with non-lethal methods such as freezing attacks and numbing toxins and take them into custody alive.
The only P.E.A.C.E. operatives that deal in strictly lethal methodology are the Neutralizers and Keeper.

[ExeErdna]

To me, when I first saw BWI they reminded me of the best selection from Praetoria's mobs. You gotta freed Seers, IDF heavies, their tech is PPD and they have some former Resistance and Syndicate members. Since BWI is supposed to come together after the whole Mag Trial and post-incarnate stuff. 

 

I still think the Praetorian Duray or even both of them have something to do with this group because neither of them died during Sutter's Task Force. Seeing Hill's Warriors being more or less "passive" around them as well. So the events of Mortimer Kal and Adm. Sutter are pretty much directly tied to the creation of BWI in a way.  

 

I now see them as their own mob, their vision alone is what makes them dangerous. Many a time I came off an elevator and they saw me before I saw them. That's more fearsome than any other faction in the game. You really can't be like they're like Malta especially rolling solo or with squisher characters. Even at base level they can drop a maxed incarnate with ease. I've seen them stalemate one of my regen tankers I was testing and then win because all the debuffs finally caused a crash. 

Maybe sometime down the line BWI be given a Strike Force. Since I don't see "heroes" directly busting down doors of this group. Yet maybe somebody from Longbow willing to look the other way and make it known they feel slighted by this group. 

[Cobalt Arachne]

1 hour ago, ExeErdna said:

Maybe sometime down the line BWI be given a Strike Force.

I can't say too much yet, I will say that my current priority is a brand new Task Force for Kallisti Wharf.

While it won't focus on Blackwing, it will feature them and introduces players directly to Blackwing's leader for the first time.
(If you haven't already found her secretly hanging out in the zone yet!)

[Starhammer]

7 hours ago, Cobalt Arachne said:

Blackwing use crowd control techniques to entrench themselves in their spawn position and wear down foes by countering common player tactics.

Obviously a little late for this page, but maybe in the future...

It'd be neat for one of Blackwing's units to have an ability called [Entrench] which summons a ring/square of sandbags (pretty sure we have some in hazard zone hosps) as a pseudo pet that doesn't move, and has an always on aura that gives a lot of +def vs AoE to everyone inside, and runs a taunt aura, making it harder to actually target whomever is inside. Feels like something that would reinforce the PMC/paramilitary theme. Might be a neat power for a future Epic powerset derived from that theme as well... possibly unlockable through a BWI Patron arc or such 🙂

[Forager]

On 7/4/2025 at 6:39 PM, Starhammer said:

[Entrench] which summons a ring/square of sandbags

 

This idea is badass.

[Myndwurx]

On 6/28/2025 at 10:35 AM, Cobalt Arachne said:

 

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 These dome heads are a real pain in the neck! 

What's the chances we'll see this effect as a costume aura soon?   And maybe some of the Arcane bits and bobs from LoF as placeable decoration in base edit? 

 

 

 

🎖️

 

[PresidentDSG]

That effect is already available- Look in the aether rewards holovendor.

[Xenodi]

Thank you for sharing details about this new group. I like the lore, and creating a rival faction for the Malta Group makes the world feel more believable and adds depth to it. We need more groups to introduce additional shades of grey and grit into this world.

[caradoc1979]

I also love the idea of a new group for a new zone. Having been deployed in Iraq with the US Marines, I can confirm that US Contractors can be given "jurisdiction" of a sort by the State Department to protect people and assets belonging to the US government. It is not a stretch at all for a contractor to be given jurisdiction over certain people and assets in a fictional setting. I think it is important to keep them separate from Malta, which I think you're doing regardless of comparisons  - and I am sure you would continue to give them their own identity in subsequent storylines and (hope hope) TFs/trials. Keep up the good work!

[BlackSpectre]

Loving Blackwing! The more dangerous, the better! Keep that trend going, guys! Make players work for the rewards they get! Surprise them! Mix it up! Do it!  🙂

 

May I offer a suggestion for the zone boss? Instead of an immobile/frozen giant monster circling around a single building... how about perching them on top of the building with extreme perception distance and aggro always on? Kind of like a look out perch. When they jump through the air to attack players, give him an ominous and loud rumbling and fire animation like a meteor as he streaks toward them? Maybe it would be a travel and attack power called Meteor Slam? And when he lands on the ground, a huge impact explosion. Make him... DANGEROUS! A threat to be reckoned with!

 

Incidentally, I went with a random pick up group to defeat that GM  after we finished one of the repeatable missions... and the GM was pretty easy to defeat. It didn't take long either. I might have lucked out by having just the right powers in the team, dunno. All I can say is my first impression is that the GM wasn't very scary. It could have been strategy too. I mean, the first thing I did was force him onto the ground, then we all just pounced. Took about a minute and he was dead.  

 

As an aside, in that pick up group I mentioned, as soon as we entered the mission a couple players immediately broke off from the group to attack Blackwing solo. Unfortunately, this happens a lot in PUGs, but it was AWESOME to see their health be wacked down instantly! One died, the other retreated. They both decided to stay with the group for the rest of the missions. LOL CLASSIC BEATDOWN! 

 

Attacking as a group, though, made them easy. Maybe too easy. No one died, no one's health was reduced more than just a couple of percent. And the mob groups were defeated very quickly. Being cautious, we just attacked one group at a time. No herding. And were careful to aggro only one group.

 

I very much like your idea of a villain group effectively defending against a player team's alpha attacks, @Cobalt Arachne. Defenses against tier 10 AOE novas, mass mez attacks, initial 10 second debuff resistance/protection/nullification (or even reflecting those back at the players... oooo, that would be cool!). What I like about it is that it forces players to change their typical tactics, and introduces some newness into the game. There's a balance though. You don't want to make them so tough that no player wants to go near them. For example, they could have very, VERY dangerous powers that have a very long recharge time and can only be used once in any battle. Kind of like player alpha attacks.  

 

So my overall suggestion is to amp up both their appearance of threat and their actual dangerousness.  The -Def debuffs Blackwing has are a great step in the right direction. How about adding a big -HP AOE debuff?

 

If true, -RES debuffs seem to max out at 20%-30%, which doesn't make them very useful against players.  

 

-ToHit and -Accuracy debuffs against players would just make combat frustrating and annoying. -ToHit debuffs and +def buffs could be implemented for a short duration time (maybe 5 secs) but then never be used again.  Even hitting an enemy and doing little damage is much more satisfying than not being able to hit them at all. Think Paragon Protectors. So frustrating, and not dangerous either! You just have to wait around until their MOG dies out. Waste of time. My strategy against PPs changed for that exact reason... prioritize PPs above all others and take them out quick before they can activate MOG. Not because MOG is a threat, but because it is annoying, brings combat to a standstill, and wastes players' time. They're prioritized for all the wrong reasons. If you want to make them actual threats, buff their damage by 100% for the duration of the MOG. That would make players re-focus on forming strategic defensive positions in order to survive, or run. 

 

Just throwing out some ideas. Great job, @Cobalt Arachne and the rest of the Devs! Keep up the good work!