Atlantea

HA!

I just noticed the lever next to the Overlord's desk. Obviously for opening the trapdoor underneath the visitor chairs in his office!

Also love the whole Lava room look. You've got me thinking now about doing something with that idea.

I'm wondering if the dining room with the lava wall from the movie "The Incredibles" would be reproducible with the base editor. (Scampers off to test)

Man, it has been a LONG time since I've posted pics from our base. And the base has expanded and changed a LOT.

So how about a tour?

We've been playing as a group for about 3 years now and our base reflects a progression of sorts.

In the areas right around the Entrance/Foyer, everything is pretty straightforward. The Tport room, Infirmary, and labs are all adjacent to the main entrance for easy access. This reflects the original intent - to have a functional base that people could use easily.

The Main Receiving Pad. (Note the skylights above)



The View from the Pad looking at the receptionist desk.



View from the Entry Foyer down the Main Corridor (west). At the far end you can see the conference room and to the right along the corridor you can see the Invention Lab and the Medical Bay/Infirmary.



Looking south from the foyer, you can see the Entrance to the Workshops. Off to the left along this corridor is a Breakfast Nook/Coffee bar.



Looking East along the Main Corridor, you can see into the new expansion areas.



North from the Foyer are the Teleport Bays



Another angle of the Foyer. All the amenities are here for a quick pit stop if necessary.



Let's go south from the foyer and check out the Coffee Bar shall we?











Moving down the south corridor from the Coffee Bar, the Tech Workshop is next. (Again, much of the lighting comes from the skylights overhead.)





Turning around 180 degrees from the previous viewpoint brings you into the Arcane Workshop.





Moving back through the Entrance Foyer through the north passage we come to the Teleport Room. This is organized more or less by level. Hazard Zone Tporters are mainly in the back room.





Backing out of the Tport room and back into the foyer, we turn back to the west and into the Main Corridor.



Just off the Main Corridor adjacent to the Entrance Foyer is the Invention Lab.





Continuing down the Main Corridor, we come to the Infirmary. The actual Medbay only takes up one quarter of the actual room. The rest is actually more of a cross-hub for another main corridor. This one running North-South.









This is the aforementioned north-south corridor looking north from the Medbay area. To the right along the corridor is an entrance...



... to some administrative offices. (What? Not EVERYTHING is exciting. SOMEONE has to take care of paperwork around here!)









Continuing north up the corridor there is a passage to the left that takes you into our practice dojo.









From within the Dojo, another passage extends north into an area opened up by one of our members with a mystic bent. Seems to be a kind of shrine or something.











Hmm... is that a secret passageway? Where might it go? Well... for now, we'll respect her privacy and return to the main tour...




Moving back into the north-south corridor, directly across from the Dojo is the office of our Supergroup Leader, Evangelia.







And next up the along the north corridor is the Command Center and Control room. Our base has a full AI majordomo named SHAVI.















Right behind the Command Center is the Fusion Powerplant. We've been careful with the safety procedures in here.











Okay. That's the farthest end north. Let's back up, head back down the north-south corridor, back past the Infirmary, turn west and take a peek into the Main Conference room.







And then let's turn, go back out to the Infirmary hub, and turn south. I'm particularly proud of this room. I made the first version of this danceclub/bar back a few months after the "D" opened up. The "D" is a great idea. But if you want a nicer, quieter, place to hold a party, I think "Club L" is a great choice for the discerning.

I recently added the second level about 2 weeks ago.



























Behind "Club L" is our Movie Theater. This USED to be the old Power Station before we put in the Fusion powerplant.





Well that's about all for the "Old" sections of the base. For the last 4 rooms, we move back all the way back past the Entrance Foyer and into the East wing (also known as the new expansion zone.)

First off, there's the general purpose Library.













This next room... Well I'm not sure WHAT is going on, here. One of our members that I gave base editing privileges to started this, and either it's not done, or it was always meant as a practice room. It sure makes people stop and wonder though...





Across from the "arcane puzzle room" is the more coherent sun room and arboretum.











And last but not least, our full sized swimming pool!









There's definitely room for expansion. In fact there are new rooms already under construction. Including another garden and a set of apartments.

Anyway, it's not the most innovative base you've probably ever seen. It doesn't go nuts with the multilevel stuff that a lot of other bases do. But it's comfortable, it works, and it looks like people use it. I've made a point of adding details that enhance the verisimilitude. Like Fire Extinguishers in rooms such as the Tport and power station rooms. Made sure there are "bathrooms" in each quarter of the base.

Again - the most used stuff is closer to the center. While the more fanciful RP oriented things are in the outlying areas. I've also tried to make little nooks and crannies for people to explore and RP in. One of our members claims he gets lost in our base!

Hope you like the tour. And if you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

[ QUOTE ]
My mother doesn't use mods. She is a 54 year old lady that hardly knows how to even turn on her computer She never has and never will know how to use mods or use them IF she did, and she don't. I told her she should report it, then she said, how do you do that? I said, never mind, I will come over and do it for you. After which, they fixed her stuff. Its not like she wanted to see that crap on her screen. She was going to delete her game until I told her that they could fix it. The first thing I tried was to re-install. It didn't work, the bug was still there. After, and only after I did that I bugged the GMs to fix it.

I don't use mods either. Don't like to goof with my games that way, at all. I don't even do it for LoTR and Neverwinter Nights games I have, even though I know a bunch of them. I am the kind of person that figures when it comes to games anyway, if it works, leave it alone. If it doesnt, re-install.

Why is it so hard to believe that there are people in this world that dont frikin cheat, and screw with their games?

[/ QUOTE ]

Perhaps not you or your mother would've done this. But does anyone ELSE in your home have access to that computer and play City of Heroes? That's a possibility.

If you REALLY want to get rid of that and if it (most likely) is a client side mod that somehow got in there, then I can help you find it and remove it. It's pretty easy, really.

5th (final) Mission

Okay. Fog again. (This time I've seen the map before.) Once again - good choice for the purpose.

It's a little bit of work to keep the AI pets (Reen and Aisynia) from getting distracted or lost. But WORTH it when you come to the final Boss. Made it SOO much easier. (And this time Reen did her job right. Heh.)

The ONLY thing that was slightly unclear was the reason for the threat to Paragon. You cleared that up in the souvenier text though. You might want to take a look at making clear what's going on with that aspect of the plot in the exposition. Maybe I was just tired and missed it.

Overall - VERY impressed with the missions. The maps chosen, the enemies chosen, and most of all the story. Bravo!

4th Mission

Ok. Good set up in terms of writing. I'm still liking this. The background of the magic system you've set up makes sense and is believable.

Ok - it's the maps.

I think there should be some sort of official "guide to AIs in missions" thing. And the FIRST rule should be - "If you want the AI allies to stick with the PCs, do NOT put rooms with CHASMS in them that can only be navigated by jumping!"

AIs apparently don't understand jumping. It's a simple hop across a space of no more than 2 feet across the central pillars in this room and Reen can't do it. I'm standing here watching her continuously trying to find a way back to me and I know I'm just going to have to leave her behind.

Ok - there's a portal at the bottom that leads to the top and she can leap down to the path from there. (Whew)

The rest of this mission went fairly well. I did get defeated by Tannhauser once right at the end, but Restore Essence got me through.

Reen once again ran off in the middle of the fight. She didn't go far. About 30 yards away toward the altar of the temple. When I ran up to her, she said, "Oh, there you are!"

>.>....

3rd mission

Good writing and set-up, for anyone who cares to read it. The background of the main villain is turning out to be quite a sad story. I'm looking forward to finding out just -why- he's getting set up to destroy Paragon now, though.

Love the Design on Reen. She's terrific! (Nice touch with the tattered cape design - consistent with the clue from the first mission.)

Okay. She's a good ally - when she isn't running off for no apparent reason! Something is messed up with her AI.

There's a deep chasm near a "prison cell" room. Keeping her focused and on target in that room is all but impossible! And then - for no apparent reason, it seems she gets confused and runs out and promptly dumps herself into the chasm! I don't know WHAT is up with this behavior.

I wouldn't bother keeping her around if it weren't for A) I feel it's worth it to test and see if I can keep her alive and with me. And 2) She does good damage with that sword.

I'll try and keep her alive. But she's starting to frustrate the hell out of me. Good thing Peacebringers can heal.

It may be the map that's the problem. Maybe try one that's "flatter"?

Once you get her away from that area, it's not as bad.

Reflections of Tannhauser... Wow. This guy has issues.

Okay. On to the 2nd mission.

Pretty standard "Orenbegan" map here. The video from earlier and the description in the writing are good at making me think "tower" and not "underground" though.

At least I can see where I'm going now!

You know what else this is reminding me of? Hellboy and Hellboy II. That's a good thing, BTW.

Okay. Physically speaking, a lot more straightforward. No real surprises. And now I'm getting some real answers to the story. (This is good stuff, story-wise.)

I'll leave off with specifics though. Anybody reading this - play it and find out for yourself! No spoilers!

I want to make some notes as I'm going along here. Because this looks like a VERY unique setup.

First off - Mission 1 - The entrance. I do NOT remember seeing anyplace in this game previously that had this much fog! Wow! Is this somehow a custom add-on or something? Whatever it is, it's REALLY evocative and lets you know right off that this is not a standard mission. Very Spooky. Made my Peacebringer, Lora'Lai put up her shields first thing!

First boss fight - Yikes! Tough! And the dialogue - coming out of the fog without me being able to see the source at first (!!!) was very chilling. I couldn't even SEE what I was shooting at clearly until I was right on top of him. Just his eyes.... (shudder)

(Want to mention again that the inability to see more than a few yards ahead is a VERY effective choice. It can't say if it would be frustrating in a group or not. But as a solo adventure, this is working again and again to induce a feeling of EXTREME caution and paranoia! Reminds me of playing Tomb Raider for the first time.)

I find my choice of a Kheldian Peacebringer strangely appropriate in this situation. Light-based character taking on hordes of dark creatures? Oh yeah.

I just noticed upon looking at my map that I'm going in a large downward spiral from the entrance.

The mix of Shadow Shard, Orenbegan and even Devouring Earth monsters is also effective at evoking a "chaos magic" feel here. Or maybe whatever you'd call a mad scientist if he weren't a scientist but a magician.

Oh! I get what this whole thing reminds me of!

In Big Trouble in Little China, when the heroes are sneaking through the Vault of the Dead Trees, and this... THING just leaps out and grabs one of the party members (effectively a "red shirt" and eats him and Egg Shen throws an explosive magic spell at it and says "It will come out NO MORE!"

And Jack Burton says "WHAT? WHAT'LL come out no more?? HUH?!?"

THAT's the feel of this first mission!

Good grief! There's FACES in the wall! O_O That's CREEPY!! (Where the HECK did this map come from?)

Okay. Finished with first mission. On looking at the overall map, it's NOT that big. But it sure felt like it!

The choice of map, the fog, and the mix of creatures, plus the dialogue were all quite effective. I wouldn't want to play this part with the lights off!

I'm impressed! I think I'll pop on and try this out!

(Edit: Oh - one of the more impressive things about the video - other than the stellar voice work - was the fact that you included a -picture- of this tower that I'm supposedly checking out. That helps me with the 'suspension of belief' and makes it seem less like I'm going into some standard Orenbega lair!)

Very nice!

The home base of The Legendary on Virtue has a Dance Club/Bar, and here's a couple of images of it.

The Legendary Bar (Image 1)
The Legendary Bar (Image 2)

Oh the pictures? That's a client side mod. And... I'm racking my brain but I can't remember where I got it from. Probably linked from the Guruverse Forums. They replace in-game "generic" art with actual art pieces. Kind of amusing to take a Malta mission into a "ruined office" map and see the Mona Lisa on one of the office walls!

And in regard to the dance floor - Thanks! But I can't take credit for originality there. That's been done before. In fact I'm pretty sure I got the idea from this forum!

Hey there! In my Peacebringer alt Lora'Lai, I'm the primary architect/base designer of the supergroup The Legendary on Virtue Server.

We've been together going on 2 years now and our base has really started getting pretty large.

I've never designed for "efficiency" or even regular spacing of rooms. Thus there's a little bit of "wasted" space on the map that's popped up as I've grown the base. Rarely have I taken down major sections and I've NEVER just deleted the entire base to start over. Thus it's kind of grown "organically".

In other words, it's a bit of a sprawling maze by now.

After making sure the "functional" priorities for a PVE base were taken care of (teleporters, medbay, workshops and storage) my main priority has been to make the place look "lived in" and to provide lots of little nooks and crannies for RP to take place.

So - here's the nickel tour. Come with me now...

First - the overview with labels
Legendary Base - overhead view

Main Entrance Hall and Reception Desk

Reception 1
Reception 2
Reception 3

Before we head out on patrol, a nice hot cup of Java helps wake you up. Or maybe you want to just read a book and socialize as you eat?
Breakfast Nook and Coffee Bar
Cloesup on the Kitchen area

Next up are the main workshop areas. Both tech and arcane basically use mirrored floorplans.

Tech Workshop Main View
Tech Workshop Closeup 1
Tech Workshop Closeup 2

Arcane Workshop Main View
Arcane Workshop Closeup 1
Arcane Workshop Closeup 2

Next up are our Teleport Rooms. The two main bays again are basically mirrors of each other. The effect is more like one REALLY big room rather than two.

Main Teleport Bay 1
Main Teleport Bay 2

An Arcane Teleport chamber going to Croatoa, Dark Astoria and Perez Park
Arcane Teleport Chamber

Our last Teleport Room also doubles as our Longbow Hanger.

Teleport Bay and Longbow Chaser Hanger 1
Teleport Bay and Longbow Chaser Hanger 2
Teleport Bay and Longbow Chaser Hanger 3

Going back to the main entryway and looking down the long main corridor.
Main Corridor

Along the Main Corridor is the Invention Lab and Vault
Invention Lab 1
Invention Lab 2

Next is the Infirmary and reclamators.
Medbay 1
Medbay 2

Our formal Meeting Hall and Trophy Room
Meeting Hall and Trophy Room 1
Meeting Hall and Trophy Room 2

Administration Offices for the Supergroup Leaders (Hey look! an actual human sized doorway! ^_^)

Admin Office Entrance
Administration Office 1
Administarion Office 2

Our Martial Arts Dojo (and small Grotto)
Dojo 1
Dojo 2
Grotto


An Arcane Ritual Room.
Arcane Ritual 1
Arcane Ritual 2

Recently we upgraded from a small control room to a Command Center with AI computer. The first SG member to wander in after I had completed the place said "If that thing starts singing 'I'm Still Alive' I am SO OUTTA HERE!" ^_^

Command Center 1
Command Center 2

Next up - the Legendary Dance Club and Bar!
Hallway to Club
Club Entrance
Dance Club and Bar 1
Dance Club and Bar 2

Lastly, our Turbine power station
Entryway to Power Station
Power Station


Hey, what's this? If you edge alongside the generator you come up to a short set of steps that leads to a little "secret" room! I envision this as Lora'Lai's private little workspace and lounge. But who knows what other uses people may put it to when she's not staying at the base!

"Secret" room approach
"Secret" Room 1
"Secret" Room 2

And there you go! The home base of The Legendary. And we still have some space left to grow into on this plot!

Thoughts? Brickbats?

SKIPPY??

ROTFLMAO!!

It's official, my Shivan's are all now named Skippy!

Good lord these were hilarious!

Had to say something after stumbling across this almost by accident. That was an incredible bit of writing. Frank Capra would be proud! (Snif)

[ QUOTE ]
That had to have been a labor of love to get him in that building. I would have thought the general cleaness and orderness would have made his little head pop just by setting foot in there.

[/ QUOTE ]

I honestly don't quite know how it was done. I was just hanging out with a friend in the Independence Port ICON and we noticed him there. A controller with teleport did something to him (confuse?) and somehow tported him into the store. Then tported him behind the counter. Everyone there had a really good laugh.

Yeah, they even like to work at ICON sometimes.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
According to in game descriptions, they have "care takers".

[/ QUOTE ]

All I can say to that is:
o.O

O.o

I will have to keep my eyes peeled for that, I've never seen anything alluding to it... What a job that must be..

[/ QUOTE ]

IIRC (at work and don't have the game handy right now) In the description of the Mad Freaks and Mad Gunners (the low level minions without much in the way of obvious cybernetics), it says that one of their duties as recruits is to act as "care-takers" for the higher-level Freakshow.

I agree with your reaction there, as in...

The Mad Freaks and Mad Gunners must be aptly named, then. I mean, how crazy would you have to be, when part of your job, as an initiate and new gang member, is helping some Freak Slicer... er... ah... clean up after himself, as it were!

Talk about being LOW man on the Totem Pole! YIKES!!!!! O_O

SG Name: The Aces and Eights

Motto: "Dealing Villainy a bad hand..."

SG Leaders: Ice Naga, Lora Doubet

SG Website (if any): None, but some member bios are at Crey Industries website

SG Recruiters: (Well, we encourage all members to recommend anyone they think would fit in, myself, Ice Naga, Valiance, and Scarlet Steel can all recruit.)

Teamspeak/Ventrillo Server: None

SG Peak Hours: 80% of our members play during the evening hours and are in North America. But a couple of us have graveyard schedules. So the chances of one of the Aces and Eights being on at any time of the day is pretty good, really.

Other Info: We're a small group. We can field a maximum of 6 members at a time right now, although we have several alts on our roster, and most of us are friends from outside of the game as well. We're tactically tight, although we don't use teamspeak. We're heavy on Scrappers, Tankers and other damage dealers. We could use some Controllers and Defenders in our line up.

(Lora Doubet from Justice server)

Imagine this presented in an Edna Mode... er... mode. Heh.

"Here's a few shots of Lora in her primary outfit. A very practical, yet, stylish affair in pseudo-leather and neoprene-beta. Very durable. Bulletproof, flame resistant (up to 5000 degrees) And machine washable (That's a new feature). Note the boots have kevlar/ceramic soles, designed to not wear down under the rigors of superspeed or 400 meter leaps."

Shot 1

shot 2

closeup

action shot

with teammates Kyokushinkai and Scarlet Steel

[ QUOTE ]
Wait a tick.. the real Mercedes Lackey plays this game?

Gods, where does that woman find the time to play MMO's?

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, I can't speak for Mercedes But I've written a little bit of amateur fiction myself, and I can tell you that sometimes a fair amount of the writing process is doing other things while your brain processes the story. Either that or you do things or watch/read stuff that inspire you.

So, say the editor calls and you're playing City of Heroes. Depending on how you want to spin it, you could say, "I AM working on the story right now... Getting some great ideas here while brainstorming... Whoops! Call you back as soon as I take down this giant wooden Tiki god thing! Later!"

Yes. I caught most of Acts I and II. It was neat.

BTW, all hail the Taxibots! I tried to jump to the top of the arena in Galaxy but just couldn't figure out how to do it. Broadcast for help and got Teleported to the top in seconds.

(err... that would be because my alternate self on Pinnacle is only level 7. Same character. No travel powers right now. Heh. ^_^)

Can't wait to see the write-up!

I've wondered about that descrepancy myself a few times.

BTW, looking at his AV counterpart, I just had the revelation - HOLY C**P!!! It's LOBO!!!! AIIIEEEE!!!

Just wanted to bump this thread since it's such a good one. Later!