Heraclea

I am not sure that the complaints button is ever shown to anyone other than the original author. I have looked for them, frankly seeking them out: for an arc that some people are moved to complain about because of the content of the story may have a story more interesting than most.

Two quick questions:

<ul type="square">[*]I am writing something that involves the Cimerorans. Right now, I am using the Good Cimerorans, because the Cimeroran Traitors include female characters who'd be wrong for the story. If I made a custom group and included Random Minion, will that be enough to spawn Surgeons? I find that the Romans are rather weak without them. This way, I can deselect the female centurion from the spawns.[*]On the progression towards the badges you get for players completing your missions, what happens to the missions you pull? Do the star ratings and completions disappear? Or do they still count?[/list]

The objective nav statement is generated automatically by the singular and plural texts. If you make them identical you can have as many separate events as the map will allow, and as I said the game itself will add all the events with identical plural texts and do the math. In other words, if you have:

Objective 1 - Free a captive
...
Navigation Text (Plural) -
- cheerleaders to rescue

Objective 2 - Free a captive
...
Navigation Text (Plural) -
- cheerleaders to rescue

the nav window will display "2 cheerleaders to rescue" even though the objectives are two separate goals with separate text events displayed.

FWIW, the technique for inserting fake glowies is similar. You can create multiple glowie objectives and give them identical names and item picks, just make one required and the rest un-required. The required one is, of course, the real clue. The unrequired ones will beep at the player and display whatever text you want them to.

One of these days I will include a mission whose goal is to defeat a boss who will bear the name "Defeat all enemies".

Arc: Martian Chimpanzees and the Cyborg Cheerleaders of DOOM!
Arc ID: 69947
Author: Loonatik
My rating: *****

Very nice tongue in cheek story here. Monkeys from Mars are kidnapping cheerleaders. Very nice texts with lots of fourth wall breaking.

My suggestion:

I would think up a couple more cheers for the first mission, so the cheerleaders can have different things to say, and break those events up into two or three different ones. This doesn't require different cheerleaders or anything else, just the substitution of two or three different events for the one that's repeated.

If you call them all "cheerleaders to rescue" in the plural to-do statement, the MA does the math and treats them as one. Unless your space is very tightly budgeted, adding text and separating events doesn't use up that much overhead. If there is space, I would do the same with some of the later events as well.

Still - very nice custom mobs, and a story that's pure fun.

Actually, it has been reported, a couple times, but apparently not enough times that it's been pulled automatically yet.

The usual complaint is "gay bashing", when in fact it's trying to make fun of gay-bashing. Others object to any LGBT material in the MA at all. Neither, AFAICT, are forbidden by the ToS, and there are no bad words or sex scenes in the arc itself.

I wish I could search for arcs with complaints. If they're non-farm complaints, those might be more interesting than others.

[ QUOTE ]

I like the use of $archetype, but the attempt to change my character's backstory in the arc is just odd.


[/ QUOTE ]

Odd, and not entirely serious - but almost required by the Lesbian Hellion origin story.

Firemullet is a minor but official bit of game lore.

I use $target in Boss Kills Player, $name everywhere else. I am not sure that either will work in patrol texts, though.

$target only yields strange result when bosses end up killing pets and NPCs. Boss kill statements fire when the boss kills pets or other NPCs as well as player characters.

You might try making them patrols rather than allies. They will then ignore the player and act independently.

[ QUOTE ]
Why are we talking about him? Is someone seriously going, 'Well, this worked for SHAKESPEARE...'? 'Cos I've been checking around and at last check, no, nobody is Shakespeare. Well, except one guy, and he's not really into the forum discussion thing. He's dead.

[/ QUOTE ]

There is, of course, the longstanding controversy about whether Shakespeare was really Shakespeare, or whether the plays were really written by somebody else.

My personal conclusion is that Shakespeare's plays were not written by Shakespeare, but by someone else with the same name.

The most ridiculous one I've found yet:

[u]Thing[u]

Yes, "thing" is not a name you can give to an object.

I tend to rely fairly heavily on mission entry and exit popups: those are the only texts that do not have to be specifically sought by the players, and will display automatically. The mission briefing can be read, but only if the player seeks it out.

Kill alls are the one thing I promised myself I would never use in a MA mission. Except, maybe, on the tiny ruined office map. Anything bigger than that needs to have multiple paths to success.

In fact, the maximum number of goals I've ever used is eleven, and that was for plot purposes.

I've seen a lot more robots and ninjas than demons and clowns.

Had a good time running Synapse, we eventually finished shortly after midnight Eastern.

One of these days I am going to have to fork over the cash and rescue my characters there.

I just post random words into the search engine and see what looks interesting from the search results.

I also intentionally seek out zero and one starred arcs, and look for ones that seem to have some text and thought put into them. Some may be victims of unjust griefing. Others may appeal to the MST3K fan in me.

If they are playable - i.e. not spawning 3 ambushes of Vanguard Swords at mission entrance, like one arc had - I will rate them appropriately. These arcs are also likeliest to get feedback, which I ordinarily do not send, and I try to keep it constructive.

Five starred arcs tend to be disappointing. Many, many of them just seem to be farms, rated highly by the farmer and her friends. An interesting arc is going to draw opinions, and some may be negative.

Romulus Augustus likens himself to a god. Our custom characters ought to be able to do the same thing.

AE System
--------
Welcome to Architect Entertainment -- Neutral
Death for Dollars! -- Neutral
Bare Knuckles of Rage (9304)
Signal to Noise -- Neutral -- 67277
*

Allegory
---------
Who is Kidnapping the World's Great Philosophers? -- Neutral -- 86347
*

Character/Supergroup Origins
--------
Birth of a Fossil -- Heroic
Secret Origins(Tech) The Snake Women of Epsilon V (42221) - Heroic
Noah Reborn -- Heroic (2370)
Jumping in Feet First - Heroic - 1345
Midnight Bells Toll ----Villanious
A hero is made, not born. -- Heroic 20863
*

Classic Super-Hero/Super-Villain
--------
THE BOMBER --- Heroic --- Arc 16607
In The Shadow of Statesman --Neutral--1160
A Show to Die For! --- Heroic --- 30645
Check... and Mate #15095 - Heroic - Mini Task Force
Teen Phalanx Forever! -- Heroic (67335)
This Life Immortal - (5756) Heroic
Paradox Paradox - (69221) Heroic Stop yourself and Stellar from being erased!
*

Comedy
--------
The Extadine Lab -- Heroic (2595)
MacGuffin Delivery Service (1567) -- Villainous
ParaCon -- Heroic (1684)
The new and improved Lord Recluse Strike Force -- Villainous (though I wouldn't recommend against a hero )
The Fire Bunnies - Neutral, They are only bunnies after all...
You Say It's Your Birthday! (3630) - Neutral
Trademark Infringement -- Heroic (2220)
Hail to the King Neutral (34640)
Walk On the Wild Side - Neutral - 3580
Shirley You Jest (25474) -- Neutral
The Invasion of the Bikini Clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space! - Heroic - 61013
Gnomish Madness (30204) - Heroic
Doctor Nadir and the Hellion Heist (49661) - Heroic
Laugh? I Thought I'd DIE! - Heroic
The P.U.G. Strike force (arc 35585) -Villian
A Translator is the Wind or the Thunder in Turns -- (2936) - Heroic
*

Comedy/Drama
--------
The Running of the Bulls -- Heroic 29973
A Super Team is Born -- Heroic
Cause of How Some Silly Stealed My Wings #1481 -- Neutral
How to Survive a Robot Uprising -- Heroic (12669)
Dr. Duplicate's Dastardly Dare -- Neutral
It's a Nice Day for a White Wedding (9059) -- Neutral
TURG FICTION: Ghost in the Machine, Act I - Heroic (althoughs romantic villains could try this too )
Rum Runners of Bloody Bay (3691) - Heroic
Have a Blap, Blap, Blappy Day Kids! (2019)
The Toypocalypse! (49280) - Heroic
Fishing for Fame with Red Herring - Heroic (66861)
Putting Out Fires: A Corporate Satire (20100) - Villainous
*

Crime/Gangs
--------
Bricked Electronics -- Heroic (LIVE! 2180)
The Bravuran Jobs -- Villainous (16809)
The Monstrous Regiment of Lesbian Hellions -- Heroic (27178)
Win the 2009 Freak-Lympics (2150) - Villainous
Ninja Crimewave! (2142) - Heroic
Whitehawks (Arc 49364) -- Heroic
The Internet is for Crime (53385) - Villains
Plastic Pistol Peril (1135) - Heroic
Friends in Need (Of Body Parts) - Villainous (31005)
A Little RnR - Heroic (17523) click for Promotional Poster
*

Drama
--------
The Conciliators: Simone -- Heroic (4010)
The Fan Club -- Heroic
Matchstick Women -- Heroic -- 3369
Of Mentors and Legacy - Heroic - 1589
Digital Love -- Neutral -- 3571
*

Global Domination
--------
Axis and Allies -- Villainous (1379)
*

Heist
--------
Celebrity Kidnapping -- Villainous (1388)
Easy Money -- Villainous (31490)
*

Historical (Realistic)
--------
Wrinkle in Time -- Heroic(68920)
*

Historical (CoH Lore)
--------
The War on Superadine - The Regulators in their 1980's drug war (Heroic) (Arc 7959)
Origins - Volume 1 (57077) -- Heroic
The Once and Future King (#71601) - Heroic
*

Holiday
--------
Hectic Holidays -- Heroic (36999) also comedy
Santa's Missing List - 34961
*

Horror
--------
Astoria in D Minor (41565) -- Heroic
Dark Dreams (3615)
D!E BLACKULA D!E! (10619) -- Heroic
Don't Play With The Dead (31813) -- Neutral
The Amulet of J'gara (1709) -- Heroic
Project: Perilous - Into the Chthonian Pit (#3586) - Neutral (Unless you happen to be a mad cultist, in which case, go nuts!)
Small Fears -- Heroic
Lights, Camera, Scream! (#68627) - 3 Mission arc that get's you into the B-Horror film circuit.
*

Large-Scale Crisis
--------
This Is War, Part I - the Revenge of Hro'Dtohz -- Neutral
Win the Past, Own the Future - Heroic
A Warrior's Friend - Heroic
The Clockwork War -- Heroic (18672)
Flight of the Valkyries - Precursor (20272) -- Neutral
The Human Hive (#1632) - Neutral
War of the Worlds - The Anakim Invasion - Part 1, Neutral (15006)
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat....ue#Post13304513
War of the Worlds - The Anakim Invasion - Part 2, The Terran Revolt, Neutral (46711)
url=http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&amp;Number=13304455&amp;an=0&am p;page=0#Post13304455
Bleed the Freak - Arc ID #6919 - Heroic
*

Magic
--------
The Magical Miss Fitz (5079) -- Heroic
Chains of Blood (5492) -- Heroic
A Deal with Destiny -- Heroic
The Broken Chain (82378) -- heroic
Croatoa's Great War: The Parfait Family Reunion -- Neutral -- 71880
*

Military
--------
Redoubt Operations #1: Fires over Kalago -- Heroic
Red Storm Rising (Arc 4912) -- Heroic
Whitehawks (Arc 49364) -- Heroic
Axis and Allies -- Villainous (1379)
Vanguard AQUA (58475) -- Neutral
*

Misc. Adventure
--------
The Portal Bandits (3326) -- Heroic
A Glitch in the Wyre- Arc 73197-- Neutral (Fun for both the good kids and the bad kids too!)

Mystery
--------
Blowback (18575) -- Heroic
Dream Paper -- Heroic (13030)
Dream Paper 2: Restless Sleep -- Heroic (16797)
Dream Paper 3: Broken Dreams -- Heroic (13064)
*

Mythology
--------
Atlantis Attacks! -- Neutral (30898) -- Click for Promotional Poster
The Seelie War -- Heroic
The Unseelie War -- Villainous
Tales of Cimerora, volume 1 : Of feathers and fur -- Heroic
The Aegis Affair - Heroic
Witches and Warriors (53006)- Heroic
The War of Fate(12220,46722)- Heroic
Rites of the Maenads (61159) - Heroic
The Parable of the Fruit Salad -- Heroic -- 65369
*

Nemesis Plots
--------
Brass Reaver: Part 1 -- Neutral
The Handbag Plot -- Heroicish -- 36414
*

Player-Chosen Outcome
--------
Hunting the Dark Dragon -- Heroic
Playing Gods -- Heroic (51106)
*

Sci-Fi
--------
Above Mars - Part 1: The Wellington -- Neutral (13215)
Adventures of the Space Marines -- Neutral
Adventures of the Space Marines 2 -- Neutral
The Adventures of the United Earth Rangers -- Neutral (29549)
The Continuing Adventures of the United Earth Rangers -- Neutral (70237)
The Final Nemesis
The Knights of Rularuu -- Heroic (75386)
[color= #bbff88]Reach for the Stars -- Neutral (78904) [/color]
Spaced Invaders --Heroic(56856)
That Mysterious Buzzing Sound - 12774
*

Un-themed Survival/AV/Time Challenges
--------
The Meatgrinder -- Neutral
*

Puzzles/Riddles
--------
Grim Riddles (#1396) - Heroic
*

[/ QUOTE ]

What I think I might do is put in a single glowie in the back, and make the boss spawn contingent on the glowie rather than one of the rescues. This way, I can keep each of my rescues and make them independent of the boss trigger.

What I'd like to do is to have a boss that spawns only when a series of four previous rescues has been completed.

I can't do that at present. The best I can do is to put the last rescue last in the listing, specify it as "back", specify the boss as "back", and set the boss to spawn after the back rescue has been completed. This way, hopefully the boss will spawn after everything else has been finished, in the same room as the last rescue.

What are the most linear maps I can use? The ones where it's almost certain that the player will have rescued everything before the final rescue and boss? I don't want to send the player looking for one less than final rescue after she's already beaten the evil mastermind here.

Anyone have any specific map suggestions? I know Infernal works fairly well here, but it isn't what I am looking for. I tried several of the tech maps, but they too often have forking paths and multiple floors and elevators.

I really enjoyed the Girl Scout Cookie arc by @twiig, forget the arc number. Fun and well balanced.

I give heal sets to lieutenants and above, and give tanking defensive sets, especially the ones that include raw +HP as their base powers, to minions. Adding +HP makes it slightly more likely that your mobs will survive a hero alpha strike. The lieutenants probably will, and if they have heals they at least get the opportunity to heal the surviving minions. At certain difficulty settings, some of the healers can resurrect minions.

The healing sets differ in effectiveness. Empathy is not as tough as Pain Domination; and Thermal is the most difficult for players to deal with. Pain and Thermal are better handled by the AI than Empathy is, IMO. On high settings Thermal has nasty debuffs.

OK, then, my next arc will be all about the ninja zombie pirate lesbian catgirls. From Mars.

The five conventional mobs I like best are:

1.) Warriors. One of the more interesting gangs, essentially the last pure street gang you face in the game. Their historical and mythical allusions suggest a backstory that could use some filling out.

2.) Skulls. My favorite of the lowbie enemy groups. The lower level enemy groups and their relationships are another area of background that needs filling in. We know that Skulls don't get along with Hellions or Vahzilok, but are ok with Trolls. They have murky connections to higher level groups. That could be filled in.

3.) Mineons of Igneous. Who couldn't love something that says GOLAPO OOG!

4.) Banished Pantheon. Another interesting group that needs to be fronted a bit.

5.) 5th Column, mostly because they vanished very shortly after I started playing.

Just leave your name boss in the regular custom group that spawns in the mission, and make him the only character in the custom group. Don't give him any chats.

Then the mission will make dozens of him that you will have to kill looking for the real one.

The problem is, using War Mace is about as close as you can get to the standard baseball bat carried by dozens of game-standard minions. It has a stun that I didn't find a large problem, even on the /SR scrapper I made to see how well the system worked for lowbies. But part of that was just a larger pool of hit points.

I tried giving Assault Rifle to my lieutenants. Way too hard.