+- Drunkard's Walk Forums (http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums)
+-- Forum: General (http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=1)
+--- Forum: The Legendary (http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=14)
+--- Thread: TPN Anti-Telepath Strategy CONFIRMED (/showthread.php?tid=5767)
TPN Anti-Telepath Strategy CONFIRMED - Logan Darklighter - 06-04-2012
So last night, I was just messing around idly when most of the SD Paragon crew came online. Seems late Sunday night-early Monday morning is their usual RP get-together. But a couple of significant people were not online that they needed for an ongoing RP plot and they were kinda stuck for something to do until they showed up.
So we were chatting and the topic turned to the Trials, and I mentioned that C8 had never once been on a successful Keyes Trial. This astonished them to the point of using the core of their group to start a Keyes Trial. I was kinda surprised at the sheer speed with which they all just kinda decided at once to do it and railroad me along with them. ^.^ We didn't have enough in the Coalition to put together a full league, so we attracted some PUG-ers to fill in. (In fact I was kinda surprised at midnight we were still able to fill out a full league (4 teams worth))
Ok - intellectually I knew this -should- work, especially since Cappy (Deathwidow) is a seriously good Trial organizer. Mainly by exercising an almost R.Lee. Ermey Drill sergeant attitude that would actually herd CATS in real life as well as having a damn near encyclopedic knowledge of the trials etc. DW is really good at this. But... damn if I still wasn't all paranoid. But I kept it mostly to myself. Just thinking all the time I was in Murphy's crosshairs, like always, and that something just had to go wrong.
It didn't. Even with half the League being random people who joined up in DA, we BLEW through it and STOMPED Keyes flat in under 20 minutes.
I think my quote when I saw the Trial end notice (and the BADGE) pop up on my screen was something like -
"We won. We WON? No team wipe? No Boom?"
DW was kinda smug about it, "I -told- you Keyes was easy."
"...Best tasting plate of Crow I ever had. Thank you."
So yeah. C8 has his Keyes badge at long last. All hail DW and the SD Paragon crew! We should run trials with that group more often.
Anyway - we did so well that the rest of the League was chomping at the bit for more.
Somehow TPN was mentioned. And I JUMPED on it and called for the anti-telepath strategy and would anyone join me on that sub-group? Got Vhaillor (Dex) and another scrapper (Dark/Dark apparently) to join me initially, and halfway though, we got another couple of people including Battle Girl Mio (who was one of the ones who should've been on initially for the RP but had some kind of ISP problem) join the Trial in-progress and they joined the Telepath suppression squad.
IT. WAS. GLORIOUS!!!
(Not least of which because C8 and Dex are both MA/SR and we have almost identical attack chains, as well as use Superspeed as our main travel power, so not only do we often wind up fighting side by side, but we often synchronize! It is almost indescribably awesome when Dex and C8 both leap up to do Eagles Claw kick and then Crane Kick simultaneously and on opposite sides of a mob. We did that at least 3 times during our team-up on the telepaths. Boot to the Head x 2!!! Battle Girl Mio is also MA, and if you have the THREE of us doing that...)
And apparently the number of times you have to do the whole "beat the guards, then beat the technicians, activate the 4 terminals" routine is dependent on how well you're doing. And we were stomping things so hard, I think we only had to do it the bare minimum of times - once for each building.
We got ALL the badges.
Yes - that means Cyberman 8 is now the proud owner not only of the Keyes Trial Badge, but all the TPN Badges.
"Master of TPN"
Oooh.. shiny...
Anti-Telepath Squad on TPN. Not only worth it. But essential for a smooth, short run! We blew through that one in under 30 minutes as well!
It's not even that hard to do! I was afraid that the Seers would be inside the crowd. Turns out they spawn NEXT to each small crowd of protesters. On the side closest to the building. There are about 6 spawn points. The protesters gather there, then Seers will start to teleport in. They appear right next to the group, but between them and the campuses. So it's possible to run up, hit your key for "Nearest Enemy" and lock on that way rather than use your tab.
Let me see if I can illustrate it -
[Campus 1 [Campus 2 [Campus 3
T T T T T T
PP PP PP PP PP PP
PPP PPP PPP PPP PPP PPP
PPPP PPPP PPPP PPPP PPPP PPPP
(T for the Telepaths/Seers
P for the Protestors.)
And without that damn Pacification debuff going, everything goes SO much more smoothly.
So what about Maelstrom and his Teleporting around in that one stage? Not even a problem. We just flat out ignored him and kept up the pressure on the Seers. He couldn't stop us. Apparently a big part of why he's so stupidly powerful in that stage that we've seen on other runs? It's dependent largely on the Seer Pacification Debuff. Without it, he's just a standard Boss/AV.
Mind you - most of our Anti-Seer sub-team was MA/SR. That might've had something to do with the ability to ignore him. A squishy like a blaster might have more trouble. But just maintain some distance (or run if he ports close to you) and it should work out.
Oh - one other minor observation. When a Seer ports in and starts trying to mindwash a crowd, there's a vague transparent sphere that centers on them and is very diffuse and very large. It makes it easy to track where they are. The "bubble" is wide enough to cover nearly a third of the field. The effect is subtle. You know what a Force Field wide bubble looks like? Well imagine that, but -much- larger, and dimmer/not as glowy. You have to be looking for it. But once you see it and realize what it is, it makes tracking active seers even at long range a piece of cake. Though you still have to be careful with your targeting.
So... (buffs Master of TPN Badge) anybody want to do another run on TPN soon? ^_^
- Sweno - 06-04-2012
if I'm on when one gets suggested, I'd be all over this. Sounds like fun.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy
- OpMegs - 06-05-2012
I'm not surprised this is a lot easier, actually, especially since i23 went live.
The key thing to remember is that the TPN standardized tactics aren't meant to make it as easy as possible. It's to minimize cat herding. You mentioned having a core of responsive, competent players. The average PuG TPN doesn't have that, and it's just easier to tell them "go to the next building as it's announced, ignore everything else" than more complex tasks.
The other contributing factor is that the TPN got a *massive* nerf in one specific area with i23's release. The Mindwashed Citizens' rocks and molotov cocktails got significant damage and accuracy debuffs. Before the nerf, the average anti-Telepathist squad would take out a couple Seers and then get mobbed by the berserk protestors guarding the others. The sheer weight of fire tended to kill them, leading to the joke that the Telepathists were also handing out anti-Incarnate Kryptonite to chuck at people as well.
All in all, I'm grateful that the Telepathists are more easily defeatable now than they were. It'll make TPN a lot more enjoyable and less repetitive.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."