Arc 74191: The Great Brain Robbery

[Acyl]

Arc Name: The Great Brain Robbery
Arc ID: 74191
Morality: Villainous
Creator: @Acyl
Difficulty Level: Easy to Moderate

Synopsis:
Contrary to what his enemies claim, Nemesis is actually just a nice old man.
Don't believe the lies and slander! He's perfectly capable of dealing with people in a civilized fashion.

Nemesis needs your help. It's a very simple matter, really. All he wants to do is steal someone's brain. No backstabbing or double-crossing at all, oh no! He'd never dream of doing such a thing!

This is definitely not a Nemesis Plot. Really. Perish the thought!

Estimated Time to Play: 40-50 minutes (4 missions)

Arc Notes:

This is my magnum opus. With the publication of this thing, I'm done, at least for the time being. This brings together all the MA stuff I've tinked with on Live and Test, and all the lessons I think I've learnt.

For everyone who's played my 'Over Nine Thousand' mission...well, you've seen my preferred style: lots of silly NPC dialogue and weird optional side encounters.

The Great Brain Robbery is like that, but it's a full four-mission story arc. And it HAS a real story, let me be clear. There's a proper tale here. Yet, at the same time, it's a lot lighter than my Midnight Squad arc. This thing's my baby, at least for now. =)

Technical Notes:

I need your help in testing this. I'm not that concerned with custom critters being too powerful. I use mostly standard factions in this arc anyway. This arc does contain EB/AVs, but they're not customs, so I expect they'll be fine. Psi damage EB/AV in the first mission, Energy and Smashing/Lethal EB/AV in the last one. Both boss fights have optional NPCs for backup.

No...it's the spawning that I'm worried about. The final mission in particular has really funky spawning going on, some technical tricks. I've even attempted to provide a choice of two different endings (the final mish can be failed). I don't know how well this works.

It functions, mind you, nothing's gonna break. But I've only tested this solo. I do not know how it'd seem on a team, particularly a large one...the final mission will be very different on a large team, I suspect. I am concerned my spawn tricks will make the mission very difficult to succeed, thus forcing people into the 'failure' ending.
-- Acyl

[Wiregeek]

Hopefully I can get a crew of pipe-swingers together, we'll 'test' your arc for ya.. heh heh heh...
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Acyl]

Heh. I'd appreciate it. =D
-- Acyl

[Foxboy]

I ran this on Nogi, cranked up to level 4, but still solo. Challenging, but fun.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Acyl]

*nods* I have tweaked the arc since you ran it, Fox - actually removed some of the speaking spawns, 'cause the density...particularly on the last mission...was pretty much TEXT OVERWHELMING. But I'm glad to see it worked for you, at least.
-- Acyl

[Wiregeek]

bah, Nogi is cheating.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Foxboy]

What, just because she has the pet procs that also apply to rescued npcs and allies? Perish the thought!
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Wiregeek]

good solid arc, I really enjoyed it. the Doc V map is awesome, except for the tight doorways that Warhulk liked to block 8 )
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Sweno]

LOTS of fun dialog

I really liked the fact that there were ally spawns large enough to actually be more than smear on the floor.

The costumes on the final ambushes where cool Steampunk/Valkyrie

Some of the named heroes folded like wet tissue paper, but as you said, it's scaled for solo play.

Overall: Great Work!
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Bob Schroeck]

except for the tight doorways that Warhulk liked to block 8 )

As Range Sabre said at least once, "Dude! Out of the way!"

LOTS of fun dialog

Agreed. So much that I took a suggestion someone posted here and opened a tab of just NPC dialog on my chat window.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Sofaspud]

I ran this with the Legendary crew last night, as Purrfect Scrapper. I liked the storyline, and Penelope Yin's dialogue had me -rolling-.

That said... I know you've scaled it for solo play, but... it felt waaay too easy, even taking that into account. Scraps dropped once, I'll admit, but
that was due to absorbing two alpha strikes at once right after SoW dropped. Other than that she had no issues.

That may be due to Willpower being an overpowered scrapper set, but most of the cons were blue, so I really thing it's the levels involved.

I liked the ability for a twist ending. I'm going to run this again solo soon to try out both versions.

Finally, the last thing I noticed may not be your issue to solve at all, but it could have been related to the number of NPCs on the map, as well. I'm not
sure. I was slide-showing throughout the mission, from the time it started and that first NPC ally joined up until the very end -- or rather, close to the
end, when my 'puter decided it had had enough abuse and crashed. Note that I have no problems running (say) ITF or LGTF on this machine.

I personally would recommend tougher enemies and fewer NPCs wandering around. The friendly patrols really didn't seem to do much beyond mopping up Longbow
before we got there and getting the the way of doorways. They made for good atmosphere, but not very good gameplay, in my opinion. If that makes sense.

Dialogue, though, wow. You really nailed Penelope, I think, and the whole thing felt very slick.

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

[Acyl]

Well, first off...thanks, everyone. I really, really appreciate your comments. I made a lot of edits to the arc today, and I think it's a LOT better.
Paradoxe pointed out that the tone gets a bit more serious in the last two missions, and that's a downer. He's right, I think, so I've addressed that. In my opinion, the last two missions look a LOT better now. =D
In general, dialogue has been improved throughout the arc and streamlined in many places. I've cut out some of the useless spam and removed some of the glitches folks encountered. New bits have been added in. 
Gameplay-wise, spawning has been adjusted for the final mission. I've specified the spawns a bit better, so they shouldn't all pile up in the final room at once, as some of you experienced while solo. Finally, a word on difficulty. Yes, this arc can be made harder. But I'm extremely hesitant to do so. Perhaps I'm gunshy after my experience with my first attempt at a long arc (the Midnight Squad one), which was initially quite tough as published, but had to be cut down to size as it were, especially for solo play. At present I'm satisfied with how this is - low EB/AV count, conservative spawns.
-- Acyl

[Acyl]

Oh, I forgot...

Lieutenant Schmitt is no longer a Warhulk in the final mission. That should help somewhat.

...

Lieutenant Schmitt: (stranded) Huff...puff...gasp...$name, wait for me! I'm a Warhulk pilot, we're not used to this whole walking thing!
Lieutenant Schmitt: (retrieved) I usually float inside a big green tank, you see. Don't get much exercise. But I'll try to keep up!
-- Acyl

[Acyl]

Final note...
With regards to too many allied NPCs wandering around, that's mostly for, well, the RP value and so on. As you say, I put a high priority on atmosphere and effect. I might go back and slice out any patrols with no dialog, tho - the second mish in particular still has some, I suspect. Most of them are vehicles for text gags tho. So it is a question of what matters more - the strict caveats of gameplay, or what I'm trying to put across. To some degree the two are compatable; I think the last mission's better for it, right now, for instance. But in others, I don't know.
It does seem different folks react differently to what I did - some people seem to really enjoy seeing actual battles on the map that aren't over by the time they get there.  
EDIT: After some review, I've gone with Sofa's suggestion and trimmed the allied patrols in Mission 2 - where I think the density was most obvious. 
Difficulty wise...it is possible to swap Sister Psyche for an EB/AV in mission 1, Doc Delilah to an EB (she's actually a very carefully replicated custom, since the real Doc Delilah is level-capped), and for me to turn up some enemy spawn sizes...a lot of my spawns are, after all, controllable objective points. The question is whether I should - I'm reluctant to add more EBs, but the spawn sizes could go up. Thoughts? 
-- Acyl

[Rev Dark]

I soloed this one on Bella and had a great time.

The slightly dim but earnest Warhulk had me laughing aloud more than once and putting the boots to Fusionette was far more fun than I am willing to admit.
Especially with her call for a wakey.

Lots of great dialog - embracing both high and low humour, and some nice shots at the game and the genre.

Easily the most polished mission I have run to date, and I would have no issue in reccomending that everyone run this one.

I ran Bella through on Heroic without dying, the Warhulk body guard provided just enough ablative armour that I was able to get through without any falls.

And most importantly. I had a lot of fun and no frustration in playing this.

Five well deserved stars!