seekeronos

So I got this idea from watching Bleach (Japanese animation) with the kids, and a little bit from character special abilities in Final Fantasy XI. Many of the "good guy" characters in Bleach have a second stage "turbo" ability called a "Bankai". Typically, this supercharges their attacks or summons a creature with very high powered abilities. What, might you ask.... does this ever have to do with an MMO set in space? I'd like to propose a series of race and job specific devices or core equipment called [b]"Limit Removers"[/b]. A long-ish mission could be devised involving the talents of most if not all classes to build the equipment, with the blueprints for the equipment as a reward. The way the equipment works is pretty simple: - It can be used only once per real-time hour - The effects last for a full minute in most cases - Using the equipment has an especially detrimental aftereffect to compensate for the bonus(es) of using them. - The equipment is largely class specific and unique (completing one mission for your class prevents NPC mission givers from giving you the missions for any other class specific equipment- so choose carefully). - The equipment is player manufacturable, but non-trade and unique. Some subcomponents will likely need cooperation from other classes/races to complete. - Overall Level 150 requirement/maximum skill level specific to the equipment's usage. - Build recipes would be from 6 components - 3 components/subcomponent devices that can only be farmed from raid mobs (CL60+) OR selected rare ore field guardians of equivalent difficulty to solo explorers, OR (very exceptionally Tatsu-Pride-like rarely) in a hulk; 2 "store bought only" comps (K3 or Warlock type non-manufacturable comps) and 1 potentially player-manufacturable component (with rare or difficult ores/subcomponents)... in short, getting a 200% final product will be exceptionally rare, like probably more than 200% CFB rare. We can't make this [i]tooo[/i] easy now, right? - That being said, the final reward is a build recipe: so a player with an excess of time, credits and subcomponents can try to rebuild the Limit Remover as many times as is needed to get a 200% item. Here is a rough breakout of the equipment: [u][b]Limit Remover: Jettison Reactor Core[/b][/u] [color="#800080"]Explorers only[/color] [b]Usage:[/b] Use ALL of the player's reactor power, tops off all other player reactors within a 6km radius and grants unlimited energy for 120sec to players in that range when the ability fires off. [b]Penalty:[/b] Reactor Burnout* (user's reactor remains empty for the initial 120sec, and refills at half its normal recharge rate for the next 300sec thereafter). [b]Other Requirements:[/b] L8 Equip Reactor, Max Build Devices, Equip L9 Devices [b]Special Issues:[/b] Map awarded to the player is for a L9 device, "Reactor Core Ejector". *A 200% build quality will reduce the Reactor Burnout penalty by up to 120sec. [u][b]Limit Remover: Hull Interphase[/b][/u] [color="#8B0000"]Warriors Only[/color] [b]Usage:[/b] - Creates a phase-shifting field around the player's hull for 60sec that grants complete hull invulnerability to all attacks - Targeted mob at the time ability is fired off gains unbreakable hate against user for at least 60sec. [b]Penalty:[/b] Weapons Malfunction* (user gains a 25% increase damage control, but incurs a -50% debuff to critical targeting and base weapons friction of -50% for 120sec). [b]Other Requirements:[/b] L8 Equip Devices AND Max Build Weapons. [b]Special Issues:[/b] Since Warriors typically cannot build devices, the enterprising warrior will be awarded a map for the L9 Beam, "Piercing Justice" from the mission NPC. The beam itself is a L9 Plasma beam, with 1450 damage, 3.5km base range, and an 8sec. reload, non-trade, unique, but of course, manufacturable. Speaking to the mission NPC with this weapon in the warrior's cargo will award the L8 Hull Interphase Adapter device at the same quality as the player's build of the beam. *A 200% build quality will reduce the Weapons Malfunction penalty by up to 20sec. [u][b]Limit Remover: Shield Over Charge[/b][/u] [color="#2E8B57"]Traders Only[/color] [b]Usage:[/b] INSTANTLY restores all players shields to maximum capacity within a 6km area, and grants shield invulnerability to TARGETED PLAYER for 60sec. [b]Penalty:[/b] Shielding Transduction* (user incurs a -50% reduction to Recharge Shields for 120sec). [b]Other Requirements:[/b] L7 Recharge Shields, AND Max Build Components, AND L8 Equip Devices [b]Special Issues:[/b] Since not all Traders can build shields, the enterprising trader will be awarded a map for the L9 Component, "DigiApogee Transducer Casing" from the mission NPC. The component is a compounded component with many subcomponents (most are looted or vendor-sourced only), non-trade, unique, but of course, manufacturable. Speaking to the mission NPC with this component in the Trader's cargo will award the L8 Shield Recharge Transducer at the same quality as the player's build of the beam. *Since components are created at 200% quality, there is no special quality bonus. [u][b]Limit Remover: Perfect Shot[/b][/u] [color="#8B0000"]Warriors Only[/color] [b]Usage:[/b] - Guarantees 400% critical strikes for 60sec for the user. [b]Penalty:[/b] Weapons Meltdown* (After the 60sec ability timer lapses, the user's weapons will not be able to fire for 120sec). [b]Other Requirements:[/b] L8 Equip Devices AND Max Build Weapons. [b]Special Issues:[/b] Since Warriors typically cannot build devices, the enterprising warrior will be awarded a map for either the-- --- L9 Projectile Launcher, "Vindicating Justice" from the mission NPC. The PL uses L9 Vindicator rounds in stacks of 1200, with 350 damage in either plasma, impact, or chemical rounds, 5.5km base range, with a 3.5sec. reload, non-trade, unique, but of course, manufacturable. - OR - --- L9 Missile Launcher, "Avenging Justice" from the mission NPC. The ML uses L9 Vengeance missiles in stacks of 300, with 1050 damage in either plasma, explosive, or chemical rounds, 7.5km base range, with a 12sec. reload, non-trade, unique, but of course, manufacturable. --- Speaking to the mission NPC with this weapon in the warrior's cargo will award the L8 Positronic Targeting Computer device at the same quality as the player's build of the PL. *A 200% build quality will reduce the Weapons Meltdown penalty by up to 40sec. [u][b]Limit Remover: Evasive Maneuvers[/b][/u] [color="#800080"]Explorers only[/color] [b]Usage:[/b] - Targeted Enemy: Attracts maximum, unbreakable mob hate for 15 sec. - Targeted Self: No effect, ability will not fire (must target a mob or another player in the same group) - Self (while targeting an enemy)and adds 30% boost to combat speed, and reduces mob's accuracy vs. player to zero for 60sec. - Targeted Group Member: Adds 20% combat speed boost, and reduces mob accuracy vs. targeted player to zero for 30sec. [b]Penalty:[/b] Engine Stall* (Only affects user of the device: 120 seconds of base combat speed reduced to half, and engine signature doubled). [b]Other Requirements:[/b] L8 Equip Engines, Max Build Devices, Equip L9 Devices [b]Special Issues:[/b] Map awarded to the player is for a L9 device, "GETCo Engine Feedback Controller". *A 200% build quality will reduce the Engine Stall penalty by up to 40sec. [u][b]Limit Remover: Out of Time[/b][/u] [color="#2E8B57"]Traders Only[/color] [b]Usage:[/b] Grants zero-delay recast for any other device or skill except Shield Sap/Shield Leech/Energy Leeching type skills to the user for 60sec. [b]Penalty:[/b] Systems Overload* (user is unable to use skills or devices for 120sec after the Limit Removal expires). [b]Other Requirements:[/b] Max Build Devices, AND L8 Equip Devices [b]Special Issues:[/b] Map awarded to player for successful completion of the mission is a L9 Light Speed Inc. Chrono-Dialation Generator device. *A 200% build quality will reduce the Systems Overload penalty by up to 40sec.

Ok, disregard this one as "Error between User and Keyboard Exists". Apparently the program I was trying to attach the -noclassrestrictions flag to was the bloody installer....

I'm reading in the patch notes that the TS skill "Afterburn" should now be available. Is this so, or am I glitched and cannot see this new skill? I rolled a new TS on a second account to see if older TS toons weren't picking up the update, but newbie TS toons do not appear to be getting it either.

Running Windows 7 - and not having any luck getting the Character Creator to launch (goal being to create a -noclassrestrictions toon). I created a desktop shortcut, and am running the shortcut and the actual program it links to as Administrator. Using the installed path: C:\Users\%my_account%\Downloads\CharacterStarshipCreator.exe -noclassrestrictions OR "C:\Users\%my_account%\Downloads\CharacterStarshipCreator.exe" -noclassrestrictions OR C:\Users\%my_account%\Downloads\CharacterStarshipCreator.exe" -noclassrestrictions generates this (attached photo) ...:

Bankai Weapon skill. (sorry, been watching Bleach episodes with my kids recently lol)

[size="2"][b]DISCLAIMER: [/b]The following is entirely a work of fiction, and meant to kill time whilst waiting for the server to come back up. Enjoy/Ignore/Wail Tears of Abject Despair as suits the reader best. [/size] Article Excerpted from the Encyclopedia Hyperia. Copyright ©2452 All rights reserved, GETCo Publications. [b]ENTRY: The Cosmic Castaway's Lounge[/b] Most historical datacubes detail the signing of the SOLSEC accords as taking place aboard either a Freespacer Diplomatic Cruiser, or an abandoned mining station. Little of the surrounding room that housed the table where Merjan Kathrada, Primarch Anjuren Khan, and Admiral Idowu sat once to sign the accords formally ending the Hyperspace Gate War. The truth, as an old Terran writer once penned, is "a long strange trip that is more polished than the fiction that comes later". In fact, the exact location of the treaty signing was a disused mining station that a Freespacer had purchased at a steep discount from a Terran Trader. Of potentially greater historical significance might be that this was one of the very few times that the merchant princes of Old Earth actually lost a great deal of money. The Cosmic Castaway's Lounge had been in operation as a gas and mineral refining station as COSMOR Refinery Station 5, originally an independent contractor to Orsini Extraction Enterprises (LLC). Initially, the times were great as Jovian and Progen miners fed a steady stream of resources and revenue into the coffers of COSMOR (and of course, Orsini), while very capably feeding a steady stream of cheap foods and liquors and Hydroponic Herbal Remedies to the miners. In a not terribly unusual development, the Lounge's reputation as a point of interest began to overtake that of the station for being a refinery, and in the crossroads of what would eventually be designated Asteroid Belt Beta, it attracted much traffic. The Glenn Commission is said to have modeled the Friendship-7 HighPort, Hotel, and Casino as a super-expansion on the concept of The Cosmic Castaway's Lounge. While the tides of the war disrupted the Orsini operation, along with the intrusion of the various Red Dragon tongs, and the owner feeling that the Lounge's best days would soon be behind it, sold it to a Freespacer who wanted to establish a bridge between settled humanity in the core worlds and his brethren in DeepSpace (which arguably at that time, was most of everything that was not in the Sol or Centaurus systems). The Freespacer owner, Janik Kuznetsov, was slowly able to grow his contacts within the Progen Republic and EarthCorps, and by family contacts to the famed Shinwa Tzu clan, and brokered the first secret meetings between all the warring factions - which ultimately culminated in the peace treaty that was signed on top of a pool table in the back of a once-proud miner's lounge. The Lounge today appears to remain marginally profitable, although Janik claims that his first profit is from the [b]Super Dzurai Podmother Slammer[/b], said to be mixed from a recipe involving Manes essence, Ostarae fur, and some other secret ingredients. While questionably drinkable, this concoction is said to supercharge a starship's systems and provides random beneficial effects for a short time after use: Progen Warriors have commented on their shields nearly doubling, and Jenquai report that their reactors seem to double in their charge. Terrans have noticed effects that improve combat and warp speeds. Although much mining remains in the asteroid belts, few miners can be found there; however, travelers in Asteroid Belt Beta may yet find company and good times, and perhaps a melted brain and an overcharged reactor at The Cosmic Castaway's Lounge, just west off the main nav path between the gates to ABG and ABA. It may look like a rusty old dump of a refining station, but by Jove, it has a heritage to it.

Signing in to this site generates a creepy warning that the certificates can't be trusted. Just a heads up.

[quote name='Laloric' timestamp='1302558772' post='38847'] While I do believe that foul language does not have a place in MMO gaming, atleast on public channels, I do find it curious that it should be brought up by a GM named after an offensive act. [/quote] Gleek was the space monkey pet of the Wonder Twins, from the 1970s/80s era Saturday morning cartoon show, the "Superfriends". [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a6/Wondertwinsross.jpg[/img] Unless this has taken on some horrific meaning like about 99.9995% of the entries on the Urban Dictionary site... At any rate, best practice for a game with exposure to minor children: [i][b]Don't say it if it isn't something you'd say to your mom or to your boss.[/b][/i] (This assumes you love your mom, and don't want to be fired from your job.... lol )

87.106.131.253 is responding to ping, but the server is showing as offline in the Launcher.

SharePoint? Eeeek. I do SP development... not the most fun thing either. I hope you are able to use service that offers SharePoint Foundation Server/2010 as opposed to MOSS 2007. As a (more or less) 3rd iteration, Microsoft seems to be following typical form in that the third release of a product is usually much, much improved (in terms of it being ready for public consumption). Anyway, good to see where the money is being spent

The Reavers from Firefly were partly what I had in mind, mashed up with what I remember from EnB Live lore about these guys. But now that you mention it, the Bio-Rippers may well have been the inspiration for Firefly's Reavers. Interestingly enough, I think EnB borrows somewhat from the Cowboy Bebop a bit with the hypergates and such

[size="2"][b]DISCLAIMER: [/b]The following is entirely a work of fiction, and meant to kill time whilst waiting for the server to come back up. Enjoy/Ignore/Wail Tears of Abject Despair as suits the reader best. [/size] Article Excerpted from the Encyclopedia Hyperia. Copyright ©2452 All rights reserved, GETCo Publications. [b]ENTRY: Bio-Reapers[/b] Bio-Reapers are a common name for a class of feral humans often thought to have originated from rogue Freespacer clans at the farthest edges of human exploration. Since the end of the Gate War however, they have been found with increasing frequency closer to established trade routes and less remote resource fields. SOLSEC has classified various groups of Bio-Reapers according to their relative strength and numbers; usually, they work alone or in two-ship pairs, and only rarely as part of a larger coordinated effort, as they have been known to turn on each other. The weaker groups called "Bio-Harvesters" and "Bio-Rippers" will likely gang together to overcome stronger targets, whereas "Bio-Extractors" are often known throughout a sector as ruthless and dangerous enemies. They usually operate run-down relic ships from the Gate War era or earlier, with a few notable cases of operating what some Freespacers and deep space explorers and surveyors call "Clusterjunkers": capital ship class vessels made out of the accumulated hulks of captured or destroyed ships. Clusterjunkers are rarely seen, and are possibly analogous to the Freespacer void-moots, where a grisly trade in human organs and extracted DNA is carried on; and where no waste of human remains is tolerated, the even grislier practice of cannibalism is widely believed to occur in Bio-Reaper populations. First-hand accounts of meetings with Reapers exceptionally rare, given their often violent reaction toward outsiders. They have been known to trade with the somewhat less "feral" Freespacers and Psionics, and on rare occasion, with Red Dragon tongs for mechanical supplies and weapons that they otherwise cannot source from their victims, in return for exotic biotech derived from their bizarre DNA extractions. It is rumoured that Magister Magna Vinda of the Sabine is not above using the Red Dragon as intermediaries to gain access to useful biotech, and of course, Progen gene maps. Attitudes of the main branches of humanity toward the Reapers are as can be expected, ranging from outright policies of extermination on sight to guarded engagement. The Progen Republic has had a particularly aggressive campaign against Reapers and indeed, they are relatively rare in Progen space. Proconsul Gracchus Octavius Severus, representing the Odin Rex system in the Progen Senate, has made it the hallmark of his career to "exterminate the stench of biological pirates", chalking up some 12,000 Bio-Reaper kills in his six iterations. The Shinwa typically avoid going out of their way to engage them, but have isolated them back to particularly hostile or un-traveled space, such as highly dangerous space behind the Intazatlan Line in Xipe Totec, or the deep space beyond Fenris Prime. EarthCorps has been somewhat less aggressive, viewing the Bogeril of Alpha Centauri and the gathering Progen presence in and adjacent to 61 Cygni as greater threats to Terran security. [b]Bio-Reaper Practices.[/b] Based upon forensic evidence collected by explorers and Hyperia scouts, some basic patterns to Reaper activity have been identified. In a typical Reaper encounter, a targeted ship will be disabled, with a particular focus on disabling life-support and secondly, warp drives. Reapers will then attempt to board the targeted ship to remove the carcasses of their kills, and jumpstart the ship and take it into custody. Failing that, they may attempt to remove various core systems. Especially unlucky crews will often be found decapitated, with their skins peeled from their bodies, turned inside-out, and various organs removed. The reputation of some Bio-Reaper groupings is so bad in some sectors... that some traders and explorers have been known carry small arms with sufficient ammunition to end their own lives if they have no other alternative to falling prey to the Bio-Reapers.

as of 20:10 Eastern time (USA) all of my characters on all of my accounts are crashing. Most typically, they get past the galaxy map and dock into the station ("Shields installed, reactor installed"...) and exit to desktop as soon as the docking animation completes (I think one one attempt I actually transported into the station and persisted for a split second... Looks like another Netflix night

During the December content patch, the TS got a special weapon to play with (L9 Ballistic Sniper ML) which has special conditions that must be met before it can be used to full effect. I'd like to propose similar equipment for the other new classes (JT and PP) For the JT: [b]Psionic Dominator (L9 Device, JT only)[/b] - From Sundari. Effective against organic monsters, it reads the targeted monster's psionic field and upon activation, it can override a monster's hostility for a short time, causing the monster to fight against its own kind. [b]WARNING:[/b] Monsters recovering from the effects of this device might attack the user with exceptional rage and hostility. - Reuse timer: 2 minutes. The functionality is somewhat analogous to a charm effect - the MOB will not necessarily be controlled by the player, but will instead patrol near the player and aggro against any MOBs of its own kind, or against any MOB that aggros the player The success of the psionic domination roll will depend upon the relative levels of the MOB vs the player using the device, as well as psionic resists/buffs that are in effect. Typically, the effect on a MOB of the same level and resists as a player should not last more than a few minutes. Named Bosses would probably be immune to the effects of the device, and normal MOBs may develop immunity with repeated uses of the device. ---------------------------------------- [b]Vita Theodora's Sacrifice (L9 shield, PP only)[/b] - From Agrippa. This shield is specially built with a reactor shunt transducer, which in an emergency, can be exposed to restore the shields and reactors of all players in a 7km radius to full capacity, at the expense of depleting all reactor and shield energy of the user. [b]WARNING:[/b] Use of the transducer will probably attract a harsh response from attacking monsters. - Reuse timer: 5 minutes.

No luck getting in, flipped every conceivable combination of switches and keep getting the INV-300 warning at the first login screen.