The Malicious Magnet Magnetson

I cranked up Magnet Magnetson's notoriety in City of Villains from Villainous to Malicious, the next level up, making missions a little more difficult to complete. It's not that I have anything to prove or am trying to be hard-core, but I was running through missions a bit too easily. When people used to joke about warlocks in World of Warcraft being too powerful in the raid chat I quipped 'I once went AFK in Blackwing Lair with my demon on aggressive, and when I came back the instance was cleared'. At the lowest and default notoriety setting I could accept any interruption to my game-playing—answering the telephone, front door, call of nature—confident that Magnet was in no danger, even without an auto-attack. With my robots on their aggressive setting they would fire on any mobs close by, taking the aggro off me, and defeat them easily.

Seeing as how no one calls me on the telephone, I get no visitors, and I am grown-up enough to hold it in, my interruptions are generally limited to my kitty climbing on to the desk wanting to find out how I am getting on in the game, and helping out with any jumping I need to do. I think he enjoys City of Villains more than World of Warcraft, although maybe he'd prefer I played a spellcaster than rogue in the latter. But even with the occasional unplanned jumping spree I am free to crank up the difficulty a notch. Running through each mission and blasting the living snot out of everything in sight has its attraction, but doing the same thing whilst also being in a little danger of being defeated is rather more appealing. With my increased notoriety I feel completing the missions successfully is now more dependent on my being sat in front of the keyboard, and isn't as assured with a spacebar-focussed kitty taking my place.

Changing my notoriety certainly has had the desired effect. I am no longer waltzing through each mission with gay abandon, instead conning each group of mobs to help take them down efficiently before I engage them rather than wading in and sorting out the kill-order dynamically. I was even defeated, my first solo defeat! It was an ambush, with four minions and a lieutenant hiding behind a sewer doorway, obscured so they couldn't be seen or conned in advance. They were Circle of Thorns, with some of their members being more resistant to my knockback attack. I was hit quite hard, all three 'bots were reduced to scrap and I couldn't escape. A quick trip to the hospital saw me fit again, and I returned to defeat that group on a second pass.

But I didn't mind being defeated, it makes the game more interesting to know that I have control over my destiny and I am not walking a predetermined path. Indeed, the game crashed and I had to run the instanced mission again. The second time I encountered that ambush, and it remained an ambush as I still couldn't target or con the mobs before enountering them, I prevailed on the first attempt, although the slightly different combination of mob-types probably helped.

The relative power of the Mastermind archetype was revealed to me again during a mission. The final boss had a mesmerising, or 'mez', effect, and I was put to sleep a couple of times during the combat. It's possible that damage would have woken me up, but I didn't find out as the boss was too busy dealing with my robots. That's another consequence of having myself and some henchman instead of just running solo. I've been incapacitated, as have my 'bots on occasion, yet there are still more robots to continue the fight. Slept, webbed, destroyed, at the moment it just removes or hinders a quarter of my abilities not my entire arsenal, and the fight continues.

I am maliciously completing missions and having fun!

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Tags: city of villains, kitty, magnet magnetson, notoriety, robots, world of warcraft

Spider-Man says: I'm a brave patient

I had my six-monthly dentist appointment yesterday, which I duly attended. I am not exactly afeared of dentists, but I don't much like tooth pain and I had a bad experience some years back where I ended up getting a filling before the anaesthetic kicked in. Mind you, my current state of not fearing dentistry could be because my current dentist is lovely, and does what she can to make me feel at ease.

Since my last visit, you can view here about my previous dentist visit. I have had a couple of occasions where a tooth has been quite sensitive near the gum-line, but because it comes and goes I have been hoping it isn't a cavity. Despite not really wanting to be poked or drilled I pointed out this sensitivity to my dentist, because if I don't what's the point in turning up, and she neither poked me nor decided I needed to be drilled in to. Instead, she explained, using big words like 'intercuspate', why the gum had receded in that area and then applied some fluoride to aid recovery.

She also checked my newest wisdom tooth, which she has previously described as 'horrid and compacted', and was genuinely impressed with how I am managing to keep it clean. And that was that! Another check-up and everything is well. After the dentist and her assistant had had a busy, complicated day with just about everyone else, they were just as happy with my visit as I was and gave me a sticker of Spider-Man telling me that I'm a 'brave patient'. Yes!

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Tags: dentist, spider-man

Leftover jambalaya

I can happily report that the chicken jambalaya I made heats up well and tastes just as good as leftovers.

It looks like I have a new meal to add to my recipe book. NOM NOM NOM

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Tags: cooking, jambalaya, leftovers

Villains and heroes

Magnet Magentson, my City of Villains Mastermind, has a new robot! Buttercup's a defensive 'bot, or somesuch, but with guns. It protects Fluffy, Snowflake and myself with a defensive shield, can repair the other two robots, and in its spare time shoots my opponents. Nifty! I have some defensive shields that I can use to protect all of my robots but not on myself, so being shielded by one of my minions is quite helpful. I'm not sure how many of the shields stack with each other, I'll poke through the manual to try to find out, but I get the impression that they are all helping. Magnet Magnetson is flying through the levels now, robbing banks, defeating heroes, and gaining a certain amount of notoriety.

Being a Mastermind super-villain is a lot of fun! It's probably a little overpowered, and maybe this is a conscious effort to allow for the added complexity of controlling multiple henchmen instead of just your own powers. The power of the archetype comes from being many. Whilst not as powerful individually as other villains I have power in numbers. With concentrated fire my three 'bots and myself can take down a minion in a single volley, after which we can move on to a new target. If there is a lieutenant in the enemy's group I can keep him at bay with my knockback attack until the 'bots have cleared the minions, and then we can concentrate fire on the lieutenant.

I can also split the 'bots up and have one or more of them target different mobs, which allows them to 'tank' each one, getting the mob to attack them instead of me. This keeps me free to add firepower to one target, keep one target at bay with my knockback, renew the shields on the 'bots and allies, or even to escape. And if any 'bots get defeated I can recall them mid-fight, assuming the fight isn't going badly and I want to escape, and that the cool-down on the summoning power is over. With Buttercup's repair ability this is less necessary than before, though.

I'm enjoying the Mastermind archetype, although I'd like to get back to Sue Purr at some point, if just to run around as a tiger woman. It's a shame that I didn't have time to create a proper identity for Magnet, instead hitting the 'random' button until something interesting turned up. I like her look, it's just not tied to the name or powers. I think I get an opportunity or two to get another costume, so if I get that opportunity I would like to spend the time to get the proper look, probably something metallic.

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Tags: city of villains, magnet magnetson, mastermind, robots, sue purr

Reading between the lines

My boss comes to me this morning with some interesting hardware in-hand, and tells me that 'I have a little job for you, the best part being that it doesn't need any paperwork'.

Hmm, I really should finish that draft report soon for the test I completed a while back.

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Tags: paperwork, report

Weekend report

I popped in to my local town over the weekend, trying to avoid crowds by turning up when I thought most people would be going home. It didn't work out that way, and my arrival may have coincided with some early cinema traffic, but that was okay. I hadn't planned to do much, I was just there to pick up some comics and a book or two. The bookshop didn't have either of the books that I was after, which was disappointing considering the books I wanted weren't exactly obscure. I ended up ordering them on-line later.

Whilst in the town I took the opportunity to pick up some more picks from the music shop. I had bought a small selection of different picks after I bought my new guitar to see which one suited me best, and I decided that the Fender Medium felt the best. I bought half-a-dozen, and found out that the music shop is closing down. The owners are retiring and can find no one to take over the business. That's a shame, but such is progress.

I took the opportunity of the lazy weekend to watch a film or two, looking over the DVDs I have yet to watch. For some reason I still couldn't bring myself to watch The Lives of Others or Kagemusha, both of which I must have had for months now, and I'm not entirely sure why. I think I worry that I don't have enough time to enjoy them, or that my concentration to read subtitles won't last the length of the film, both baseless objections but it has kept me from watching them so far. I ended up re-watching Munich and enjoying it for a second time.

After watching The Departed the other week and now Munich, both of which being around two-and-a-half hours long, I realised that I was being a little foolish in delaying watching the two hour The Lives of Othes, so I finally got around to watching it the next day. I had a little trouble with the subtitles to start with, but only because they were not displayed by default and I had to head back to the menu to turn them on. The film was, of course, marvellous, and I'll have to watch it again at some point to try to understand more fully the motivations of the protagonist. I think it was the disparity between loving one's country and despising the corrupt people abusing the power given to them, but I'm probably wrong.

To end my weekend I did a bit of cooking. I'd been hankering for a jambalaya for a couple of weeks, not finding a ready-meal type in my feeble glances around a small supermarket, and so I asked a friend who is a good cook if she had a recipe. She found one and it looked easy enough, so I picked up the ingredients and got myself ready to cook. It was pretty simple, with just some chopping involved and then throwing everything in to a big pot to cook. I wasn't entirely confident that it would come out resembling anything like food, but after the required cooking time it looked and smelt pretty good! I dished some out and settled down for dinner and it was really tasty, a good result. It's a good job too, because I ended up making enough to last perhaps until the end of the week, so I hope it reheats well.

Edit: I should probably try to remember the recipe. Chicken, bell pepper, onion, all chopped up. A tin of tomatoes, some cloves of garlic, chicken stock, hot sauce or similar, and some rice. Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a bit pot, add the chicken to allow it to cook first, then add the pepper and onion, stirring occasionally. Add the rice and stir to ensure it is all coated in oil, then throw in everything else. Simmer for 20-25 minutes until the liquid is gone, and serve.

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Tags: cooking, jambalaya, kagemusha, munich, shopping, subtitles, the departed, the lives of others

Magnet Magnetson, Mastermind

Zoso and Melmoth have hooked me up to join them on the US servers for City of Heroes. The timing has worked out really well. I picked up the boxed game cheaply and got it working under Crossover Games for Mac, ironing out the showstopping wrinkles, and now I am using a trial account to team up with my friends. This comes just as my free month's play from buying the game ends, which lets me cancel my unused subscription to the EU servers. To continue to play on the US server I'll need to buy the game again, which sounds like a waste of money, but as a month's subscription is $15 and the game is also $15 and comes with a month's free play time it works out not costing any more.

Despite the game being four years old there is renewed interest because of the latest update that has just been released, giving more options for character creation and new areas to explore. Something like that, I'm still a complete newbie and am happy to have a whole new world to explore. I have 'moved' my blaster hero Sue Purr to the Victory server, where she will have to start building up her crime-fighting reputation again, but my time is mostly spent being a super-villain in the underworld of City of Villains at the moment. Not knowing much about the villain archetypes myself, Melmoth suggested the Mastermind, saying they were 'similar to warlocks'. That was all I needed to hear, so I created Magnet Magnetson, a Mastermind in control of robots.

The game suggests that these villains are 'perhaps the most complex archetypes to play' because of their minions, but having been an epic warlock in World of Warcraft I have found them quite comfortable to jump in to. Of course, only having one robot to control to start with makes things easier, but I was giggling like a schoolgirl when I hit threat level six and summoning Fluffy, my first robot, caused a second, Snowflake, to turn up by its side. The second 'bot is still quite manageable, although I may have more trouble when I get several more as I increase in threat level.

The main problem with multiple 'bots is that they disappear whenever I cross zones, which means I have to summon them again. Except it's not the summoning that is the problem, as it's as simple as using a single power to get them back, it is that I then have to upgrade each one by using another power and then buff them with the shields that I fortuitously chose as a secondary power, all of which takes a bit of time and coordination. Having to do this each time I change zone gets a little boring, and this assumes that my power to summon 'bots isn't on cool-down, which could happen if I zone quickly. And if it's a little tedious for me then imagine what it's like for team-mates, who have to stand around sipping tea whilst I get Fluffy and Snowflake back up and combat-ready every time we enter a building.

Yes, I teamed up at last! Melmoth and Zoso and I ran around wherever super-villains run around, wreaking havoc and beating up the good guys. No rescuing people or foiling bank robberies for us, we were kidnappers and bank robbers! The number of mobs facing us as a team of three was a little overwhelming to start with, and the action was always hectic, but even with a couple of defeats we managed to succeed with all our nefarious deeds in the end.

I'm still experimenting with how best to fight with my 'bots, at the moment sticking with each one tanking different mobs whilst I keep another out of range with my knockback power that seems to recharge just as the mob manages to stand up again, although it may be better to have them concentrate fire on single targets. I'm sorry to say that I was concentrating too hard on keeping my 'bots active and making sure everyone was shielded from danger to notice too much what Melmoth and Zoso were doing in combat, but it was certainly hard to miss the area-of-effect immobilisations. City of Villains certainly is a frantic game, and awfully enjoyable because of it.

Posted in Gaming | 2 Comments »
Tags: city of heroes, city of villains, crossover games, magnet magnetson, mastermind, melmoth, robots, sue purr, zoso

It's not quite the West Indies

I'm flying to Paris next week.

{o,o}
|)__) O RLY?
-”-”-

No, Charles de Gaulle.

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Tags: o rly, pun

Indiana Jones and the Last of the Summer Wine

I saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull last night and I wasn't impressed. The opening action sequence made me realise how long it has been in watching a film in the cinema since I was last so aware that a stunt double was trying to hide his face from the camera, but that seemed to be an issue just with the opening sequence. The other action sequences, or 'the film' if you prefer, had plenty of action in them, just not much action from the characters themselves. Most of the excitement seemed to come from being sat down and needing to duck every now and again whilst something exciting flew over their heads, causing all sorts of danger and destruction.

What with all the bullets being fired from automatic weapons, often at close range, it was not only surprising that no one got hit it ended up being boring. There was no sense of danger in being shot at, and that simply highlighted that there was little sense of the characters being in danger at all. They were just coasting along, being pulled and pushed by various vehicles and people, ducking occasionally, and finding themselves in the next location ready to start again. The scenes following clues and artefact hunting were so abbreviated that the characters again were coasting, not really performing any detective work or research but stumbling over their next lead just from walking or crawling in to a room.

If there wasn't a suitable room to hold an obvious clue then we could rely on John Hurt's character, or 'Skippy' as I came to think of him. An man incomprehensible through apparent madness, he spews the occasional string of words that can be translated by Indiana. 'What's that, Skippy? The Mayan civilisation is behind this rock? We'd better walk around it then!'

It wasn't just the characters though, we were all there just for the ride. We were just expected to enjoy seeing Indiana Jones on another adventure and marvel at the action that happens around him. This is emphasised when people on screen remind us that 'It's Indie' whenever we're wondering how he is going to get out of the current scrape in which he finds himself. This is just a nostalgia trip, a last outing to commemorate a hero to many people.

The end of the film was incongruous with almost everything that followed, and seemed tacked on to present a Lucas fairy tale. I wouldn't have been surprised if the scene dissolved to reveal that it had all been just a dream, or the fantastic tales of a pensioner in a nursing home.

This is the Indiana Jones Experience in a theme park, and it's being opened by the hero himself showing us how everyone can share what it's like to be him without any of the danger. Sit back and remember the good times you had with Indiana Jones in this living monument to a man of adventure.

Those are just my impressions though, my friends thought it was great. To show that my opinions cannot be trusted, I hated Kill Bill and the same friends thought it was the best film for years.

On a more positive note, there was a trailer for Kung Fu Panda. It looks like some harmless fun, and it has a kick-arse kung fu tigress. Rowr, must see!

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Tags: film, indiana jones, kill bill, kung fu panda, tiger

This post intentionally left blank

If you've ever read any formal specifications, particularly from standards bodies, you will probably have come across a page that is blank apart from the statement printed on it 'this page intentionally left blank'. These are paradoxical oddities. On the one hand, it is prudent to let a reader know that the page is meant to be blank and information isn't missing. On the other hand, the page is no longer blank once the message is included. It also raises the question of why the page is left blank in the first place, particularly when someone has taken time to type and print out the line that no longer leaves it blank. I answered some of these questions recently.

I was working on a large document, which was effectively in two-halves. The first half was the technical report, detailing everything to do with a test, its procedures, and the results. The second half was a chunk of graphical plots of collected data, imported in to the document from an external source. Once the document was written and all the data compiled and included I printed off the document for approval, and it was then that I realised the pagination had been a little quirky when importing the first data plot. The imported plot had added an extra page break when inserted, leaving a blank page between the end of the text and the start of the data plots. This was awkward.

I could have deleted the page break and removed the blank page, but then all the pagination would be resequenced and the printed and electronic versions of the documents would not match. To fix this would require about a hundred pages to be printed out just to decrement the page numbers, which was wasteful. Leaving a page devoid of content could seem like an error, which of course it was, but what kind of error? There needed to be some way to show that there was an error that had left a page unintentionally blank, and this is where the cryptic phrase originates. I called up the blank page and was poised to type 'this page intentionally left blank', but couldn't quite manage to do so. There was a problem.

The page hadn't been left blank intentionally, it had been accidental. There was no reason for it to be blank in the first place, so how could I type those words whilst keeping a sense of integrity that admittedly seemed entirely misplaced for this incident? I was almost thrown in to a logical paradox loop serious enough to cause the 6502 in my head to malfunction. Then I hit a branch-if-obviously-overlooked (BOO) instruction and I realised that whilst the page had been created blank accidentally the decision to leave it blank was intentional, and there was no paradox. Well, except for the issue about the page's blankness.

I typed out the words and printed out a single replacement page, sliding it in to place in the document. I felt a bit dirty, but I could understand better how these pages can crop up.

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Tags: 6502, document, paradox