Will pay 2 million for each of the following items

Lvl 47 Barrelhead Gauntlets                         TVB 31p  Sneak-SpeedB 1%,BDefB 2%,Code-Writing 2p
Lvl 48 Brown & Dk. Purple Dada Short Boots          MVB 32p  VAccB 3%
Lvl 49 Black Avero Open Heels                       MTB 32p  IS-CostB 2%,SweepB 1%,TDamB 2%

Lvl 49 Black Avero Open Heels                       MTB 32p  IS-CostB 2%,SweepB 1%,Decompile 2p
Lvl 50 Black & Silver Dada Short Boots              MTB 33p  Invisible-SpeedB 3%   
Lvl 50 Eggplant Parish Jacket                       MVB 33p  Invisible-SpeedB 2%,MAccB 1%,Craft-Apparel 2p
Lvl 50 Magenta Smoke Velvet Trench Flipcollar       MTV 33p  IS-CostB 2%,Health-MaxB 1%,PowerlessB 2%
Lvl 50 Gray Avero Suit Coat                         MTV 33p  Craft-Weapon 3p   
Lvl 50 Bright Purple Arasiki Sleeveless Vinyl Dress MTV 33p  StunB 1%,RootB 2%,Craft-Apparel 2p
Lvl 50 Lt. Teal Arasiki Sleeveless Vinyl Dress      MTV 33p  StunB 2%,VDamB 2% 
Lvl 50 Amethyst Sif Open Corset w/ Mesh             TVB 33p  SweepB 3%   
Lvl 50 Green Dress Shirt                            MVB 33p  TDamB 3%   
Lvl 50 Indigo Sleeveless T-Shirt                    MTV 33p  RootB 3%   
Lvl 50 Dim Purple T-Shirt                           TVB 33p  EnrageB 2%,Health-RegenB 1%,PowerlessB 2%

This morning began much like any other, in fact they have all merged into a gray continuum of mission after mission extending back to rebirth and projecting forward to a yet unrealized death. Along the way, you may be fortunate to lend a hand to others in need as they follow there own paths.

Syntax.EmergencyBeacon whispers>Th---- Versal of --e Ishtar II, bro--ca-ti-- an e---g-ncy tran--iss-on--Ple-se--espo-d. Rep--t, thi- is --rsal, --- operator of --- Zi-- Ho---cra-- Is--ar II. W- re--ire eme--ency a--ist--ce, c-n an---e re--?

whisper to Syntax.EmergencyBeacon>Istar II you are breaking up ... state nature of your emergency

Syntax.EmergencyBeacon whispers>H--lo? I'm gett-ng y-ur --gnal, but it-- break-ng up! E--rgy reser---is a- mi--mal, and we re--ly nee- help! I've on-- been abl- to b--adcast th-s beaco- -- short -ursts, so-- k-nd of in--rfer-nce!

whisper to Syntax.EmergencyBeacon>understand Ishtar II ... what is your location ?

Syntax.EmergencyBeacon whispers>We c--sh-landed -- the real, ---ve be-- here - long tim- ---. Ou- missi-- was -- as----ain t-- f-te of --- Nova--- II. Th-t wa- months ago.

Signal Lost

As an ex-waterman one can not ignore a call for help .. please render all assistance to this ship in peril and the souls aboard.

How about giving us the ability to specify the Map Flag color or select from a set of icons so that we can mark say the new style chapter spawns differently ...

What is the distinction between the two different movement speed attributes on the commando boots ?

There is a Movement Speed percentage listed and a Movement Speed Bonus percentage listed .. sounds

like a bit of redundancy to me.  A percentage of a percentage for the Bonus seems a bit silly.

One of the things that has bothered me about the Enhanced Clothing is the apparently backward distribution of apparel with level that was introduced with the CR2 upgrade.

This was because under CR2, the major source of an Operatives combat resistence was provided by their clothing items. The Enhanced items are preferred in that they provide 3 out of the 4 resistences as opposed to the choice of only 2 resistences on Armor and Shield Clothing. Consider, at level 50 Enhanced items provide 99 total points of resistence as opposed to only 72 points for level 50 Armor or Shields. One can easily see the advantage of a all enhanced clothing loadout.

This means as one advances in level, in order to maximize your resistence you are forced to upgrade to higher level enhanced clothing. The problem here is that only after a few days play one reaches level 16. Unfortunately, 62.6 % of the Enhanced clothing are level 16 or below, 83.2% of the Enhanced clothing are level 32 and below.

Another problem is that the clothing styles are not equally represented across the levels. As one advances certain clothing style options are just not available.

Unfortunately the clothing items are all maintained in the game's database. Mucking with the database and not getting everything precisely right is a sure fire way to create a crap-storm on the forums. From my own experience, undertaking a fundamental change in the database in a large and complex application is not something to be undertaken lightly and will no doubt involve a considerable amount of recoding.

As an alternate suggestion for fixing the problem I suggest the introduction of a new tool, to be carried in the tool slot provided in the inventory. I suggest the tool be called the "Equalizer" or the "Revitalizer". When equipped the tool is permanently active. It's function is to maximize the resistences on Enhanced items depending on the Users level.  Ideally the Characters base clothing statistics should be adjusted each time a piece of clothing is changed. I am suggesting that at that time, if the "Equalizer" is equipped the Enhanced clothing item's resistences be changed to be level appropriate according to some table or formula. The other Bonuses on the gear would be handled the regular way and would not be adjusted.  In this way, high level operatives can use low level clothing, which will allow more options on style and make these items marketable for those who wish to delve into the marketplace. (Hmmm, I suppose a level change should invoke a base clothing recalculation as well)

Hopefully ChangeClothingItem is implemented in a subroutine or method so only one place in the code needs to be changed.

An "Equalizer" should be obtainable by any operative. Perhaps to make things interesting, it might be a drop obtained in the Data Mining archive from a level appropriate DM spawn.

Just something to think about... wink wink wink

Con

How about allowing alternate Side tree abilities (those pesky 1 point abilities hanging off the main trees) to be loaded.  Produce variations on the main ability in terms of states, IS requirements, use timers, and Damage so that the same combat animations can still be used for the whole family.   Now here is the kicker... Make the abilities so they cant be decomped and are available as drops in the new Pandora Box Arc or other suitable end game Quest type system.

Make them all level 50 abilities, since the Arcs will no doubt be high level content and as such would represent the constant refining of the Trees and Technique by the Grandmasters of the trade.

TRX awakened in his cabin, half blind and groggy, the mission tempo lately with the recent commando activity not to mention the duties of captain which only allowed him cat-naps here and there, was wearing him down. At his wash stand, he splashed some cool clear water on in face and takes a cool refreshing drink which brings him to full alertness.

In the background he hears Othala talking with Saramae his newest recruit and smiles. He had met the Othala in one of the warehouses while following clues on the infiltration of Pendhurst-Amaranth by Anome's Unlimits. She had been quietly working on some machinery in the background when TRX had been jumped by two Unlimits. Perhaps she choose to help the debonair captain because of the respectful way he had questioned her about the strange comings and goings at he warehouse, or perhaps it was his smile and the twinkle in his eye as he gently removed the smudge of grease from her check with his handkerchief. Either way, when the second green eyed monster materialized at his back undetected while he faced the first she knew she had to help. In the heat of the moment, her well aimed hammer throw had landed with a crack against the skull of the second Unlimit, stunning him and allowing the Captain the time that he needed to finish the first and then deal with the second. As the adrenaline wore off, and she realized that something very, very strange had just happened her faith in the world was shaken and she collapsed to the floor. Finishing the second attacker, and seeing the attractive mechanic on the floor, Rex raced to her side. It was his presence and human to human touch of redpill to bluepill played out in a digital world that helped her through the crisis and began the start of her journey of discovery. He had eventually offered her the red pill, which she had gladly taken, in order to join him and the fight in the Real.

What had begun in that warehouse in the Matrix had flourished in the Real. The Captain and his new Engineer had quickly developed into very good friends and soon became lovers. Othala had been given the basic red pill training we all have received. Commodore PS10n had even presided over her early combat training. Yet her mechanical skills in maintaining the Blue Distortion were unparalleled. Her adaptation of the water recycling and filtration system aboard Blue Distortion, for instance, was the envy of the Hovercraft fleet. As a result she spent the majority of her time attending to the needs of her boat in the Real. This suited the two lovers perfectly as the stress of sending his new love in combat every day would have been a heavy burden for the Captain to bear.

Quickly dressing, TRX leaves his cabin and makes his way down the narrow main companion way to the mess for a quick breakfast when he is almost run down by, Joppieh, one of his shooters.

"Good morning Cap, I know you don't like to get into action until you have had your morning pseudo-coffee, but the Tengu has requested a Secure Channel, Captain to Captain, message priority Important but not Urgent"

TRX taps Joppieh on the shoulder and replies. "Thanks Joppieh, I'll head up to the bridge right away and see what Conrac wants, but first I am going t give Othala a good morning kiss and get the Engineering status.

The captain's cabin aboard the Tengu was little bigger then a walk in closet, really just a work station built
into a bulkhead under his rack with some storage lockers on the facing wall. The space in fact was not much
larger then the First Mate's cabin aboard the Liquid Fire. Never-the-less it was his, the moment he signed on
the dotted line and accepted responsibility for, and command of the boat and those that crewed her.

Tengu had been maintained well by the previous captain and crew, the machinery purred with repressed power ready to do his bidding. At first it was just him and his free born operators, Cobol, Perl and Basic tooling around the tunnels, shaking out the bugs, and learning for themselves how she performed. Soon he was joined by his First Officer, FoxyOne, a promotion and transfer from another of the Faction's boats. Then the shooters began to arrive in ones and twos, Diab0lique, and then the spark plug of the crew Tzaikov, soon followed by Shalax, Kevlar334, Qubitt, Trulie, Amativa, Ganone, Tr1ck5 and Erniest. The purr of the machinery now mixed with the voices and sounds of the human crew intent on preserving lives and restoring the planet.

His eyes stared off into space beyond the skin of his boat, remembering his own path, as he pondered what to do about  one of his newest recruits, Tr1ck5, affectionitly called Trix or Trixie by the rest of the crew. He had met Trixie just a few short days ago, right on the Uriah docks. That was unusual in itself as most of the Tengu's recruits usually had some experience under their belts before coming aboard. The lady had moxie, he had to admit, why she had chosen the Tengu to be her new home would be one of those mysteries of aligning karmic wave functions he would never truly understand. She also had a temper, that slap she administered to her captain in the Matrix, would have left a mark in the Real.

Primar, the faction's lead combat veteran had been there with him in Uriah that afternoon and conducted her early  combat training. He glanced again at Prim's evaluation on his monitor screen, "She's a natural  ... high combat spirit  ... overall positive attitude... quick learner... Looks like she's gonna be a Fighter".  High praise from the man who routinely dumps the newest captain of the Tengu on his assets when sparring.

His own evaluation of the new recruit started soon afterward. Her focus, commitment and drive were evident as she immersed herself in learning her way about the city. It is said Seraph believes one must fight another to take their measure. He had come to believe fighting with somebody against difficult odds serves the same purpose, plus builds trust and creates a Warrior's Bond between teammates. Over time, as they made our way through the city, fighting exile gangs, collecting access keys, tagging hard lines and access nodes, and building a rapport; he had learned her story.

As a bluepill she had married Markus Parker, and despite the stress of living paycheck to paycheck in an unforgiving world their mutual passion buoyed them to new heights. Despite their deep love for one another, there were problems, Markus could never seem to except the world about them, he would share these feelings with her which she would dismiss as a harmless conspiracy theories. It seemed that people around them viewed him as a bit of a lunatic and as word of these theories of his passed among his associates the couple began to encounter hard times. Markus lost his brother who shared his theories, and then soon afterward, his job, when an embezzlement scandal rocked the department he managed. Without two steady incomes the couple lost their home as well. Times where stressful, and Markus continued to espouse an organization known as the Matrix had it in for him and was the root of their problems. The couple argued as passionately
as they made love... And Trixie stormed out of their rundown apartment in Eschean Projects in a fit of temper in order to find some space to cool off. The heat of the moment lingered for several days, when she returned to the apartment, he was gone. She only found a post-it on the fridge with the words: "It's true, this world is a lie. I'm deeply sorry". She filed a missing persons report and endured the bureaucratic meandering of a police department who had little intention of solving another missing person's case in the gang infested slums. That was when she took matters into her own hands and began a 14 month investigation of her husband's whereabouts. During this investigation she stumbled on strange people and found out about the Matrix, especially after being locked up in a cell for a day and a night by someone in a black suit, telling her to stop her investigation. It all became clear to her, and eventually leads to the choice of red or blue pills.

Her hope is that Markus took the red pill that day of the fight and that he is operating somewhere in the Matrix. Her fear is that he had misunderstood her departure that day as abandonment in a time of supreme stress and that her angry departure extinguished the flame of his passion for her.

Sadly, the Zion personnel database was still in shambles after the Cypherite security intrusion accompanying Veil's escape, so his Captain's level security clearance provided no additional information on the possible whereabouts of Trixie's husband. Indeed while rare, it is possible other organizations may have recruited the despondent Markus if indeed he took the red pill. There are even some, he imaged that were so enraged with the lie that they had been trapped in that they cast off the name they had been known by, never to mention it again.

Loyalty runs both ways, up as well as down; and while he may be losing a promising operative, as a human being, he could not deny the chance of another finding happiness in a world almost devoid of it. His decision made, a few simple keystrokes enabled him to create the anonymous e-mail drop, and a personal message in the Sentinel detailing the request for information on the whereabouts of Markus Parker with a reward of $10 million.

((For the purposes of the mini-event just e-mail Tr1ck5 with the redpill identity of her husband... first to do so
wins 10 million))

With the buzz circulating among the MegaCities' redpills concerning the Nabonidus beacon
sightings, a vaste network of creative energy has been focused on predicting where
the next sighting might be.

One such approach mimics the technique used to localize the source of Veil's transmission
during the Double Cross affair. Unfortunately, unlike the locations in Richland and Westview
identified in the hunt for Veil which all shared a common origin in Mara, one of the Nabonidus
beacon sightings was in the Downtown neighborhood of Edgewater. Downtown has it's own coordinate
system centered on a location in Hampton Green. As a result in order to compare the coordinates
of the beacon sightings in Richland/Westview to the coordinates of the Edgewater sighting it is
necessary to translate the Downtown coordinate system relative to the Richland/Westview
coordinate system.

Fortunately, this is just a simple coordinate translation with no rotation involved. Simply put
one must determine a pair of constant values to add/subtract with X and Z coordinates of one
system to align it with the other. We can do this because the city is laid out on a
Cartesian grid, which can be shown to the case within the precision of our measuring tools
(Facing compass and map coordinate output).

The question now becomes how to determine the pair of translation coordinates. Fortunately, we have
two prominent landmarks connecting Downtown and the regions to the south that will serve to allow
us to determine the East/West or "X' coordinate transform. These of course are the majestic
suspension bridges spanning the Aqueduct. The Z coordinate is a bit problematic because the local
constabulatory will not allow pedestrians on the bridge to measure their length. The best we can
do here is based on a strength of materials argument, combined with the style of bridge and come to the
assumption that the bridge has a maximum possible length in the neighborhood of 6000m. Another
way at arriving at the Bridge length is to assume the Megacity Atlas overview map is to scale and
measure the Aqueduct width by using the measured width and heights of the various districts to make
a ruler.

Another thing that will need to be determined is the orientation of the bridges. (i.e. how are they
aligned with regard to a North/South line). It is my contention that when measured from all four
locations in Downtown, Westview and Richland the bridges seem to be running North/South to a fairly
high degree of certainty. (one just needs to get on the centerline of the approach roadway some
distance from the toll plaza and note that the centerline continues in a straight line up to and
across the bridge. Now carefully aligning the facing compass to North or South as appropriate and
walking up to the toll plaza and observing that only the "Z" coordinate in the map display changes
proves the point).

So given this geometry, one need only measure the coordinates of the equivalent points on either
side of one of the bridges, and the difference between the "X" coordinates of this location would
be the "X" translation factor. As a base point I choose the Centerline of the roadway where it
intersected the Toll Plaza Concrete Pylon as my reference point. Measuring this reference point
in Chelsea gave X,Z values of (120,-884) and in Mara the coordinates are (-139,405). This gives the
"X" transform constant of 259... (i.e. to translate Downtown "X" coordinates to the Richland/Westview
system one must subtract 259 from the Downtown "X" value. Or one must add 259 to the
Richland/Westview "X" coordinate to get the equivalent Downtown "X" coordinate). Combine this with
the measured width of the Aqueduct to obtain the "Z" coordinate transform and we are done.

Well I thought at this point I was done and I could then determine the center of the three beacons
sightings and have a place to stake out. But curse me for being through, I made a similar measurement
for the Historic District/Manseen Park Bridge ends and ended up being bitten by a jaguar. For you see
the Historic District Reference point is at (-839,-899) and the Manseen Park reference point is at
(-739,452). This means that the "X" transform constant calculated from the second bridge is -100 which
is different from the calculated constant from the first bridge.

Put another way, the bridges which seem to be parallel and aligned to North/South when measured in this
way are actually not. In the Slums the bridge center lines are 600 meters apart and in Downtown the
centerlines are 959 meters apart. Another geometrical fact that can be gleaned from the reference points
is that all other things being equal the Aqueduct is 62 meters wider at the Chelsea/Mara bridge then at the
Historic District/Manseen Park bridge.

The problem now becomes how to rectify the situation. It is my belief that the bridges were originally
intended to be aligned perfectly North/South but sometime during the construction of the Megacity this
constraint was lost. Perhaps one of the reasons the Suspension Bridges are not in play is the existence
of this discontinuity.

One solution to the problem is to take the centerline of the waterway separating Westview and Richland and
add an additional 359 meters toward the Westview Shoreline. A cheap way to do this would be to modify the Map coordinate subroutine/method to subtract 359 from the X coordinate for any location in Westview. The cheap method would involve no change to the current Megacity Districts, only the coordinate reporting would change for the Westview District. Of course this means the Coordinate system would have a discontinuity in X
at the Richland/Westview boundary which would be seen only on the bridges between the Slum Districts and any bearings measured with the UI across the Richland/Westview Waterway would be incorrect.

A more expensive alternative would be to go ahead and modify the Megacity Map and extend the bridges
between Westview and Richland. Most of the addition would be water as the only land that spans the distance
between Richland and Westview is at the extreme southern end of the Map and is unplayable anyway. Heck,
looking at the Atlas overview map implies that the waterway extends well beyond the southern boundary of
Westview and Richland anyway .. so just add a 359 meter waterway and break apart the land bridge at the
south end of the map.

Unfortunately, I fear both these alternatives are more work then the Development Team will want to do to
solve a geometrical problem that has little meaning to anybody except geeks like myself.

Therefore, I suggest that we agree to disbelieve our eyes and measurement tools when it comes to the
Suspension bridges and assume that they are not aligned along a North/South Line but rather are canted
inward at a slight angle towards one another when viewed from the Southern shoreline. I propose that the
bridges be canted in at the same angle to so the illusion of the angle be the same a both bridges. In
other words they will both be equally wrong. The amount of the angle is dependent on the length of the
bridge and can be determined through trig and the equations.

           Mp=359*A/(2*A+62)
           Ma=(359-Mp)
           Angle = atan(Mp/A)= atan(Ma/(A+62))

    Where
 
           Angle = the angle the Bridge makes with respect to a North/South centerline.
           A = Width of the Aqueduct at the HD/MP bridge
           Mp = X Horizontal offset in Meters at the Manseen Park Bridge end
           Ma = X Horizontal offset in Meters at the Mara Bridge end

Assuming 6000m, Mp=178.5, Ma=180.5 and the Angle is approximately 1.70 degrees

Given this Aqueduct width at the HD/MP Bridge the coordinate transform from Slums coordinates to
Downtown Coordinates

        XD=XS+78.5
        ZD=ZS-7351

If it is desired to take bearings across the aqueduct and create points of intersection in support of future
events the transform constants need to be established for a Slum to Downtown and an International to Downtown coordinate transform. This information must be established so all parties have a common basis by which to compare coordinates for the various Megacity districts.

It would seem the Black Cat sitting at the Mara Origin of Coordinates is indeed reminding us of a glitch.