Anandtech.com put up an article back in September taking a second look at the PhysX performance advantages in City of Heroes and City of Villains. The results are pretty interesting. Take a look here.
January 16, 2007
Now playing in the Training Room: an overhaul of base rent!
In the glorious world of the very near future, rent will be calculated solely on base size, with the basic (smallest) headquarters paying zilch, nada, zippo:
Tiny Hidden Spot 8×8 0
Small Hidden Spot 8×12 20000
Hidden Spot 12×12 43000
Small Secret Location 12×16 65000
Secret Location 16×16 105000
Large Secret Location 16×20 145000
Small Hidden Complex 20×20 200000
Hidden Complex 20×24 280000
Large Hidden Complex 24×24 350000
Massive Hidden Complex 24×28 610000
Small Secure Location 12×16 200000
Secure Location 16×16 420000
Large Secure Location 16×20 750000
Small Secure Complex 20×20 1300000
Secure Complex 20×24 2100000
Large Secure Complex 24×24 3200000
Massive Secure Complex 24×28 5000000
Both Infamy Unlimited and the Guardsmen live in a Tiny Hidden Spot-sized base. (Not the same base, thankfully.) Although it’ll still take a lot of Prestige to upgrade to the next larger lot, it’s nice to know there won’t be a constant rent drain in the meantime.
January 2, 2007
If You Thought Baby New Year Was Ugly Now…
Posted by Grinning Ghoul under UncategorizedLeave a Comment
…just wait until he hits puberty.
But that’s not our problem anymore. We made it to 2007 and gave Snaptooth a kick in the pants to boot, and that’s all that matters.
That, and the badges.
Happy New Year!
December 12, 2006
[cheery music]
Hello! Since 2005, Infamy Unlimited has relied on its valued employees to market its unique brand of evil throughout the globe. And if you’re watching this instructional video, you’re one of the many highly skilled earners in the IU family!
In this video, you’ll be learning about the state-of-the-art laboratory found in Infamy Central, our secret headquarters. Here, you’ll find an array of dazzling machinery designed to help IU’s personnel reach their full potential!
Say, what’s this?
Uh oh! Looks like our friend, Curious Carl, is having a problem. Carl’s confused by the sheer variety of equipment in the IU lab. With so many high-tech gadgets at his command, how’s a fella to remember how everything works?
Well, relax, Carl! It’s easier than you think. Let’s check out each piece of equipment individually. You’ll find that you’ll become a ”Lab Leader” in no time!
Inspiration Collector: This eye-catching gizmo is used for storing Inspirations, and any member can deposit or withdraw at any time. (Max capacity 100.) Open the window and click on any stored Inspiration to take it. To store an Inspiration, just drag and drop from your own pool into the window. Help yourself at any time — the machine’s usually full!
To make the best use of storage space, please try to store only Level 3 Inspirations in the machine. They’re the Inspirations most worth saving!
The other lab machines are all related to Salvage. In a previous training video, you learned what Salvage is, and you also learned that you can combine it to create Component Salvage, which is then assembled into useful items. Let’s take a look at the amazing equipment at your fingertips!
Salvage Rack: This is a storage space for Salvage, and it’s used in exactly the same way the Inspiration Collector is used to store and dispense Inspirations. (Max capacity 999.) And, like the Inspiration Collector, the goodies in the Salvage Rack are freely available to every member. The Grinning Ghoul likes to be efficient and combine his Salvage into components before he stores it (most things that use Salvage use components), but it isn’t necessary since the Salvage Rack is roomy and has a big capacity.
Radiation Emulator: Here, you can spend Salvage components to imbue yourself with a wide variety of temporary effects. For example, you can buy a Smashing Resistance buff with 2 Tech Material and 2 Tech Power. Just click the “Empowerment Buff” tab to see what’s available! Most of the buffs offered are defensive (Fire Resistance, Psionic Resistance, etc.) or increase your movement speed, and there’s also one for temporary invisibility. These temporary buffs last about 15 minutes — the timer starts as soon as you purchase the buff, but that’s enough time to get you through that Mayhem mission or Elite Boss showdown!
You can also use the Radiation Emulator to combine your Salvage into components. With the Salvage Rack in arm’s reach, this is truly your one-stop buff shop! You can craft all 6 types of Tech components on this machine.
Basic Worktable: This is used to craft some types of base equipment out of Salvage components. You can also use the table to make the two basic types of Tech components (Tech Material and Tech Power). Since there isn’t a regular demand for base equipment, and since the Radiation Emulator offers more flexibility for crafting components, the Basic Worktable doesn’t have much to offer ordinary IU members.
Advanced Worktable: This table works like the Basic version, but it makes slightly more advanced equipment and rarer components (Tech Hardware and Tech Software). Again, the Radiation Emulator is a better machine for everyday Salvage uses.
So there you have it! Using laboratory equipment is both fun and easy. Whether you’re on the front lines in Siren’s Call or battling the Guardsmen, the Infamy Central lab can help YOU do your job better. And that means an eviler, more dangerous world for everyone!
Right, Curious Carl?
Looks like he’s got the right idea! If Carl can become a “Lab Leader”, you can too! Good luck, and remember — buy war bonds!
[triumphant music]
November 30, 2006
I don’t recall the exact day, but it was sometime in November 2005. The Grinning Ghoul, still pumped from his unexpected prison break, was deposited on Mercy Island, where it was hoped he would become a loyal servant of Arachnos. Instead, the mad arch-genius assembled a crew of villains to form Infamy Unlimited, the organization which today looks back upon a year of blood and victory.
It’s a credit to all of you, the members and minions of IU, that we have managed to grow so strong and so feared even under the very shadow of Arachnos. Consider what we have accomplished in a single year, starting from nothing at all:
- Assembled three dozen of the most desperate and dangerous criminals the world has ever seen.
- Learned to coordinate and fight as a single unit.
- Constructed a hidden base in the heart of Lord Recluse’s own domain, filled to the brim with wealth and advanced machinery, and kept it secure from all intruders.
- Brought terror and death to all who have opposed us — even coming out victorious in battles against Recluse’s lieutenants and the Freedom Phalanx.
- Bested the arch-demon Bat’Zul in his own lair.
- Briefly went all emo and survived.
- Remained a cohesive and powerful group even during the leader’s unplanned absence into the infinite jetsam-choked streams of time and parallel reality.
- Endured the humiliation of temporary possession by pirate ghosts, and successfully broke the spell and reassumed control of our own bodies. (I’m pleased to report that relapses of possession by the Queen’s Ransom ghosts are down 17% as of this month.)
- Brought terror and mayhem into the very heart of Paragon City, proving that no place on Earth is safe from Infamy Unlimited’s diabolical power.
You guys are, without dispute, the world’s greatest supervillain group.
So does this mean we can now rest idle upon our thorny, blackened laurels? Not remotely! We’ve done nothing more than lay the groundwork. All that Infamy Unlimited has accomplished so far is merely the prelude, the first phase in the Grinning Ghoul’s grand scheme.
We now have the talent. We have the wealth and the equipment. Now, in the year to come, we will begin to seize the power. TRUE power. In time, Arachnos itself will be eclipsed by the growing influence of Infamy Unlimited. We will no longer hide underground when the Rogue Isles become our domain. Paragon City’s defenders will finally comprehend the true threat to their existence, but it will be too late. The heroes of the free world will be swept away in a bloody tide. Soon, Earth itself will writhe in our grasp! Our power will truly be unlimited! And the future will belong, not to Recluse, not to the Freedom Phalanx … but to the Grinning Ghoul.
Gentlemen and ladies, a toast! Phase Two begins today! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
November 28, 2006
So fresh on the servers, the electrons aren’t even dry yet! Issue 8: To Protect And Serve is now open to all. Read about the tasty details here. Highlights:
- Veteran Rewards dished out to accounts 3 months or older. Rewards include a variety of crunchy stuff such as new badges, costume pieces, and (after 18 months) wings.
- Some new emotes. Yes, you can finally drink tea!
- More stuff to do in Pocket D. No actual missions, it seems, but there’s an Arena kiosk to make it easier for heroes and villains to fight. Also, LEGAL RIKTI MONKEY DEATHMATCHES.
- Various new costume pieces.
- For Dominators, a quicker buildup of their Domination. Mind-Grinder has announced he is “not displeased” by this change.
Since part of the goal of Issue 8 is to help bring CoH in closer parity to CoV, many of the big changes are on the hero side. Here’s what our goody-good rivals will get to enjoy:
- Police Band missions and Safeguard missions, the hero equivalents of newspaper and Mayhem missions. About time, heroes! Welcome to the now!
- A (mostly) reconstructed Faultline, former red-headed stepchild of Paragon City hazard zones, now rehabilitated into a full-fledged city zone for levels 15-25, with stores and real live contacts. (A monorail stop has been promised for Issue 9.) Part of the zone, the Faultline dam, remains a restricted hazard area.
We in Infamy Unlimited, of course, hope that Paragon’s heroes will be sufficiently distracted by their new toys that they will leave us to pursue our nefarious plots without interference.
October 24, 2006
I’m changing my online picture storage provider, and until I get everything moved over, picture links on Infamy Unlimited will be busted. I’ll keep the text-only downtime as short as possible, but before then, deal!
October 9, 2006
Positron gave us an interesting tidbit on the boards recently regarding Issue 8 title policy. Are you now named the Vicious Doctor Deadly, but have changed your mind and want to be the Villainous Doctor Deadly, only you’re level 26 and it’s too late? Well, it won’t be too late for long.
Since this has come up so often, I guess I will leak a feature of Issue 8:
You can change your title at any of the following levels:
15, 25, 35, and 45
At 50 you can change your title at any time.
You need to visit a trainer still to change your title and they “don’t stack” (in other words, if you don’t use your level 35 change, you don’t have two changes when you hit level 45).
There is no Influence or Infamy cost associated with this.
It’s already been announced that new titles will be available to players who’ve had an account for 2 years. But it looks like all players will be able to take advantage of this new title policy. Yay!
September 13, 2006
Readers of this blog, in all their numberless hordes, have had to endure a thin month-and-some-change with regard to updates. For this I apologize. There is always the inclination, when writing about games, for me to simply neglect the writing part and just play the damn game. I mean, if I’m sitting at the computer — and I’m in a City of Villains frame of mind — the natural thing to do is to run CoV and play it, am I right? Get in the trenches, gut a few dozen Longbow losers, and laugh villainously: that’s what it’s all about. And then write about it. Unless I suddenly remember that Cast Iron Carl hasn’t leveled up in a while, and maybe it’s time to switch characters and punch some Wyvern agents into the moon; and the next thing you know it’s 1 AM and I’m nodding at the keyboard and can’t even be expected to form complete sentences, let alone remember that there’s a lonely blog somewhere piteously crying for updates. You get the dilemma.
So if a reader might note the lack of activity on this page and wonder if Infamy Unlimited has possibly gone soft — or even worse, legit — I’m here to tell you it ain’t so. We’ve been getting the job done, rest assured. Our business is badness. And business is good.
What’s new? Well, for one thing, Infamy Central recently added a teleport beacon to Nerva Archipelago. With more and more members passing level 30, we’ve been hampered somewhat by the lack of instant travel to that zone. But no more! The Grinning Ghoul finally took an evening to scour Nerva and scoop up the last of the Exploration badges to be found there.
And thanks to the Prestige gift handed to supergroups in I7, Infamy Unlimited is fairly rolling in wealth — about 750k. We’re good for rent for a loooong time, and in fact our base is so nicely decked out that I can’t even think of any big purchases to spend our stash on. Possibly we can simply save up for a big base expansion when we hit the 3 million mark. (Also, last time I paid rent, I noticed that the Base Registrar in Port Oakes now lets you exchange personal Infamy for group Prestige. Don’t know when that option got added, but it’s pretty nice of them.)
So there you have it. We’ll see you next time with another great — What?
Oh, right. The pirates.
Yeah, whatever happened with that? After that long, overcooked writeup launching the “Piracy Unlimited” storyline, it just ends with no fanfare? What happened to the ghostly crew of the Queen’s Ransom? How did Infamy Unlimited shake off the voodoo curse and become themselves again?
Because this is a democracy, I’ll leave that to YOU to decide. Post your favorite theory as to how the “Piracy Unlimited” storyline got resolved. The best yarn gets a hearty, luxurious pat on the back.
August 7, 2006
Due to popular demand, Infamy Unlimited will be continuing its Pirate Week extravaganza for — oh, let’s say one more week. Pirate Fortnight, if you will. There are still so many treasures to plunder, so many parrots to tame, so much loud clothing to wear, that it was foolish of me to think it could be contained in just one seven-day period. Carry on, mateys!
