OOC: Kheldian Discussion

Hello Heroes!  Time for a little OOC discussion:
As Arty slowly marches to 50 (4 1/2 bubbles to go as of this writing!) I've begun thinking about rolling up a Kheldian.  My first choice will be a peacebringer tied into the Project Pegasus timeline, but how to build him?

My first thought was to go entirely Human-form and run a blapper with shields.  But that's basically Arty MKV now.  Then I was looking at a pure three form.  Well, that's hard to do out of the box . .  .. Basically you don't get to do anything well for a long time.

SO, I've concluded that playing a Kheld from level 1 will require a designed respec build.  Now the rush to @ level 20 is pretty fast, so I could deal with almost any build for that long, so here's my thought.  I'd play the character as a pure human build until @ lvl 20.  At that point I'd respec into a tri-form build, concentrate on the Nova form to begin with, but slot the Dwarf for Resists ASAP, making it an emergency form and 'in a pinch' tank.  Some time in the 30s I'd spec to a more balanced build between the 2 Kheld forms, shorting the Human form of slots.  By the Mid 40s I'd become a true tri-form, slotting the Human attacks and Dwarf early and taking Nova later in the build (it needs many fewer slots).

So, any comments on this?  What's your experience?  (PS: Oh how I wish the RO forums weren't blocked at work . .. )

Danger Across the Dimensions!

Hello Heroes!
My apologies for how long it's been since my last update. I've been spending a lot of time in dangerous alternate dimensions with insecure communications channels. I'm varying from my planned communications to discuss alternate world for a moment.

Portal Corporation's discovery of alternate worlds has been a challenge for those of us in the armed services. In these flawed mirrors we see examples of what our world could be like if a few bad choices are made by our leadership. In and of itself that is sobering. We also see this vast multidimensional Pandora's Box as a tremendous security threat to our government and our entire world. It is no secret that Portal Corporation's largest research grant is for the creation of a dimensional barrier that will keep people from other dimensions from being able to access our world. As of yet this has met with limited success, but those of you with sufficient Security Clearance know just how vital this effort is.

Meanwhile Earth's most powerful heroes are occupied almost full time in combating menaces from these alternate dimensions. In particular we worry about the Praetorian homeworld, who, if they were to become well organized could pose a real threat to our world. Add to this the constant threat of Nemesis and his forces spanning so many worlds. Then there's the Council Empire which has already infected our world by taking over the former 5th Column organization.

It's enough to give the intelligence branch of (information removed) constant nightmares.

But there's hope out there as well. We hear rumors of alternate Earths codenamed Virtue and Justice where heroes work to help keep the same forces of oppression under control. I even hear that in one of those world the original pilot of the Artillery MKI didn't perish in the Rikti assault, rather he was saved by the heroic efforts of a Kheldian who melded with his broken body. Now a Peacebringer, this hero has joined forces with the PPD as part of their Awakened Division. It is this sort of heroism that inspired me so much.

With the growing threat of Hamidon and the increasing power of Lord Recluses Rogue Isles villain refuge there are so many threats facing our world. I can only be comforted by how many heroes there are stepping up to face the challenge!

Heroically yours
Artillery MKV

Artillery MK VI and Nuclear Artillery

After the successful development of the MKV fully integrated combat system, the Project's research group began to look for ways to improve the survivability of the combat unit. Technology cribbed from the Rikti and Praetorians gave the Project's team access to a completely safe micro-fusion power generator. With that limitless power supply (or nearly so!) The project was able to create a more traditional combat suit- still missing significant armor, however.

New technologies also allowed for the creation of new radiation based attacks. The project was able to use a newly discovered element [information with-held due to National Security priority] with a half life of a few seconds to allow for the safe use of radiation as a weapon in an urban environment. The Artillery MK VI combat suit had many improvements over earlier suits, using powers that would weaken opponents before even starting combat. Of course this caused a slight drop in offensive power, but the debuffing made the existing damage more effective.

The pilot of the MK VI, Colonel Gerry Wallace, has made a significant impact on Paragon City already, especially with the help of the supergroup the Faithful Friends of Fallout.

Unfortunately, like so many of the project's successes in the past, the recent achievement of Project Pegasus have engendered interest by the criminal classes in stealing the technology. After the Sky Raiders debacle of the late '90s the project implemented many safeguards to try and protect their technology. However no system is perfect and late in 2006 one of the design team members for the MK VI stole a prototype of the MK VI combat suit. This rogue scientist, [name withheld due to on-going FBI investigation], made his way to the Rogue Isles and established himself as the villain Nuclear Artillery. Joining up with fellow ne'er do wells in the Faithful Fiends of Fallout (the evil antithesis of the heroic FFoF) this rogue began to set up a name for himself. He has dropped out of sight since that group of criminals disbanded, but we anticipate his return in the future.

Up Next: Monkeys & Repeat Offenders

The Rikti War & an American Tragedy

The Artillery MKI Battlesuit was enjoying great success in it's testing phases in Paragon City. Several upgrades to its systems had improved the Force Fields and improved the punch (if not the range) of its weaponry systems. There were inevitable setbacks as the design team determined how to deal with enemies employing energy weapons, fire and magical energies.

Then the world went mad. Giant space ship appeared out of portals and began to rain destruction down onto the city as alien soldiers ran amok.

Colonel Edward Phillips, the pilot of the Artillery MKI worked with the other heroes of the city to try and protect the citizens and fend off the invaders. Colonel Phillips made his last stand in Baumton, holding back the invaders while several super speedster heroes evacuated the elementary school he was defending.

In an epic battle Sol. Phillips lost his life, but he is memorialized as a true hero of the city. The colonel and his armor were lost in the ruins of what has become Boomtown. Recent hero excursions into the ruins found the ruins of that school and the remains of this fallen hero. Colonel Phillips and his battlesuit were buried in Arlington with full honors and granted the Medal of Honor.

Project Pegasus scientist were able to recover the performance recorder from the suit. Project scientists had presumed that the MKI failed due to massive overloads of it's protective force fields. But the data showed that the fields held until the Rikti had overloaded Col. Phillips' neural control interface. The project had moved away from using Force Field technology as part of the Artillery program, but this data resurrected that part of the program.

The original Artillery MKI design was rebuilt with a few modifications and was set to hit the streets for further testing as the Artillery MKIa. The pilot of this new suit, Colonel Mark Fredericks, objected to the use of this name. He argued, successfully, that the Artillery MKI name should be retired in honor of Colonel Phillips. So the Artillery MKIa was renamed the Barrage MKI and is currently undergoing stress testing in Paragon City. I expect to have a guest column from Colonel Fredericks occasionally in these pages.

After the MKI there were several other unsuccessful iteration of the Artillery battlesuit. All had innovations, but fell further short of the design goals. After the MKIV failed, Project Pegasus was approached by managers from the Army's Super Soldier program and the USMC's Nanotechnology Lab. They proposed a joint venture to create exactly the soldier they all wanted: Fast, agile, heavy hitting and hard to damage. The result of that program was me, Colonel Jacob Roberts, Artillery MKV. Through a series of classified operations and procedures many of the operations and energy transfer applications that had been the battlesuit's responsibility to carry and generate were added to my biological systems. Only a much lighter combatsuit was needed to control those energies and powers. Only durability was really as issue and the recent return of force field technology to the program added an answer to that problem. Now I surround myself with a protective field and in a real emergency can activate a heavy duty field that will allow me time to recover from battlefield injuries. Upcoming upgrades look like they will include wings for added maneuverability and many smaller improvements to how my powers currently work.

Next: The next generation of firepower & the Dark Side

A Brief History . . . .

. . . .of Project Pegasus:
Project Pegasus is a USAF sponsored research group whose entire goal is to create effective armored air mobile soldiers. The project has had many recent successes, not the least of which is myself, Artillery MKV. The project itself was only recently declassified and I can now share with you some of its origins.

During the last days of World War II the Allies captured many Nazi scientists working on very advanced technology. We now know that many of these advances had been introduced by the alien Nictus among the Fuehrer's elite. Whatever the cause the Allies, especially the USA co-opted these scientists to keep the technologies for their own purposes.

It was also at roughly this time (1947) that the USAF was formed out of the US Army Air Corps. The DoD envisioned an armored flying soldier with the fire power of a tank and the maneuverability of a helicopter. They gave the fledgling USAF unprecedented access to the former Nazi scientists and some of the greatest minds in America, as well. Thus was Project Pegasus born. Other government projects had access to scientists who were looking to augment individual soldiers, Pegasus was viewed to be an entirely technological project with no changes to the pilots themselves.

A fully integrated armored suit trooper was long in coming. There were many advances, however. The popular Rocketman of the 1950s was a test pilot for the project. Unfortunately the chemical propellants and radioactive isotopes used as power sources ended that brave man's life too soon. But the working jetpack went through many modifications after that and became practical shortly thereafter. Unfortunately it wasn't strong enough to carry the weight of the armor available at that time, and the weaponry wasn't up to snuff, either.

Over the years the project had many successes such as:
-Jet Packs
-Small armored flying craft (sky Skiffs)
-Tractor/Pressor beams (used to transport very heavy items, float vehicles and move cargo)
-weak force fields- no immediate application, but proof that they were possible)
-Extremely powerful micro batteries

And many more. It wasn't until the 1980s when microprocessors made miniaturization truly possible that many of these products began to appear. Far too many of them were co-opted by the Sky Raiders when they split from the US Military.

By the year 2000 the project had a working prototype battlesuit, codenamed Artillery MKI. The suit, extremely bulky from the heavy armor, large jets, huge power supply and equally large cooling system was nowhere near the project's ideal, but it was a good testing bed. The suit was too bulky to fly, but the jets allowed it to make prodigious leaps. After a year of pilot testing and internal stress tests of the force fields (much stronger at this point) and weapons system (contact energy release) the project was looking for a place to do field tests. Paragon City seemed a natural place to do so, with it's super powered criminals and housing a base for the Sky Raiders (allowing the project managers to settle an old grudge), there was no better spot to test.

A new hero registered in Paragon City and the testing began!

Next: The Rikti War and an American Tragedy