Imperial Guard

[BentonGrey]

Howdy guys, I'm going to use this thread for questions pertaining to Marvel's Shi'ar Imperial Guard.

First, I know that Smasher is based on Ulta Boy, but is there any reason to believe that he has powers of a similar extent to Ultra Boy, i.e., he can download heat vision, etc?  I don't recall Smasher doing anything but being a tough brawler in the Phoenix Saga.

[Cyber Burn]

I don't know how accurate this is, but: http://www.comicvine.com/smasher/4005-6091/

"It is not known what alien race Smasher belongs to. Thanks to variable DNA, Smasher can adapt different powers for limited amounts of time, including super strength due to increased density, flight, super-sight, and x-ray vision."

[spydermann93]

I think that his X-Ray vision is just plain, old X-Ray vision.

I don't think that he has any heat vision.

[Jimaras8]

I think he is more of a hitter Benton and i am pretty sure i haven't read anywhere that he has any sort of energy projection powers. He is pretty strong, durable and can fly with the default anti-gravity belts that IG has. That's it. I recently made a hero file for him, i can send it your way if you think it will help.

[hoss20]

What era Imperial Guard do you want to use as reference? "Old school" Smasher, from the late 80's, was about as strong as the Thing with moderate invulnerability.

[BentonGrey]

Thanks guys, I think that answers my question quite well.  Yeah, I'm looking for Bronze Age, Phoenix Saga and Brood era Imperial Guard.

Speaking of, what about Gladiator?  How do y'all model his weakness?  What does he look like in your HFs?

[Jimaras8]

I think Gladiator is Thor level strong and durable. he has gone toe to toe with the Thunder God on more than one occassions and was able to stand his ground against Hulk. My Gladiator has a mix of inv 10 along with a physical resistance and a stone body structure. He is pretty much the definition of heavy hitter ( let's not forget he is a total ripoff Superman) although he is suscptible to telepathic attacks as it was the closest i could get ingame with his true weakness, doubt. Kallark is as strong as he believes to be. The moment he starts questioning himself he can be defeated even by Canonball (it did happen by the way  ).

[spydermann93]

Thanks guys, I think that answers my question quite well.  Yeah, I'm looking for Bronze Age, Phoenix Saga and Brood era Imperial Guard.

Speaking of, what about Gladiator?  How do y'all model his weakness?  What does he look like in your HFs?

I gave him "Vulnerability" to represent his weakness to "a certain specific wavelength of radiation".  Since you don't have any Kryptonians in your mod, I think "Toxic" would best represent that.

As for his confidence issues, I was thinking about Metabolic Strength, but that would indicate getting tired more than losing confidence in his fight.  Perhaps an Accidental Change with a timer to it?  Like after a certain length of time, he depowers to a weaker Gladiator form?  It would simulate him being all like "Har har! I am the best! Nobody can stop me! Mwarharhar!" to being like "Impossible! I'm the best! Nobody is better than me or my mohawk! *sobs*" after not winning quickly enough.

[hoss20]

I went with giving him the Classic Superhuman attribute, which takes care of flight, invulnerability, etc., but also includes vulnerability. I also gave him the Timid attribute which results in a 5% chance of becoming panicked after receiving damage. With this, I use FFXEdit to change the 'Target Type' for his vulnerability to "isPanicked". I still leave the effect to "theWorks", but maybe just "loseStrength" or "loseInvulnerability" might do the trick. I know it's not perfect, but I figure if he's taking damage, this would lead to his losing confidence issue and the fact that it would only occur 5% of the time means there is very low chance that it will happen which seems to fit. I've used this in the Rumble Room running my own little tournaments and it's happened occasionally. For me it also helps that the panicked state doesn't last forever, so that he can recover from the Vulnerability.

Side note: I've also adjusted the Classic Superhuman combo attribute to include Invulnerable (10) instead of Invulnerable (20). I give my heavy hitters the Concrete material, so 20 points of Invulnerability on top of that is too much.

[spydermann93]

That sounds like a really fun portrayal of Gladiator, Hoss.

Would've never thought of that!

[BentonGrey]

Hoss, that's brilliant.  That's a great solution!  I was just giving him Weak Spot, but this is a much more elegant answer.

[BentonGrey]

Great responses guys, thanks!  Here's a new one for y'all.  How do y'all build shapeshifter, specifically, what types of creatures/meshes do you use for his alien monster forms?

[hoss20]

I haven't actually built my Shapeshifter yet, but here's what I was looking at doing:
- Giving him the Shapeshifter attribute
- Also giving him Accidental Change to give one additional shape and set it to be the most powerful form that manifests when he's low on health
- Giving him the Disguise attribute
- He's pretty tough, mentally, and I would give him Disciplined or maybe even Level Headed

I realize this wasn't a direct answer to your question. I'd probably look at some of the monster type meshes to capture some alien looks: Gargoyle by Bearded, Troglodyte by Valandar (he actually has a few strange looking meshes), the old FF Daemon (maybe with an alien looking skin), the new D&D skopes by Cmdrkoenig (I'm thinking Hook Horror or the Salamander without the spear). You could probably even go with Gren's new Wendigo mesh with some crazy alien colored fur. Maybe try to find something with four legs (a skoped up Big Cat Versatile or the old Centaur mesh). The big thing is, like Beast Boy, he can take the form of much larger and smaller animals/aliens.

I think the main thing, which you've probably already thought about, is making each one with some sort of different enhanced attribute/trait (speed, strength, durability, flight, spitting acid, claws, burrowing power, etc.).

[BentonGrey]

Thanks Hoss, that is quite helpful!