Of Gravity and Cosmic Rods

[BentonGrey]

Hey guys, I'm working on the JSA, and I've come to the original Hourman.  I know his general powers and stats, but how do y'all portray the whole '1 hour limit' thing.  What do your files look like?

Also, a secondary question for you Golden Age fans out there.  Do you like you Atom as just a tough guy, or having an atomic punch?

[UnkoMan]

Personally I like him just being tough.

As for Hourman... Somebody did this Dynamo hero file... He would switch on his strength and have it for a limited time. I don't know who or where this was from (maybe it's included with Ren's mesh even) but I am sure you could jerry rig something out of that.

[Juanjete]

my hourman has the accidental change attribute and when there´s an enemy arround, he shapeschange to another hourman more powerfull, and revert after 60 secons

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

I would just assume that the hour would hold for the duration of the mission and not worry about it.

[Carravaggio]

my hourman has the accidental change attribute and when there´s an enemy arround, he shapeschange to another hourman more powerfull, and revert after 60 secons

thats a really cool idea

I would just assume that the hour would hold for the duration of the mission and not worry about it.

likewise, i assumed the mission wouldn't take longer than an hour...and the turn powers on/off code is oncluded with Renegade's Dynamo mesh at www.renegadevictory.com

[Blitzgott]

my hourman has the accidental change attribute and when there´s an enemy arround, he shapeschange to another hourman more powerfull, and revert after 60 secons

That's a pretty good idea, but there's something that bugs me...

Since I never used the isEnemy trigger for accidental change I wouldn't know, but if there are still enemies nearby after the 60 seconds have passed, won't he just transform again? And I think Hourman can't take Miraclo more than once a day or so.

Regardless, that's a great idea, though catwhowalksbyhimself also has a very good way of viewing it.

[Panther_Gunn]

I would just assume that the hour would hold for the duration of the mission and not worry about it.

Ditto.  If you *really* want to simulate it, I suppose a Shapechange attribute would be the way to go, that way, he can change *after* the mission's started.  I don't know if there's a way to make it a one-time change (something that drains his energy in his normal form once he changes back, with any melee  (or whatever else) he has being 0 Energy, or something similar).

Also, a secondary question for you Golden Age fans out there.  Do you like you Atom as just a tough guy, or having an atomic punch?

I prefer accuracy.  It would depend on what point in the timeline the action takes place.  If it's pre-1948, then he's just a strong, agile boxer.  However, sometime in 1948 (probably early on) is where he realizes that he's gained the atomic strength, as a result of the radiation he absorbed while fighting Cyclotron (I'm not sure at which point he changed his costume to be similar to Cyc's, though).

[BentonGrey]

These fellows are purely war-era and before.  I think I'm going to go with Shapechanger, and let him change once he gets into the mission......maybe I can figure something out to make it interesting.

Also, I'm working on Starman right now, any suggestions?

[yell0w_lantern]

I remember someone doing coding for this attribute. It might've been that one guy... can't remember his name right now... he did a few attributes back before December including a speedster attribute that set speed to like 250. Anyone ask Renegade since he did the Dynamo coding?

[g-no]

After reading lantern's post, I remembered I had this attribute.  Here it is:

Code Select Expand

############### MIRACLO ###############################
# Add the following lines (minus the "#") to strings.txt
#ATTRIB_MIRACLO_01, miraclo
#ATTRIB_MIRACLO_DESC_01, (not multiplayable) chemically increased strength and speed
#CUSTOM_MIRACLOON_01, pop a miraclo pill
#CUSTOM_MIRACLOON_DESC_01, miraclo activation!
#CUSTOM_MIGHTYJUMP_01, a mighty jump!
#CUSTOM_MIGHTYJUMP_DESC_01, launch a miraclo powered mighty jump!

def initmiraclo(char,update=0):
   #combines FFX increased strength, speed and superjumper.
   if isMP():
       return
   if update==0:
       #give him the command to take a miraclo pill
       Mission_CustomAction('CUSTOM_MIRACLOON',char,char,'hourofpower',5,0)
       FFX_ObjectSetAttr(char,'boosted',0)
       RegTimer('countdowntimer',1,0,char)
       #3600 seconds or 60 minutes.
       time=3600
       FFX_ObjectSetAttr(char,'hourcount',time)
       
def hourofpower(dummy,char):
   state=FFX_ObjectGetAttr(char,'boosted')
   if state==0:
       FFX_ObjectSetAttr(char,'boosted',1)
       energy=Object_GetAttr(char,'energyPoints')
       #energy cost for Miraclo boost
       Object_SetAttr(char,'energyPoints',energy-25)
       #increase health
       FFX_FactorHealth(char,2) # doubles health
       FFX_SetStrength(char,3)  # up from 3 to 6
       FFX_SetEnergy(char,4)    # up from 3 to 7
       FFX_ObjectSetAttr(char,'jumpdist',20+Object_GetAttr(char,'baseStrength')*4)
       RegTimer('hmupdatejumper',1,0,char)
       Mission_RemoveCustomAction('CUSTOM_MIRACLOON',char,char)
       #set speed
       Object_SetAttr(char,'speed',7) # up from 3 to 7

# if Hourman is boosted - drop the counter, and when it hits zero return to normal.
def countdowntimer(event):
   char=event.object
   #check again in one second
   RegTimer('countdowntimer',1,0,char)
   #if Hourman is boosted, decrement the counter
   if FFX_ObjectGetAttr(char,'boosted'):
       count=FFX_ObjectGetAttr(char,'hourcount')-1
       FFX_ObjectSetAttr(char,'hourcount',count)
       if count<=0:
           timeisup('',char)
           #this then stops him popping another pill - he's done
           FFX_ObjectSetAttr(char,'hourcount',0)       

#the hour is over, set all stats back to normal
def timeisup(dummy,char):
   state=FFX_ObjectGetAttr(char,'boosted')
   if state==1:
       FFX_ObjectSetAttr(char,'boosted',0)
       Object_SetAttr(char,'speed',3)
       FFX_SetStrength(char,0)
       FFX_FactorHealth(char,0.5)
       FFX_ObjectSetAttr(char,'jumpdist',0+Object_GetAttr(char,'baseStrength')*0)
       RegTimer('hmupdatejumperoff',1,0,char)
       removeCommand('CUSTOM_MIGHTYJUMP',char)     

def hmupdatejumper(event):
   char=event.object
   update=event.user
   radius=FFX_ObjectGetAttr(char,'jumpdist',30)
   addCommand('CUSTOM_MIGHTYJUMP',char,'onhmjumpto',radius,update)

def hmupdatejumperoff(event):
   char=event.object
   removeCommand('CUSTOM_MIGHTYJUMP',char)

def onhmjumpto(target,char):
   pos=GetTargetPos(char,target)
   FFX_TP(char,(pos[0],pos[1],500),'FFR_TP2DY',0)
       
#controls energy cost for Mighty jump
def FFR_TP2DY(event):
   char=event.object
#    print 'ffx_tp2:char=%s'%(char)
   Object_SetAttr(char,'strength',FFX_ObjectGetAttr(char,'jumpStrength'))
   Object_SetAttr(char,'speed',FFX_ObjectGetAttr(char,'jumpSpeed'))
   energy=Object_GetAttr(char,'energyPoints')
   #energy cost
   Object_SetAttr(char,'energyPoints',energy-50)
   pos=Get_ObjectPos(char)
   FFX_ObjectSetAttr(char,'lastY',pos[1])
   FFX_ObjectSetAttr(char,'lastX',pos[0])

[BentonGrey]

Hmm, if I'm understanding that right, it'll be perfect!  Now, what exactly do I do with all that?  I'm afraid that's a little bit outside of my limited experience.  Thanks g-no!

[Mystik]

copy it into your ffx file ( it should be in the scripts folder)
then make a an attribute in ffedit called miraclo

[BentonGrey]

Okay, I got it, consider it done!  Thanks again g-no!

So guys, any thoughts on Starman?  I'm in a bit of a corner with him.  He's got an energy blast and a stasis beam, but that's all I've got.  Any suggestions?

[apfarmakis]

If you're looking to depict the WW II Starman, he could reduce gravity, fire energy blasts, deflect objects like bullets with an energy shield (I'm not too sure about this last point) and fly (duh!).

Later on, DC added GL-like plasma manipulation powers (e.g. giant hand, force bubbles, etc) but these were limited to simple objects so he couldn't create any giant plasma robots for instance.

Hope this helps.

[BentonGrey]

Hey man, I think that does help, I can deffinetly think of some good uses for the reduced gravity!

[Urthman]

For Starman, check out the revised Reverse Gravity code that stumpy did over in the scripting forum.  It changes it so that you can do a gravity reversal on any enemy, no matter how heavy (which makes sense if you're actually manipulating gravity and not just creating a strong updraft or something).  It works great.