FF Battle Royale

[BentonGrey]

So, I've been wondering about something.  If Freedom Force was to have a tournament with their members, who would come out on top?  Think of this in comic terms rather than purely game terms, as we can obviously DO this with the game (although I find it telling that the winner shifts pretty often).  So, who do you think would be the last hero standing?

[detourne_me]

probably Carravaggio.  I think he has the strongest, most ruthless Avatar. Other contenders... maybe Syn or Flesheater?
Hmm, if factions form between avatars though, I'm sure a cadre of heroes could take down a power-mad space lord.  maybe led by AA with his cosmic knowledge.

I don't think there are too many "Superman" types among us,  so I'm not sure if there would be any clear winners.   I guess I'll have to run a few matches in the FR mod Tomato recently brought back into action.

[lugaru]

Freedom Force or Freedom Reborn? As for Freedom Reborn I would say Carvaggio as well, unless you count that DR. MIKE can alter the dat files. My own Lugaru avatar character (called Nagual) comes across as a mix between FFX eve (nature control, some mystic abilities) and Wolverine (claws, healing, good fighter).

As for freedom force I have repeatedly ran battle royale fights and Super Collider is very often the last man standing, he has a level of strenght and invulnerability that is rare in the game. Oldschool Manbot is tough too, but not as tough in FFVT3R. El Diablo blasts foes very well but does not last long enough to win.

[deano_ue]

or Flesheater?

as flattered as i am, but how?

[lugaru]

or Flesheater?

as flattered as i am, but how?

Consistently cool outfits. Dressing sharp goes a long way.

[BentonGrey]

Hehe, Freedom FORCE, not FR.

[deano_ue]

Hehe, Freedom FORCE, not FR.

ahh and I though everyone could gang up on prem

[GogglesPizanno]

Hehe, Freedom FORCE, not FR.

ahh and I though everyone could gang up on prem

We don't need an official contest for that....

[stumpy]

It's a tough call because the characters are fairly balanced so many of them are very tactic dependent. Because of that, one would have to really tailor the AI to do the clever things that make a given character most effective, otherwise, the default behavior doesn't work well for them. Also, it also really depends on which game we are talking about. Many characters were significantly changed (often nerfed) between FF and FFvT3R and the material vulnerabilities (especially for flesh) are a big factor.

For instance, Liberty Lad may come across (especially in the first game) as sort of a wimp. But, the best tactic for him isn't to wade in and play beat-'em-up with the heavy hitters. He needs to sneak in, enrage his opponents, then let them duke it out while he runs off to a safe distance and throws grenades into the fray. When he's fighting one-on-one, keep the opponent stunned. When an opponent has strong beam powers, use the environment to make sure there are always buildings and such to duck behind, since dodging won't work. Et cetera.

I think I could take most any FF character and have them beat any other AI-controlled FFer, though sometimes it would really be sort of tedious.

[BentonGrey]

Right, there are a lot of factors in this, but let's think about it in terms of a comic battle, and not in game terms as much.  If we take the human element out of it, because any one character controlled by a human generally has a huge advantage over any AI controlled character.  Also, since FF2 was GENERALLY better balanced between characters (as Supercollider definitely ruled the roost in FF1), let's take its version of characters.  So, with those caveats, what do y'all think?  Supercollider is obviously an easy choice.  He's just so much tougher than just about everyone else, but I think that Man 'O War or Microwave might take it.

[lugaru]

I just re-installed the game but once I get my own version of the Freedom Force updated (i.e. with most powers purchased, some tweaked) I'll run this battle again. Note it will be the FFX versions too, so that makes it a touch crazier, with eve spawning treants left and right.

All this talk makes me want to revive a project I had a year or two back with a tournament of 4 on 4 battles, and each character had a different cost (one 7k, one 8k, one 9k and one 10k). A few powers where restricted (such as invulnerability) but for the most part it was pretty open. Either way I had put together a few good 4 hero teams with freedom force members.

[Panther_Gunn]

I'd have to go with Microwave.  Teleportation, Cloning, Genetic Alteration, and Radiation damage.  That's a lot of nasty all in one package.

[Gremlin]

I'd have to go with Microwave.  Teleportation, Cloning, Genetic Alteration, and Radiation damage.  That's a lot of nasty all in one package.

He's preposterously slow, though, and can't constantly teleport all over the place. Not to mention he's a machine, and therefore is probably a lot less creative than the humans (not in Mentor's case alright but still) around him. It'd probably be pretty easy to act incredibly unpredictable and confuse him, wearing him down bit by bit.

[stumpy]

Supercollider? A great voice but, honestly, I'm not sure he's in my top five, though I admit I never played him much in FFvT3R. My recollection is that, against ranged attackers who are fast or who fly, he has almost no answer, aside from throwing things and that short-range cone attack. And he's not even impressive against nimble melee fighters because he has no fast attacks (his melees are all very dodgable) and the only zero-cost attack he has is really poor against agile opponents. I don't know how that would play out in a comic battle, but in the game, he's basically a long slow KO against anyone who isn't trying to out punch him.

For both games, Microwave stands up pretty well and I'd have to think that his combination of decent health and a nice variety of ranged attacks (and a halfway decent melee) would keep him competitive in most comic match-ups, unless he goes up against an electrical opponent.

When I played the first game a lot, one of my favorite DR battle scenarios was playing my Superboy (Kal-El) character against all of the Freedom Force heroes. The battles went about 50/50 for Kal. It seemed like the usual strategy was to take down Microwave first (so that the clones didn't cause genetic damage which was a world beater in the first game) and then those with tough state attacks, like Eve who would pin you down and then everyone else dog piles. The last were characters like Supercollider and Order, not so much because of their great health as because they just weren't enough of a threat to take down early.

[lugaru]

Even though Freedom Force feels a lot like the Avengers I've always loved having them fight the X-Men due to the similar power range.

Freedom force is a lot more tounge in cheek so they have a lot mroe rule bending powers and of course the x-men are for the most part better more specialized. A lot of it hinges on how Cyclops performs (I run everything in A.I.), if he can keep smacking characters around with concussive beams that slows down their progress a bit, especially if he can focus on Minute Man who can be really dangerous close up. Storm vs. Eve usually produces a great goddess showdown and El Diablo will go around frying Logan from behind, with Logans healing providing diminishing results after soaking up each blast. Colosus is the only thing that throws the fight off, he is on a higher power scale and unless he gets hit by very specific attacks he can run from character to character knocking off big chunks of their health.

[BentonGrey]

Yeah, no question that FFX makes for a much more interesting fight!  Some good points here so far.  Yeah, Supercollider is a bit too one note to really pull it off, I think.  Interestingly enough, when I was running this the other day, Liberty Lad put Supercollider down, and actually managed to take second place.  He, Bullet, Microwave, and Man 'O War usually do pretty well. 

Ha, yeah Lu, I used to love running FF against the X-Men.  One cool thing is that, in the original game, the FF always use their powers WAY better than anyone else.  That allowed them to take on more powerful foes, like the Avengers and the JLA, and just about break even.