Board 8 > Hypothetical Mercs Topic Season 2: Yes, We're Still Doing TV/Movies

(+) Yeah! (+)

Should FREEBIRD block paydowns (if we even have them here)?
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trdl23 posted...

Should FREEBIRD block paydowns (if we even have them here)?

yes

and it's still unclear if we have them or not. I definitely think multi-tier paydowns should be blocked (no 5s in low or 7s in mid) but not sure about the others
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also I think it should probably be pre-battle

that way if people have paid down anyone, there's no chance of them trying to be rostered

since rosters are forced with the ability anyway it shouldn't matter
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All the episodes of Firefly are on Youtube if you care to watch (and you should, that show is great)
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Pre-Battle it is.

Thinking about it, Harry might be a 4? I take him to beat every other gunner 3 and it's not really close.
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I leaned towards Matrix being a 4 just because he clearly has some super strength going on that other gunners don't

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dus8r5l5cys&t=1m30s

But eh
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I sometimes wonder if Sam and Dean should be a 3
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I think Sterling Archer could probably beat him

Then again I feel like Archer's pretty much top-tier of the rest of the gunners and I've considered bumping him up to a 4 too
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Thing is Judge Dredd is listed as a 5 and I definitely don't think Dredd is 2 tiers better than Archer
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I also kind of feel like Max should be dropped to a 3

He's basically a generic gunner with a pistol in what's basically a glorified version of the 2/week Happy Toyz Truck

and he's very terrain-specific to do any damage
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I still wonder about Happy Toyz respect. People seemed to like him in that last match, but said match rapidly became "Whoops Jason-X is here isn't he"
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My takeaways from that match in general were that people thought The Birds would kill Patrick Bateman and he'd probably freak out about poop on his suit, Erin was decently respected, Serone was not, the Gremlins are never going to be respected and probably need a better ability, the Truck was decently respected, Jason-X is a killbot
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Johnbobb posted...

I think Sterling Archer could probably beat him

Then again I feel like Archer's pretty much top-tier of the rest of the gunners and I've considered bumping him up to a 4 too

See, I'm not sure. Archer is the best of the current "McGunners" and an amazing fighter (I think he'd be great in FREEBIRD for the lulz) but the sheer number of tricks that Harry has is ridiculous.

Horror movie dudes are perpetually a giant ???? for me. Maybe we need to get Snake5s in here.
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Incidentally I wouldn't put this guy into Google lest Firefly spoilers hit you in the face

Hoban Washburne (Firefly)
Heroic Male Human (Pure Support)
1/week

Part of the Crew (Passive) - If Malcolm Reynolds is on the same team as Wash, reduce the timer of Mal's Big Damn Heroes by 10 seconds from whatever it currently is.

Watch How I Soar (Trigger) - Having a pretty good pilot on your team is a good thing. On any given week where an ability is used that would force the terrain onto another terrain, Wash may automatically swoop in and force the terrain to one of his choosing instead. This will override any other terrain swapping abilities. The ability will then go on a week's recharge.

Upgrades

New Ability

Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal! (Pre-Battle) - Every four weeks, Wash playing with his toys will somehow prove to be foreshadowing. A randomly chosen enemy merc will be a *traitor* to their team! As soon as the teams meet they will turn on their squad and fight for the other side. However the merc's original team will somehow be aware that this is going to happen and may plan accordingly, though they may do nothing to change the merc's mind.
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sudden betrayal should be postrosters sob probably

unless the idea is you get a guaranteed cooldown that can hit a random merc and whose effect can then be nulled by not rostering them, while still forcing you to eat the CD

(should also say this counts as a possession cuz that's what it is)
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kinda curious about Jon Snow's placement as a 2

Like Snow himself is easily a 2 but Snow with Ghost is pretty scary. Ghost is pretty vicious especially if he's gotten to the size of Nymeria by now, but who knows because THEY WON'T SHOW HIM ANYMORE

also working on that 3 I mentioned before
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Jen Yu (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)
Neutral Female Human
3/week

Jen Yu is as she appears in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, at the height of her skill, equipped with the legendary Green Destiny sword.

Abilities

A sword by itself rules nothing. It only comes alive in skilled hands. (Peacetime) - Once every four weeks, Jen Yu may steal a melee-only weapon from the write-up or customization of a pre-selected merc. They will send their choice of merc and weapon via PM to an admin. The enemy merc's owner will then be publicly informed that one one of their weapons has been stolen, but will not be told which weapon or from which merc. They may respond with one of the following options:
Accept the steal. The enemy owner will be informed what weapon has been stolen at the start of wartime. Their merc will come to battle without the weapon this week, and Jen Yu will have it added to her write-up. She will return it in results.
Challenge Jen Yu. The enemy owner will only find out what merc had their weapon stolen after declaring the challenge. The two will face off in a side topic fight in the enemy merc's terrain, with Jen Yu in possession of the weapon. If Jen Yu wins, the enemy merc will be KO'd. If the enemy merc wins, Jen Yu will return the weapon.
Pay her off. The enemy owner may choose to send 15 GP directly to Jen Yu's owner in exchange for the safe return of the weapon.

Suddenly I cannot hold back my sword hand's anger! (Trigger) - If any enemy ability would remove Jen Yu's Green Destiny sword from her write-up, she will respond by immediately KOing the enemy and taking it back. Never attempt to steal from a thief.

Upgrades

New Ability:
Give me my comb! (Start of Battle) - Once every three weeks, a randomly selected male enemy merc will make the poor, poor decision to try and steal Jen Yu's jade comb. She will chase them to the end of the earth, and in the process, the enemy merc will fall madly in love with her. They enemy will come to battle loving Jen Yu and putting her safety above all else, while Jen Yu will view them as a normal opponent. If after 3 minutes the enemy merc is still alive, she will fall in love with them as well, with both attempting to protect one another.

Terrain

Bamboo Forest - A healthy forest of very tall bamboo. All combatants will start very gently balanced on top of bamboo trees.
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Johnbobb posted...

If after 3 minutes the enemy merc is still alive, she will fall in love with them as well, with both attempting to protect one another.

How's this going to work if voters think these two win the fight?
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trdl23 posted...

Johnbobb posted...

If after 3 minutes the enemy merc is still alive, she will fall in love with them as well, with both attempting to protect one another.

How's this going to work if voters think these two win the fight?

Good point

Really only included that clause to make it match the movie better, but I might just remove it altogether
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Michael Myers (Halloween)
Villainous Male Human
2/week

Michael Myers is as he appears in the non-reboot Halloween series carrying a butcher knife.

Abilities

The Devil's Eyes (Passive) - Michael is evil enough that any attempts to reform him don't go well. If any merc attempts to alter Michael's alignment via ability, not only will it fail to change his alignment but that merc's alignment will change to Villainous for the week. Stare into the abyss and all that.

Obsession (Trigger) - In any given match in which a female Merc is rostered on the other team, roll post-rosters for one of them. Michael will somehow be convinced that she is his sister and must die, though anyone else who gets in the way on the other team is fair game.

The Shape (Passive) - Michael has been at this game long enough that his stalker skills are down pat. In any match where Obsession goes off, Michael will somehow always be aware of the location of the merc targeted for Obsession.

Upgrades

Ability Upgrade:

Michael further ups his stalker game. In any given match where Obsession goes off, Michael will find a way to preemptively cut the other team's phone lines. They will go in that week without any sort of pre-battle plan.

Terrain

Haddonfield - The town as seen in Halloween with all areas accessible.
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Couple things with Michael:
-Obsession should specify "if both Michael AND a female enemy are rostered"
-The Shape and Obsession could probably just be combined into one ability.
-The Devil's Eyes might need to be Passive/Trigger? Since being immune to alignment change is passive but reacting to attempts to change it is a Trigger.
-Could definitely use another pretty good ability to justify having Michael
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Also it's weird to think about how objectively better Jason is than Michael here since they're so similar (not saying I disagree with the tiering though, 4 and 2 respectively is pretty accurate given how tanky Jason is)
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I thought about that and Michael's just a different sort of horror villain. He doesn't wade through attacks if he can help it, he's more "Hang out in the shadows, ninja people and go back to the shadows." Like in the first movie he cuts the phone line to a house, then puts on a disguise (a bedsheet ghost of all things) and ganks someone that way. He puts thought into his mayhem
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Also it's kind of funny, I was wondering if that ability was *too* good. Essentially if anyone rosters a woman then upgraded Michael is going to screw the entire team's pre-battle plans
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DeathChicken posted...

Also it's kind of funny, I was wondering if that ability was *too* good. Essentially if anyone rosters a woman then upgraded Michael is going to screw the entire team's pre-battle plans

Nah I think it's fine as is. We really don't have THAT many female mercs and to make a difference in anything but low tier means essentially wasting a roster slot on Michael
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Might as well officially raise the question

Should Sterling Archer and/or Harry Hart be 4/week?

Right now we don't have any gunners above 3/week except Robocop and Dredd, both of which are 5s right now. I've said before 5 might be too high for Dredd but never really gotten a response.

Archer and Hart are the best of the gunners currently at 3/week (Hart has an insane amount of tools and Archer is an expert sniper in addition to various other talents). In particular, we don't have many sniper characters here, so that long-range is a huge asset, and I also think these two are pretty easily a step above other 3/week gunners like the four Johns (McClane, Wick, Rambo and Matrix)
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Also talking about that makes me want to make a Wanted merc

Wanted guy might also be a 4? I mean he's squishy but he also has ridiculously broken aimbot skills
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The only trouble I have with Harry being a 4 (even though I brought it up) is that then he can't join FREEBIRD in low tier.

Probably a bad reason to consider his upkeep, but "eh."
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trdl23 posted...

The only trouble I have with Harry being a 4 (even though I brought it up) is that then he can't join FREEBIRD in low tier.

Probably a bad reason to consider his upkeep, but "eh."

We could maybe just include a clause allowing Harry to be rostered regardless of tier when Freebird is used

Also, I can't help but wonder what would happen if Freebird and Jigsaw's "I want to play a game" are used simultaneously
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should I flesh this out

Agumon
Heroic Male Beast
2/week

Agumon, Digivolve to....(Peacetime)
In Peacetime, Agumon may Digivolve into any of the following options, potentially changing his upkeep and classifications as well as permanently locking him into that form for the week's fight. This ability incurs the recharge and/or injury listed with the form chosen.
-Greymon (4/wk Heroic Male Beast, 1 week of recharge)

Partner (Start of Battle)
Every week, Agumon may choose an allied 1 upkeep Merc to be his assist for the week.

UPGRADES

(Branching ability upgrade, 15 EXP)
This ability may be taken three times, but not if the other branching ability has been taken. Each upgrade adds one of the following options to Agumon, Digivolve to..., in the order listed:
-MetalGreymon (5/wk Heroic Male Beast/Machine, 2 weeks of recharge)
-WarGreymon (6/wk Heroic Male Beast/Machine, 3 weeks of recharge)
-Omnimon (7/wk Heroic Male Beast/Machine, 3 weeks of recharge AND 1 week of injury)

(Branching ability upgrade, 10 EXP)
This ability may be taken twice, but not if the other branching ability has been taken. Each upgrade adds one of the following options to Agumon, Digivolve to..., in the order listed:
-SkullGreymon (5/wk Villainous Male Undead, 2 weeks of recharge)
-BlackWarGreymon (6/wk Neutral? Male Beast/Machine, 3 weeks of recharge)
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Also also, another reason for Archer as 4

we actually DID do a test run of Archer and some other low tiers way back (it was actually the first TV/Film exhibition run) and the general consensus was that Archer basically solo'd (with McClane on the other team basically getting wrecked by Archer.

I actually considered making Archer a 4 right there because of that match and just eventually forgot about it
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Tom Bombadil posted...

should I flesh this out

yes
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(I grew up with the dub I'm sorry)

possible variants include a trigger that adds a week of recharge to Digivolve if he is rostered on a loss, or making Partner an On Purchase
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Dredd I can come or go on his upkeep, but thing about him is dude is ridiculously skilled. And has bullets that will melt your head in one shot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzIoneyedBk
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Also admittedly I was factoring in his doom bike with the chainguns too when I made that build, but that's only every other week as is
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DeathChicken posted...

Dredd I can come or go on his upkeep, but thing about him is dude is ridiculously skilled. And has bullets that will melt your head in one shot

Oh I'm not doubting that although to be fair, a regular bullet to the head is pretty effective already

But how does he compare to the other 5s is what worries me. Does he have the arsenal to take down Iceman or Deadpool? Would he outlast tanky 5s like Colossus or Mr. Incredible?

I think as a 4 he'd be on the upper end, sure
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Doombike is definitely solid though
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Don't know about the tanky tanks like Colossus, but I imagine he could probably just blow up Deadpool's head and be done with it. Probably while he's busy talking
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You forgot the Terminator for a 5

And not knowing Archer very well I'd say no because I would take him to get fuckin moshed by Max Payne and he's my top end for 3 gunners
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KanzarisKelshen posted...

You forgot the Terminator for a 5

And not knowing Archer very well I'd say no because I would take him to get fuckin moshed by Max Payne and he's my top end for 3 gunners

what

Archer kills Max Payne from a mile away, probably while drunk
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Tom Bombadil posted...

should I flesh this out

Agumon
Heroic Male Beast
2/week

Agumon, Digivolve to....(Peacetime)
In Peacetime, Agumon may Digivolve into any of the following options, potentially changing his upkeep and classifications as well as permanently locking him into that form for the week's fight. This ability incurs the recharge and/or injury listed with the form chosen.
-Greymon (4/wk Heroic Male Beast, 1 week of recharge)

Partner (Start of Battle)
Every week, Agumon may choose an allied 1 upkeep Merc to be his assist for the week.

UPGRADES

(Branching ability upgrade, 15 EXP)
This ability may be taken three times, but not if the other branching ability has been taken. Each upgrade adds one of the following options to Agumon, Digivolve to..., in the order listed:
-MetalGreymon (5/wk Heroic Male Beast/Machine, 2 weeks of recharge)
-WarGreymon (6/wk Heroic Male Beast/Machine, 3 weeks of recharge)
-Omnimon (7/wk Heroic Male Beast/Machine, 3 weeks of recharge AND 1 week of injury)

(Branching ability upgrade, 10 EXP)
This ability may be taken twice, but not if the other branching ability has been taken. Each upgrade adds one of the following options to Agumon, Digivolve to..., in the order listed:
-SkullGreymon (5/wk Villainous Male Undead, 2 weeks of recharge)
-BlackWarGreymon (6/wk Neutral? Male Beast/Machine, 3 weeks of recharge)

This is a videogame merc btw, not a tv/film one

Digimon fit way better onto that curve in general and it makes more sense that way
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Johnbobb posted...

Archer kills Max Payne from a mile away, probably while drunk

agreed
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Johnbobb posted...

KanzarisKelshen posted...

You forgot the Terminator for a 5

And not knowing Archer very well I'd say no because I would take him to get fuckin moshed by Max Payne and he's my top end for 3 gunners

what

Archer kills Max Payne from a mile away, probably while drunk

You really have no idea of Max's best feats do you

There's a section of MP1 where you have to fight 30 guys, coming at you from all sides, with no cover, while grenade launchers are raining blasts on you, and you have no healing unless you brought some from past levels. Completely mandatory too. You win that and then go on to slaughter like a hundred more dudes afterward, canonically in the span of something like 30 minutes tops (while also shooting down hair thin cables in the middle of a record breaking snowstorm while under time pressure). Then there's the whole thing where he tanks getting shot at multiple times across a single night, having his head smashed by a baseball bat repeatedly, getting sent flying by explosions multiple times and I forget what else. His feats are so dumb the only reason he's not a 4 is he has completely mundane gear.
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For reference, as of the most recent season of Archer, he has survived 35 gunshots, a boat explosion, multiple car crashes, a plane crash, a space shuttle crash, and cancer

also





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that's him taking down a boatful of pirates while not paying attention to his surroundings
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For reference, as of the most recent season of Archer, he has survived 35 gunshots, a boat explosion, multiple car crashes, a plane crash, a space shuttle crash, and cancer

I mean, compare this to the list above, then add falling down a ten story building, getting shot in the head, slamming against hard concrete like five times in a row with added momentum from gravity (all of the preceding stuff happens in the span of ten minutes, plus several gunfights with ex-military dudes he wipes the floor with), getting filled up with an overdose of a designer drug meant to kill him within minutes and I'm probably forgetting shit from MP3 I didn't even try to list. And also magically curing himself of alcoholism. Max and Archer are very comparable, one is just cartoony and the other is a brooding antihero. Nothing I've seen suggests one is far superior to the other, but I think Max's feats are more impressive because you get to do them yourself.
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Johnbobb posted...

that's him taking down a boatful of pirates while not paying attention to his surroundings

I feel like you could give him an ability for shit like this. Stupid luck helping him out, kind of like Homer I suppose.

I didn't actually read Archer's abilities.
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God DAMN IT Archer! (Start of Battle) - Once every 4 weeks, Archer will prove just how much of an ass he is by "accidentally" shooting every rostered merc, on either team. Every rostered merc, rolled individually (except Archer himself) will start battle having been shot at by his pistol in the following regions:

1-30: The shoulder will just miss them, but the gunshot will leave them deaf in one ear
31-60: Shoulder of dominant arm
61-80: Right foot
81-95: Stomach
96-100: Forehead

I can't hear you over the sound of my giant, throbbing erection (Pre-Battle) - Once every other week, one randomly selected male merc will come to the fight with a sympathy boner. It will not go away during the course of the fight; the merc will just have to deal with the discomfort.
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ok but if you think Max Payne is basically a 4 but with mundane gear and Archer is comparable to Max Payne but with better gear (current build is Walther PPK, an M-16, a Walther WA2000 Sniper Rifle, a Grappling Gun, Night-Vision Goggles, a Compound Bow, Barrett .50 Cal, RPG-7, three Mk2 Hand Grenades and his emergency Underwear Gun) then wouldn't that make Archer a 4?
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