A Guide for those of us playing Campions Online.

[Adrenalin]

I've always played both games with a mouse. CoH made some changes during my last break that kind of messed that up, but I still used it to aim the camera. Here's how I set CO;

In game push escape and click Options, then click the Controls tab and set the keybinds to "Other Superhero Games". (Since there was only one other hero game at the time CO came out, we all know who they were talking about. lol) Then use your mouse to steer. Hold down the right button for steering, right and left held together = steering plus movement. Numbers correspond to the powers tray, Z is break free, and jump is the space bar.

I actually have no idea how CO's original controls are set because I've always used the "other superhero game" option.

[Starsman]

Is it possible to play on a mousepad? Character movement seems really funky to me...is there a trick I am missing?

I highly recomend getting either a cheap usb mouse or an XBox controller. The game is fully compatible with the later, btw, since it was originally designed to be an XBox 360 MMO.

Although got to say not sure how the Mac/Wrapper layer may intnerfeer with that bit.

[Wammo]

Thanks Gypsy...so so so much to learn

[Atlantea]

Not sure how long this will last but the basic free Behemoth AT so far has been perfect to duplicate Starsman. I even learned a few new tricks, like a rather neat targeted leap charge move and a hand clap that actually does damage.

Generally speaking, if your character was any kind of tank or brute whose offensive powers consisted of "super strength" of some kind, the Behemoth is your "go-to" AT of choice, particularly for learning the game.

I should also mention that the Devastator AT is perfect as a replacement for Heavy Weapons from COH. That's what the Devastator AT is - heavy weapons.

If you were Broadsword or Katana, then "The Blade" At is going to be a good choice as a learning AT as well. Similarly Dual Blades has it's counterpart here in CO. Most basic armed melee sets as well as basic martial arts from COH have good counterparts in CO in one form or another.

An archetype in CO is not the same as it was in CoH, it's simply a "build" template you are forced to follow (with few selections along the path.) I think, until you get to learn the system, these Archetypes are very useful. In fact, I think they would be useful to get started even if you paid for gold membership.

In fact the AT's can be useful even for freeform characters. Simply follow the powers progression outlined in the AT as you level up. I did that with a Single Blade character and it worked out well. You'll reach the end of the Silver AT progression around level 30-32 or so, leaving you with some extra powers and points to use to round out a Freeform character with.

I don't know for sure, but unless you want to PvP, it seems the ATs are all rather competitive for PvE (you still get enough build options via Spec Tree and Advantage Points to gimp yourself if you don't do homework, but I think there are ways to respec everything.)

I seem to recall that Freeform and Silver AT's cannot actually challenge each other to duel at all. I'll have to check.

If you are not planning to spend money on it, I think it's fair to say you can give it a try without fear of anything.

My Gripes so far:
Power tinting is locked behind Gold membership
Other than Stone, there is no elemental melee (Electricity, Fire, Force, Wind, Ice are all exclusive range powersets.) Mind you, you CAN be a ranged tank (The Glacier AT is precisely an Ice tank template) but I wish there was a way to "elementalize" or "mistizize" Martial Arts and Brick power sets.

If you had a kinetic melee character, that's also going to be a problem, as there is nothing like that in CO. Also no Staff fighting.

Street Justice would be simply a matter of going freeform and picking and choosing the right melee attacks from either unarmed or the Might set for the flavor.

Also: way too limited selection of eyewear. Starsman always wore some goggles that had a very sleek sports Oakley feel to them. There is no such thing in Champions, just two set of glasses that don't really look right.

For a game about superheroes and that has such a robust character creator in so many other ways, CO is curiously lacking in options for differently styled masks. Helmet options also are a problem.

Anther odd thing: while creating my character, there were a LOT of costume pieces missing. They also were missing during my first tailor visit. They suddenly showed up after I visited again around level 11. Not sure if they lock costume pieces behind level gates for F2P players.

The above is a known "issue" with new accounts and the tutorial.  You are forced to play the tutorial on your first character and costume options are severely limited until you reach level 10 or so. Once you reach that point though, the costume options are opened up for ALL subsequent characters and the tutorial is also optional for any subsequent characters that you make.

The best advice I would give a player with a completely new account is this:  Do NOT try and make a custom character right off the bat. Choose one of the basic archetypes and go with the appearance that they give you for that AT. Name the character "test man" or "test woman" or something like that and run the tutorial and get to level 10 (which is like - MAYBE two hours of play, tops? )

Then go back - delete that character, start again with all the costume options unlocked and make your real character.

A common bit of general advice about Champions since they "revamped" the tutorial is this:  Do not Judge Champions based on the tutorial. There is a much better game hiding behind it. Slog through it as best you can, then go play the REAL Champions.

[RubiconX]

I've always played both games with a mouse. CoH made some changes during my last break that kind of messed that up, but I still used it to aim the camera. Here's how I set CO;

In game push escape and click Options, then click the Controls tab and set the keybinds to "Other Superhero Games". (Since there was only one other hero game at the time CO came out, we all know who they were talking about. lol) Then use your mouse to steer. Hold down the right button for steering, right and left held together = steering plus movement. Numbers correspond to the powers tray, Z is break free, and jump is the space bar.

I actually have no idea how CO's original controls are set because I've always used the "other superhero game" option.

This is great advice! I had no idea that was there but a big help.

This whole thread has been very helpful, trying to learn the ropes but the info here is slowly making it less confusing.

[Atlantea]

Wow! You learn something new everyday! Even I didn't know that one!

[corvus1970]

I didn't know that either, so I'll have to give that a shot. Even so, the full range of joypad customization options I had in CoX don't seem possible on CO.

[Adrenalin]

Sorry I haven't been back to the thread lately, had a total thyroidectomy on the 6th so been a little busy.  ;D

Glad everyone is finding the keybinds helpful.

Unlike CoX it takes a little work to figure out what works best for you, but at least it's doable. I've quit games before because of stupid keybind choices.  CoH spoiled and proud of it. :P

[blackjak]

Sorry I haven't been back to the thread lately, had a total thyroidectomy on the 6th so been a little busy.  ;D

Glad everyone is finding the keybinds helpful.

Unlike CoX it takes a little work to figure out what works best for you, but at least it's doable. I've quit games before because of stupid keybind choices.  CoH spoiled and proud of it. :P

ouch! Hope you recover soon.

[Adrenalin]

ouch! Hope you recover soon.

Thanks blackjak. :) I'm actually feeling pretty good, short of the normal surgery after effects.

[RubiconX]

I thought I'd throw these questions in here since it's a guide for CO and maybe others have the same questions. After playing a bit there's a few things I'm confused about:


Is there a way to call in missions/contacts like you could in CoH, the whole cell phone thing?

Are you able to change mission difficulty?

Is there a way to see active contacts? I can see active/completed missions but a few times I've completed a mission and there was no return to contact...and I couldn't figure out who/where my contacts were.

How/Where/When do you go to the next zones? Are there missions that eventually lead you there or do you just head there after X level?

Any trick to the auction house, I've gone in there a few times but it seems I can't always get anything to show up in searches and there usually aren't many people in there?

That's all for now  ;D

[Kaiser Tarantula]

I can answer a few of these!

Is there a way to call in missions/contacts like you could in CoH, the whole cell phone thing?

Sadly nope, you have to run back to the contact.  You can, however, exit a mission map early by contacting SOCRATES via her button on the minimap.

Are you able to change mission difficulty?

Yes!  Just open up your options menu - there's a difficulty option there.  You can also change the difficulty by mousing over your status in the upper-left, clicking the arrow that appears, and then clicking "set difficulty" from the menu that pops up.

Is there a way to see active contacts? I can see active/completed missions but a few times I've completed a mission and there was no return to contact...and I couldn't figure out who/where my contacts were.

There's no way to really know where your 'active' contacts are.  However, contacts never go "inactive" - you can revisit them at any time.  You can use SOCRATES's "search for emergencies" options to pick up missions remotely, however.

How/Where/When do you go to the next zones? Are there missions that eventually lead you there or do you just head there after X level?

You should stay in Millenium City (and Westside in particular) until level 15.  Then Chief of Police Surhoff outside the prison will give you two missions - "Going Green" and another mission that I don't remember the name of.  These two missions will take you to the Southwest Desert Crisis and the Canadian Wilderness Crisis, respectively.

A NOTE ON CRISIS ZONES: Crisis zones are basically a "prequel" to get you situated into the lore of the region; they are separate from the actual zone.  Once you complete a Crisis, you cannot return to the Crisis version of the zone, so get your perks and loot while you can.  Completing a Crisis will deposit you into the regular version of the zone.

If you leave a Crisis incomplete, you can return to it  apparently.  Use the Helicopter instead of the Champions' Jet to access the zone.  To be safe, however, you should complete a Crisis story arc in one go.  They're not too hard.

After level 15, you can either stay in Millenium City (there's still plenty to do!  There's at least three more city quarters you haven't explored!) or you can go to the Desert or Canada for missions.

[Atlantea]

Here's a guide I've worked up showing how to modify the HUD/UI. I'm reposting it here.

You can rearrange the UI in Champions. You can also change the overall scale of everything.

Here - step by step -

First - here's the unmodified HUD/UI.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Logan_Darklighter/Champions%20Online/UI_MOD_01.jpg


Hit your "F12" key to access the HUD/UI alteration interface. This is what it looks like initially after hitting F12.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Logan_Darklighter/Champions%20Online/UI_MOD_02.jpg


Each of those green boxes can be moved individually. Here - I've moved the powers tray from the bottom of the screen off to the right.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Logan_Darklighter/Champions%20Online/UI_MOD_03.jpg



Additionally, most of them can be individually re-scaled like you can with windows boxes (place pointer at edge until you get a double-arrow and the pull in the direction you want). Here below I've changed the scale of the two mini-map boxes in the upper right hand corner.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Logan_Darklighter/Champions%20Online/UI_MOD_04.jpg


And here's the end result -


https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Logan_Darklighter/Champions%20Online/UI_MOD_05.jpg


You can also change the overall scale of the HUD/UI. Hit "ESC" to get this menu.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Logan_Darklighter/Champions%20Online/UI_MOD_06.jpg

Then choose options. On the very first tab labeled "Basic" look at the bottom. There's a "Interface Scale" Meter. Change it to taste.


https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Logan_Darklighter/Champions%20Online/UI_MOD_07.jpg


For our example here, let's ramp it down to 65% and see what it looks like.


https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Logan_Darklighter/Champions%20Online/UI_MOD_08.jpg


Okay, that gets a lot of stuff out of the way, but leaves our chat box and type setting a little small to see.

No worries, you can directly drag and re-size this window, then right-click on the chat tabs and go to the "Options" tab. There's a "Font-Size" slider. Ramp it up until it suits you.

Voila!

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Logan_Darklighter/Champions%20Online/UI_MOD_09.jpg

So using a combination of all of those, you can modify the UI a lot. I don't think you can change the COLOR of the UI unfortunately.

I hope this helps everyone out!

[corvus1970]

Thanks for this!

I also love what you did with Cyberman 8 :)

[Epelesker]

Sadly nope, you have to run back to the contact.  You can, however, exit a mission map early by contacting SOCRATES via her button on the minimap.

There's no way to really know where your 'active' contacts are.  However, contacts never go "inactive" - you can revisit them at any time.  You can use SOCRATES's "search for emergencies" options to pick up missions remotely, however.

I must comment on this: that same "Search for Emergencies" function actually does allow you to turn in missions remotely. You need to scroll down the list to find the name of the contact you accepted from, find the mission, and then you can select/accept rewards from there.

Just, it does get a little long and confusing sometimes.

[Kistulot]

Oooo I didnt know that!

Thanks, Epe! :)

[Atlantea]

Thanks for this!

I also love what you did with Cyberman 8 :)

You're welcome!

And thanks for the compliment! I just last night did some more tweaks to his proportions to get him more in line with his COH version. I'm very close to being completely satisfied.

(The only thing that STILL irks me is the lack of that classic "Swept V" ornament and a brim for the helmet. That brim from the old Veteran "Samurai" costume set award and the swept "V" was what got me to MAKE him in the first place and CO doesn't have anything like it! That will always slightly annoy me until/unless they add something like it.)