Tin Mage Mark II Task Force

Overview

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The Praetorian Offensive
Contact	Tin Mage Mark II
Zone	Rikti War Zone
Suggested Team Size	8 players
Coordinates	(-270.4, 39.0, -2317.5)
Level Range	50
Merits	40
Threads	10
Astrals	1
Badge	Alpha Struck
Enemy Groups	Imperial Defense Force Malta Operatives Praetorian Clockwork Praetorians WarWorks

The Tin Mage Mark II Task Force is a co-operative Task Force that allows heroes and villains to team together. The Task Force was added in Issue 19 with the introduction of the Incarnate System.

Characters must be level 50 to participate. Enemies are significantly harder as well. All enemies will be level 54.

Merit Rewards: This activity awards 40 Reward Merits.

Introductions

Too Low Level

Sorry, Character, you'll need to be at least Security Level 50 to handle the current situation with the Praetorians.

Not Enough People

The offensive on Praetoria will be very difficult, Character. You'll need a full team of eight people to handle what's coming our way.

Not Team Leader

I need to speak to your team leader, Character.

Missions

Part One: Bid for Power

Briefing

Greetings. My name is Tin Mage Mark II, the latest model of Tin Mage, rebuilt by Vanguard after my unfortunate and assumed demise at the hands of the Rikti. I have been put in charge of forming yet another assault on an alternate dimension. Perhaps it's due to my experience in attacking other dimensions. Or, rather, the experience of my former make. Regardless, the assistance of you and your team is needed on this day. Before we can take the fight to Praetoria, we need to form a united front here in Primal Earth. This means Arachnos. Currently, they are having a dire situation with the Praetorian invasion within Nerva Archipelago. These islands have been disputed for quite some time. Vanguard would like to enlist your aid in taking back Nerva from the Praetorians and moving forward to strike a blow against them on their home turf.

Mission Acceptance

Excellent, we're going to run this operation as efficiently as possible. There is a Vanguard helicopter waiting to bring you into Nerva Archipelago. Once there, you will need to clear out the 'War Walkers' from the topside, then uncover the Praetorian base of operations in Nerva. We believe the Praetorians have established a secret base within Nerva, as there was no indication that they 'teleported' in. Rather, it appears they activated a hidden base and overwhelmed the area. Oh, and you may wish to be careful. Malta has been making routine assaults against the Praetorians in Nerva. I believe they are trying to retrieve the Praetorian technology for their own use.

Unnecessary Solicitation

It is curious that Malta has chosen this moment to make their strike. Perhaps we will find out why.

Mission Objective(s)

The Vanguard helicopter lands precariously on the dock in Crimson Cove.

• Retake Crimson Cove
  • 8 War Walkers to Defeat
  • 8 Computers to override within the warehouse
  • 30 seconds until War Works arrive
  • Defeat Director 11

Locations

• The mission entrance is the black helicopter on top of the Vanguard base building
• Once in the mission, the warehouse entrance is in the far northwest corner

Enemies

• WarWorks
• Praetorian Clockwork
• Malta Operatives

Notable NPCs

• Director 11 (Archvillain)

War Walkers Dialogue

Before combat: SCANNING... NO CIVILIAN CASUALTIES DETECTED.
Combat start: NO CIVILIANS DETECTED IN THE AREA. REMOVING SAFETY PROTOCOLS ON WEAPONS SYSTEMS.

And once the last War Walker is destroyed:

Director 11 Dialogue

Before combat: Move! This is our moment to strike, we can still recover the information on those Walkers!
Combat start: I'm fully prepared to handle a squad of Incarnate level metas. You all won't get out of here alive.
At 75% Life: You metas have too much power, it will eventually destroy you and enslave us all!

Praetoria is a prime example of what Malta is fighting against, don't you see?

At 50% Life: We in Malta fight to keep Earth free, to prevent the same fate that Praetoria met!
At 25% Life: If you metas hadn't tried to explore other dimensions, we wouldn't be in this situation in the first place...!
Defeated: You'll... never win the war...

even if Tyrant is defeated...

one of you will... rise to... replace him...

Clicking on all 8 devices within 30 seconds of entering the warehouse awards the Hacker Badge.

Hacker

You managed to destroy the War Walkers within the secret Praetorian warehouse before the security team could be activated.

Setting off zero proximity mines during the warehouse battle awards the Midnight Dodger What Dodges At Midnight Badge.

Midnight Dodger What Dodges At Midnight

Director 11 may be a master of demolitions, but you showed him you're a master at dodging bombs.

Debriefing

Excellent work, Task Force Name, I expected no less from you all. We have Director 11 in custody now and are busy trying to see if we can find any other higher ups within Malta. We hope that he will work together with us, but the odds of that are very small. Arbiter Daos arrived at the Vanguard compound a few moments ago to begin negotiations. Which means we are going to once more need your aid.

Part Two: Unique Allies

Briefing

We currently have Arbiter Daos and Captain Dietrich working on a temporary truce between Longbow and Arachnos. I have run the calculations and believe that the odds of any sort of truce being found within the next few hours is slim to none, given the personality of Dietrich and the methods of Daos. I also believe that the Praetorians will take this moment to strike against us to try to break that truce and eliminate two high ranking officials within the two groups. This is assuming that the Praetorians know what is happening, which I believe is a safe assumption to make.

Mission Acceptance

Precisely. It isn't the most glorious duty, but your group is the only one that can fight off the incoming Praetorians, should they attack the compound. You should head to the conference room as soon as possible for guard duty. Just be ready for anything to happen.

Unnecessary Solicitation

Let me know if you all need any more support.

Part One: The Conference

Mission Objective(s)

You can hear Captain Dietrich listing her complaints about forming an alliance with Arachnos

• Guard the Vanguard Conference
  • Attend the conference
  • 6 groups of War Works to fend off
  • Speak with Apex

Editor's Note:

There is no mini-map for this mission.

Location

• Door inside the Vanguard complex

War Work Data Core

You retrieved this data core from one of the War Works within Portal Corp. You're able to use Vanguard technology to hack into it and gather data regarding Cole's invasion plans. One thing stands out to you: whoever programmed these machines made sure that they would not target a civilian under any circumstances. You're unable to tell if this was done by the programmer or an order directly from Tyrant.

Enemies

WarWorks

Notable NPCs

• Lady Grey (NPC)
• Arbiter Daos (NPC)
• Captain Dietrich (NPC)

Lady Grey: Now, I know that this is somewhat... unusual, but we must band together if we're to fight the Praetorians. Captain Dietrich: Vanguard is out of their minds! Side with Recluse, with Arachnos?! We can't trust them, we don't NEED them!
Arbiter Daos: I assure you that we will cooperate. We do, after all, have information that you all could use. Isn't that right?
Lady Grey: Daos is correct. Dietrich, I don't like it either, but this is war. We need to do this to win.

Lady Grey: What?!
Captain Dietrich: This is Vanguard's fault for dealing with Arachnos!

Lady Grey: Task Force Name, I need you to retake the compound while we hold up here!
Arbiter Daos: Hrm. This is a troubling turn of events...

After defeating the invaders, Apex will tell you where to go:

Apex Dialogue

I knew something was going to go wrong! Good thing you guys were here to clean it up! We've got a situation on our hands, though.
Praetorians have launched an attack from within Portal Corp and the Grandville tower.
Lady Grey is taking Dark Watcher, Borea, Gaussian, Serpent Drummer and Levantera to deal with Grandville tower.
You need to get to Portal Corp and secure the situation over there.

Part Two: Portal Corp

Mission Objective(s)

• Guard the Vanguard Conference
  • 4 ACU guards to clear out of Portal Corp
  • Speak with Tina Macintyre

Enemies

WarWorks

Notable NPCs

• Tina Macintyre (NPC)

ACU Troops Dialogue

Before combat: PORTAL CORP IS SECURED. BEGINNING PROCESS OF RE-ROUTING FURTHER PORTALS.
Combat start: ENEMIES DETECTED. INITIATING COMBAT PROTOCOLS.

Tina Macintyre Dialogue

Thank goodness you all arrived when you did, the Praetorians just started pouring out from the portal! With the area cleared out, we can secure the portal again, but there's still a large number of them up in the courtyard!

Part Three: The Courtyard

Mission Objective(s)

• Guard the Vanguard Conference
  • 3 groups to defeat in the courtyard
  • Defeat the Goliath War Walker

Enemies

WarWorks

Notable NPCs

• Goliath War Walker (Archvillain)

ACU Troops Dialogue

Before combat: PORTAL CORP IS SECURED. REQUESTING ADDITIONAL TROOPS TO MOVE FORWARD INTO PEREGRINE.

Goliath War Walker Dialogue

Combat Start: EMPEROR COLE WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO KEEP THIS PLANET IN CHAOS

Debriefing

You have all done an upstanding job at defending Primal Earth from the Praetorian Invasion. Halting the force within Neutropolis will allow us to more easily handle the current forces that are within Primal Earth. If that army were to have marched through, Atlas Park and Grandville would have been overwhelmed by the sheer number of Clockwork, War Works, PPD, IDF, and Powers Division members. We still have a long way to go before this war is over with Praetoria, but we have pushed back their initial forces. As I understand, there are some other incursions by the Praetorians throughout Paragon City. If you and your team are still able, speak with Apex to see what you can help with.

Part Three: Stop Cole's Invasion

Briefing

+++ Missing Information +++

Mission Acceptance

+++ Missing Information +++

Unnecessary Solicitation

+++ Missing Information +++

Mission Objective(s)

You're guided to Portal Corp by a Vanguard helicopter. Ahead, you hear the sounds of the back up team. If you fall, they'll only survive for minutes before the Praetorians overwhelm them.

• Stop Cole's invasion
  • Enter the portal into Praetoria
  • Defeat Neuron
  • Defeat Bobcat
  • 2 Goliath War Walkers to destroy

Location

• Portal inside Vanguard base

Enemies

WarWorks

Imperial Defense Force

Praetorians

Notable NPCs

• Neuron (Archvillain)
• Bobcat (Archvillain)
• Goliath War Walker x2 (Archvillain)

Neuron Dialogue

Before combat: Come on, come on... I programmed this to go faster! Why isn't it working?!
Combat start: Great, more problems. Can't you see I'm trying to launch an invasion here?
At 75% Life: Why can't you all just lay down and let us take over your world?
At 50% Life: This would be so much easier if you all could understand the word 'surrender'.
At 25% Life: You do realize that this won't stop anything, right? I'm a speedster, I recover quickly, it's what I do.
Defeated: I won't hear the end of this for a while, but you've only prolonged the inevitable. You'll see soon enough.

Bobcat Dialogue

Before combat: This is boring, why do we have to stick around for this?
Combat start: Who're you? Are you really going to make me fight? ...Great
Neuron at 75% Life: HEY! Don't you hurt my boyfriend!
Neuron at 50% Life: You get your grimy primal hands off of him!
Neuron at 25% Life: Get away from Berry! I won't let you hurt him!
Neuron Defeated: Ohhh, you WON'T get away with this! I'll tear you all APART!

Goliath War Walker Dialogue

Walker One:

Before combat: ACTIVATING EMPOWER PROTOCOL FOR ALLY GOLIATHS

Combat start: COLE WILL NOT TOLERATE PRIMAL EARTH BRINGING HARM TO THE PEACE OF PRAETORIA.

Walker Two:

Before combat: ACTIVATING EMPOWER PROTOCOL FOR ALLY GOLIATHS

Combat start: YOU WILL NOT DESTROY THE UTOPIA THAT HAS BEEN CREATED HERE.

Defeating Neuron before Bobcat reaches 50% health and then defeating Bobcat awards the Kitty's Got Claws Badge.

Kitty's Got Claws

You saw Bobcat do something no one else has seen; fight with all her effort. Despite her best efforts, you still managed to put her down.

Defeating 40 of Neuron's clones awards the Army of Neu Badge.

Army of Neu

You waded through a small army of Neuron's clones in order to help push back Praetoria's invasion of Primal Earth.

Completing this mission awards the Alpha Struck Badge.

Alpha Struck

You took the fight to the Praetorians and stopped their plans for a large-scale invasion into the heart of Atlas Park and Grandville!

Debriefing

You have all done an upstanding job at defending Primal Earth from Praetorian invasion. Halting the force within Neutropolis will allow us to more easily handle the current forces that re within Primal Earth. If that army were to have marched through, Atlas Park and Grandville would have been overwhelmed by the sheer number of Clockwork, WarWorks, PPD, IDF and Powers Division members.

We still have a long way to go before this war is over with Praetoria, but we have pushed back their initial forces. As I understand, there are some other incursions by the Pretorians through Paragon City. If you and your team are still able, speak with Apex to see what you can help with.

Completing this mission awards the Alpha Struck badge.

Alpha Struck

Alpha Struck Badge

Rewards

As of Issue 20.5: Incarnates Ascend, completing the Tin Mage Mark II Task Force awards 40 Reward Merits and will bring up a selection window where a character can choose among the following:

• 1 Astral Merit (once per 20 hours)
• 10 Incarnate Thread Components
• 1 "Super" Inspiration

Master of Tin Mage's Task Force

If you successfully earn all of the following badges, you will receive the Master of Tin Mage's Task Force Badge:

• Hacker
• Midnight Dodger What Dodges At Midnight
• Kitty's Got Claws
• Army of Neu

Master of Tin Mage's Task Force

You have proven yourself Master of Tin Mage's Task Force.

Souvenir

Goliath Memory Core

You took a memory core from a Goliath War Walker during your fight against them in Neutropolis. There's a lot of information that you can use from the core, either for the good of Primal Earth or for your own ends. It reminds you of an experience you call...

The Praetorian Offensive

It all began when you formed a team to push back the invading Praetorians with a robot named Tin Mage Mark II. You travelled to Nerva Archipelago to retake Crimson Cove from the Praetorians. It was there that you discovered a secret base where War Walkers were being manufactured. You destroyed the base and also defeated Director 11, one of the enigmatic members of Malta's council of Directors. Tin Mage then requested your team to guard a conference between members of Longbow and members of Arachnos. As expected, the War Works attacked the conference, but you were able to push them back and secure Portal Corp, and just in time. Tin Mage alerted you to the fact that the Praetorians were planning to launch their full army through a portal in Neutropolis. You went through the portal in Portal Corp and attacked the heart of Neutropolis, defeating Neuron, Bobcat, and their initial force of Goliaths, putting a halt to the Praetorians' initial invasion plans. The war may not be over, but now Cole knows there are forces in Primal Earth that he can't easily swat down.

History

This section contains information that no longer applies to the current version of Homecoming: City of Heroes/Villains. It is provided for historical purposes.

Prior to Issue 27, Page 3, characters without an Alpha ability slotted suffered a -4 level shift during the Tin Mage Mark II Task Force. Characters no longer need Alpha unlocked or slotted to participate.

Emperor Cole's Incarnate Control

-Combat Levels

Emperor Cole's control over the forces of the Incarnate are preventing every hero, villain or in-between from utilizing their full strength. This is effectively causing you to fight at four combat levels lower than you actually are.

Only those who have embarked on the path of the Incarnate and are utilizing an Alpha Incarnate ability are immune to the effect and fight at full strength.