Architect Archive
Thread: Tips for staying alive while wearing an apron
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Pawlin
Tue May 03, 2005 10:58 am
#1
The CU has made it a more dangerous world. A lot of us have very little or sometimes zero combat skills so surviving in the wild is a big challenge.
I thought I'd start a thread so we can share Tips and Tricks for staying alive out in the wild. Some of these are kind of obvious. The idea with a lot of them is that "every little bit helps". Please feel free to add your own in this thread.
* Run away !!!
Don't try and fight. If you don't have much of any combat skill then you'll be dead meat alone from most mobs especially if they group on you. Mobs that you used to be able to handle easily are now too tough. At the first sign of danger drive your speeder directly away from the enemy and don't stop till your definitely safe.
* Don't dismount your speeder
You can do most things while on your speeder now including survey, craft, call droids, and place structures. So there is no reason to dismount and walk around on foot. If you stay on your speeder you can pull a quick getaway at the first sign of danger. But if you're on foot you have to run back to the speeder and then mount it, those couple extra seconds can easily cost you your life and then some.
*Buff health with food and drug
Neutron Pixie will give a 20% boost to health. Breath of Heaven will give around +400-500 health boost plus boots to ham regen. Vercupti now gives around 400-500 health. Add those 3 together and you've got +1000 additional health. Depending on the filling you should be able to get some more food or drink on for even more of a buff. THe duration on these is 15min for the drugs and around 12-15m for the drink which will cover a harvester trip. [edit: initially you couldn't stack any food buffs but now you can]
* Use a stimpack
Keep a stimpack in your toolbar for use as a panic button. Even at combat level 1 we can still use a stimpack- A and you don't need any medic skills. If you have more combat skill boxes, you can get a higher stimpack type like a B for additional healing. A stimpack A It won't give you a lot of healing, but it might be enough to withstand one more hit from some mobs before you die. If you are a medic then you can use bactashot and stimpack right after each other, they are on separate timers.
* Consider getting medic for bactashot
The medics bactashot skill will heal you a bit and can be used every few seconds. It doesn't require any medicine devices and can be used in addition to a stimpack.
* Wear a PSG
PSGs will give you protection against energy attacks. I think its around 20-30% protection range. Everyone can wear these. I'm not sure what all does energy attacks now but I've been hit with energy ranged attack from a mite at least.
*Use protective foods as a panic button
Flame out will give you 80-95% protection for a few seconds. Synthsteak will give 30-40% for around half a minute and exo-protein wafers will give 15-25% for about 15 sec. If you keep one of these in your toolbar and then hit it when something red aggro's you then you might buy yourself enough protection for a few seconds to make it out alive. e.g. if you use flameout the 2-3 seconds of protection might give you enough time to flee from even a very dangerous mob. Note the short time on these foods is new after CU conversion and may be a bug so they may change back to # of attacks rather than lasting a few seconds.
*If you can afford the skill point get novice elite combat for the armor
A novice combat class will allow you to wear armor. 49 skill points will be enough for novice pistoleer, carbiner or rifleman. Armor now maxes out at 60% protection with 10k stat. You won't be as effective in armor with just a novice level but it will give you some protection for defensive purposes. Battle armor is a general armor so you might pick carbiner just for that reason. The pistoleer and rifleman classes get reconnaisance which is +1000 energy and -1000 kinetic, but with a PSG you've already got extra energy protection and you can use the extra kinetic.
*Drive your speeder and carefully watch radar
Its almost a given that people will be driving a speeder. Doing so gives you a fast getaway in case of trouble. Put on the overheard map and watch your radar. If you're in particularly dangerous territory like on Dathomir then you should take it extra slow to give time for mobs to appear. If your approaching your harvesters or factory, then creep up on it and make sure you see all the mobs in the area before you get focused on maintinaing the harvesters or working the factory.
*Put your factories inside a player city
Mobs don't spawn right inside of player cities. So if you put your factories within city limits then you can visit them without worrying about random spawns camping your factory. Course this is dependent on the rules of your city, some don't allow factories inside city limits. If your city has such rules you might lobby the residents for a rule chance to setup a factory district to accomodate the crafters.
* Keep the computer audio volume up
The fight music coming on is one of the first signs that you're being attacked. So keep your audio on so you can hear the sign when you're in battle.
* If your harvesters are camped then keep your distance
If your harvesters have a dynamic spawn nest on top of them then try to operate the harvesters from maximum distance and keep as much space between you and the nest. You can operate harvesters from 15m away (used to be 30m, hopefuly it will go back to 30m). This might give you enough room to stay outside of the mobs agro zone but still operate the harvs.
e.g. if there is a mob nest 5m to the west of your harvesters then approach your harvester from the east and stay 15m to the east, giving yourself 20m between you and the nest.
* Garage the AV21.
Some mobs have an adversion to technology and will kill your speeder. I'd recommend keeping the AV21 in the garage when you're out in the field lest some nasty beast kill you then your car. I know nightsisters have always liked to blow up my vehicles, but I'm sure there are other mobs that will do the same.
Message Edited by Pawlin on 05-07-2005 01:59 PM
VeniaLaTore
Wed May 04, 2005 12:10 am
#3
Hi Pawlin,
You forgot something IMHO.
Ask friends or others for help. Many of us are very sympathetic to your cause and appreciate finely crafted goods.
As someone who used to regularly be trapped inside a house by various mobs (that this girl can now kill easily thanks to smuggler being a combat profession now), this girl would be happy to assist.
Also, some of us are speculative miners so if you are goingsurveying for some resource you need, chances are that it might be something we want to harvest also. A good partnership of "you survey, I shoot" could be mutually beneficial.
Elyssa
Wed May 04, 2005 12:18 am
#4
Along the same lines...
Group with high-level characters.
They don't even have to come alongwith you. The fact that you're just grouped with them makes you level 80 and immune to all but the highest end damage multipliers. If you do this, you can pretty much go back to operating exactly as you did before the CU came along. You still have to be careful but you most likely won't be 1-shotted.
Message Edited by Elyssa on 05-03-2005 02:19 PM
l33thaxx0rnam3
Wed May 04, 2005 11:36 am
#5
Going along with Never Get Off The Speeder:
No only can a lot of the stuff you do can be done on the speeder, it can also be macroed. The faster you are, the less chance they have to eat you. Reducing my entire harvester setup for a week to a single button per harvester was a beautiful thing. Maintence might be a little off, but it's allways better to err on the side of caution with those things anyway. Besides, it's not like maintnence and power arent going to be used anyway.
If nothing else, ye olde:
/dismount;/survey;/mount
macro attached to my hotbar has certainlly proven the test of time. Just make sure you leave your survey window open. Playing at a higher resolution (if possible) will help with that as well, since then less of your screen is actually taken up by the survey map. Flying around with the survey map open means you HAVE to watch the radar, which you oughta be doing anyway. Make sure that your radar is at least at 128m out which is spawning range for most stuff. That'll only give you a few moments to avoid the 64m max aggro range on a swoop.
No only can a lot of the stuff you do can be done on the speeder, it can also be macroed. The faster you are, the less chance they have to eat you. Reducing my entire harvester setup for a week to a single button per harvester was a beautiful thing. Maintence might be a little off, but it's allways better to err on the side of caution with those things anyway. Besides, it's not like maintnence and power arent going to be used anyway.
If nothing else, ye olde:
/dismount;/survey;/mount
macro attached to my hotbar has certainlly proven the test of time. Just make sure you leave your survey window open. Playing at a higher resolution (if possible) will help with that as well, since then less of your screen is actually taken up by the survey map. Flying around with the survey map open means you HAVE to watch the radar, which you oughta be doing anyway. Make sure that your radar is at least at 128m out which is spawning range for most stuff. That'll only give you a few moments to avoid the 64m max aggro range on a swoop.
Elyssa
Wed May 04, 2005 11:41 am
#6
You do know that you can survey while mounted now, right?
l33thaxx0rnam3 wrote:
/dismount;/survey;/mount
You can even place structures.
Mirkwoods
Wed May 04, 2005 8:05 pm
#7
Here's a suggestion that I made that could help with this problem... I also posted it solo, but nobody ever reads anything anyway.
There is a problem with the entertainers not being able to hold weapons which many of them enjoy doing for their dances. There is also a problem with the crafters not being able to get to their harvestors and such without grouping up... and let's face it, if you aren't a combat profession, you can't go out into the wild alone.
I have a proposal for these problems. I realize that this would be a long term type fix, but I do think it would work great. Please feel free to post problems with the system, and fixes.
Proposal: New profession - Self-Defense Practitioner. (this could be changed, if someone can think of a better name.)
This profession is only half the skill points (if not less) of a regular profession. It could even be seperate from points, with the assumption that eventually, everyone whom goes into the wild would eventually develope some skills for self-defense.
It's like a combat profession, but the opposite. When you get away from a fight, you would get points. They would vary depending on how high of a level creature or any MOB really, is that you get away from once you've been engaged in combat. You could also get points by initiating combat and then escaping.
This is primarily for PvE. These skills should either be disabled, orseverely nerfedwhen participating in PvP combat. Perhaps it should even be disabled for anyone whom is in a combat profession, but I think that it wouldn't hurt to have the ability to escape from a battle if you're getting trounced. It would make soloing easier to do. You could attempt to fight a creature, and if you figure out very quickly that you are no match, you can use the self-defense skills to try and get away.
The skillsare not 100% successful against all creatures. The self-defense practitioner would have much better success against levels close to theirs. A low level SDP (abbreviation of Self-Defense Practitioner that I will use from here on out.) wouldhave a very hard time escaping from a rancor, but it would be possible if they were skilled.
-One branch of the tree is; defense against creatures.
Low level would have some special "attacks" although, they are really not attacks. Some might be "move downwind.", "Complete stillness", "make submissive gesture", etc. Different creatures will react to different ones of these "attacks". For example; A voritor lizard will not be able to see you if you use the "complete stillness" "attack". The assumption is that (much like the T-Rex in Jurassic Park) they can only see things that are moving. Using the "move downwind" "attack" will do nothing against the voritor lizard, but will work on other creatures.
Some may be succeptable to more than one thing. Depends on how creative the DEVs would want to get with it.
When you get higher level creatures, it gets harder, because you have to do things in a certain sequence. I.E. Bull Rancor. First you do the "complete stillness" command until it breaks off the attack. If you move though, it will immediately attack you. You would then hit "move downwind" to keep it off your tail. Of course, that is just an example, there will be other "attacks" granted at higher levels. Some will combine two "attacks" into one to make it easier as you get higher.
-The second branch will be; defense against sentients.
This is to defend against aggressive NPC's in the game. This will have "attacks" like "suckerpunch", "Quick knee", "Kick dirt in face", etc.
These are used to "stun" the NPC long enough for you to get away. (If combat professions are kept in,afterthey use this "attack" type, they cannot attack the sentient with a regular attack.)
I can see some fairly humorous animations for these attacks, and perhaps some cursing out (PG of course) from the NPC after you use one of these attacks.
As you move higher, you would get more effective and longer lasting "attacks". Lower level ones would only last a short time, meaning that you would have to hit and beat cheeks. FAST! At the higher levels, there would be more time. A master could probably just walk leisurely away.
- The third branch; Armed self-defense.
These would be nonlethal attacks done with weapons that would stun the NPC, or creature long enough for you to make your getaway. This would work in much the same way as the NPC branch.
I would think that weapon defense is slightly more effective than the non-armed version on NPC's although probably less effective against creatures than the defense against creatures branch.
You would have "attacks" like "hit with gun butt", "short defensive blast", "overload blast", "overhead shot", etc.
The higher your SDP gets, the more effective the "attacks" become.
These would deliver very little actual combat damage, and would never incap anything. In groups, these skills would only protect you from a creature attacking you. If they shy away from you, they will immediately aggro another member of your group.
The important part of this profession is the ability to hold weapons for non-combatants. If the combats are allowed to use this, it would make sense to let them hold the weapons, because a SDP would know more about weapons than any joe-schmo that you encounter on the street.
However, I would say that with the exception of level 1, they only would be able to hold the level of weapon directly below the SDP level held. For example, a level 4 SDP could hold level 3 weapons. SDPs could never hold the highest level weapons (unless they also have a combat profession.)
This would give the dancers their weapons to hold. They don't wanna hold those huge weapons that only masters have anyway.
- Fourth branch; I'm not completely sure, but perhaps; Evasion
You would get these points like combat skill points. They are non-specific to all of the other types, and you only get about half, just like the combat skill points, making this column fill up much slower.
With each level in this branch, you get a small % modifier to possibly attacking creatures.
When you're a master of self-defense, it does not mean that you can kick anybodys butt. It just means that you can avoid getting destroyed by everyone and everything... and hold weapons to be sexy dancers at sexy parties.
Well, that's about it. What do you all think?
P.S. Sorry that I'm so long winded.
l33thaxx0rnam3
Thu May 05, 2005 6:30 am
#8
Elyssa wrote:
You do know that you can survey while mounted now, right?
You can even place structures.
Uh... of course I knew that.
Having largely given up on houses and harvesters, I've just been making what little furniture I sell out of my old supplies.
I'm mostly selling loot these days, or was before the curb. Sales are bad for loot lately, even with competitive pricing on the bazaar.
I'm hoping it will pick up with ROTW.
...but to answer the question, I've not done any serious surveying since October or so, and I'm ok with that.
Stownhart
Sat May 07, 2005 5:11 am
#9
Mask Scent is invaluable! Was tending some fusions on Lok once. Not a red dot for miles. Got a bit lax while chatting through /tells and WHAM...4 Giant Kimogilas spawn literally right on top of me. Instant incap. Surprised that I didn't get slain I readied for a quick dbl-click of the swoop. Incap timer get's to 0...BAM incap again. Still not slain though. The second time incap ends I hit the Mask Scent button in tool bar, and they don't even seem to know I'm there. That little scout skill has saved me MANY trips to the cloning facility
Pawlin
Sat May 07, 2005 2:22 pm
#10
Update: Food and drink of different types will now stack. So you can stack multiple health buffs from different things. However you can't stack more than one of a certain kind of food or drink.
New food chart is at This thread. The foods that buff health are at the bottom.
For example: Caf , kanali wafers, teltier noodles will buff for 40-60min for around 80-100 buff or moreeach.
And between the 3 you get +100 regen for health, action and mind.
Pawlin
Sat May 07, 2005 2:52 pm
#11
BE enhanced Caf, Tetler and Kanali should give a buff of about 150-170 each for around an hour. SO thats 450-510 total. Plus they are only about 15-17 fill each so you can add other food buffs on top of those.
Maasedge
Sun May 08, 2005 8:40 am
#12
I was killed while standing in my crafting house yesterday! I had consolidated my items onto a vendor for easy pick up to my new player city, where I can safely craft and tend factories in city limits, and there were a few scavengers out front. Because of the positioning of the vendor the front door was usually open when I was using it. Suddenly I start getting shot through the open door, so I move around so that the door closes and resume my work. Apparently the solid walls of my house became etherial or something and the scavenger started blasting through the door and walls. So I ran into the back room. Now on the radar there were two more of his pals who were agitated with me cause I was fighting their friend and one of them decided to walk into my back room through the wall. The one that was shooting me through the front door had not moved, so the guy who can walk through walls was a new one. Well I kill him and finally end combat. I go back to the front room, and work the vendor making sure that the door was closed and continue my business. Suddenly I have to tend my RL and so I get up from the computer for roughly 5 or 10 minutes. I come back and find that I am dead due to x3 incap.
Now what pisses me off about all of this is that if I was outside and got killed it would have been one of the costs of doing business, no big deal. But these guys actually came into my house, shot through walls and to make things worse I find out that the default attack I had set up on my tool bar is now missing (not checked). I have had to recheck this damn default attack so many times now that I have lost track. If I had noticed that it wasnt checked again and rechecked it before I got up I probably wouldnt have died. Also, werent there patch or hotfix notes about creatures could no longer enter a player structure?
To end my long tirrade, I just cant wait to finish moving out of the wilderness and into my new home. It will really be worth it to not have to put up with this crap anymore.
Now what pisses me off about all of this is that if I was outside and got killed it would have been one of the costs of doing business, no big deal. But these guys actually came into my house, shot through walls and to make things worse I find out that the default attack I had set up on my tool bar is now missing (not checked). I have had to recheck this damn default attack so many times now that I have lost track. If I had noticed that it wasnt checked again and rechecked it before I got up I probably wouldnt have died. Also, werent there patch or hotfix notes about creatures could no longer enter a player structure?
To end my long tirrade, I just cant wait to finish moving out of the wilderness and into my new home. It will really be worth it to not have to put up with this crap anymore.
Elyssa
Sun May 08, 2005 8:55 am
#13
They can enter public buildings.
Try putting an access fee on the building and see if that works.
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