Armorsmith Archive

I'm a budding BH on Bria. Soon I'll have maxed out my template and I'll start hunting for my ultimate armor suit. What I'm going to want is a really nice suit of composite with an interlaced RIS helmet and (the Force willing) some bits of good BH or Mandalorian as I find them. Ignoring the Mandalorian (which is probably a good idea for anyone interested in the armor), I'm wondering if there's anything special I need to take into account when hunting for components. I'd like to find the absolute best components I can so that I can have the best suit of PvP viable armor I can have.

So far, I know the following:

For the RIS helmet I need to provide ingredients for one RIS segment. That will require:

-160 units Titanium Aluminum

-160 units Chanlon Intrusive Ore

-75 units Rori Fiberplast

-1 Woolamander bone fragment

-1 Gurk king hide

-1 Peko-Peko Albatross feather (optional, but desirable)

-1 Dune Kimogilla scale (optional, but desirable)

I know that the Acklay occasionally drops an interlaced RIS schematic, but does it drop frequently enough to be worth looking for? And are three layers worth it? Also, do I need the Albatross feather and Kimo scales? What do they add?

I know you guys basically have to waste one RIS segment and several pieces of armor in order to receive your schematics on the RIS quest. Should I be prepared to come in with 3 or 4 segments worth of materials just to get my one helmet? Or will a skilled armorsmith already have access to the helmet schematic?

I know nothing about composite. Are there any specific hides or bones I need to be acquiring? Any specific minerals I need to be locating? I'll be going for the highest resists possible, so HAM isn't really a problem (the lower the better, sure... but I'll probably be going out buffed anyway.)

I've seen some screenshots with some pretty great stats on a full suit of RIS. I've also seen some RIS that looks no better than Bone from the bazaar. Is it worth the trouble to pursue a full RIS suit? Is it, in fact, worth the trouble to pursue a full suit of composite? Any tips or comments from Master Armorsmiths are appreciated. You're the boys (or girls) who'll be protecting my hide in the coming months, and I'm mostly just curious about how it all works.

Thanks!