Artisan Archive

I am trying to make some sense out of metals and was hoping to open a thread for us to discuss. When examining different metal types, its clear that it is important to pay attention to individual attributes. Each has different ratings for cold, conductivity, decay, heat, malleability, shock, and toughness. The one that is getting me is "overall". I am wondering what goes into the "overall" quality rating? Here's my example:

I mined Omniwikoo (sp?) steel on Corellia with the following ratings: cold-711; conductivity-609; decay-967; heat-998; malleability-386; shock-961; toughness-1000 and overall-325.

I also mined Didatate steel on same planet with following ratings: cold-130; conductivity-130; decay-559; heat-628; malleability-85; shock-597; toughness-456 and overall-675.

So my questions are this:

1) I am assuming that higher numbers mean better quality. Am I correct?

2) I realize that individual attributes will go to bettering whatever I make. What metal works best for a carbine might not be best for a staff. Is there a value in the overall? The Omni steel looks across the board better than Didatate but has a lower overall.

3) Will the metals on a planet always have the same quality? So far when I mine a different type of steel it goes to a unique spot in my inventory. When I mine the same metal somewhere else on the planet will it also go to the same slot and be of the same overall quality or can I mine, for example, different quality Didatate at different sites on the same planet?

Thanks for help. If there is further things that important to understanding the use of metals, feel free...

Thats a great question. I would love to know myself. Also if anyone knows what each metal is best for, that would be great too. for example. Copper is best for Ranged weapons. Anyone know what the other metals are best for? I tried Copper in a Bone armor plate and it didn't do well. I'm guessing steel would prob do better.

Oops, I meant to say the I am confused why the Didatate has a HIGHER overall than the Omni.

Have you seen Copper as actually being better in ranged weapons? If that is the case, I had better stop using Steel for my ranged weapons.

I believe that you will always find the same quality Steel if you are mining the same "Type" of steel. Unlike in real life, if someone calls out a 1008/1010 Carbon steel on a print, that 1008/1010 Carbon steel can have minor variations depending upon where you locate it and could even be different, even if you buy it all from the same steel mill at different times.

In real life 1008/1010 Carbon steel has a variety of ranges that it can fit into. Things like a Yield and Tensile range, how much Carbon can be in it, how much maganese can be in it and other things like that...

I know for a fact that it would be to frustrating to the players to have the individual Star Wars properties of material to fluctuate depending on where you sample it. They use something like that in Anarchy Online and believe you me when I say that the fluctuation of component quality was more then frustrating often leaving one feeling that they were performing endless excersises in futility attempting to build anything.

I really love the Star Wars Galaxies method of different material types, it lends some serious realism, without detracting from gameplay in any way. The only trick now, is to map out which combinations of material s turn out the best products. I have already found a few great combinations, which I won't share right this moment. (I don't want to lose out on any potential profits from those products...)

Anyway, it works in such an awesome fashion that I doubt I could have ever done it better myself.

Alrighty, keys to what to use to create what when:

Unfortunately because of the variations between planets and between the same planets on different servers in what metals are available and their qualities, this is going to be pretty general (I don't have access to the type of steel you mentioned on Corellia, must be a different server).

Ok, what metals you use(and to an extent ANY substance you put in) depends solely on what you're trying to make. For example, the CDEF. If you look when getting ready to create the weapon, it tells you what is taken into account when producing an end result in each of the 4 catergories of range, damage, etc. If I recall (servers down for patch) CDEF's are 50% Conductivity, and 50% Overall Quality. I'll avoid most of my math reasonings here as I have no way to prove any of it, and it'll confuse me as well (still early in the morning!) but suffice to say, for CDEF you want materials with HIGH conductivity and Overall Quality. The rest of the stats are useless for that creation.

Within your coppers, get a sample of a unit or 2 to compare all of them . Find which has the better overall help for you. And use that one.

In a nutshell, every resource on every planet is different, but the stats within each individual resource are constant. Use it to you advantage when comparing, and with resources drying up over time and new ones replacing them, we're in for a LOT of comparing.

Kordak

Ahazi

To answer your questions:

1)Yes. Higher = better.

2)The "Overall Quality" stat has nothing to do with the values of the other stats. It's just a stat on its own. If it makes more sense, think of it as "Purity".

3)All materials with the same name are identical Galaxy-wide. Didatate will have the same stats no matter where you harvest it, even on another planet.

You seem to have a good understanding of the crafting system in general. The only other advice I can offer is: Pay attention to the percentages when dealing with items that use more than one stat. For example, CDEF weapons use 50% Conductivity and 50% Overall Quality. So, when choosing a metal, simply add those two stats together. The best metal wil be the one with the highest total. However, when the percentages don't match... Let's say they are 66% Conductivity and 33% Overall Quality. In this case, you need to DOUBLE the conductivity number before adding it to the Overall Quality to find the best metal, to reflect the greater importance of that stat.

Here's two examples, using those different percentages.

Metal 1 - Conductivity 600, Overall Quality 300
Metal 2 - Conductivity 300, Overall Quality 700

In the 50/50 case, Metal 1's result is 900, and metal 2's result is 1000. Using Metal 2 in this item would be better. In the 66/33 case, Metal 1 gets 1500, and Metal 2 gets 1300. In this case, using Metal 1 is better.

I hope that didn't confuse you too much

(To avoid any curse filters...)

Thanks for that IMPORTANT crafting information. I will definately start looking into that and I hope to whip out some awfully nice CDEF pistols now, to match the kick-behind Barrels, Couplers and Muzzles that I already know how to whip up...

Thanks tsxx!

That's a great explanation. Makes sense to me to call it "purity" rather than overall quality. Now I can stop scratching my head.

Resurces of a similar name should always have the same stats. Here is semi-complete list of all the resource statistics submitted to my ste:

http://www.swgcenter.com/PointSystem/PS_Items.asp?ItemType=Resource

No problem. Just so you all have an idea of the difference good materials can make:

I'm currently using the best metal and chemical I could find among Corellia, Tatooine, and Naboo (on Gorath) and I'm producing CDEF weapons that do 28-57 damage with a 3.5 speed. Based on the stats of my materials, there's still room to raise that even higher with better stuff.

I'll be happy to answer any other questions I can.

--Jehryn, Gorath

How many unique resources are there?

50? 100? 200?

The resource database didn't appear to have a unique count anywhere that I could tell.

Here's a bit of advice. The steel with the unit toughness of 1000 (wow) is going to be EXTREMELY expensive on your server in a few weeks. Architects will kill for it.

Redeed your house. Invest everything in mineral extractors. And you can send me a cut when you cash in.

Bianca Minola

There are literally hundreds of unique resource types out there, especially when you concider the unique types of fiberplast (or any other material) for each planet.

My quest would be to find a list of all the best ones, that would be a list to hold. I know some that just generally have higher stats, like Ylaw, and I've seen an Ore that was 1000 on overall quality, but a comprehensive list would be REALLY cool to gather.