Artisan Archive

good stuff.

Excellent post DarkofNight. I know when I first started crafting I was lost with the metal qualities and such (didn't even really know they were there for a while - boy did I feel dumb). This should help the new artisans coming to the game a lot.

Actually on Bria I found a 1000qual copper and got about 50 quantity of it (only 24% density) before the servers got wiped for launch =(

I think I cried a little.

Excellent post DarkofNight!

I ran across one type of steel with 1000 quality on it in Beta with a real good conductivity, wish I had it now. Never seen anything higher than 1000.

I'm curious though. How many stats do some of the high-end craftable items use? Granted, each component could be different, but do you have to watch 3, 5, 7 stats for each component? I'm interested in how deep the crafting system is at the upper levels. Never made it there myself in beta.

Thx man, you helped a bunch, but one question: How do I get metals? I got minerals. . .do I have to smelt them? If so; where?

thx dude.

-Max

Bryan -I only made it to Novie Armorsmith myself, but here's what I can give ya from it. Mabari armor was just about the most complicated item I could craft, and it had, if memory serves, maybe 5 or 6 stats that went into the initial crafted quality. This is just for illustrative purposes;I don't remember the actual stats or anything, but say Overall Quality and Malleability would contribute 50% each to the armor's encumbrance value, while Shock Res. and Unit Toughness, say, would contribute 50% each to the quality, and maybe Overall quality and Unit Toughness would give 50% each to the armor's resistance. Anywys, if someone has the actual numbers and stats, please post them here, but that's close enough to give you a little idea. Needless to say, the percentages and contributing nubmers get real hairy real fast as you get into the upper level items. At the end of beta, I helped a tailor put together a factory for herself, and we had to gather something on the order of 10k resources for it. I don't even want to think about how that one was calculated lol.I wouldn't be surprised to see 7-10 stats (maybe more, who knows?)all going into the initial quality on top level items. Hope this helps, and good luck!

Ecks - Thankfully, you don't have to smelt minerals down for metal That's an interesting idea, but it'd have been a royal pain. You'll notice that when you open up your mineral surveying tool, you'll see a big list of some long, unpronouncable names in a list of sub trees, like like a file structure, right? Metals are a subclass of mineral, and all you have to do is pick a metal from the list you want to survey for, and go after it. Anything under the heading Inorganic->Mineral->Metal, is already a metal, and can be used in any schematic that requires a metal. Note that higher level schematics will require you to find more and more specific types of metal, like maybe a Ferrous metal as opposed to just a metal, or even down to a specific type of metal, like Link-Steel Aluminum, maybe. Hope this helps out, and feel free to post with any other questions you may have!

Just a few pointers that I thought I'd share for those who may be looking to eventually boost the overall quality of their finished items. Basically, it boils down to this: the quality of resources you use in craftinghas a considerable impact on the outcome of your final product, even without experimentation. You are much more likely to scorebetter successes on creating an item with good resources than with the first thing you click into the schematic slot.

Ok, I'll concede that it takes alot ofcrafting to level thru the artisan profession, and into the elites. This translates into alot of generic melee upgrade kits, couplers, barrels, or whatever else you've chosen to craft. I'm not saying here that you should use the best possible resources at all times; soemtimes it's easier to use the easiest thing to find when turning out those barrels you need for engr 4, or whatever. But, when the time comes that you want to start creating higher quality items, ones to potentially sell or manufacture, that's when this stuff can come in handy. Ok, here goes:

~~~~~

Each resource, as you may have noticed, has a set of statistics assigned to it. You can find these numbers by examining a sample ofthe resource that you've collected. They will be given in the item detail box that appears. One thing to note, not all resources have the same type or number of stats. An example of this is the Potential Energy stat. Energetic gasses,radioactives, and petrochem fuels will have a number here; most other types of resources will not. Back to stats, though. For example, here are the stats on a class of steel I found on Corellia today (Bloodfin server, in case you're wondering):

Name: Reokab; Cold Resistance: 483; Conductivity: 457; Decay Resistance: 800; Heat Resistance: 832; Malleability: 245; Overall Quality: 549; Shock Resistance: 793; Unit toughness: 815.

What do these numbers mean? Basically, the higher the number, the better that particular stat for that resource. I believe these range 0-1000, though the highest rating I've ever seen was a 995. This metal, then, has a low malleability rating (in other words has poor malleability), and decent values in Heat Resistance, Decay Resistance, and Unit Toughness. So, how do these numbers have anything to do with me crafting? That's where we're going next.

When you load up a schematic from your crafting tool, if you scroll down the box on the right of your crafting screenthat has the requirements listed, you'll find a section of text wherecertain experimental values are listed. Again I'll take a coupler as anexample here. Acoupler is a ranged weapon powerup that artisans can create. The experimental value listed for this particular item is Overall Quality: 100%. Now, I don't have this entire system figured out, but I have this much - The stats listed here in the schematic are the governing stats that are used to determine the initial quality of the item you make. The higher the percentage listed, the more that particular number in the resource you're using factors into theinitial quality of the item you're crafting. In other words, If you make 2 couplers, one with a resource having an Overall Quality of 200 and another with an Overall Quality of 900, chances are very very good, barring some crazy luck, that the 900 quality item will be a better success than the 200. Since this is the only number listed for this particular item, this is the only main contributing stat, hence the only one you have to worry about. In beta, I was turning out ranged weapon powerups with admirable stats froma steel(Qual 985 or so), and a petrochem fuel (qual in the 990s). Here though, are where things get realcomplicated, real fast.

As you start to craft more complex items, there will be more and more stats that contribute to the success or failure of the item you are making. I won't detail it here since it can get pretty nasty, but when crafting armor for example, Overall Quality, Shock Resistance, Malleability, Unit Toughness, and a couple others all contribute in varying percentages to the final outcome. It will start to become a game of tradeoffs; you'll have to sacrifice in one stat to get the results you want out of another.

In closing, when you're wanting to turn out better and better gear, choose your resources carefully. Try to find minerals, gasses, whatever that have good values in the stats that matter for the item you're making. This will give you higher base numbers after you create the item, and a better starting point for any experimentation you might want to do on your items. Good luck with crafing, and I hope this has made some measure of sense. If any of you think it'd be worth it, I can add screen shots to this and fill it out a little bit. Also might consider posting it under the guides section. Thanks for reading, andfeel free to offer any suggestions, changes, or whathaveyou. See you in game!

Agitack Eilokkek,

Soon-to-be Armorsmith,

Corellia, Bloodfin Galaxy.

Great post, Dark.

Okay here is a question.

Say I want to make a really good CDEF Pistol. And lets say that the CDEF Pistol takes 12 metal for the pistol, 6 chemical for some other piece, and 4 more metal for the trigger assembly and it is 50% conductivity and 50% overall quality. But my chemical does doesn't have a conductivity catagory. So how does it affect the weapon? Does the trigger assembly metal effect the weapon too or just the main part?

As far as I've been able to tell, since the chemical doesn't have a conductivity rating, it simply doesn't give you any help, so to speak, in calculating the initial quality of the item. Now I'm not sure whether you're penalized for this (doubtful), or just don't get the extra boost from the conductivity rating (there is a diff. here). Like on a standardized test, it's the difference between getting penalized for a wrong answer, vs. only getting credit for your correct ones. Similarly, in armorsmithing, there are some chemicals that have a malleability rating, and others that don't. I typically got better results w/ the chems w/ mall. ratings than not. In regard to your trigger assembly question, yes, the metal will affect the initial quality. Hope this answered your question.

Does it matter what resources you make your crafting tools from?

Excellent posts and answers yet again DarkofNight.

I really look forward to crafting in the elite professions, it looks like tons of fun for a micromanager like me.

As far as materials for the crafting units, I've made them out of all kinds ofmetals and not noticed any differences. There could be differences but I don't recall seeing any stats at least for the GCT listed on the schematic. Also, I haven't done anything scientific and statistically significant.I'd have to make 10-20 each ofcrafting units out of each different metal and combination of metalsthen test with at least 100 individual items with the same materials for each unit to really tell. I like crafting and all, but I'm not that dedicated.