Artisan Archive

A lot of people have been complaining about the recent changes to surveying resources, but frankly, I think the changes make sense... you should get more resources from a harvester than you could from sampling, and that wasn't really the case before. And yes, now you have to make sure your harvesters are maintained, but I really don't think they were meant to be disposable in the first place.

Here's the thing, though. Harvesters are being sold for as little as 200 credits on the bazaar. That's pretty cheap startup scratch. As an aspiring tailor, I bought 3 chemical harvesters and a wind generator. I found an area that had decent wind, fiberplast, and polymer saturation, all pretty close to each other. I set up the generator, one polymer harvester, and two fiberplast harvesters. I was only at domestic arts 2 at the time, and certainly wasn't making enough from clothing sales to pay for the harvesters. But what a difference it made in resources at my disposal. It was much easier to concentrate on crafting when I didn't have to sample. Definitely worth the cost. And as far as I'm concerned, the cost was quite reasonable, even then.

Here's how I did it, with 2 levels in pistol and one level in ranged support. Since I ran out to pick up my harvested resources anyway, on my way out of town, I'd grab two destroy missions in the same direction as my harvesters. Since my harvesters and missions were both just over the build line, the missions would always be close to my harvesters. I'd do the missions (on Talus, paralope missions are easy enough, and if you're careful, vynock missions are doable) andget around 4000 credits. Now, I'm already right next to the harvesters. 4000 is plenty to keep 3 harvesters and a generator running for a day. Pick up resources, drop off power and maintenance, and I'm done. Still do it this way as a tailor, though clothing sales help pay the rent now. It's simple, it's relatively quick, and you get more resources than you can really even use at those levels if you're not grinding 24/7, and if you were doing that, you wouldn't be worrying about this anymore. =)

This is just an example of how I have gotten the most out of my harvesters. Hope it helps a few of you who are really distressed about the change.