Artisan Archive

1. Assembly skill affects the type of success you get on the initial combine. This (combined with resource quality) determines the starting values for the experimental percentages (which determines the starting stats). If you make an item twice with the same resources, one with a "great success" on assembly will have better starting values than one with a "good success". The maximum value you can experiment to will remain the same on both items. Higher assembly = higher chance of better success types (although it's never guaranteed).


2. Experimentation skill has two effects:




1. Determines the success rate of experiments in the same way that Assembly affects the success of the initial combine. A "great success" experiment adds 7 for each point you spent in a category. {the gain with great success may vary with different crafting professions, I've only confirmed this with artisan and chef}


2. Determines the total number of experimentation points you have to spend. For every +10 in experimentation, you get 1 point to spend.

Part 2.2 is the main thing crafters lust after. With more points to spend, you can make better items. The assembly success is really minimal, in my experience. A Master crafter gets +100 Assembly just from skill boxes, and it seems like this by itself makes "great success" (the standard for most crafters) the standard.

More than 10 points aren't always needed, though. With great successes when experimenting, a crafter can max out a single experimental category. So for items with only one category to experiment in (swoop bikes, power ups, BE tissues, crafting tools), the 10 points you get at Master are all you need. Extra points are extremely useful for items with multiple categories (a food's buff and duration, a weapon's damage and range mod, armor's resistence and encumberance).

If you go by market price, experimentation tapes go from 100k (for low bonus like +1 or +2) to 2 million (for high bonus) per point. Soa +20 experimentation tape can go for tens of millions of credits. Assembly tapes were much more desirable when critical failures destroyed the resources and components. Weaponsmiths, for example, would get them to hedge against crit failing on a Krayt enhanced T21. That's not really a concern anymore.

For Artisan, there aren't many sellable items that need extra points. The main market seems to be vehicles and powerups (which only have one category to experiment). A few artisans dabble in foods, which do benefit from extra points. The CU may change things, possibly opening a market for artisan level weapons and armor.

I guess that was a long-winded way of saying: experimentation is better, but not necessarily useful to all crafting professions.