Artisan Archive

The way resource sites work changed a few months ago. It used to be that a resource site would have a high spot, and slowly drop off as you got farther away from it, but now resources seem to show up in a 'path'. Instead of a roughly circular layout, its more of long winding line which may have multiple 'high spots'. From what I've seen there is usually a single high peak somewhere along the line and a few smaller peaks, usually around half of the high peaks percentage.

Okay, an Artisan may not be able to take on missions that pay 5,000 credits at a pop, but there is a way to make an easy chit doing Artisan Crafting missions. The Crafting Mission will first have you go to the supplier NPC who will give you the parts and a crafting schematic to build the mission part. You then need to build the part and then deliver it to the recipient NPC (who are normally a good distance away depending on the payment you receive).

Quick Breakdown:
When accepting a Artisan Crafting Mission, do it in a city with a Shuttle Port and an Artisan Mission Terminal. Not all cities on planets have both. You can accept a mission with a destination that has no Artisan Mission Terminal, which is not suggested - the world map can tell you which cities have Mission Terminals, but not the type of Mission terminals (Yeah, that sucks).

Note:
After you complete an Artisan Mission in a particular city, go to the Artisan Mission Terminal there and you'll most likely find that the destination for the mission listed is the city you just traveled from. I call them Sister Mission Cities, and some pay well and others not so well. This allows you to go back and forth in shuttles quickly to the Sister Mission City collect your pay after finishing 2 mission at a time, accept 2 more of the highest paying missions in that city and travel back in a shuttle to the previous city. Getting a round trip ticket is suggested as you will use the Ticketing Terminal half as much, but there's no discount for a round trip - the Empire destroyed the Republic version of the FCC when the Emperor took power. You will pretty much have to do some searching to find the right combination of cities, shuttleports and mission payment. My favorites so far in the Moenia & Deeja Peek run on Naboo & the Bestine & Anchorhead run on Tatooine, in which higher paying missions between those 2 pairs of cities run from 1,200 & 1,400 credits. The shuttle cost should be 115 from one city to the other, 230 credits for the round trip.

So before accepting your first pair of missions, check the Mission Details for how far away the Destination is.
Example:
It should say something like 1832m to the South in the Destination field, then leave the Artisan Mission Terminal and check the world map (Ctrl-V) and look what city is there. From the list to the right, select Shuttleport to see which other cities have Shuttleports too. If you are not sure what city is 1832m to the South, put your cursor over the map and look in the very lower left of the map area. You will see a changing number that shows the distance of your current location and the position of the location under the cursor. You are specified as that Yellow Arrow with the arch segment bisecting the middle of the arrow. So, put the cursor South of your location on the map and move it about the distance specified and you'll see a city in the general direction.

Lets make some money!!
First:
Use the Generic Crafting Tool to make either another Generic or a Weapon, Droid and General Item Crafting tool. You can accept up to 2 missions at a time, and if to do 2 crafting missions, you can use each one for each mission and get them built a little faster since you won't have to wait until one item finishes before you start the next item. This is good for anything you need to build that needs several components built first before you can craft the final item. Bone Armor parts require you to first build Bone Armor Segments and Fiberplast Panels first that are then added to the final armor part. Building between 2 or 3 Crafting tools speeds up the time to complete all the auxiliary parts first. After you accept the parts and schematic from the supplier NPC, go to one of your crafting tools and select the Mission tab to see the schematics to build the required parts.

Second:
Clear some space in your Inventory list, each Crafting Mission will normally have you accept 3 parts and if you don't have enough space space in your item list to accept the parts, you'll not be able to build the item for the mission. Get a backpack to store any resources you have been collecting, and craft as many items in Practice Mode with your resources to gain experience points. Crafting in Practice Mode will craft items from your resources, but not place the final item into your inventory - it just finishes vanishes, but leaving you with fewer resources and not filling the inventory.

Third:
Go to that carefully selected city and accept the 2 highest paying Crafting Missions you can get. In the Mission List, click on Payment list item so that the missions are organized by cost. Click the Refresh button to reload a new set of missions. You can keep refreshing until you see a mission high enough to make it worth your time, there is a limit to how high it will go for that city you are in, after refreshing 5 to 8 times you'll see what the average payment you'll get from that city.

Fourth:
After accepting the 2 missions, make your way in that city to the 2 NPCs that will give you the parts and schematic. After getting your parts, open up your Item List (Ctrl-I) double-click the crafting tool of your choice and go to the Mission tab and start building your first mission item ***MAKE SURE PRACTICE MODE IS NOT SELECTED, SO YOU CAN HAVE THE MISSION ITEM PLACED INTO YOUR INVENTORY AND COMPLETE THE MISSION***. Double-click your second crafting tool since the last one you used is still finishing the first item, normally while you are still building the second item the first is completed and added to your inventory. Close your Inventory list and make your way to the nearest shuttleport. When you can afford a swoop or speederbike will get you there faster if you want to increase the number of missions you complete during your time online. When the shuttle is arrives, or if it's there when you arrive, don't bother with the Ticket Collector droid. Open the Inventory window and double-click the ticket and you'll be whisked away immediately.

Fifth:
Get to the destinations, double click the recipient, and run off to the second one. Now run over to the Artisan Mission Terminal there and accept 2 more high paying missions, craft, get back to the shuttleport buy another pair of tickets if needed and complete those missions.

Sixth:
Repeat.

You can make quite a lot of money and build up your General Crafting Experience (although not too fast since you're just slapping together 3 pre-built parts) this way until you get bored with it.