Artisan Archive

I have sent emails/tells to people selling powerups. I have responded to posts on messageboards. I have read through posts from the different forums. I feel like I have RTFM.

I still have questions and would really appreciate any tips you fine folks have to offer. Powerups - - how do they work?

Questions I have:

Can any weapon have a powerup applied to it? (my player crafted 2h sword)

Can only one powerup be applied to a weapon? (similar toslicing - one shot deal?)

If they can be applied repetitively, can you apply different ones at different times? (action cost and min damage, then wait till wears off and apply range enhancer and maximum damange?)

Do the powerups have charges or are they single shot applications? (thinking like food with 3-4 charges)

How long does a typical powerup last?

Is there a cooldown period in which you can't apply another powerup?

Is there a negative cost associated with using a powerup? (increased decay, reduced effectiveness after, etc.. similar to spice)

Thanks for reading and hopefully some on you will have some answers.

Dakani

Scylla

Yes

Yes

Yes

Single Shot

Depends on the powerup, you can increase the life with experimentation

Typically 100 uses

No

Not that I know of.

I haven't seen any of your posts about powerups here or I would have answered. Powerups are a really hot topic, if you haven't found any posts here about powerups you haven't been looking very hard.

Err...as far as only one powerup being applied to a weapon, I answered yes, but I meant only one at a time. Once one runs out you can apply another. Also, for your 2H sword you need a melee powerup--ranged won't work with it.

Thanks for the answers. If you could just ballpark the approximate time on a powerup I would greatly appreciate it. You are correct -- you can't read through a single page on this forum without running into a discussion about powerups. Unfortunately, most (all that I found) assumed the reader had basic mechanical knowledge on the operation of the powerups.

So... each weapon can have a powerup applied roughly 100 times? Is there a visiblie counter on the weapon after you use one?

Thanks again!

Dakani

In light combat they last for maybe an hour. Intense combat like 10 minutes. Although ones with very high % can make a big difference in a fight. They wear the weapon down by like 25 points or so, and yes there's a counter visible on the weapon.

No, it's not that the weapon can have a powerup applied 100 times, sorry for the confusion. As far as I know you can apply an infinite number of powerups, one after the other--only one ata time. The 100 uses comes into play when you have a powerup applied. Each powerup will allow you to use it 100 times--in other words 100 shots. And as was previously mentioned, there is a counter on the weapon which tells you how many uses are left. You get notified when your powerup runs out, then you just apply another and it doesn't have to be the same type. It's possible that powerups make your weapon degrade faster, but I personally have not seen any evidence of this whatsoever.

Any weapon can have a powerup applied, but different weapons need different kinds. There are 6 different classes of ranged powerups, 1 melee, 1 mine etc. You probably will only be able to find ranged and melee as readily available, but if you want to powerup your grenade an artisan can certainly do it for you.

Only one can be applied at a time. Once it wears out you can apply another one.

Yes.

They're consumables like food. Once they wear out they're gone.

This depends on several factors. First the power up. You can experiment to increase durability. I don't really. Usually durability gets 1 expermentation point from me. Durability can't be "seen" like the attributes can, so effectiveness gets all the attention. If you want I'm sure an artisan would raise durability for you on request though. They also wear out quicker depending on the weapon and what kind of specials you're doing. For me 1 powerup will kill a bunch of low level mobs (I'm a weak artisan), I'm guessing at least 5 or 6 maybe more, but I've heard that for some they can use one up in a fight. Presumably they're fighting something big, and using special moves with something like a laser rifle or a fast scout blaster.

No. Once your powerup wears off you can apply another one as soon as you like. That said, remember you can only have one on at a time. If you examine your weapon it will have a line that says "powerup uses left" below all the other stats.

Powerups will increase your weapons decay rate, but so will special moves. I haven't really noticed the effect, but I'm just a lowly artisan and I haven't had a gun run out on me yet.

That said, if you get a GOOD repair kit your weapon will probably last quite a long time anyway, and you'll probably end up replacing it because you find something better before it actually "expires". A stripped down repair tool is a mere 15 metal. A good repair tool contains optional subcomponents that bring it up to 190 total resources including ore, inert gas, polymer, steel and copper. 15 vs. 190. The subcomponents really bring up the manufacturing time in a factory as well because you have to run each one through. So many fighters complain that repairing weapons never works, but I doubt they're aware of this difference. Of course, even with a good one your weapon still may not survive, but the odds are better. I advise you find some good repair tools anyway, you'll probably want one. Unfortunately you can't tell by looking at them. You'll just have to find a good trustworthy Master Artisan (they have to be master to make the components) and tell them you want a good one with at least a goodmicro sensor suite anda control unit.

-end public service announcement-

Ah, I didn't realize that Jroddingham said that they do wear the weapon down...sorry I hadn't noticed that, I need to pay more attention to my weapon.

From personal experimentation and over several thousand powerups made(I use them myself as a pistoleer), I have not seen any bit of deterioration(sp) on any of my pistols.

At this point, the only thing that increases the weapons own destruction is threw overcharge shots. Wicked damage, but seriously kills your weapon.

I only skimmed the replies, but here is how powerups work.

To apply the powerup to your weapon, just drag it and drop it onto the weapon in your inventory window. I believe the name of the weapon will turn yellow. The powerup will enhance your weapon for the next 100 shots. When all 100 shots have been fired, the powerup vanishes from your weapon, and you can put another one on. You only only apply one powerup to a weapon at a time. There are specific powerups for differant types of weapons. So for an Axe for example, you must use a melee weapon powerup. For a ranged weapon, it must be a ranged weapon powerup.

I also dont understand all this talk about the powerups degrading your weapon. I've gone through a zillion of them myself (I use all my "rejects" that arent fit to sell) and have not been able to detect any extra wear fromthier use.

Powerups should not be causing your weapon to degrade any faster. Slicing however as I understand it, is supposed to make your weapon or whateverdegrade faster. Slicing is a permanent upgrade, unlike a powerup.

Also, I was under the impression that slicing did not increase the rate of decay of your weapon, but rather decreased your maximum condition. Is this correct?

I know repairing your weapon does this(e.g. your pistols max condition drops to 900 from 1000 - so it's been "repaired" from 350/1000 to 900/900). Am I just wrong about slicing?