Artisan Archive

So I was reading the FAQ last night and I noted where it says powerups do not add to decay of weapons.

This seems to go against accepted wisdom, whatever that is worth. I am more than happy to accept this though, despite it being a widely held believe that powerups decay weapons faster, but...

Aside from the statement in the FAQ that powerups do not increase decay (aside from speed powerups increasing speed, and therefore decay because you could fire more) what is the basis for this statement?

Was this something that came out of the correspondent forums and thus from the developers? Have the developers posted on the general forums on this fact? Did someone speak directly to the developers at fanfest and that is what they said? Is there some documented experiments showing that decay is identical with or without powerups?

Basically I want to be able to say to people that powerups do not decay so go ahead and use them on that DXR6B with 500+ damage, or that looted exceptional weapon. If they argue I want to be able to point to somewhere that says definitively that powerups do not increase decay over regular weapon decay.

I would like this first of all because I hate to loose an argument, but second because I do not want to mislead friends and customers without a high degree of assurance that powerups that I sell them do not put their prized weapons at risk.

Believe what TH said. He went to the guy who checked the code, GreenMarine. Powerups to not increase weapon decay.

Neither does slicing.

Slicing does, however, really reduce the chances of repair when it does decay.

Guru

Not to be a pain, but can you show me in the post on the 14th where TH (based on GM info) specifically mentions powerups do not increase decay?

The above link has TH stating that slices have no affect on decay, but looking through the thread I see no reference to powerups, despite several people asking for the answer.

Do you have some information from the correspondent forums that is not available to the general player base where the devs said this? Are you aware of any work to try to verify slicing and powerup effect on decay is as the devs say it is?

I notice you are on chilastra, would you be interested in working with me to devise an experiment to determine if slicing or powerups actually increase decay?

I would expect the experiment to last about an hour.

I believe a player with no armor is a better subject since it eliminates the variables from standard combat with mobs. I notice you have a master rifle like me. I think the speed cap from rifle is important because it eliminates decay related to speed as a factor.

My partner and I have access to a WS and Smuggler so I can get custom made weapons of various damage ranges easily. We also have a master artisan, but if you would like to bring the powerups that would be fine. Speed is capped, but tuned muzzles of sighting would be a good choice I think, maybe a min damage with some non decay related stat as well for comparison of max+mni vs just min. A possible option would be a HAM/Accuracy set as well, to determine if it if damage effects decay, as is sometimes suggested.

I see the experiment as being set up as follows.

The target is buffed and set up with food and brandy to prevent incapping, medic skills are useful as well.

We could test the following scenarios with maybe two or three weapons.

With Autoattack
Unslice
Sliced
Unsliced Powered Up (Max Damage)
Unsliced Powered Up (No Damage mods)

With Specials as a control
Unsliced

Each test would involve a full 100 attack. Again the target would have high end buffs to make the test go quick and to reduce the chances of incap. That should average out damage to (min + max)/2 delivered, as well as give an idea what the rate of decay is.

It is probably easiest to note total decay over 100 attacks. Note condition at the beginning, and at the end of the 100 shot test, divide the number of condition points lost by 100 attacks for the decay rate.

With a little time and effort I think we could actually establish what if anything effects decay rate and give artisan customers, and the players a definitive answer as to what is going on in the game. If it contradicts the developers, well then it probably should be considered a bug.

The name is Amri in game if you are interested and have some time.

I went back and dug some more, you are right. I cannot find any definitive statement on the subject. Certainly testing is in order.

Unhappily, I cannot do that now. I'm getting ready for my business trip. Perhaps when I return? Or someeone else could work with you to test it.

Take care,
Guru

I had forgotten about your announced trip when I posted that. I have a person in mind that may be able to help me. Either I will get the data to post, or we can hook up after you get back.

Cheers

Arggh see this is what I mean. This post was put up on Sep 30 2004

The post below swears both slicing and powerups decay weapons faster. This person claims, again, without any evidence to back it up, that decay is increased by powerups.

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=game_guides&message.id=238968&highlight=decay+powerup+weapon+proof#M238968

Who is right?

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=game_guides&message.id=232666#M232666

The above post has at least one factual error or omission, weapons do not decay on death. Is the decay portion in error as well?

Message Edited by Betatoxin on 10-07-2004 12:25 PM

Ouch why scythe? Wasting a good weapon, use a two handed sword.

100 may or may not be enough. It all depends on how much decay happens in 100 attacks.

For example if you only decay say 4 points on 100 attacks either with powerups or without that does not tell you much.

You may need to perform 500-1000 attacks to get a usable amount of decay to draw conclusions.

That is why I do not recommend loot based weapons. Use a easily replaceable one, like a two handed sword or a power hammer. Speed capped is best to eliminate that as a variable and to make the test as quick as possible.

I think dueling is preferably as well because it is a more controlled environment. If you used low level mobs they die too fast making the test too long. High level mobs on the other hand may actually get a lucky hit making your test real short.

Better to use another player who can stop if you get hurt too bad, or your buffs cannot handle the damage.

I figure you should be able to get a reasonable amount of data in an hour or two of testing.

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PaladinX333 wrote:

Powerups do increase weapon decay. I use speed powerups on my laser carbine and T21 and the decay is significantly faster. I go through cases of powerups too. The weapons I use powerups on decay at least twice as fast as the weapons that I don't use them on.

Since I am a master weaponsmith and have access to cases of cheap weapons... I will do an experiment with two identical weapons from the same factory crate. One of them I will use without powerups and will kill a dozen or so rills. The other one I will use with powerups and kill the same number of rills. My prediction is that the weapon with the powerup will have twice the rate of decay compared with the unenhanced weapon.

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"Increase weapon decay" means that the weapon decays faster than normal. The only reason that your weapon decays faster with a speed powerup is simply that you are firing it faster. The decay is related to the number of shots fired, and you are packing those shots into a shorter timeframe. The weapon is not decaying abnormally fast; you are using it up faster.

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CasualMaker wrote:

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PaladinX333 wrote:

Powerups do increase weapon decay. I use speed powerups on my laser carbine and T21 and the decay is significantly faster. I go through cases of powerups too. The weapons I use powerups on decay at least twice as fast as the weapons that I don't use them on.

Since I am a master weaponsmith and have access to cases of cheap weapons... I will do an experiment with two identical weapons from the same factory crate. One of them I will use without powerups and will kill a dozen or so rills. The other one I will use with powerups and kill the same number of rills. My prediction is that the weapon with the powerup will have twice the rate of decay compared with the unenhanced weapon.

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"Increase weapon decay" means that the weapon decays faster than normal. The only reason that your weapon decays faster with a speed powerup is simply that you are firing it faster. The decay is related to the number of shots fired, and you are packing those shots into a shorter timeframe. The weapon is not decaying abnormally fast; you are using it up faster.

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This is only true if you base decay on time (i.e. amount of decay in 10 minutes).However if you base decay on things done (i.e. number of creatures killed or missions done) then weapon speed shouldn't make a difference in decay.There is also too big a difference in the numbers.A powerup might increase weapon speed by 30% but increase weapon decay by more than 300%.

Message Edited by LoneWulff on 10-10-2004 01:56 AM

I believe decay is based on the amount of damage done with the weapon. (This is why Jedi light sabers decayed
so quickly in the old system.) Increasing the fire rate, OR the amount of damage would increase decay over
time.