Artisan Archive

Hi everyone -

I posted a version of this on the Test Center galactic Forum, but I though it might be of interest to Artisans everywhere, especially Artisans who have been curious about Test Center but haven't really had a reason to start a character there.

There's a wonderful independent website called swgcraft.com that holds a cooperatively maintained, dynamically updated, searchable (and downloadable) database of current SWG Resources - flora, fauna, organics, inorganics, energy, etc. You can use it to find the best new copper, or to see whether the Endor Deciduous is worth getting, and many other imaginative uses.

All SWG Galaxies are represented on swgcraft.com, including Test Center. A half-dozen of us TC'ians have been diligently contributing and keeping the database up to date - but we need help! There are ten planets and some of us are covering two or three at once, making updates less frequent than we'd like.

Here's how it works: Your character either visits "your planet" regularly, lives there, or is just stationed there in an outpost like my alt on Dathomir. (This helps on the adventure planets where the fares are higher.) You have one each of the seven survey tools - wind, water, solar, chem, mineral, gas, flora. You pull up the Current Resources for your planet on the web, and you activate the matching Survey Tool for each kind of resource listed - and you compare the differences.

For example, a Carbonate Ore that's listed on SWGCraft might not show in your Mineral Tool - that means it's shifted out, so mark it Unavailable on the website. Or there's aPolymer displayed in your Chem Tool that doesn't appear in the SWGCraft listing - so you take a small sample, examine it in your inventory, and add the resource to SWGCraft including the stats you found.

There's also a Fauna side - hides, bones and meat! Those update too, and the way you find out is by killing some critters and harvesting them, then comparing the name and stats of, for example, Dantooine Leathery Hide with what's in SWGCraft.

The whole thing takes fifteen or twenty minutes if you check in regularly and you have decent surveying skills. (Good survey skills make it easy to grab a sample of almost anything.) Some folks are already doing this for private databases and reports - I'd like to encourage you to update SWGCraft in addition or instead. The more TC's crafters and crafting customers know about what's available, the stronger our economy will be.

So here's the deal: If you want to help with SWGCraft on TC, I will help set you up. The 'template' that I recommend for the Flora/Inorganic side is:

For the "Critter template" I would do the above and add whatever combination of Combat skills you are comfortable with.

You want a swoop, a backup vehicle, and a tank pet, especially on Adventure planets. Stims and pet food are helpful, as is a generic crafting tool to make more pet food.

If you want the stats on Wind, Solar and Rads, you also want a few personal harvesters. I recommend one Wind and one personal Mineral. The Solar is kind of optional since they're not a popular energy option with players, so nobody really cares what the solar is like on a given planet. (I just do a no-stats report when the name changes, so that people who do have solars know to change them.) If you leave the Wind installed it will give you a nice bit of surplus energy that you can use to run the Mineral harv and even sell to others.

So anyway - if you're interested in helping out and being the first to discover some insane new Steel or killer Avian Meat - PM or post here, or send me an in game email (elam) - and we can talk. Thanks and see you out in the bounteous wilds!