Bio Engineer Archive

Well, I had my first Mutant Rancor expedition the other day. At sampling IV, I got skunked, but I did learn to REALLY appreciate those Malkloc liars. Nothin like a forest of Malkloc legs stomping around to get those nerves up for another foray into oblivion.

Just curious, what's the accepted way to get MR dna these days? I got quite a few attempts with the vehicle technique(master scout, no +clothes), but I don't think my skill was high enough.

Anyone willing to share some techniques in this rather unique ecology?

Yeah, sampling IV won't cut it. Are there any MBE's on this board who can LIVE in rancor valley like it was their own backyard?

Rancor Valley? There are areas on Dath where rancors can always be found? (Other than the MR cave, that is.)

The area just west of the northern starport is lousy with rancors of all types. Very hard to keep your mask scent up! I am constantly spammed with messages of 250+ scouting xp and mask breaks.

So the area just west of the northern starport is the area you're calling Rancor Valley?

Thanks, I'll have to check it out. I'm getting ready to dump BE, but wanted to craft a few last uber-beasties for my own use. I'll miss BE, but I just haven't been enjoying it since the crafting overhaul. Way too much work.

I'm almost hesitant to give this information out... the whole area will be flooded with people aggro'ing everything out there and I'll probably never get a nother Mutant sample again, but I have gotten a few nice recipes here and I 'll give back. I can live in 'Rancor Valley' just fine.

Mask scent clothing ... must have.

Get buffed .. those things hit pretty hard and sometimes the only way to get another sample attempt is to take a few shots from a different one aggro'ing you while you're sampling from one.

They aggro on everything and anything.. patience is key. One sample in 20 is a very common ratio... get used to it.

Use the cliffs to your advantage, I am much faster than they are running straight up any cliff.

Know your surroundings, don't just blindly run off in a random direction when you get attacked. Have an escape route plotted out.

Once they start attacking each other, and you don't have any others nearby.. hang close to the group. It gives you many attempts to hold mask scent on them without getting attacked.

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WI_WereBear wrote:

I'm almost hesitant to give this information out... the whole area will be flooded with people aggro'ing everything out there and I'll probably never get a nother Mutant sample again, but I have gotten a few nice recipes here and I 'll give back. I can live in 'Rancor Valley' just fine.

Mask scent clothing ... must have.

Get buffed .. those things hit pretty hard and sometimes the only way to get another sample attempt is to take a few shots from a different one aggro'ing you while you're sampling from one.

They aggro on everything and anything.. patience is key. One sample in 20 is a very common ratio... get used to it.

Use the cliffs to your advantage, I am much faster than they are running straight up any cliff.

Know your surroundings, don't just blindly run off in a random direction when you get attacked. Have an escape route plotted out.

Once they start attacking each other, and you don't have any others nearby.. hang close to the group. It gives you many attempts to hold mask scent on them without getting attacked.

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Nice advice.. and one more thing... be careful not to sneeze while crawling through the daisies in a rancor's fresh footprint

I survive easily in rancor valley using nothing more than mask scent shirt and pants and a speeder swoop bike and no armor.

I can usually get 8 or so MR samples on a average evening. On a good evening, maybe upwards of 20.

Yes, I have little difficulty there as well, but the Rancor Breeding Ground (as I like to call it) is definitely live-able.

When approaching a pack of the rancors, it helps to be either walking or crawling (NOT auto-running!), and it truly helps to come up from behind. I have read that this is bunk (the ambush-from-behind thing), but in my experience, it really helps. I seriously doubt that as many times as I've sneaked up from behind that it turns out to be luck that my maskscent doesn't break.

As has been already pointed out, running blindly away when you get aggroed = stupid; it helps to take advantage of the topology and ecology of Dathomir in order to best survive. Running away (making sure NOT TO HIT THE RANCOR BACK; hitting Peace is essential) and taking advantage of the terrain is key: if you've got Exploration 4, you can outrun about anything going uphill. Also, as far as the natural ecology: the rancors eat malklocs and brackasets. They'll also annihilate purboles periodically, but the best thing to do is run into the mess of the rancors when you get aggroed by one. The one that attacks you will almost unfailingly use an area bleed on you, and this tends to annoy the rest of the pack. As long as you're peaced, you may get incapped, but the rancors will go about fighting one another and leave you alone. I like to pick off individual rancors and then sample the victor (they tend to break up into fighting groups of 2 or three; you can sample the winner and harvest the loser).

Also, +maskscent clothing is essential. That +25 will take you to essentially Master Scout level maskscent; if you're already master scout, then you're even better. Make sure you're cloned/insured, too. That really reduces the stress level, knowing you'll take a 1% decay if you bite it, as opposed to 5%.

Hope that helps some

I agree with approaching by walking from behind. That seems to work best for me as well. Positioning yourself around 0-3m while trying to sampleseems to yield a better result than 4-9m too, not sure why, just my experience with them.I also find that if you don't point and laugh at them when they scratch their backsides that you are more likely not to tick them off (they have no sense of humor).

i find that if you stand completely still when your maskscent wears off or is broken they won't agro you...at least if they aren't moving that much...but i've never tried this on the rancors cos i could never find them. I think i shall have to try soon.

Good tip on the area bleed that pisses them all off...

I wonder... if i get a house set up there... that'll be a nice safe haven, and somewhere to store my dna... on top of a cliff i reckon. Oh wait.. that'll be classed as an exploit...

Better get me a full suit of maskscent +25 clothing and master scout then i'll go on a short visit... hey i know Mask scent at +225 ain't better than it at +125, but it never hurts...