Carbineer Archive

Thread: A Guide to Mastering Carbineer

OnlyMaestro
Sat Mar 06, 2004 11:53 am
#1




Patience IS a Virtue
You'll want to always get, and stay buffed if possible, Food helps...but the specials can burn through the food buffs quickly also. Doctors are your friends, and much of the time they spend outside Coronet or Theed starports buffing for anywhere from 6-10K. Grab a set of those.


Armor is a must, high kinetic resist Ubese is prefered, and might run you from anywhere from 80K to 100K to get a full set. Bankrupt yourself for this, borrow from guildmates...you'll make 100K an hour if you get to grinding, so money won't be as big an issue. If you have scout, whatever you harvest can also be sold.


Where To Hunt/How to Hunt
Dantooine and Dathomir are the popular places to grind actual Carbineer XP. For getting to Carbines IV, I suggest Tatooine for Zucca Boars/Dune Banthas....go down quick, for good XP.


For Carbines IV to Novice Carbineer -- Lok, Perleks are the way to go. Once again grab some buffs, and these 2.8K Credit missions are a fly...each kill nets you 1.2k XP to 2.2k XP...and they spawn bunches per lair. Make sure by this point you have at least some good defending kinetic armor.


The grind from Carbines IV to Novice might take you a couple hours...since your best shot is still FAS I.


Novice Carbineer!
You hit it, now what?


Two more specials have opened up for you, Action Shot 2, and FAS2. I suggest avoiding Action Shot 2, bleeds aren't worth the XP they eat anymore. Just concentrate on using FAS2 for now.


Before you got truly adventuring, at THIS point it is mandatory to have that set of high kinetic resist Ubese, and to get Doctor buffs constantly before you go grind XP. Schedule a time slot...say for three hours a night you want to purely grind XP...most Master Docs hit you for three hour buffs...so there you go.


Some people have suggested Dathomir for Baz Nitch missions, these work, are more XP, and more Money -- but might take longer to kill, meaning your XP per minute is actually lower. Not to mention the extra angry monsters around Dathomir, Nightsisters, and lots of other PCs.


Dantooine is the safe, and sure fire bet to gain good Carbine XP. If you want, once your armored and buffed you can grab yourself some Huurton missions...or dive straight in to the meat of the grind missions...Quenkers!


Quenkers are relatively stupid, and weak creatures...yielding 3100 XP when you're grouped with your pet (a CL10 pet you group, and order to stay at the mission terminals for the 10% XP bonus) The missions have six quenkers, remember any of these might end up being a baby...netting you zero XP, the lair usually explodes for an extra 3900 XP. If you're lucky, this means 22,500XP and 5000 Credits per mission! Make sure you're spamming FAS2, only when you're buffed tho...no buffs make the grind take much much longer, and require too much attention to your own HAM bar, and less on the creatures.


Now...what to levels once you get your 175,000 XP? Counter-Insurgency is the requirement here...Burst Shot 1, your first truly great special.


The Burst Shot 1 Age...
Once you get BS1, start taking only Savage Quenker Missions...stay grouped with your pet. These missions are worth 6800 credits, and each kill will yield you 3900some XP, and the lair will die for an extra 4300 XP. Six quenkers per lair...plus the lair gets you...27000K XP if all the spawns are quenkers. The advantage of Savage Quenkers over Quenkers are the HAM are the same...resists are close to same...and they die quickly. Use these to rack up 55000K XP per run of two missions!


They take you on average spamming BS1 about 7-10 minutes per mission....since now you need XP, let's say you grind straight for three hours on these Savage Quenkers alone...accounting for some babies of no XP...and sometimes the lair dying for less than normal XP...you'd get (if missions each take 10 minutes) nearly 400K XP in those three hours! Not to mention if you can run 18 missions in three hours, that's 124000K credits for you! Yay!


Personal note... I stuck with Savage Quenkers my entire grind...from Novice to Master, took about a week of good grinding, but with armor, buffs...I'm a Master Carbineer, and 2 million credits richer, from money from missions -- and money from harvests sold.


Weapons to Use

This is the biggy...make sure you have at least two Laser Carbines, an EE3, and a DH17 (one of the high quality all-black variety) that us Master Carbineers STILL use.


Savage Quenkers have 30% Resists to Energy (Laser and DH17) and 15% resists to everything else but stun...meaning the DXR6, EE3, Nym's Carbine are all resisted to...so why the EE3 you ask?


It's very fast, and good at close range to deal with the charging creatures. If you get a speed slice and get it to 2.0...you'll be spamming BS1 to your hearts desire.


These are weapons to use in grinding on Savage Quenkers...PvP is entirely different. Even then I stick with my awesome Lasers...or an Elite if I feel giddy.


What to Level
So you're gaining XP at a good rate? How do you level...personally I went 0/0/1/X. (burst shot 1 is a requirement to level Carbineer)

Then I advanced myself to 4/0/1/X for the speed, best title in game
"Mercenary" and the XP Cap is HUGE. You can store 900K XP once you get a fourth level box...meaning you can hunt on Dant two straight days...get your 900K XP, and immediately train up to 4/3/1/X. Then get enough XP to go 4/4/2/4...then one more hunting session and you've got 4/4/4/4 and Master.


There are those that say accuracy is big, it is -- when not grinding. When grinding for Carbine XP...accuracy is not as big a deal, speed will make your specials fly out (we don't get a lot of speed anyways though.)

As you level, you'll change your specials...once you hit 3/0/1/X you'll get Scatter Blast!! This is your best friend ever...and I'm still partial to it over Crippling Shot. You will use Scatter Blast to get you to 4/3/1/X. Then it's your choice to use Crippling Shot or Scatter Blast...I changed a lot depending on what seemed "lucky." But either of these will get you from 4/3/1/X to Master in no time.







What's the catch you might ask?


The catch is...grinding is extremely boring and lonely, but soloing is the best, quickest way to get to a Master Profession. Some people have other suggestions, this is just my strategy to Master Carbineer.


Carbineer has lots of flaws, the specials are being fixed, and we're hinted to that our HAM problems will be fixed in the Combat Revamp...we can only hope.


And there's lots of concern about Carbineer becoming an FOTM, and nerfed...that'll never happen, why?


"Carbineers can't even use specials when unbuffed, they nearly knock themselves out. However I can Spam my best shots with a simple Vasarian Brandy, and still kill anyone in PvP unbuffed." That's a quote from some rifleman on my server when I asked them if they would ever drop rifles for carbines. That's the general consensus. Rifleman are finally working as intended, a damage dealer class.


Soon we'll be working as intended, the crowd control class to make other classes better. We'll never get the glory, but we'll get it done.






By the way...I'd appreciate any feedback bad, or good about this. I noticed a lot of people asking these questions, and we have no real sticky or FAQ for a "How-To" I'll be adding advanced guides for PvP and advanced Quest hunting, mission hunting, further strategy, and of course..."How-To" on fighting in a dungeon, grouping sessions, unbuffed tactics, and other sources of information I can think of.


Best of Luck my Fellow Carbineers

Message Edited by OnlyMaestro on 03-06-2004 02:03 PM



4Colonel Griffin Shade
4Combat Upgrade Tester Team Kick to Face
4Real men wear Marine Armor
4"Never stop fighting till the fight is done."
- Elliot Ness

Xamn
Sat Mar 06, 2004 12:15 pm
#2

A question about the dh17 and the ee3.

Neither has armor piercing (the dh17 might have light, I dont have one on me atm)

this right away makes them inferior to the laser carbine. Even with damage resists the laser carbine will always do more damage. Not to mention that the laser carbine is also extrememly fast. So please explain your reasoning.

And what is this radius stat on the ee3? I've never seen that before.



Master Doctor Sunrunner
OnlyMaestro
Sat Mar 06, 2004 12:24 pm
#3


Quenkers and Savage Quenkers have an armor rating of none, meaning that Armor Piercing has no effect. I recommend the EE3 for grinding on Quenkers because of pure speed, Mine was sliced to 2.0 vs creatures of heat resist 15%.


The damage on EE3s depending on WS is roughly 80-190 *on average* some might be higher or lower, the high speed is what we want until Master Level. Specials make the DPS using the EE3 awesome, because the delays aren't so bad - special delays on the Laser are higher.


Once you Master Carbineer, Laser Carbines and Elites are the way to go. But for grinding purposes the EE3 heat damage, high speed, and good damage, are great on creatures that have 5K HAM, and high resists to energy (making the Laser less useful in these situations.)

For grinding purposes, you're looking for greater DPS, not just best damaging shonts -- EE3 is king of DPS for grinding purposes.


Also, on Eclipse Laser Carbines start at 60-270 damage, but 3.7 speed...that's the *average* laser...that means you would need a 35% speed slice to even get it to 2.4 speed where specials with a laser don't have as bad a delay. A starting EE3 on Eclipse has a speed of 2.7...making speed slices so much more easier to attain.



But you hit the nail on the head, at Master Level -- the Laser Carbine is your true friend.


Message Edited by OnlyMaestro on 03-06-2004 02:25 PM



4Colonel Griffin Shade
4Combat Upgrade Tester Team Kick to Face
4Real men wear Marine Armor
4"Never stop fighting till the fight is done."
- Elliot Ness

Xamn
Sat Mar 06, 2004 12:28 pm
#4

you get a 25% damage bonus for every AP level above the enemy's AR.


So laser carbines start out with a 50% damage bonus against quenkers.



Master Doctor Sunrunner
whiskyjar
Sat Mar 06, 2004 12:36 pm
#5

i found pikets on dant better, plus they pay 10k per missions, and herb meat is always highly sought after



Corbain
OnlyMaestro
Sat Mar 06, 2004 12:36 pm
#6



But in this case its DPS that is the key, not just most damaging shots.


Better speed weapons such as the EE3 are more important with a speed of 2.0 or lower, than a Laser Carbine that if you're 100% lucky, gets a super speed slice to 2.7 or 2.8. In which case Special Delays still make it slower than the EE3 for every single shot and special.


Most damaging shots are deceiving, Commando has the most damaging shots, but lowest DPS in the game.


In a case where using specials of the EE3 vs the Laser Carbine -- you're looking for raw DPS, and not what shots do most damage.


When you can use BS1 for 900 damage every three seconds(EE3), your DPS is greater than using BS1 for 1200 damage every five seconds (Laser Carbine).


Until we get increased speed, Laser Carbine is not recommended to level up Carbineer.


Edit: Pikets are good for meat, but their average XP per kill is roughly 4200 for kills that take twice as long almost (they have a 9k to 10k) HAM. Meaning your greatest XP per minute is still with Savage Quenkers.


BUT, like he said if you're looking to make money over XP...and aren't as concerned with grinding than Pikets are better.

Also I wanna add if someone on other servers people are getting Laser Carbines to START at 2.6 or 2.7 speed befor even slicing...please give them to Eclipse. The best WS on Eclipse can make a Laser Starting at 3.4 speed, but damage is significantly lowered. Our's start at 3.8 or 3.9 speed with much better damage. The Laser is our PvP weapon with the Elite...and used for high level mission/mob running...we don't seem to use it much for grinding. But not all servers are equal, maybe one server got super Carbine resources...it is entirely possible.

Message Edited by OnlyMaestro on 03-06-2004 02:49 PM



4Colonel Griffin Shade
4Combat Upgrade Tester Team Kick to Face
4Real men wear Marine Armor
4"Never stop fighting till the fight is done."
- Elliot Ness

Draccuss
Sat Mar 06, 2004 12:46 pm
#7

Very well done Maestro! This should be stickied for sure.



____________________________________________________
Draccus - Chilastra Server
Swordsman, Fencer, Tera Kasi
IFC - Fooville - Naboo
Xamn
Sat Mar 06, 2004 12:50 pm
#8

have you calculated it out? (and don't forget the first shot...as most people do).
Faster is not always better. My laser carbine is 2.5 speed.

Anyway I havent used my ee3 yet nor is it sliced. But I will try it out. But this is the 6th combat class I'm attempting and AP is a huge bonus in most respects (try a power hammer or a t21 out and you'll really see what I mean).



Master Doctor Sunrunner
clonecenter-resident
Sat Mar 06, 2004 4:31 pm
#9

I used a similarstrategy for swordsman except I used spin attack and area attack on the lair for super fast mission kills. I think I went from no brawler at all to master heavy swords in one four day weekend playing maybe 4-6 hours a day.


A slightly quicker way would be to find a brawler who is as dedicated to leveling as you are and have him use spin attack on the lair while you stand back with an area attack like fullautoarea or after publish 7 you could use actionshot2, burstshot2, or i think wildshot 2 (is that one aoe, i don't use it so i'm not sure)


But trust me, area attacks are definitely the way to go if you want lots of xp really fast. The only problem is keeping them all in the cone, that's where the tank comes in, by hitting the lair he is drawing all the aggro so they should stay on him, if they don't, and come for you /peace and run next to him. Once the creature realizes that he is the larger threat it will switch to him at which point you run back to your ideal range and resume firing.


This can even be done with two ranged attackers IF they both have an area attack. You have to be very careful how you setup and it takes near flawless execution but if you pull it off it's an amazing feeling. As a master carbineer I helped a friend get an entire line (all four boxes straight up) in rifleman in one night (maybe 4? hours) Neither of us were buffed and I didn't even have novice medic at the time; but with judicious use of foods, and neutron when he couldn't get close enough when I needed a heal , we pulled it off. If you try this though, perfect your technique on quenkers and once you have it down pat move on to pikets, better xp that way, with two people pounding on them. If anyone is curious as to just how to set it up for two ranged attackers PM me or post here, if there is enough of a desire I will post it but it would be a very long detailed account and this post is long enough already, heh.





Gnycomi Dustwalker

--Do you remember corpse-runs?--
OnlyMaestro
Sat Mar 06, 2004 11:09 pm
#10

Creatures must be different XP on different servers -- cause at Master Carbineer I get 4200XP from Pikets, and 3900 from Savage Quenkers which die much much faster, so XP per minute is faster.



4Colonel Griffin Shade
4Combat Upgrade Tester Team Kick to Face
4Real men wear Marine Armor
4"Never stop fighting till the fight is done."
- Elliot Ness

InfluenzaSWTA
Sat Mar 06, 2004 11:44 pm
#11






The Burst Shot 1 Age...
Once you get BS1, start taking only Savage Quenker Missions...stay grouped with your pet. These missions are worth 6800 credits, and each kill will yield you 3900some XP, and the lair will die for an extra 4300 XP. Six quenkers per lair...plus the lair gets you...27000K XP if all the spawns are quenkers. The advantage of Savage Quenkers over Quenkers are the HAM are the same...resists are close to same...and they die quickly. Use these to rack up 55000K XP per run of two missions!





Whoa... you sure you mean 27,000K XP? That's 27,000,000 regular XP .



---------
Korren Faihon, Squad Leader, Alliance Ace Pilot.
The Explorer's Guide to the Clone Relics

SWG Wiki: if we don't know it, no one does.
One of the reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire was, lacking the number 0, they had no way to indicate successful return from their C programs.
InfluenzaSWTA
Sat Mar 06, 2004 11:50 pm
#12

Also, FullAutoSingle2 outdamages any other special we have in terms of damage/second until you hit the speed cap. It has higher HAM costs, of course, but you might want to suggest using it instead of burstShot1.



---------
Korren Faihon, Squad Leader, Alliance Ace Pilot.
The Explorer's Guide to the Clone Relics

SWG Wiki: if we don't know it, no one does.
One of the reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire was, lacking the number 0, they had no way to indicate successful return from their C programs.
israiley
Sun Mar 07, 2004 1:06 am
#13

as your speed increases as you level up, its a good idea to experiment with different slower weapons such as the laser or dxr6. i find that i can kill a savage quenker in 2 hits usingcripple or scatter2 with alaser if i get lucky on the damage roll. quality of the weapon is really key to carbineers. since we are basically required to be buffed for any heavy action anyway,its a good idea to get some specially made high damage/ham cost weapons from your friendly neighborhood weaponsmith. ham costs in the 70s or 80s arent a big deal when your secondary stats are 1500+.



rail

"Well sir, although I may not agree with what you say, I'll defend to the death your right to say it."
-Voltaire/Peter Griffin
Page 1 of 5
Previous Next