Carbineer Archive
Thread: HAM and my solutions so far
Well, I've been an up-and-coming hybrid carbineer for a while now, and this is how I have managed to cope with HAM of using specials.
First and formost, I would just like to say the BEST thing about Carbineer specials is they do not cost Mind. Or at least, in my experience, the cost is so minimal I never notice it. This is a wonderful thing. The only way to heal mind pretty much is to wait it out, though there are some buffs that can help with the waiting. Many other combat classes have to deal with the handicap of Mind-cost specials. Riflemen in particular. Sorry guys.
No mind cost specials = you can heal yourself, and fire some more until you run out of the blue stuff.
I have never optimized my stats. I've shifted 100 here, 100 there, but most of it went from Health down to the Mind stats. My secondary combat stats are all 400-600.
Armor. The encumberance of armor SERIOUSLY affects my performance as a Carbineer. I currently use Urbese-- it has no special protections, but it does offerLight Armorat no encumberance. I have tried everything from composite to chitin to bone to no armor, and the bottom line is... encumberance isn't worth the HAM cost.
If you have a super-fast carbine, you MUST keep your Stamina and Strength high. You hear all these people complaining how they kill themselves? That's 'cause their secondary stats are all down to 100 because of armor, and they spam their specials. Face it, you just can't do that, it doesn't matter WHAT combat class you have.
All combat classes suffer from massive HAM costs. I know a master Pikeman who can incap himself WAY faster than I ever could, evenif I was infull armor with a super-fast carbine. I end up healing him a lot.
Medic. Yes, I am a medic. Not a doctor. I make my own stims, and take them when my action (and sometimes health) gets too low. Also, its nice to be able to run over and heal your buddies.
CH. Yes, I have pets. They tank for me, because I usually run around solo. I couldn't do squat without a pet. My grand wrix has 6x my HAM with light armor and 25% kinetic resistance.... every point of damage he takes is a point I didn't have to, and he takes at least twice my HAM in a typical fight. Besides, being a CH means you get good XP for putting your pets in harms way. (And that's the REAL reason you see so many CHs. Before I became a CH, I felt... cowardly letting my pet tank for me. But if you get REWARDED for it... that's a whole different ballgame! And lets not start talking about the EXCELLENT xp you get sending baby animals into the slaughter....)
Buffs. My buff of choice is Tattooine Sunburn. It's a chef drink that boosts Stamina and Strength up to 1000+... you can drink it twice to double the effect. When I wear Urbese, and drink one, I have NO HAM COST for specials... I can use a super-fast carbine, and spam Charged1-scatter2-scatter2 for about 5 minutes without losing any Action for more than a second or two. Wearing Heavy Armor, I have to drink two... but I don't even see the green bar shrink down then while I'm spamming.
Bottom line, I spend most of my Mind healing my pets up after a fight, I stim myself while I'm spamming, I choose armor with low encumberance vs. protections, and I carry the perfect Carbineer buff with me at all times for those 'special' moments.
How you play your character is up to you. This is how I play mine.
I guess the question is how do you plan to adapt with the new changes on Test?
You can't stim away the effects of specials, your pets won't tank as well, and mobs will more often switch from the pet to you. Creates an interesting problemI think.
BTW - the ubese thing - there is no piece of ubese that offers a light armour rating without encumbrance. You're probably wearing the shirt - which is just an accessory. It doesn't really do anything to damage (test yourself on a gubber or something). Armour has it's place, as a temporary measure when things go badly. Hit your armour macro when it looks like you're about to take a beating, do whatever you can to get the baddie off and when you're clear swap back to clothes for max regen. It can be a very effective way of doing business.
Basically, what Mr. Darsktrider said but shorter. Well, maybe not shorter. We'll see. I'll try for longer. OOOOOH! Or Exactly the same length.
The only thing you mentioned that will not be nerfed in the upcoming patch is your food consumption.
Dabbling is one of the things that was supposed to make this game great. Indeed, it still is. Unless you are a CH. Or, as of next patch, a medic.
There are plenty of solutions and ways to work with the flawed game mechanics. Thats why many of us have been dabbling. BH / Medic / CH and so on. It does not change that fact that at base, carbineer is flawed (a lot of professions are, don't get me wrong here - couldn't stop laughing at my friend when his holocron told him Pikeman).
I applaud you for two things. One for not being too arrogant about your working template and offering up what works for you - even though the words tattoine sunburn give me a headache 
. And two, for finding one that works and that you like. Having fun is what is most important here, no?
It is just as silly to pretend there are no problems as it is to pretend there are no solutions.
best of luck, btw....I am personally interested to see / hear if you will alter your template once the changes go into effect. If they do, I suppose. I've got a few ideas on how to keep my CM / Carbineer combo working somewhat effectively. Not being able to stim away damage is going to kick PvP in the groin. Again. PvE, it is not so bad as the fights tend to be longer. You will have time to allow your total HAM to regen back up (in this case it seems your secondary stats are not as much a factor 
). In PvP, though, its all about how quickly you get the other guy down. Wearing armor and laying down a couple of specials will put people in the one shot by almost anyone zone.
Tat sunburns are nice but I prefer breath of heaven and ryth cakes over them. They add 1k to str, quickness, and focus. This means no ham cost for me. With the new patch coming out that is going to make it so we cant heal specials costs this is going to be all the more importain.
My 2 cents
Lageas
If you have a super-fast carbine, you MUST keep your Stamina and Strength high. You hear all these people complaining how they kill themselves? That's 'cause their secondary stats are all down to 100 because of armor, and they spam their specials. Face it, you just can't do that, it doesn't matter WHAT combat class you have.
My strength is over 400, my stamina and quickness are 450ish. i rarely wear armor and never enough to drop my secondaries below 250-300. With no armor on i can do more damage to myself in6 seconds shooting my lowest HAM carbine (dh17 snub) than any other profession can do to me by shooting me with specials over a 6 sec time period with the exception of commando in pvp. As for mind damage, no my specials dont drain much mind but unless i have eaten some breath of heaven before combat you can bet healing my action and health with stims will.
please dont dabble in carbineer and then pop on the boards insinuating that our 'complaining' about how we kill ourselves is invalid or easily solved by not wearing armor or using food buffs.the ham cost/dpsratiofor carbines and the carbineer have always been too highwhile the quality, functionality and effectiveness of our specials has been reduced seriously on at least 2 or 3 occasions. at the very least, peruse the board a little while so you see that we are already clued in that secondary stats affect our ham regen/efficiency and that wearing armor isnt good.
you can be a human, I can mitigate all my secondary stats to 1100. though my health/mind/action suffers, lucky I have at-st.