Doctor Archive
Thread: Idea for solving the surveying resource problem of medical classes....
That's not much more useful than /medicalforage is now. Consider that /medicalforage IS our version of artisan surveying. It was a way for medics to get the resources they needed to make meds, but it was created back in a time when you only needed 3 different organics to make a sitmpack. It was instantly useless when they changed Stim As to need 8 identical organics and inorganics.
Soit is acknowledged by the simple fact taht we have this command that Medics should have some form of rudimentayr self-sufficency (there's not always a ton of folks around, and not everyone's playstile if as strongly socially oriented.) So at any rate, you've still left nothing for Medics and only barely alleviated a problem for Docs and CMs (and what about BEs?)
Ever tried surveying at only Novice Arti level? It's rather useless and would be EXTREMELY dangerous to try and follow that small of a range to track a vein on someplace like Lok or Dantooine or even Yavin IV. In effect it would be pretty much a useless skill, IMHO.
I still say that we are talking about a skill that Medics already have that just needs to be fixed so it works. Possibly decayable survey tools. Call it needing a replacement set every week or two from artisans. They are like standard survey tools but with a reduced range, maxing out at what would, ofr an artisan, be Survey 3 level. Either they don't let us hand sample at all and have the tools provide only the stats we need to see for the resources shown (primarily OQ, PE and UT, but sometimes DR or Cond) OR let us hand smaple only 1 resource during a sample tick at a time (jsut use the standard survey forumula to possibly provide no resouces and for at what concentrations you can get a sample, but never allow a success to provide more than one sample). Now docs are non-competetive in hand-sampling, can't check some of the more improtant stats for some resources (such as the resistances that Armosmiths will pay the big creds for) but we could at least check a sample for our won use and then drop harvesters where needed.
Could a medic then concievably get into the resource sales market? Sure, but if they REALLY wanted to make money that way, I bet they'd just go get surveying. I doubt a Medic professional could really be all that competetive with any artisan except MAYBE in the medical market (only because they would probably know it better) and we all know the Medical market is a niche market at best. Not the higher profit margins, which is why we never find out resource needs on the bazaar to begin with. They are mining stuff for everyone else.
Aila: wouldn't work. Our very first schematics lists asa requirement ANY Organic or Inorganic. So that includes everything on the all of the survey tools right there, including power.
But the idea of doing 1 resource only if there is none of that resource in inventory... I like that to a small extent. Definitely makes macro sampling as a medic completely worthless. It would give us the survey we need without giving us anything real in the way of sample abilities. The problem is that we still need to be able to let folks at least pull up enough of something to make at least 1 item for it to be a proper replacement for /medicalforage. I would suggest at least allowing a stack of 8 to exist in inventory, possibly as much as 36 (I think that's about the most any one schematic uses), but capping it there would still make it of very little value compared to the artisan skill.
Ever tried surveying at only Novice Arti level? It's rather useless
Its not useless....work up to the level 4 of survey tree, set all your survey tools to the highest range, and then drop the survey tree down to level 1. The tools sometimes keep the further range
Its also good to come off the starport, pop up a survey tool and see if petro 4 etc is listed as being on the planet. If its not then you know not to waste your time or that its moved, etc. I have the first box of survey because thats all the points I have to use and I would be lost without it. I miss my survey 4 though.
Ever tried surveying at only Novice Arti level? It's rather useless
I wouldn't agree with that. I haven't had a skill box in Surveying (only in Business) for quite some time now, and the tool is functionally the same. The only difference is that I sample more often, but as medics, our mind is always migrated to the highest levels, so I can wander the Lok ring of hate all day long surveying with minimal range. Veins aren't complicated enough to make the extended reach all that important. If they had all kinds of dead ends that you could only find with Survey IV, but right now it's just a game of Hot/Cold except Survey IVs have to walk alot longer to get to their hot spot. And hand sampling is a thing of the past for me, even when I still had Survey IV. Harvesters are just too necessary for the variety of resources you need as a Doctor.
And I don't think that trick with the survey tools works. As soon as you sell it back and try to use one, it prompts you to set the new distance.
The problem with the surrendering of the skill is that it's an acknowledged bug. (Actually it was acknowledged as fixed probably a month ago, but it only appears to be partially fixed since it obviosuly does not always for the tools to reset to a lower range level.)
And yea, finding IF a resource is a planet is somehwat useful, but finding that informaiton out is pretty easy without a tool. Following a tool with that shorta range though is just painful, and that is what I was referring to as being next to useless. So reset all your tools to their lowest level with just Novice Arti and see how well you can handle it. 
It would drive me NUTS!
I dont want any medical profession to get survey. If you want to survey your own goods you have to give something upso you can have the Artisan skilland that is great. The way the system is set up you have to make choicesto what skills are more important to you. Do you want to survey your goods or hire someone to do it for you. Honestly its a great game balancer and I think should be left alone.
-Rosh
Rosh wrote:
Honestly its a great game balancer and I think should be left alone.
-Rosh
How is this a "balancer?"
Although many classes do have the ability to craft a few items (such as rangers being able to craft camps), no profession in the game (outside of artisan) is more of a crafter than the medical professions.
Within artisan, you have weaponsmiths, armorsmiths, tailors, chefs, etc. Any of these professions require resources which can be harvested with a harvester. Of course, in order to be a weaponsmith, you first need to be an artisan, which means that you automatically gain the ability to survey for resources.
However, being part of the medical profession, I'm also in need of those same resources that can be harvested with harvesters. But, as I'm a doctor and not an artisan, I have no ability to survey for resources. In order to do so, I need to spend an additional 15 skill points in the artisan profession, in which I have no other need except to survey.
So, in short, a master weaponsmith has 15 more skill points available to them than a master doctor that sells pharmaceuticals. How is that balanced, exactly? If it were really balanced, then weaponsmiths should be required to take novice medic in order to perform their jobs, but that doesn't really make any sense, does it? So, if that doesn't make sense, why should it make sense that a doctor is required to be a novice artisan?
If anything the balancer is in the fact that not as many folksa re asking for Scouting ability. Now THAT is soething I consider to be similar to the Smuggler/Scout/Ranger example, since our harvested needs are not even remotely as specific as our surveyed resource needs. So that's where I think our inter-dependency should continue to lie.
And I reiterate, we already have this ability to some extent given to us. It's called /medicalforage. It just does not work.
Don't change it if anything bring back the miner profession. What a huge mistake that was. I know soooo many people who are miners, i can't believe we dont have a mining profesion.
mili
Mili_Skane wrote:
Don't change it if anything bring back the miner profession. What a huge mistake that was. I know soooo many people who are miners, i can't believe we dont have a mining profesion.
mili
I've brought this up a number of times. Actually, I had nothing to do with the beta and brought up the idea of this. When people told me that it existed at one time and was then removed, I was amazed. How could you get rid of such an important profession?
For anyone unfamiliar with this, here's what I had to say...
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=Development&message.id=287763&highlight=#M287763
I think bringing back such a profession would be excellent. Then, maybe people that want to craft could spend their time crafting rather than scouring the galaxy for the resources they need to do what they wanted to do in the first place.
I definitely think there needs to be a change hear. My suggestion is that we be allowed survey with 128m radius (I think surv IV get over 300m), and that when we sample we only get 1 unit. This way we would be able to effectively catalog resources and choose what we need. I don't think this would in anyway hurt the artisan profession. I'm not crazy about limiting to specific named items because i rarely use adv components so i'm still stuck with giving up 29 skill points for surveying IV or hoping to find a supplier of what i need at an acceptable price.
Just my 2 credits worth.