Pistoleer Archive

Having nearly mastered Pistoleer in the first two months of commercial release, then subsequently dropping it after a few more months, I've restarted the path back up those boxes. I've always loved Pistoleer, and I'm hoping the coming combat balance will add more than a few changes to make it even more entertaining.

However, I need a few things clarified, if anyone has the time:

Using the calculator, I've determined that without more than a few extra attachments to boost Pistol Speed (And even then), Health Shot 1 is the hands-down best grinding tool any Pistoleer can use.

Granted, here is my grinding technique:

An array of DX2, Pre-nerf FWG5, and a Modified Republic. I take "solo group" missions on Dantooine if available, running Voritor Hunter (25k) missions at a varied distance. I generally try to run a Southern mission, then a Southwestern mission. Once I destroy the first, I walk my way to the second, killing anything and everything in my path, using Healthshot1, and nothing else.

The question: I've seen HS1 dismissed because "the initial attack is random HAM". This simply isn't true. It's reflective of the 80/10/10 damage distribution, but so is every other attack we have, besides Body Shot 3, as far as I know. Either way, the Damage Calculator website has HS1 pushing 100+ more damage, on weapon average, until speeds of at least 70+.

Am I using the wrong special? Enemies don't cluster well enough for Fan Shot, unless you're willing to strafe and marathon the Janta caves on Endor, and that's just a lot of work for menial experience.

As a secondary question, should I be ignoring intermediary creatures and sticking with the mission experience exclusively, or is this helping my rate of experience gain? What are your successful techniques for grinding?

Essentially, I'm looking for advice on grinding out the remainder of my experience (3/0/4/4, thank God for leftover TKM combat xp), and I'm curious as to whether my chosen strategy is efficient or not. I'm also planning on re-training through Smuggler's Dirty Fighting, so I've got a lot more experience left to gain.I generally self-buff from an alternate, and money isn't an issue in regards to armor, so if you've got a better idea in mind, don't hesitate to let me know.

I don't mean to sound "holo-grindish" (how do u git 2 mastr fastt1!!1!?!?!), because this isn't a plea for the easy way up. I've been up at Master before (God knows how I could stand it back then), and I'm just eager to get settled into a template before the combat balance, and get comfortable with Pistoleer before the transition, so I understand the current strengths and weaknesses. It makes appreciating the balance all that much sweeter.

Soako - Master Gunfighter

Your tactic works well, there's always variations. But reports indicate that Quenkers (our old standby) have doubled in difficulty. We'll definetly need to set up some new grinding guides after the combat balance.

edit:

Actually, only bodyshot3 and healthshot2 from pistoleer affect the health pool. bodyshot3 is far too slow unless you are a master or have a fast pistol. all other attacks are random HAM, only hitting the health pool about half the time.