Ranger Archive
Thread: Ranger and Rifleman questions
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ZioGiovanni
Thu Aug 12, 2004 3:04 pm
#1
If this has been touched on in another forum topic, feel free to direct me there. However, I haven't found a full answer to my question yet.
I have a Ranger on one server that uses BH weapons. I chose them because they gave me a variety of damage types that creatures had weak resistances to. Now I've created a new character on another server and I'm moving up the Scout skill tree towards Ranger. From what I've read Ranger and Rifleman are a match made in heaven and looking at how their skills combine I agree. But what about the variety in damage types? What about doing close-quarter missions? I'd like someone to walk me through their experience as a Ranger and Rifleman and tell me how they handle various situations, creatures with resistances to their weapons, etc. Thanks!
Zingonia
Adethmi
Thu Aug 12, 2004 4:22 pm
#2
I am ranger rifleman, I don't care about the small stats that get altered but I havenoticed (since I dropped pistoller) creatures are alot easier to kill, I currently carry a dxr-6b rifle (acid damage) and a t-21 (blast) and I have discovered that even on creatures with higher resists on those damageds (though few and far between) the rifles still pack a punch, also you ask about close quarters, when every a creature gets close to me I spam point blank area 1 with allows me to damage all creatures at close range, although being ranged on certain mobs can be fustrating I have found resource collecting easier since I started rifles.
frightwig
Thu Aug 12, 2004 4:50 pm
#3
As adethmi said, we have two damage types in the Rifleman tree. Acid and blast. I find that if a creature has a high resist in one, the other seems to be low. So even if there were more damage types, these two end up being enough. Also, the t21 is high armor piercing. The DXR is medium, but much faster.
As for close quarters, most things will die before they get under 30 yards. But even with the rifle concealment mods, it still happens that you get aggroed sometimes. With either of the above weapons, I hit more than I miss at close range with master rifles.
If you're not master rifles, you can have a tough time in dungeon/bunker type missions like the corvette or DWB because of the limited range and short hallways. You'll end up missing a lot, and your fire rate is slower.
Oh, when you get Novice rifleman, go for 0100 first - or whatever box it is that gives you the conceal shot special. You'll be using this a lot until you master rifles, and then you'll probably never use it again until you're fighting high level NPCS.
The 0020 box gives you the ability to use the DXR, so I'd recommend going after that tree next.
I love master rifles as I like shooting stuff, but swordsman and tka are great too.
As for close quarters, most things will die before they get under 30 yards. But even with the rifle concealment mods, it still happens that you get aggroed sometimes. With either of the above weapons, I hit more than I miss at close range with master rifles.
If you're not master rifles, you can have a tough time in dungeon/bunker type missions like the corvette or DWB because of the limited range and short hallways. You'll end up missing a lot, and your fire rate is slower.
Oh, when you get Novice rifleman, go for 0100 first - or whatever box it is that gives you the conceal shot special. You'll be using this a lot until you master rifles, and then you'll probably never use it again until you're fighting high level NPCS.
The 0020 box gives you the ability to use the DXR, so I'd recommend going after that tree next.I love master rifles as I like shooting stuff, but swordsman and tka are great too.
aswex
Thu Aug 12, 2004 6:54 pm
#4
I'm a ranger/rifleman, mediocre in both. I'm not going to add much, except to say that my T-21 is Energy, not Blast. And definitely go 0100 on the rifleman first- ConcealShot is great when you're soloing.
AzucarSalado
Fri Aug 13, 2004 2:36 am
#5
Beserker Rifle? 
is ita loot or a in development item?
is ita loot or a in development item?ZioGiovanni, have master ranger/master rifle, buy a T21 anda harvest droid and you'll be the happiest player in your galaxy if the most you like is hunting animals. Just one note, you'll need to be patient to solo big animals. Riffle needs some tactics (bring out animals one by one of a herd). If you prefer a quick tore of a lair, I'd suggest you Tera Kasi.
Cambylobacter
Fri Aug 13, 2004 2:45 am
#6
The Beserker Rifle is a rare Corvette weapon, and isn't really likely to be used for creature harvesting.
ZioGiovanni
Fri Aug 13, 2004 4:35 am
#7
Thanks, everyone, for their input. See, this is where I'm torn. Rifles are medium to heavy weapons (most, anyway) and when you combine Rifleman skills with Ranger you make a good sniper and I like playing snipers. However...(you saw that coming)...I feel that from now until I reach Master Rifleman I cannot participate in bunker/dungeon missions, whether alone or in groups, because I'm not trained in close-quarter combat. Sure, I could spam point-blank shot, but without the speed that most Master Rangers say you need, am I just setting myself up for frustration?
I do not consider myself a power gamer, although I know what it takes to climb the skill trees and I can be accused of putting in some grinding here and there to finish a box. I'm not looking to be a millionaire harvester or an uber killer. I strive to have fun, enjoy the Star Wars experience, explore, see all the beauty that have been put into the different worlds and yet have the martial skills that allow me to be effective in both hunting missions and close-quarter combat missions, depending on my whim when I log in in the evening. I know that Ranger is not a combat profession, that is why I'm trying to be careful on where I apply my points for the combat skills.
Again, I really appreciate all the comments that have been made so far and no matter which combat profession I choose I will always be a Ranger first.
Zingonia
Tyyn
Fri Aug 13, 2004 7:28 am
#8
As a Master Ranger / Master Rifleman / CH0003 I have never had more fun. Rifleman gains access to four primary damage types, and though I virtually never use cold and rarely use stun, this range of types is very appealing, particularly when you haven't learned all the creature's weaknesses yet and are still examining them before firing.
I willagree that concealshot is a good place to start, but it is extremely slow, as without decent speed bonuses and due to the fact that it hits random pools, you will require quite some time to finish off a creature. I would suggest boosting your speed and accuracy a bit as soon as possible, and then going for flushing shot 2 in order to do a bit of grinding with that shot and the T21-- but there are guides for working yoru way through rifleman elsewhere.
OnestrategyI found is that for quick and very safe rifle hunting before master, a tank helps, and there is a better config for this tank than merely using level 10 pets. I used droid that had *almost no combat ability* but which was equipped with a decent auto-healing module. I pulled out this droid while also using a creature pet simultaneously (having both out at the same time may be something available only to novice CH's, though, I am unsure).
This may not be to everyone's taste, and if it is not to yours no worries; each of us should hunt according to the style he most enjoys.
Turn on the droid's auto-healing module, make sure that it has the best armor available to it, and make sure it has the R3 chassis so that it has the highest possible HAM. It won't do much damage if it has only one combat cluster, which is *exactly what you want*so it won't steal your experience for the kill, but due to its high HAM and the work of the auto-heal module it will take quite a beating, much more resilient thanmost pets. Just make sure you have a couple crates of batteries with you, the auto-heal chews through batteries very quickly. Unless you have decent CH skillsa creature pet will not beable to take as much damageas the droid, andcreatures can steal more xp since it may do more damage than the droid (if you have configured the droid as I indicated). Have the droid always attack first to aggro your visible prey (first wave of the lair), then have the droid tap the lair to draw the second wave, while youfire onthe second wave from afar. Do not wear armor, especially no helmet -- thecreaturesshouldbe attacking your droid, not you, and you need to avoid HAM penalties. (you can do all this while unbuffed).After destroying the second wave, then blast the lair down close to half its health but peace before the final wave appears, and have the droid keep tapping the lair until the final wave of creatures appears and aggros against the droid, while you again hunt from afar. Even faster if you pull a creature pet out at the same time, and have common commands for directing both creature and droid. But again, carry a few crates of batteries and droid repair kits aren't a bad idea as well (for mechanical repairs needed when the auto-heal module is too slow for your liking). And if your droid begins to near incapacitation, use the standard retreat tricks -- traps to immobilize, threaten shots and warning shots, etc. Circle back around and finish them off with concelashot if you have to, and patch up your droid afterwards.
The downside to this is you cannot have two droids out at the same time, and there is no room in this healing droid for a harvesting module, so you'll have to store the droid after the lair is destroyed and whip out your harvesting droid, if you use them (and obviously any harvesting droid should have nothing but harvesting modules in it, so its harvesting rating is higher than 100).
This droid trick aside, the cliche that rifleman doesn't get really fantastic until Master is at least half true. I had a lot of fun on the way to master, but now I can truly havest more over time than any other template, *never* need doc buffs so long as I carry the rightfood-- although musician buffs are always a huge help! Support your non-afk musicians and dancers folks, rifleman should be among their biggest fans! -- since creatures virtually never reach my sniper location before being finished off, and it's a blast for roleplay reasons as well. Close quarters also are not a problem, I still hit consistently enough despite the penalties to take out just about anything at point blank range, though obviously I try to avoid that senario if possible. For me, as a former Master Bounty Hunter, this is the most fun to be had in the game. Your mileage may vary, of course.
Cheers,
Neville Kaxx
Sunrunner
Cambylobacter
Fri Aug 13, 2004 12:16 pm
#9
Ranger Templates - http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=ranger&message.id=59888
You should find some information you were looking for on this stickied thread
BlakkStar
Fri Aug 13, 2004 12:33 pm
#10
"As adethmi said, we have two damage types in the Rifleman tree. Acid and blast. I find that if a creature has a high resist in one, the other seems to be low. So even if there were more damage types, these two end up being enough. Also, the t21 is high armor piercing. The DXR is medium, but much faster."
Are u kidding? U must be inexperienced because last time I checked riflemen had access to 4 damage types, blast not being one of them (acid, energy, cold, stun). I've never been a rifleman but if u pvp then u know about the Jawa Ion Rifle (stun, ap1).
Cambylobacter
Fri Aug 13, 2004 12:39 pm
#11
At Master Rifleman for PvE your primary weapons would be the DXR-6b Rifle (Acid Medium AP) and the T21 (Energy Heavy AP)
the SG82 (Cold) will very rarely be used and has no armour piercing. The Jawa Ion will (Stun) will also rarely be used. You also have the Beserker Rifle (Heat) and the non-certified reward Tusken Rifle (Kinetic) if you don't mind doing 3 damage per hit.
aswex
Tue Aug 17, 2004 8:43 pm
#12
Regarding dungeon crawls, I had a good time teaming up with a swordsman because we could both target the mind pool.
frightwig
Thu Aug 19, 2004 10:15 am
#13
frightwig wrote:"As adethmi said, we have two damage types in the Rifleman tree. Acid and blast. I find that if a creature has a high resist in one, the other seems to be low. So even if there were more damage types, these two end up best."
BlakkStar wrote:Are u kidding? U must be inexperienced because last time I checked riflemen had access to 4 damage types, blast not being one of them (acid, energy, cold, stun). I've never been a rifleman but if u pvp then u know about the Jawa Ion Rifle (stun, ap1).
No, I'm not "inexperienced", but thank "U" for the incredibly constructive comments in your reply to my post.
First of all, I meant Energy for the t21. Acid for the DXR. Except for the berserker rifle, those are the only two weapons that are offered in the RIFLEMAN profession.
The Jawa (ion) and sg82 (cold) is from the marksman tree - It's in the rifles tree, but I was talking about the weapon certifications obtained from the RIFLEMAN profession.
Secondly, the poster was asking about Ranger/Rifleman. That's not exactly a PvP template. It's mainly a creature hunter template, which means the jawa rifle and sg82 rifles are useless.
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