Ranger Archive
Thread: A question for Ranger/Riflemen
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Sturmbock
Sat Mar 12, 2005 10:34 am
#1
Before I ask my question I'll give a bit of background on how I like to play the game.
Unless I'm going after uber content I try not to fall back on buffs. I do like to use Food/Drink to aid me in my work.
Since I'm not buffed most of the time I tend to stay in my BE enhanced clothing as opposed to wearing armor which can induce massive headaches after a special or two when unbuffed.
I know that it may seem silly to gimp one self in this fashion, but untill the CURB hits, I find this to be an awesome way of keeping the game visceral and exciting even on worlds such as Naboo. ( Nice aspect to being a Ranger is you can make credits on any world.)
Now here is my question.
Since I like to embrace all aspects of the Rangers Skills is there a way to still effectively use traps as a Riflemen? Most traps need to be chucked from within the sweet range us riflemen like to post up in, and per my experience once a trap hits, you'll be drawing agro. Now I have a nice little combat droid to help in those situations, but I like to save him for emergencies and not for tanking time after time. Maskscent+Conceal while unbuffed, and not wearing armor seems to have limited my ability to make use of traps. This may just be a fact of life I have to accept with this style of play, but I was just curious if any other Ranger/Riflemen have found an advantage in traps to pull them within 60 meters of their prey, and out of the prone position?
HornedSandRanger
Sat Mar 12, 2005 10:46 am
#2
I used to be mrm/mranger myself and I found throwing trapswas an Issue as well. My suggestion would be to get a trap launching droid that can take aggro for you as well. Or, just don't throw traps.
Skippy
Sat Mar 12, 2005 11:38 am
#3
Im also ranger/rifleman, I do use traps, but not very often. The only times I do is if for some reason the critters do come in close, ill throw a trap or two at em to slow em down while I take pot shots at them, while getting to a safer distance.
agent156
Sat Mar 12, 2005 5:57 pm
#4
Ya I was there too. I just wasn't hunting things big enough! lol. Or your using conceal shot on every thing 
I don't know where you are in the rifleman tree and that TOTALY changes your PvE tactics. Conceal shot is very slow it terms of the rate of fire and it's low damage attack making it even slower. It's still in my bag of tricks as a Master Rifleman, but mostly its in the party tricks section of that bag.
Conceal shot has the habit of causing random bleeds for some people (witch draws agro on the first bleed tick). Watch you combat window for misses, counterattacks, blocks, any thing that isn't a hit (that draws agro too). Ok now when you get in either of these undesirable places have a p-dart or an adhesive mesh on its way. This can give you time to run, or finish off the beast. Most of the time prone you want to be near or at trap range anyway even with a T21. The prone to hit mods and the standing ones aren't the same. You have to look at the number over your target's head. As you advance up the 4/x/x/x part of the tree you can stop worrying about that part so much any way. Having tested the crap out of both of these traps I can say that adhesive mesh traps are the less useful but if you need to run like hell from the thing and it has a ranged attack they are very good. P-darts are great for kiting the SOB to death. Once your close to master kiting with a rifle is a usable tactic. Let your self go to auto fire and you have the Ranger to hit bonus working for you too.
Then there are head shots. These being useful is all about the x/x/x/4 speed part of the tree. I can pop way more than the proscribed 3 free shots before agro on most targets. I'm not sure but this may have something to do with the x/4/x/x tree which gives you the rifle concealment chance mod. I know this mod has jack to do with /concealshot. For the bigger targets you can stack say 4 head shot 3s (its all about knowing your target and its speed) and then a trap in your combat queue. P-darts for mele critters, noise makers for things with ranged attacks. Both is mostly a bad idea unless it going to be a nice long battle. Most of the time the time spent on throwing that second trap is better spent killing the damn thing, in terms of the damge you take.
I have a speed sliced E11 with one base krayt tissue in it. While it barely bests a stocked laser rifle for DPS, it uses much less ham. Traps allow me to put away my T21 and whoop on medium/low level creatures with this. Open with a p-dart, lay on the head shots. Or for social critters, pop a mind shot, wait for the bleed, pop a p-dart, lay on the head shots. E11s work best standing or other wise within trapping range. They are an over looked but very useful rifle. Traps really make them shine.
That said, traps didn't do much for me until I mastered Rifles. Its really worth it to spend some time on Endor Conceal shooting Venom Filled Arachnes, or some such thing until you bank the xp to get there if you haven't already.
Glow juice/wire, don't seem to be worth the time they take up in my combat queue. Accuracy counters defenses, and between our mods and guns we have that to spare.
I don't know where you are in the rifleman tree and that TOTALY changes your PvE tactics. Conceal shot is very slow it terms of the rate of fire and it's low damage attack making it even slower. It's still in my bag of tricks as a Master Rifleman, but mostly its in the party tricks section of that bag.
Conceal shot has the habit of causing random bleeds for some people (witch draws agro on the first bleed tick). Watch you combat window for misses, counterattacks, blocks, any thing that isn't a hit (that draws agro too). Ok now when you get in either of these undesirable places have a p-dart or an adhesive mesh on its way. This can give you time to run, or finish off the beast. Most of the time prone you want to be near or at trap range anyway even with a T21. The prone to hit mods and the standing ones aren't the same. You have to look at the number over your target's head. As you advance up the 4/x/x/x part of the tree you can stop worrying about that part so much any way. Having tested the crap out of both of these traps I can say that adhesive mesh traps are the less useful but if you need to run like hell from the thing and it has a ranged attack they are very good. P-darts are great for kiting the SOB to death. Once your close to master kiting with a rifle is a usable tactic. Let your self go to auto fire and you have the Ranger to hit bonus working for you too.
Then there are head shots. These being useful is all about the x/x/x/4 speed part of the tree. I can pop way more than the proscribed 3 free shots before agro on most targets. I'm not sure but this may have something to do with the x/4/x/x tree which gives you the rifle concealment chance mod. I know this mod has jack to do with /concealshot. For the bigger targets you can stack say 4 head shot 3s (its all about knowing your target and its speed) and then a trap in your combat queue. P-darts for mele critters, noise makers for things with ranged attacks. Both is mostly a bad idea unless it going to be a nice long battle. Most of the time the time spent on throwing that second trap is better spent killing the damn thing, in terms of the damge you take.
I have a speed sliced E11 with one base krayt tissue in it. While it barely bests a stocked laser rifle for DPS, it uses much less ham. Traps allow me to put away my T21 and whoop on medium/low level creatures with this. Open with a p-dart, lay on the head shots. Or for social critters, pop a mind shot, wait for the bleed, pop a p-dart, lay on the head shots. E11s work best standing or other wise within trapping range. They are an over looked but very useful rifle. Traps really make them shine.
That said, traps didn't do much for me until I mastered Rifles. Its really worth it to spend some time on Endor Conceal shooting Venom Filled Arachnes, or some such thing until you bank the xp to get there if you haven't already.
Glow juice/wire, don't seem to be worth the time they take up in my combat queue. Accuracy counters defenses, and between our mods and guns we have that to spare.
agent156
Sun Mar 13, 2005 12:18 pm
#5
Ugh.. Somebody say something...I really would love to find out I've totaly missed something...
Message Edited by agent156 on 03-13-2005 11:19 AM
Sturmbock
Sun Mar 13, 2005 10:14 pm
#6
You have missed nothing that I can see Agent. You spent your time in the field well, and I thank you for sharing your skill's with me. 
Then again I'm a green horn in these parts.
Then again I'm a green horn in these parts.
agent156
Mon Mar 14, 2005 11:36 pm
#7
Good to hear, but I'm green too...
Message Edited by agent156 on 03-14-2005 10:36 PM
Preacher-UM
Tue Mar 15, 2005 5:32 am
#8
I happen to use similar tactics to agent. I found a looted t21 on a bazaar with extremely low ham costs, Had a guildie slice it. Got a nice damage slice on it.
I think a combination of maskscent(or camo) and maybe the rifle conceal tree may be behind the 3 free shots. I can normally ping away at some critters and they never come after me (4-5k ham range). I happen to always use p-darts and bonespurs with an adhesive mesh for back up.
I find concealshot to be very boring. It does come in handy when a drop ship unloads right in the center of your city and you have to start clearing out stormies 
. I use flurryshot1 a good bit, but i try stay away from the area affect specials.
. I use flurryshot1 a good bit, but i try stay away from the area affect specials.
DaveG
Tue Mar 15, 2005 5:07 pm
#9
I agree with most of the stuff here.
When you're MRMRM concealment is your tank. Having said that, I carry traps with my by the crate load. They're best used for crowd control and defensive measures. Once you've taken aggro, and you're most likely runnign to maintain range, then a g-wire is very useful (g-trap just as good if no melee combatants are with you, inc. pets), also a p-dart to slow them down.
In fact, I arrange my traps on my (second) tool bar, so that I can always throw g-wire and p-darts together. If I'm at point blank range in combat, one on one, then I'll use sharp bone spur to reduce the creatures hit accuracy. If there's a group of them on me (at this point I've resorted to putting my armour on), I use a flash bomb and hope to get an AoE blind effect. Similarly for sonic boom, although I'll have tried to use flurryshot2 before then to get a AoE dizzy before they reach me.
So to reiterrate, traps are mainly defence and control if you're a MRMRM. If things have gone so wrong you're under melee attack, you basically want to pile on as many detrimental statesas you can to increase your chances of success.
You mention uber-content. If you're talking about things like Rancors, and you're unfortunate enough for one to come lumbering after you, it's fortunate that with our terrain negotation we can easily out run them long enough to finish them off.
JokitoRoyo
Tue Mar 15, 2005 10:17 pm
#10
^^^^^^^ WHAT HE SAID!!!^^^^^^
Also in addition I have a flee macro that throws the traps for me. I then have the bugout macro when it gets really bad that hits /burstrun and a few adhesive meshes.
Like Dave said, use the terrain to your advantage, also use the environment. You'll notice that creature are fighting each other again. use that. drag an aggro critter overtop of something else to make it lose intrest. Did that this weekend in a group when we got an ancient on us while we were already busy with 3 canyons. I dragged him off the party (ug rescue) did my bugout macro (not that the traps did ANYTHING) and happened upon some dune banthas. Poor banthas.
Traps are a great defensive strategy for any Rifleman/Ranger, but so are our other skills.
Sturmbock
Wed Mar 16, 2005 1:39 pm
#11
I just wanted to take a moment to say thanks to all my fellow Rangers, for taking the time to post here. I love to hear the nuances that emerge from player by player, on the same subject. Its nice to know that we have a profession that allows the individual to put his/her own mark on any one task. Next time I come back in from the field I shall pull out a crate or two of my traps from the storage bin where they have languished for too long.
Flyinion
Thu Mar 17, 2005 1:18 am
#12
JokitoRoyo wrote:
Like Dave said, use the terrain to your advantage, also use the environment. You'll notice that creature are fighting each other again. use that. drag an aggro critter overtop of something else to make it lose intrest.
lol I had some cheap fun with that last night trying to get some trapping xp with Telon. Apparently unlike Starsider, the lost village POI on Bria is camped by afk master rifleman with T21's for who knows what reason along with a few other ranged guys with flamethrowers/etc. all nuking the GSP's so I wasted a trip out there. So I'm standing around Coronet and trying to figure out what to do to not make the night a total loss so I walk out into the area where all the gubbers, butterflies, and durnis spawn right outside the city and proceed to toss a few wire meshes at a durni. Of course it aggro's me but as soon as it does, two butterflies start attacking it while I continue to throw traps at it lol. I got xp off of 6 traps before the butterflies finally killed it for me.
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