Rifleman Archive
Thread: are buffs a must
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hamhamthe3rd
Thu Sep 09, 2004 11:50 pm
#1
when i first picked up a rifle i thought to myself, this is going to be my weapon of choice.when i went out to learn the basics of my profession, i wondered whyso fewpeoplearound me had a rifle. everyone either had a polearm or used theirhands.soon i would find out how effective melee can be and how ineffective rifles could be. im not upset that in *this* world rifles take a backseat to some of the otherweapons and fighting methods. of course i know many would disagree with that but journeying torifleman can become a chore. namely, killing anything worth killingis always a chore. pray toyour god that that first headshot isnt a missor you might have to get up and retreat. just one of my examples.
anyway the point of my post hereis that i want to be able to do what i see other people do...soloing missions. i guess i cant expect to do missions for 30k till i am a master, if at all. right now im just a novice and i can only do missions for 2000ish comfortably. i can do something like a 5k mission *buffed*andit beinga destroy mission you can be pretty certain that im going to be the one being destroyed at least one. the techniques that i employ are not working or at least not to my liking. im tired of being ko'ed and/or dying. i want to make some money from my rifle knowledge. ive heard good things about *master* rifleman but it seems right now rifleman is just a novelty to me.
ok ill go over my tactics so maybe you can advise me better. ok first, i always approach my targets with mask scent, i dont know if this helps for facing somehumanoids but i do it anyway. i try to set up at , either my weapons ideal range ormax range. i prone or i kneel. normally the mission is to kill a lair, so if its a lair i take one overchargedshot at the lairthen i go to peace and back away. idrop back to prone and fire at the closest target in range. iuse headshot whenever i first fight something i dont know much about. if headshots werent the most effective last time i switch to overchargedshot. also i switch depending on how their bars look after i first hit them. i also use mindshot depending on the enemy. my problem is keeping distance from targets and hitting them if i cannot keep distance. i try to outrun things most times whenever they begin to approach me but it seems everything i come across runs just as fast as me. i can burst but then i cant use it the next encounter, so not really a solution. im a DE and ive tried using bots to keep attention away from me. im not a master DE yet so i guess thats why that hasnt worked too well. the best thing that has worked for me is to find a group of storm troopers and led monsters to them. i seldom get credit for the kill but i do get the creature away from the lair so i can complete the mission. again not a good solution for me since troopers cant be everywhere. i also use threatening and warning shot but those are no dice too most of the time. it might be that i dont know when to use them or that my weapon does fire enough.
lastly, the weapons i carry are an E11its the one forspeed and low special use cost. a laser rifle, it has good range and power and not so much stat cost. and the last one i have is aT21. it has the worst range but speed better than my unsliced laser rifle. the T21 is sliced. i dont use the T21 all the time cause it takes 50m for its ideal range. 50m is too close.using itat max range misses too much for my tastes so i use the laser more.
alright thx for the help and thx for reading.
hamhamthe3rd
Thu Sep 09, 2004 11:53 pm
#2
i thought i noted that im just a novice but i guess i did not. im hoping to get concealment and that it will save mebut i also hear it will not. i had wanted to master rifles even if i was just going to get rid of it and all combat all together later.
Mo-Katep
Fri Sep 10, 2004 3:26 am
#3
I agree with Waste.
Firstly don't attack the lair - you'll aggro all the of the mobs, if you attack just one you should be able to down him before his friends start realising what's going on.
I never hunt buffed, its just too expensive, but do get yourself some brandy its well worthwhile.
Also find yourself a spraystick, its worth changing from T21 which is quite slow to a spraystick which is really fast and has much better range modifiers at close range.
Finally be selective in your targets, if there's one who's strayed a little from the others run around until you're just within range of him, the others will have to run towards to before they're even in range to shoot you, by which time you've killed at least one of them. If they don't notice - great - rinse and repeat.
Lastly conceal shot is great - pick a target, get within range, go prone, aim, aim, conceal shot, dead.
With my T21 conceal shot can do over 1k of damage, admittedly its to a random ham, and it uses a lot of mind, but they don't get to fire back unless you miss, if you use /aim you'll miss a lot less. I've heard that /aim stacks, I'm not sure, but I do it anyway.
This way a novice rifleman with T21 and conceal shot can take down an 8k stormtrooper, and end up without a scratch. 
GrimBear
Fri Sep 10, 2004 4:16 am
#4
Food - BE Brandy can give +400 to all mind stats for 40 minutes
Drink - BE Ahrisa can give +400 to focus for 40 minutes
If you have medic use /healdamage self when your health and action get low.
I regularly hunt unbuffed and in very light armour without a problem ... but then I have this food mix and I'm a master rifleman.
1 x BE Brandy
1 x BE Accaragm (Action version of brandy)
1 x BE Ahrisa
1 x Won Won (boosts secondaries of health)
1 x BE Synthsteak
I also have Low HAM T21s specially made for me. typically the Stats are around the following...
Spd: 7.3
Dmg: 180-350
HAM: 30/30/70
I have one that is damage sliced to a max damage of 440. I can do headshot3 every 1.3 seconds. 10k missions are easy even if i'm unbuffed.
If I need something to keep creatures distracted. I have an Advanced R3 loaded with 1 top end armour module (40% armour) and 5 combat modules and it has 4k HAM. tough little bugger.
I also have a T21 that packs an even bigger punch for when I'm buffed.
EDIT: been a rifleman for 8 months now.
Message Edited by GrimBear on 09-10-2004 12:18 PM
Nevaryn
Fri Sep 10, 2004 5:25 am
#5
/maskscent only works against creatures, the ranger skill /conceal works against npc's in a limited manner.
Firing from prone is the best place for a rifleman to be, you improve your accuracy and like was said earlier, you get more shots off before being detected.
Always clear away the guards before attacking the lair. And if you're attacking a creature lair, remember these rules.
1) The first shot on a creature lair will always spawn 2-3 more creatures who will attack you unless you /peace before they spawn.
2) Lairs will only spawn creatures twice before being destroyed, unless repaired
3) When a lair looses more than 50% of it's damage capacity it will spawn a second group of creatures
4) Firing on a lair while it is spawning will cause two things to happen. If the lair is npc based, the npc's will attack you. If the lair is creature based the cratures will attack you and some will heal the lair.
5) Firing ona lair while its spawns are within 100m of it will cause them to aggro you.
The rifleman ability /concealshot is what many beginner rifleman and masters use to solo missions. The ability damages a random pool but prevents mobs from aggroing you. I've sat down, unbuffed and unarmoured and taken out 20 storm troopers, all in the same group without being attacked a single time by them, using conceal shot. Even sat down in the middle of it all and camped until my stats went back to full.
That being said there are a few things to be aware of when using concealshot
1) If a /concealshot causes a random bleed the target will aggro you.
2) If you miss a target 3 times (consecutive or non-consecutive) the target will aggro you.
3) There is always a chance a target or aggressive enemy will break through your /concealshot and detect you. This chance is based primarily on the Challenge Level of the target. A masterscout can /examine any target to see it's challenge level.
To answer your general question in a long-winded answer... you don't need buffs, or even armour if your a good rifleman, but if you're going to play that way you need what many tanks do not possess, patience and real skill. Anyone can rule the PVE world with 80-90% armour, excellent buffs and spamming combat macros, but it takes some skill to play the game unbuffed and unarmoured. That begin said, Brandy will be the rifleman's best friend. I always have a case on me, and as patient as I am, I wouldn't be soloing a Krayt without taking a swig or two of Brandy. As it is, the real big baddies can take upwards of 30min for a rifleman to solo, and that's buffed. If you're unbuffed you're looking at taking mid-combat breaks to rest until you're stats are healed.
Do you need buffs? No... but how patient are you... really?
ashief
Fri Sep 10, 2004 6:22 am
#6
I always hunt buffed. All my stats are migrated to blue main and 2ndaries.
On your way up use flushing shot 2. Switch to point blank when they approach you. Better yet. Go to the GEO caves bring a friend who can tank and then have at it you should master in under 4 hours.
Once you do master spend the 10-15 mill on +7 to rifle speed and have at it. Very few peope will outdamage you.
Ackehece
Fri Sep 10, 2004 7:49 am
#7
hamham what server are you on? You sound like the type of person many of us would be willing to hunt with and show you the ropes. If you desire many of us are willing to help out a neophyte to the rifleman profession.
Ariven
Fri Sep 10, 2004 8:22 am
#9
Nevaryn wrote:
1) The first shot on a creature lair will always spawn 2-3 more creatures who will attack you unless you /peace before they spawn.
2) Lairs will only spawn creatures twice before being destroyed, unless repaired
3) When a lair looses more than 50% of it's damage capacity it will spawn a second group of creatures
To be more precise... each wave has the same amount of creatures, if there were 3 creatures out when you got to the lair, then the wave that comes from first attack and the wave at 50% damage will haev 3 creatures. If the laid has 6, then each wave has 6. Counting the creatures and keeping that number in mind lets you know when a wave is done and you can proceed to the next.
Sometimes after you have killed the third wave (at 50%) and are proceeding to kill the lair a "Boss" will come out of the lair so you have to be aware of something coming along at that point.
Mission lairs have the three wave pattern (1 out, 1 at first damage and 1 at 50% damage). Natural lairs do not. Some have more waves, some have fewer, but each wave has the same amount of creatures that it starts with.
Mission lairs have the name of the creature/spawn in it... i.e. A Diseased Vrelt lair is a mission lair and "A pile of garbage" is not. If its not YOUR mission lair it is (obviously) someone elses, so please have some consideration for the hunter who has that lair and leave it alone.
NPC lairs do not have waves, once you kill all the NPCs you can blow the lair.
If you get the ranged support line in marksman you get access to such specials as Warning shot and Suppression fire, two very nice ones that help you manage the creatures when they are coming at you, or to help a friend out there working with you. After shooting something with warningshot if you hit it again it will come back at you so hit /peace after the shot hits or move to another target and start attacking it. A bleed will bring the creature back at you when it ticks, so watch for that as well.
The bleed will help you pull a single creature at a time without agroing its nestmates. This is nice especially if you do not have concealshot yet. Just hit something with a bleed (like mindshot, etc) and hit peace (A macro for this works great) and then back off 30-50m. When the bleed ticks a few seconds later the creature will head straight for you.
The reason to back off is to ensure that when you start shooting at the oncoming creature it isn't by one of its packmates causing them to agro on you due to you attacking the creature.
Kryxal
Fri Sep 10, 2004 9:52 am
#10
Just a couple of things: first, the secondwavefrom the lair isn't at 50%, it's at exactly 2/3 remaining (and then the damage caused by the spawning creatures takes it below 50%). Second, it's not a bad idea to queue up several bleed attacks, then /peace after one sticks. True, I was using that tactic with a pistol, not a rifle, but sometimes the bleed didn't take first time (or I missed). Just know how many shots you can afford before the mob aggros and brings friends...
hamhamthe3rd
Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:04 am
#11
thx for the replies but isnt brandy a buff? people tell me i should get blue milk and i do try to eat small foods to boost my health, my lowest stat, before i fight. i just dont have these things on me all the time nor can i get them all the time since i have to make money to spend money. when i start making money again i will eat more foods.
although i am moncal and i have lots of mind, i dont heal on the field during a fight because it eats my mind. i do have the ability to use stimpack Cs but i only do so if im about to die and plan on running away.
i play on bloodfin and i have a question. a weaponsmith was telling me that the certifications are not in order, i was wondering if thats true? he was wanting to sell me a T20a i think it was, but i wanted him to make me a better E11. also on the subject, why are laser rifles under E11s in the certificate department? i guess i have not seen enough E11s but i cant think of why they should be a higher certificate than laser rifles.
Ariven
Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:05 am
#12
Kryxal wrote:Just a couple of things: first, the second wave from the lair isn't at 50%, it's at exactly 2/3 remaining (and then the damage caused by the spawning creatures takes it below 50%). Second, it's not a bad idea to queue up several bleed attacks, then /peace after one sticks. True, I was using that tactic with a pistol, not a rifle, but sometimes the bleed didn't take first time (or I missed). Just know how many shots you can afford before the mob aggros and brings friends...
Well not to argue, but if I stop taking the lairs health down at 2/3 I rarely get any to spawn, but if I get it to the 50-55% range it is guaranteed to work... Hunting is my primary income method so I try to be the most efficient that I can out there, and that means knowing when the waves spawn so I dont get jumped by agro. Though, a natural lair will spawn sooner than 50%, since they usually have more waves than a mission lair.
The bleed pull technique I use has a bleed shot followed by a /peace in the macro. I dont mind waiting a couple extra seconds if I have to tap the bleed macro again, patience is a virtue if you are going without buffs.
Waste93
Fri Sep 10, 2004 12:05 pm
#13
You can do it without buffs. Though of course it will be much more difficult. Remember that many of us 'old timers' did it before buffs were even available.
You just have to be more selective in your targets and more careful with your tactics. Your tactics seem pretty good. Only major thing I would suggest. Kill the lair guards before you pop the lair. Firing from prone you should not be detected until about the third shot.
You can make a tank droid. One of the more common models is the LE droid filled with repair units. But it's best to do this if you have an AoE attack such as FlushingShot2. In that case get your tank droid and have it attack the lair. As the MOB's swarm it use FlushingShot2 on them. It should hit them all (unless you miss one of course) and do good damage. I've heard it uses a lot of batteries. So you'll want crates of them.
For weapons the E11 is pretty good. Get a couple T21's though and get them sliced. Keep any speed sliced ones and use them. Damage and their high AP will give it great damage. It also has a tighter damage spread than the Laser Rifle making it more predictable in how many shots it will take to drop a target.
Also just FYI, MaskScent does not work on NPC's. Only on creatures.
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