Rifleman Archive

Now this is a trick that will only work with animalsbut the Scout tree has a branch that let's them make Traps. These are essentially hand grenades that only work on animals but can weaken them, slow their run speed and even stop them cold.

If you work in a group with a Brawler tank you start out as a Novice Scout with a Wire Mesh trap that will eliminate the creatures melee defenses and the L. Dart that takes a small bite from the creatures Mind and Action pools and leaves them Dizzy. But as soon as you get Level 1 traps you get the first of several that can be devastating to the mind pool.

With Level 1 Traps and Level 1 Rifle you can use the Sharp Bone Spur trap and Headshot 1 to kill some white con creatures in 4 attack rounds. Often before the animal can even figure out you're there.

But (and this is one of those Roseanne sized butts ) there are a couple of limitations. FIrst of all you can only have 1 trap of a certain type affecting the animal at a time. For example if you throw a Bone Spur a second one will have no effect until the first one was worn off (in roughly 30 seconds). Alsonever lead off with the trap. They will immediately bring the creature charging right at you.

The bes strategy is to start from about 45 to 50 meters (50 meters is the max range of a trap) then:

1. Go to the prone and fire Headshots until the Mind pool is to about half

2.Go to the kneeeling and throw the Bone Spur then

3. If the traptakes effect (they can fail to have any effect) fire one lastHeadshot to eliminate that last point in the mind pool (no trap will kill an animal outright but, at one point left, who cares).

One other point to note is that not all animals are vulnerable to this kind of attack. On Corellia near Corant I've found that Durni's and Paralopes are pushovers, Vrelts and Scavenger Ratsare doable but Vynock's are extremely resistant. I've started a similar thread on this subject in the Scout forum asking other people to post their experience with animals from other planets.

The main down side to this strategy for a Rifleman is you'll get less exp with the Rifle because you'll be doing less damage with the weapon as you kill the animals. Also, if you're aiming at being a combat sniper type, then you won't get as much combat exp to push upthe ranged support branch of the Marksman tree as you would fighting humanoid npcs.

Still, with this combination I was soloing Paralope and Durni lairs in no time (If you're brand new to the game and never attacked a lair before a word of warning. Clear out any of the creatures around the nest first then take that first shot at the lair from maximum range then run away. About 3 - 5 critters will come boiling out of no where and come chasing after you looking for blood. Run away like a little girl til they stop chasing you then come back and kill them one at a time )

"Democracy is the worst form of government... until you consider the alternatives."

Winston Churchill.

I've been employing this method in beta and now in the real game with rifleman. It is a great tactic to focus on one HAM pool because it makes the creature 1/3 as powerful as taking regular shots at it. Not only that, but headshots are much more powerful than a regular shot and mind shots can be a lifesaver when you miss with headshot. I recommend crawling to around 50-60m range of a creature (make sure its a creature that will come solo if in a herd), turn mask scent on, and do a mindshot to start the DOT. The creature will not know what hit it and will wander around a little. Be careful that it does not wander out of range because then your element of surprise will be lost when you waste time when you should be shooting. If it remains in range, I could usually take two headshots till it realizes its brain is being fried. Thats when you get to the races, get up and start running away and taking headshots at the mob. If the mob is slow, dont worry about it too much...if the mob is fast, say a Carrion Spat, then i recommend throwing a Phenaricine Trap(spelling, the one that slows the creature i think from Trapping III), then you make the creature slow and you can take it out with headshots and mindshot will work all this time. Enjoy harvesting ;o)

I'm on Corellia right now, and I find it possible to mass kite certain animals: durnis, crazed durnis, tabages. All these creatures are slower than you and if you do one mindshot in a concealed position, you can pull 2 or 3, then focus on one at a time. As one dies from headshots, the other two are weakening from the mindshot you gave them. Just remember to run out of their melee range at all times. If anything gets too close, then use warning shot. I definitely recommend advancing your Ranged Weapon Support skills atleast to the level of getting Warning Shot, it can be a lifesaver. Got a red conned creature on you?! Run as fast as you can and take Warning Shots at it and if you hit, most likely it will turn the other way and you'll be out of its range shortly and ALIVE. Oh yeah, the slow creatures are GREAT to get trapping exp on because you can throw 5 of them at them with no problem, just step out of their range and chuck traps at them.

I'Yo Streem
Bloodfin

You were saying that only one trap effects the target at a time. I'm confused about this. I've used more than one trap at a time on a mob, and I can see the debuffs stack up next to it's HAM bars.

Also, one of my favorites is Noise Maker. 1 Noise Maker followed by aheadshot orthree= one dead critter

One trap of the same kind works. The Melee Defense Down trap works with the Ranged Defense Down trap, and they work with the Bone Spur, and the rest. But if you try throwing a second Bone Spur, it will say that the creature is uneffected because it is already in a blind rage, and similar statements with the rest of the traps. So, one trap of each type, but many types on each creature.

Im a rifle specialist on Wonderhome, TekDragon.I hang around Mos Eisley mostly. There are three great creatures to hunt if your a rifleman.

Diseased Bocatts, and hmm... i cant remember the exact name, but it starts with an "S". They look like big frogs. Both of these creatures are agressive. Neither are social.

Anyway, as an expert rifleman with a DLT20a im able to single shot kill those 2 creatures with headshot 2. The Diseased Bocatts give 197 exp. The "S-name" froggy things give about 125.

Finally, there is another creature ive just started huting. It also stars with an "S" and it looks like a lizard. It is aggressive and social, but not extremely social. It is MUCH harder than the other 2, but still easy for a rifleman. Takes about4 hits to kill withheadshot 2 with a DLT20a.Great thing about these is that you get 505(!!) exp for each one.

Good huting, and look me up on Wonderhome.

TekDragon. Those are "Sevorrts" and "Scykk" respectively I believe. And yes they give great Xp for rifle. Also if you wanna have fun shoot banthas and once they spot you just run firing over your shoulder. Of course it works better with a pistol but you can outrun the bantha with explore 2s terrain negotiation and you get 500-600 xp per bantha. I was doing this while banthas conned red to me.

Instead of running on destroy missions...Kill all the animals first. Then shoot the lair once and peace as soon as you dmg it. One will spawn. Kill it. repeat process until lair is dead.

If you get lucky there are some weird unending spawn places. I was doing a destroy mission on Talus and I ran into a never ending spawn of Paralopes. They're weak, stupid, easy and 100 xp per kill, so realisticly 100 xp per shot. I killed 22 before I got bored and went to finish my mission