Smuggler Archive

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############################################################ Gaius Kavadas
############################################################ Stormtrooper
############################################################ 47th IEF
############################################################ Imperial Army
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For grinding pistols in the squill cave I've been using an fwg5..works great for me. Squills have little or no heat resist as I remember.

"How dare you sleep under the very blanket of protection I provide, and then question the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said 'thank you', and went on your way."

Here are some very quick tips. But grinding DF without Pistoleer will be tough. It has the same xp requirement as any of the lines in pistoleer so just be prepared.

COLONEL DRAEVYN TYR
Master Gunfighter : Master Smuggler : Teräs Käsi Master
The Spice Must Flow
Corbantis.Naboo.Theed.-5851.3187

You are in for a long, hard grind. I'm assuming that you want the Dirty Fighting tree so that you can use the smuggler specials with the launcher pistol, which isn't a bad idea.

The only problem is that without having any pistoleer skills, the grind is going to be difficult. The smuggler profession does not have any mods for pistol speed or accuracy. Since I'm not a commando, I have no idea if the Launcher Pistol is covered by "pistol" speed and accuracy mods,or "heavy weapons" speed and accuracy mods. If it's HW, then you'll be fine...AFTER the grind. If it's not HW, and the Launcher relies on pistol mods..well...those specials are going to let you down in fights on a pretty consistent basis.

I made sure I had at least novice pistoleer for the Health Shot 2 (Sap Blast) attack which made mobs much easier to kill. I also picked up Pistol Melee Defense 1, which also helped (at least until I got Low Blow). I would definitely recommend getting that box of Novice Pistoleer first before starting up the DF tree, and then ditching it after you have a couple of the smuggler specials if necessary. It may seem like a waste of 125k pistol xp, but I think it might make your grind up the first two or three boxes easier.

But, assuming that none of that is a viable option for you, I'll give you a couple suggestions for just grinding out pistol xp without actually having pistol skills:

- Quenker Missions: Go to the Dantooine Mining Outpost and get a full set of HAM buffs. Bring a good set of kinetic armor (ubese works fine) and a SPEED SLICED FWG5. Group with a pet for an XP bonus and then take Quenker missions. They will appear on the misison terminal for about 5100 credits. Quenkers have no armor and are vulnerable to heat. Target the lair, run right up inside it, and then spam Point Blank Area 1 as fast as you can until nothing is left moving. WIth buffs and armor, they shouldn't be able to hurt you much, if at all. You can bring powerups with you for either dmg or speed, but I don't know how practical that is since with all the special-spamming you will burn through them VERY fast. If you've got the credits to blow though, go for it. You can use all the help you can get without pistol mods. This will earn you enough XP to grind through all of Dirty Fighting in about 4-5 hours depending on the duration of your buffs and the time spent traveling between lairs and the mission terminals.

- Fort Tusken: Get a group or tank partner. If you can't find a group or tank, just be an XP leechand randomly take potshots at other people's mobs. You won't win many friends, and might get yourself trained more than once, but you'll get decent xp. I would sugest trying to latch onto a real group or partnet though. Nobody likes a leech.

- Baz Nitch MIssions: The old fashioned way. It's hard to find real groups anymore, but if you get a partner that can take a ton of dmg or otherwise provide tankage (TK or CH or preferably both - and make sure one or both of you have at least novice medic) take Baz Nitch missions and just blast away from range. This is actually how I did all of my pistol XP up through Master Smuggler. I used to group with a CH (later a TKA/Commando) named Korbacca andwe would rake in creds and xp. As long as the pet held aggro (or Kor when he switched to Teras Kasi), I was free to shoot to my heart's content. Once I had a few specials under my belt (Panic Shot, Low Blow, Covering Fire, Feign Death were the most useful) I was really a great tank support and we breezed thru missions, so it will definitely get easier as you go (just hope your partner doesn't outdamage you so much in the beginning that you get crap xp - this is especially true if grouped with a TKA).

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Say hello to the bad guy...
Gavrisom Barca
Rogue, Desperado, Pistoleer
"Rebel...Imperial...I'm the guy with the gun."

I have 150K of pistol XP to go until Master Smuggler and I don't have any Pistoleer skills.

I would strongly recommend getting some Pistoleer skills. Makes life a lot easier.