Smuggler Archive
Thread: New to Smuggler, little help from a vet
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Imec1976
Fri Aug 27, 2004 6:10 am
#1
I am a new smuggler, 0200, and want to get some advice on progression. Should I just keep slicing knives and pistols with WUKs and clamps till I am slicer, then work on the pistol skills, then do spice last? What is the usual smuggler way of prog.? Any help or advice would be appreciated. ty
Uludil
Fri Aug 27, 2004 6:35 am
#2
Here's one way of going at it.....
Make a macro saying that you slice containers for free....that´ll always work....Then start hitting poi´s to grind your pistol skills...when hunting in big groups start telling people not to destroy their looted crap weapons like cdef's etc....instead make them give em to you for slicing....then again if money is not an issue...buy lots of survival knives and cdef´s at the bazaar and slice away like a madman...another option is getting novice artisan and make the knives or cdef´s yourself!
Grinding up spices is just...well..boring...i did my whole spice tree while waiting for shuttles.....and guess what....I finished that tree as the first (hmm guess that says much about waiting in this game).
Uludil
Master Smuggler, Eclipse
Bossov
Fri Aug 27, 2004 6:35 am
#3
Hmm, I did all of spices, then started up slicing back when most of us used FANs, got dirty fighting 1 around the time I started the slicing trees, then started a slow climb up dirty fighting after I finished slicing, then went up underworld last. Then later went on to pistoleer and tk. I'm not much of a grinder and it took me a few solid months, and any grinding I did do was pretty sporadic. Probably not the most effecient way, but I was stoked to get novice Smuggler and wanted to get some Smuggler skills, so I did the only thing I could easily do...grind spices hehe. You'd probably advance faster if you did spices last if you're short on skill points. Keep any combat skills you have as long as you can for defenses and to pull you out of tight jams. Example: I am grinding another profession and I have kept the TK meditate and state defense trees as long as possible to help me along the way.
Korrack
Fri Aug 27, 2004 6:51 am
#4
I did dirty fighting first, then underworld. All the pistol XP I could get as fast as I could. This did two things, got me through the two trees, and generated credits I would need for the slicing and spicing. For the slicing, I purchased crates of molecular clamps (You cannot craft them until Slicing IV and it sucks tofail a slice and lose the xp)with some of the money I made doing missions for pistol XP, then Ipurchased a ton of locked containers and sliced all of those through till I could do weapons. I got a few neat loot items from the containers as well. Then I crafted crates of survival knives (I'm also an Artisan, but you could always buy these) and sliced my way through until the end. You get the same XP for survival knives as you do for armor, so there's no point switching to slicing armor. I then started the grind for spicing. I crafted shadowpaw and nothing else all the way up the spice line. Simple to make and enough xp to be worth it. You need only an organic (wheat or anything)and some metal (I think plain metal I don't remember off hand) to craft so it's simple and easy. The pistol xp grind will more than pay for any slicing or spicing resources you need. Look for smuggler vendors who sell crates of things you'll need like laser knives and molecularclamps and survival knives so you don't have to waste time crafting them yourself. It's worth every credit spent.
I admit it can be boring doing the spice and slice line if you are just trying to get through it as quickly as possible. Sometimes if I got bord I'd run off and do some more missions for faction points or cash to just break up the tedium. It took me about a week to get to Master Smuggler, but I play quite a bit. I was not truly grinding it, I could have macroed the spice line, but I chose to get carpal tunnel instead.
The trick to getting through any profession is to not grind yourself into boredom so you hate the profession. Enjoy the play. That is most important.
Vendo
Fri Aug 27, 2004 7:32 am
#5
It really depends on what your end game template will be. If you are going to do pistoleer too, I would suggest getting to master pistoleer first, then working on smuggler pistols.
For slicing, you can either grind through knives/cdef's or take containers as you get them, and you can do all this while waiting for buffs or shuttles.
For spices, just get the resources to make one spice and do that one all the way through the spice tree...I forgot which one it was, but it's one of the first spices and only takes 2 resources, 5 metal and 25 organic ( if I remember correctly )...do this while waiting on buffs and shuttles.
But if you aren't going to do any pistoleer, go with DF first then go to underworld.
Good luck.
chown2
Fri Aug 27, 2004 7:59 am
#6
I think people aren't paying attention to your post. If you're 0200, you're past needing locked containers. Buy 300 (12 crates) molecular clamps and 300 survival knives (or make them yourself with novice artisan) and start slicing away.
Other than that, the order doesn't really matter. You can mix things up for a little variety, but there's no advantage to any particular order. It used to be helpful to do the dirty fighting tree before underworld for the use of the DF specials, but the specials are less useful now.
If you're interested in doing pistoleer as well as smuggler, you should level pistoleer before the 2 pistol trees of smuggler. The pistoleer skills will help you master smuggler faster.
Other than that, the order doesn't really matter. You can mix things up for a little variety, but there's no advantage to any particular order. It used to be helpful to do the dirty fighting tree before underworld for the use of the DF specials, but the specials are less useful now.
If you're interested in doing pistoleer as well as smuggler, you should level pistoleer before the 2 pistol trees of smuggler. The pistoleer skills will help you master smuggler faster.
Xarche
Fri Aug 27, 2004 8:08 am
#7
Grind out slicing first, its a very nice influx of credits for you. While you are making credits by slicing at starports, grind out the spice line. Once you are 0404, then go out on destroy missions to get the remainder. And always look for lower level smugglers, make friends with them, and then when you are ready, get to master off of the AP you made by teaching the skills to the other smugglers.
Thochkored
Fri Aug 27, 2004 8:48 am
#8
Slicing was the first tree I climed, I was a Novice Artisan and made my own knives and instead of buying clamps I used fans, not the most efficient way to grind, but since I had most of the matterials it was cheaper. This technique also had an interesting side effect, I had enough crafting XP to get to novice WS and almost to Novice AS. So I harvested some more resources and have made myself several WUK schems and AUK Schems to last me quite sometime before droping both. I then started up Dirty Fighting and Ground Spice while I was waiting for buffs, the shuttle or hanging out in the cantina waiting for Slicing customers. After Spices it was all about the pistol XP, go get buffed (health and mind) get a crate of Brandy and hit one of the adventure planets, I could get about 100K credits and 100K XP in one buff session. I would also suggest you get Novice Pistoleer at the least before you grind Pistol XP the DX2 comes in handy, it is a good idea to have as many pistol damage options as possible.
KabaI
Fri Aug 27, 2004 11:20 am
#9
Once I finished with the pre-requisits, and actually made it to Novice, I quickly sped through Spices (finished that off in about a day). It was an easy grind. Next, I started hunting for locked containers by running faction missions from Theed, and slicing the terminals too, when I reached the appropriate level. Used the proceeds to purchase more locked containers from the bazaar (the cheap ones at least. Most of those greedy bastards think we should pay 6k for a damn container).
Imec1976
Fri Aug 27, 2004 4:08 pm
#10
Awesome all, ty very much for the great feedback. I am a 4440 doc too, so I can buff myself and do pistols fairly fast. I think I will slice to 0400 so I can get some income, then do spices in between the pistol trees. Unlike my sig, I am not "grinding" anymore and just want to be a master smuggler due to my story. I left the game for the summer, but forgot to pay off lots of maintenance on my houses, so when I came back I had lost everything I had except what I had in the bank. The big loss was an unused full suit of 90% comp I had on display in my large house. I want to go smuggler, because it is like I left to explore the far reaches of the galaxy, but when I returned to my home planet, Tat, the Empire had confiscated all my estates and goods. Makes me feel better about the loss if I think of it in Star Wars terms, lol. TY again for feedback, and if you all need some buffs, look me up. 
Spec-Ops
Fri Aug 27, 2004 7:51 pm
#11
i did the DF tree, when i got bored i did some slicing, when i got bored i did some spice, when i got bored i did some more DF... im not the best grinder, but what the hay
KefkaQ
Fri Aug 27, 2004 8:00 pm
#12
Went up slicing first, then spices. Organic was really easy, I've kept scout 4040 for as long as possible, so I can always get hide or something 
And 1 harvestor got me all the metal I needed for shadowpaw. Do underworld last, unless you're really into factional stuff.
And 1 harvestor got me all the metal I needed for shadowpaw. Do underworld last, unless you're really into factional stuff.
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