Weaponsmith Archive
Thread: Do you have to be a 12-point weaponsmith to be successful?
You can max out the dmg / speed line with 10 pts....the extra 2 pts are nice for lowering ham / increasing range / increasing durability
The only thing you really need to be successful in my opinion are good resources, a thorough shopping list, and an organized inventory list
Its all about having the right resources and knowhow imo.
The extra 2 points are just icing on the cake.
you do the choice, I did mine.
The extra points are good for experimentation, ie to get an amazing success. That's the key to good, proper crafting of any kind. Craft until you hit amazing successes and then make a schematic. If you combine using only the best resources you can find, with this idea, then you can be the best weaponsmith out there.
With the extra 2 exp points you can make crap weapons since you can only get your damage experimentation so high. To get it higher depends on the resources.
I would agree with the former post in stating to use your money to buy the best resources, and once you have a good business with a continual income, then search out the tapes and such for the extra points.
Last point, learn the craft. Understand how everything works. I would definately recommend not grinding up to master completely. Some grinding I can see, but take time to learn how this all works. There's tons of specific resources and multiple components needed. Learn it, my young padawan learner. lol
mattygb wrote:
The extra points are good for experimentation, ie to get an amazing success. That's the key to good, proper crafting of any kind. Craft until you hit amazing successes and then make a schematic. If you combine using only the best resources you can find, with this idea, then you can be the best weaponsmith out there.
Heh. On a total sidenote to the main thread? I'm generally less than thrilled with Amazing Successes. They have a noted pattern (particularly at the end of the exp line) of being as good as 1.5 great successes but taking up the space of 2 great successes. i.e. resulting in a worse overall result.
Under the current experimentation model, a +10 can compete with a +12 on dmg & spd for most weapons.
Secondaries such as condition or range you may not be able to hit.
Under the 'new/retracted' method that was live for one day - as implemented - you would almost certainly need to be a +12 to compete - since no one on any server cares for anything except for dmg+spd FIRST. A handful care for range mods. HAM is inconsequential due to buffs & food & condition is good enough that it's not anymore cost effective to repair\use as it is to buy.
As others have said, make sure you get the best resources on your server. That should be your biggest concern. Even with 12 points, if you have bad resources you won't be able to make the best weapons.
The extra 2-points are nice to have but not vital. Where they are probably most important is if you are planning on doing a lot of custom work with ehancements like Krayt tissue and such.
Now, if the Devs ever reinstate the crafting changes they made on Crafting Day, which I think they will eventually, then having the 2 extra points will become vital. Without them you might as well be a 7-point novice smith selling junk on the bazaar.
Slim Vargo, Corbantis
Message Edited by EdOWar on 05-24-2004 10:40 AM
Eola wrote:
with Amazing Successes. They have a noted pattern (particularly at the end of the exp line) of being as good as 1.5 great successes but taking up the space of 2 great successes. i.e. resulting in a worse overall result.
This is a very interesting point, and one whose implications I still have not figured out. I have noticed that when I spend large blocks of experiment points, say 4-5, on one attribute that affects multiple stats that the bar is quickly maxed out and that the result can be somewhat worse than if I had spent each point one at a time.
What's even stranger is that while spending the points one at a time I don't always get great sucesses. Some moderate successes are thrown in with great successes. However using the 4-5 at a time approach until you can max it out, I mostly get great successes. So, that raises a really important question:
Why would a moderate success during experimentation somehow give an item better stats than all great successes or even amazing sucesses?
I don't have a firm answer on this but I have a theory. It seems that for attributes, like "Damage" in weapons, that affect multiple stats (min damage, max damage, speed) that a moderate success means that at least one of the stats did not go up while the other(s) did. So for example if I spend 1 point to increase the damage attribute, and the min and max damage go up, but the speed stays the same or gets a little worse, that would be a moderate success. Now for the interesting part:
When I get a moderate success the number of boxes left to spend in the attribute is unchanged. I.E. the percentage towards maxing out the attribute has not changed.
So what this means is, if I just spent an experimentpoint and the damage went up but I can still spend more points, then it gives me more room to spend more points to increase the damage. Now in a situation where my resources are near perfect, this is hardly important, since usually I will have 8 points or so that I could spend in one attribute (however even here the moderates can help... a little). But when I am dealing with Advanced components, ones where the resources are so rare that there is practically no chance that they will ever be perfect, I can have as few as 4-5 points that I can spend on an attribute. In these cases, every little bit helps. If I can get an increase in damage without losing a box to spend exp points on, I consider that a MAJOR improvement! (Regardless of what the game calls it)
What this means to me is that I will be spending 1 point at a time praying for a imperfect experiment that still increases one or more of the stats but leaves the box unfilled. The ratio of the change in stats to thechange in experimentationlevel is a measure of the real quality of an experiment attempt. The higher this ratio is the better the experiment was.
To point out an even more extreme case, I have discovered this:
You know those weapon power-ups that have 4-5 stat modson them? In order to get the extra mods, you must have a critical failure during experimentation!
How's that for paradox?!
With the current crafting system, no. You could be successful w/o it.
Keep in mind that the extra points doesnt mean you have more damage on weapon. With the current crafting system, you max out with 10 or less points now anyhow.
The extra points are used in condition, lower ham, or range modifier. So you could still sell weapons with 10 experimentation points
Tyronet City InformationIt's really more about the resources. With the best resources, you can make higher damage and faster weapons, and that is what really matters the most to customers. Tape is mostly useful when you're crafting custom & krayt weapons because those customers want the absolute best chance of success, and tape increases that chance.
So basically once you have excellent resources, and are making some of the best weapons, then the money will roll in, and you'll be able to compete for tape.