Eco. Guide for the Skilling Noob.

[Hotei]

A basic eco. and skill guide for the noob, from a noob.

Ok I will start this out by saying I am still a noob in almost every sense of the word, but would still like to try and help those that are starting avoid some of my mistakes. For all those reading that have something to add, please do.

First off I must give credit to where credit is due… this forum. You will see much of my advice is just recycled from previous threads that can be found using the search button (this button will become your best friend). My hope is that I will be able to condense some of this advice into one guide.

So here we go…

Once you get off the ship all dressed up in your OJ’s (orange jumpsuit) there will be a lot going on. MA has given us guides… find one (they have a star over their head) and learn how to control and use your character. There are many guides on learning how to control your aviator and learn what the keys on the keyboard do so if you don’t find a guide that is ok too, but until you learn this, this guide will make no sense.

Before you can even start to be concerned about being economical with your stuff, you first need PEDs to get stuff. There are guides for this as well… but in a nutshell, you will have to sweat, gather fruit and/or dung, trade or deposit.

Ok, now that you have stuff, here is what I would consider doing. Sweat some more. Yes the price isn’t that good, and it’s boring (well I rather enjoy it), but if you can stand it… do it. Think about this… if you can get 500 sweat a day, sell at .6, and do this for about a month, you will have close to 100 peds. Some of the better places to sweat are N of Port Atlantis, around Fort Argus, Fort Troy, and Nea’s place (this is a great reason to run and get TP’s… and besides you get to see new people and places.)

This is not to say that you have to just sweat, you don’t. Here is a set up that I believe is great for a new person. The first tool that I think is needed is the Sollomate Opalo (it can be purchased from the TT). Now my reason for thinking this is that with that Opalo it is possible to loot a FAP. Which by the way is equally important to the Opalo, so if you wanted to get this first, by all means go for it.

So, you have either the Sollomate Opalo, or a FAP, this is good. I don’t believe that you need armor as a new player, and here is why. You gain skills when you use your weapon (Opalo), or healing tool (FAP). When you use armor all you get is decay (yep loss of PED’s). Eventually, down the road, skills can be sold for a profit (but believe me you are not there… it’s just nice to know).

So you are off to sweat mobs… if you have the Opalo, here is what I suggest. Sweat the Mob until it is dry (or if you can’t do that) until it charges at you. At that point start shooting and kill it! You may get loot, you may not. But remember this… 22 sweat is slightly more than 11 ammo in loot. You will greatly increase your Economy if you sweat each creature before you kill it. Let me repeat that… you will greatly increase your Economy if you sweat each creature before you kill it. Period. EDIT: It has been suggested that you go and only sweat Smaller mobs. Snalbes, Exa's, & Daks... try youngs first and then if you feel like it matures (possibly an old on male snables).

If you chose the FAP (from TT) instead of the Opalo here is what I suggest. Go somewhere near water, or a turret gun, or even sweat in groups. Start off sweating the mob like you would any other, and when you get close to dying run to water, or a turret (or if in a group hope the mob moves onto the other person)… the mob will die. Then pull out the FAP and start healing and gaining skills.

Now if you have both a FAP and an Opalo… do this… Go to the creature, sweat it, shoot it, loot it, and heal yourself. Rinse and repeat… you will be on a good path, and when you are all done with the hunting session sell the loot to someone in Port Atlantis or Twin Peaks (be patient, you will find a good price eventually). As a side note, it is not beneficial to sell smaller amounts of loot on auction because the fees there will eat up any profit you might have gained. However if you hit it big, you can usually get a few extra peds by placing large amounts of loot on auction.

So you say Hotei, I am losing PED’s when I hunt and use my FAP… here is my answer to that. Yes, you will lose PED’s in decay from your weapon, ammo and FAP but the skills you gain will offset this in the long run. Oh, and yes you will probably lose when you hunt, but you won’t lose as bad as you would if you missed this guide all together.

Now for some particulars… ALWAYS use SIB (skill increase bonus) items if you are interested in saving your PED’s. Using amps for your weapon too early, in my opinion, is a waste of money because you will miss too many shots and still get decay on your amp. I have heard many different people say different things. “Put one on when your HA (hit ability) gets to 6.0”, “Put one on when your HA gets to 10.0”. Personally I chose 8.0 as my cut off to add an amp… Omegaton a101. However, with the price of amps now, I may consider the 10.0 advice… they are getting very expensive. And if you can do it, try to hunt with at least 50-100 PED in ammo (I know it’s a lot) but it will help you ride out the bad swings MA will throw your way.

When to change weapons? Well I believe that it is time to change the weapon when the SIB says “not anymore”, at this point you will no longer be getting a skill increase bonus because you will be using the weapon at it’s maximum. I believe if you started with the Opalo, your next best bet is the Breer series. Breer M1a, Breer M2a, Breer M3a in that order. When you max those, believe me you wont need this guide EDIT: It has also been suggested that you use the Opalo until the next weapon up is maxed... the choice is yours. Both Choices seems to be valid. It is a trade off for skills vs. the use of PED's.

Can you use other weapons… sure you can. There are pistols and melee weapons that offer SIB too. I personally have not gone that route so I cannot speak knowledgably about it. However, I feel if you were to buy the TT item and max it and move on from there to a higher weapon that would be a good move. Maybe some more experienced players can post on this. EDIT: Use the omegaton m2100 from TT to start, and then follow the Breer series P1a, P2a, P3a, etc.

OK mining… This is a profession where you can drop a 0.50 PED probe and hit it huge, or you can drop probes and bombs and lose it all. Good miners tend to do quite well (as do good hunters and crafters) but you are starting out, and you are NOT them. If you are going to mine, start with the TT finders and excavators. There is one each for Enmatter, and one each for Ore. Remember to use ones that have SIB (more eco… that’s the point of this guide)… and switch when it says “not anymore”. EDIT: Or you could also use the advice above to keep with the finder until you have maxed the next on in the series.

Enmatters tend to have lower markup when you find them, but are half as expensive to look for. Ores tend to have a higher markup compared to ores, but are twice as expensive to look for. The choice is yours which to look for. So how do you do it? Well that’s a million PED question.

Thousands of theories abound. My personal favorite, double the “range” of your finder… if it says 54m… then drop a probe or bomb every 108m (about 20 seconds of running in a straight line). If you find something, rebomb and then repeat. If you find nothing but get a skill message in chat… run another 20 seconds and bomb. If you get nothing and do not get a skill message… run 40 seconds and see what you get. For more in depth info on mining do a search (that goes for hunting and crafting as well). Finally, if you are just starting out… do not use amps. The cost to use them vs. the benefit just isn’t a good thing for you when starting out. EDIT: It has been suggested that you keep a log of all your finds... this is great advice.

I believe that hunting may be a better choice for noobs to start out with, but with the recent raise in markup prices on ores and enmatters I am not so sure anymore. Ubers feel free to chime in.

Finally, there is crafting. If you want to save your PEDs that you have worked for, don’t craft (it’s tough, I didn’t even follow my own advice… and you guessed it, I lost all my PEDs). If you are good at crafting there is absolutely a potential to profit… but remember you are NOT good yet, and you are NOT them, and besides this is an eco. guide. However, if you must, use something like basic filters, or basic tube blue prints…. Put in about $200 US dollars, and click like what will seem a billion times. This will help you get Blueprint Comprehension, and that helps when you start to make armor, and weapons, etc. I believe if you want to craft clothes though, BPC will not help your cause.

Another good thing that may help is find a good mentor (not saying any names, but my mentors initials are … Eol Eol Lorien… you like that plug Eol?) they, (and unofficial mentors) will help you greatly (thanks guys you know who you are… too many to name). Finally, a good soc. can help too. Look into it… if your interested, I’m in Miner’s Mafia, and they have been great (I know shameless plug). A soc. is priceless in the knowledge they can offer, and sometimes even cutting you breaks on prices.

I wish you good luck, and welcome all ideas and thoughts to make this a better guide for the eco. conscious skilling noob.

Cheers, Hotei

[Sarubaboon]

Nice post, summarises a lot of what I've been reading in the forum....

[zaber]

Good job Hotei

[Keren]

Originally Posted by Hotei

When to change weapons? Well I believe that it is time to change the weapon when the SIB says “not anymore”, at this point you will no longer be getting a skill increase bonus because you will be using the weapon at it’s maximum. I believe if you started with the Opalo, your next best bet is the Breer series. Breer M1a, Breer M2a, Breer M3a in that order. When you max those, believe me you wont need this guide

Hi Hotei,

+rep for the guide, however;

Sorry I disagree with this part, If you have spent time and PED increasing a weapons efficiency to the max, don't just give this up and move to another gun. You should continue to use the first gun (ie Opalo) at this maximum efficiency until the next gun (Breer M1a) is SIB = 'not anymore'. This way you will always be using your weapons at their most cost effective rate.

I can confirm that for pistols the M2100 --> Breer Pxa ranges follows the same rules for economy.

K.

[Hotei]

Thanks Everyone...

Keren, that is exactly the advice i am looking for... keep the constructive criticism coming! So anyone else feel free to chime in.

Cheers

Hotei

[rojomojo]

I am a newb, great guide hotei, but karen, once i lose the sib on my opalo, i would want to move onto the breer so that way i can get an sib as use that gun too, now i know im trading of damage for skill, but i think i would choose skill over damage, so down the line, ill have the skill to do the damage i want

[Keren]

Rojomojo,

I realise that the way I put forward isn't the quickest way, but it is the cheapest and Hotei's guide is an guide for economical skilling.

K.

[sahel]

Nice guide Hotei!

+Rep

[Caoryn]

I'd suggest anyone wanting to sweat the mobs dry before killing them to pick mobs that only give sweat once or twice (Snable male up to old, female up to mature (I think?), Daikiba Young, small Sabakumas - but these are rather aggressive.).
That way you will lose less to armor decay (on the average, usually you can score a few sucking attempts before these mobs attack you).

[Alice]

didn't post before, not much to say
+rep i gave you after you wrote the thread already

Originally Posted by Keren

You should continue to use the first gun at this maximum efficiency until the next gun (Breer M1a) is SIB = 'not anymore'. This way you will always be using your weapons at their most cost effective rate.

Originally Posted by rojomojo

once i lose the sib on my opalo, i would want to move onto the breer so that way i can get an sib as use that gun too

the thing is, you are both right

Keren on the one hand, rather uses a weapon which has 50%-100% damage, and 10/10 hit ability
rojo rather 45%-70% damage, and 6/10 Hit ability
(could be the numbers when you are max on opalo, completely max opalo is around level 1k-1.2k rifle)


now, since eco is (roughly) the output divided by cash invested, or
dam divided by decay*markup(for limited, and just roughly again)+ammo burn
dam / (decay*markup + ammo burn)

you are ofc less eco when you use a weapon when the damage isn't maxed yet

the real question is now,
is the cost you spend more on killing stuff with lower decay
(since you use more cash in the end to kill the mobs)
lower, compared to a normal skill gain that is offered by a maxed/non SIB weapon
but with a maxed/non SIB weapon you would have to kill more stuff to reach the same level you had gotten with SIB

or in short form, does the faster skill gain compensate the higher killing cost per mob?

actually, i haven't done any testing regarding this
so, answer this for yourself

but I tell my disciples usually, to use the opalo (at level 800 with amp 101, then the dam for opalo is maxed; well, 750 to be more precise), until they reach the max dam for the breer M1a

at this stage, the damage is maxed 50%-100%, but the hit ability is lower
around 7/10 most likely

this way you have a maxed dam (read eco), a higher hit ability than with a non SIB weapon, and even some SIB left for the aim


PS; if someone would be interested, means a complete newcomer, to skill one of the 3 ways up and write the data down, it could be interesting to know

PS2; maybe i should grap some new disciples and let them skill the 3 possible ways