**This is a guide that I wrote in the Beta forum. I've reposted it since many users can't log into that zone.**
Unless specified, the experimental values apply to every aspect of the crafted item. This is indicated by an orange name followed by its particular experimental values.
This guide is simple. If all aspects are derived from the same categories, then shop for each mineral listed, looking for high values in those specified categories. After each part that has segmented experimental values, I give advice on what to shop for.
ARMOR
Armor Plating:
Aluminum, Steel, Low Grade Ore, Inert Petro
HR 25%, OQ 25%, UT 50%
Armor Reinforcements:
Steel, Crystallized Bicorbantium Steel
HR 25%, UT 75%
Mass Reduction Kits:
Aluminum, Perovskitic Aluminum
OQ 25%, UT 75%
BOOSTERS
Boosters:
Steel, Aluminum, Low Grade Ore, Liquid Petro Fuel
Mass, Hitpoints, and Armor points: OQ 33%, UT 66%
Acceleration, Energy Consumption, Booster Energy, Recharge Rate, Speed: CD 25%, OQ 25%, PE 50%
Energy Maintenance: OQ 33%, PE 66%
Conclusion: Shop for the above Minerals and look for decent CD and OQ, and a particularly high UT. Your Liquid Petro should have a nice OQ and a particularly high PE.
Booster Overdrivers and Extended Life Fuel Cells:
Steel, High Grade Polymetric Radioactive
OQ 33%, PE 66%
Fast Charge Fuel Cells and Heavy Fuel Cells:
Steel, Unstable Organometallic Reactive Gas
DR 33%, OQ 66%
CAPACITORS
Capacitors:
Steel, Copper, Inert Gas, Low Grade Ore
Mass, Armor, Hitpoints: OQ 33%, UT 66%
Max Energy, Energy Maintenance, Recharge Rate: OQ 33%, CD 66%
Conclusion: Shop for the above Minerals with decent OQ and particularly high CD and UT. Your Inert Gas should have the highest OQ you can get.
Energy Saver Batteries, Extended Life Batteries, Heavy Batteries, Quick Recharge Batteries:
Steel, Conductive Borcarbitic Copper
CD 75% OQ 25%
COUNTERMEASURE PACKS
All Countermeasure Packs require the same two resources and have the same experimental values across the board.
Steel, Metal
CD 50%, OQ 50%
DROID INTERFACES
Droid Interfaces:
Steel, Fiberplast, Copper, Low Grade Ore
Mass, Armor, Hitpoints: OQ 33%, UT 66%
Droid Command Speed: CD 33%, OQ 33%, SR 33%
Energy Maintenance: CD 50%, OQ 50%
Conclusion: Shop for every resource listed above, looking for high OQ, UT, CD, and a decent SR.
Droid Brain Upgrades and Maintenance Reduction Kit
Steel, Conductive Borcarbitic Copper
CD 60%, OQ 40%
ENGINES
Engines:
Steel, Radioactive, Iron, Aluminum
Mass, Armor, Hitpoints: OQ 25%, UT 75%
Energy Maintenance: CD 66%, OQ 33%
Speed, Pitch, Roll, and Yaw: CD 33%, OQ 33%, PE 33%
Conclusion: Shop for the above minerals, looking for nice high CD and OQ, and a particularly high UT. Search for a radioactive that has high OQ and PE.
Engine Overdrivers and Limiters:
Steel, Fermionic Siliclastic Ore
CD 40%, OQ 60%
MISSILE PACKS
(All Missile Packs have the same experimental values across the board, being CD 50% and OQ 50%)
All Mark 1 Missile Packs require the same two resources
Steel, Radioactive
All Mark 2 through Mark 4 Missile Packs require the same two resources
Steel, High Grade Polymetric Radioactive
REACTORS
Reactors:
Steel, Copper, Radioactive, Inert Gas
Mass, Armor, Hitpoints: OQ 50%, UT 50%
Energy Generation: CD 50%, OQ 50%
Conclusion: Shop for steel and copper that have high OQ, UT, and CD. Search for a radioactive that has a particularly high OQ, and the same for the gas.
Reactor Limiters and Reactor Overchargers:
Steel, High Grade Polymetric Radioactive
OQ 60%, PE 40%
SHIELDS
Shields:
Steel, Reactive Gas, Aluminum, Siliclastic Ore
Mass, Armor, Hitpoints: OQ 33%, UT 66%
Shield Front Hitpoints, Shield Rear Hitpoints, Shield Recharge Rate: CD 33%, OQ 33%, SR 33%
Conclusion: Shop for the above minerals with a high OQ, UT, CR, and SR. With a lower generation shield, the Shield hitpoints and recharge rate are most important, so focus on the CD, OQ, and SR. With the higher generation shields, the mass can become VERY large, so search for minerals with particularly high UT. Search for a reactive gas that has the highest OQ you can get.
Shield Energy Savers, Shield Intensifiers, Shield Limiters, Shield Overchargers:
Steel, Gravitonic Fiberplast
OQ 50%, CD 50%
SHIP CHASSIS [UPDATED 10-23-04]
Only the master level ships need copper and siliclastic ore. The mid grade ships require everything else on the following list, and the tier 0 ships only require steel, aluminum, low grade ore, and inert petro.
Steel, Low Grade Ore, Inert Petrochemical, Aluminum, Fiberplast, Iron, Siliclastic Ore, Copper
Maximum Hitpoints: HR 25%, OQ 25%, SR 25%, UT 25%
Maximum Mass: MA 25%, OQ 25%, SR 25%, UT 25%
Conclusion: This becomes a matter of opinion. If you want your ship to have the best mass possible (you really should), then look for the above materials with the best MA, OQ, UT, and SR as possible. These are rare, but when a resource comes along that touches each of these categories, people mine it like they're going to win a contest if they keep mining it. If you favor hitpoints, then pay more attention to the HR than the MA. If you can find resources that have great showings in all 5 of these categories, then consider yourself lucky, and buy all that you can.
*SPECIAL NOTE* When experimenting with your ship, don't even bother with the mass unless you spend all of your points on hitpoints and still have some left over. The mass will only increase by a very very small fraction, even if you devote 10 points to experimenting on it.
Message Edited by certifiedandrew on 10-26-2004 09:36 PM
*edited by admin*