LordoftheStrings
Community Advisor
Posts: 1022
Registered: 04-07-2004
|
|
I have noticed a lot of confusion amongst other swg players on what skill tapes are, and more importantly how they work. There are a few guides so far that are extremely useful, however have some commonly mistaken information. Most of the needed information seemed to be scattered and outdated to me, and so I decided to bring it all together and make an Ultimate Guide to Skill Tapes. So here it is!
This is a guide for the successful use of Skill Enhancement Attachments. This guide covers both clothing attachments (looks like a role of duct tape; also known as skill tapes) and armor attachments (looks like an armor segment), which are collectively known as Skill Enhancement Attachments (SEA's).
There are some basic rules that apply to all:
1) skill tapes go into clothes that have sockets, armor attachments go into armor that have sockets (including ubese shirts and mabari belts). They are applied by dragging and dropping the SEA onto the socketed item which, if the SEA isn't blank, will fill up one socket. Maximum number of sockets on an item is 4. Sockets on backpacks don't work currently, there is no way to put a skill tape on a backpack at the moment.
2) skill tapes are ONLY lootable, they are not craftable, however Bio-Engineers CAN craft certain skill mods with clothing tissue (see below).
3) there is a maximum of 6 stat modifiers for a piece of clothing, which includes stat modifiers from Bio-Engineered tissues added into clothes items at creation (e.g. you could have a clothes item with +10 to injury treatment, +10 to wound treatment, and +10 to bleeding defense, which would allow for 3 more stat mods to be attached assuming 3 sockets).
4) you can only get one skill stat bonus from a tape to stick, with others being lost (i.e. a tape that has 2 or more stat mods will only allow one to stick, see below)
5) stat mods do not stack, you do not get benefit from putting additional tapes with the same type of stat mod on a single item of clothing as they do not add together (e.g. you put a +5 armor experimentation on a pair of gloves, you can't put another +3 armor experimentation on there and get +8, you would just lose the +3 and still have a pair of gloves with +5 on it). If you place a single stat mod tape on a piece of clothing with a higher stat mod of the same type as one that's is already on the item, the higher number will stick (e.g. if you have +3 armor experimentation on a pair of gloves and you put a +5 armor experimentation tape on it, you will get gloves with +5 armor experimentation). Placing multiple stat attachments on items with matching skills follows extra rules see below.
6) when placing an attachment with 2 or more stats, the highest value stats will be the only one applied (e.g. a +5 rifle accuracy with +4 armorsmith experimentation will give the +5 rifle accuracy) regardless of the order of which the stats are listed on the SEA. In the case of a higher negative numbered mod than positive mod(s), the highest positive number will stick (e.g. a -14 rifle accuracy with +5 armorsmith experimentation will give the +5 armorsmith experimentation) regardless if the negative number is larger, positive mods will ALWAYS have a higher numerical value than the negative mods.
7) when placing an attachment with 2 or more stat mods and there are 2 or more stat mods tied for the highest numerical value, the stat mod that is listed FIRST will be the only one applied, regardless of alphabetical order.
8) clothes with stat mods that drop to 0 condition, still allow the stat mods to work, so don't destroy any stat modded clothes that are at 0 condition
9) maximum stat mod you can get from a set of clothing (or armor) is +25, so any more than that in bonuses is unused
There is a situation that arises all too frequently:
10) if a tape has multiple stats on it and you want one that has a lower value than the highest listed stat mod (e.g. +23 grenade experimentation +20 armorsmith experimentation on a tape, of course you want the armorsmith experimentation to stick). Here the solution is based upon the order that the skill mods are listed on the SEA (e.g. is the +23 grenade experimentation first or is the +20 armorsmith experimentation first?).
The ONLY solution is to first place on the desired clothes item, a stat mod of the same type and value (or greater) as the less desirable yet higher number stat mod (e.g. a +23 grenade experimentation tape in the above example, if the +20 armorsmith experimentation was listed first).
So to refresh, say you have these tapes:
Tape #1
+23 grenade experimentation
+20 armorsmith experimentation
Tape #2
+20 armorsmith experimentation
+23 grenade experimentation
To get the +20 armorsmith experimentation to stick on EITHER Tape #1 or Tape #2, you would need to put a +23 (or higher) grenade experimentation tape on the clothes item first. In both cases 2 sockets are necessary
What if there are 3 stats but the lowest of the three is the one you want to stick? Follows the same rules as above. I will illustrate with an example.
Tape #3
+25 surveying
+24 droid complexity
+23 weaponsmith experimentation
Tape #4
+23 weaponsmith experimentation
+25 surveying
+24 droid complexity
Tape #5
+24 droid complexity
+23 weaponsmith experimentation
+25 surveying
You of course would want weaponsmith experimentation. On EITHER Tape #3, Tape #4, or Tape #5 you would have to place a +25 surveying tape on first, then a +24 droid complexity tape, then Tape #3, Tape #4, or Tape #5 on, to get the +23 weaponsmith experimentation to stick.
Types of socketed clothes items that a human male can wear that would allow for the maximum number of skill stat enhanced pieces are hat, belt, bandolier (can't wear a backpack with this), shirt, jacket/duster/cloak/robe(belts with these look like a hula hoop surrounding you), pants, gloves (short gloves as longer gloves don't allow for wearing a jacket), boots, so a maximum of 8 pieces with with 4 sockets each for skill tapes. Armor for a human male, composite armor with nine pieces, a mabari armored belt, a ubese armored shirt, a ubese bandolier, allows for 12 pieces with 4 sockets each for armor attachments.
Well, Lets just count how many items are socketable & able to be worn at the same time:
(Note: Pants cannot be worn under Leggins)
· Helm
· Chest Armor
· Leggins
· Boots
· Gloves
· Left Bicep
· Right Bicep
· Right Forearm
· Left Forearm
· Shirt
· Belt
· Bandolier or Backpack
· Total: 48 Sockets on You Maximum
Now that we know how to apply skill tapes and know how many can be applied at once, all there is to know is which mods work! The following information was posted by Imaridril, it can be found here.
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=csystems&message.id=7076
I would like to give him great thanks for doing what the devs should have done a long time ago 
== LIST OF ALL MODS ==
Experimentation and Assembly Skill Mods
* Weapon Experimentation and Assembly
* Armor Experimentation and Assembly
* Food Experimentation and Assembly
* Medicine Experimentation and Assembly
* Combat Medicine Experimentation and Assembly
* Droid Experimentation and Assembly
* Clothing Experimentation and Assembly
* Structure Experimentation and Assembly
* Artisan Experimentation and Assembly
* Grenade Experimentation and Assembly
All of these mods work except grenade experimentation and assembly, which was removed in beta and no longer exists on the current skill tree.
Repair Skill Mods
* Weapon Repair
* Armor Repair
* Clothing Repair
None of these mods do anything. They have been tested extensively and serve no purpose.
Other Artisan Related Skill Mods
* Droid Customization
* Droid Complexity
* Structure Complexity
* Surveying
The first three mods here do nothing. Surveying works, but you hit the hard cap for surveying distance at artisian surveying 4 anyway so take that into consideration. Force surveying does stack on top of the cap.
Other Medic and Doctor Related Skill Mods
* Injury Treatment
* Injury Treatment Speed
* Wound Treatment
* Wound Treatment Speed
* Medical Foraging
* Medicine Use
Most of these mods work, however the medical foraging skill is as good as useless, and it would be pointless to use. Medicine Use was nerfed and no longer functions. Wound Treatment Speed works but no longer increases application speed of enhance packs.
Other Combat Medic Related Skill Mods
* Healing Range
* Ranged Injury Treatment Speed
* Combat Medicine Use
* Combat Medicine Effectiveness
Healing range and combat medicine use have been tested and don't do anything. The second mod up there works just fine.
Scout, Ranger, and Squad Leader Related Skill Mods.
* Terrain Negotiation
* Camouflage
* Foraging
* Rescue
* Group Terrain Negotiation
* Steady Aim Bonus
* Volley Fire Bonus
All of these skill mods are tested and should work, but I don't know anyone who would actually want most of them. Don't put down any credits on the last two especially, since it is hard to confirm just how effecitve they are since they don't really do much anyway. I'm leaving them green since we know they do function.
Creature Handler Related Skill Mods
* Additional Pets
* Stored Pets
* Creature Taming Bonus
Additional Pets and Stored Pets both used to work but have been nerfed, creature taming bonus works fine and I beleive is a requirement for taming a bull rancor baby.
Entertainer Related Skill Mods
* Wound Healing (Music)
* Wound Healing (Dancing)
* Battle Fatigue Healing (Music)
* Battle Fatigue Healing (Dancing)
* Musical Mind Enhancement
* Dancing Mind Enhancement
* Instrument Assembly
Yep, all of it works, although instrument assembly is kind of redundany since instruments don't really have any mods or different values to them.
Defensive Skill Mods
* Dodge
* Counterattack
* Block
* One Handed Weapon Counterattack
* One Handed Weapon Evasion
* Two Handed Melee Counterattack
* Two Handed Melee Evasion
* Polearm Counterattack
* Polearm Evasion
The first three mods here work, as long as you are equipping a weapon that fits with each mod. For example counterattack works when holding a power hammer, but you won't dodge while weidling it no matter how much +dodge you have. Make sure you get the right mods for the weapons you use. As far as the rest of this list... All of these were removed in beta, replaced by the trio of working skills.
General Defense Skill Mods (Part 1)
* Bleeding Resistance
* Combat Bleeding Defense
* Poison Resistance
* Disease Resistance
* Fire Resistance
All of these mods should work but are nearly impossible to test.
General Defense Skill Mods (Part 2)
* Melee Defense
* Ranged Defense
* Defense vs. Dizzy
* Defense vs. Blind
* Defense vs. Knockdown
* Defense vs. Posture Change (Up)
* Defense vs. Posture Change (Down)
* Defense vs. Intimidate
* Defense vs. Stun
All of these mods work fine.
Melee Skill Mods
* Unarmed Speed
* Unarmed Accuracy
* One Handed Weapon Speed
* One Handed Weapon Accuracy
* Two Handed Melee Speed
* Two Handed Melee Accuracy
* Polearm Speed
* Polearm Accuracy
* Warcry
* Berserk
* Intimidation
All of these are working properly.
Melee Damage Skill Mods
* Unarmed Damage
* One Handed Melee Damage
* Two Handed Melee Damage
* Polearm Damage
All of these mods should work, but none of them actually do. The Developers are aware of this, and plan to at least fix unarmed.
Ranged Skill Mods
* General Ranged Aiming
* Alertness
* Carbine Speed
* Carbine Accuracy
* Carbine Accuracy While Moving
* Carbine Aiming
* Pistol Speed
* Pistol Accuracy
* Pistol Accuracy While Moving
* Pistol Accuracy While Standing
* Pistol Aiming
* Rifle Speed
* Rifle Accuracy
* Rifle Accuracy While Moving
* Rifle Aiming
* Cover
* Taking Cover
* Rifle Crawl Speed
The last two mods here no longer function, but the rest work fine with the proper weapon equipped.
Commando Related Skill Mods
* Thrown Weapon Accuracy
* Heavy Weapon Speed
* Heavy Weapon Accuracy
The first mod here works, the second two do not. Heavy weapons now have their own mods, such as flamethrower accuracy, flamethrower speed, etc.
Bounty Hunter Related Skill Mods
* Tracking Droids
* Tracking Droid Effectiveness
* Droid Speed
* Droid Precision
All of the above work. Note: Droid Speed is a mod that effects the speed a bounty hunter can retreive a waypoint from a seeker droid. This does NOT effect the speed of any other kind of droid.
Now that we know which mods work, there are some skill mods that have a "hard cap" or a max amount of points possible.
- Block
- Counterattack
- Dodge
- Melee Defense
- Ranged Defense
Melee defense, ranged defense, dodge, counterattack and block all have a 125 cap from skills
(SEAs, food, and squad leader bonuses all stack on top of that, though). Accuracy has NO hard cap!
Speed has a sort-of cap, because you can attack at most once per second. So with the weapon-specific
speed mods and skill tapes, at some point any weapon you pick up will likely hit that speed. For the most part somewhere between +96 to +99 would cap out virtually any weapon you use in it's class. Here is an excellent calculator to find out exactly how many points you need to cap in speed with your current weapon.
Weapon Speed & Damage Calculator => http://killyourpc.org/swg/swg_dps.php
== F . A . Q. ==
1.) What are SEA’s & what does SEA stand for?
These are items that can be placed into sockets of Armor & Clothing that will grant the player with additional points to given skills, SEA means: Skill Enhancement Attachment. CA stands for Clothing Attachment (applied only to clothes with open sockets) and AA stands for Armor Attachment (applied only to armor with open sockets).
2.) When adding Attachments to Your Clothing Armor & Assorted items such as Belts or Bandoliers, Placing more than one of the same skill on that item Currently does not function properly, Let me explain.
If You place a +12 Rifle Speed & a +4 Rifle Speed in the same item, The lower of the 2 will simply disappear, Leaving You in this example at +12 Rifle Speed and one less socket. (They don't stack!) The new total for both tapes will become the equivalent of one of them, not because it’s a better tape or because it was placed in a certain order, But because you cannot place 2 Identical skills into the same item. This also applies even if 2 identical tapes are applied to the same clothing/armor item.
3.) Do all items crafted come with 4 sockets?
No. You will need to ask the crafter of your choice specifically to make you a 4-socketed item if they do not stock them.
4.) Is there a limit to how many skills I can gain from attachments?
Sort of yes. You must have the skill granted before you get its effects if the skill requires a profession state of you, So the amount of skills possible would take awhile to calculate as there are way too many variables that come into play here, The other main thing that limits You is, The Maximum sockets per item of 4, Problem is not all items are 4-socketed, They must be crafted specifically to get 4, Your best bet is to hire a Master! The theoretical maximum skills would be that equal to the sockets your clothing & armor have. Since 48 sockets is the maximum possible wearable at any given time, 192 Different skills would be the maximum Theoretically possible but not realistic!
5.) Is there a limit to how many points i can have of a certain skill mod?
For a few yes. Melee defense, ranged defense, dodge, counterattack and block all have a 125 cap from skills (SEAs, food, and squad leader bonuses all stack on top of that, though). Speed has a sort-of cap, because you can attack at most once per second. So with the weapon-specific speed mods and skill tapes, at some point any weapon you pick up will likely hit that speed.
6.) Can I use negative (e.g. Rifle Accuracy -1) Skill Attachments to cancel out unwanted skills on other Skill Attachments?
No, this can no longer be done. Using a negative skill attachment will only take up a socket and give no effect to your clothing's/armor's skill mods.
7.) Can I remove Skill Attachments once inserted?
No, Once inserted they will remain permanently.
I hope this clears up a whole lot of confusion amongst us players, and will hopefully make you wiser when you're shopping around.
Information gathered and updated from the following..
QuigShot and his guide here. http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/messageboard.id=game_guides&message.id=108780&highlight=guide+clothing+armor+attachments#M108780
PadreBook and his guide here. http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=game_guides&message.id=128773&page=1
*note* some of the information in the above links have some misleading information and is a bit outdated. I have updated their information in this post. Message Edited by LordoftheStrings on 01-15-2005 01:25 PM
|
