Prologue
This guide is intended for the purpose of finding the optimal
method to get Bounty Hunter experience in order to complete the
Investigation branch with as little game time as possible. This
guide is geared towards those who wish to make the most of their
time, and may not be best for those who wish to role play their
character and/or have fun at the same time. J Here I will
detail some of the things I have tried to progress through this
branch as quickly as possible. Every second saved can sometimes
mean a 10-minute savings. How many times have you arrived at a
shuttle/spaceport only to see or hear your ride take off without
you?
The Raw Numbers:
For those of you new to the branch and are wondering how
much time and many missions it takes, here is an estimate. I
believe the max XP for novice missions is 79, the max for Inv
1-3 is 109, and the max for Inv 4 is 139. Personally, it is
generally not practical to me to refresh for two minutes to get
that last point or two of XP so I accept missions within 2
points of the max. Your max XP may be dependant on your skill
in the weapon you have equipped. Unless you are quite skilled
in a particular weapon, such as pistol, your best bet is to
equip LLC. I believe LLC 2 is sufficient for providing max XP
missions.
The BH XP cap for novice BH is 10,000. Even though
Investigation 1 only requires 1,000, it’s highly recommended you
reach the 10k cap first before training. You can get one more
easy novice mission after you hit the cap, by accepting a novice
mission when you are at 10k and then training Inv1 and Inv2.
Since you still have the novice mission in your Datapad, finish
it and enjoy your last novice mission and the last of the easy
XP.
10,000 novice BH xp / 77-79xp = 127-130 missions * 10-15
min/mission = 21-33 hours.
6,000 Inv2 xp / 107-109xp = 56 missions * 30-60 min/mission =
28-56 hours.
18,000 Inv3 xp / 137-139xp = 130-132 * 30-60 min/mission =
65-132 hours.
Using these numbers, your grand total is between 114 and 221
hours of game play to complete the Investigation branch. There
are going to be missions you will abort, either due to bugs
(white marks, missing marks, location of marks, etc.), and there
will be times when things just don’t go right. If you are
focused, I figure 170 hours. At Inv 3, I shoot for 30-45
minutes. Once in a while I’ll get lucky and do missions in 20
minutes, but there are the buggy/aborted missions that will make
up for this. 90% of the time spent is waiting for shuttles,
waiting for droid results, or running to your mark. I would say
I complete 85-90% of the missions I make an attempt to
complete.
Cities I use for BH missions where the terminal and
informants are in the same town:
Investigation 0 missions: Coronet, Tyrena
Investigation 2 missions: Kaadara, Dearic, Narmle
Investigation 3 missions: Kaadara, Dearic, Mos Eisley
Bounty Hunter Trainers:
Tyrena, Corellia: -5130, -2300
Mos Eisley, Tatooine: 3360, -4840
Keren, Naboo: 2085, 2575
Mission Terminals:
Coronet, Corellia: -220, -4470 / -195, -4470
Doaba Guerfel, Corellia: 3166, 5338
Tyrena, Corellia: -5130, -2300 / -5060, -2306
Imperial Prison, Dathomir: -6335, 930
Smuggler Outpost, Endor: -905, 1610
Kaadara, Naboo: 5190, 6673 / 4928, 6728
Keren, Naboo: 2085, 2575
Dearic, Talus: 265, -3070
Bestine, Tatooine: -1445, -3658
Mos Eisley, Tatooine: 3375, -4845
Novice Bounty Hunter Informants:
Cornett, Corellia: -212, -4465
Kor Vella, Corellia: Yka Lakid -3418, 3079
Tyrena, Corellia: -5098, -2344
Kaadara, Naboo: 5040, 6735
Keren, Naboo: Ausoc Ika (a gambler) - near cantina
Mos Eisley, Tatooine: 3448, -4854 / 3488, -4780
Master Investigation Informant:
Bela Vistal, Corellia: Edo Ikelv 6830, -5543
Deeja Peak, Naboo: Kaskavir (an information broker) 4923, -1410
Master Bounty Hunter Informants:
Bela Vistal, Corellia: Opew 6869, -5753
Kaadara, Naboo: 5275. 6561
Easy Missions (Investigation 0):
As has been stated many times, the best locations for Novice BHs
to get BH XP are to go to Coronet or Tyrena on Corellia. You
can open up the BH Terminal and walk a few steps to the
informant while keeping the terminal open. After you arrange
your windows correctly and put the informant in an easy to
converse location on your screen, it is fairly easy to
abort/accept missions until you get a mark in a location you
like. The quickest missions are those where your mark is in the
same town, which some people may choose to only attempt those
missions. I was not super picky about my missions, so I was
generally willing to accept missions with marks in other towns,
or within 1 km of me. I kept track of the shuttle times so if
the mark was in another town and the shuttle was here, I would
shuttle. If I knew there would be a long wait for the shuttle,
I would continue cycling through missions in hopes for something
better, with the exception of Coronet and Tyrena. If my mark
was in one of these towns, I would sometimes wait a bit for a
shuttle. I recommend cloning in Coronet. The cloning facility
in Tyrena is far away from the terminals.
Hard Missions (Investigation 1+):
Once you are past the novice stage the process to completing a
mission gets more difficult. This is discussed in more detail
in other threads, but here is my typical mission:
1. After jumping off the shuttle in Kaadara, I get my mission
and talk to the informant.
2. I then proceed to the shuttle port and head to Theed.
3. I walk outside of Theed and use my Arakyd probe droid from my
inventory.
4. I watch for the explosion and upload the bio-signature.
5. I head to the ticket collector at the Theed spaceport with a
ticket to each possible destination and wait for the results.
6. I travel to the planet my mark is on.
7. Immediately after arriving to my mark’s planet, I send out a
seeker droid.
8. I create my own waypoint at my marks original location.
9. Depending on circumstances, I may clone and then shuttle to a
closer town before my seeker updates.
10. After I know my mark’s new location, I go after him.
(Shuttle or respawning where I cloned may be necessary.)
11. If I am going to cut him off at an angle, I place a waypoint
where I anticipate our paths crossing.
12. Upon meeting, I will bleed him and then perhaps allow him to
take me out for a quick ride back to town.
13. I return to the closest terminal/informant setup, which is
usually Kaadara again. J
Time Saving Tips (‘Hard BH Missions’):
Use cloning to your advantage. Cloning as it
stands right now provides you a free ride back to town you
cloned at. Not only will this spawning get you back close to a
shuttle if you are far away from town, but it can be used to
shuttle you to another town even when the shuttle isn’t there.
The latter is more practical on the planets where there are only
two to three towns or outposts. If I shuttle to a town and my
mark is quite a distance away and I am uncertain which direction
he is headed, I may choose to clone and hop on the shuttle quick
to another town while I wait for the updated waypoint. If he
happens to head in the town I was originally at, I have the
option to spawn back there provided I can find a way to die.
After I have met my mark I often times opt to let my mark kill
me, and then get the last laugh as I watch him bleed to death.
There is no weapon experience this way, but it is the fast way
back to town.
Use Theed’s Spaceport as your primary launch point!
Theed’s spaceport is unique in that it allows you to travel
from it whenever you please. Why is this
significant? Because many times your Arakyd probe droid will
not have the results back to you until the shuttle has already
left. Kaadara is a very convenient place to get BH missions
because of the availability of informants. My timing is usually
that I can arrive in Kaadara after completing my previous
mission, get my BH mission, talk to my informant, and shuttle to
Theed before the shuttle departs again. Once in Theed, I can
call down my Arakyd probe droid and get the planet my mark is
on. (Depending on the timing, it may be possible to use the
Arakyd before shuttling to Theed, but if the shuttle is missed a
wait is guaranteed.) If the mark is on Naboo or one of the
planets Naboo can shuttle to, then I have a head start on my
first shuttle ride. Even if I need to hop to Corellia for a
layover, the short time I save by being there when the shuttle
arrives sometimes makes a difference, especially when taking an
addition shuttle once on planet. Theed does not need to be used
for every mission, however, many of my missions involve Theed.
One other practical use of using your Arakyd in Theed is you do
have a few minutes during the wait where if you have any heeling
needing done, (on my server anyway) Theed seems to be a good
location for entertainment and the medic center is also close
by.
Buy tickets in advance! Many times I am forced
to use Corellia as a go between my mark’s planet and mission
terminals. Buying tickets in advance saves the jog to and from
the ticket terminal in the spaceports. This time savings can be
valuable, especially depending on the timing of the shuttles
from one planet to the next. I try to keep in my inventory the
following tickets: Coronet>Kaadara, Kaadara>Theed, Theed>Kaadara,
Theed>Coronet, Theed>Mos Eisley, Theed>(Rori), Coronet>Dearic,
Coronet>(other planets). I buy multiple tickets of the popular
routes I take, which are basically the first 4 routes I listed.
Where I did not list a specific port to travel to, as in the
case of Rori and the other planets from Coronet, it is more or
less up to you to decide, as I do not yet know the optimal
location to go to for each planet. Narmle is good when doing
Inv2 missions, because of the terminal/informant setup there,
but after completing Inv3, I went for the Rebel outpost due to
close cloning facility. I average 20+ tickets in my inventory at
any one time, but it is nice to be able to do 2 hops in a short
time, or stand at the ticket collector in Theed and be able to
take off as soon as I know where to go. Occasionally, this can
mean a 10 minute savings here and there.
Watch shuttle times! I haven’t quite figured
out exactly how each shuttles schedule works in relation to the
others. Maybe someone else has studied this or maybe it’s just
random. J Generally I have found on my server, that Coronet and
Kaadara, as well as several others have fairly close departure
times, give or take a minute. Then there are some where there
is a very short window after your arrival from another location
before the shuttle at your current location leaves. In other
cases, some shuttles are completely out of sync with the rest.
It may not be totally predictable in relation to other cities
every night, however, if I’m planning on doing several missions
in a night, I keep an eye on the times Kaadara’s shuttle is
there, and also the shuttle I may be using next. If you arrive
on your mark’s planet and the shuttle isn’t there, then ask your
friendly ticket collector when the next shuttle will be.
Sometimes this can be useful information for how quickly you
need to return after you have finished your mark. If the
shuttle is there already, then remember the shuttle runs in a
15-minute cycle, therefore should be there again in 15 minutes.
I don’t memorize the bus schedule every night, but In general,
keeping tabs on shuttle times can be helpful.
Use burst run! Burst run can reduce the time
it takes to get to your mark. That much is obvious. However,
burst run can also sometimes mean the difference between making
or missing a shuttle. Don’t be afraid to use it after
completing a mission if you have it, even if it is just to move
faster in town, for example, from the cloning center to the
shuttle. If it is likely 10 minutes will pass before you need
it again, there is no harm in using it, and possibly 10 minutes
to gain.
Endor and Lok:
Most planets do not present too much of a problem of determining
where your mark is going and are make it fairly easy to reach
your mark. Marks on Endor and Lok tend to wander around and
don’t always head towards cities right away. I have done Lok
missions and I recommend aborting them if you find your mark is
on Lok. I have done several Endor missions. The marks still
head in strange directions, however I have started doing these
missions again. If you’re feeling lucky, I recommend going to
Endor, sending out a seeker to update his location, and if it
appears you can catch him without much difficulty, pursue it.
Otherwise abort and save yourself the trouble. My biggest
problem with Endor is that, at least on my server, there does
not appear to be much life on it, outside of the outposts and a
few other locations. Therefore, if you end up far away from an
outpost, unless you make sure to allow your mark to kill you,
you may be in for a long walk back. My worst mission ever was
walking 7.5km or so only to see my mission abort because my mark
was over water. I then had to walk 5km to find the nearest
lifeform that could kill me. Painful indeed. J
Taking out your mark:
I am not going to discuss in detail the best way to take
out marks. This is discussed elsewhere. However, as it relates
to optimizing time, there are a few things to consider.
Spices:
Spices may slow you down if you are waiting for the
downer to subside when you’re ready for your next mark. This
more of an issue with novice missions and probably is not so
much when doing Investigation 2 or above. If spices will help
increase your efficiency then use them. I have occasionally
used Muon Gold if my mind happened to be way down when I’m
ready, but for the most part I avoid spices.
Pets:
I group with my rock beetle most of the time I take out
a mark, mostly just for the 25% xp bonus for being grouped and
for the companionship. I rarely use it when taking out my mark
unless I get into trouble, my mark has high resistance to my
weapons, or I just need to take out the mark ASAP to make good
time.
Other skill points:
As you know, if you are planning on mastering Bounty Hunter, you
get only 33 extra skill points to spend on other professions. I
have found Novice Medic a skill I do not think I can live
without. With some decent Stimpack B’s that have a heal factor
of 300+, medic really comes in handy. Plus, occasionally you
may need to heal wounds if you forget or don’t have time to
clone. Good Medpack B’s can heal over 100 a shot and are worth
the investment. Being able to take care of yourself can be a
time saver.
On the subject of skill points, it doesn’t hurt to leave a
couple weapon skill boxes to complete while you’re pursuing
Investigation. You’ll likely be able to work on one or more
boxes from taking out marks. Also, if you’re waiting for a
shuttle and you need something to do, hunt around town a
little. It’s not much XP but it gives you something to do and
adds up.
Investigation XP the quick way (not
recommended):
I just noticed a complete thread with a detailed write-up on
this, but since I already wrote these paragraphs I will include
them anyway as it is worth an explanation. Currently there is a
quick way to getting BH XP and that is by jamming the uplink
terminal in a base, which when done will award 1000 XP. If you
are declared member of your faction, and you enter a base of the
opposite faction and there is an uplink terminal, you have the
option to jam the terminal on the radial menu (if you are not
currently being attacked and if you have Inv2). You are then
presented with a small puzzle, which takes a short amount of
time to complete. Upon doing so you are awarded the 1000 BH
XP. Jamming the uplink terminal is the first step in taking
over any base, and the XP is awarded even if the rest of the
steps are not completed. I believe uplink terminals can only be
jammed once per day, but perhaps less now, at least on NPC
bases.
At the time of this writing, I have heard there may be some
buggy issues preventing this from working correctly anyway,
especially on the NPC bases. Currently, NPC bases default to
Rebel control at each server reset, therefore, even if this was
‘working’ only Imps could take advantage of this, as I am sure
many did. Therefore the only practical means Rebels have is to
jam a player-controlled Imperial base. Please note that there
is only a 2-hour window per day (supposedly starting with when
the base was constructed) where terminals appear in
player-controlled bases. There is also currently a bug that
allows the admin of the base to pick up the terminals in their
base, even in a covert state, which would prevent any type of
take over until the next day. FYI, I have jammed two uplink
terminals myself as a rebel. While it was a nice bonus that
saved me some hours of missions, I would not recommend this
method as a primary source of BH XP. Many of you may not even
get the opportunity to use this method anyway. While I am not
opposed to the idea of awarding some XP for this type of action,
I anticipate that later patches will address the issues that
exist right now.
Epilogue
At the time of this writing, I have completed Investigation III
and have about 5500 XP left to go before achieving Investigation
IV. Though Bounty Hunter was not my initial profession of
choice, after trying out Smuggler and Commando which are/were
broken at the time, and dabbling in Armorsmith, Creature
Handler, and Pistoleer, it seemed best that Bounty Hunter was
suited for me. I am not much of a PVPer and enjoy soloing. My
currently skills are BH 3/0/3/3, Medic 1/0/0/0, Pistoleer
0/1/4/3. I plan on having Master BH within a week, which means
I will likely drop some of the Pistoleer skills since I find
novice medic to be worth the points. While I appreciate the
fact that Master Bounty Hunter is difficult to achieve, I enjoy
finding the little tricks to accomplishing my goals
efficiently. I am sure there are things I left out, but partly
because I did not feel the need to include everything that has
been discussed before, and partly because I wanted to get this
up before my tips become obsolete. Plus I’d like to get back to
the game. J I may add more ideas or put together a more
comprehensive guide at some point, however if someone else would
like to incorporate this information into another guide, I am
not opposed to that. If someone wishes to do so or feels this
would be suitable information for a website guide, feel free to
send me a personal message. I hope this guide is beneficial to
you and doesn’t get buried in all the chatter. Good luck!