This is a work-in-progress. I applaud ReverendReasons and GameBOFH for their efforts in putting together the previous FAQ, but I feel it is time for some updates!

The Penultimate Guide To Weaponsmithing

Table of Contents

1.) Just Starting: What you're getting yourself into and how to go about it.

2.) The Grind: What to grind and how to do it.

3.) The Biz: How to get a foothold in the weapons market and what you'll need to do it.

4.) Useful Information: Any other links to vital information not posted here.

Chapter 1: Just Starting.

So you want to be a Weaponsmith. The grind is a very tedious and painful one; unfortunately, it isn't going to be your only worry. You are going to need a lot of resources, a lot of macros, a lot of patience and a lot of time.

Master Weaponsmith requires Novice Artisan and Engineer IV, at the bare minimum. You will need 31,500 General Crafting XP (granted by crafting Artisan items) to achieve Novice Weaponsmith. The Weaponsmith profession itself requires 896,000 Weapon Crafting experience to Master the profession. For just the basics, the Master Weaponsmith profession requires 92 skillpoints total.

It is essential to have Survey IV to be a successful Weaponsmith, as you are dependent on a wide variety of resources. So if you take your profession even the slightest bit seriously, plan to free up skillpoints. Additionally, if you wish to have your own business, you will need to have Business III to obtain your own vendor. It is recommended for a successful business, that you achieve Novice Merchant and Advertising III, so you may advertise your vendor on the Planetary Map (viewable by opening the map and selecting the Vendor > Weapons tab.)

Now that you know what you're getting yourself into, we'll move onto the Grind.

Chapter 2: The Grind

Weaponsmith items grant the lowest amount of experience and use the least amount of resources. This profession requires a lot of clicking, moreso than many other professions. For the grind alone, plan to have roughly 500,000 units of Steel for the basics. A few notes: Hand-crafted weapons give UXP (usage experience, the experience granted when someone else uses your item), items crafted in factories give no UXP. One-use items, like Weapon Upgrade Kits, give full UXP the instant they are used, provided they were hand-crafted and not made in a factory. Additionally, items crafted in factories only give you 10% Weapon Crafting experience that you would get for hand-crafting the item. Lastly, Practice Mode gives a 5% experience bonus to hand-crafted items.

There are many different routes to take for the grind, here are the most common:

The Universal Grind

The universal items to grind are Projectile Barrels. At Novice Weaponsmith, you start with Projectile Pistol Barrels. They require 16 units of Steel and 10 units of Metal (or just 26 Steel total) and they grant 52 exp. It is recommended you grind Projectile Pistol Barrels until Firearms I, at which point you obtain the schematic for Projectile Rifle Barrels (these give more experience). Projectile Rifle Barrels require 31 units of Steel and 15 units of Metal (or 46 Steel total) and they grant 94 exp. You will grind Projectile Rifle Barrels until Master Weaponsmith.

This method is most widely used, out of convenience. They only use one resource (Steel) and they grant the highest amount of experience for only one type of resource. Saves you the time from hunting down five different resources at once, as well as cuts down on your clicking time. Ideal for Holo-grinders and Beginner Smiths.

The Alternate Barrel Grind

The alternate barrel grind simply replaces "Projectile" barrels in favor of "Blaster" barrels. Blaster barrels give slightly more experience, but they use two different resources. You would start with Blaster-Pistol Barrels at Novice, which require 27 Metal and 1 Gemstone and grant 60 experience. Then you skill up to Firearms I and grind Blaster-Rifle Barrels until reaching Master Weaponsmith. Blaster-Rifle Barrels require 53 Metal and 5 Crystalline Gemstone, and grant 115 exp.

This method is ideal for those who are packing a lot of extra Crystalline Gems or don't mind harvesting extra resources.

The Melee Grind

The Melee Grind starts with Projectile Pistol Barrels again at Novice, but instead of skilling up to Intermediate Firearms Crafting, you choose Intermediate Melee Weapons Crafting, which grants you the schematic for the Two-Handed Axe. The Two-Handed Axe requires 35 Iron, 25 Wood and 8 Steel, and grants 136 exp.

This method is good for those who are packing a lot of spare resources or just tire of seeing their experience bar raise so slowly.

The Ex-Crafter Grind

The Guide to this grind is found here.

This method is best for ex-Crafters with a lot of extra resources, planning to switch professions to Weaponsmith. It's designed to use the largest amount of resources to get you to Master Weaponsmith as quick as possible.

Now that we've got what to grind out of the way, here's the best way to grind them out without giving yourself Carpal Tunnel.

In-Game Macros

One of the most difficult parts of setting up your own macro is finding your schematic numbers, as they are used in this command:

/selectDraftSchematic 00

Where 00 represents the number of the schematic. It is different for everyone. My Projectile Rifle Barrel schematic number may be 12, while Joe Bob's is 25. You will have to type this command over and over with different numbers until you find *your* numbers that open the proper schematics in your crafting tool! Once that's over, then you can set up your macros.

Onto the actual macro. This guide was written by one of our community members, unique100:

You will have to make 3 macros. Pick a name for the macros. I used 'wsmacro1' 'wsmacro2' 'dump'. You can use whatever you like.

Open the abilities window (Ctrl-A on default keymap) then hit the Macro tab. Hit New Macro and give it a name. Then pick an icon for the macro. The icons mean nothing, they are just there to use as a pic to put in the toolbar quickslot.

Write this macro in the box:

Review the macro to make sure there are no typoes. Then hit 'OK' to save the macro. Now hit "New Macro" again, give it a name and pick an icon (different one)

Then write this macro:

Save it. Now this is a endless macro so you will need a way to stop it.

Write this macro pick and icon and save it:

/dump (This will stop your macro, use it when you need to stop.)

Ok now put Macro #1 in your F1 toolbar slot Macro #2 in F2 toolbar slot. Put the end macro in F3 toolbar slot.

You will need 8 crafting stations now. Put the crafting stations in F5, F6, F7, F8, F9, F10, F11, F12 toolbar slots. Now try the macro!

You can make this faster by changing the pause ( /pause 5; ) to 3 or 4 seconds. *CAUTION* Using the 3 second pause is really hard, you will not be able to take your eyes off the screen. It is really fast and it can burn you out quickly.

I was using this to make metal staffs, but you can use this to make about anything.

The /pause is the time the macro stops for you to load the resorces in the crafting station. Select Draft Schematic number can be found by useing Ctrl-D to open your Datapad, then hitting the Data tab. Count the number of schematics in the Datapad left-to-right, top-to-bottom. I counted down and 57 was the number where my Metal Staff schematic was.

Note: This is not an AFK macro, you must be at the keyboard to use this macro. Everything is automatic except for the selection of resources, you have to be there to double-click your resources so they go into the proper slots. You do this at the /pause 5 intermission. Additionally, this macro automatically turns Practice Mode on, so don't use it if you wish to keep the items you craft. Lastly, crafting macros do NOT mesh with lag. It is not recommended you attempt to use macros in laggy situations. If the area you are in is having trouble, try a vacated planet like Rori or Talus to craft.

Note #2:  If you are using a macro near a crafting station, add an extra /nextcraftingstage; command after every set of /nextcraftingstage commands.

Message Edited by Logix on 12-26-2003 09:22 AM

Chapter 3: The Biz

You're well on your way to Master Weaponsmith, here are some tips to help you along the way.

Resources

This is a table drafted by our forum-goer, Ybagi, which lists all the resources you will need and the stats that you will need in Weaponsmith items. Note: Each box represents a different item. If one box says "OQ CD", that means one or several items call for OQ and Conductivity. If another box says "OQ CD SR" all in one box, that means one or several items call for all three of those stats. If one box just calls for "SR", that just means one or several items call for just SR in that particular resource.

Firearms across the board are dependent on Conductivity and Overall Quality. If you wish to craft guns, you will need to seek out metals with high numbers in these two stats. Melee weapons across the board are dependent on Shock Resistance. Subcomponents, however, vary in what stats they require. You can find what stats every item requires by selecting the schematic in your datapad and browsing through the item information. Alternatively, you can check through various SWG fansites to find schematic listings with detailed information.

Qualities that schematics call for are proportional. Some may list "66% Conductivity, 33% Shock Resistance". This means that Conductivity is going to have a slightly larger effect than your Shock Resistance. So if you have a metal with say, 600 Conductivity and 300 Shock Resistance to use on this item, it would be better than a metal that had 550 Conductivity and 350 Shock Resistance.

If your item calls for 100% Conductivity, the only stat you have to worry about is Conductivity. Every other stat could be 1 and it will not have any affect on the outcome of your item. You should only worry about Conductivity.

It is highly recommended that you begin hunting for resources the second you have enough funding and harvesters to support it. It will do you no good to grind to Master Weaponsmith if you have no materials to make Advanced Components, and your weapons are 30 damage less than every other gun you see. So take the time to focus on gathering important resources along the way.

Locating Resources

Resources shift roughly every week, though not all at the same time. Some resources leave as early as 4 days, some as late as 14. Sometimes your planet may go a day without Radioactive while the resources shift. It's a very frustrating process that takes awhile to adapt to. When you open your Survey Tool, it lists every single resource on the planet. You do not have to find their names, the Survey Tool doesn't try to hide resources from you. If it's listed there, it's on the planet. When a resource "shifts out", that means you can no longer harvest it, it has left the planet forever.

Resources are different on every server. No two servers will have identical resources. Bria may have some 999 OQ Copper in shift this week, while Ahazi is stuck with 23 OQ Copper at best. Additionally, your planets can have different resources. Certain resources appear on nearly every planet. Others may only appear on one planet. Some resources may appear on one planet, and then that same resource may slowly appear on another three days later. But just because you see an uber Steel on Naboo doesn't mean it's going to be on Tatooine as well.

Additionally, more prized resources tend to spawn on more hard-to-reach planets. For example, the best Kammris, Doonium and Plumbum Iron I have ever had have all spawned on challenge planets. Do not neglect challenge planets, as they may have hidden treasure.

The ultimate, accurate, always up-to-date, Real-Time Resource Tracker is your Survey Tool. There are many Real-Time Resource Trackers published on SWG fansites, like SWGCraft. These trackers are all player-submitted data and they tend to miss a good portion of resources that spawn, especially important ones on Challenge Planets. Moreover, these sites tend to be a few days late in reporting resources that just spawned -- or marking resources that have shifted out and no longer exist. It is recommended that you use sites like SWGCraft as cross-reference information, but you should not use it as your only guide.

What To Sell

You're tired of running Survey Missions -- you want some extra fundage. Well, I'm going to tell you right now that the only thing harder than the grind is getting customers. Do not plan on being able to make any money off of guns until at least Master, you'll die trying. The Weaponsmith economy is overloaded. It is going to nearly kill you to try to bring in customers. That said, here's some suggestions to get your foot in the door.

Weapon Powerups: Always in-demand, always useful and rather easy to make, resource-wise. You'll need the highest OQ Metal and Chemical you can find, Master Artisan and an Equipment Factory. Powerups are an Artisan item, so they are based off of Artisan Experimentation, not Weaponsmith Experimentation, which is why you should get Master Artisan. Make schematics, run off a ton of power-ups in your factory and slap them on the vendor.

Weapon Upgrade Kits: Also fairly in-demand, they are required to slice items. These are not dependent on quality or experimentation, and Smugglers buy 'em by the crate.

Grenades: Grenades are in amazingly high demand, especially when marketed well. Even smiths with only Techniques IV can make Grenades worth buying. Master Weaponsmiths hate making Grenades, they're a huge nuisance and take up a lot of precious factory time. So take advantage of that!

Other Munitions: Charged-based Heavy Weapons also fall into the grenade category: Somewhat high-demand and most Masters won't bother with them. The downside is that they are a hell of a lot harder to make. One Heavy Particle Beam Cannon might just bankrupt you before you finish crafting it, so be advised.

Marketing

Knowing what to sell is only half the battle. Now you need to know who to sell it to and how to get them to know you have stuff for sale!

Firstly, my personal secret weapon is the mailing list. This is how I manage my mailing list:

Step 1: Place a CDEF on my vendor, named "Read me!" In the Sale Description, write "E-mail me if you want to be placed on my mailing list! You'll receive immediate updates about my stock and their stats the second it goes up on the shelves!"

Step 2: Start putting these people on your mailing list by using your Friends list. /addfriend [person], and then put them into a group, say "Customers". Keep your "real" friends into a separate group, named "Friends", that way they won't get your silly Weapons spam.

Step 3: Send out your first e-mail to your mailing list. Open your Community Tab (Ctrl-J) and select Friends. Sort by "Group", that way your real "Friends" are out of the way. Use Shift-Select to select everyone in your "Customer" group. Then click the "Mail" button. Neat! All of your customers are automatically typed in the TO: field for you.

Personally, my average e-mail to my customers looks like this:

Just letting you all know, I've restocked 50 sliced Republic Blasters, 50 sliced Flamethrowers and 50 sliced LLCs. I hope you're all enjoying your holidays!

Base Stats --

LLC: 500-1000 1.0

Republic Blaster: 200-400 1.0

Flamethrower: 600-2000 1.0

Cheers!

Customers eat this stuff up. They love getting mail and they love being able to know what's on the vendor before heading all the way out there. Only downside is, your friends list can get sort of crowded. (I have like, 300+ people on it from my mailing list.) But I think that's a good sacrifice to make.

Secondly, the more well-known-and-less-of-a-secret weapon: Planetary Map Campaign. You MUST MUST MUST get Advertising III and get the Planetary Map Campaign. Nobody's going to know about your vendor if it's out in a field in the middle of nowhere. But if they can see it right on the map, they'll be able to know about you! Even better, find a public Player City to join, especially one with a shuttle port.

Lastly, if worst comes to worse, you can go by the ol' defaults: Shout spamming and Bazaar advertising. It's not the most glamorous advertising campaign, but everybody had to resort to these measures at some point. Bring a crate of your best Powerups to the Starport and shout-sell them. Tell your buyers that they can find even more at your shop. Use the search feature to look up Marksmen and send them waypoints to your shop. Craft a CDEF, name it "Joe's Weapons -3000, 4000" and stick it on the Bazaar for 3000 credits. Some find these methods of advertising distasteful, but they work.

Pricing

Economics 101:  Supply and Demand.  That's all you need to know.  There are no "set prices" for weapons across all servers, asking us at the forums is going to do no good.  Your best bet is to send a few tells to friendly Weaponsmiths on your own server and go from there.  If your guns sell too quickly, price higher.  If they sell too slowly, price lower.  Simple as that. 

Now Sliced Pricing is a bit different.  Personally, my formula for sliced weapons is as such:

For slices under 30%, I price them by second digit x 1000.

29% slice = 9000 markup.  25% slice = 5000 markup.  22% slice = 2000 markup.  Anything sub-20%, you likely won't be able to get sold unless you discount it.

For any slice 30% and above, I have a different formula.  30% slices are double base-price.  So if I sell unsliced LLCs for 20k, a 30% damage sliced LLC would be 40k.  I add a 2k credit markup for 31-33% slices, so a 31% damage sliced LLC would be 42000 and a 32% damage sliced LLC would be 44000, etc.  For 34-35% slices, they are triple base price:  The LLC would be 60000 for a 34% slice and 62000 for a 35% slice.

You can feel free to adjust the formula to suit your needs.  This is just the one that works well for me.

Chapter 4: Useful Information

SWGCraft.com: The Ultimate Crafter Site

Allakhazam: All-Purpose SWG Fansite

The Best Macro Thread Ever

The Old Weaponsmith Board FAQ

Resource Table v1.0 by Ybagi

Message Edited by Logix on 12-26-2003 09:12 AM

Holy god I finally got that posted.

Okay, note this is the 'Penultimate' guide, it is definitely not finished and it definitely needs more work.  Most of it was written by me, and what was not was collected off of these here forums.

Things I know I've missed:  Melee/Firearms AP and Damage-Type listing, maybe link to the AP Discussion.

Please let me know what else should be added, especially in the links section.  Thanks!

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BeerTester wrote:
Just a FYI, i did a mailing list from the start of my weaponsmith business and it worked great, but there is a cap to the number of emails you can send out.  I don't know what it is , but I have like 1000 people in my friends list and I would guess only like 100 or so get my email so I stopped doing it.

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Great Great Great guide!!

*Oar cheers for Logix*

Just picked up Novice tonight. And I must say, this info is very very helpful.

Thanks for all the effort ya put into it!

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TheMagicalCuban wrote:
On grinding, is there a generally accepted 'best' thing to grind? I have a good macro which I use to grind Projectile Rifle Barrels, and a heavy mineral mining installation which is on a nice deposit of steel, so resources are not a problem, its just that grinding up the bars is so **edit** slow with the meger 94 exp. I am at 0-1-0-1 on the tree, so is there anything I could do to speed up a bit? Any help would be appreciated

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All those methods are the best methods there are for the type of grind you want to do.  No resources/money = Projectile Rifle Barrels.  If you have lots of resources/money, go for the Ex-Crafter Grind, as that will move a lot faster.

Is it me or have the recent patches totally messed up the above macro's? I try and use the macro to make blaster rifle barrels now and I get 0 exp.

Or is it just me?

Very nice, Ace! From reading this, it's obviously the secret of your own success! You're very generous to share it.

One question, why the pair of crafting macros? I usually just build the macro to call its own icon, (i.e., set the macro icon in slot 00, and have the last line be /ui action toolbarSlot00) rather than having a pair call each other.

Cheers,

-Hack