DNA Harvesting is the ability to successfully collect DNA samples with reduced trauma to the donor creature. This activity gains a player DNA Sampling Experience
Commands and Abilities Granted: None
DNA Sampling
"What do I do in the field?" You will ask yourself at the beginning of your bio-scientific journey. Well, DNA sampling is the art of sneaking up on creatures and poking them with your DNA sampling tool. There isn't a specific tool per se. It's actually a command and you will be given an icon for it when you take Novice Bio-engineer. You will find this icon by pressing ctrl-A and looking on the "other" tab of the command browser and it is very handy to have on your "hot-bar". The next thing you are going to want to do is give some thought to migrating your stats a bit (via the "migrate stats button" on your character sheet; ctrl-C) and maybe even purchasing some spice or food buffs for your Mind. The reason for this is that sampling DNA is a considerable drain on your MIND bar and taking these early steps can help you sample at a more continuous rate of progress. Another precaution you will want to take is to think about armor for protection and maybe a friend with combat skills to help out if one of the critters you start pokin' gets angry and starts chasing you.
Once you've mentally and physically prepared for your fieldwork by fiddling with your stat migration and suiting up with your field gear, head just outside of a city that has some critters and start sampling. This is when you should start developing your approach techniques. Learn to use your "examine" window to find out the general attributes of a creature and how to identify the ornery ones and the more passive types. As a practice, approaching creatures without them noticing makes your task much easier and is even a lot of fun. Some things to keep in mind is that samples do not stack because of all the unique data they possess so managing your inventory is key, especially at more advanced levels and when chasing extremely dangerous creatures in remote adventurous locations. Remember your friendly Droid Engineer too. When you are out in the field, having a crafting droid with you will allow you to convert 5 DNA samples into a single template and save on inventory space. Juggling inventory is an intended challenge. Another thing to consider is that this isn't crafting and has no practice mode. How you deal with any of these variables will add to the flavor of game play. Cautious folk can stay around cities, sampling creatures with a place to retreat to and slowly work their way up to running creature missions or head off to adventure planets with groups of adventurers and explorers and take advantage of a larger group. The truly bold Bio-Engineers may even try their hand at sampling DNA on adventure planets by themselves. In all of these cases, the scout skill /maskscent is a powerful ally indeed.
Knowing any given territory and scouting out creatures ahead of time is also a very good technique. Spend some time in a given area and learn about the indigenous creatures. Determine which ones will "deathblow" you and which will not. If you don't have a mount or vehicle, another thing to always plan out are your possible escape routes. Sometimes the best way to escape is "through", so keep an eye on where the pack animals are. If a fierce creature starts chasing you, a good dodge is often to run through a herd of pack animals and hope your predator gets hungry for something tastier than you.
This skill tree can be a lot of fun and there are many tricks of the trade to learn. Turn your attention to your posture while sampling (standing, kneeling, crawling) and how best to use /maskscent. Interact with other professions and find good mind buffs of scent-neutralizing clothing. Take the time to examine a creature's speed and the nearby terrain to see if you can escape with a handy /burstrun up a steep hill.
Previous|Index|Next
