If somebody said "If you give me 300 credits I will increase your combat efficiency by 30%", would you say yes? If so, then why are you walking around without a power up on your weapon? These low cost items are anybody's friend on the battlefield. These are tips for buying power ups for your weapons. Remember, they only last 100 shots, and various situations call for various power ups.
General Tips for Buying Power Ups
1) The higher the percentage, the longer it will last. Why is this? Because the fewer shots you must take, the fewer that get pulled off of your power up.
2) Power ups become more valuabe as your weapons get better. A 30% increase to 62 damage is only 18 points. A 30% increase to 150 damage is 45 points. If you paid the money for a major weapon, why not spend the extra credits to make it that much better?
3) Power ups can customize your weapon for the job at hand. See below on specific weapons for details.
4) While you might ignore a percentage drop in action, health, or mind cost when you're carrying a CDEF, you will not want to do it at higher levels. As a weapon's level increases, so does the cost of special moves. Your HAM bars, however, don't. You can kill YOURSELF just as easily by weakening yourself with special moves as you can by bringing a knife to a gunfight (I know many brawlers will take offense at that cliche, but it's a cliche).
5) Sometimes it is better to take a Minimum Damage upgrade over a Max Damage Upgrade. If you have a widely varied damage rating (say a 19-65) you run an awful risk of hitting too soft. Narrowing that power band can often increase your damage efficiency better than extending the max damage.
6) NEVER pay good credits for a power up with a name like Taper Bored Barrel or Muffled Muzzle. These only increase one statistic. A Taper Bored Barrel of Accuracy or a Muffled Muzzle of Braking will increase two.
Powering up your Pistol
There are quite a few power ups that work well for a pistol, but you need to know what role you will be taking in battle.
Will you be the main target, getting in close, and drawing fire? Then you will want to power up Point Blank Penalty and Damage, to hit harder and more often. Point Blank Penalty and Attack Speed is a good combination as well. Perhaps, if your pistol is a big drain on HAM, pool costs. If you will be in the thick of things, you will want to conserve as much as possible. Consider bringing that high action cost down.
If you will be more of a support person, you might want to consider an improvement to Ideal Range and Ideal Range Bonus. You can sit back farther and hit just as often. As well, if you have to start running, your range bonuses will drop off slower and you will hit more often (not that you will be super accurate, though). Attack speed upgrades are good, too. If the one taking the damage falls and the enemy turns on you, you can fire more often on his way in. It is often with a 2.2 modified speed pistol that I can drop a charging creature before it can even reach me. Damage, as always, is a good choice, but try to couple it with another power up feature.
Powering up your Carbine
Carbines, especially at higher levels, are notoriously big HAM drainers. Damage and pool costs are the way to go. As a Carbineer, you won't be getting into close combat, but you are the next line of defense. If you are drained when the Brawler or Pistoleer falls, you will fall too, leaving the Riflemen in a serious world of hurt. Ideal range never hurts either, neither do accuracy bonuses.
Don't waste a good point blank power up on a Carbine. True, they are better than a rifle at point blank range, but you will not last long in a toe to toe fight with a carbine, and you can't change that with a power up. No matter how good.
Powering up your Rifle
Notice how I said damage in both of the above? I don't say that here. Many are already saying, "Huh? A good head shot on a dummy will kill them quick with increased damage". Very true. But what I say below, any scout can attest to.
Rifles are best against a creature. Creatures are dumb, and they have a problem finding you if you aren't very close. If you slap a max range penalty adjustment on your rifle, one which also has an ideal range increase, you have just increased your odds against a creature. Add your mask scent, camoflage, and all the other great skills riflemen and scouts get, and you are better off hitting from waaaay out.
You don't need to do massive damage when you can shoot over and over and over before you are in any danger. Often you can kill whatever you are shooting at before it even knows what's hitting it.
Now, to contradict myself. If you are going onto a battlefield or raiding a town full of Rebels (or Imperials, take your choice of politics), you want damage. Why? Your most dangerous folks will be kinda dumb (too many knocks in the head for the brawlers, and all that shaking around diving prone isn't good for the brain cells, marksmen). As well, the Medics can't heal these guys up if you pick off their mind pool. You want to do that as quickly as possible.
PvE, range, range, range. PvP, damage. Range too, if you can, but damage first.
Powering up your Melee Weapon
Various things happen with melee weapons power ups. You will see increases in ideal range. Honestly, that staff has a reach of 5m, but when's the last time you got to use it from that far away? Point blank bonus, attack speed, and pool drains are the way to go. Damage? Melee weapons tend to do a lot of damage for what they are. But they 1) tend to be slow and 2) tend to eat your pools alive (especially the two handed types). You want to stay alive as long as possible, and that means deal damage faster (attack speed) and keep your HAM pools intact.
I have yet to experience grenades and mines, so if anyone could add to those, I would appreciate it. If anyone patently disagrees with me, please, feel free to explain why. Any gaps, questions, or flaws it would be a great help to get corrected.
Mike
AKA
Oka Higre
President, HigreCorp
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