Although I made it to 187 as an engineer with none of that stuff except concrete cushions, electronicums, and carbonum armor, but I’ve created a new engineer of the opposite faction and will test out your advice to see if it’s easier. Paid account, so pretty much missed all Rubi-Ka content since I was in SL, but that started to really hurt in Scheol, so maybe I should have gone to things like ToTW before it was too late.
The most important factors helping me level my engineer was having an MP alt buffing my pet casting abilities, and a trader alt to buff my weapons equipping capability, although in hindsight, only the MP alt was necessary (for newbs reading this, that’s because metaphysicists tremendously buff nanoskills, even at relatively low levels. You will need NCU to allow other toons to buff you, hence the emphasis on getting as much NCU as you can. A fixer heal over time nano will make you nearly invincible, a class that I notice does run by buffing more than any other class - thank you fixers for that! - but it will require a lot of NCU capacity for them to be able to cast it on you. They will also try to cast a dizzying run speed buff on you, even more NCU). But I’ll try your advice on my new engineer, after I get this one to 200, and report back then.
Thanks so much for doing this and for all your advice. My survivability is much improved now and I’m having much more fun with my engineer now than before I met you here!
P.S. with respect to the chapter 4.7 advice, I’d recommend not begging, but rather trying to sell some of the items you recommended they collect that are tradeable. I’ve paid newbs for things I don’t need that they were selling, whereas I’d ignore a beggar.
I could add a chapter about the inherent advantage of multi-boxing MP/Trader and Engie and leveling all three together as a team. People get touchy about boxing and i didn’t feel like getting flamed. Leveling three characters doesn’t cost much more in credits since the only character really needing a full compliment of gear is the engineer. MP/Trader only need NCU/belt and a few nano programs.
Begging is another touchy subject. I agree with you about farming and selling things like the treatment rifle or concrete cushions. I can add that bit of advice easily. I made okay money selling QL100+ Jobe experience and addalldef cluster implants sets.
I’m glad you found a bit of help from the guide. I’m also glad to get help from you with editing the guide.
Ten years ago or so it might make sense to flame for multi-boxing, but not now.
However, in combat, I’ve generally found it a pain in the butt to multi-box, although I attempt it from time to time with low level toons (my highest level toon on another account is about 120 levels lower than my engineer, so obviously, I don’t multi-box much). I may make a TOTW and/or Foreman’s twink eventually though.
I’ve mostly used alts for buffing and inventory space. For example, my MP alt is only level 54, and just a few weeks ago, I finally got her hotkeys setup on my 5 year old PC, i.e., I haven’t needed her help to cast my pets for years now. But in the early days, MP buffs made my engineer a blast to play, although it meant hiding behind a wall. And pets being able to hunt existed then.
For new engineers reading this, MP buffs allow you to cast a pet that is much higher level than you.
Added multi-boxing. Though I’ve yet to add descriptions of buffing alts - that’s coming very soon. I had a whole stable of bank alts for certain things like backpacks loaded with stripped implants QL140ish to 200 along with empty QL201+ refined implants and Jobe clusters. Another for sorted type, slot and levels of Miy’s armor. Another has all the buffing armors like nova dillion, servants of eight etc. Dozens and dozens of backpacks. That sort of thing.
For froob Crat is the strongest multi-box mission runner bar none. Experience buff, speech aura, pistol damage, nukes, two charmed mobs, calms and roots. As far as mission survivability is concerned even a GA outfitted fixer doesn’t compare.
My Bureaucrat led the mission multi-box crew with long and short charmed Enforcer and Torpedo mobs and of course his (trimmed) robotic pet. Sometimes I paired my Doctor or Trader or Engineer. The Crat charmed mobs always hold aggro no matter what happens, which makes life much easier. Plus, both crat and trader can calm rooms. Doctor UBT debuff line and Trader drains? That sort of thing reduces mob damage to an extent I never really had to stop and heal bots etc.
Yeah, I’ve tried leveling a crat, about 3 times now, but I always get bored with them. Some serious irony there since I’m an engineer in real life who used to work for the government.
One reason is that running missions, I don’t need to multibox except for level 60-ish TEAM missions to get the mats for making a Mass Relocating Robot, which used to be better explained on AO Universe, but now just provides a link to useless information.
Since I have a paid account, one of the rewards for an annual sub is armor that not only makes carbonum armor unnecessary for my alts (and now further unnecessary since you can buy it from in-game vendors), it also makes Miy’s armor unnecessary.
I’m not sure if making armor is still helpful for froobs as it used to be for even paid accounts.
I do have several crat alts, the highest of whom is level 60, so will certainly try them once I level my engineer to a point I can’t take it anymore. While I don’t dispute that crats are uber in teams, I’m just doubtful that they are more useful in single player missions than an engineer with a big honking robot (obtained by MP buffs mostly), where you really have to be unlucky to have to fight more than two at a time.
My only reason for making a crat is for SL content, where I’m constantly overwhelmed by adds.
But not sure how much a crat is necessary in Rubi-Ka solo missions that are available to froobs.
You should let the folks at AOU know about the Carbonum armor page.
I agree that crafted armor sets need a boost to make them an attractive alternative to the new default armor sets. Otherwise, why bother farming soft/hard discs? Then again, people were saying the same thing about the crushing, thrusting and slashing MRR – not two weeks after that stuff got patched into the game. I tried improving a number of different weapon styles, and other than the improved tango dirks, all failed spectacularly on test characters.
You got bored playing a Crat? With three pets (two charmed and one robotic pet) needing attention and all that other crowd control stuff they can do I hardly have time to keep the trader drains up, the melee doctor in position and not end up with an angry mob beating on the crat because the short-charm timer expired.
actually really awful guide, misleading and poor information for new players and laid out in an non-intuitive format. I would never recommend this “guide” to a new player because it isn’t really a guide. It’s a meaningless collection of essentially a mix of general game knowledge and personal opinions. It feels kinda bad that you put so much work into something so utterly redundant.
I agree with you about farming and selling things like the treatment rifle or concrete cushions. I can add that bit of advice easily. I made okay money selling QL100+ Jobe experience and addalldef cluster implants sets.
