The board monster ate most of the last thread which is too bad since there were some good tips in it. I've added all my susequent posts to this new guide.
So you want to Solo efficiently, killing even and higher con mobs with the lowest chance of death possible?
Read on, it�s all here. Below are your keys to unlocking the wonderful world of soloing in SWG (editorial to come later).
The basics:
/mask scent and /threaten shot
Quite a few people know about these, but hardly any that I see actually use these abilities to their full potential.
Both commands make a mob confused and basically keep them from aggroing on you while you shoot them - hopefully until they die.
The key here is that both abilities STACK. Mask Scent is by far more powerful, but when used with threaten shot you can take down white con mobs with ease and often yellow and red cons will fall to this tactic as well.
The major variable that determines success with this tactic is your choice of weapon. You'll want to pick out a high damage per second rifle, carbine or pistol if you want to survive. If the choice is between a high damage/low speed weapon and a low damage/high speed weapon with around the same DPS, go with the latter. It helps to have a few more shots when the mob finally aggros on you in case you miss.
Before you attack any Mob solo you should perform these steps. EVERY TIME.
1) Get within 55 meters if you are a rifleman (with other ranged weapons, find the max distance they will function and subtract 10 meters. This will give you a nice cushion). This allows for the MOB to run away from you while you are shooting it and not fall out of range. This is also important because the game rolls against your mask scent each time a mob goes out of and back into range. If mask scent fails during this roll you will probably die, so give yourself a nice cushion.
2) /maskscent.
3) Go prone
4) Use /threatenshot.
5) Blast away
Hunting Creatures Solo:
Note: If you need cash of course take missions and apply these principals on your mission target. I won't be going into missions any further except to say, do as many as you can before you become numb from boredom. The cash comes in handy.
Non-Aggressive Creatures:
Non-aggressive creatures are much easier to kill than aggressive ones for one simple reason: you can herd non-aggressive creatures.
Dewbacks are a great example. If you run across a lair of Dewbacks you'll notice that they are all bunched together. If you attack one, another is sure to come with it. Its the old bring-a-friend syndrome.
To disperse the group simply approach the herd until about 40 meters away. You'll know you�re there when the question marks pop up above the creature's heads. Then walk slowly up to within melee distance and watch them run. Simply herd one beast away from the main group and have your way with him. Rinse and repeat.
Aggressive Creatures:
This tactic works with non-aggressive creatures as well. The drawback is it takes patience.
Approach the creatures you wish to kill slowly until you see the question marks appear above their heads (about 40 meters). Then wait. The group will slowly start to disperse.
If there is a scout in the group, do your best to stay away from it. If you engage it, it will run back to the lair and bring of bunch of friends with it to kill you.
Wait until a non scout is approx 14-20 meters away from the rest of the group and target it using the tactics mentioned above. Rinse and repeat for the rest of the mobs. Don't forget to destroy the lair when you are done as the devs have finally added exp back to the lairs.
Warning Shot:
As you gain more skills you will get better at masking your scent and will eventually acquire /warning shot, another helpful ability that sends your target scurrying in the other direction.
Warning shot can be used against red con mobs to take them down peicemeal, in stages. All you do is use the tactics above with the addition that when you get the feeling that the mob is going to aggro on you, fire off a warning shot. The mob or NPC will retreat out of range allowing you to mask scent again, and repeat the process. Continue until the mob dies.
Just be sure to wait until the mob starts to walk back to the lar before you re-engane it as this signifies that it has completely dropped you off its hate list and is ready for another round of mask scent threaten shot.
Using this tactic you will almost never die, even to red con mobs (though I've never tried it with a Kryat as that would take a long, long time).
Warning shot is most helpful in a group when you pull too many mobs. Its useful to designate a group member or two to be the crowd controllers and fire off a warning shot whenever the group gets adds. But that's another guide altogether.
New addition - Soloing white con and higher NPC POIs and encampments:
Since NPC's are not affected by Mask Scent different tactics are need to deal with them. They also don't disperse like aggressive and non-aggressive herds of animals do. You can take out an entire POI of white, yellow or red con NPCs by doing the following:
1) While standing, target an NPC of the edge of the group and fire a warning shot at him.
2) If the no other NPC's aggro, carefully follow the one you shot until he stops, go prone and use /threaten shot. If he is about to aggro on him, use /warning shot again, follow and repeat, always waiting for the NPC to start back the direction he came before attacking to make sure you've been removed from his hate list.
Note: Sometimes if an NPC gets too far from his lair or POI he will despawn or warp back to the area around the lair. To avoid this, herd the NPC with /warning shot, keeping him within a raduis of approx 150 meters from the lair.
2b) If other NPCs are aggroed simply turn around and run away, all the while mashing on the /peace key you should have macroed to you toolbar.
NPC are usually ranged combatants and will drop to prone to attack with their weapon when aggroed so all you need do is get out of range of their weapons to have them drop you from their hate list.
Meanwhile the NPC you fired a /warning shot at will have run far enough away from the group for you to single him out in safety. Use the tactics mentioned above to kill him.
4) Repeat for the rest of the POI or encampment.
More tactics:
Turrets:
Some factional missions you receive ask you to go destroy a mini stronghold. I did one tonight and it was a lot of fun. Turrets are powerful but thaey have glaring weaknesses that you can exploit, even solo.
Turrets are slow in every sense of the word. They have a slow rate of fire and they turn ever so slowly. This can be exploited easily using the following tactics:
1) Equip a rifle since they have the same range as the turrets. A t-21 works best here but laser rifles work good too but a high damage/low speed rifle is what your shooting for. No pun intended.
2) Position yourself to the farthest left or right of the turret that line of sight will allow. Youre going to be strafeing along this line back and forth evading the slow moving turret.
3) Get to just within range of the turret and open fire. The turret will come alive and start tracking you. Wait till it sets its sight right on you and duck out of range and move along the line you've established in #2. Since the turret shares the same range limits as you, you will take no damage.
4) Move back into range when you've reached the other side of your strafe line and open fire again. Repeat the above until the turret disintegrates in a firey explosion.
Rifleman Tactics
1) Same as the above except lead off with a Mind Shot right after the opening threaten shot. Mind Shot is alot like Tash from EQ. It is a de-buff to their mind pool.
2) Fire off a succession of Head Shots (the highest Head Shot you have obviously).
3) Proceed until the mob is dead or your mind pool is 1/2 drained. If the mob has yet to aggro, let auto attack take over. Use more head shots if auto does some good damage to the mobs mind pool, if not get ready to warning shot it away.
These basic principals I'm sure apply to each ranged profession. Simply open with a debuff, use your special move until half of your pool is gone, go to auto atttack and use your special move to finish off, or watning shot the mob away.
Editorial:
The game in its current state allows for some interesting tactics. This guide touches on just the most efficient for soloing, but that�s not how I like to play. I like to group, and currently the game is completely unfriendly to those of us that like to take a group of 20 mates out on a giant Kryat hunt or other expedition.
We need to know that if we find a Kryat and run back to town to gather a group to kill it (which can take as long as a half hour in itself) that the mob will not de-spawn before we get back.
We need to know that there are places out there where we stand a very, very good chance of finding a mob of a certain type. If I had a dime for the number of times I've dragged my furry wookiee ass out to the Kryat graveyard and found nothing but worrts I could probably do my laundry.
We need scout exp to be dispersed throughout the entire group. I'm sooo tired of listening to people whine about who gets to harvest next. Keeping a loot list of who gets next harvest is not my idea of fun, and yet here I am dealing with Timmy the scout who's mad at me and whining that he didn�t get his turn to harvest.
We need BETTER MOBS. I can't emphasize this enough. Nerfing the exp for killing a Kryat isn't enough, making Giant Worrts harder isn�t the answer either. We need mobs that have special abilities that we don't, that are impervious to anything except Mind attacks. Let you imagination run wild.
We need more cool skills. Rangers should get a "Target the pool that has the least HP" ability. Or hell, give that to the TK artist along with some defensive skills. Postures that stop creatures from attacking prone group members need to finally be implemented as well.
I could go on and on but this is a start. Notice I'm not sitting here saying I'm going to leave the game cause it sucks. I'm also not just bitching about changes because I played for a couple hours and made some snap judgments.
Hopefully we can get the devs to change some of this and make this game really great. So great I'll want to play it for years and years.
Nestabarr
Admin Officer
www.blackhandss.com
|
Subscribe...
News...
