HA and Crit-Hit almost at a standstill

[nexus7]

For some reason my HA and crit hit is virtually at a standstill with the ranged weapons that I use and seem to take ages to go up another notch or two.
So I'm wondering if there's something you can do to get a faster increase?

I know the skilling system gets harder the higher you get, but my HA and crit hit hasn't gone up at all for five months or more.

[cantbe]

what weapons are you using ? limited weapons are the way to go , if you are using unlimited weaponns like punishers, justifiers,any thing without the [L] they will take years to move up and be economical.
I started with the Breer range of handgun and rifles, you can send a support case to MA if u think you are moving to slow on Ltd weapons

[phunksta]

Gotta agree with cantbe, love 'em or hate 'em limited items are the only way to get skills quickly after the skills 'nerf'.

MA obviously wants us to be a disposable society!

[Burgerman]

Good info there from Cantbe. I'm sorry to hear that these hit abilities are moving soooo slowly for you.
The SIB on the L weapons can certainly help your skills move a bit faster, but if you have a nice non L weapon that you are happy using, some other things to try are:

- remove all lasers and scopes
- use a higher level amp than the weapon requires (ignore the warning message saying the weapon cannot use the amp fully)
- switch to a faster firing weapon, and/or one that has a higher ammo burn.

These are probably not the most economical ways to hunt, but sometimes it is worth changing your gun and hunting style for a short while, as it sometimes can improve things like skillgain or loots.
There used to be a chart showing the slowdown areas in the skills, if I can ever find it again I'll post it here. You might be in one of the slow skill areas, and once you get past it then skills will gain at a better rate again.

[UnaAlconbury]

Did you mean this one Burger? Found it on EF, written by "Doer".



Originally Posted by Moribund
So it wasn't just me then.
I've noticed that too.

There used to be slowdowns some years ago, at 500, 1000, 2000, 3000.. and some more.
I think that those kind of slowdowns still exist, but not so hard to get by and not at the same levels.
For example, I checked with an empty implant how much LWT I could extract, and it was 55. Later after hunting some and thus increasing my LWT I could extract 56 levels. That is not proof for anything but it seems I passed a slowdown recently.


These are two different things you're talking about, though. People are noticing a complete lack of gains (green lines) in some professions now. The "slowdowns" you mention are actually a sine-like function imposed on the curve that maps level to tt value of skills (and peak every 500 levels).

http://www.geocities.com/doerdai/tool-fit.png

It may be that the rate of the gains (green) is also dependent on a similar function, but that wouldn't really explain a sudden change in one profession like is being noted.

I suspect the knobs for certain professions were tweaked.

[Burgerman]

No it wasn't that one. but thanks for posting it.
I remember seeing one that was a list of numbers, showing for example:
1001 - 1700 normal
1701 - 2001 slow
2002 - 3500 normal
3501 - 3900 slow

Those numbers are just for this example, not the real ones. Also it was a while ago so these slow patches might have changed or been removed by now.

[phunksta]

I also remember seeing a sine wave chart with a decreasing function that explained slowdowns etc. I'll try to look for it if I have chance....

[nexus7]

Thanks everyone. I've vaguely heard that about 'L' weapons, but didn't want to go down that route as what do you do with them when they've run out?

You can't repair them, so you can't sell them other than through TT's - so seems like a catch-22 to me, but I'll try it anyway for a while, as I seem to be looting low-end L pistols alot, but you can't kill much with those.

I started out with unlimiteds, first the opalo with A104 amp until about 2k rifle, aim, IRD and others, then I switched to a jester D2 until about 3.5k, and now I use a just mk2 with A105 amp and I'm nearly at 4k.
I've also gone along a similar route with unlimited laser pistols, starting with the TT one and a 102 amp, and now I'm using an enforcer with A104 - very uneconomical but I like the 50 rpm:)

I didn't know removing scopes and lasers would help for unlimiteds, which I use on the mk2, so I'll certainly try that. I only put them on ages ago as ppl were saying that they improve aim and accuracy.

So to sum-up, either I carry on with faster unlimiteds with bigger amps and no lasers/scopes, or I switch to limiteds?
---------------
Both the mk2 and the enforcer have exactly the same HA and crit-hit which is 5.3 for the HA and 3.5 for the crit-hit, which makes a bit of sense as I've been using the mk2 and the enforcer for about the same amount of time.

[Burgerman]

If you are approaching 4k I personally think there might be a slow spot just before 4k, so hopefully once you pass 4k you will see your skill gain rate improve.
For unlimited pistol, have you looked at an EP22 Vanguard? They are a much overlooked little pistol I think - same fire rate, more damage per second, slightly higher ammo burn with less decay than the EP32 Enforcer. Also the Vanguard can use an A104 amp fully. :D

Lasers and scopes are supposed to give a % improvement to something. My point with them is that if you are trying to gain skills, perhaps the % boost from the laser/amp might actually slow down the skill gain, as instead you are gaining the improvement each shot provided by those attachements. It is just my idea, I don't know if it is valid. Maybe worth trying without attachments for a few hunts and see if you notice any skill gain improvement.


PS: I think the Vanguard even handles the a105 amp fully, so you can really :handgun::handgun::handgun: then. :cool:

[nexus7]

"Also the Vanguard can use an A104 amp fully." That's great info - I didn't know the vanguard could use the A104 fully, so at the time I opted for the enforcer because I thought that the lower ammo burn would save me ped on ammo costs, but if the vanguard does more damage per second as well as using the A104 fully, then maybe the overall costs would even out... I'll definately be swapping over very soon.

In the meantime, I sold my scope and laser sight through the auction and realised about 150 ped as they were in good condition, and I found out the following (I could have almost kicked myself...):
That I am able to use the mk2 with A105 amp just as effectively (I can kill mobs just as easily) and that I'm getting loot more often as well. In many cases I'm sure that I was killing mobs even more easily than with the attachments. So much for scopes and sights... Looks like removing them is a good idea.

[Burgerman]

This is from a great post that Minos made in the E.P. forum back in 2003, so it may have all changed by now, but this indicated some of the slow skill patches then.


"Before certain lvls the skill increase slow down to a crawl. The lvls that I know of for this slowing are:
100 (10 lvls)
500 (100 lvls (However this slowing is not as heavy as the others))
1000 (40 lvls)
2000 (50 lvls)
3000 (120 lvls)
7000 (100 lvls)
9500 (400 lvls)
Note that there is also a general slowing of skill gains, the higher your skills are. "

[Milky]

I have now maxxed my oplao and my pistol and riflew skills are around 700 what weapons would you suggest me using?

[nexus7]

Yep, I can certainly see how the skill gains slow down the higher you get, but I'm wondering if the HA and crit-hit figures are that important, as it seems to take so long anyway. I've since changed from the enforcer to a vanguard and the vanguard is much better.

[Burgerman]

I've since changed from the enforcer to a vanguard and the vanguard is much better.

Excellent. :ok: