Fastest Way To Level Researching and Constructing?

[wizzle]

Hey all -

I was wanting to make some trade skilling characters (to fuel an eventual main with nice items), and was just curious if most people simply run the city missions to grind their levels or if they do combat and then LOM over to the others, or if there was a fine balance between the two for efficiency.

Is there a recommended starting setup for stat allocation, such as all Research or a mix for combat leveling? I did read that Spy seems to be the ideal choice for these. I am happy to be full R&D and no combat, but the delivery quests for 500c each seemed to be painfully dull and thought perhaps I am doing something inefficiently or wrong.

Also, does it make more sense to do the researcher first or the constructor? Or does it not matter really? Bear in mind I have no friends or resources in the game so I will be starting from scratch on all endeavors.

Basically looking to make a rough outline of my long term plan for this.

Thanks!

[Dasore]

i did my constructor with missions and other stuff, it was a pain in the ass and took monthes.
Easiest way to get your traders to cap is by using drones. Put 100 points in willpower and remote controll and level to cap in a few days grinding el farid, chaos caves, regant.

[Jack Slater]

Level with combat and LOM to trader!
I already leveled 3 spies with rifle-combat while farming rare parts. With some experience you can start doing it pretty early. All you need is range. You won't need more than 100 WEP while leveling so you won't need that much loming. Drones are efficent but I just dislike them.

Also, does it make more sense to do the researcher first or the constructor? Or does it not matter really? Bear in mind I have no friends or resources in the game so I will be starting from scratch on all endeavors.

It doesnt matter too much but a researcher is more convenient in making money on its own with TL150 missions.
I would also consider to start as a Fallen Angel for the epic reward which is nice for trader chars and running research missions for FA is easy!

[wizzle]

Level with combat and LOM to trader!
I already leveled 3 spies with rifle-combat while farming rare parts. With some experience you can start doing it pretty early. All you need is range. You won't need more than 100 WEP while leveling so you won't need that much loming. Drones are efficent but I just dislike them.


It doesnt matter too much but a researcher is more convenient in making money on its own with TL150 missions.
I would also consider to start as a Fallen Angel for the epic reward which is nice for trader chars and running research missions for FA is easy!

Ah cool thanks that is all helpful. I actually tried to do the droning route but even with all starting points maxed in RCL/WPW and some in TC my drones did zero damage (The starter and the first bought vendor ones), which made it near impossible to level that way strangely. I think I would enjoy actual combat more anyway.

Is it possible to be both a researcher and rifle user as I level, being semi proficient at both? If so what are the rough max values I should be investing into combat related skills like Rifle Combat, Weapon Lore, High Tech Combat, etc. I'm not even sure what types of rifles people use when leveling. I didn't want to invest too much into them in case it will make it difficult to do any research missions while I level alongside the combat portions. I do plan to LOM over later in the game so I can be a full researcher though. Should I also take up things like Recycle to make ammunition or is that not really worth it?

Also do you have any recommended places to start hunting as you are leveling a new character trying to progress and farm for rares or high value items at the same time, or does that only come much later in the game?

Thanks for all the help, I will definitely pick FA as my faction when I reroll. I had been picking Tangent up to that point because I didn't know any better :)

[Jack Slater]

Is it possible to be both a researcher and rifle user as I level, being semi proficient at both? If so what are the rough max values I should be investing into combat related skills like Rifle Combat, Weapon Lore, High Tech Combat, etc. I'm not even sure what types of rifles people use when leveling. I didn't want to invest too much into them in case it will make it difficult to do any research missions while I level alongside the combat portions. I do plan to LOM over later in the game so I can be a full researcher though. Should I also take up things like Recycle to make ammunition or is that not really worth it?
I don't have exact numbers in my mind but it should be possible to shoot (TT epic is great!), recycle ammo (~40 REC maybe less), drive quad (VHC 15) and research at least T-Parts (>200 RES) savely. Under INT you could keep like 75 WEP and put the rest into RES. I always level with 100 WEP though. A lot depends on preferences if you want exact numbers and I could write a lot about stuff you might want to consider but you should make your own experiences to decide the rest.

Levelweapons with good range worth buying/building:
17 Unlabeled 'Slowfire' Rifle
21 Enhanced Street Model Rifle
30 Assault Rifle
40 A&W Steady RF-113 Rifle
48 Tangent 'Sureshot' Laser Rifle
56 Tangent Lightbringer FR-118
67 Ryker Laser Rifle LDR-872
73 Fusion Rifle
TT EPIC REWARD: 75 Prototype Tangent-Laserbeam-Rifle
78 Unregistered 'Black Market' RF-102 Rfile
85 Tangent Lightbringer 2 FR-345


Also do you have any recommended places to start hunting as you are leveling a new character trying to progress and farm for rares or high value items at the same time, or does that only come much later in the game?
As a beginner get a gun and ask if someone wants to team up for Aggressor Captains in Plaza 1 or 2. After that many peoble go to the Cyclops Bunker insector J/02. I prefer to head for the Gabanium Mine (G/08) sector as soon as possible and kill fire mobs till cap. If you got enough hacking there are also warbots and hoverbots that might drop rare parts besides the decayed brutes and horrors.


Thanks for all the help, I will definitely pick FA as my faction when I reroll. I had been picking Tangent up to that point because I didn't know any better :) If you don't mind to change factions later it's not too important where you start from.

PS: Only take out the LE implant if you know what you do!

[Faid]

The fastest way that I have found to level a spy is to put 5 points in repair at creation, the other points into drone stats. Grab a repair tool and some nanites and rep a quad until around level 23 dex or so. Don't add any points as you level up. Once around level 23 Dex I add some points in repair to get me to 32 rep. I then repair a rhino until 60ish Dex I think.

Once at this point you can grab all the drone and dex boosting imps to allow you to use the rk500 tl81 iirc. Put in only the minimum req points to use the drone. Switch up to the rk1000 as soon as you can and continue for as long as you want. Lom when you've reached a sufficient level.

Whole process takes a few days.

[wizzle]

The fastest way that I have found to level a spy is to put 5 points in repair at creation, the other points into drone stats. Grab a repair tool and some nanites and rep a quad until around level 23 dex or so. Don't add any points as you level up. Once around level 23 Dex I add some points in repair to get me to 32 rep. I then repair a rhino until 60ish Dex I think.

Once at this point you can grab all the drone and dex boosting imps to allow you to use the rk500 tl81 iirc. Put in only the minimum req points to use the drone. Switch up to the rk1000 as soon as you can and continue for as long as you want. Lom when you've reached a sufficient level.

Whole process takes a few days.

Awesome! I would love to try this as well. My only question is when you say rep a quad and rhino, is this possible as a solo person with no friends in game? Can I use my quad from mr.jones as a starter character and get it damaged somehow, then repair it? Just wasn't sure exactly how I would go about the process to find a damaged vehicle to rinse and repeat. The XP gain sounds great.

Thanks!

[Jack Slater]

Yes repping and droning is the fastest way but i needs some money/stuff to start off.
Repping is credits for xp.

[wizzle]

Yes repping and droning is the fastest way but i needs some money/stuff to start off.
Repping is credits for xp.

Thanks for all the info too Jack. I have actually started using Rifle combat like you recommended, and have been doing my own research and construction of my rifles from the list you compiled. Very helpful info!