So I hear people speak of augments. I hear them say they are useless before a certain point. I sometimes get "agugment kit" thinks when I reverse engineer (things that look like colored spark plugs). But I have no idea what an augment is. Is it something you can make and then put on a piece of gear, like an extra slot along with the barrel/hilt, mod, enhancement? Or what?

An augmentation kit creates an augmentation slot on a piece of gear. If your gear has this slot, you can place an augment in it which gives you extra stats. Higher stats = good, so augments are highly desirable. Lower grade augments are considered a waste of time and money because you go fast through the early levels and your augments will constantly become obsolete. It's better to ignore them until 55 when you can buy the best augments from the start.

OP the sparkplug thing you get when you reverse engineer is a component for making an augmentation kit. It takes 10 components to make 1 kit. A complete kit is what you would put into a piece of gear. Once a kit is installed in a piece of gear you can then put an augment into it.

Be sure you have the gear you like before you place the augment kit in it. The mods, and the augment itself can be removed for credits (usually around 10k per purple at lv 55) but the kit can't. To put them in cost 36k per piece of equipment for mk-9 (lv 55)

 

Also if you do put a lower augment kit in your gear you will have to upgrade that to the next level of augment kits that is why it is recommended to wait until 55.

Edited November 7, 2013 by ScarletBlaze

So the augment kit is what creates the slot in the first place, then the augment is something different? And where do augments come from?

So the augment kit is what creates the slot in the first place, then the augment is something different? And where do augments come from?

 

Yeah to your first sentence.

 

Augmentation kits are crafted by players. Augments are crafted by players too. Next time you're at a global trade network terminal use the pull down menu to look up: Item modifications > augments

 

Or type in Advanced Skill Augment to the search box to see a more limited list for examples.

Short version: Augments are a type of item modification, used to increase your stats. However, unlike other modifiable gear, which has slots for all appropriate mods by default, you have to manually add an augment slot to your gear yourself, and it has to be done at an item Modification Station using an Augment Kit. Once the slot has been added, I believe that adding and removing Augments can be done in the field; you just need the station to add the slot itself.

 

Augments are desirable because they are anotber source of stat boosts, and the higher your stats, the more damage you can deal and take. However, adding an augment slot to an item is expensive. Either you have to blow 36k to put a MK-9 Augment Slot into a single piece of equipment, or you have to constantly upgrade your Augment slots as you level. Most people therefore ignore Augments until they hit the level cap, when they have the money to blow over 500k to add a Mk-9 Augment slot to all their gear. Combine that with the fact that there isn't much of a market for low-level Augments, and it's generally a better idea to wait until endgame to start Augmenting your gear.

 

Also worth noting: while normal item modification items can only be applied to armor and weapons/offhand items, Augment slots can be applied to anything. This means your Earpiece, Implants, and Relics can be Augmented, offering a further boost to your stats from items that normally can't be modded.

All the above statements are accurate, but something to consider is that if you have to opportunity to acquire lower level augment slot kits and augments cheaply and/or easily, no matter the level of the character, every little bit helps.

 

For example, for my latest alt, a trooper, I crafted several pieces of custom quality gear for him using another character's armormech crew skill. In that process, I got a critical success and the helmet I made got an MK-2 augment slot (when you craft items that fit into gear slots, when you critically succeed the item gets a level appropriate augment slot kit added). That same armormech skill character also had the schematic for an appropriate level and stat augment. So I made one. It only adds +9 to aim, but I will probably use that helmet until level 55 because it has a low level augment and as i just stated: every little bit helps.

 

My point is to not dismiss lower level augments out of hand, just be careful and invest wisely:

 

- only add augment slot kits and augments to custom/orange quality gear because they can be upgraded via item modifications and remain in use (static stat gear WILL get replaced and the slot kit is gone).

- do not go overboard and augment kit all your gear. Too expensive for the small boost.

If you are a crafter you will get lots of augmentation kit parts when REing items, so why not craft the kits themselves. They give nice craft skillups. And if you have them, why not augment your gear. As mentioned, every little bit helps.

 

Also, if your crafting skill is one of the ones that can make augments (armormech, armstech or synthweaving), you can also craft low level augments. Schematics come from critical successes on slicing missions; you can find them on GTN, and low level schematics are usually pretty expensive. But you will get a nice return on that investment - blue low level augments are easy and cheap to make and sell for a ton.

 

For blue augments you need sliced tech parts that come from slicing. If you do not have a slicer character you can buy them on the GTN - usually for dirt cheap, since everyone runs slicing missions constantly in hopes of getting a crit.

 

Or, you can forget about all that and just sell the kit parts. They also sell pretty nicely.