How do I get armstech leveled past 60? I realized I did not have investigation, but underworld trading by mistake, so I picked that skill up. I am not seeing anything to craft that is not grey. Do I have to investigate to learn new weapon schematics so I can start crafting gear higher than CL9?

Have you checked with the Armstech trainer to see if there are additional schematics you can learn? As you level up, options to purchase new schematics should become available to you. Try grabbing one with a requirement of 60 (since that's where you are now) - it should be orange difficulty, which will give you two points per craft to start. Remember that as your skill increases, you need to make more and more difficult items to progress.

Orange - 2 points

Yellow - 1 or 2 points

Green - 1 point

Grey - 0 points

Thanks very much for the replies. I don't know why it never occurred to me to check there and I had not seen this question answered on the Crew Skills forums. I appreciate it.

This crew skill system is nonsense/pure insanity! I'm spending literally hours crafting pieces. Will a 160 schematic take me the rest of the way or will I have to comeback for more schematics somewhere between 600? I"m at 600/600 on Scavenging and Investigation and I'm getting tired of this...

Yes, of course you will, just like those folks did five years ago.

This is not GW2 where you learn basic refining and component recipes automatically and learn how to make finished items by trying things at a crafting table. (But even there, refining recipes grey out long before you learn the next ones, so you must make *something* beyond just refining materials to learn those next ones.)

In SWTOR, the trainers sell schematics, and if you don't go back to learn the next ones, then yes, 160 is where you get stuck, when the first tier bonded attachments or similar things grey out and stop giving points.

And no, it isn't nonsense. It's one of the few remaining credit sinks, along with the "white" materials.

Go see the Armstech trainer. If he has new recipes for you to learn, there will be a little green plus by the cut-diamond symbol above his head.

EDIT: Addendum: In general, only the bonded attachments and similar (Arms Components?) will give "experience" for more than about half a grade. A Component will only give experience until the end of the following grade, so a 160 component (Grade 3) will stop giving experience when you reach the beginning of Grade 5 at 300.

The grades are:

1: 1-79

2: 80-159

3: 160-239

4: 240-299

5: 300-349

6: 350-399

7: 400-449

8: 450-499

9: 500-549

10: 550-600

EDIT: Addendum: In general, only the bonded attachments and similar (Arms Components?) will give "experience" for more than about half a grade. A Component will only give experience until the end of the following grade, so a 160 component (Grade 3) will stop giving experience when you reach the beginning of Grade 5 at 300.

 

The grades are:

1: 1-79

2: 80-159

3: 160-239

4: 240-299

5: 300-349

6: 350-399

7: 400-449

8: 450-499

9: 500-549

10: 550-600

While what SteveTheCynic says is true, to power level a crew skill you want to use orange difficulty items as much as possible because you get 4 skill points per item crafted and you want to use green difficulty as little as possible because you only have a chance to get 1 skill point (high chance yes, but not 100%). When I last power leveled a crafting skill this is what I did and my results (Each "pass" consists of crafting 40 components (eight companions crafting five components each)):

grade 1 - 2 passes = skill 110

grade 2 - 1 pass = skill 171

grade 3 - 1 pass = skill 243

grade 4 - 1 pass = skill 308

grade 5 - 1 pass = skill 364

grade 6 - 1 pass = skill 408

grade 7 - 1 pass = skill 459

grade 8 - 1 pass = skill 516

grade 9 - 1 pass = skill 560

grade 10 - .5 pass = skill 600

depending on the influence of your companions you can get the first seven grades done in an hour (and I am NOT talking about all rank 50 either, more like average rank 20). The remaining three grades (8, 9, & 10) I setup a pass and switched characters.

While what SteveTheCynic says is true, to power level a crew skill you want to use orange difficulty items as much as possible because you get 4 skill points per item crafted and you want to use green difficulty as little as possible because you only have a chance to get 1 skill point (high chance yes, but not 100%).

I was specifically addressing the expectation of being able to use a 160-level schematic to go all the way to 600, as the other poster was asking, and pointing out that it's impossible, and *why* it's impossible.

StevetehCynic and Psandak,

First, thanks for your comments. Since we last talked I've completed all but one of 8 characters to 600. The hardest part was getting the material. I do have the following questions about the core crew skills(biochem, artifice, etc)

1. I noticed the 1 and 4 difference but I noticed also if I waited to upgrade the schematic I could take if further up the tree. Example. I took the 1 level one to almost 160 or so before it stopped give return. Can you confirm this?

2. Where do you get the next level crafting materials? Iokath stuff seems to be the endgame material but I have not come across it anywhere.

3. I noticed grey, orange and green. Are there any circumstances where grey will still give value/points?

StevetehCynic and Psandak,

 

First, thanks for your comments. Since we last talked I've completed all but one of 8 characters to 600. The hardest part was getting the material. I do have the following questions about the core crew skills(biochem, artifice, etc)

 

1. I noticed the 1 and 4 difference but I noticed also if I waited to upgrade the schematic I could take if further up the tree. Example. I took the 1 level one to almost 160 or so before it stopped give return. Can you confirm this?

2. Where do you get the next level crafting materials? Iokath stuff seems to be the endgame material but I have not come across it anywhere.

3. I noticed grey, orange and green. Are there any circumstances where grey will still give value/points?

1. Absolutely. It is *exactly* my point. A grade 1 component / attachment will give points until it goes grey at the beginning of grade 3 at level 160. A grade 2 component until grade 4 at 240, and so on.

2. "Iokath" (Grade 10) materials are available from several "original" sources:

* Nodes on Iokath (duh) - there are some of each type in the daily mission areas, but you must be on foot / speeder and not in an Iokath walker / mouse droid.

* Dismantling droids (Scavenging) / eviscerating dead beasts (Bioanalysis) in flashpoints where your effective level is synced to 70.

* Similarly in Operations.

* And similarly on Iokath.

They can also be bought from other players on the GTN.

3. Grey NEVER gives crew skill levelling *points*. That's what it means, "no points for this". And there is also yellow in between green and orange. But grey can give *value* - if the thing you are collecting is valuable, it remains valuable if it is grey, and you get more of it if you are gathering from a node.