Hi Guys,

I have a number of characters and like to choose crew skills that compliment the class. In this particular case, I have a Sniper that has Armstech with slicing and investigation.

I have now been trying for 3 days doing countless mission runs on multiple toons to get the required materials and have made over 30 custom sniper rifles and still have not made one with an augment slot. (This is not the first tiime I have had this experience). Whats worse, is the first companion you get (Kaliyo) is meant to have efficiency in Armstech which would indicate that Bioware believe that Armstech is complimentary to the Class (Smugglers gets +5 Armstech Critical) .

So I am left wondering if it is Kaliyo that is broken or is it that she does not have the +5 top crit she cant crit? Or is the whole crit crafting broken. as this surely cannot be working as intended?

Armstech effiency means they craft faster not better. And I don't know where you get that about Smugglers/Snipers having a bonus to Armstech it's the first I've ever heard of that. If you want to increase the critical chance the only way to do it is to boost Kaliyo's affection.

Crit-crafting is pure RNG. I've crafted 30 items in a row once with no crit, then critted on the first one with another. Just keep plugging away.

. And I don't know where you get that about Smugglers/Snipers having a bonus to Armstech it's the first I've ever heard of that.

You know all companions have a pluss to two crew skills?

You know all companions have a pluss to two crew skills?

Apparently you didn't read the entire discussion.

The issue is about Kaliyo having Armstech +Crit bonus, which she doesn't. She only has Armstech +Efficiency bonus.

Hi Guys,

I have a number of characters and like to choose crew skills that compliment the class. In this particular case, I have a Sniper that has Armstech with slicing and investigation.

Slicing does not compliment armstech. Armstech does not compliment a sniper as well as biochem does in my opinion. For an operative I would go with armstech more then a sniper. A sniper has no means of healing, needs that big buff for his big shots, so I would go biochem with him.

I have now been trying for 3 days doing countless mission runs on multiple toons to get the required materials and have made over 30 custom sniper rifles and still have not made one with an augment slot. (This is not the first tiime I have had this experience). Whats worse, is the first companion you get (Kaliyo) is meant to have efficiency in Armstech which would indicate that Bioware believe that Armstech is complimentary to the Class (Smugglers gets +5 Armstech Critical) .

 

So I am left wondering if it is Kaliyo that is broken or is it that she does not have the +5 top crit she cant crit? Or is the whole crit crafting broken. as this surely cannot be working as intended?

Kaliyo is only the first companion, and she is not +crit, but +efficiency in armstech. She has a +crit to underworld trading. Mod slots are based off of crit. Further, if you look down the list the companion crew covers every aspect of biochen to one degree or another. If memory serves (without checking) that is the only crew skill so fully supported by that class. I think its the second companion, Victor that has both a bonus to bio-analysis and a +crit to diplomacy, and of course you have DOCTOR Lokin next. ;p

As to the crit rate for moded gear, 30 is a low number. I've seen much higher numbers reported. ;p

Hope that helps a bit.

Yes, I am aware of this, it just seems to me that some crew skills are more suitable than others. eg: you dont see any of the Sith Inquisitor companions with a +x for Armstech, just as an Imperial Agent does not have a +X for synthweaving. This would imply that some crew skills are more aligned than others and that Bioware intended this.

The following list would, at least in my eyes, appear to support that Agents/Smugglers and Bounty Hunters/Troopers are more adept at Armstech and Armormech.

Agent

Kaliyo D'jannis = +10 Armstech Efficiency

Ensign Raina Temple = +2 Armormech Critical

Bounty Hunter

Blizz - +15 Armormech Efficiency and +1 Critical Armstech

Trooper

Aric Jorgan = +10 Armstech Efficiency,

Tanno Vik = +5 Critical Armormech

Smuggler

Corso Riggs = +5 Armstech Critical

Akaavi Spar = +10 Armormech Efficiency

Again from this above list, as both Kaliyo and Corso are both your first companions and they both have a + skill in Armstech, it would indicate that Bioware intended to give the class an advantage and incentive to take these crew skills.

As for the affection, Kaliyo is currently sitting at 1500 affection. I hope it is not implied that I need 100% affection before she is able to get a crit on a weapon craft? or is that smugglers are the preferred class for armstech as they get the +crit bonus? in which case, are imperial agents never meant to crit? though that does not seem right either.

However the problem that I am seeing is that even after 40 attempts now, I have been unable to make one single custom-built sniper rifle with an augment slot, which for me at least was a major reason to take Armstech in the first place. No I am not an RP;er but I like my crew skills to fit and be of use to me, even if it is just for leveling and if I cannot make an item with an augment slot after 40 attempts, well it must be broken.

PS: Yes I am aware the ability to add an augment slot to anything come patch 1.3, though that still does not address the broken mechanic.

OK, so I have read the advantages of Biochem and do agree with your logic in why one would want to go Biochem over Armstech (and the way this is going, I really am falling in the camp of why bother with crafting at all except for biochem).

However, are you implying that as Kaliyo does not have the +5 to crit that she is incapable of critting? and if so, does that seem right?

As for 30 being a low number, I disagree. I know people have reported higher numbers, but that does not make it any acceptable or any less frustrating. If I make 20 of anything, I should have made the higher item by then. I mean think of all the mats you have to go to make 40!!.

The outcome of all this though, is that Bioware have made crafting not only useless, but not enjoyable! hence, why I cant believe that a team of professional game developers would have intended to make something not fun, otherwise, why put it in the game. Hence it seems only logical, that it must not be working correctly.

PS: 44 still no crit, this cannot be working as intended.

PSS: I officially cant make anymore as I have depleted all my funds and matts. Thanks Bioware for a really enjoyable experience.

I just want to add, that the end result, irrespective of math and probability, is the end user experience. The experience here for me, has been one of frustration and considerable expense that leaves a bad taste.

Aion had a similar RNG system and it was NOT well received by western audiences. While I agree a certain amount of chance should apply, it should be capped.

Bioware, I would really love to hear what you think of this????

hehe, just thought I would let you know the latest development. I just tried making a vibro knife to go with my

un-augmented custom sniper rifle and I got the following purple crit!

[Rampart Dread Recruit's Blade]

+24 Endurance

+14 Cunning

+14 Shield

+28 Power

+ 170 Tech Power

It reads like mastercard add, just priceless.

hehe, just thought I would let you know the latest development. I just tried making a vibro knife to go with my

un-augmented custom sniper rifle and I got the following purple crit!

 

[Rampart Dread Recruit's Blade]

+24 Endurance

+14 Cunning

+14 Shield

+28 Power

+ 170 Tech Power

 

It reads like mastercard add, just priceless.

Hah! I can trump that. When they "finally" allowed vibroknives to be RE'd (they weren't before 1.2) After over 20 of the level 50 green knives my first two blue ones; Shield rating and defence chance. When I finally got an overkill (power) knife, my first epic pattern was.... drumroll.... commanders (prescence). I have a collection of some of the worst patterns in-game for weapons >.<

As for the affection, Kaliyo is currently sitting at 1500 affection. I hope it is not implied that I need 100% affection before she is able to get a crit on a weapon craft? or is that smugglers are the preferred class for armstech as they get the +crit bonus? in which case, are imperial agents never meant to crit? though that does not seem right either.

Since Kaliyo does not have an innate chance to Crit, you are only left with the Affection-based crit bonus. Affection at 0-10k gives 0-5% Crit bonus. In your case with Kaliyo at 1500 Affection she had exactly 0% Crit bonus.

Luckily for you schematics also have an innate crit chance depending on your crafting skill compared to the schematic's difficulty level.

Orange difficulty is +10% chance.

Yellow/Green/Grey difficulty is +15% chance.

This entire thread can be solved with 3 simple letters.

RNG.

That is all. Good day.

Well, for what its worth.

When I wanted to make my augmented pistols for my gunslinger, I had enough mats for 20 attempts. Having Corso at max affection made that seem enough. And it sure was, as my first 2 attempts both critted...

Off course the level 35 purple barrel is still imprinted in my memory as pure hell as it costed me about 50 attempts to get it.

What you *COULD* do to increase your crit chance is a) improve affection, or b) get the hunter droid sensor from the legacy shipdroid (buy it yourself or go to the ship of a friend that has it). This will give your shipdroid a +10 investigation efficiency bonus, and a armstech +2 critical bonus. If you then proceed to increase your shipdroids faction he should be somewhat effective in critting armstech recipes.

However, are you implying that as Kaliyo does not have the +5 to crit that she is incapable of critting? and if so, does that seem right?

Kaliyo still has a chance to crit, on any skill, just like all companions. however, she does not have a crit bonus. Her bonus is +10 Armstech Efficiency, meaning, I believe, that she does it faster. She does not have a crit bonus. Her crit bonus is in UWT.

I know it's really frustrating, but you have to keep in mind that critting when you are making something does not take into account how many you have made. Meaning, you have no more chance to get an Augmented weapon making 2 than you do making 50. The chances are independent. A few times I've gotten 2 out of 3 critted, and sometimes I don't get a crit for a hundred tries. It sucks, I get it. Most of the time I just give up and buy one on the GTN for 50,000-100,000 creds. It's usually worth it in the end, with all the mats you're wasting.

Yep, it is frustrating, but it is not broken. I keep getting armormech and armstech augment slots on my green/blues that I'm RE'ing and then sometimes it is real hard to get the augment on your purples. But that is just because the difficulty level on the purples is higher and thus your chance to crit is lower.

There is a post on one of the Q&As which breaks down crit crafting and crit chances. The basic idea is the following:

To maximize your crit crafting chance do the following:

1) Max your crafting skill to 400 (low difficulty schems will crit more often than max difficulty schems)

2) Max your companion's affection to 10k

3) Craft with a companion that has +crit to the crafting skill if possible

Just FYI, yesterday Kaliyo crit crafted about 8 different weapons with augment slots for me. So no, she is not broken.

since kaliyo does not have an innate chance to crit, you are only left with the affection-based crit bonus. Affection at 0-10k gives 0-5% crit bonus. In your case with kaliyo at 1500 affection she had exactly 0% crit bonus.

 

Luckily for you schematics also have an innate crit chance depending on your crafting skill compared to the schematic's difficulty level.

Orange difficulty is +10% chance.

Yellow/green/grey difficulty is +15% chance.

this!

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to thank everyone for some really great responses. You have all raised some points that I was not aware of what could be done in order to maximise my potential to get a critical craft for an augment slot.

One thing that still puzzles me though, is that in order to maximize your chance to get a critical craft you need in essence, to have leveled to 50 and maxed Armstech to 400 and Kaliyo's affection to 10k. However, this seems to mean that once it has become possible for you to make your augmented custom sniper rifle, you would not have any need for it, as you would have procured yourself a better weapon through pve or pvp.

What people have stated here really, is that it is in fact working as intended. What I am saying is that what they have working as intended, is broken in its experience. If I cant craft an advanced custom sniper rifle for my leveling use, then the crew skill in my opinion has no use. Now I know many have said in other forum posts that Biochem is the only truly useful crew skill, and my experience only seems to reinforce that notion. You might say that you don't need an augmented weapon or armor etc to level, though, to me its the advantage of the crew skill to be able to have that option while you level, and with out it, again, it leaves little reason to take a crew skill with the many other options for gearing in the game.

And I think that really was the crux of my post (sorry if I did not get that across). Some of the replies here confirmed I never even really had a chance to get an augmented craft, and that is the problem. To spend all that time and money to end only in frustration, does not make for a good game experience.

Crafting RNG working as intended, apparently so. Is it fun and useful, No.

One thing that still puzzles me though, is that in order to maximize your chance to get a critical craft you need in essence, to have leveled to 50 and maxed Armstech to 400 and Kaliyo's affection to 10k. However, this seems to mean that once it has become possible for you to make your augmented custom sniper rifle, you would not have any need for it, as you would have procured yourself a better weapon through pve or pvp.

[i made quite a thorough reply earlier today, but when I hit the "Post" button maintenance had started . Anyway below is the short version]

On the way to level 50 the levels fly by so fast that it's simply not efficient to spend time/money on 1st buying/crafting orange gear with an augment slot, 2nd crafting/buying the augments and 3rd buying/crafting the mods to fill those oranges and keeping them updated regularly. You certainly don't need them to beat any content while leveling.

Augments and augment slots should be considered meant for endgame. They are used at level 50 to compensate for whichever stat you feel you have too little of. As such it's quite ok that you won't reach maximum efficiency in crafting augment slots until the higher levels. You simply shouldn't use them earlier, they cost way too much money/effort to maintain.

Allof the companions have a chance to Crit craft an item, but a companion with a specific bonus to Crit crafting, and/or high affection, and/or your character having a higher skill level in that crew skill, will simply have a higher chance of crit crafting.

My Smuggler is the one who does my Armstech crafting, and Corso has an affection level of about 8500. When I craft pieces that are below my level, my crit crafting percentage (and also the Reverse Engineering percentage) seems to be closer to 50%. Even so, I can still get a run of 10-15 items without a Crit, followed by 4 out of 5 that Crit.