Beginner's Building Guide!

[bowlingballhead]

Alright! This got wiped from the original forum, so I'm reposting it here. Newbies find the whole build system really confusing, but since you're expected to use player made items and not vendor or loot items (mostly) in E&B, it's really important that everyone understand it.

So I'm providing a guide! Here it is. In the next post, I will copy and paste the guide so that it can be read without downloading.

Building Guide By Scrabble.rtf

[bowlingballhead]

A SCRABBLE MART OF YOUR OWN

Okay. You want a basic guide to building. I, an obsessive builder myself, will educate you. There are two ways I can do this. I can make it fun and silly and like me, or I can make it easy to understand. I'm going to try to do it the second way.

SKILLS:

To build anything, first you need the skill to build it with. I'm going to assume you know how to buy skills and can figure out which build skills your class gets. Bear in mind that building is a major investment of skill points. You will be sacrificing other skills, useful in leveling, to build. And like most skills, you'll probably never reach a level where you say 'that's enough, I never need to increase this further'.

There is one big exception: AMMO BUILDING. If you use an ammunition-dependent weapon, your life will be vastly easier if you can make your own ammunition. Deliberately, ammunition tends to be lower level and require less of a skill point investment than the weapons themselves. But it's still a major investment. Think about whether you want it. The skill, by the way, is Build Weapons. All ammunition is covered by that skill.

So what does buying up a skill get you? For every level of skill you buy, you can build another level of that equipment type. So Build Weapons 5 lets you build level 1 through level 5 weapons. To mix things up a little, when you buy level 6 Build, you get to build level 6 and 7 items. When you buy level 7 build, you can make level 8 and 9 items. Also, the higher your skill, the better the quality you can expect. We'll get to quality later.

TERMINALS

You have to have a terminal to build. All crafting takes place at terminals. There are two types of terminals, the analysis terminals with the little magnifying glasses, and the build terminals with the cogs. You do analysis and dissembling at the analysis terminals, and building at the build terminals. Both these terminals can be found at most stations - but not ALL stations.

THE BASIC PROCESS

You get a recipe from the analysis terminal. You take the parts to the build terminal. You find the recipe you want. You push the 'Manufacture' button. The parts are taken out of your inventory, and a new whatever-it-is is put in your inventory. If that sounds simple, it is. The whole rest of this article is making sure you really understand it.

ANALYSIS

You can't build anything without a recipe. Looking up the parts online will not do it. It's not just that you know what parts an item needs, your character has to know that recipe. On very rare occasions you'll get a recipe from a mission, but 99% of the time you get a recipe by analyzing.

Have the item you want to learn the recipe for in your hold. Activate the analysis terminal. Drag the item into the little analysis box. The 'analyze' button should light up. Click it, and you will be given the recipe! There is a chance you will fail your attempt to analyze the item, and it will be destroyed. There is a chance the process will run itself over several times, damaging the item along the way, until you succeed or fail. The terminal will show you your rough, but not exact, chances of succeeding. You won’t like how low that chance is – usually around 50%. People lose a lot of items they worked hard to find to an analyze failure, unfortunately. It’s just part of the process. As a courtesy, the ingredients boxes will show you what you need to make this recipe.

DISASSEMBLE

If you already have the recipe for an item, and you stick it in the analysis box, the button will light up saying 'disassemble' instead. It'll show you the items in the recipe. Push the button, and the item is taken apart into those parts. Then push the 'Inventory' button, and those parts will be dumped into your cargo hold. WARNING: Do anything else before pushing the 'inventory' button - leave the terminal, or put another item in the analysis box, and you will lose the parts. Once you've pushed disassemble, don't forget to push inventory!

Be aware, you may not get all of the parts back. Your odds of getting them all back are good (and in Live they were terrible) but it is by no means certain. Call it 50/50. There’s a chance you’ll get nothing back, but that chance is pretty small.

FUN FACTS ABOUT ANALYSIS AND DISASSEMBLE

You can't analyze or disassemble 'non-manufacture' items.

You can't analyze or disassemble items your race is not allowed to use (this is different from Live, but looks like it's here to stay).

You CAN analyze and disassemble items only usable by one race or class, even if you’re not that race.

You can't analyze or items player made by someone else. You can disassemble them, if you already have the recipe.

None of the ingredients you get back when disassembling count as player made. People do disassemble in order to get analyzable ingredients. By the time you've built a little, you'll see why this can be very important.

Analyzing and disassembling cost credits. Usually not very many, but you might want to keep an eye out.

You cannot analyze or disassemble an item that you don't have the skill level to build. If you have Build Weapons 4, you can analyze a level 4 missile launcher or beam, but not a level 6.

RECIPES AND INGREDIENTS - FUN FACTS AND A LOT OF STUFF ABOUT COMPONENTS

Most recipes are made up of three ingredients. Not multiples of any one ingredient. That three ingredients can be three units of gallium ore, and each unit will show up on the recipe list in a different box.

Recipes can be as few as one ingredient (I've never seen it, but it could - and I've seen two ingredients), or as many as six ingredients.

Most, but not all, ingredients will be 'components'. You know those things vendors sell?

Most components will be the same level as the item you want to build. Again, 'most'.

Most components are sold at vendors.

Vendors sell one level of component each. Different stations sell different levels of component.

Sometimes different stations will sell different components. This is rare. More about this in a minute.

Some components were not sold at vendors in live, or only at hard to find vendors. These components usually had names starting with 'A', 'B', or 'C', like Athanor Solar Mounts, Blackbox 555-8888, or the infamous CE3K Eruption.

In Live, Oronom Prison (in ABG) sold level 3 rare components. Trader's Fort sold some higher level ones. (7s, I believe). Monty, that traveling sales ship in Saturn, sold a variety of hard to find components.

In Stress Test 3, Onorom still sells the rare level 3s. Somerled sells the rare level 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s. Including some that are really weird and were part of very rare recipes, like the solar shields, from live.

Components can be built, analyzed, and disassembled if you have the Build Components skill. This is the only reliable source of some components.

Most components are made of refined ores.

Most components meant for ammunition are made of unrefined ores.

Components have their own quality rating (this is different from live).

INGREDIENTS THAT AREN'T COMPONENTS

I'm just going to put these by themselves for less confusion.

Not all ingredients in recipes are components. Sometimes they're unbuildable loot items. If you build bogeril tech, get used to using a lot of 'debris', 'scuttle dung', and fun items like 'battlebug control bars'.

The higher level the item, the more likely it'll have unbuildable loot items in the recipe.

Many, many recipes will have a lower level piece of equipment as part of the recipe. Almost always, the lower level item of the same series. Sound confusing? Here's an example. The recipe for a level 2 monoceros device is a level 1 monoceros device and a turbo2 converter 2 (a level 2 component).

Get used to that pattern. Lower level item + component used to build higher level item of the same type. It does NOT always work that way, but it's VERY common. Another example: A level 3 ogun is used to build a level 4 ogun. A level 4 ogun is used to build a level 5 ogun. A level 5 ogun is used to build a level 6 ogun. And that's the whole series of regular oguns.

One reason this is important: Analyze a level 6 ogun, and you'll find out you need a level 5 ogun to build it. A level 5 ogun you do not automatically get the recipe to.

Another reason this is important: Disassemble a level 6 ogun, and you'll get a level 5 ogun. A level 5 ogun that doesn't count as player made, and can be analyzed by you or anybody.

BUILDING

You've got the recipe? You've got the ingredients? You're ready to build. Building is fantastically easy. Activate the build terminal. Poke around at the icons until you find what you want to build. This is the hardest part, actually - the terminals are designed to be pretty rather than easy to use, and components especially are divided into weird categories that may not make sense unless you're an expert.

Once you see the item you want to build listed, click on that item. The ingredients you need to build it will show up on the terminal. If you have all these ingredients in your cargo hold, the 'manufacture' button will light up. Push that button. Done, the ingredients are used, and the new item is put in your cargo hold.

You will pay some money in the process. This can be a lot of money. It’s cheaper to build an item than to buy it from a vendor, but if you buy the components too it’s not much cheaper. Generally, people build because the quality is better, or you can get stuff that’s hard to get otherwise.

QUALITY

So. Every item you build has a 'quality' percentage. It goes from 0 to 200. You probably know how what it means. But just in case, I'll explain. The higher the quality percentage, the better the item works - SOMEhow. Missile and projectile launchers get a lower reload time. Beams get a higher damage. Reactors get a higher recharge (but not cap). Shields get a higher recharge (but not cap).

Just as importantly, buffs (like turbo warp, deflects, and bonuses to skill) also go up with quality. Not every buff increases, or increases enough that you’ll think it’s worth it, but almost always that quality bonus will make a noticeable and very useful difference.

But what you WANT to know is, how do I get a better quality? Well first, if a player manufactures an item, it's almost guaranteed to have higher than 100% quality. It can be lower - but it doesn't happen often. The terminal will actually show you what quality you can expect.

And again you ask, how do I get a better quality? Nobody knows for sure, and the devs aren't talking. These are the things we know help:

A higher build skill means a better quality.

A higher build skill than you need means a better quality. (If you have level 5 Build Weapons, a level 4 weapon you make will have a higher quality than level 5 weapons you make).

Chance plays a part. Unless your skill is so good you can only get 200% on something, you'll see a different result every time you build.

Better ingredients means better quality. What do I mean by 'better ingredients'? Higher quality. That level 4 ogun made out of a level 3 ogun and a component? If that level 3 ogun is 200%, your level 4 ogun will have a much higher quality. If that component is 200%, your level 4 ogun will have a higher quality.

In live, there were devices that increased build skills (and thus, quality). They were rare, but they existed. The most common of these items was the level 5 bogeril device 'Duct Tape' that increased Build Weapons and Build Devices skill. These still work, but they’re not easy to get and the effect is small. It’s still a bonus every builder loves to have.

Late in live, there were loot items added you could drag onto their own slot on the build terminal, and they would be used up when you manufactured and increase quality. As I write this, that is totally not implemented in any way.

Having more recipes increases quality, but only for that kind of building. So, if you have 100 weapon and ammo recipes (It’s all Build Weapons, right?) your quality is much higher than if you have only 2. Those 100 weapon recipes won’t change your device quality. Each recipe makes a teeny tiny change, but there are an awful lot of recipes in the game.

You will hear rumors about things that helped get better quality in live and may help now. Even in live, we didn't fully understand how building worked. Because of this, the way quality is decided in the new Net7 E&B is by an entirely new formula made by the devs according to their own priorities. All we know for sure is that it's very complicated and they're very proud of it, but not afraid to change it if they think it's not good enough. So, feel free to guess.

IN CONCLUSION

This guide was way longer than I expected. Building is very simple and easy, but there are hundreds of items to build and thousands of ingredients. There's a lot of tricks and details, and I've tried to include the important ones for you. But mostly, I just wanted to make sure you understood. Earth and Beyond has a lot of things that are easy to use, but are not at all obvious.

[garblesoup]

Well done, I'd say you've laid this out in a thorough yet easy to follow manner.

[Phaethon]

I thought I would add some "insider" info to the above. I walked thru analyze, dismantle and build source code for current server build and here are my finds, in addition to the stuff listed above:

Jenquais get extra bonus to analyze chance. It is hard to tell what the exact amount is since the formula is pretty complicated and draws from characters stats, but it is sizable.

Terrans get extra bonus to build quality. Again, it is not obvious what it is, the formula is pretty complicated.

Progens get extra bonus to dismantle skill, you have higher chance to get each component. At least here it is obvious what it is and it is flat 20%.

Also, I couldn't find anything that would indicate that amount of formulas would affect build quality, so I have to provisionally disagree on that one

Knowing the above, you'd probably want to have Jenq character build uber rare items since they have the most chance to analyze these successfully. You don't want to fail analyzing these L9 scales.

Common place items, use Terran. You will get consistently better results when building.

[bowlingballhead]

As for number of recipes, the devs have said it repeatedly - even said the exact numbers on public channels. More to the point, I look at the quality chances on weapons, where I have fifty million recipes, and engines, where I have half a dozen? NO comparison.

[garblesoup]

Progens get extra bonus to dismantle skill, you have higher chance to get each component. At least here it is obvious what it is and it is flat 20%.

Weapon? Weapon try to hurt Progen! Progen Smash! Progen Smash! Hmmmm, pretty parts.

[Phaethon]

As for number of recipes, the devs have said it repeatedly - even said the exact numbers on public channels. More to the point, I look at the quality chances on weapons, where I have fifty million recipes, and engines, where I have half a dozen? NO comparison.

Dunno, what I said is that the source code doesn't have a variable like that so maybe it is just wishful thinking. You know, some people claim that faction matters as well (does not yet), time of day as well, and when you hold your left ear and stand on the right leg does as well.

[Ovoyo]

cool, thanks alot!

anyone have opinion on PW building all their own ammo...

seems like a drain of skill points, but save on credits.

any firsthand knowledge?

[garblesoup]

cool, thanks alot!

anyone have opinion on PW building all their own ammo...

seems like a drain of skill points, but save on credits.

any firsthand knowledge?

I don't know about the save on credits aspect. Are you comparing PW-built vs. storebought? After a certain point the PW is going to strongly prefer PM ammo to storebought - so at that point they are either building it themselves or having someone else build it for them.

If the PW belongs to a guild it's usually not too hard to find a guildmate that will help you out and build the ammo, otherwise - time permitting - Market channel will typically find a builder.

For maximum flexibility, yes, having the PW with the build skill to craft their own ammo is the bees knees. As you point out, though, that's a lot of skill points to sink into build weps - and it's tough for a PW to price-compete against a player with high-level Negotiate. So you have to decide whether you think you'll have access to builders to maintain a steady supply of ammo (cuz we know PW's burn through that fast) and if you're OK with going store-bought for those times you can't get hooked up - keep the skill points.

My primary is a TT with max weps build so I can build all my PW's stuff, but I still made the modest investment of skill pts to get Build Weps lvl 3 for my PW for convenience in the early stages.

[Mattsacre]

Touch on couple things about "live" you quoted far down in your post OP but would like to highlight it:

ANALYZING :if you had a high level of build skill and was dismantling/learning lower items you often could learn the whole chain. I will use OGUN as example..if you got the lvl 6 ogun you could analyze, learn 6 and get a lvl 5 and a part in return from the terminal, you could then analyze the 5 get a recipe and a lvl 4 and part back..all the way down to the first lvl item..I say COULD..not likely! Somewhere in there you usually missed something. (I did it a few times).

PLAYER MADE RECIPES: if you had the whole chain good for you!..but you could help out your guildies out sometimes also..how you ask? example with OGUN again: you build a lvl 6 up then disassemble it, you will get a lvl 5 OGUN and a part back. You can then turn over that lvl 5 gun over to them to analyze as its not considered playermade anymore. You could rinse repeat as often as needed for them to learn the whole chain EXCLUDING the highest lvl you started with, for that you then drag the out to the loot drop site for a little combat xp

FACTION ON SUCCESS: during "live" it had been speculated and much ancedotal evidence towards it that your faction standing towards the owner of the station effected your chances to analyze in that station. As a beta-beta tester (I know that sounds odd beta-beta..but there WAS 2 beta, Westwood was based in Vegas and they had a unofficial beta run out of a arcane we all used to haunt ) They told me that there was indeed a factional randomizer factored into it..wouldn't tell me how. About 2 months before the sunset it was once again confirmed officially (heck it was dying what did they care?) This belief and later confirmed reason was why many of your builders would set up shop in N7, everyone could with a little fast mission running get good with N7. This coupled with the fact that a vast majority of all vendor parts was either there or just 1 sector jump either direction from there. (And the fact that there was a wormhole 1 sector away also for those extra far away parts) thus my toon "mattsmuleho" (all my toons had a "matt" in it) i.e. matt's mule ho

[Mattsacre]

cool, thanks alot!

anyone have opinion on PW building all their own ammo...

seems like a drain of skill points, but save on credits.

any firsthand knowledge?

As you get high level credits became not so much a worry..lol what you was killing was selling either to other players or to vendors for good income. You also got a unannounced break in the price of stuff, sort of a "negotiate" skill of your own when you got faction in good with station owners..you couldn't beat what the TT/TE got but at high level it was negligable difference.

Note that your PW if he does build also can learn WEAPONS not just ammo..but the ammo is the most important..why? because of quality/quantity. As ammo was vendor or player made..the player made could be a higher quality...sometimes just a few hp diff. per round but later on huge difference. As a projectile user they had the highest R.ound P.er M.inute(RPM) thus the stacks had more rounds..ea round just a few hp diff. really added up to DPS! A PW final hull had more weap slots than anyone else..fill those all with guns tossing hot plasma approx.every sec +12 hp per..you can see how that would add up to DPS!

No PW worth his salt would use vendor ammo for anything other than a low level farm.

So like you said..that kind of eats into the skill points..yes EARLY on it does..but there where some skills later on that was such a joke that you won't want to "waste" points on them and you can trade them..SELF DESTRUCT comes to mind right off the bat. Until you have points to "waste" don't spend them on that goldenturd skill ..another skill..the shield nova..early in live it was totally worth the effort to get it..but they nerfed it down so much midlive that it was kind of a joke...it became only good to faction level/kill.

On a side note: Don't skimp on gravlink! It may SEEM like it don't have much to offer..but it has a unannounced mob debuff. It not only slows things down (both from them escaping and so you can "kite" them) but it also takes away their dodge ratio. I.E. fewer of your shots miss..this played a huge difference at high level when grouped for bosses. For players in the know the TE/TT wanted a progen with gravlink in group...it made thier missles do huge difference in DPS.

[Dialupman]

I remember my Father playing in Live. He was an excellent builder. One of the few who had a few level 9 Oguns at max quality... with patterns meant to reproduce it. From what he told me, the higher quality you have on the pattern, the better your odds have at a higher quality once built. His strategy was to repeatedly create an item, then analyze any item that was a higher quality than the pattern in an attempt at a higher quality pattern. Once he had a pattern at max Quality, which was time consuming and expensive, he began making equipment to sell to other players. At least that is what he told me. No idea if it was true, but I did witness the equipment on his ship... it was perfect... and he made it all XD... I should get him to play on these servers again

*Edit* He also had great shields, engines, and reactors too... he kept talking about tons of level 9's at 300%, and that 300% was quality cap... some trial and error is needed XD

Edited June 9, 2010 by Dialupman

[blattu]

nice tutorial

+1 to you

well done!

[lpalgarvio[IS]]

nice tutorial for noobs. well done

[Talcon]

Good post

[StarBurst_11261997]

this guide is amazing! I can't wait to jump into making items!