Several questions from a newcomer

[ophiucus]

Hello, I started here some days ago and been making good progress, the guides here and elsewhere have been a good source of info. There's a few things though that I've found no answer to yet. Perhaps someone here can help me with answers?

- What is the optimal armor for me? I've figured that with weapons, I need to upgrade to higher quality every time I jump past my present weapon's quality so I don't gimp myself damage-wise. What skill, then, should tell me when to upgrade my armor? Obviously there must be some mechanic that stops me from donning a quality 250 armor 10 seconds after character creation.

- How do I craft armor and weapons with dodge/parry modifiers? I've been experimenting with materials and been able to drege the bars in crafting window close to 50 without gimping the item too much on other departments, yet the final product, upon inspection, has a big fat zero for parry or dodge.

- Do versions of extract speed and rate greater than harmful 1 exist? I've trained myself up to harmful and gentle extract quality 40 already but still have to do with those beginning stanzas on my extracts.

- What determines my dodge and parry ratings? They seem to go up now and then but I've been unable to determine if they're tied to a statistic (say, dexterity) or if they are related to my fighting skill. They take bonuses from my weapons and armor obviously, but beyond that...

- While googled for more info, I stumbled on some old 2004 guide that mentions toggling between 'dodge mode' and 'parry mode'. Since I can't find more info anywhere else, nor is there any sich thing on my UI, I assume this is some function that has been scrapped since?

- Finally, is a light-armor warrior with high dodge and parry a viable build, or are warriors expected to wear heavy and swing twohanders at high levels in this game?

Thanks for answers!

[katriell]

- What is the optimal armor for me? I've figured that with weapons, I need to upgrade to higher quality every time I jump past my present weapon's quality so I don't gimp myself damage-wise. What skill, then, should tell me when to upgrade my armor? Obviously there must be some mechanic that stops me from donning a quality 250 armor 10 seconds after character creation.

http://ajunction.co.uk/sortools/itemreq/

- How do I craft armor and weapons with dodge/parry modifiers? I've been experimenting with materials and been able to drege the bars in crafting window close to 50 without gimping the item too much on other departments, yet the final product, upon inspection, has a big fat zero for parry or dodge.

Has to be higher than 50, I think.

- Do versions of extract speed and rate greater than harmful 1 exist? I've trained myself up to harmful and gentle extract quality 40 already but still have to do with those beginning stanzas on my extracts.

Yes. Maybe not on the island, though?

- While googled for more info, I stumbled on some old 2004 guide that mentions toggling between 'dodge mode' and 'parry mode'. Since I can't find more info anywhere else, nor is there any sich thing on my UI, I assume this is some function that has been scrapped since?

In the panel in the lower-right corner of the screen, click on the ACTIONS tab, then click Parry (or Dodge as the case may be). Tooltip tells you what mode you are currently in.

- Finally, is a light-armor warrior with high dodge and parry a viable build, or are warriors expected to wear heavy and swing twohanders at high levels in this game?

I'm not sure about armor, but the choice of weapon is totally up to you.

[ophiucus]

Thanks for answers! I looked at the link but I don't fully understand what the calculations are supposed to give. I assume 'ql' is short of Quality Level? So for example in case of light armor, if my Constitution is 35, my optimal armor quality would be 60 (35+25)?

Also, what happens when I wear armor that is NOT optimal? I don't see my numbers swinging any way when I don higher or lower quality armor.

[jamela]

- Do versions of extract speed and rate greater than harmful 1 exist? I've trained myself up to harmful and gentle extract quality 40 already but still have to do with those beginning stanzas on my extracts.

Sounds as though you need to edit your extraction stanza.

By the time you learn q40 extraction you should be able to learn gentle speed and rate 2, grade 3 I think comes at level 51. I'd suggest that you not bother with gentle rate, only harmful, but gentle speed will make your digging safer. If memory serves, to learn the stanzas you need to train Accelerated Extraction and Extraction With Rate 1.something - right-click the modules that the harvester trainer offers you and look at their info to see exactly what stanzas the module will teach you. Once you've learned the stanzas you can edit them into your extraction action and then try to pick an extraction credit to cover the cost of that action.

[jamela]

Thanks for answers! I looked at the link but I don't fully understand what the calculations are supposed to give. I assume 'ql' is short of Quality Level? So for example in case of light armor, if my Constitution is 35, my optimal armor quality would be 60 (35+25)?

Also, what happens when I wear armor that is NOT optimal? I don't see my numbers swinging any way when I don higher or lower quality armor.

For light armour your Constitution is irrelevant, the requirement is based upon your highest level. Wearing sub-optimal armour does not impose any detriment, but an armour's damage absorption stats are dependent upon the ql (quality level), amongst other things.

[cuzzle]

I asked around the other night and was told there is no higher rate/speed extraction on the island. Only off it.