Newby question on Outposts

[mikeinspain]

Hi. I'm confused about the purpose of outposts and how their "products" work and what the products are.
I looked at the sticky on Guild Registry of Outposts and it seems to indicate the products are attributes like Intelligence, Balance, Dexterity with only one such being the product of a particular outpost. But what does this mean in practice? And how does it relate to "drilling" that is said to take place at an outpost?

And the list has quality levels for each outpost -- q50, q150, etc. What does that mean?

Also, I understand that guilds can control an outpost and sometimes fight to take control, but what is the value to a guild of an outpost?

Sorry if these are very basic questions. I'm just in from Silan island and am trying to figure a few things out.

thanks

[ajsuk]

Outposts(OPs) can produce Flowers (for boosting stats or the regen rate of stats), Special mats(for crafting) and Catalyzers(Cats)(for doubling xp).
See mat details here: http://ballisticmystix.net/?p=resources;outpost

The region level a said outpost resides in defines the OP level and the quality-level most of the produce will be.
ie: An OP in a level 150 zone will output mostly q150 produce.

The point in guilds fighting over OPs is the fun of the battle and of course the yummy OP produce.

[sidusar]

products are attributes like Intelligence, Balance, Dexterity with only one such being the product of a particular outpost.

These would be the Flowers - each outpost produces only one type of flower. Each outpost also only produces one type of special material (also listed), but every outpost produces the same Catalyzers (apart from the differing quality levels.)

Honestly the flowers are a pretty insignificant part of the outpost produce. Most want their outpost to produce cats first, mats second, and flowers a very distant third.

As for the drilling - you build a drill at your outpost and then the flowers+mats+cats automatically appear in your guild hall over time. (Unless you built a drill that only produces flower+mats.) If you don't build a drill, the outpost doesn't produce anything.

[mikeinspain]

It begins to make sense.

Can Lv 40-50 folks make use of q100 or q150 flowers and products or do we have to reach that level first? (I'm looking for a reason to trek to some OPs!)

And if/when we can use them, how? How, for example, would one use the maga creeper to give amps a 5% chance of a free cast (through crafting in some way?), or a Constitution Flower to get a 25 bonus to Constitution?

BTW, the BM site (thx very much for the link) is quite helpful.

[ajsuk]

hmm lets see...
-Flowers have no restriction at all. Anyone at any level can use any level of flower.
-Cats will have no effect if their quality is lower than the level of the skill you are working. However, you can use any cats higher than your skills level.
ie: You can use q150, q200 and q250 cats on a skill at level 127, but not q100 or q50.
-Mats are used in conjunction with special craft plans and the regular mats (that you would use to craft normally) to produce a special outpost item. With the exception of mats which are used to make OP tools (which have a chance of performing a special action or boost). Anyway, the OP items you craft have the same restrictions as normal items.

You are welcome, the BM site is a good resource. =)

[kalindra]

You can use any quality of flower (in fact, the higher the quality, the higher the bonus) at any level.

Catalysers double your XP for a skill until your level in that skill reaches the quality of the catalyser. For example, a q100 cat will double your XP from lvl 1 to 99 but will become totally inefficient on a lvl 100+ skill (you will still be able to use it on a lower lvl skill.) Q250 cats can thus double XP for skills of any level, but using them on skills below lvl 200 is somehow considered a waste.

OP mats are very special : there are various types of them. (ALERT ! SPOILERS ahead!)

• Amplifier mats: Used to craft amplifiers they give a chance to have a special bonus to your spells (free cast or instant cast)
• Weapon mats : Used to craft any kind of weapon they give you a chance to obtain a bonus to your attack (either vampirism -absorbs your enemy's HP to heal you- or increased critical rate).
• Harvesting tool mats: Used to upgrade a pick and give it either the chance to prospect risk-free nodes or to extract twice the amount of mats determined by your harvesting rate in a given swing (harvesting action).
• Crafting tool mats: Those upgrade crafting tools in order to obtain a chance to get a stat bonus upon crafting an item. The boost can either be attribute related (HP, Sap, Stamina or Focus bonus) or stat related (stats of the crafted item itself) depending on which mat was used to upgrade the tool.

[iceaxe68]

(I'm looking for a reason to trek to some OPs!)

The products of the outposts are mysteriously transported to the guild hall of the guild that owns the OP. The way you get the items is to be a member of the OP-owning guild, or trade with a guild that owns one. No trekking required.

On the other hand, going around to visit the various outposts is a great way to have some fun and learn your way around. Just be careful out there, some of those OPs are in rather dangerous places.


Oh, also:

You consume a flower to get a temporary stat boost. (Right click on it in your inventory and use it)

You "activate" a stack of catalyzers (right click in inventory again) and then they are used up a few at a time as you gain experience in a skill with a level lower than the level of the cats.

<soapbox>
Don't get addicted to cats. There are already far too many people who think they cannot play without a stack of cats activated, and any time not spent using them is "wasted". They tend to focus all of their energies on using up cats so they can get high levels so they can beat up other people and take their cats away so they can use them up to get high levels so they can beat up other people and take their cats away... You see where I'm going with that.
OK, rant over.
</soapbox>

The various mats have been covered pretty well already, although I'd add that the items created with OP mats can be identified by name (special names for the plans) and by visual cues on some items, such as weapons or amps that leave a trail of sparkles in the air. You are unlikely to see any such items available at vendors, though. They are acquired directly from the crafters, or through a guild.

[minirushin]

you can always try asking someone from a guild with an OP that produces q50 or 100 weapon mats, they would be probably be willing to barter for one or two

[sidusar]

and any time not spent using them is "wasted"

Nah, just any time spent *leveling* without them is "wasted". The 90% of my gametime that I spent on other things than leveling is just peachy without cats.

You are unlikely to see any such items available at vendors, though.

Picks and crafting tools can't be sold through the vendors, but as far as OP amps and weapons you might be surprised.

[mikeinspain]

thanks to all for nicely clarifying this. I guess I'll be talking to some guilds and trekking around looking for some OPs (which don't seem to be on the BM maps) just to visit them.

Ryzom gets more and more interesting.