Below you’ll find an index of all of our Friday Features over the years. There is a wealth of great information, so be sure to take a look!
Friday Feature: The Friday Feature Archives!
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Category Archives: Professions
Smuggler 101
Today’s Friday Feature showcases a write-up by community member Gin’bilu’alelu about the Smuggler Profession. Learn tips, tricks, and more! Thank you, Bill!
Quick with a joke, but quicker with a blaster.
Taking the jobs and the risks that the others won’t.
Star Wars-y and iconic.
Smugglers are as integral to the Star Wars galaxy as the Jedi Knights and X-Wing pilots are. After all, it was not Ben Kenobi that made the Kessel Run in twelve parsecs, nor was it Princess Leia that conned her way into ownership of Cloud City. But take heed as you begin your journey into scum and villainy, newcomer; even the best Smugglers get boarded sometimes. And when that day comes, you had best be ready.
Friday Feature: Schisms of the Force Dev Q&A!
Schisms of the Force: Dev Q&A
Schisms of the Force was the highly anticipated update many moons in the making that debuted on May 4th, 2021, and brought the long-awaited Jedi profession to Empire in Flames. Since then, players – both new and returning – have had the opportunity to embark on the journey to becoming a Jedi and choose the path of light, dark, or somewhere in-between. As is the norm here on EiF however, the process to become a Jedi was new, different, and the profession itself differs from what someone might remember from Live. The secrets of the unlock and progression journey were also kept a complete secret to everyone but Lead Developer Halyn. After weeks of community trial and error, exploration, and crazy theory crafting, the first Master Jedi entered EiF on June 3rd but much of the intricacies of the profession, and what it took to being released, were as yet unknown. In this iteration of the Friday Feature, we got a more in-depth look behind the scenes with developers Halyn, Anishor, Abi, and Demiurge, and learned just what went into the making of Schisms of the Force, and what players can expect to see in the future. For those of you that have not completed the unlock process and want to maintain the mystery, be aware that there are significant spoilers ahead. If not, read on!
EiF Armor Crafting 101
In today’s feature, we bring you a very in-depth write-up on armorsmithing by the illustrious armor crafter Demiurge. In this article, Demi outlines what it takes to be a successful armorsmith on Empire in Flames as well as give insight into the changed systems you’ll find, some best practices, and tools of the trade to help any aspiring crafters become the best they can be and in his words, “knock him off of his pedestal”. Thank you, Demiurge!
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EiF Armor Crafting 101
Artwork courtesy of AgentOrangeJuice
Introduction
The purpose of this guide is to explain how armor crafting works on EiF and demonstrate how it is different from any other server you might have played on. I intend to explain every important aspect and consideration in order to teach you how to craft armor with the exact same stats that I am able to currently make. I have been making armor continuously on our server for the last three years. In that time, due to the among of sheer work I’ve put into it, I believe I have become the dominant armor crafter here. I hope to teach and inspire you to be able to match what I am capable of, and ultimately to surpass me.
For those of you who have experience crafting armor on any other SWG server, a good bit of this will be familiar or previously understood the content. But what makes armor different on EiF is the usage of armor cores. The purpose of an armor core is to allow all types of armor to be of similar or equal stats. A core consists of up to three armor segments, with each segment containing zero to nine armor layers. Armor on EiF requires one to five armor cores, depending on the armor type. This means that, unlike other servers where specific segment types are required for its corresponding armor type (composite or advanced composite segments to go into any piece of composite), the same armor core can be used in ANY armor type. This modification to the system allows basically all armor types to be craftable within a very tight range of stats between one another (I will explain further below) and opens the door to a wide array of looks, styles, and viable options. You won’t just see people running around in RIS or Composite.
Before I break down layers, segments, and cores further, it is important for you to understand how a piece of armor gets its stats. On EIF, 95% of the stats provided to a final, crafted piece of armor comes from the armor core itself. The remaining 5% are derived from the final assembly resources that are specific to a type of armor. For example, crafting a piece of RIS would require (among other things), a specific resource like Platinite Copper, while a piece of Bone armor would require a generic resource such as “metal”. This fact alone allows Bone armor to have a much wider array of possible resources to satisfy that requirement. This is critical because all resources have min and max possible stats in several key areas that are very important to armor. Plantinite has a less advantageous range of stats than many other types of metal, such as steel, iron, or even other types of copper. This deviation in final assembly resource requirements is what allows a range of 1-5% variance between what you might see on the final crafted product (speaking specifically on the final types of damage resistances). The maximum craftable resist per damage type is a theoretical 55%. If perfectly sliced by a Smuggler, this value can reach 60%.
Halyn, and sometimes in conjunction with various staff members, has made numerous design decisions that set EiF apart from how things are done elsewhere. In an attempt to completely eliminate spawn camping, the team has removed the ability to use looted components from various mobs as augments to crafted armor pieces. Items like Janta Hides, Rancor Hides, etc, are not used in armor crafting here. Therefore, the essential factors that determine your final product are:
- Your resources – This is the single most important factor in determining armor’s final quality.
- The crafter – Are you a 12 point smith, fully taped for assembly and experimentation?
- Your crafting tool – The stats of your crafting tool matter (while the stats on the crafting station itself does not). The maximum stat of a crafting tool is a 15.0
- Food/Drink – Foods such as Pyollian Cake will offer a decent assembly bonus to your crafting roll, helping your chances of crafting an amazing assembly. Drinks such as Bespin Port will do the exact same thing for each of your experimentation rolls. Experimentation is the more desired buff of the two (though both can be utilized at the same time).
- Where you perform the craft – Crafting in a player city is always the most desirable way to make something. A level 5 player city gains the ability to set a “city bonus”. Two of these (Manufacturing Center = Assembly bonus, and Research Center = Experimentation bonus) grants bonuses to every craft that occurs within its city limits.
These are the five factors to keep in mind when you craft something. Other factors, such as a crafter’s current battle fatigue or wounds do not factor into the crafting equation! With this in mind, let’s look at the single most important factor in your crafting process: the resources used.
Friday Feature – Galactic Career Day 5/31/2019
This week’s Friday Feature is courtesy of player Jacobus with contributions by Kelta. Thank you for the excellent breakdown of EiF’s profession choices!
For those of you familiar with the rise and fall of Star Wars Galaxies during live, you’ll remember several professions to choose from during the Pre-CU and CU eras. NGE shrunk that number to nine linear professions. There was good and bad to be found in both systems and the developers of Empire in Flames have combined all of the good into one brand-new system!
The developers here put it best:
“Think of the professions as what you do and the skill trees as how you do it.”
With Empire in Flames you build your template by investing skill points into branches across several skill trees ranging from rifleman to pistoleer, artisan to armorsmith, or musician to image designer. All of that, I’m sure, sounds familiar. However now there are eight trees which have been set aside as “professions.” These professions allow you to play with builds you enjoy while also finding a unique niche in the galaxy!
Professions
Bounty Hunter
Bounty Hunters have a whole slew of special abilities which can be used with any weapon from sword to pistol, rifle to pike, in order to apply states, bleeds, fire, or just unadulterated levels of damage. Bounty Hunters also make use of the Bounty Hunter Mission Terminals to get access to NPC bounties which have some rather profitable payouts in addition to a chance to drop some decent loot.
Unique Skills & Abilities
- Droid Track: The ability to use droids to track NPC bounties across the galaxy.
- Rich Movepool: Bounty Hunters have access to more specials (and therefore more states and debuffs) than any other profession making them a powerhouse when it comes to DPS.
Commando
The commando has access to heavy weapons and blast damage allowing them to deal serious damage against turrets and walkers in GCW events, as well as anything else with those specific vulnerabilities. As Masters of heavy weapons, they can use:
- plasma flame throwers and their specials to inflict action burns
- acid launchers to do the same to the mind pool
- launcher pistol with blast damage and access to all of the pistol specials one may learn as a pistoleer.
Unique Skills & Abilities
- Rocket Launchers & Grenades: With these weapons, commandos can do massive amounts of damage in one volley.
Doctor
Doctors are some of the best healers in the galaxy. What gives the Doctor their edge is in their abilities to heal states, heal from a distance, and heal over an area. Those skills make them a much better healer for groups or large-scale engagements than the pocket/single-target healer that is the typical medic. Additionally, they are able to buff players beyond their normal levels to bolster the numbers found floating in their health and action pools for an added edge in combat. Also, a doctor with a good understanding of crafting can produce some very good medicines for themselves or those in the market.
Unique Skills & Abilities
- Area Heal: In large engagements where many players are taking damage, this is a welcome reprieve.
- Ranged Heals: Able to heal from a range, a doctor is able to keep themselves further from danger and therefore healing longer.
- Heal States: Be it something like blind, dizzy, or stun or something more pressing like bleeds and fire, the doctor is able to cure the state and remove the disadvantage.
- Buffs: Though not necessary like they once were given the redistribution of HAM stats in Empire in Flames, buffs are still a necessary bonus when every point matters.
Entertainer
Entertainer is a great complement for the other professions that were a part of its line on live. They are able to earn a new fame stat which increases the payout for entertainer missions and they get access to more flourishes and instruments than one otherwise would as just a dancer or musician.
Unique Skills & Abilities
- Fame: Money tight? Well for anyone famous enough, the NPCs on the mission terminals will be more than happy to pay larger sums for someone worth the notoriety.
Merchant
Merchants are able to run a business like no other. They set up vendors and have some interesting ways to cut costs when it comes to things like overhead, maximizing their profits or the profits of those utilizing their unique service. As a Merchant, crafters can make some serious money by getting their product out there rather than just waiting for referrals or requests. With the server’s reliance on merchants over the bazaar terminal, their services are invaluable!
Unique Skills & Abilities
- Lower Maintenance Costs: This helps cut down overhead on your place of business for better profit margins.
- Hire & Dress Vendors: This will allow for branding as well as organization of your goods for your shoppers.
Ranger
Rangers are the explorers and frontiersmen of the galaxy, having better terrain negotiation and burst run duration than any of the other professions, an ability to track players, NPCs, and animals, as well as added defenses against wild creatures they may encounter. Additionally, they can craft and throw traps in order to apply all sorts of debuffs and snares to both creatures and players. All of that coupled with a unique ability to harvest organic resources from felled animals makes them unrivaled hunters. Lastly, when all is said and done, rangers can also craft and set camps in the wild in order to provide the benefits otherwise found back in cities.
Unique Skills & Abilities
- Harvest: Rangers are the only profession able to harvest animal resources for crafters, giving them a rare niche in the galactic economy.
- Traps: Throw these can help prevent animals or players from escaping and can complement your build with debuffs you may not otherwise have access to.
Smuggler
Right now this profession is waiting for the Underworld Release which will come after the Jedi Release on the current development road map. However that does not make them useless by any means, as they have access to some specials that are unique and damaging and (just as is the case with bounty hunter) weapon agnostic. Smugglers also have the ability to purchase faction points, effectively buying their way into the good graces of either the New Republic or the Empire. Skilled slicers, Smugglers can also assist crafters by slicing weapons and armor for better results and they are able to slice mission terminals for bigger paydays.
Unique Skills & Abilities
- Slicing: Be it a terminal for a larger payout or improving weapons and armor, this is how a smuggler will make their money.
Squad Leader
As the name implies, this is a profession designed to lead groups into battles and other content. Squad Leaders possess abilities which can increase the damage output of their group, increase the group’s speed and mobility, help with wounds, utilize system messages for better communication, etc. They are a valuable asset in the increasingly tough instanced dungeons being released and an absolute necessity in the large-scale PvP offered by the Galactic Civil War events.
Unique Skills & Abilities
- Retreat: This temporarily allows for better movement speed and terrain negotiation for everyone in the group.
- Volley Fire: Makes the attacks of those in the group more effective as a whole.
Jedi
Sandarie
Community Manager
