Implants...Where do I begin? ***Extreme Noob Warning***

[____________CornCake]

I've only been playing for 4 days now and have already tried several characters to get a rudimentary feel of how they work. At the moment I'm gravitating toward my level 8 Solitus MA.

I'm ready to take the next step and begin messing with implants to see how they affect characters but I haven't got a clue how they are created or important considerations going into making an implant. This game is blowing me away with it's complexities. Everyone seems to know so much about how this game works and then there's me (Mr. Clueless).

I downloaded NanoNanny and can see how it might be very useful but I still have so many nagging questions. I don't even understand half of the concepts of implants. Questions such as:

1. Is it possible to permanently gimp my player if I implant clusters which don't necessarily enhance my character to the fullest?

2. Which are the most important implants for a beginning MA? (I couldn't find anything particularly useful in the MA forum for a beginner like me).

3. Is there a FAQ available which can walk a complete nOOb through the process of creating and installing implants? (I hate to continually bother people on the sever for fear I'll wear out my welcome)

4. Am I the only one who is this confused about implants, what they can do, and how (and when) to get started with them?

Thanks for any suggestions.

[________________Necc]

Originally posted by CornCake
I've only been playing for 4 days now and have already tried several characters to get a rudimentary feel of how they work. At the moment I'm gravitating toward my level 8 Solitus MA.

I'm ready to take the next step and begin messing with implants to see how they affect characters but I haven't got a clue how they are created or important considerations going into making an implant. This game is blowing me away with it's complexities. Everyone seems to know so much about how this game works and then there's me (Mr. Clueless).

I downloaded NanoNanny and can see how it might be very useful but I still have so many nagging questions. I don't even understand half of the concepts of implants. Questions such as:

1. Is it possible to permanently gimp my player if I implant clusters which don't necessarily enhance my character to the fullest?

2. Which are the most important implants for a beginning MA? (I couldn't find anything particularly useful in the MA forum for a beginner like me).

3. Is there a FAQ available which can walk a complete nOOb through the process of creating and installing implants? (I hate to continually bother people on the sever for fear I'll wear out my welcome)

4. Am I the only one who is this confused about implants, what they can do, and how (and when) to get started with them?

Thanks for any suggestions.

1. Nope, you can always swap implants. But it might cost some money, before you have the right setup. A helpful thing might be the low level profession based implant vendors in the basic shops. Ql 10, 20, and 30 implants with the best (usually) setup for your class. (Take a right just inside the door of a basic shop.)

2. See above. Evades, MA, Brawl, Dimach(?), Nano skills, HP, nano points. I would recommend MA skill and evades as number one, then the most important nano skills. Someone would probably tell you otherwise, I'm not the absolute expert on this. Whatever suits you fancy and character should be good for ya.

3. The official AO site has some links to useful sites you can have a look at, there are a few sites specifically for MA out there.

4. No you are not. Im constantly confused about this as well. The starter profession implants mentioned above, and nano nanny has helped me immensely.


Good luck implanting. And take it easy, you will eventually learn how to do it. Besides, a gimped char isn't the end of the world, trust me, I have a few.

[Chernish]

Hello CornCake,

First of all, I don't know if it's a vey good idea to create implants now. The thing is that implants cost money, and that at your level you can very well go by without implants. Of course twinks won't be of my advice, but they have the money. A second reason to not implant at low level is that you should more or less know the skills you want to increase beforehand. This means a "feeling" that you can acquire, IMHO, only through experience.

Second, I would advise you to buy the already constructed implants in basic shops. Not only they save you the hassle of having them built, but also they give you a fair idea of the skills a MA should implant.

Now to answer your questions
1) No you can't get permanently gimped. YOu can remove the implants by the sme way you put them in.

2) Alas I am not a MA, so I cannot really answer your question. But look at the pre-built implants in the basic shops, as said above.

3)http://www.arnarchyarcanum.com . Not the only one, but a good allaround site (despite or thanks to its young age). Nanonanny is a MUST, everybody says it and I agree.

4) Implants are confusing to everybody. That's why nanonanny is so much needed.

Don't be afraid to ask. About implants, or about everything else. Some will ignore you, or even get annoyed, but you will soon learn that a) you cannot please everybody in this game, but it doesn't really matter. There is simply too much people and b) the guys who will answer you will probably be your friends in the long run.
Typical ways of asking these questions are : newbie OOC channel, ask a higher MA to teach you, ask in your guild.
If you don't ask, you won't get answers

Cheers

[Tnekor]

Originally posted by CornCake
I've only been playing for 4 days now and have already tried several characters to get a rudimentary feel of how they work. At the moment I'm gravitating toward my level 8 Solitus MA.

Welcome to the world of Rubi-Ka, hope you'll enjoy your stay. I shall try to give you some answers to yer questions.

1. Is it possible to permanently gimp my player if I implant clusters which don't necessarily enhance my character to the fullest?

Nope, if you by a mistake inster implants that really didn't buff your deserved skills, you can always remove them and add new ones.

2. Which are the most important implants for a beginning MA? (I couldn't find anything particularly useful in the MA forum for a beginner like me).

Well, as a starter... if you enter the "basic general store" you can see there's a section called "Profession specific implant" department. That's a very good place to check out your first set of implants. They are pre-made and they buff up essensial skills for each profession. The ql (Quality Level) on those implants are 10, 20 and 30. So the next few lvls you'll get good buffs from those implants.

The sience of implants contains of: the implant (head, leg, arm, hand etc) and Clusters. Clusters comes in 3 different types: Shining, bright and faded. The difference of these types is that shining adds more points than bright, and faded adds least.

These clusters can only be inserted in specific places in specific implants. A shining Strenght cluster can ONLY be added in a Right arm implant, nowhere else. The ql of the implant and the cluster you wish to asseble cannot warry more than 15% (correct me if I'm wrong)

To be able to insert clusters into implants, you need to have required skills in Nano Programming to be able to build that implant. Note that to be able to wear implants, you need to meet the requirements for that "basic skill"

Build example:
1. You got a ql10 shining Strenght cluster and a ql10 right arm.
2. To be able to insert the cluster into the implant you need to have Nano Programming 45 or more.
3. To be able to insert that implant into your body, you need to have at least Treatment 53 and Sense 24.

As for MAs, they are not really a Implant builder profession as a Trader, Nano Technician, Meta Physist... so they can build implants easier than a MA can, due to their NanoProgramming skills are greenish blue or green.

As for specific MA implants. Well, Some ppl like me like implants that buffs up your "basic skills" (str, sta, agi, sense, int, psy). The reason I do it is that I want to wear higher ql armors and therefor I choose to buff up those skills. Futher on, MAs uses Martial Arts as their attack, brawl, Dimach. Those skills can be good to have implanted since higher MA, brawl, dimach = higher dmg.

Speed... Physical init is the skill that makes MAs attack faster, also a fairly good skill to have implanted along with Dodge-rng, evade Close Combat. Higher in those skills prevents you to recieve Critical hits from mobs less often.

Nanos, some want to implant their nano skills, just to be able to cast higher ql nanos earlier.

It all comes down to what skills do you want to raise? Want to be able to wear higher ql armors? Speed? Yer attack skills or nanos?

3. Is there a FAQ available which can walk a complete nOOb through the process of creating and installing implants? (I hate to continually bother people on the sever for fear I'll wear out my welcome)

I know there're some "Users guide to build implants" threads in this forum. Though you need to do some investigation finding em.

4. Am I the only one who is this confused about implants, what they can do, and how (and when) to get started with them?

Oh no, definetly NOT

Hope I gave you some answers

[Darkbane]

The basic starter implants are a good place to start, though feel free to look at the other terminals and see if you find something more suited to you. I find I buy from 2 or 3 different profession implant terminals as the ones for your profession aren't always ideal.

Later you can use nano-nanny to customise your implants. Then head to the trade section, find the clusters you need (cluster ql can be above the base implant ql, and about 12% lower) and then to the implant terminal to get your base implants.

Cluster shopping can be a pain, faded implants are ok, because you can happily buy higher ql than you need without it costing much extra, but bright and shining implants can get very expensive very fast, so keep the ql as low as possible. Finding that 'perfect ql' is where the pain comes in...

Then you need to assemble them. As an MA I'd not bother with nanoprogramming yourself, find a friendly MP or perhaps an NT who has the needed skills (you can try assembling the shining clusters yourself to see what is required).

Finally, get them in. At low levels, your attributes are the limiting factor (2 * ql + 4, so those premade ql30s require 64 in the relevant attribute). Later on, treatment tends to be the limiter.

By playing with the clusters you can change the required attribute, try this with nanonanny, it even has a feature where you can tell it your mainb attributes and it will suggest clusters for empty slots that will make the final implant require that attribute. Strength and stamina are easiest to get buffed, followed by agility and sense. Intelligence and Psychic really only have the general buffs.

Doctors get treatment buffs beyond the general one, and remember, the fixed surgery clinic adds 100 for a short while.

Finally, you can 'step' implants. This is more restrictive than it used to be because you now have to remove an implant before you can put a replacement in. However, you can use implants that boost attributes or treatment to help get other implants in (which might boost that attribute or treatment still further). This is getting quite advanced though, and can take a lot of effort, but is the ultimate in tweaking...

There we go, lots of stuff about implants you probably didn't even know to ask. Its a very complex subject, so don't worry if it doesn't all make sense right away. Oh, and remember, nano-nanny isn't always 100% accurate...

[____________CornCake]

Wow, I am truly impressed at all of your responses. I can't thank you all enough for your generous replies and ample (yet easily grasped) information. I'll be sure to put all of you suggestions to good use.

Finally a game (and forum) with mature people! Kudos to you all and thanks again.

[Darkbane]

Your welcome.

mind you, we can manage immature here too...

[Turin]

Originally posted by CornCake
Wow, I am truly impressed at all of your responses. I can't thank you all enough for your generous replies and ample (yet easily grasped) information. I'll be sure to put all of you suggestions to good use.

Finally a game (and forum) with mature people! Kudos to you all and thanks again.

Mature people eh? You really are new.


Most of us are, but there are alwasy some that cant hack it. I can get carried away myself alot of the time when im bashing the company that makes this game tht has such wonderfull unfullfilled potential.

[Enhoch]

Heya CornCake,

I myself just recently started, and I've found implants to be -really- useful. I've been able to equip weapons and armour that would be 2-3 levels away because of them, making the implants a great investment (even though they are expensive).

One thing in particular that Darkbane mentioned is important to note: look through the machines selling implants for other classes. The implants aren't really class restricted, and often they'll have slightly different buffs in them. As a shotgun wielding doc, I had to go over to the trader implants to get what I wanted.

Happy Hunting.

Ehnoch

[Jeevez]

Originally posted by Tnekmeister

The ql of the implant and the cluster you wish to asseble cannot warry more than 15% (correct me if I'm wrong)

Just want to clearify thisone - the QL of the cluster can generally not be more than 15% lower than the implant.
On the other hand there are no restrictions the other way around. It is possible to put a QL 100 cluster into a
QL 50 implant if you wish to do so. This will however increase the QL of the implant slightly.

Epoz

[___________wrecklass]

Originally posted by Epoz

Just want to clearify thisone - the QL of the cluster can generally not be more than 15% lower than the implant.
On the other hand there are no restrictions the other way around. It is possible to put a QL 100 cluster into a
QL 50 implant if you wish to do so. This will however increase the QL of the implant slightly.

Epoz

In addition to this, putting a QL 100 cluster into a QL 50 implant will lower the QL of the cluster a whole bunch! You will find that the stats on the cluster will be reduced considerably, and it will act more like a similar QL 50 cluster.

[_______________Sigyn]

Getting custom implants can be a major financial pain before lvl 80, after that money start rolling in much faster.

At your current level, you can usually ask any friendly lvl 100+ player who does not seem to be busy to assemble an implant for you. My lvl 125 MA never put a single point into NanoProg, but between 1k board, ability bonus and NP expertise, has around 340 NP skill - enought to assemble even lvl 70 stuff.

QL of implant depends 95% on the implant, not cluster. A cluster that is much lower than implant will simply not fit in. A higher cluster can raise implant ql by a couple %. Example: slapping a ql180 cluster into ql125 basic will likely produce a ql127-128 implant.

Install reqs: Treatment and ability. At lower level, ability req is harder to get. Ask someone to cast boosts on you so you can equip better implants. As you progress, Treatment req becomes the limiting factor.

[__________THEDEACON!]

Originally posted by Turin


Mature people eh? You really are new.


Most of us are, but there are alwasy some that cant hack it. I can get carried away myself alot of the time when im bashing the company that makes this game tht has such wonderfull unfullfilled potential.

Hey man, IM mature!

*COUGH*

[______________Zzzzzz]

hehe, i'm getting there. 1 more year and my car insurance rates lower, woot.