Some thoughts on Hunting

Some thoughts of a noob hunter,


As hunting is my main profession I would like to share some of my experiences with you. It's ment as writing down some basic rules and to start some discussion if that is possible. The title says it allready: I'm a noob hunter..I'm not starting this post to show off my (not having any really) skills.


To be clear: I like hunting. The thrill of being able to kill mobs, the action, concentration needed and yes....having that occasional global or even HoF. Yes, I have my fair share of them. Now here is a big trap that sadly a lot of hunters in EU go wrong....they start chasing the globals. That, my friends, is very close to gambling. MA is partly to blame for that with the global messaging in chat which you can't turn off. This is just MA advertising! An incentive to make us hunt more...and tell you what?...it actually works. The only reason I keep an eye on it cause I like to see friends global...I always send my grats when I see it.
Lot of hunters throw all loot in the Trade Terminal. Now here miners are more sensitive ....they search for the ores and en matters that have good Mark Up. Hunters don't seem to care. That's the only reason why I think they love to hunt atrox cause it has some nice ring to it...YEAH MAN, IM A BIG HUNTER, I GRIND ATROX!.
It's downright stupid. Why? Atrox don't drop anything interesting, thats why. Any CB26/29 BLP gun has a MU of almost zero. And aren't that great either IMHO.
So the smart hunter, just like the miner, knows the market and adapt to that. E.g.: lately on Arkadia I found 2 minor mobs nice to hunt: the Zadul is fun to hunt and the Oro. It turns out that oro hide has a good market with the decent drop of eye oil (both around 102% MU) and that the Zadul hide are almost impossible to sell even with an MU of 125%. You have one attempt to guess what Im hunting...right.


Side note on trading: pple are buying faster if they think they can trust you. Using trade channel, wear decent clothes and proper use of language are major assets here. Knowing good traders and crafters can really make a difference in recouping your losses.


Some thoughts of a noob hunter part 2,


Here are some basics rule I follow as a hunter:


1) Use the right gun for right mob. Small mob? Use a small gun. I'm over 2 years in Entropia and I'm still hunting with a CAP-101 L(TT 5PED) on oro young to old maturity. No amps, no enhancers. If I switch to oro provider to Stalker I use the CAP-303 L with A103 unL (125 TT +125% MU, 30 TT+50 PED MU). The CAP-303 amped is great up to Huon young, Ambulimax young to old, Atrox up till Guardian. Often I use the CAP-101 to finish off a hard mob to prevent waisting ammo. I will leave the melee weapons out of this post but I do use the Katchuiki Determination and Cleric dagger 3c on occasion to built my strenght attribute.


2) Use the right armor. I have several set ups but I love my adjusted Pixie unL...decent protection, very good durability, meaning my repair bills stay decent. Pixie is considered very noob armor...so be it. I like it. For mobs with some serious impact damage I can switch to Jaguar L armor..especially when there is no healer around. The way I hunt unL armor like Nemesis (I loved that armor, never should have sold it) is just to expensive. I don't like grinding, missions like: kill 10.000 atrox is really not my idea of fun, and I will get those skills anyway...in my way.


3) Succes rate on drops is this simple:
* don't hunt where other hunters are
* preferable an old spawn
* clean out the whole area..bigger chance on decent returns, don't return there if a fresh spawn is there after you cleaned it out for a while
* if you have a couple of no loots or very bad loots like blazar....move to another area. say like 100-200 meters. anyone who has hunted knows exactly that feeling like: oh no...this is not good
* STOP if you have a bad feeling on returns...go do something else...have patience
* don't die....your ammo will be waisted. make sure you have an emergency FAP with you like a FAP80 and if skilled enough a SK20 L is more eco.
* if you die a teleport chip can work miracles: in the 10 sec before teleporting press P for position or type /pos for a waypoint to return ASAP to finish off the mob


Some thoughts of a noob hunter part 3,


eco/non eco and SIB versus unL


There are several ways and motivations to build skills as a hunter. I'm not judging but I will point out some general directions. The choice is up to you.


As most know Entropia can get pretty expensive. What most pple don't understand they are responsible for that themselves. The moment you feel it's getting too expensive and you doný have fun anymore you have to ask yourself this question: what am I doing wrong or what are my expectations of Entropia?


MindArk has set up an open system so it's really up to you what to make of it. You can either choose for the most economic way of playing or just have the attitude: as long as I have fun I don't mind throwing some PEDs in this universe. Now let's make one thing clear: MA is a company who wants to have some profit. They have their expenses: server park, energy consumption and personel. So us depositors make sure the company will survive and we have a good time.


The economic way of playing, some basic rules:


* use SIB weapons (Skill Increase Bonus), they give your skill increase a little push. All SIB weapons are Limited. Your learning curve will slow but steady at the most economical way. Before you start to cheer, it's still expensive: my SIB level rifle is the Isis LR53 L laser carabine. That one goes for 320 PED full TT with a MU around 110%= 352 PED= $35. Great gun, 40-90 damage...even better with an A104 amp attached.
Not so bad huh? It can be...I can easily burn it down in a week...not even grinding. That bad yes. So I sometimes just take a step back and hunt smaller mobs with a smaller gun.
Pistols are great, less damage but faster and a bit more eco. the P4a is very eco and I personally prefer the Arkadian CAP series. Only disadvantage: not really usable when you dont have the appropriate skill.
* use armor that fits your needs....your wallet will be very thankfull as the repair bills keep decent. I even prefer L armor: I don't have to repair it and it will give full protection until it's broken....I think it's even more economic. If you don't need an armor and can survive with an occasional heal..even better. Just make sure you heal after the kill. And use an eco FAP. Especially when you have the time. Using a SIB FAP will increase you medical skills even faster. But an emergency FAP is a MUST HAVE.


Some thoughts of a noob hunter part 4,


The non economic style: pushing your skills up


* using an higher level unL weapon has some advantages: higher damage, not skill related. So basicly you can hunt bigger mobs. This means that you also will skill faster. unL weapons are basicly only eco when you are level 100 or higher. What does this mean? You will have more MISS. So waisted ammo. But good side is: you always can repair your weapon. Resume: you skill faster, but for a certain price.
* using higher level armor. This will give you the possibilty to hunt bigger mobs...price: decay as you will have more misses and low evade skills..your armor will decay a lot. Some attributies will skill faster, like evade and bravado, as you are hit by bigger mobs. L armor will break faster and unL armor will have to be repaired more frequently. So again: it comes with a price.
* using unL FAPs like the FAP80 or FAP90. They will heal you faster in a certain range.


* another non eco way to skill is chipping skills in. Now this is only usefull when you are very low skilled or just need that little push to reach a certain level. You will have to pay for the initial ESI (empty skill implant) with MU and the skills. Yes, skills are worth PEDs in Entropia...and a lot too. For ranged weapons there are 2 skills needed: the hit ability and ranged damage skills. Togheter they determine your skill in ranged weapons. When chipping in for hunter profession it's wise to also chip in on evade skills, maybe even on paramedic skills


Some thoughts of a noob hunter part 5, last thoughts


Good karma-bad karma


Yeah, we hunters are a superstious lot. Before every hunt I pray to Lootius. Some days I just know he will not listen to me. Then I will holster my gun and go do something else...


It takes two to tango


In the old days we would start with the Sollomate Opalo rifle. We would skill up..even attach a amp like the A101 or the Shear 1 to it. We would max the gun and move to the BreerM1a and keep skilling. Then we discover that our ranged damage skill would seriously lag on the hit ability skill....damn.....we never used a pistol. Yes......you will need to use a pistol to skill your rifle skills. To be more precise...the seasoned hunter will stick mostly to his pistol. Why the rifle? We can tag (pull closer) the mob with the rifle and allready do a big deal of damage. That's why....


Yay, I'm a grenadier!


Another way to tag a mob and in this case a lot of mobs is using a grenade launcher. Over a big distance you can hit a whole group of mobs....finishing them off with your pistol. Why a herd of mobs? Remember what I said about cleaning out an area? Thats why. Hard to skill but does impressive damage. The grnade launcher needs more time to reload...thats a disadvantage. The grenade launcher was a favorite weapon of a famous PKer


Teamhunting


Teamhunting is fun. Period. The big advantage is that you can take down bigger mobs then solo hunting due to the rule: a lot of small guns make one big gun. Another advantage is that you can circle a mob..it will need time to decide on the target, running around meaning it has less time to hit someone...win-win situation. Yes...the famous sweat group disipline is here even more important.


Lootius who resides in Mind Arks heavens
May your kingdom come to share your wealth
That thou force be with us
... In Entropia as in real life
Give us daily our share of loot
Forgive us for our MISSES and FAILS
as we will forgive those who MISS us
Dont tempt us to waste our ammunition
by shooting in virtual thin air
Lootius: Entropia belongs to you
as do the globals, HoFs and ATHs
till Eternity