Crew Skills best for Credits?

[Gwazi-Magnum]

I plan on playing as a smuggler, and I plan to switch things around this time to make crew skills aid me in getting credits instead of making any useful gear. The idea being I have more credits to make purchases and stuff like companion gifts easier while leveling up and eventually I'll have enough credits to just buy whatever I need.

 

If this is a truly terrible idea please say so, but I am also still curious which crew skills would work best for credits.

Currently looking at slicing and treasure hunting but unsure of a third.

[Grayseven]

You can make easy credits with gathering skills. Slicing would be a must have as you basically just "gather" credits out in the world, but the others are all up for debate. As for the other two, Bioanalysis and Scavenging allow you to gather from any creature or droid you kill of Strong level or higher as well as gather nodes out in the world and they both supply high demand crafting crew skills. Archaeology is the 4th gathering skill but it seems to be a weaker credit earner than the other 3.

 

Opinions vary on which skills are the biggest credit earners however, so I'd suggest doing a search through this forum to see the various debates on the subject. There are many.

[pokota]

All of them are good, to be honest. All of them can produce materials that are in demand on the GTN. The only real difference is that some of the mission skills, like Underworld Trading, require a continuing investment before you see the big credits, while gathering skills let you supplement the missions with "free" open world materials.

 

Scavenging right now is fantastic for generating credits. With augmented armors so in demand, people are going through a LOT of materials. The same is true of Archeology, which supports multiple professions along with Scavenging. Both of them will require you to check your GTN often, however, in order to see what materials are in demand and/or short supply.

 

Slicing is good for open world gathering, but I'm not seeing the level of profits I used to make from it. You might want to see what kind of price mission unlocks are going for on your server; on my server, they've kind of bottomed out thanks to really stupid people undercutting 5-10k at a time. Where I used to have all my companions on Slicing missions, I now have some of them on grade 5 Scavenging missions for Electrum and Polyplast

 

It's a great time for gatherers to profit. Even level 1 materials are selling for a premium. You should be able to make plenty of credits.

[Gwazi-Magnum]

So slicing is a must, gathering good too.

 

Might take biochem as a third.

 

However, I`m not that familliar with the GTN.

 

Do I have to go to the fleet to check on it?

How do I check how in demand they are at the time?

In terms of the long run do you make more credits off of gathering materials off the world or do rewards from missions (for example lockboxes in treasure hunting) do better in the end?

 

Also, if I remember right both slicing and treasure hunting have lockbox missions, in that sense would having both as crew skills be pointless or does one skills lockboxes have stuff the other may not? Or would it be smart to take both so I can do more high leveled lockbox missions when one skills lockbox missions are all taken?

[pokota]

So slicing is a must, gathering good too.

 

Might take biochem as a third.

 

However, I`m not that familliar with the GTN.

 

Do I have to go to the fleet to check on it?

How do I check how in demand they are at the time?

In terms of the long run do you make more credits off of gathering materials off the world or do rewards from missions (for example lockboxes in treasure hunting) do better in the end?

 

Also, if I remember right both slicing and treasure hunting have lockbox missions, in that sense would having both as crew skills be pointless or does one skills lockboxes have stuff the other may not? Or would it be smart to take both so I can do more high leveled lockbox missions when one skills lockbox missions are all taken?

 

The best way to handle checking the GTN and putting your goods up for auction is to get an alt character up to level 10 or so and park them on the Fleet. That way you don't have to go back and forth to buy or sell. You just mail items from one to the other.

 

As far as gathering versus running missions goes, keep in mind that you have to pay to run missions. That's overhead that has to be considered. When you pick up something in the wild, it's basically free, so it's total profit. Personally, I do both, I gather while I'm questing, and I send my spare companions out on missions for stuff I need to craft with or for materials that fetch a good price. You should gather everything you run across. I keep Resources checked on my map and check it often for nodes. If you're low on credits, then you should probably not run missions, as that can bleed you dry fast.

 

Also, remember that if you take a crafting skill like BioChem, it's going to be worthless without the gathering/mission skills that support it. Check your codex for an explanation of what supports what.

[Gwazi-Magnum]

My mistake, I meant Bioanalysis, not biochem.

 

But basically the idea is gathering normally beats missions?

 

So far the following skills in consideration are...

 

1. Slicing (for sure)

2. Bioanalysis

3. Archeology (most likely not in)

4. Treasure Hunting

5. Scavaging

[pokota]

But basically the idea is gathering normally beats missions?

 

So far the following skills in consideration are...

 

1. Slicing (for sure)

2. Bioanalysis

3. Archeology (most likely not in)

4. Treasure Hunting

5. Scavaging

 

If you're starting out, yes, gathering wins. However, if you have the capital to absorb the overhead associated with mission skills, then they can earn a LOT of credits. It's an example of "it takes money to make money". Underworld Trading can generate as much profit as anything else in the game; you just have to pay up front and earn your money back on the GTN. If you want straight-up credits, though, then gathering is a much safer path.

 

Looking at your list makes me wonder why you're down on Scavenging. What makes it such a good skill at low levels is that three different crafting skills depend on it, and two different crafting skills depend on Archeology. That's a plus in my book.

[GweedoBane]

Slicing/scavenging/underworld trading

 

The first two are easy money as they literally cost you nothing as you gather resources etc.

It takes no time to get a stack of 99 grade 1 or 2 or 3 etc compounds and metals that cost you nothing but you can sell on the GTN, easy money.

 

Underworld T does cost to send on missions but I have found the return very good. Also UWT yields purple quality mats that are worth plenty more than the blue mats. I can spend 500 crds on a lvl 1 or 2 mish and have 4 blue mats and 2 purples returned that will yield 2k for the mullinine (grade 2) & a couple k for the 2 purples (agrinium or alusteel).

 

Granted you don't always get purples but they do often enough as far as I'm concerned that I've made a LOT of money just selling resources via scavenge/UWT not to mention the free money that comes from slicing all the nodes on each planet you travel on.

 

Anyone that says they can't make money in this game just isn't prepared to do any work to get it.

[Thrangbrand]

Maximizing a Craft Skill can be time consuming and expensive. Especially at high levels where it takes so long to collect materials. My honest opinion of all Craft Skills in general is they can be a pit hole for pumping in credits you make for very little benefit.

 

If you do decide to play a Craft Skill sometimes gathering constant low level quick materials to build lower level blues or purples in large amounts can be the way to go or simply put selling materials. I went Cybertech as I wanted Armoring and Mods for my character but on the Server I am getting frustrated as people don't seem to want Earpieces much despite making close to 100 blues/purples between level 19 - 30 and they are selling really slowly. Also raw mate rails are selling for much too cheaply. This is the risk of a Higher Population server I guess.

 

If I was you I was just go Bioanalysis/Slicing/Biochem. You can still make Medpacks/Stims for yourself as well as selling raw materials in combination of Slicing gathering credits instantly which is a lot less stuff around and easier then messing around with creating items and spending time auctioning them.

 

In general Crew Skills on Star Wars suck in my opinion! Pitholes for your own cash.

[psandak]

@Thrangbrand:

 

Sorry but you are doing it wrong. Know your markets, diversify, and have patience.

 

I have all six crafting skills and I make credits hand over fist without really trying.

[Zkarn]

I took Slice, Scav and Arch on my toon when I returned to game about a month ago.

 

Its been great. Ill play for a few hours and before logging off, head to the Fleet and sell a few hours worth of questing mats. Ill come back the next day and I would have made anywhere between 100-200K, sometimes more depending on demand and the zones I spent time in.

 

I have spent exactly no downtime sending companions on missions, crafting, dealing with crafting vendors or agonsising over gear needing an upgrade. If it needs an upgrade I buy it. All I do is kill stuff and hit nodes. Easy. Simple. Fast.

 

My toon was legacy lvl 5 (had'nt played since a month after release) when I rolled it a month ago. Its now level 11. Everything that I can unlock in charater perks (repair bots ect) has been unlocked. Ive bought upgrades for myself and my questing companion all the way through to the level cap.

 

It would have been better, alot better if I'd taken bio instead of arch but Im still pretty happy.

 

The only real downside is that I cant use reuseable stims but seeing I have enough cash to load up on tons of them anyway I dont think it matters all that much.

 

My orginal toon has bochem which cost me alot of time and money.

Edited December 30, 2013 by Zkarn

[DarthTHC]

I make a lot of easy money off gathering skills, especially Slicing (specifically Thermal Regulators), Archaeology, and Scavenging. Bioanalysis isn't bad.

 

I make next to nothing from pure mission skills. Then again, I don't run many.

 

I work a bit harder but make really good money from the top tier purple augments of all varieties.

[fuzzy_dunlop]

I've made an embarrasingly easy amount of money with scavenging and underworld trading. Gather scavenged metals & compounds for free from out in the world, while sending your crew on underworld metal missions.

 

Underworld metals sell amazingly well. Last I checked, Grade 1 metals were selling at around 800-900 per unit. Grade 3 metals sold for a little more, outside of those two, prices were actually a little lower for whatever reason. I couldn't tell you exactly why that's the case, but the obvious conclusion to draw is that you can make a handy amount of money for only a little bit of investment in underworld trading. Combine that with the money you make from selling your scavenged materials (some of which also fetch very nice prices) and you'll have more credits than you'll know what to do with in no time.

 

As for your third skill, it doesn't matter. Slicing is a good choice as it's literally free money. I'd wager that bioanalysis or archaeology would ultimately make you more money (nodes seem to be more common, and each one seems to have more credits' worth of goods inside than your average lockbox), but also require a little more effort, as you'll need to keep enough inventory space open to carry the mats, and then go to the trouble of selling them on the GTN. Honestly, you get so much money from scav and UT that I don't think it's worth the effort, I'd just go with slicing for the easy credits.

 

 

If you really want to make money and little else, then you'll want to pick up cybertech. Blue armorings and mods sell incredibly well. The only thing is, cybertech requires a lot more time and effort. You'll need to be constantly running back and forth to the GTN to sell all the gear you make, and you'll find yourself running out of inventory/GTN slots before too long, as each item takes up one slot (compared to gathering mats, which stack up to 99 in one slot). It also requires a bit of seed money, since the most efficient way to craft stuff is to just buy the mats on the GTN. You can gather them yourself, but it's a much slower process.

 

I don't think cybertech can be beat in terms of the amount of profit that can be drawn from it, but the catch is that you'll spend so much time crafting, selling, and buying that you won't be able to do much else. Doing nothing but selling gathering mats is far more casual, you can just do it as you quest or whatever and then make one stop at the GTN at the end of the day to sell your stuff. It doesn't make you as much money as actual crafting, but as long as you don't totally waste the money it's more than enough. I made my first million from gathering alone at level 33 (probably could have made it earlier if I'd been more diligent), and it's been enough to let me upgrade my orange gear with blue/green modifications every 4 levels (armorings & barrels with credits from the GTN or mod vendors, mods & enhancements from commendation vendors since they're only 2 comms per item).

 

 

tl;dr: Scavenging and Underworld Trading (specifically the low-grade underworld metals) will make you a millionaire. Slicing's an easy third skill to pad your wallet a little bit more. Picking cybertech will make you the most money, but will keep you from actually playing the game very much.

[DarthTHC]

tl;dr: Scavenging and Underworld Trading (specifically the low-grade underworld metals) will make you a millionaire. Slicing's an easy third skill to pad your wallet a little bit more. Picking cybertech will make you the most money, but will keep you from actually playing the game very much.

 

This just shows that there are a number of ways to make money with crafting.

 

I'm a millionaire numerous times over and I find that Scavenging materials sell at a significantly lower profit margin than most other raw materials, I almost never run Underworld missions, and I almost never post anything my Cybertech makes.

Edited January 4, 2014 by DarthTHC

[SlayerGopher]

I play p/t and have a Smuggler and I took 3 gathering; Bioanalysis, Scavenging and Slicing and I've been pretty comfortable in credits. I run some lvl4 Scav and Bio missions inbetween but my main source(s) come from planets and FP''s really. I can't claim 5-10 mill a week or some such number though that'll get you rich. but the $400K/wk is pretty adequate.