Orange Adaptive Armor : Can't Make It Happen

[SilverangelXx]

I'm an experienced MMO player, and I've been playing about three weeks. I've had lots of problems with the game, but all of them have been solved by Google and in-game chat. Adaptive armor is the problem I just can't solve. This guy has the same problem, but none of the answers actually help.

 

A specific example. I'd like to wear Imperial Battle Ace Pilot Gloves. Adaptive armor rating 8.

 

Reflex Armor 6 mod for level 17 is the best I can find on GTN and gives 50 armor. The gloves are 20 armor. That's a total of 70 armor. Now, my current plain green quest gloves on my L19 Powertech are 119 armor. The adaptive is 50 armor lower just for the gloves alone. I can't do that as a tank.

 

It's the same thing if I look at other orange adaptive amors on the GTN. They also give 20 armor rating for gloves, so it's not just this pilot gear.

 

What is missing from the equation? I can't make the adaptive armor work for any of my characters due to low armor value.. I've tried for Powertech, Trooper, and Jedi Knight, mostly trying the chest not the gloves. The armor value always falls too short to be useable.

 

Also, as a related bonus question, as a tank should I bother with Armormech? Or is everything really Cybertech for the adaptive armor? What are Powertech/Vanguard tanks wearing?

 

Any help on these questions would be appreciated.

Edited January 25, 2014 by SilverangelXx

[velasong]

With adaptive armor,it scales the armor gain from armorings to the highest your class can use,in your case heavy armor.That means after adding in the armoring,the adaptive piece will have atleast the same,if not more,armor.The 20 armor rating is just a base stat without any armorings,don't worry about that.Also the number on the arnoring(armor rating) isn't actually the armor it will give you when you put it in a moddable item.For example i have guardian armoring 15 in my juggs gear,armor rating 88.yet i get 341-545 armor depending on what item it is.

If you plan on using adaptive/moddable heavy armor gear,cybertech will be a better choice,since you can craft armorings and mods for yourself or sell them.

[eartharioch]

I'm an experienced MMO player, and I've been playing about three weeks. I've had lots of problems with the game, but all of them have been solved by Google and in-game chat. Adaptive armor is the problem I just can't solve. This guy has the same problem, but none of the answers actually help.

 

A specific example. I'd like to wear Imperial Battle Ace Pilot Gloves. Adaptive armor rating 8.

 

Reflex Armor 6 mod for level 17 is the best I can find on GTN and gives 50 armor. The gloves are 20 armor. That's a total of 70 armor. Now, my current plain green quest gloves on my L19 Powertech are 119 armor. The adaptive is 50 armor lower just for the gloves alone. I can't do that as a tank.

 

It's the same thing if I look at other orange adaptive amors on the GTN. They also give 20 armor rating for gloves, so it's not just this pilot gear.

 

What is missing from the equation? I can't make the adaptive armor work for any of my characters due to low armor value.. I've tried for Powertech, Trooper, and Jedi Knight, mostly trying the chest not the gloves. The armor value always falls too short to be useable.

 

Also, as a related bonus question, as a tank should I bother with Armormech? Or is everything really Cybertech for the adaptive armor? What are Powertech/Vanguard tanks wearing?

 

Any help on these questions would be appreciated.

 

1) Check out Ask Mr Robot to search for various gear pieces...For example, this link shows all Advanced Armoring 7 pieces (level 19 Purple) http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/gear?n=Advanced%20Armoring%207#

 

2) Armorings are available as green, blue, and purple (best). For Trooper/BH tanking, you want [Advanced] Commando Armoring 7. The listed armor rating is 60, but this is just the armoring piece -- it adjusts in effectiveness based on what type of armor you use, so make sure you are using Heavy or Adaptive armor; if you use Light or Medium armor, that same Armor piece will give you less protection. I'm guessing that the Reflex Armoring (Blue, since you said Armor Rating 50) would show up higher if you actually put it *in* the armor (and, if the armor is adaptive, you have to equip it, so that it can "adapt" to you as a Heavy armor user).

 

3) Only Cybertechs can craft the armoring and mod pieces -- arms tech crafts barrels, and artificers craft enhancements and hilts. Armortech not a bad choice (my 55 BH is an armor tech), you can make augment kits and reflex/shield/absorb augments, all of which are useful to a BH, although mainly at end game.

 

Hope that helps!

[eartharioch]

If you plan on using adaptive/moddable heavy armor gear,cybertech will be a better choice,since you can craft armorings and mods for yourself or sell them.

 

The eartharioch Guide On How To Select Crew Skills For Your Main (First) SWTOR Character:

 

1) Do you plan on having alts?

Y: Take Cybertech, Scavenging, and Underworld Trading

N: Wrong answer. Take Cybertech, Scavenging, and Underworld Trading; make a crafting mule alt.

Edited January 25, 2014 by eartharioch

[Eternalnight]

 

Reflex Armor 6 mod for level 17 is the best I can find on GTN and gives 50 armor. The gloves are 20 armor. That's a total of 70 armor. Now, my current plain green quest gloves on my L19 Powertech are 119 armor. The adaptive is 50 armor lower just for the gloves alone.

 

So much fail here.

 

I'm 100% sure this person has never even tried to equip any piece of moddable armor with the armorings inside it.

 

First of all the armor value the gear has when it is empty has absolutely nothing to do with how much armor it will have when armoring is in it. It is not part of the equation at all.

 

Secondly a reflex armoring 6 does not give 50 armor to any type of armor.

 

A green reflex armoring 6:

When placed inside gloves or boots it gives 143 armor for heavy armor user (or 104 for example for medium armor user)

When placed inside chest, leg or head piece it gives 228 armor for heavy armor (or 166 for example for medium armor user)

 

A blue Reflex armoring 6:

When placed inside gloves or boots it gives 175 armor for heavy armor user (or 129 for example for medium armor user)

When placed inside chest, leg or head piece it gives 281 armor for heavy armor (or 206 for example for medium armor user)

 

With a purple armoring even more.

 

So the numbers the OP is giving are utter nonsense.

 

Even with the lowest quality green armoring the adaptive piece with that level of armoring would have been way better than the item he claims to have compared it to.

Edited January 25, 2014 by Eternalnight

[SilverangelXx]

So much fail here. I'm 100% sure this person has never even tried to equip any piece of moddable armor with the armorings inside it..

 

Yes, that's mostly correct. I'm a brand new player. That's why I'm posting here.

 

Secondly a reflex armoring 6 does not give 50 armor to any type of armor.

 

That's what the tooltip said on the GTN. I had it up when I was making the post. Obtaining these are very expensive for me even at 5k credits. I can't just buy them and test. In an MMO that has its crap together, grade school math on tooltips is supposed to work properly. There is no reason to be hostile.

 

Also the number on the arnoring(armor rating) isn't actually the armor it will give you when you put it in a moddable item.

 

That's it right there. The tooltips are completely wrong. Thanks so much for your help. I wish I could see in advance how much it will give though. Please take some cookies.

 

Do you plan on having alts?

Y: Take Cybertech, Scavenging, and Underworld Trading

N: Wrong answer. Take Cybertech, Scavenging, and Underworld Trading; make a crafting mule alt.

 

Thanks

 

1) Check out Ask Mr Robot to search for various gear pieces...For example, this link shows all Advanced Armoring 7 pieces (level 19 Purple) http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/gear?n=Advanced%20Armoring%207#

 

Hope that helps!

 

Yes, so I guess I need to buy, slot, and equip before I can see what stats I will get. Is that really how it works? Thanks for the Mr Robot thing. Had no idea.

 

Thank you all for such wonderful and quick responses! I will try again with this tomorrow. Maybe this post will help some others as well.

Edited January 25, 2014 by SilverangelXx

[velasong]

Yes, so I guess I need to buy, slot, and equip before I can see what stats I will get. Is that really how it works? Thanks for the Mr Robot thing. Had no idea.

Other than Stats such as aim,endurance,defense etc(which you can just add up to get total stats from an item) the armor value only shows up when it's placed into the armor and equipped.Adaptive armor will adjust based on what the character or companions highest level/weight of armor they can equip.So your powertech will get more armor than Mako from the same item for example.So far i haven't seen any definitive numbers as to how much armor an armoring gives.Based on item quality,green/blue/purple.It's most likely the quality of the armoring will determine how much armor you get.Green being the lowest,blue being in between,and purple being the highest.

If what i've said is accurate,then an item of same quality,level and armor rating as the armoring should tell you how much armor an armoring will give you.For example a level 35 blue chest piece,armor rating 88.gives the same armor as my juggs level 35 blue armoring,armor rating 88,for the chest piece.

Aslong as the armor rating on the item is the same as the armoring,you should be getting an accurate number for the amount of armor an armoring will give for that slot.

Edited January 25, 2014 by velasong

[Merouk]

Adaptive Armor = you can pretty much ignore the armor rating listed when it's empty because it will change as soon as you put mods in it

 

Armorings on the GTN = the armorings list Armor RATING in their info, and when you put an Armor Rating 82 armoring into the Adaptive Armor, you will get Adaptive Armor that has a listed Armor Rating of 82. So the rating transfers to the armor.

 

Now, how much actual ARMOR you get out of the rating depends on which piece it is, and whether that adaptive changes to heavy, medium, or light for you (depends on what your class can wear).

 

So as a specific example for me, Armor Rating 82 gave me 504 armor in the chest, but only 315 when I took it out of the chest and put it in the gloves, and my class can wear heavy armor.

 

So, basically, yeah, you have to put it in to see what actual armor you get. But as a general rule, Adaptive Armor with green mods in it = green gear of the same level, approximately, and blue = blue, and purple = purple. Rule breaks down at 50 and 55 because at the (current and previous) max levels they start having item tiers instead of just levels.

[eartharioch]

So much fail here.

 

Secondly a reflex armoring 6 does not give 50 armor to any type of armor.

 

Not to be rude, but since you're being rude, I'll say that some of the fail is yours.

 

As the OP mentioned, and I confirmed, [blue] Reflex Armoring 6 is indeed Armor Rating 50. You can look it up for yourself.

 

Also, as I (and several others mentioned), that Armor Rating is *not* the amount of armor that you will receive with that armoring. The amount of armor you get is based on the slot (chest, head, hands, etc.) and the type of armor (Light, Medium, or Heavy).

 

But Armor Rating is definitely a statistic that you can see in an item's tooltip.

[eartharioch]

 

Do you plan on having alts?

Y: Take Cybertech, Scavenging, and Underworld Trading

N: Wrong answer. Take Cybertech, Scavenging, and Underworld Trading; make a crafting mule alt.

 

Thanks

 

Just to be clear, Armormech would be my recommendation for your crafting mule...if you've already invested time in Armormech, I recommend that you keep it...I'd recommend Scavenging and Slicing for your other two skills, because those will give you the mats you need to make augments and augment kits.

 

You would do very well to make a Cybertech alt (with Underworld Trading, and probably more Scavenging or Slicing). Just level the alt up until you hit fleet and can get skills, and go through enough story to get your ship (+Droid) so you have two companions for missions. You then just run crew skill missions and should be able to make the mods/armor for your main char after a while -- your crafting level isn't limited by your char level, so you can make gear that;s too high level for you to use, but still give it to your main or sell it (and Cybertech stuff sells nicely at all gear levels).

[SilverangelXx]

As the OP mentioned, and I confirmed, [blue] Reflex Armoring 6 is indeed Armor Rating 50. You can look it up for yourself.

 

Well, you are both right. In that case, I must have been mistaking Armor for Armor Rating, since I was really trying to add it. Just like the other confused player in the link I posted. I looked up AR, and this helps me.

 

You would do very well to make a Cybertech alt (with Underworld Trading, and probably more Scavenging or Slicing). Just level the alt up until you hit fleet and can get skills, and go through enough story to get your ship (+Droid) so you have two companions for missions.

 

I have only gathering skills right now. I don't want to go crazy with crafting, so I thought I'd just pick one of those, and Biochem on an alt. Cybertech sounds more like a money-maker, except that supposedly everyone is doing it. I'll probably go with it. Thanks again!

[FabulousDoctor]

Well, you are both right. In that case, I must have been mistaking Armor for Armor Rating, since I was really trying to add it. Just like the other confused player in the link I posted. I looked up AR, and this helps me.

 

Yeah, a big thing a few guildies had issues with is that AR is multiplied by what kind of armor you use (I don't know the exact math) so a heavy armor user gets something like 150 out of a AR, while a medium might get 100~

[Deathstalker_]

The only things you really need to worry about with any type of modification item is the number in the name. Higher is better, and higher rarity is better. The exact math needed to find how much Armor Rating you actually get doesn't seem to be known, so as long as you can count up, and know that Purple is better than Blue is better than Green, you're good. I realize it may sound like I'm talking down to you; I'm not trying to. I'm just used to the fact that, more often than not, there's a wealth of information that any game uses at any given time that the player is simply not allowed to see. Personally, I think it sucks, but I'm a very technical person, and while I'm not a min-maxer, I am a power gamer. I like knowing stuff like that ahead of time, but a lot of games don't like to provide it.

 

As for Crafting, I have a very important piece of advice: DON'T CRAFT! I made the mistake of assuming that I could start crafting as soon as it became available, and then had trouble understanding how people were swimming in money while I barely had enough to pay for taxis and repairs. I wasn't buying anything, but I still kept running out of cash. It turns out that the culprit was my crafting. In the early game, especially on a first character, or one who doesn't have access to a 'Rich Uncle' (another character who has a lot of money that they can send to other characters on your account), the early game simply doesn't give you enough cash to keep up with sending companions out for crafting materials all the time. Once I stopped crafting, money not only flowed into my pockets, but it stayed there.

 

Not long after I figured this out, I accidentally deleted the character who had all my credits without transferring those credits to another character. With no Rich Uncle to fund my crafting, I had to find a way to get cash. I ended up taking my Crafting and Gathering skill as normal, but trading my Mission skill for Slicing. I didn't send companions on any missions; instead, I stockpiled materials from the Gathering skill, and picked up Lockboxes from Slicing nodes. By the time I finished the Capital Planet (Coruscant, in this case), I had about 22k credits. Before, I'd considered myself lucky if I'd hit 9-10k!

 

Now, I wasn't willing to simply ignore crafting for an entire character (I'm a bit addicted to Biochem, to be honest), so I set a goal. I decided that once I hit a certain amount of credits, I'd consider myself sufficiently funded and start crafting. That number was originally going to be about 80k credits, but I got impatient and started crafting again at about 60k instead. Once I had the money, I dropped Slicing, picked up the appropriate Mission skill, and started crafting. I didn't have any issues at all. Sure, I had to level my Mission skill the hard way, and I had to craft gear, not to use, but simply so I could jump levels, but once I got those up to snuff, I was up and running with no problems. I could send companions out on missions all day every day, and as long as I was also running missions, I was making more money than I was spending on the crafting missions.

 

Honestly, I hated finding out the way I did. I actually went off on a friend because he had a good job and could afford to drop real cash so he could flip items for cash on the GTN. His characters were swimming in money, and I hated it. And when I asked how to make money, everyone gave me all sorts of methods, but all failed to mention that one, vital piece of information: You really don't have the means to craft at the time that crafting is made available to you.

 

My suggestion for crafting is to do your research, find out what you want to do, but don't actually try to start crafting until you hit 50-60k credits in your wallet. It will take time to get that much, but once you've got that nest egg built up, you'll find that not only are you able to benefit from crafting, but it isn't going to bankrupt you in the process. Personally, I give every new character a bunch of cash so that they can start crafting as soon as they get access to their crew skills, but I now have a Rich Uncle who can do that. You don't have that option.

[scarlet_magpie]

Just to reinforce what's been said by several above: Take cybertech, scavenging and underworld trading. Send comp on UT missions and run BT/Hammer station solo to farm metals and you'll level it in no time at all. It also means that you can create earpieces, droid and ship parts and even speeders for your alts too further down the line.

Send Gault on Underworld missions and Skadge on scavenging ones.

Once you have crafted the green versions of a mod/armour you want, make a few then reverse engineer them until you learn the blue version of the items (this is where underwold metals come in) and then do the same and rev engineer those until you learn the purple (advanced) version. This is also true for earpieces and droid armours).

Good luck and get rich (cos cybertech is a great moneymaker!).

[scarlet_magpie]

Just to reinforce what's been said by several above: Take cybertech, scavenging and underworld trading. Send comp on UT missions and run BT/Hammer station solo to farm metals and you'll level it in no time at all. It also means that you can create earpieces, droid and ship parts and even speeders for your alts too further down the line.

Send Gault on Underworld missions and Skadge on scavenging ones.

Once you have crafted the green versions of a mod/armour you want, make a few then reverse engineer them until you learn the blue version of the items (this is where underwold metals come in) and then do the same and rev engineer those until you learn the purple (advanced) version. This is also true for earpieces and droid armours).

Good luck and get rich (cos cybertech is a great moneymaker!).

 

Oh and by the way, the reason I mention running those lower level flashpoints is because of the poster directly above mine (cos he's right, your money will disappear if you keep doing missions, so scavenge in the flashpoints, loot everything and sell it, this will easily fund your Underworld missions. You'll also get a few planetary comms too which you can spend on blue mods as well!).

[greenflap]

Hi there

 

I recently returned to the game myself. I ended up deleting all my old toons as they all had to be renamed. So I started from scratch with no cash. The guy saying that crafting will stealthily bankrupt you is completely correct however there are a couple of tips that will stop this happening. Firstly do a couple of war zones a day, at lower levels just competing yeilds disproportionately high credits to your level. Also all lower level crafting can make you relatively good amounts of creds. Selling lower level mats can be very profitable, not

all but it's easy research to do. If you are crafting make use of your reverse engineering and turn the greens you make into blues which can sell well.

 

Hope that helps