I'm forgetful. (in General)

So now that I'm done with the other site that has stolen my attention for so long, I'm back to good ole CB. I'm going to start a NCB, but I recall there being a change so that you couldn't save up 1600 and then create a NCB character, or something to that effect? Is this the case? What do you lot do nowadays for a good NCB start?

I just want a good bump in the beginning, mind you, I don't have the capital to make it a BA-buying run. Just gonna get a new character involved in the game. A UC character...single minion...mmmmmm.

Anywho, let me know your thoughts and what's what since I left!

oh god, the Changemonth entry hasn't been edited since I left. I need to do some research and edits when I get back home from work tonight. ;D

I believe you can still save 1600BA and then start a NCB. The changed prevented you from transferring a character to someone with more than 160BA.

Ah, thanks for the info. Anyone got some NCB startup tips? It'll be a bit before I start it - gotta buy some UC gear, for one - but any advice would be appreciated.

Don't run a single minion.

As said, save up 1600 BA and wait till a Wacky XP time.

Also wait until you can pay/ask a favour for someone to gimp a high level character for you to beat on.

If you plan on runing UC, junction it to a Jig. A stand alone UC minion cannot compete, at all, with a Junctioned Jig for UC. Sad as that is. (In this case, you might be able to run a single minion team, but two minion+ will always be better)

I know two minion+ is always better, sadly. I really want to run a single minion though...so I believe I will take your Jig suggestion. Any other tat suggestions for a single minion UC?

(It's not that I don't want to take your suggestion. It's just that the theme I'm running off of involves using a single UC minion. Themes are important! ;D)

you can run a single UC team, but only to exploit the enc boost and use a huge ranged weapon...

I suggest DM cannon myself, 4 minions all DM and a FF

A huge ranged weapon sounds good. Any suggestions on which would be best? I recall SoD being a fantastic weapon that made you incredibly GA vulnerable. =P

And if anyone wants to do like GL said and gimp a character for me to grow on, shoot me a CM and I might be able to pay in CBD or sexual favors.

Err, I might be able to pay in CBD and private message me if you need more information.

Any more tips? :D

Join a Clan. ;)

Argh, saw that one coming...

I will join one when I start my NCB. Even though I HATHATHAT clans.

Even when you can choose to follow a god and get to use rituals?

Also, get back in chat now that you are back. Welcome back to CB ^_^

if you junction a jig to uc minion the jig will get all the equipment benefits from the get go with no penalties coming over from encumbrance. that can help you get a good challenge bonus in mire that the lower levels are now. of course you trade that for being able to use a gi.

I've had a lot of success with EC cannon + junctioned jiggy so far, and according to Nat (who had the opportunity to try it out lower down), it's even better early on. 2 minions, one EC + VA, the other EC + BL to 1/4 jig ST, with the second being the junction minion ofc. Great tank hunter, and the target pool is still excellent afaik.

the other site being prison I assume?

Good to see you back :-)

Having just come back myself after a few years off let me tell you a single minion tank is a lot rougher then I remember. I remember my NCB run a couple years ago was almost 100% challenge bonus until about 1.5 mil mpr. I think the biggest bonus I have seen is 21% lol

I think the easiest way would be an RoBF with ~90% of your exp into amf, some hp and just hunt mage teams all day.

Mind you I sold off everything I had so I am starting from scratch :)

AMF cannon doesn't work. The only big cannons like that that can work are DM and EC. For the AMF route you go with mainly HP and a moderate AMF.

Hmmmmm...

To ToA, or to JKF?

ToA means bigger stats and use of the AoF to buff my UC to ridiculousness

JKF means Junctioned stats and double the bodies

Does anyone know if the SoC's ability junctions over to the JKF?

It most definitely does.

yes it certainly does, which is where my mpb comes from! ; ) i just changed this week from just a jigoro and had the soc on him.

Hmmmm...but can he survive through ranged combat? If he dies, then that's several rounds of wasted ranged damage that could have been absorbed and returned that instead go to the grave with him. I'm still leaning toward the TOA at this point: less required investment into STR and DX = more into HP and UC. If I'm going to be trying to do massive ranged damage and survive to reflect a blow, then I don't know if I want to divide my HP between more stats and also risk an indirect loss of damage through my meatshield.

So it's then a choice between proven strat and personal preference. Never thought I'd see the day when OB would be considering the well worn path.

Here's what I say, I've got a x6k +37 54M NW SoD that I figure you could use starting from very very early if you play your cards right. It's just sitting on Carl Carlson waiting to be rented to you... take a look at the stats on the minion with it equipped. It takes his enc to .44 at the moment but doesn't lower str and dex enough to stop it from working.
I suspect training nothing but UC and HP with a pair of properly upped HG you could be using it a week and a half into your NCB.

Wait, which is the proven strat, the ToA or the JKF? Personal preference for me is single minion, so I'm happy either way. :)

Thanks for that offer, that's pretty awesome!

Out of curiosity, can anyone explain the relationship between the loss of CTH from no Archery and the PTH given by the ToA? It was mentioned to me yesterday that the ToA wouldn't make up for the CTH loss from a lack of Archery, which is a shame because I want ranged damage.

I was just curious if anyone had links/data about how that worked. I haven't tried putting a bow on a non-Archery character before. If it's going to be too much accuracy loss, then the SoD is the way to go.

...nobody?

Apparently it is an 80% penalty. So 80% penalty to bth and then an 80% penalty to pth after the pth is calculated with the ToA included.

Does this from the Wiki need to be changed then?

novice suggested it already but you want single minion... he also suggested it to me DM Shotgun

one minion
pure DM (no hp or anything)
fire familiar

That just won't hold up in the higher ranks. Down low, where there is a general lack of armors and supporter items, that might work out okay - but up top, it'll just flop time after time.

Besides that, I'm not after single minion, I'm after a single _UC_ minion.

I *am* thinking I'll be going with DM as an EO, though, in an effort to lessen the impact of GA.

You may weaken your XP conc too much by adding enough DM to significantly decrease GA vs high challenge bonus teams.
I'd suggest more hp and VA as a more efficient GA defense option.

ew, VA, not a fan of that

You might have a point with the HP though, as I intend to have a ton of HP anyway. I might not have to worry too terribly much about GA.

Fan or not, 40% lifeleech vs 60% damage return - armor reduction = a pretty major GA drop.
*shrug* worth seriously considering.

va with the stored soc damage is pretty darned sweet!

but wouldn't it require a massive VA? IIRC if your VA is too low in comparison to your damage output, you start taking DAMAGE instead of gaining HP.

note: that particular feature is part of why I'm not a fan. I don't like dispellable EXP in the first place (intrinsics ftw) but doubly when that EXP begins to hurt you when you don't give it enough attention.

It hurts you if it's below base level due to gear penalties afaik... which is all of never ever >_>
Low level just means lower leech than you might otherwise get.

i think it can only damage you if it goes below base due to penalties. if it is dm that takes it down, then it cannot damage you as that doesn't go below base.

my va was nowhere near my mpb as my mpb was just crazy using the soc and storing damage for all of the ranged rounds against elb users. it would still give me a massive chunk of life when i got one of those huge blows and definitely never hurt me even when dispelled.

OK, well I might have to consider it then. :) Thanks for the tip!

Why does the wiki page keep reverting to say the SoC triples the damage when used with a hammer weapon? I checked through the history and it seems like it is just doing it by itself...

not sure if this clears it up or not, i think it does though.

http://www.carnageblender.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=00359H

Thanks dudemus! That clears everything up.

Regarding VA: Why do I feel like I predicted this would happen?

Stare draws strength from his weapon! [-6302]

just how little VA do you have? once you get up to about 2k VA it should never give negatives.

Ah, OK. It's at the base 1.1k amount.

I guess we should just raise the base :)

Yeah, jumping it up to 2.4k = positive numbers. Didn't take much!