Random Question Thread IX: Mathology 101

**Dathus** · 2010-04-13 21:46

For Shoggoth, what would be a good low-man strat to kill'em for VNM kills? Trying to figure out how to deal with'em for my 2nd last trial.

**rog** · 2010-04-13 22:22

Originally Posted by Dathus

For Shoggoth, what would be a good low-man strat to kill'em for VNM kills? Trying to figure out how to deal with'em for my 2nd last trial.

It can be soloed by kiting around one of the various rocks in gusta. I used rdm/sch, and the basic strategy is keep dots up, and to nuke just stand outside of range, and spam your macro. It'll use hex eyes/petro eyes, then follow with a nuke, which should start right around the time you finish casting, giving you plenty of time to run out of range. It doesn't seem to have any fc, as i was able finish a nuke, and run out of range before it could finish nuking, even when it started casting a second or so after me.

During cs, just run, and spam cures. Poison pots can help because it tends to spam sleepga repeatedly (i've had it cast it 5x in a row lol), but you probably won't want to cancel ss to wake yourself up, as 2 thundaga3 after that could potentially kill you without ss. Poison isn't really needed, but it does help a bit in case you get slept after ss is nuked off.

It gets a bit tricky after 20%, because it spams cs, so you'll likely end up killing it entirely with dots (or chainspell nukes if you're feeling gutsy), so make sure you've got plenty of mp and preferably vert up before taking it below that.

/nin might help a bit if you want, since it does use some single target nukes, but i personally found it to be rather pointless, since it uses ga much more often than single target nukes, so for the first nuke during cs, you'd have blink anyway, and after that, recasting is just wasting time you could spend putting more distance between you, since it's single target nukes are weak, and aren't likely to be cast anyway. But then all /sch does is speeds things up, and since /nin can potentially save you, you may want it anyway.

If you've got a few friends to help, blms help a lot. 2 blm+rdm will allow you to pretty much instantly kill it from 20% with am2 x2+t3, allowing you to bypass the cs spam entirely. And of course you can bring it below it's next cs trigger before it's last one wears off, allowing you to only have to deal with cs twice, at 80%, and 40%, instead of 4-5+ times.

Not sure if you can do it without move speed+, but since you can buy that for 100k or less now, that shouldn't matter. You probably could though, since the only time that matters is during cs, and honestly, a few more nukes isn't that huge a deal, since it doesn't do all that much damage, especially if you have a good mdt set. But like i said, i'm not sure, so don't blame me if you get owned.

**Kyte** · 2010-04-13 22:26

What do people farm these days?

**Anomander** · 2010-04-14 01:07

Originally Posted by Tyramut

Is it generally proven that a gear swap one line before a WS command will always take effect in that WS? Even at laggy times?

Say:

/something
/wait 1
/gearscript
/ws

The only times when my gear scripts have not gone off is immediately after zoning. For some reason, swapping gear does not seem to want to work after you zone.

I have never had a gear swap not work in the fashion you mentioned, due to lag or anything else. As sam, I would notice it (would get incorrect tp returns on ws, and meditate would give less tp) if it could ever happen.

Edit: I should mention that there ARE times when portions of my gear swaps have not gone off. This was not due to any sort of lag. Notably, I noticed it when fighting Sarameya, and swapping over to my fire resist set. For some reason, sometimes my normal body would "stick." My fire resist macro does nothing other than put on the gear set. I assumed it was some sort of bug within windower. I suppose this contradicts what I said before, but it was probably the only time I have noticed it happening. Anyone else experienced this?

**Mazmaz** · 2010-04-14 01:24

Torn between ACP bodies:

CHR5 Macc4 Fast Cast 5 for midcast debuff on BRD

or Fast Cast 5 for ichi/ni set on WAR?

I do tank alot on WAR, but then that's really nice on BRD too isn't it?

**Chen** · 2010-04-14 02:42

Originally Posted by Mazmaz

Torn between ACP bodies:

CHR5 Macc4 Fast Cast 5 for midcast debuff on BRD

or Fast Cast 5 for ichi/ni set on WAR?

I do tank alot on WAR, but then that's really nice on BRD too isn't it?

for BRD you could just use yigit->errant/osode for similiar results

the body piece is pretty unique though, i'd get it if you tank on WAR, and don't mean pulling hate for a few utsu's at dyna xarca

**Mateuns7** · 2010-04-14 02:49

about how much acc does it take to cap on the salvage bosses? should be 2 answers, one for AR boss, one for the others.

**Istun GA's** · 2010-04-14 03:42

Tried to search for spellcast to see if new items have been added to be used in spellcast yet but i cant find it ; ;.

**Kaeko** · 2010-04-14 04:45

Originally Posted by Istun GA's

Tried to search for spellcast to see if new items have been added to be used in spellcast yet but i cant find it ; ;.

in game type "//updateresources". If this does not work, you need to d/l the latest version manually.

Try the advice here:
http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/showt...pdateresources

**Azzy** · 2010-04-14 05:27

Did a quick search and didn't see anything, how much accuracy does choreia earring actually add to steps?

**Dooom** · 2010-04-14 06:20

Any ideas where I can fin Qutrub in Arrapago Reef, or am I better off with the VT ones at Dvucca Isle staging point? Was just doing the staging point ones thf + dual-boxed rdm for my Magin dagger, but it was slow, albiet managable. If anyone knows where I can find the DC ones in the reef, it'd help a lot.

**ringthree** · 2010-04-14 09:05

A couple of technical questions:

1. What is the base damage for determining weapon rank on Magian weapons that have additional damage?

2. Are the pDIF equations on the Wiki essentially correct? Meaning for two-hander high cRatio is fMAX = (cRatio x 1.2) x (1.0 ~ 1.05)?

3. What is a mathematical formula to determine how many second attacks from DA are "lost" because they send you over 100TP?

Thanks!

**ringthree** · 2010-04-14 09:09

Separate question:

Can you use a weapon's identification number in Windower macros or Spellcast? It looks like I am going to have quite a few Teiwaz staffs and I need to be able to macro them somehow.

**ringthree** · 2010-04-14 09:15

Originally Posted by Dooom

Any ideas where I can fin Qutrub in Arrapago Reef, or am I better off with the VT ones at Dvucca Isle staging point? Was just doing the staging point ones thf + dual-boxed rdm for my Magin dagger, but it was slow, albiet managable. If anyone knows where I can find the DC ones in the reef, it'd help a lot.

I am not sure where exactly you will find them the most, but I do know that it is hard to find them grouped together.

I do remember from quite a long time ago there being a potential camp in the Northeast of the map after zoning in from Caedarva Mire. You will need to go through one key door (but you can pick up this key on the way to the zone in Caedarva Mire), you need to go through the cave area on the East side of the map, back out then head north to the shore area. There is a cave in that area with some Qutrub if I remember correctly.

I do have to warn you, the last time I was there was before Soulflayers were even added to the game, so it may be substantially harder to get to that area than I remember.

You can also try the area around where the spawn point for the ZNM Qutrub. There are definitely some Qutrub there.

**Argettio** · 2010-04-14 09:48

Originally Posted by ringthree

A couple of technical questions:

1. What is the base damage for determining weapon rank on Magian weapons that have additional damage?

It is thought (unless some one has proved otherwise) that it is the base damage (before any augs) that defines weapon rank

Originally Posted by ringthree

2. Are the pDIF equations on the Wiki essentially correct? Meaning for two-hander high cRatio is fMAX = (cRatio x 1.2) x (1.0 ~ 1.05)?

They are as good as we have atm, and pretty accurate.

Originally Posted by ringthree

3. What is a mathematical formula to determine how many second attacks from DA are "lost" because they send you over 100TP?

Thanks!

You will waste, on average, 0.4 hits worth of TP per TP phase. As any time you are one swing away from 100TP, you have a 40% chance of OATing and wasting 1 hit.

That’s ignoring any DA or TA, both of which will increase the chance of wasting TP, but if your not WAR or THF main, then it won’t be much (5-10% DA rate on a 40% OAT is relatively small)

Originally Posted by ringthree

Separate question:

Can you use a weapon's identification number in Windower macros or Spellcast? It looks like I am going to have quite a few Teiwaz staffs and I need to be able to macro them somehow.

AFAIK no one has worked out a way of macroing items with the same name, much to the infuriation of some SMN and SCH with the old augmented weapons.

**ringthree** · 2010-04-14 10:02