= Anarchy Online Tradeskills Skill Analysis =
* Warning: This is LONG. As in, VERY long. VERY VERY VERY Long. Don't say I didn't let you know *
*IMPORTANT NOTE* I have not conducted the in-game research for this guide personally. Information has been sourced from fan-sites for Anarchy Online and I have referenced the main URL for the sites I obtained the information from. No credit for that work can be mine, rather I have used the work of talented and dedicated players to build this guide and I strongly recommend you visit the referenced sites for any of the crafts youu are interested in as they are fantastic tools for everyone's use.
The format I have used is as follows: title grouping, site URL, skills required for ALL steps required to make the item (not to use it).
Tradeskill Craft: Gems and Jewelery (http://www.anarchyarcanum.com)
- Mechanical Engineering
Mainstream Craft: Nanocrystals (http://www.anarchyarcanum.com)
- Nanoprogramming
- Computer Literacy
- Mechanical Engineering
- Electrical Engineering
- Field Quantum Physics
Armorcraft: Bureaucrat Suit (http://www.anarchyarcanum.com)
- Breaking and Entering
Armorcraft: Bronto Hide (http://www.anarchyarcanum.com)
- Chemistry
Armorcraft: Carbonum (http://www.anarchyarcanum.com)
- Chemistry
- Mechanical Engineering
Armorcraft: Dragonflesh (http://www.anarchyarcanum.com)
- Chemistry
Armorcraft: Overtuning Tank Armor (http://www.anarchyarcanum.com)
- Breaking and Entering
- Field Quantum Physics
Gadget Craft: Adventurer Shield (http://www.anarchyarcanum.com)
- Field Quantum Physics
Gadget Craft: Aggression Trimmer (http://www.anarchyarcanum.com)
- Chemistry
- Mechanical Engineering
Gadget Craft: Aggression Multiplier, Jealousy Augmented (http://www.anarchyarcanum.com)
- Mechanical Engineering
- Weapon Smithing
Gadget Craft: Augmented Bow Tie (http://www.anarchyarcanum.com)
- Breaking and Entering
- Psychology
Gadget Craft: Coffee Machines (http://www.anarchyarcanum.com)
- Bomb/Disarm
- Breaking and Entering
Gadget Craft: Implant Disassembly Clinic (http://www.anarchyarcanum.com)
- Breaking and Entering
Gadget Craft: Personalized Robot Brain (http://www.anarchyarcanum.com)
- Electrical Engineering
Gadget Craft: Treatment Library (http://www.anarchyarcanum.com)
- Breaking and Entering
- Electrical Engineering
Gadget craft: Virral Egg (http://www.anarchyarcanum.com)
- Mechanical Engineering
- Electrical Engineering
Weapon Craft: Upgrading Maussers to Mausser Chemical Streamers (http://www.anarchyarcanum.com)
- Breaking and Entering
- Weapon Smithing
- Mechanical Engineering
Weapon Craft: Sealed Recepticles (http://www.anarchyarcanum.com)
- Breaking and Entering
- Weapon Smithing
Mainstream Craft: Implant Creation (http://virral.clansupport.com)
- Nano Programming
Mainstream Craft: Weapon Smithing (http://virral.clansupport.com)
- Weapoon Smithing
- *varies
Mainstream Craft: Emergency Treatment Laboratories (http://virral.clansupport.com)
*also includes making blood plasma, a surefire profit on monster parts, tied exclusively to Pharmaceutical Technology
- Pharma Tech
Final Analysis: Skill rankings obtained from http://aovault.ign.com
- Item Groupings = 21
(- Skill: Name = #of hits [best prof at this skill])
- Skill: Mechanical Engineering = 7 [Engineer]
- Skill: Electrical Engineering = 4 [Engineer/Trader]
- Skill: Field Quantum Physics = 3 [Engineer]
- Skill: Weapon Smithing = 4 [Engineer/Trader]
- Skill: Pharma Tech = 1 [Trader/Doctor]
- Skill: Nanoprogramming = 2 [Metaphysicist/Nanotechnician]
- Skill: Computer Literacy = 1 [Metaphysicist/Nanotechnician/Fixer/Bureaucrat/Doctor]
- Skill: Psychology = 1 [Enforcer/Trader/Bureaucrat/Agent]
- Skill: Chemistry = 4 [Enforcer] *(why doesn't this look right?)
- Skill: Breaking and Entering = 8 [Fixer]
- Skill: Bomb Disarm = 1 [Fixer]
Total Class Hits:
- Bureaucrat (2)
- Doctor (2)
- Enforcer (2)
- Engineer (4)
- Fixer (3)
- Metaphysicist (2)
- Nanotechnician (2)
- Trader (3)
- Agent (1)
My Colour Ranking System: Best --> Worst
- Green
- Turqouise
- Light Blue (more of a mid in actuality)
- Dark Blue
This data doesn't take into account each supporting tradeskills for each class. If we include those, we find the best tradeskill classes are as follows:
- Trader (4 Green, 5 Turquoise)
- Engineer (4 Green, 4 Turquoise, 1 Dark Blue)
- Fixer (1 Green, 6 Turquoise, 2 Light Blue)
If we further expand this data to include Breaking and Entering, we end up with the following:
- Trader (4 Green, 5 Turquoise, 1 Light Blue)
- Engineer (4 Green, 4 Turquoise, 1 Light Blue, 1 Dark Blue)
- Fixer (2 Green, 6 Turquoise, 2 Light Blue)
Since there are now 10 skills involved, let's assign each an arbitrary number, representing their part of the total percentage. Since there are four groupings of skills, each colour ranking shall represent a 2.5% increase in efficiency for comparative purposes. Dark Blue will begin at 2.5% instead of 0% since it is theoretically possible to raise this skill 4 points/level (1 from stats), albeit at a very high cost. This also explains why it hasn't been assigned a 6.67% rating, as the added IP cost diminishes the probabaility of said skill being raised this high.
* Green = 10%
* Turquoise = 7.5%
* Light Blue = 5%
* Dark Blue = 2.5%
- Trader: 40% + 37.5% + 5% = 82.5%
- Engineer: 40% + 30% + 5% + 2.5% = 77.5%
- Fixer: 20% + 45% + 10% = 75%
I'll include other classes for the sake of completeness.
- Doctor: 20% + 7.5% + 30% + 2.5% = 60%
- Enforcer: 20% + 7.5% + 25% + 5% = 57.5%
- Agent: 10% + 22.5% + 20% + 5% = 57.5%
- Metaphysicist: 20% + 25% + 7.5% = 52.5%
- Nanotechnician: 20% + 20% + 10% = 50%
- Adventurer: 15% + 30% + 5% = 50%
- Bureaucrat: 20% + 15% + 12.5% = 47.5%
- Soldier: 15% + 25% + 7.5% = 47.5%
- Martial Artist: 15% + 17.5% = 32.5%
OK, now lets add in a % for each time a class has a green skill equal to the number of times that skill got a hit in the item matrix above. We'll halve that for a Turquoise skill and halve it again for a Light Blue skill, with no bonus or penalty for a Dark Blue. This should increase the results with variables based on the more popular tradeskills. Integers under half a percent will be rounded up to the next half a percent (to avoid a 0.25 score for the Engineer, Agent and Adventurer for Trap Disarm)
- Trader: 82.5 + 4 + 4 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 3.5 + 1.5 + 1 + 0.5 + 2 = 103%
- Engineer: 77.5 + 7 + 4 + 3 + 4 + 0.5 + 1 + 0.5 + 2 + 2 + 0.5 = 102%
- Fixer: 75 + 3.5 + 2 + 1.5 + 2 + 0.5 + 0.5 + 0.5 + 0.5 + 1 + 8 + 1 = 96%
- Doctor: 60 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 0.5 + 1 + 1 + 2 = 70.5%
- Enforcer: 57.5 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 0.5 + 0.5 + 1 + 4 + 2 = 70.5%
- Agent: 57.5 + 3.5 + 1 + 1 + 0.5 + 0.5 + 1 + 2 + 0.5 = 67.5%
- Adventurer: 50 + 3.5 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 0.5 + 0.5 + 1 + 2 + 0.5 = 61%
- Metaphysicist: 52.5 + 2 + 1 + 0.5 + 2 + 1 + 0.5 + 1 = 60.5%
- Nanotechnician: 50 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 58%
- Soldier: 47.5 + 2 + 2 + 0.5 + 0.5 + 0.5 + 0.5 + 2 = 54.5%
- Bureaucrat: 47.5 + 2 + 0.5 + 1 + 1 + 2 = 54%
- Martial Artist: 32.5 + 0.5 + 0.5 + 2 = 35.5%
So my final verdict is that the Trader only slightly outclasses the Engineer in overall tradeskills, but the Engineer tends to have an edge on the Trader in terms of how useful her trade skills will be, even though the Trader has a slight overall bonus in terms of IP cost. The fixer is a surprisingly close third, with their Breaking and Entering skills and Turquoise tradeskills proving useful throughout.
Unsurprisingly, the Martial Artist is the poorest character type for a trade skill character and the Enforcer is a surprise show in the rankings, occupying the fourth slot alongside the Doctor. The Enforcer could be a good choice to send down the direction of Armour Construction, with the added bonus of Jewelery work using Mechanical Engineering.
Ultimately, I am very surprised with the outcomes. There is a hefty margin for error in these equations, yet it seems to me that the Trader is every bit as viable as an Engineer when it comes to tradeskills and yet is superior in combat and speed skills, with nano skills having a more even spread between Turquoise and Light Blue, without the polarised extremes the Engineer experiences with Green and Dark Blue skills. I have read that the Trader rules PvP and their buffs can make other classes green with envy. Are Engineer pets really that good, or should I reroll my Engineer into a Trader?
Also it seems to me that Fixers are certainly highly viable as tradeskill characters - but I imagine this would be an IP reallocation job as the rest of their skills seem to support the general consensus that they're IP heavy to build.
I hope you enjoyed this dissection, I apologise in advance for any errors made during it's construction and while I have attempted to give all credit where it is due, if I have omitted any source of information, it was not by design!