Some of you have seen this little guy “DoctorSmooth” around- my level 1 doctor, who I finished twinking a while back. Shortly after finishing off my level 7 Doc with GTA (IronCircle), I heard rumors of a level 1 twink contest. I don’t know if that ever panned out but I took the opportunity as motivation to try getting the Cure for Baldness on at level 1. I succeeded in getting the CFB on using the same basic technique as at level 7. Interestingly that’s probably not the most remarkable thing about this little guy .
When I started I had no idea how far I could take him, and as things progressed it got pretty crazy. I wasn’t sure if I’d get any more than QL60ish implants in him, considering the limitations of the NCU shortage at this level. However, he ended up with 98 ncu (up to 105 during twinking), Touch of the Gripper, both temple shoulder pads, and three QL80 implants. He has 751 health and 452 nano self with his own doctor buffs running. I redid some of his nano implants when I realized he couldn’t self cast the expertises. In order to be able to self cast the expertises (starting with proficiencies) I had to double implant SI and PM, which took away a lot of his healing power, removing at least one BM implant.
Here is his final setup, then some links to pictures/videos of him in action. I tried to get the first video as large as possible so you can see the text. I know some people might say I just Photo-shopped the screenshots so I figured a video might help.
http://auno.org/ao/equip.php?saveid=72311
http://s192.photobucket.com/albums/z...DocSmooth4.jpg
http://s192.photobucket.com/albums/z...DocSmooth2.jpg
http://s192.photobucket.com/albums/z...DocSmooth1.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWbrd...elated&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnunxdJxX5g
The third picture is him in Smuggler’s Den when we went on a field-trip to get his Deformed Mantidae Antennae.
Now, having said all that, some people have asked how it’s all done. The biggest question is the Cure for Baldness, which I first read about on the forums myself a while back.
http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...e+for+baldness
If you look at that link, I basically followed that recipe, and ended up with QL60ish implants and added the Bunny suit which adds 40 pharmatech and isn’t mentioned in that list. I also used a Pioneer Backpack with a Pharmatech tutoring device. After getting it on and going back to read that thread, I felt like kind of a noob. I was using Chemical Concoction instead of Philosopher’s Stone, which adds 12 more PharmaTech and would have made life a bit easier and saved a couple hours work .
One other big deal was the temple shoulder pads. I really didn’t expect to get those on, but it worked out well. One item which made this possible was the Starched Armbands (http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=152795). I used two of those as well as some Omni Special Issue Black armor (http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=245529). With the city tradeskill machine there’s no problem making enough Psychology for the armbands.
As for other buffing items, I have a pair of Polychromatic Pillows, a couple of Filigree rings for buffing basic abilities, and a bunch of random low level Kirch Kevlar, Sekutek, and Nova Dillon armor, for fine tuning. A couple of largely unknown items which I commonly use are Solid Steel Hydraulic Legwear (5 Stamina) http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=168677 and Loose fitting Hydraulic Gloves (4 Strength). You get them from the Nodda Greg Quest, which I’d highly recommend if you really want to max out the potential of your low level twink. Even if you’re Omni it’s not too hard to do fairly quickly if you have a Neutral or Clan engineer to beacon warp you around.
More than any other twink project, a low level twink like this is a progression of incremental improvements. Normally after a couple of rounds of implants you’ll have enough NCU for most of your buffs and from there it’s just a matter of a little laddering to maximize everything and finalize setup. In the case of a really low level twink you’re limited by NCU (as I realized with new appreciation). You have to gradually boost everything up- to get more ncu, to get a bigger essence, to get bigger agility implants, to get bigger complit implants, to get bigger ncu chips to get a bigger essence etc…
I’m sure most of you are familiar with the details of twinking, but for anybody interested in the more mundane aspects, I’ll outline a bit of the process for this guy. First I’ll describe in extremely oversimplified terms the process I normally take in a basic twink and then in more detail the process of “Hard Core twinking” and then “Ridiculous Twinking”
Basic Twinking: First one point of interest. The minimum amount of NCU you’ll need to get the maximum QL of implant in is 117. This will allow you to fit: SFA (37), Behemoth (47), IC (26), Treatment expertise (4), and Stamina boost (3). If you can fit all that to do your Stamina implants- Agility takes much less. If you have more NCU than that you can always add other buffs that trickle down to treatment.
Anyway- here’s the basic order- extremely simplified in which I normally do implants based on abilities/stats when doing a normal twink:
NCU, Stamina, Agility, Computer literacy, Treatment, Stamina, Agility, Computer Literacy, Treatment, Stamina, Agility, Treatment.
NCU is first in that list, - that’s the ring of nucleus which I start with and then bump up every time I increase Treatment again. After doing all that- maxing out everything as you do each one, you’ll have pretty much all the NCU, Treatment and abilities you’re going to get, and you’re all ready to start finalizing implants based on your priorities. At least for a normal twink of level 10-20 or higher.
Hardcore Twinking: For a little guy like this, NCU was always an issue so I used a suit of QL16 Carbonum armor for the extra NCU. This significantly complicated the process. For example- let’s say I’m partway through this project and already have Treatment implanted. I’ve just finished twinking Stamina based implants (Chest, Leg, Waist, Feet) and was about to switch to doing Agility based implants. First I switch the Stamina waist for an Agility waist. I was using two filigree rings, so I have to put on the full medsuit in place of any buffing armor in order to put the ring of nucleus (19ncu at this point) back on. Then I put on the full suit of Carb armor- bringing my NCU back up to 105. Now I cancel IC and Essence, and cast FG and NS (for treatment trickle-down), then switch the Carb armor back to a medsuit, minus any pieces of buffing armor I’ll need. Then I switch the Polychromatic Pillows from Str/Stam to Agil/Sense, and switch the filigree ring for an agility one, and trade the Ring of Nucleus back to an ability ring.
Needless to say, it was quite an interesting and long process- having to do a similar procedure every time you do implants with different ability requirements. If you’re easily bored or frustrated- I wouldn’t recommend this.
Ridiculous Twinking: There was one point in this project where it really pushed the limits of sanity . I’ll try to recount that in coherent English here. I had just gotten on the Touch of the Gripper and wanted to get on a couple of QL80 implants if possible.
I know, I know, the difference between 79 and 80 implants is probably negligible, but it’s just a nice round number, so I wanted to try . The Gripper requires 163 Stam/380 Treatment, and QL80 implants require 164 Stam/384 Treatment. I had made exactly 163 Stamina and about 387 Treatment while wearing the Solid Steel Legwear and two Filigree rings. So I had enough Treatment, but I needed one more Stamina. I didn’t quite have enough Treatment to take off another piece of medsuit to add Stamina buffing boot or something. I began looking over everything to see where I could possibly make one more Stamina.
Finally I looked to my waist, which was currently a QL66. I discovered that I was two points of stamina short of getting on a QL76 waist which would give me one more Stamina (the abilities increase on the 6’s in the faded slots ie: 56, 66, 76 etc..). At that level I would have enough Treatment to take off one more piece of medsuit to put on a piece of QL 35 Nova Dillon armor- the boot in this case. Unfortunately, a QL35 Nova Dillon Boot requires 94 Sense and 84 Agility to get on. 94 Sense is a problem at level 1 . I already had Sense implanted in the waist and head as a matter of trickle-down, but not the chest, which, of course, had Stamina in it… I tried switching the cushions to Sense, casting Enhanced senses, and putting on a bunch of Kirch Kevlar armor, but was still about 20 points short. I’d have to take out the chest and implant sense if I was going to be able to get that Nova Dillon boot on.
My other main concern was going to be having enough NCU to get everything cast again with one less piece of Carb armor with that boot on. I bit the bullet- put on the carb armor, cast Prodigious Strength and essence of Cyclops, switched the pillows back to Strength (from sense), pulled out my Stamina chest, put on the medsuit, put in a Sense chest (strength requirement), put on some Kirch Kevlar armor, made the stats, put on the Nova Dillon boots. Then I pulled out the sense chest, put the Stamina chest back in (Strength requirement also- with just Stamina in there)….
Now I’m ready to put in my QL76 waist. Put the carb armor back on, cancelled Prodigious Strength and Cyclops, Cast IC, Essence of Gargantua etc… (Fortunately all buffs still fit), switched the Filigree rings, put on the hydraulic legwear, and switched the waist implant to the 76 one. With that waist in, I took the Nova Dillon boots back off, put on the medsuit boots and voila- 164 Stamina and about 387 treatment. Then put in a QL80, left arm, left hand and foot implant.
Whew! Was it worth it? I don’t know, but on the plus side- I do have a new and rather boring story to tell .
So that’s my story and it’s sticking to me. One last thing- There is an undeniable law of nature that it is good to keep in mind after completing a twink project like DoctorSmooth, or my level 7 with GTA. I might be tempted to sit back and get all proud of myself and say “yea, I’m pretty good”.
However- here’s the law of twinking (and life really) that I try to keep in mind at all times:
No matter what you do, no matter how good you are, no matter what you’ve accomplished, there will always be someone who’s done it bigger, better, faster, at a lower level, or with more style than you have. I fully expect to bump into someone tomorrow who’s got GTA at level 6, or Cure for baldness and level 90 implants on their level 1 .
I hope this helps someone out in their quest for the ultimate twink. Thanks for listening everyone . I’ll see you out in RK!
edit- DoctorSmooth is named after a soft drink you can get at a "SuperStore" grocery store in Canada- essentially like Doctor Pepper .