Fortegunner: Best Bang for your Buck!

[Sitka]

Seeking opinions on the next goal for my Fortegunner.

Current setup:

Teroline with Mega/Power, Mega/Wall & Sturm Buster
Burst Rifle
Burst Rifle
Gur Napam
Evil Twins
Evil Twins

Have available, not using:

Cubo Dunga
Shigga Bigul

Considering Next Purchase:

Degahna Cannon (if available, haven't seen)
Maser Cannon
Phantom Rifle
Shigga Bines, Boma or Brada

I'm not sure where the best bang for my buck would be. Should I get another 110,000 board and hope to synth up a good shotgun or laser, should I buy a finished product for 170-180k and save the aggravation of failed syths, should I hold out for an uber like the Degahna or Phantom or even the Giga/Bullet PP save?

Or, should I try and upgrade the armor a bit more.

I've leveled the bullets on the Rifles to 30 on fire, diga, and ice and am almost there on plasma, twins are past 20 on most bullets and 25 on fire. I'm not sure whether I would benefit more from leveling up the shotgun or the crossbow next or if I should get and level a laser.

Style-wise I'm running solo a lot, sniping dangerous enemies from a distance as much as possible, whipping out the dualies for mob attacks and using the grenade launcher on the big beasts. I'm struggling to get through Valley of Carnage solo at B or above without emptying all my weapons several times and I'm struggling at B and above in the Temple of Fanatics with the foie-blasting robots swarming on me. Running with a team, it's not a problem at all.

Helpful advice is appreciated.

[SolomonGrundy]

Looks like you are decidely lacking in shotgun for crowd control. I would recommend ice, fire or shock , and level the heck out of the bullets (at least 11) in C or easy b rank missions.

The shock would be my first choice, as ice breaks with repeated hits to it.

Do you use any booster items while soloing? Shotguns don't have wonderful damage output, so migh might recommend grabbing a handful of the ATP booster items to offset this, and give you more bang, for your buck (literally).

[Kuya]

Skip VoC and go to Mine Defense (mission after). I'm a newman ranger with rifles and grenades only and I only have to recharge before block 2 (in mission recharge) and I've got no problems getting through. I have a feeling that you're unloading most of your ammo on the shielded vandas. They don't get any SE's to stick unless it's from a SUV. I can just wait out mobs on Mine Defense B with burn 4 and it's great for xp and decent drops. Happy hunting fellow fortegunner http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif Btw - I would only synth if you're going to end up grinding the A weapons or planning to sell. If not, just purchase the weapons unless you're super lucky with player shops or drops http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

[SolomonGrundy]

Btw - I would only synth if you're going to end up grinding the A weapons or planning to sell.


but it's much cheaper to get the weapons if you synth them isn't it? Also - I thoguht all the rare weapons HAVE to be synthed...

[etlitch]

lol Degahna. Noone does those runs and I have'nt gotten a single arm from 20+ of runs. Errrgh

[Sitka]

My synthing record has been so-so:

Got a 110,000 board for the Gur Napam and got two out of the three to make - not bad.

Got a 110,000 board for the Burst Rifle and got two out of the three to make - this is easy.

Got a 110,000 board for the Cubo Dunga and failed on the first two and got the third to make - phew!

Got a 110,000 board for the Evil Twins and failed on the first, but got the next two.

I have failed on ALL 10 of my uber armor attempts.

I have failed on 5 out of 6 attempts on Crea weapons.

I have failed on several Alteric attempts, but got several to make.

My synthing record is far worse; only one weapon up to +7 and most (90% or more) have broken going for 4th or 5th grind. I doubt I'm going to take many chances on grinding up any A weapons.

So, if I go for the decent Shotgun for my next purchase, I can buy an 8-star in a player's shop for around 180,000 or I can buy the 110,000 board and take my chances on synthing again. Which Shotgun is better for now? A grinded B-rank (5 or 6 star) or a non-grinded A-rank (7 or 8 star)?

As for the Degahna - I love the run, but no one does it and tackling B solo is tough for me right now. Has anyone on the xbox 360 gotten the Degahna yet?

[SolomonGrundy]

So, if I go for the decent Shotgun for my next purchase, I can buy an 8-star in a player's shop for around 180,000 or I can buy the 110,000 board and take my chances on synthing again. Which Shotgun is better for now? A grinded B-rank (5 or 6 star) or a non-grinded A-rank (7 or 8 star)?

What race is your Fortegunner? If he/she is a CAST, I would say go for the B rank, grinded (and I would try crafting it)- you won't miss the added ATA. If a non CAST I would way get A rank, since non-CAST ATA would use the bump.

[Sitka]

I'm a cast male fortegunner, so I'll try grinding the heck out of some B-rank shotguns and see if something holds out for a high level grind. I'm picking up B-rank shotguns as drops in Mooatob, so it shouldn't be too hard to accumulate enough that I can afford to break some through grinding.

Thanks for the advice, sounds like crowd control is probably my most pressing need.

[Dymalos]

Shotguns grind terribly. A 5* Shigga Amza would need to be +9 to be as good as the base 7* Shigga Boma. Granted it is only a 25 Att difference between them ungrinded, but you'd be better off doing Mine Defense S (not Valley of Carnage) in the hopes that a Vanda drops a freebie Shigga Boma.

[Sitka]

On 2006-12-28 16:30, Dymalos wrote:
Shotguns grind terribly. A 5* Shigga Amza would need to be +9 to be as good as the base 7* Shigga Boma. Granted it is only a 25 Att difference between them ungrinded, but you'd be better off doing Mine Defense S (not Valley of Carnage) in the hopes that a Vanda drops a freebie Shigga Boma.



Does the S in Mine Shield S stand for SCARY. Seriously, running that thing solo at my current stats is suicide right now. Perhaps you can assist and give me a crossbow demo at the same time. I do plan on being online this weekend, so perhaps we can give it a go.

Any thoughts on that Degahna Cannon? Have you seen anyone with it and do you know if it has dropped for anyone on xbox yet?

[Dymalos]

I duo that area with my friend Fortegunner are all of the time. So I don't see why you and I would have a problem doing it. Sounds like a plan.

The Degahna Cannon is not currently available on U.S. PC/PS2 or Xbox 360. While the arm piece itself is currently obtainable, the board itself is a drop from the S Rank Grove of Fanatics boss.

[RandomTask]

I've got just the thing for you. I'll sell you a Shigga Stam grinded to 6 for $70K. Just as strong as a Shigga Boma for $20K less. I have 2 of them and I just made a 8 star Shigga Brada (only 12 more ATP then the Stam+6) so I can finally afford to let one go. Let me know. Shotty is the best weapon for Fortegunner IMO.

[Kuya]

Mine Defense S is not a problem with SE 4 burn. Dying shouldn't matter since you'd only be running for drops anyway. Just burn something and have fun with the numbers. There's only one place (teleporter in block 2) where the shielded vandas possibly appear. Other than that, everything else is burnable.

[Sitka]

I was able to pick up a Shigga Boma for 50k last night so I was happy with that. Thanks for the offer though.

I did run mines solo a bit last night and really didn't have a problem getting through it, but wasn't very lucky on the drops, ended up with a net deficit on the meseta and Laia and my 450 pm kept dropping so I couldn't pick up any mission points. What's with that final room though? I lost track, but it seemed like anywhere from 6 to 8 of those big rhinos kept spawning, charging, dying, respawning. Talk about your pp drain. Still, great place to level up bullets.

I did finally get a Maser Cannon. What a frickin dissapointment. Talk about RAPIDLY draining pp! I was just warming up and that bloody thing was already empty. I can't imagine trying to level those bullets up into 30s - I think I'd go crazy first.

I'm pretty much sticking with Rifles, Grenade Launchers and working on the shot gun for now.

[RandomTask]

Good to hear you got a Boma for cheap! Anyway, the shotguns really suck at first but once you get the bullets past 21... watch out!

[EC_Subbie]

On 2006-12-29 18:47, RandomTask wrote:
Good to hear you got a Boma for cheap! Anyway, the shotguns really suck at first but once you get the bullets past 21... watch out!



Yea...with lv30 bullets and a booster I'm doing around 1,000 per shot point blank.. It's a big difference in the long run.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: EC_Subbie on 2006-12-30 16:08 ]</font>