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Level Storing


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Apologies if this has been covered before; I didn't spot it in the FAQ thread, and I've long since forgotten the answer.

 

When playing through TSL, should you store levels or not? I remember that it was a good idea with KOTOR---mind you, coming with a slight penalty for NPCs---but I can't remember what to do now. I've started my first game in four months, and I could use a little help. :-

 

Oh, how I wish the Dark Side didn't rot the face of my beautiful Jedi gal. Piffle.

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No point storing - you become prestige at lvl 15 no matter the place.

 

What maybe worth doing is holding off on becoming prestige especially if you are doing mixed classes. But this does have the downside of of getting less prestige feats as you wont really get past lvl 30 without using exploits or cheats.

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Thanks to all of y'all for responding so quickly; it'll help me get further on Peragus in less time. That is, if my creaking Xbox doesn't give out on me; it doesn't seem to have an option to "get out and push".

 

Hi ho, hi ho, it's down the dark path I go. :-

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I found it to be useful to not level my character up at certain points in the game to have, basically, a free heal.

 

Not that the combat was overly difficult (on normal settings), but there were occasional battles I'd stumble into not ready for. Mostly this was on M5, so it's well after you choose your prestige class.

 

Of course it was extremely useful to keep companions' levels back at times (Handmaiden especially).

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It can be useful the let NPCs hold the last level-up where they can acquire a feat, or at least one level if you leave skill points unassigned until you see a need. Then you can easily react to unforeseen difficulties in the field.

 

There's also a bit of reasoning pro and con from the dark arts of power gaming, but don't read on unless you have already played the hell out of the game and you are almost ready to lay it aside. (<-- read again)

 

You have been warned:

 

 

 

Here's a reason not to hold levels: the game determines the XP for certain things - like repairing a droid, recovering a mine, opening a lock - based on your taken level. For Security and Demolition the game looks at the level of the character that does the task, for repairing droids and blowing up consoles etc. the game looks at the level of the party leader which is usually the Exile (if the Exile isn't the party leader - like during a certain Dxun outing - then forget the XP as it is normally lost anyway). This is stupid but it is how TSL works.

 

And here's a reason to hold levels: there are different level multipliers for tasks that involve Security and Demolitions, depending on the DC of the task in relation to the level. To wit, Security XP is 10*level if the DC of the task is greater than or equal to 20+level, otherwise it is 5*level. For Demolition the multipliers are 15 and 10 respectively.

 

For example, if you are stalking around on the Harbinger and you just got enough XP to level up from 6 to 7, then it is better to hold the level for a while. Normal locks have DC26 (on 'difficult'), meaning that you get 60 XP per lock at level 6 but only 35 XP at level 7. For spawning mobs the game looks at XP-equivalent level and not at taken level, so you don't lose anything.

 

Okay, the lock XP is minuscule but where this can make a major difference is with mines. For example, there are more than thirty minor mines on Telos. If a level-11 character recovers them then you get 11*10 = 110 XP per mine, but if you use a level-10 character then you get 10*15 = 150 XP. The difference is 40 XP per mine, for a total difference of at least 30*40 = 1200 XP (there are actually more than 30 mines). So keep Bao-Dur at level 10 until your Exile hits 15, assuming she has Demo skill.

 

The difference is even bigger with the deadly mines on Goto's Yacht (also more than 30). Level 26: 26*10 = 260 per mine; level 25: 25*15 = 375 per mine; difference 115 per mine and total difference more than 30*115 = 3450.

 

Corollary: lets say your Exile is level 23 or higher and you come across some average mines (Dantooine, Telos). Then it does not matter a load of dingo's kidneys if the mines are recovered or merely disabled, because the XP is exactly the same and in any case higher than for recovering with a level 15 character. So don't bother to summon an NPC with Demo skill for recovering the mines; if your Exile has at least one point of Demo skill and at least INT 8 ( :D ) then she will be able to disable the mines with the right equipment and you get the maximum possible XP, since the Exile normally has higher level than the sidekicks.

 

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