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Specifically, Rav & Chro. This is all pre-mature as I'm still trying to jump from Level 0 to 1, (building up to go in with 8 stat points, halfway) But I'm more fond of not doing a lot of unneeded resets, I'd like to get an idea of what to work towards.

Right now, I have them as Small Air Animals, (3spd and 1 avd) the Real Gear Laserbeak thingy specifically, and I like that alt for them. The problem is it is strictly an avoider. Right now, that's not a bad thing, but when I start working them up to the higher levels, everyone says it's useless without a second tactic.

I'm not seeing a lot of altrs that jump out at me as alternatives though, I like the War Within Swoop as a mini pre-BW alt, since that's what I'm playing them as anyway, but that's an Avoid/Strafe with Strafe starting at 4K. The fast Airs don't give me a lot, but eve then its only a savings of 500 at the start. Is that worth hanging onto Strafe and then starting to ratchet up towards the end of Level 2 (When I get there, if I get there) with the higher output missions? or should I try for something else? They aren't repairers by the bios, and I'm not so keen on the Armada Laserbeak alt. Could it be better to just start arming Rav & Chro to the teeth?

Or the less ppopular, do I need to dump my pretenses and take them back to the drawing board.

I will say this, being around your level.
Avoid is KING at level 0, but by the upper level 1 it is pretty hit or miss. I mean that in the fact that you rarely will win any battles with it. It does come in handy for Arenas and for low (1 vs 2) battles. Unless you dump all your points into speed and avoid its not going to really pan out too well. At least from my experiments.

My four experiment characters (Darq, Anshin, Warblade, Decryption) have tried the Avoidance thing and suffered horribly from it. I switched over and over to test the best effects. I can say Strafe is pretty useless low, but at higher levels it really pays off. The way to go through out looking at the top 100 for each level is apparently ram. I can say that switching Darq/Anshin to ram helped raise my stats from the 40/50% I was at when I was an avoider to the their current levels.

I can say the STR/Armor/Ram combo at lower levels pays off more than any weapon/Avoid combo or Weapon/Strafe roll.

With that said I understand your feelings 110%. I really don't like some of my alt modes, but right now I need to worry about raising my stats and building enough energon / experience to put me into the next level around midway.

I guess it depends on whether you prefer style or substance for your minions; i.e. do you pick a characters alt for its looks or by the cost of its tactics?

At the lowest levels avoid is all you need. You only just have the strength to make Ram viable and Strafe and Repair are, in general terms, wastes of XP until ~L3-4 (although im sure people will be queuing up to disagree with me.)

If you do decide to stick using only alts you like then I'd suggest calculating a build thats about double your current XP and working towards it, grinding your way up point by point. If you prefer to pick a specific altclass (my preferred method) I'd suggest you opt for the one that gives you the stats you would prefer at their cheapest rate and regular resetting.

If it helps, I deliberately avoid talking about particular altmodes in most of my bio's to allow them to change as and when I decide to reset/replace/kill them.

Psychout wrote:I guess it depends on whether you prefer style or substance for your minions; i.e. do you pick a characters alt for its looks or by the cost of its tactics?

At the lowest levels avoid is all you need. You only just have the strength to make Ram viable and Strafe and Repair are, in general terms, wastes of XP until ~L3-4 (although im sure people will be queuing up to disagree with me.)

If you do decide to stick using only alts you like then I'd suggest calculating a build thats about double your current XP and working towards it, grinding your way up point by point. If you prefer to pick a specific altclass (my preferred method) I'd suggest you opt for the one that gives you the stats you would prefer at their cheapest rate and regular resetting.

If it helps, I deliberately avoid talking about particular altmodes in most of my bio's to allow them to change as and when I decide to reset/replace/kill them.

I find myself not quite in the middle of the road on this one. Most of the alts I "like" are dual stats, or do damage anyway. I'd rather have something I'm willing to look at since I'll have to see them every day I play, but I do want it to fit the character and be productive. There's no point in them looking good, and failing miserably. Yeah yeah, cake and eating it...

So I guess then my next question, is there any good Actionmasters up in the higher classes ad then go from there?

As for tactics, with Level 0 as hit-and-miss as it is anyway, I'm willing to try Strafe and Ram. I've seen some Level 0s get one very good strafe off them. We'll see how Level 1 plays out next week with the strafers.

Wingspan: I have seen bot mention athat having Avoid as well as an attack tactic gives you the abilityty to do something on both turns. Hence why I'd like to ditch the avoid-only for something else if I can convince myself.

Hmm, a weapon mode? Since they did turn into it...

I disagree with Psych alright...

My experience is that Strafe is a waste of xp until level 5 or 6 unless you make a kamikaze style strafe-bomb and just pray for one good attack. The number of upgrades needed to be good at being a strafer doesn't let you have the defenses needed to survive most missions.

My unsolicited advice ;

Levels 0-2 use an avoider, focus stats on speed and str. Having an alt with strafe as a seconday tactic doesn't make a major difference either way.

Levels 3-5 use a ram/avoid stat prioritys are str, spd, ram, avoid, crg, end, rank (in that order). You'll want a 10 str a.s.a.p.

Levels 6+ well if you make it this far you should know what to do and won't need my advice

Disagrees with N_V strafe can be viable but one must find a good balance. This can be done at level 3. Ram builds still tend to generate on average more xp with a higher proability of a jackpot score. Configured correctly a Strf/avd or pure strf build can be consistent enough that you don't have too kick it to the junkion scrap yard.