There are some people that don't know what enhancers do, when they can be useful and when not to use them. That's why I'll try to explain a bit about the different enhancers in the following few posts. Off course i don't know everything so if you know something i don't or if you spot a mistake don't hesitate to point it out As general rule: Enhancers increase the usefulness of your gear. It does that by increasing the base of an item with a certain %. This also means that the bigger/better your equipment is the more benefit you will have from using enhancers. Now this doesn't mean you should just buy the biggest stuff, it just means that for some equipment it isn't very effective to use enhancers. Some clear examples: range enhancers on a sword, or damage enhancers on weapons for the trade terminal, aren't very effective. Please note however that in a recent post someone from Mindark (the planet partner) explained that the break-rate of enhancers depends on the items you are using, so it might be beneficial to start using them on lower level gear as well, but i personally never tested that.
Armor Enhancers Armor durability enhancers View attachment 3830 What do they do? Armor durability enhancers increase the durability of your armor, adding 10% to the base durability of your armor. The higher the durability of your armor the less it decays per hit you recieve. A specific guide on what durability does can be found here (at about 2/3rd of the page): http://www.entropedia.info/Page.aspx?page=Template:Armor+Decay But in general you can say that an increase of 1000 durability decreases the decay of your armor with 2.5% When to use them: -if you want to save on your armor repair bill -mostly on limited armor and uber unlimited armor -on armor with high tier rates so you can get it to a high tier without decaying it too much Possible downsides: -They aren't very effective on low durability armors (oldstyle unlimited calypso armor) Armor defence enhancers View attachment 3831 What do they do? Armor defence enhancers increase the base defence of your armor parts with with 5%, giving you a higher chance to survive enemy encounters. When to use them: -When you face tough monsters and need maximum protection -if you spend too much time healing during a fight -or If you just want to spend the maximum time on shooting, and the minimum time on healing -in pvp-situations Possible downsides: -As defence enhancers increase the amount of damage absorbed by the armor, it also increases the decay of the armor a bit.
Medical Enhancers Medical Tool Economy enhancers: View attachment 3832 What do they do? Medical tool economy enhancers reduce the cost of using your healing tool. The cost per use is lowered with 5% meaning that if healing too usually costs 10 pec per click, it is now only 9.5 pec per click. When to use them: -if you want to spend less peds on your medical bill -if you efficiently want to tier up combat/emergency faps Possible downsides: -not very effective on low decaying tools, personally i wouldn't use them on a healing tool below the GYRO FAP-10, EDIT: i tried it on a very low level fap, it seems the decay rate there is a lot lower as well, so i think the downside above might not exist after all, but it's best to try for yourself. Medical Tool Heal enhancers: View attachment 3833 What do they do? Medical Tool Heal enhancers increase the amount of health you get per use of your healing tool with 5%. When to use them: -against mob that do a lot of damage and you spend too much time healing -on emergency faps -in pvp -if you want to show of your uber healing skills Possible downsides: -as the healing is increased with 5%, so is the decay of your healing tool. Medical Tool Skill enhancers: View attachment 3834 What do they do? Medical tool skill enhancers increase your skill level for using this tool with .5 levels. This means that if a healing tool is maxed at level 20 paramedic and you are at level 19.5 paramedic, using this enhancer will allow you to use the tool as if it were maxed. Give you max heal and max speed on the healing tool. When to use them: -if you haven't maxed your healing tool yet -if you want to get SIB on your healing tool (although i personally wouldn't advice using healing tools when you are in the beginning of their SIB period). Possible downsides: -?
Mining Enhancers Mining Finder Depth enhancers: View attachment 3836 What do they do? Mining finder depth enhancers increase the finding depth of your finders, allowing you to search for deeper ores/enmatters. A lot of study has been done in the past on average depths of resources/enmatters, this has shown that some ores/enmatters can only be found if you search deeper into the ground. Some of these resources have huge markups so it is wise to go as deep as possible. On the other hand, some of the resources that are found deep in the ground have terrible markup, and in those locations you would be better of using a finder from the trade terminal instead. When to use them: -in areas where there are high markup ores/enmatters at the deeper locations -when searching for the uber ore/enmatter spots Possible downsides: -if you don't know what you are doing you might end up finding the deeper resources only to discover that they have no markup. Mining finder Range enhancers: View attachment 3837 What do they do? Mining finder Range enhancers increase the range of your finder with 1%. Suppose your finder has a range of 55m (which searches 9503 square metres), it will have a new range of 55.55m (which searches 9694 square metres). This should increase your finds with 2%. When to use them: -when you want to get more finds in a run -when you use big mining amplifiers Possible downsides: -they are very expensive (some really rare ingredients) Mining finder skill enhancers: View attachment 3838 What do they do? Mining finder skill enhancers increase your skill level for using this tool with 0.5 levels. This means that if a finder is maxed at level 10 prospector and you are at level 9.5 prospector, using this enhancer will allow you to use the tool as if it were maxed. Giving you maximum depth and maximum speed on the finder. When to use them: -when you want to search deeper/faster with a finder you haven't maxed yet -if you want to enter the SIB range of a finder Possible downsides: -?? Mining Excavator Speed enhancers: View attachment 3839 What do they do? Excavator speed enhancers increases the efficiency, meaning more stones per pull (not more uses/minute) the higher the efficiency, the more stones you can pull out per try. (info thanks to pretender) When to use them: -If you don't want to spend too much time extracting your claims. -can make a low decaying extractor be superior to a fast decaying extractor if the break rate isn't too high. Possible downsides: -t
Weapon Enhancers Weapon Damage enhancers: View attachment 3840 What do they do? Weapon damage enhancers increase the damage your weapons do with 10%. Enabling you to kill monsters a lot faster. When to use them: -when you just need a bit more damage -in pvp combat -against hard hitting enemies, saving you some armor/fap decay -whenever you want to feel uber Possible downsides: -due to the higher damage, your weapon and/or ammo also decays 10% faster Weapon Economy enhancers: View attachment 3841 What do they do? Weapon economy enhancers decrease the cost of using a weapon (inclusing ammo usage) with 1%, making you spend less peds to kill the same amount of mobs. When to use them: -when the total ammo/decay(including MU) saved is higher the the cost of the enhancers Possible downsides: -If you don't believe in playing eco you won't find these useful Weapon Range enhancers: View attachment 3842 What do they do? Weapon Range enhancers increase the range of your weapon with 5%, enabling you to do some more damage before the monster reaches you, or it enables you to pick on target out of a group of targets more easily. When to use them: -When your normal gun doesn't have enough range to shoot mobs from outside their aggro-range. -On a tagging gun Possible downsides: -when a mob comes into normal range they don't give any extra benefit Weapon Accuracy enhancers: View attachment 3843 What do they do? Weapon Accuracy enhancers increase the Critical Hit Rate ability on your weapon by 20%. This also works on already maxed guns, meaning you will get 20% more criticals then normal. Basically it is a combination of the damage en the economy enhancers. It increases the damage and it increases the eco, but ofc not by as much as the seperate enhancers. When to use them: -When you like to see critical hits (for me i like 200+ damage messages) -When you want a bit more damage and economy Possible downsides: -not as powerful as the economy or damage enhancers. Weapon Skill enhancers: View attachment 3844 Weapon skill enhancers increase your skill level for using this tool with .5 levels. This means that if a weapon is maxed at level 40 (hit/dam) and you are at level 39.5, using this enhancer will allow you to use the tool as if it were maxed. Give you max damage/speed/hit rate. When to use them: -if you haven't maxed your weapon yet -if you want to get SIB on your weapon (although i personally wouldn't advice using weapons when you are in the beginning of their SIB period). Possible downsides: -?
Since the shop don't exist anymore, we decided that the info Harmony put together in that thread would be great as a guide in itself so moved it here to the tiering section. Thank you Harmony for a great guide.
excavator speed enhancers increases the efficiency, meaning more stones per pull (not more uses/minute) the higher the efficiency, the more usefull.