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I generally play, and forage, solo, even though I am in guild (The best guild on Atys)

I need quick and brief-ish primer on how to use care plans in my foraging, because I do not want to die to a "foraging-explosion" or a "forage-fart".

I have checked "care plan" on the forum web search, but I skimmed it and became bewildered.

Thank you for you time, and have a good game!

As a kill-digger, I have two careplans.

Most of the time, I use the highest level Ground Stability with the lowest level Reduce Explosion Damage. The reason I add that option is that it stops the careplan after one hit instead of wasting Focus with unnecesary second or third hit. That allows me to keep the Stability greater than the Life, meaning the node will die before it destabilizes.

When it looks like the spot won't hit q250 before it dies, I use both preservation and stability. But whenever I use that one I most definitely add the Reduce Explosion Damage option since I do not want a second hit of that one making hte node live longer than my Focus bar.

YMMV, but that's how I roll.

Kovabon, care plans (and extraction plans) depend strongly on your level.  Until you are in the level 125 to 150 range, you will be running the timer out.  After that, running the timer out is difficult, so you need to run out the source life.

I rarely use full strength care plans because I want to conserve focus for digging and keep casting time short.  I concentrate on stability, but actually have two cp buttons, one for pure stability and one for stability plus source life.

A lot deends on a) level b) what you are doing and c) whether you have a dig slave ... level's been covered so I'll go to what.

If I am digging short term, say to get mats to craft a guild member a set of HA, I usually kill dig.  Gidget has covered that already

When I am going to be digging for hours, I take a differen approach.  I have three goals here:

1.   It's gotta be brainless because I am not going to be paying a lot of attention.  I'll be reading / writing in forums, editing Buny Tools, watching a movie, working or whatever.  I want to avoid the ryzom version of this.

https://youtu.be/T4qtQ_g8FyI

In short, w/ the amount of attention I have to give it, you could almost accuse me of "botting" .  My fingers are hitting the KB / using the mouse but it's like a "programmed" response.

2.  I don't wanan see short nodes (i.e. 9 - 14 mats) and KT drop because I will be there  for a while.   I also dont wanna do that to other diggers.  It I dig 2 x 10 mats, that's twice the attention and actions I have to enter.

So I take a less aggressive approach which is both friendly to Atys and my "half-AFK" mindset.  With erigos pick and boosted focus gear I get about 90 - 100 mats per propspect.  Without erigos, about 80 - 90.  Of course if you have  a dig slave (I don't use alts) , you can go agressive and have the slave keep you from gettin dead.

So when digging this way... I have severall different care plans

5 Stability / 2 Life
2 Stability / 5 Life
5 Stability

My goal here is to have the time bar expire just before the life one does.  Sometimes I miss it and life bar dies 1st.   After starting a dig, I usally do this:

-1st extraction plan to 7 mats uses low QL to chase the time bar down fast. My subconscious had the timing down so when I start, tab out, I know when to come back.

-Here it's going to be 2 or 3 CPs ... the relative position of the 2 bars determines which, and the the 2nd exration plan thru completion.  If I run outta focus... it's rare but when it does happen, there's only maybe a second left.  Lately I have been working a lot of looong days and I have still been able to be productive iin CAD while digging.

Now w/ 2 screens I just have the game on the monitor on my side and when say working in CAD, when the mose travels to a toolbar at edge of screen, these health stability bars are in the peripheral vision.  So if Im working while digging for 3 hours, I have no conscious issues billing for 2 hours of work ... they still coming out ahread.


When I do use kill digging, I have just the 2 care plans .. 5 stabiliyty and 5 tability / 2 life.

Bittymacod:

Although I hate foraging, my desert forage skill is currently 168.

I do use care plans, but I don't know how to EXACTLY use them.....

To continue...

Currently, I only target one mat at a time, as the other mats generally disappear before I get to them.

Simple question-ish item:

I start foraging, I "do" a care plan for a few seconds, then I resume digging.

Is that the "correct" (correctest?) way to go about it?

That's all I want to know, really!

Alone I do this:

1) I prospect some source nodes (3 when I am alone, one to first dig, one for 2nd dig, one spare in case do something wrong like kill it)

2) I start digging node, when bars get too low i do 1-3x CP (depends on situation), then I continue.

In most cases I avoid explosion or killing the node and I am usually able to dig 2 nodes and prospect new 3 nodes before I finish 2nd one.

If you would like to join me we can do it side by side and you can ask any questions.  As a rough guide ....

The number of mats "Radioactive Cabbages"  you can pop roughly = level / 25.

The mats "Radioactive Cabbages" you can dig roughly = what you can pop / 2.

I assume you meant spots instead of mats ;)

That also assumes a brisk-paced kill-dig. Since Kovabon is only geting one spot despite a Desert dig ~170, I can only assume that he is slow-digging like he did 100 levels ago, heedless of the fact that digging changes a lot aroung that level. He has not yet made the transition from getting as many mats from one spot as possible regardless of time spent per spot to killing spots as soon as they hit max-Q so that you don't run out of Focus.

I would wager that Kova spends a lot more than 35 seconds per spot. I feel slowed down if a spot lasts 45 seconds, and run out of Focus if I pull 15 mats from one spot without scarfing down some diggger candy (q10 Larvester produce). I often hit 6 spots per prospection, so I definitely am not slow!

Gidget, Gidget, Widget,.....

You make me seem inadequate, which I am.

You are confusing me with your superior knowledge of <<STUFF>>.

Thank you for your, and everone else's, advice.
You are mildly confusing me in this thread, though.

{{translation: You are risking melting my brain}}

I don't want to be a foraging expert, I forage so I can make STUFF, and sell them on then market (free market). I assure you, I hate foraging... with a passion! But I like to keep all my skills at the same, appoximate, level.

I have a apartment that is almost full of choice-quality mats (I have some fine mats that I have removed from the corpses of critters) but I generally make choice STUFF, the fine mats are, essentially, fillers.

I don't know how it works, exactly, but I suspect that if I have 2-5 mats in a single foraging event, and the mats "die" before I dig them out, that they are no longer availble for a short time. That is why I only dig one mat at a time

Whatever.

When I next forage, I will try experimenting with the foraging process.
{{{shudder}}}

Mea culpa. I tend to go fast and (often) go overboard. For that I apologize.

I tend to put myself 150% into digging so that I can fill up a packer an hour and get right to crafting. I too find digging to be tedious at times, and what better way to spend as little time digging as possible than to dig more mats than you actually need in the minimum time possible?

That said, I will respectfully decline to copy my "Contemplations on digging" thread here as that one melted the brains of even those who have been a Spirit of the Bark for years. Heck, I think I singed a few brain cells writing it! Suffice it to say that experimenting is a good thing.

Duh, yes of course ... instance Im tallking "cabbages".  Will fix the post

No I was adressing my brainless 2 step extraction dig as described

I assumed he just hasn't upgraded his stanzas ... spots are not lasting the time they should or the skill level / type of extractions is outta whack

Fast slow is not something I generally concern myself with as Im usially doing something else.  I don't seem to do any better or worse either way but again I'm not really paying attention.  I am getting other things done.  If I kill dig, and get 6 x 15 per prospect, it's kinda the same thing if I get 5 x 18 "slow digging" (that's w/ just the 1 toon).   Also, especially, since I don't use a dig slave, Im sorta forced to pay more attention and that means, for example,  I am not typing this forum response cause I gotta make sure I don't blow myself up.

Like most things Ryzon, the answer to "What is best ?" has no answer ... there's only a "best for each particular situation".

I think that that statement is more true of digging than of any other aspect of Ryzom. For instance, I tried the slow-dig but found it hard to stay on task; turning my brain off puts me to sleep, so I tend to be a bit more active (some might say "hyperactive"). Different strokes for different folks.

In the end, I can only really answer for what works for me and how I operate, and hope that I can at least inspire others to find a way that works for them even if that way is something different than mine.

OK, first off, I need to reperat that I HATE FORAGING.
That being said, I have done some initial "care planning" and it seems to be working for me. While I haven't figured it out fully, it is a bit helpful.

Thank you, y'all (I am allowed to use the term "y'all" because I lived in Tennessee for three years.) for your help in this matter.

THIS is why Ryzom is the BEST MMORPG. I do not understand why there are so few players.

I Kova:

I was you 13 years ago :).  Then I got tored of walking around in crap gear all the time ... I was about 220 in melee when i started digging.  And it was horrible up to about level 60 and then got bearable. If nothing else, best way to wipe DP.