KotOR speedrun in just over 2 hours -- Knights of the Old Republic Done Quick

2015-12-05 06:25:59 pm

You call this archaeology?

Got a 1:55:07 just now with the Master Speed FLU route, which does Manaan, then Tatooine, then Korriban, with the FLU on Korriban right before the Lashowe fight. I like the route and the FLU, personally, but I'm not sure it's faster.

I've done three completed runs in 5 days with the FLU route to see what sort of times I'm getting. The route only varies between Dantooine and leaving for the Leviathan, so for that section, I compared the average time, my PB's time, and my No-FLU route PB (which is a 1:57:19):

FLU, Avg: 28:55
FLU, PB: 28:29
No-FLU, PB: 28:42

That seems encouraging, but then I looked at best segments for these routes:

FLU: 28:04
No-FLU: 27:27

Now I have a much bigger sample size for the no-FLU, but this would argue in favor of the no-FLU route. Looked at a different way, here's how the fights compare between the two routes:

Definitely better with FLU Route:
- Tukatas and Lashowe
- Uthar and Yuthura
Slightly better with FLU Route:
- Leviathan soldiers
- Malak (Leviathan)
- Freyyr
- Kinrath in the Shadowlands
Worse with FLU Route:
- Sand People while escorting Banthas

If it were a marathon run, I'd definitely do the Master Speed FLU, because it makes the combat more consistent overall, and it would be cool to show off the Fake Level-Up. But as far as fastest route, I'm not sure what I would do.

Next week I plan to do a few runs with the no-FLU route to see what sorts of times I get there, so I could possibly do a better comparison after that.

Got a 1:55:07 just now with the Master Speed FLU route, which does Manaan, then Tatooine, then Korriban, with the FLU on Korriban right before the Lashowe fight.  I like the route and the FLU, personally, but I'm not sure it's faster.

I've done three completed runs in 5 days with the FLU route to see what sort of times I'm getting.  The route only varies between Dantooine and leaving for the Leviathan, so for that section, I compared the average time, my PB's time, and my No-FLU route PB (which is a 1:57:19):

[hidden]FLU, Avg: 28:55
FLU, PB: 28:29
No-FLU, PB: 28:42

That seems encouraging, but then I looked at best segments for these routes:

FLU: 28:04
No-FLU: 27:27[/hidden]

Now I have a much bigger sample size for the no-FLU, but this would argue in favor of the no-FLU route.  Looked at a different way, here's how the fights compare between the two routes:

[hidden]Definitely better with FLU Route:
- Tukatas and Lashowe
- Uthar and Yuthura
Slightly better with FLU Route:
- Leviathan soldiers
- Malak (Leviathan)
- Freyyr
- Kinrath in the Shadowlands
Worse with FLU Route:
- Sand People while escorting Banthas[/hidden]

If it were a marathon run, I'd definitely do the Master Speed FLU, because it makes the combat more consistent overall, and it would be cool to show off the Fake Level-Up.  But as far as fastest route, I'm not sure what I would do.

Next week I plan to do a few runs with the no-FLU route to see what sorts of times I get there, so I could possibly do a better comparison after that.

AlecK47

2015-12-05 07:08:51 pm

Cool. I'll be interested to see your results. And I'm likely with you on using FLU for a marathon run, but I'll know better once I've messed around with both of them a bit myself. The fights may be faster and more consistent with Master Speed, but I can't say I was ever in any danger of dying without it.

glasnonck

2015-12-06 09:14:04 pm

So I'll go ahead and post this here even though I don't have a video of the full skip in a smooth run through. Dragon Skip is now possible on Tatooine. Here's the link to my VOD where it was found. It starts at 3:51:25. I'll update this later to a nicer video.

Here's the long and short of it...

* Bring two party members with us to the Eastern Dune Sea (e.g., Mission and Juhani) and take them both inside the dragon's lair. This can be done by save buffering (and teleporting) all the way from before Hunter's CS through the Czerka boundary and then using a force skip or loading the quick save once inside.
* Turn on solo mode and position Mission a certain distance in front of the Dragon. We only want the dragon to move a little bit.
* Make a quick save.
* Walk your main character back outside to start the dragon's CS of killing the party. During the CS, the dragon should get caught on Mission.
* Perform a quick save during a very tiny window after the scene has faded out and before the "Your Party Is Dead" dialogue box pops up. This is the hard part.
* Once you have successfully saved and returned to the main menu, load that save. You may have to use a force power to skip the CS of being eaten.
* If Mission was placed correctly, then you can walk past the Dragon on the right side. Make sure Mission stays put.
* Go up to the Star Map, but don't open it yet. Make a safety save.
* While save buffering, activate the star map. Once the map is active, stop the buffer and load your save. This allows your party to stay put instead of being teleported to you, AND you receive the star map for your trouble.
* Head out the way you came, around the (now) left side of the Dragon.
* Once you are past the dragon, safety save again and collect your party.
* Save buffer past both the Dragon's eating CS and Darth Bandon's activation CS.

I haven't yet timed this skip, but I would guess that it saves a minutes to a minute and a half, even though it is quite involved. Skipping the dragon also means we skip the Tusken Raider fight at the Banthas. This means that Indy's alternate route (with FLU) could be faster than the current route. More testing will be done in the near future.

So I'll go ahead and post this here even though I don't have a video of the full skip in a smooth run through. Dragon Skip is now possible on Tatooine. Here's the [url="http://www.twitch.tv/glasnonck/v/28654185?t=3h51m25s"]link[/url] to my VOD where it was found. It starts at 3:51:25. I'll update this later to a nicer video.

Here's the long and short of it...

* Bring two party members with us to the Eastern Dune Sea (e.g., Mission and Juhani) and take them both inside the dragon's lair. This can be done by save buffering (and teleporting) all the way from before Hunter's CS through the Czerka boundary and then using a force skip or loading the quick save once inside.
* Turn on solo mode and position Mission a certain distance in front of the Dragon. We only want the dragon to move a little bit.
* Make a quick save.
* Walk your main character back outside to start the dragon's CS of killing the party. During the CS, the dragon should get caught on Mission.
* Perform a quick save during a very tiny window after the scene has faded out and before the "Your Party Is Dead" dialogue box pops up. This is the hard part.
* Once you have successfully saved and returned to the main menu, load that save. You may have to use a force power to skip the CS of being eaten.
* If Mission was placed correctly, then you can walk past the Dragon on the right side. Make sure Mission stays put.
* Go up to the Star Map, but don't open it yet. Make a safety save.
* While save buffering, activate the star map. Once the map is active, stop the buffer and load your save. This allows your party to stay put instead of being teleported to you, AND you receive the star map for your trouble.
* Head out the way you came, around the (now) left side of the Dragon.
* Once you are past the dragon, safety save again and collect your party.
* Save buffer past both the Dragon's eating CS and Darth Bandon's activation CS.

I haven't yet timed this skip, but I would guess that it saves a minutes to a minute and a half, even though it is quite involved. Skipping the dragon also means we skip the Tusken Raider fight at the Banthas. This means that Indy's alternate route (with FLU) could be faster than the current route. More testing will be done in the near future.

indykenobi

Edit history:

indykenobi: 2015-12-07 06:36:44 pm

indykenobi: 2015-12-07 10:40:26 am

2015-12-07 10:24:45 am

You call this archaeology?

You find a new trick every time I PB. Clearly I should PB more often.

Edit: Here's a decent video of the new skip: http://www.twitch.tv/indykenobi/v/28831502

I'm mildly concerned that this skip would actually rob us of enough XP to do the FLU in the same place on Korriban, in that we would be level 8 but Carth would not. However, I think this can be mitigated by not activating solo mode underwater on Manaan, and letting the party kill some of the patrol droids there while we dodge rabid Selkath. I'll test it when I'm not drowning in grading.

Now can we please skip the Leviathan next?

Edit: A question: could we do this with only one party member? i.e. use just Mission to block the dragon.

glasnonck

2015-12-07 10:45:46 am

In the route I used in the WR, I was level 9 when fighting the 4 Tusken Raiders. Each gave 100 experience points (400 xp in total), which means their challenge rating is 5. In your FLU route, you're at level 7 at that point, so they give 200 experience points each. You reach the FLU spot with 30175 experience (level 8) for your main character and 28442 experience (level 8) for Carth. The threshold for becoming level 8 is 28000 experience, so as long as we make up 400 of the lost experience on Manaan, we should be fine. That is, unless I missed some other variable experience elsewhere you gained between Tatooine and Korriban. I don't think I missed anything, since you didn't kill any of the Shyracks – which may be one way to try and increase Carth's level.

I'll probably do a test run of your route up to the FLU to determine what works and what doesn't. We should be able to do this with only one party member, since we can skip the dragon without using the Menu Glitch.

There may be a way to improve the Leviathan by clipping past a door, but I'm not sure about skipping it entirely. I'll take a look into both possibilities when I test the FLU route.

In the route I used in the WR, I was level 9 when fighting the 4 Tusken Raiders. Each gave 100 experience points (400 xp in total), which means their challenge rating is 5. In your FLU route, you're at level 7 at that point, so they give 200 experience points each. You reach the FLU spot with 30175 experience (level 8) for your main character and 28442 experience (level 8) for Carth. The threshold for becoming level 8 is 28000 experience, so as long as we make up 400 of the lost experience on Manaan, we should be fine. That is, unless I missed some other variable experience elsewhere you gained between Tatooine and Korriban. I don't think I missed anything, since you didn't kill any of the Shyracks – which may be one way to try and increase Carth's level.

I'll probably do a test run of your route up to the FLU to determine what works and what doesn't. We should be able to do this with only one party member, since we can skip the dragon without using the Menu Glitch.

There may be a way to improve the Leviathan by clipping past a door, but I'm not sure about skipping it entirely. I'll take a look into both possibilities when I test the FLU route.

indykenobi

2015-12-07 10:47:25 am

You call this archaeology?

IIRC the patrol droids on Manaan give ~850XP when killed at level 6. But I'm going off memory there. Either way it should be enough to make up the difference.

I might consider doing Tatooine before Manaan now though, just because this trick seems much harder than Manaan skip, and if we don't fight anything the order shouldn't(?) matter.

glasnonck

2015-12-07 10:59:42 am

That may take care of it nicely. I just realized that party members gain 80% of the experience gained by the main player character. So, for Carth to gain that extra 400 experience, we would have to gain 500 xp. I think bringing our party with us underwater should do the trick.

Yeah, this trick doesn't seem to have much of a consistent setup for the last second quick save, so Tatooine before Manaan sounds pretty good. I'm wondering what would happen with Calo Nord, though. Does he show up underwater as well, or is he a no-show like he is with the other FLU route? You may end up needing to do a save buffer upon opening the door to leave the Rift Station.

indykenobi

Edit history:

indykenobi: 2015-12-07 06:54:07 pm

indykenobi: 2015-12-07 06:52:34 pm

indykenobi: 2015-12-07 06:51:13 pm

indykenobi: 2015-12-07 06:48:38 pm

indykenobi: 2015-12-07 06:38:34 pm

indykenobi: 2015-12-07 01:40:44 pm

indykenobi: 2015-12-07 01:32:57 pm

indykenobi: 2015-12-07 12:49:01 pm

2015-12-07 11:05:54 am

You call this archaeology?

Calo should show up on Tatooine when you get the Star Map, just as Darth Bandon does. No one will show up on Manaan no matter when you do it, because that fight is triggered by the same thing that triggers the arrest sequence, and we skip that now.

Calo is a little tougher to skip than Darth Bandon, however. He has a bigger hit box so I've been using a save buffer rather than a save teleport.

Edit: It has occurred to me that this skip will rob us of our Krayt Dragon Pearl. I would suggest sticking with Sigil/Solari until Unknown World and then possibly grabbing the Sapith there for the Star Forge.

Edit edit: Since we really don't fight anything now from the end of Taris to the tukata/Lashowe fight on Korriban (in the FLU route), I would consider cutting Improved 2-Weapon fighting, using the FLU to get Master 2-Weapon fighting anyway, and replacing Improved 2-Weapon fighting with Focus: Lightsaber. So the new feat route would go:

1. Conditioning, Flurry
2. Two-Weapon Fighting
3. Empathy
4. (Implant 2)
5. Improved Flurry
6. None
7. Focus: Lightsaber
8. Master Two-Weapon (FLU)
9. None
10. Master Flurry
11. ~~Sniper Shot~~ Spec: Lightsaber

That will help offset the loss of attack bonus from the Pearl a little bit. glasnonck also suggested using Dueling instead of Two-Weapon Fighting, and I actually think that might be a good idea. But only if we use the FLU for Master Speed to keep four attacks per round.

After thinking about it for a while, we could actually keep Two-Weapon Fighting for Taris/Dantooine and have Dueling as well by cutting Empathy or Conditioning. Then we can FLU Dueling at level 8. That would avoid potential changes to the early game and still give us a better hit chance for the later game. So:

1. Dueling, Flurry
2. Two-Weapon Fighting
3. Conditioning/Empathy
4. (Implant 2)
5. Improved Flurry
6. None
7. Focus: Lightsaber
8. Master Dueling (FLU)
9. None
10. Master Flurry
11. Something something dark side.

We could even get both Master 2-Weapon and Master Dueling if we get Improved 2-Weapon at 7 and Master Two-Weapon at 11. Not sure what the point of that would be but it'd be funny.

Calo should show up on Tatooine when you get the Star Map, just as Darth Bandon does.  No one will show up on Manaan no matter when you do it, because that fight is triggered by the same thing that triggers the arrest sequence, and we skip that now.

Calo is a little tougher to skip than Darth Bandon, however.  He has a bigger hit box so I've been using a save buffer rather than a save teleport.

Edit: It has occurred to me that this skip will rob us of our Krayt Dragon Pearl.  I would suggest sticking with Sigil/Solari until Unknown World and then possibly grabbing the Sapith there for the Star Forge.

Edit edit: Since we really don't fight anything now from the end of Taris to the tukata/Lashowe fight on Korriban (in the FLU route), I would consider cutting Improved 2-Weapon fighting, using the FLU to get Master 2-Weapon fighting anyway, and replacing Improved 2-Weapon fighting with Focus: Lightsaber.  So the new feat route would go:

[hidden]1. Conditioning, Flurry
2. Two-Weapon Fighting
3. Empathy
4. (Implant 2)
5. Improved Flurry
6. None
7. Focus: Lightsaber
8. Master Two-Weapon (FLU)
9. None
10. Master Flurry
11. [s]Sniper Shot[/s] Spec: Lightsaber[/hidden]

That will help offset the loss of attack bonus from the Pearl a little bit.  glasnonck also suggested using Dueling instead of Two-Weapon Fighting, and I actually think that might be a good idea.  But only if we use the FLU for Master Speed to keep four attacks per round.

After thinking about it for a while, we could actually keep Two-Weapon Fighting for Taris/Dantooine and have Dueling as well by cutting Empathy or Conditioning.  Then we can FLU Dueling at level 8.  That would avoid potential changes to the early game and still give us a better hit chance for the later game.  So:

[hidden]1. Dueling, Flurry
2. Two-Weapon Fighting
3. Conditioning/Empathy
4. (Implant 2)
5. Improved Flurry
6. None
7. Focus: Lightsaber
8. Master Dueling (FLU)
9. None
10. Master Flurry
11. Something something dark side.[/hidden]

We could even get both Master 2-Weapon and Master Dueling if we get Improved 2-Weapon at 7 and Master Two-Weapon at 11.  Not sure what the point of that would be but it'd be funny.

indykenobi

Edit history:

indykenobi: 2015-12-13 10:56:55 am

indykenobi: 2015-12-13 10:53:57 am

indykenobi: 2015-12-13 09:16:14 am

indykenobi: 2015-12-12 08:15:59 am

indykenobi: 2015-12-12 08:10:37 am

indykenobi: 2015-12-12 08:08:15 am

indykenobi: 2015-12-12 07:57:53 am

indykenobi: 2015-12-12 07:51:57 am

indykenobi: 2015-12-11 10:55:43 pm

2015-12-11 10:55:16 pm

You call this archaeology?

I don't actually know if this is known or not, but for many save buffers you can, instead of Quick Loading at the end, use a Force Skip to cancel the cutscene by spamming a force power during the last quicksave. glasnonck used this when he discovered dragon skip (I think), but I don't actually know if people had thought to apply it elsewhere. For me at least, this is MUCH more consistent than trying to quick load, and it turns out it works in most places. I've tested the following save buffers; * means it works:

Dantooine:
* Jon's Conversation (see below)
* Kath Hounds CS
* Juhani CS
Tatooine:
* Gizka Convo
* Dark Jedi fight (see below)
* Hunter's Wife Convo (see below)
* Krayt Skip (see below)
Manaan:
* Both Sith and Republic Soldier Conversations
* Survivor - with Sonic Emitter
* Scientists (see below)
* Mother Firaxa 1 - with Sonic Emitter
* Mother Firaxa 2 - with Sonic Emitter
Korriban
* Shaardan Convo
* Lashowe Convo
- Star Map CS does not work for this
Leviathan
- Juhani's first skip doesn't work for this
* Juhani's second skip works (see below)
- Saul Karath Skip does not work with this
Kashyyyk
* Ziagrom's Convo
* Terentatek CS with poachers (see below)
* Wookiee Guard (I think; not sure)
* Mandos (Again, I think)
Star Forge:
* First Deck
- Jedi vs. Sith does not work
- Second Deck does not work
- Third Deck does not work
* Droid CS

Krayt Skip details - there are four triggers in that area:
* Krayt Dragon Eats You
* Hunter's Death CS
* Endless Desert Trigger
- Calo Nord's fight is not skippable this way
So on your way in, just go through the endless desert trigger and you can do this; on the way out, triggering the Krayt Dragon eating you will let you do this, though you might accidentally save teleport into Calo Nord's trigger instead.

A few small new (to me) things I found:

1. You can do "Force Skips" with the Sonic Emitter underwater. It's a little trickier because if you spam the emitter, it will go off multiple times in a row. So you want to try to only hit it once. These would likely be faster to get with a Quickload, but the emitter does make them more consistent.
2. You can skip the conversation with the two scientists near the Force Field underwater on Manaan. After you talk to them to get them to lower the force field, do a save buffer, then Force Skip the conversation.
3. You can skip the CS where the terentatek chases the poachers away by hacking the second emitter, quicksaving, then using a Force Skip. Nothing breaks and you can progress normally.
4. For the second skip with Juhani on the Leviathan, you can save teleport past the trigger instead of Force skipping it, but then you also have to teleport past it on the way out with the main character. If you miss the teleport and hit the trigger, you can cancel with a force power instead of quickloading.
5. You can skip Jon's conversation about Mandalorian Raiders this way on Dantooine; it's a short conversation but every bit helps I guess.
6. Similarly, you can skip the Hunter's wife conversation at the start of the Dune Sea by doing this. This one was known I think, but it still saves a bit of time.
7. You can skip triggering the Dark Jedi fight on Tatooine in this way; that's even less worth it, especially if we want to get the Damind crystal.

Again, apologies if this stuff was known already, but for me it was a revelation. I wonder also if there would be a way to do this for Taris buffers.

Edit: Something I found about the door clip on Manaan: it doesn't require Force Speed or a save buffer, or even moving. If you stand still in the right spot at the right angle, save, and load that save, you'll end up in the door. I actually did this on accident when making a practice save (manually).

Edit edit: You can also use this Force Skip after Save Buffer thing to skip the cutscene with the Wookiee slaves when leaving Kashyyyk, but you have to do it twice; once when returning from Chuundar's house, and once when doing the CS skip to the Unknown World. Still, hooray!

I don't actually know if this is known or not, but for many save buffers you can, instead of Quick Loading at the end, use a Force Skip to cancel the cutscene by spamming a force power during the last quicksave.  glasnonck used this when he discovered dragon skip (I think), but I don't actually know if people had thought to apply it elsewhere.  For me at least, this is MUCH more consistent than trying to quick load, and it turns out it works in most places.  I've tested the following save buffers; * means it works:

[hidden]
Dantooine:
* Jon's Conversation (see below)
* Kath Hounds CS
* Juhani CS
Tatooine:
* Gizka Convo
* Dark Jedi fight (see below)
* Hunter's Wife Convo (see below)
* Krayt Skip (see below)
Manaan:
* Both Sith and Republic Soldier Conversations
* Survivor - with Sonic Emitter
* Scientists (see below)
* Mother Firaxa 1 - with Sonic Emitter
* Mother Firaxa 2 - with Sonic Emitter
Korriban
* Shaardan Convo
* Lashowe Convo
- Star Map CS does not work for this
Leviathan
- Juhani's first skip doesn't work for this
* Juhani's second skip works (see below)
- Saul Karath Skip does not work with this
Kashyyyk
* Ziagrom's Convo
* Terentatek CS with poachers (see below)
* Wookiee Guard (I think; not sure)
* Mandos (Again, I think)
Star Forge:
* First Deck
- Jedi vs. Sith does not work
- Second Deck does not work
- Third Deck does not work
* Droid CS

Krayt Skip details - there are four triggers in that area:
  * Krayt Dragon Eats You
  * Hunter's Death CS
  * Endless Desert Trigger
  - Calo Nord's fight is not skippable this way
So on your way in, just go through the endless desert trigger and you can do this; on the way out, triggering the Krayt Dragon eating you will let you do this, though you might accidentally save teleport into Calo Nord's trigger instead.

[/hidden]

A few small new (to me) things I found:

1. You can do "Force Skips" with the Sonic Emitter underwater.  It's a little trickier because if you spam the emitter, it will go off multiple times in a row.  So you want to try to only hit it once.  These would likely be faster to get with a Quickload, but the emitter does make them more consistent.
2. You can skip the conversation with the two scientists near the Force Field underwater on Manaan.  After you talk to them to get them to lower the force field, do a save buffer, then Force Skip the conversation.
3. You can skip the CS where the terentatek chases the poachers away by hacking the second emitter, quicksaving, then using a Force Skip.  Nothing breaks and you can progress normally.
4. For the second skip with Juhani on the Leviathan, you can save teleport past the trigger instead of Force skipping it, but then you also have to teleport past it on the way out with the main character.  If you miss the teleport and hit the trigger, you can cancel with a force power instead of quickloading.
5. You can skip Jon's conversation about Mandalorian Raiders this way on Dantooine; it's a short conversation but every bit helps I guess.
6. Similarly, you can skip the Hunter's wife conversation at the start of the Dune Sea by doing this.  This one was known I think, but it still saves a bit of time.
7. You can skip triggering the Dark Jedi fight on Tatooine in this way; that's even less worth it, especially if we want to get the Damind crystal.

Again, apologies if this stuff was known already, but for me it was a revelation.  I wonder also if there would be a way to do this for Taris buffers.

Edit: Something I found about the door clip on Manaan: it doesn't require Force Speed or a save buffer, or even moving.  If you stand still in the right spot at the right angle, save, and load that save, you'll end up in the door.  I actually did this on accident when making a practice save (manually).

Edit edit: You can also use this Force Skip after Save Buffer thing to skip the cutscene with the Wookiee slaves when leaving Kashyyyk, but you have to do it twice; once when returning from Chuundar's house, and once when doing the CS skip to the Unknown World.  Still, hooray!

glasnonck

2015-12-15 03:45:51 pm

Indy suggested terms to distinguish the usual save buffers from the ones he outlined in his previous post: hard (save) buffers vs soft (save) buffers. I think these terms are good for distinguishing the two, although "hard save buffer" may be a bit misleading since we're loading a quick save instead of a named save.

I found a new timesave: you can save buffer putting on the space suit for the slow walk on the Leviathan. I really should have figured this one out earlier. I think you have to do a hard buffer for this to work, since you lose your force powers when you put on the suit. I may be wrong since I only tried a soft buffer a few times. I'm not sure that this could be used on Manaan since the underwater sections are separated by loading zones, but I haven't spent much time investigating it.

indykenobi

Edit history:

indykenobi: 2015-12-19 04:29:31 pm

indykenobi: 2015-12-17 09:32:26 pm

2015-12-17 09:27:28 pm

You call this archaeology?

I'm on a break from KotOR while I'm home for the holidays, but I did manage to get a 1:51 on my last run before break, so it feels like a nice place to take a break. Here's some overall thoughts before I forget them:

1. Krayt Dragon skip is really cool, but losing the pearl makes Two-Weapon Fighting too inconsistent for my liking. My last two runs have been Dueling/Critical Strike, with an Opila crystal in place of the pearl. I like this because it's got the highest chance to hit without going out of the way for a crystal (the Opila is right in the Krayt Dragon's cave), and if you crit at least once (a 78.4% chance to get at least one in three rolls with Master Speed) you're not really sacrificing any damage. The feats I've done for that are:

1. Dueling/Flurry
2. Two-Weapon Fighting
3. Critical Strike
4. (Implant 2)
5. Improved Dueling
6. none
7. Focus: Lightsaber
8. Master Critical Strike (FLU)
9. none
10. Master Dueling
11. Spec: Lightsaber

This keeps the same Two-Weapon/Flurry setup for all the Taris fights, and we don't have to kill anything between Taris and the FLU on Korriban, when we permanently switch to Dueling/Critical Strike. We lose the Persuade boost from Empathy, so I do 10 Charisma instead of 10 Wisdom; we also lose the small boost from Conditioning, which I just kind of suffer through.

One downside of this: if you lose Master Speed for a fight, you're really underwhelming.

2. The only other alternative I'd like to try is getting a Damind crystal and sticking with Two-Weapon Fighting/Flurry. There is a Damind crystal that you can loot from the Dark Jedi with the purple lightsaber on Tatooine, but it clearly costs time to pick up; in my tests it's been around 15-20 seconds on average. But the Damind's +3 attack covers the loss of the pearl's +3 attack, so that we're only missing a small damage boost.

3. I do like the terminology for soft buffers vs. hard buffers, but I resisted coining "wet" buffers for the underwater ones and "open" buffers for ones where you just don't do anything. A very minor timesave: for the first two council conversations on Dantooine if you save buffer into the conversation and then just let the conversation happen, you can immediately skip the first dialogue of the conversation, which you normally have to watch.

4. One thing I'm considering but haven't tried or tested: the FLU route has two extra Force powers just sort of chilling. I've been getting Force Resistance and then burning the last one (at level 12) on Energy Resistance, but I wonder if it might be worth it to get Force Aura/Shield for some extra saving throws on the Star Forge. Not sure if that'd be better or worse than just getting Force Resistance.

I've updated the route on the guide to include the Dueling/Crit Strike build, Krayt Dragon skip, and the FLU. But I'm ~~considering creating~~ have created a separate guide for the previous route, since it's much more straightforward and doesn't require the two tricky glitches, Krayt Dragon and the FLU (which is my new garage band).

I'm on a break from KotOR while I'm home for the holidays, but I did manage to get a 1:51 on my last run before break, so it feels like a nice place to take a break.  Here's some overall thoughts before I forget them:

1. Krayt Dragon skip is really cool, but losing the pearl makes Two-Weapon Fighting too inconsistent for my liking.  My last two runs have been Dueling/Critical Strike, with an Opila crystal in place of the pearl.  I like this because it's got the highest chance to hit without going out of the way for a crystal (the Opila is right in the Krayt Dragon's cave), and if you crit at least once (a 78.4% chance to get at least one in three rolls with Master Speed) you're not really sacrificing any damage.  The feats I've done for that are:

[hidden]
1. Dueling/Flurry
2. Two-Weapon Fighting
3. Critical Strike
4. (Implant 2)
5. Improved Dueling
6. none
7. Focus: Lightsaber
8. Master Critical Strike (FLU)
9. none
10. Master Dueling
11. Spec: Lightsaber
[/hidden]

This keeps the same Two-Weapon/Flurry setup for all the Taris fights, and we don't have to kill anything between Taris and the FLU on Korriban, when we permanently switch to Dueling/Critical Strike.  We lose the Persuade boost from Empathy, so I do 10 Charisma instead of 10 Wisdom; we also lose the small boost from Conditioning, which I just kind of suffer through.

One downside of this: if you lose Master Speed for a fight, you're really underwhelming.

2. The only other alternative I'd like to try is getting a Damind crystal and sticking with Two-Weapon Fighting/Flurry.  There is a Damind crystal that you can loot from the Dark Jedi with the purple lightsaber on Tatooine, but it clearly costs time to pick up; in my tests it's been around 15-20 seconds on average.  But the Damind's +3 attack covers the loss of the pearl's +3 attack, so that we're only missing a small damage boost.

3. I do like the terminology for soft buffers vs. hard buffers, but I resisted coining "wet" buffers for the underwater ones and "open" buffers for ones where you just don't do anything.  A very minor timesave: for the first two council conversations on Dantooine if you save buffer into the conversation and then just let the conversation happen, you can immediately skip the first dialogue of the conversation, which you normally have to watch.

4. One thing I'm considering but haven't tried or tested: the FLU route has two extra Force powers just sort of chilling.  I've been getting Force Resistance and then burning the last one (at level 12) on Energy Resistance, but I wonder if it might be worth it to get Force Aura/Shield for some extra saving throws on the Star Forge.  Not sure if that'd be better or worse than just getting Force Resistance.

I've updated the route on the guide to include the Dueling/Crit Strike build, Krayt Dragon skip, and the FLU.  But I'm [s]considering creating[/s] have created a separate guide for the previous route, since it's much more straightforward and doesn't require the two tricky glitches, Krayt Dragon and the FLU (which is my new garage band).

indykenobi

2016-01-10 04:36:10 pm

You call this archaeology?

A small route change in the second half of Taris: when in the Sith Base, don't use the computer to kill the Sith soldiers. Instead, kill them normally when you go to pick up the passcard. Then when you go to Davik's Estate, bring T3 along with you. You can now go directly to the terminal and use the saved computer spikes to hack the Ebon Hawk's security and leave.

This skips fighting the bounty hunter and torture droids, as well as rescuing the pilot. I haven't fully timed it, but my guess would be around 30-40 seconds saved. You do lose out on some XP, but it doesn't matter since your next XP is the automatic level from becoming a Jedi. You also lose 1 spike compared to the previous route, but the old route had 1 leftover at the end, so that works out perfectly also.

indykenobi

2016-01-13 05:24:29 pm

You call this archaeology?

Forgive the triple-post, but there's a new world record!

http://www.twitch.tv/indykenobi/v/35305967

1:43:26 RTA, 1:33:40 with loads removed. The only part that wasn't great was the Star Forge, and even that was pretty darn good. This also includes one small new thing: during Krayt Skip, after you've saved during the cutscene and reloaded, if you switch to Mission, don't move, and just talk to the Krayt Dragon, he'll turn slightly but then be frozen in place. You can then run past him and get the Star Map without having to save buffer to get it.

I'm happy with this any% time, so I'll be moving on to All Quests for the time being. I'm going to miss some of these ridiculous skips though. Cheesy

glasnonck

2016-01-15 08:15:26 pm

Congratulations, Indy. I guess it's time to step up my game. thumbsup

While creating practice/safety saves for the new route, I experienced another example of the Displaced Loading Zone glitch. This is not a new glitch; it's just one that is not understood. The potential of this glitch is unknown but promising, so I'd like to document what I had done prior to the glitch. Unfortunately, I don't have any video proof of this glitch occurring.

I was going through Taris along the current route, and rescued Bastila. At this time, I believe the adrenal glitch was active on both Alacrity and Strength. When I was returned to the hideout, I did a save buffer to skip the reunion conversation. I then interacted with the door to leave the hideout, forgetting to make a hard save before doing so. I tried to cancel, but the game wouldn't let me. I proceeded to leave and use the transit warp to skip the conversation outside. I then loaded the quick save that I used to skip the reunion, and saved over the game in slot 5. Once again I left the hideout, and transit warped to the Upper City South.

I headed across the way to enter the Cantina. I waited outside the door for a second or two, only half paying attention to the run, and then entered. After talking with Canderous, I left the Cantina and headed to the Upper City North. I then walked to Janice Nall's droid shop, and as I approached it the game loaded me into the sith base, alone. I had not yet purchased T3-M4. I don't remember if I made it far enough to open the door to the shop, either. Once I was inside the base, KotOR's memory usage was 640 MB, which isn't too outlandish.

Unfortunately, when I tried it again, nothing happened. I have seen this glitch occur in a few other locations, but most notably is on the Endar Spire. I have seen a few accounts of using this glitch to bypass the majority of Trask's section of the Endar Spire and leave the Endar Spire still at level 1. I have only gotten this to work once, and I didn't restart the game between attempts. It seems it may have something to do with setting up memory values or confusing the game as to your character's or the loading zone's actual location, but that is total speculation on my part.

Congratulations, Indy. I guess it's time to step up my game. :thumbsup:

While creating practice/safety saves for the new route, I experienced another example of the Displaced Loading Zone glitch. This is not a new glitch; it's just one that is not understood. The potential of this glitch is unknown but promising, so I'd like to document what I had done prior to the glitch. Unfortunately, I don't have any video proof of this glitch occurring.

I was going through Taris along the current route, and rescued Bastila. At this time, I believe the adrenal glitch was active on both Alacrity and Strength. When I was returned to the hideout, I did a save buffer to skip the reunion conversation. I then interacted with the door to leave the hideout, forgetting to make a hard save before doing so. I tried to cancel, but the game wouldn't let me. I proceeded to leave and use the transit warp to skip the conversation outside. I then loaded the quick save that I used to skip the reunion, and saved over the game in slot 5. Once again I left the hideout, and transit warped to the Upper City South.

I headed across the way to enter the Cantina. I waited outside the door for a second or two, only half paying attention to the run, and then entered. After talking with Canderous, I left the Cantina and headed to the Upper City North. I then walked to Janice Nall's droid shop, and as I approached it the game loaded me into the sith base, alone. I had not yet purchased T3-M4. I don't remember if I made it far enough to open the door to the shop, either. Once I was inside the base, KotOR's memory usage was 640 MB, which isn't too outlandish.

Unfortunately, when I tried it again, nothing happened. I have seen this glitch occur in a few other locations, but most notably is on the Endar Spire. I have seen a few accounts of using this glitch to bypass the majority of Trask's section of the Endar Spire and leave the Endar Spire still at level 1. I have only gotten this to work once, and I didn't restart the game between attempts. It seems it may have something to do with setting up memory values or confusing the game as to your character's or the loading zone's actual location, but that is total speculation on my part.

AlecK47

2016-01-22 05:51:17 pm

Another congrats! (probably should have done more than just favorite your tweet, but oh well)

About the spikes, though, I'm pretty sure it would be faster to just get another spike from T3 and still use the console to kill the guys in the Sith Base on Taris. Not a huge time difference either way, and I'd have to test it to see which way it would be, but if nothing else it would be more consistent.

indykenobi

2016-01-22 07:48:47 pm

You call this archaeology?

Killing the Sith from the console takes 7 spikes, and hacking the Ebon Hawk's security takes 8 spikes. So in order to do both you'd have to get 7 extra spikes somewhere, not just 1. Unless I'm misreading what you're saying.

A (very) small timesave for Taris Swoops: Don't shift into last gear. You'll go roughly 1.25s faster on both races. My best IL time for that is down to 46.04, compared to the mid 48s I'd get the old way.

AlecK47

2016-01-23 10:14:54 pm

I was going to do some testing to see about the spikes and/or reducing how many you need to use in general, but I forgot that you can't get spikes from T3 until later. I may revisit this later, when I refamiliarize myself with the most current route, but for now I can't be bothered.

So the highest gear in swoops is a bad thing? Weird. I'll definitely check to see if it works that way for me soon.

indykenobi

Edit history:

indykenobi: 2016-01-24 09:06:34 am

2016-01-24 09:05:32 am

You call this archaeology?

Actually the swoop thing appears to only work for the Taris swoops, not the Manaan or Tatooine swoops. Must be that prototype accelerator...

There's at least 4 extra places you can get spikes, but some of those aren't guaranteed. You can buy them from Janice Noll for 250 Credits each also. So it would certainly be possible to get an extra seven, but if you have to buy spikes you'll probably need some extra credits from somewhere for the CNS.

indykenobi

2016-02-04 10:41:50 pm

You call this archaeology?

So here's a ridiculous new route idea that could save lots of time... maybe.

The idea: many locked doors with "Impossible" security checks merely have a DC of 100. If you have 80+ Security, you can actually open those doors. So if we use a FLU to reach level 80+ and dump 80+ points into Security, we can open these doors.

How does this help? Well, we can skip the following on Taris:
- The Sith uniforms
- The entirety of the Undercity, Sewers, and Vulkar Base
- Mission, Zaalbar, and T3
- Using any spikes in Davik's Estate

We can also skip the rescue section of the Leviathan, as well as getting the spacesuit at all. The theory route goes something like this:

- FLU on Endar Spire for ridiculous skills
- Upon reaching Taris, go directly to Sith Base
- Kill Sith Governor for Launch Codes (somehow)
- Go to Lower City
- Set transit point outside Javyar's Cantina
- Kill Gadon Thek (somehow)
- Enter the Vulkar Base
- Win the swoop race and rescue Bastila
- Transit back
- Talk to Canderous in Javyar's Cantina
- In Davik's Estate, use Security on the hangar door
- Dantooine, Tatooine, Manaan, Korriban as usual
- On Leviathan, skip the torture sequence with a save buffer and Security your way out
- On the Command Deck, go around the outside directly to the bridge door
- Saul Karath skip and leave as usual
- You can try to skip Darth Malak, but I've found this causes a softlock during the fighter escape
- Endgame as usual

I've confirmed using cheats that this route doesn't softlock; I thought it would after the Leviathan (since Mission comments on Bastila's absence), but it just plays a CS with one line from Carth and that's it.

This would throw the credits route, alignment route, and character build a little out of whack, and I haven't tested the FLU itself or a non-cheating way to actually kill the Sith Governor or Gadon Thek. So there's work left to be done here... but this might actually work. And assuming the FLU doesn't take 10 minutes, it should save a chunk of time on Taris.

I'll try to iron this route out next week somewhat and see if it's actually feasible.

So here's a ridiculous new route idea that could save lots of time... maybe.

The idea: many locked doors with "Impossible" security checks merely have a DC of 100.  If you have 80+ Security, you can actually open those doors.  So if we use a FLU to reach level 80+ and dump 80+ points into Security, we can open these doors.

How does this help? Well, we can skip the following on Taris:
- The Sith uniforms
- The entirety of the Undercity, Sewers, and Vulkar Base
- Mission, Zaalbar, and T3
- Using any spikes in Davik's Estate

We can also skip the rescue section of the Leviathan, as well as getting the spacesuit at all.  The theory route goes something like this:
[hidden]- FLU on Endar Spire for ridiculous skills
- Upon reaching Taris, go directly to Sith Base
- Kill Sith Governor for Launch Codes (somehow)
- Go to Lower City
- Set transit point outside Javyar's Cantina
- Kill Gadon Thek (somehow)
- Enter the Vulkar Base
- Win the swoop race and rescue Bastila
- Transit back
- Talk to Canderous in Javyar's Cantina
- In Davik's Estate, use Security on the hangar door
- Dantooine, Tatooine, Manaan, Korriban as usual
- On Leviathan, skip the torture sequence with a save buffer and Security your way out
- On the Command Deck, go around the outside directly to the bridge door
- Saul Karath skip and leave as usual
- You can try to skip Darth Malak, but I've found this causes a softlock during the fighter escape
- Endgame as usual[/hidden]

I've confirmed using cheats that this route doesn't softlock; I thought it would after the Leviathan (since Mission comments on Bastila's absence), but it just plays a CS with one line from Carth and that's it.

This would throw the credits route, alignment route, and character build a little out of whack, and I haven't tested the FLU itself or a non-cheating way to actually kill the Sith Governor or Gadon Thek.  So there's work left to be done here... but this might actually work.  And assuming the FLU doesn't take 10 minutes, it should save a chunk of time on Taris.

I'll try to iron this route out next week somewhat and see if it's actually feasible.

glasnonck

2016-02-05 02:19:00 pm

I think we'll need to be at an attribute level to use the quick FLU. Sorry, but it skipped my mind when we were discussing this yesterday. There may be another way to start the quick level increase, so I'll investigate this possibility as well.

If we end up needing to reach level 4, what's the quickest way to gain experience on Taris? The raid outside the apartment gives a few grenades, as well as experience. I think those grenades would be invaluable against the Governor and Gadon.

indykenobi

Edit history:

indykenobi: 2016-02-05 05:15:54 pm

indykenobi: 2016-02-05 05:07:27 pm

indykenobi: 2016-02-05 04:54:20 pm

indykenobi: 2016-02-05 04:48:16 pm

indykenobi: 2016-02-05 04:31:15 pm

2016-02-05 04:19:39 pm

You call this archaeology?

Yeah, I realized that after we discussed it last night. So I did a little rough digging and here's what I've got for an XP route. We're bringing Carth along for the whole time now so he'll help with all the fights.

- After Endar Spire: 2125 XP (level 2)
- Kill Sith and droids outside | +400 XP | 2525 XP
- Kill Dia | +75 XP | 2600 XP
(Buy stims from Zelka)
- Rescue bullied merchant | +550 XP | 3150 XP (level 3)
- Kill and loot Largo | +400 XP | 3550 XP
- Kill Sith and loot uniform | +450 XP | 4000 XP
- Avoid fighting drunks | +60 XP | 4060 XP
- Use disguise to enter Lower City | +400 XP | 4460 XP
- Kill three Vulkars near Canderous CS | +400 XP | 4860 XP
- Kill Vulkar in apartment | +100 XP | 4960 XP
- Kill Selven | +700 XP | 5660 XP
- Kill three Vulkars Patrolling nearby | +400 XP | 6060 XP (level 4)

The fights aren't too bad because you can stim up for most of them, and Carth is around to help. Largo's an easy bounty target near the Sith uniform, and Selven and her Vulkar friends are a bit out of the way, but just around the corner from Gadon. After you hit 4 you can FLU off of Vulkar remains or the footlocker in Selven's apartment.

For the FLU I've found you have enough skill points to hit 83 in Security, 41 in Computer Skill, with an extra 81 points leftover (I went to 31 Persuade and 25 Treat Injury). The levels in the FLU after 20 are really fast since they're only attributes and skill points, so it might actually be worth going to level 96 to get 99 in Security for a better chance to open doors when in combat (which happens once or twice).

A couple more notes:
- You'd set your transit point right before going to the Lower City, as then you can transit back and head straight to the Sith Base.
- We don't really have enough grenades for Brejik anymore... not sure what to do about that. I had an extra poison grenade that I threw at him but I don't know if that's a random drop or not.
- We have plenty of stims and grenades for the Sith Base, and enough computer skill to hack the console with 0 spikes (lol).
- The assault droid fight is pretty easy. The governor fight... we can actually have the same grenades for it, so the strat is the same... pray and hope. It's a bit harder because we're Scoundrels instead of Scouts.
- The credits route is fubar-ed and we'd have to think about cutting the CNS (or getting it later). Gadon does drop a Power Belt which is +1 Str, but no saving throws.
- I'm also not sure where we're getting our Immunity: Mind-Affecting from anymore. (But see below). It might be possible to do this as scout/soldier and just FLU to level 160... but that feels unoptimal somehow.
- The alignment route should be easily salvageable, but I haven't worked out the details yet. Seems we're only -2 compared to where we would normally be leaving Taris, so we could do the soldiers near Zelka for the extra 2 and use the same route. Not sure if that's best yet though.
- OK, last point for now: selling everything I could spare at the end of Dantooine on this route got me to 5993 credits. That would be enough for the Stabilizer Mask on Manaan... if we had Medium Armor Proficiency. Another option would be going to Yavin and buying the Advanced Bio-Stabilizer Mask; it's 6000 credits and available right after Dantooine.

Lastly, this is hilariously dumb. I can't believe it works.

Yeah, I realized that after we discussed it last night.  So I did a little rough digging and here's what I've got for an XP route.  We're bringing Carth along for the whole time now so he'll help with all the fights.

[hidden]
- After Endar Spire: 2125 XP (level 2)
- Kill Sith and droids outside | +400 XP | 2525 XP
- Kill Dia | +75 XP | 2600 XP
(Buy stims from Zelka)
- Rescue bullied merchant | +550 XP | 3150 XP (level 3)
- Kill and loot Largo | +400 XP | 3550 XP
- Kill Sith and loot uniform | +450 XP | 4000 XP
- Avoid fighting drunks | +60 XP | 4060 XP
- Use disguise to enter Lower City | +400 XP | 4460 XP
- Kill three Vulkars near Canderous CS | +400 XP | 4860 XP
- Kill Vulkar in apartment | +100 XP | 4960 XP
- Kill Selven | +700 XP | 5660 XP
- Kill three Vulkars Patrolling nearby | +400 XP | 6060 XP (level 4)
[/hidden]

The fights aren't too bad because you can stim up for most of them, and Carth is around to help.  Largo's an easy bounty target near the Sith uniform, and Selven and her Vulkar friends are a bit out of the way, but just around the corner from Gadon.  After you hit 4 you can FLU off of Vulkar remains or the footlocker in Selven's apartment.

For the FLU I've found you have enough skill points to hit 83 in Security, 41 in Computer Skill, with an extra 81 points leftover (I went to 31 Persuade and 25 Treat Injury).  The levels in the FLU after 20 are really fast since they're only attributes and skill points, so it might actually be worth going to level 96 to get 99 in Security for a better chance to open doors when in combat (which happens once or twice).

A couple more notes:
- You'd set your transit point right before going to the Lower City, as then you can transit back and head straight to the Sith Base.
- We don't really have enough grenades for Brejik anymore... not sure what to do about that.  I had an extra poison grenade that I threw at him but I don't know if that's a random drop or not.
- We have plenty of stims and grenades for the Sith Base, and enough computer skill to hack the console with 0 spikes (lol).
- The assault droid fight is pretty easy.  The governor fight... we can actually have the same grenades for it, so the strat is the same... pray and hope.  It's a bit harder because we're Scoundrels instead of Scouts.
- The credits route is fubar-ed and we'd have to think about cutting the CNS (or getting it later).  Gadon does drop a Power Belt which is +1 Str, but no saving throws.
- I'm also not sure where we're getting our Immunity: Mind-Affecting from anymore.  (But see below).  It might be possible to do this as scout/soldier and just FLU to level 160... but that feels unoptimal somehow.
- The alignment route should be easily salvageable, but I haven't worked out the details yet.  Seems we're only -2 compared to where we would normally be leaving Taris, so we could do the soldiers near Zelka for the extra 2 and use the same route.  Not sure if that's best yet though.
- OK, last point for now: selling everything I could spare at the end of Dantooine on this route got me to 5993 credits.  That would be enough for the Stabilizer Mask on Manaan... if we had Medium Armor Proficiency.  Another option would be going to Yavin and buying the Advanced Bio-Stabilizer Mask; it's 6000 credits and available right after Dantooine.

Lastly, this is hilariously dumb.  I can't believe it works.

glasnonck

Edit history:

glasnonck: 2016-02-07 04:16:44 pm

2016-02-07 03:27:43 pm

I've been doing a few practice runs through Taris, and I have some timed results for the new route. I'll also outline the path I take below so we can compare notes.

- Escape Endar Spire
- Kill Sith and droids outside with a grenade
- Talk to and kill Dia : 1 1 1 2 2 2 1
- Sell parts to Larrim : 1 2 4
- Rescue bullied merchant without a grenade
- Talk to and kill Largo : 3 | 3
- Kill Sith and loot uniform
- Avoid fighting drunks
- Set transit point right outside the elevator
- Use disguise to enter Lower City
- Kill three Vulkars near Canderous CS
- Skip Calo Nord's CS
- Kill Vulkar in first apartment on the right
- Kill Selven
- Kill three Vulkars Patrolling nearby
- FLU to 88 : Security = 91, Computers = 45, Persuade = 40, Treat Injury = The Rest
- Kill and loot Gadon Thek and his friend
- Remove Carth from party
- Enter the Vulkar base
- Rescue Bastila
- Sell all unused items to Larrim
- Transit back
- Enter Sith Base
- Use terminal : 1 1 2 2 2 6 2 2 3 8 2 1 1 3 3
- Kill Sith Governor for Launch Codes
- Talk to Canderous in Javyar's Cantina : 1 1 1 2 1
- Finish up Taris

When I rescue Bastila, I'm a little over 1 minute behind my PB splits.
When I escape Taris, I'm a little over 2 minutes ahead of my PB splits.
I saved at least 2 minutes on the Leviathan against my PB splits.

Also, the quickest way to do the FLU that I've found is mash UP and RETURN once you've gotten past level 20. Then you only need to click Recommended when you are selecting an attribute.

Looks like we can safely save about 2 minutes on Taris. The main thing slowing us down is that we have to do a lot of running back and forth to get level 4. If there was a closer place to farm for xp, then we could save a bit more time. One bonus is that we get to keep the Sith Armor as long as someone is wearing it when we leave Davik's Estate. Try watching the montage CS with it equipped. Cheesy

I've been doing a few practice runs through Taris, and I have some timed results for the new route. I'll also outline the path I take below so we can compare notes.

[hidden]
- Escape Endar Spire
- Kill Sith and droids outside with a grenade
- Talk to and kill Dia : 1 1 1 2 2 2 1
- Sell parts to Larrim : 1 2 4
- Rescue bullied merchant without a grenade
- Talk to and kill Largo : 3 | 3
- Kill Sith and loot uniform
- Avoid fighting drunks
- Set transit point right outside the elevator
- Use disguise to enter Lower City
- Kill three Vulkars near Canderous CS
- Skip Calo Nord's CS
- Kill Vulkar in first apartment on the right
- Kill Selven
- Kill three Vulkars Patrolling nearby
- FLU to 88 : Security = 91, Computers = 45, Persuade = 40, Treat Injury = The Rest
- Kill and loot Gadon Thek and his friend
- Remove Carth from party
- Enter the Vulkar base
- Rescue Bastila
- Sell all unused items to Larrim
- Transit back
- Enter Sith Base
- Use terminal : 1 1 2 2 2 6 2 2 3 8 2 1 1 3 3
- Kill Sith Governor for Launch Codes
- Talk to Canderous in Javyar's Cantina : 1 1 1 2 1
- Finish up Taris
[/hidden]

When I rescue Bastila, I'm a little over 1 minute behind my PB splits.
When I escape Taris, I'm a little over 2 minutes ahead of my PB splits.
I saved at least 2 minutes on the Leviathan against my PB splits.

Also, the quickest way to do the FLU that I've found is mash UP and RETURN once you've gotten past level 20. Then you only need to click Recommended when you are selecting an attribute.

Looks like we can safely save about 2 minutes on Taris. The main thing slowing us down is that we have to do a lot of running back and forth to get level 4. If there was a closer place to farm for xp, then we could save a bit more time. One bonus is that we get to keep the Sith Armor as long as someone is wearing it when we leave Davik's Estate. Try watching the montage CS with it equipped. :D

indykenobi

Edit history:

indykenobi: 2016-02-07 11:22:32 pm

indykenobi: 2016-02-07 11:20:30 pm

2016-02-07 11:11:22 pm

You call this archaeology?

Looks about like what I would do. One question: how are you killing Brejik? I found that I was lacking grenades for that fight. I'm also wondering if you get any stims anywhere, since you don't appear to visit Zelka.

As for closer places to farm XP, my rough testing found that if you go to the other set of apartments and kill every Vulkar in them, you still won't have enough. You could do that (including killing Matrik), then turn in the bounties for Largo, Matrik, (and Dia) at Zax for an extra 315 XP... but I'm still not sure that's enough. Basically, Selven is the biggest chunk of XP before the Undercity, so that's why I chose to go there.

Hmm... we could watch the CS when we enter the Undercity, kill those Vulkars, then clear the other apartments... but my gut says that would be too slow.

Edit: Oh, and I'm assuming the extra hacking in the Sith Base is to disable the assault droid? I'm not sure I remembered you can do that...

glasnonck

2016-02-08 06:30:56 am

I don't use a grenade on the thugs bullying the merchant so I have a frag and poison for Brejik. Otherwise, I think I was getting lucky with him ignoring me or getting stunned from critical strike. That way I got sneak attack damage.

As for stims, I don't purchase them anywhere, but usually ended up with 3 strength, 1 stamina, and 1 alacrity. I'm not sure how much variance there is, but you could use strength for the Brejik fight, especially since it doesn't seem you need stims to fight Selven.

The hacking in the sith base kills the sith troopers, disables the elevator droid's shield, opens the elevator door, disables the regular droids, and disables the turrets. I think disabling the elevator droid shield is the only thing that uses a spike. It also takes about 3 seconds because of an animation.

indykenobi

Edit history:

indykenobi: 2016-02-09 01:15:54 pm

indykenobi: 2016-02-08 09:30:10 pm

indykenobi: 2016-02-08 09:02:32 pm

2016-02-08 08:36:05 pm

You call this archaeology?

Okay, so we don't have to go to Selven's ring of apartments to reach level 4. Do everything the same up until getting the Sith uniform, then:

- Kill the drunks (+150 XP) -better than avoiding them by 90 XP
- Go to lower city (+400 XP)
- Kill all Vulkars in apartments straight ahead (+1250 XP)

This puts us at 5800 XP. The extra 200 XP could be gotten three ways:
1. If you loop around the apartments enough, two Vulkars respawn for another 200 XP.
2. We could watch the cutscene outside those apartments, then kill the Vulkars there for 300 XP. With this route we could skip killing Dia also.
3. We could go kill the Vulkars near Canderous for 400 XP. We could skip Dia and say nice things to the drunks in this route.

In any of these routes the alignment is salvageable, but I'm not sure which is fastest. My gut says trying to respawn the Vulkars in the apartment, but maybe skipping Dia and watching the CS is better. The third one seems not as good.

Edit: OK, I think I came up with a better option than all of those. After save buffering the CS with the Beks/Vulkars at the start of the Lower City, run a little further towards the cantina. When you hit the first blue stripe on the ground, turn around and go back to the apartments. There should be three Vulkars spawned outside for 400 XP. Then go in and clear the apartments to hit level 4. We can skip killing Dia with this, and say nice things to the drunks. So here's my updated route:

- After Endar Spire: 2125 XP (level 2)
- Kill Sith and droids outside | +400 XP | 2525 XP
(Buy stims from Zelka)
- Rescue bullied merchant | +550 XP | 3075 XP (level 3)
- Kill and loot Largo | +400 XP | 3475 XP
- Kill Sith and loot uniform | +450 XP | 3925 XP
- Avoid fighting drunks | +60 XP | 3985 XP
- Use disguise to enter Lower City | +400 XP | 4385 XP
- Run a little past CS to spawn Vulkars outside, then kill | +400 XP | 4785 XP
- Kill all Vulkars inside apartment | +1250 XP | 6035 XP

Okay, so we don't have to go to Selven's ring of apartments to reach level 4.  Do everything the same up until getting the Sith uniform, then:

- Kill the drunks (+150 XP) -better than avoiding them by 90 XP
- Go to lower city (+400 XP)
- Kill all Vulkars in apartments straight ahead (+1250 XP)

This puts us at 5800 XP.  The extra 200 XP could be gotten three ways:
1. If you loop around the apartments enough, two Vulkars respawn for another 200 XP.
2. We could watch the cutscene outside those apartments, then kill the Vulkars there for 300 XP.  With this route we could skip killing Dia also.
3. We could go kill the Vulkars near Canderous for 400 XP.  We could skip Dia and say nice things to the drunks in this route.

In any of these routes the alignment is salvageable, but I'm not sure which is fastest.  My gut says trying to respawn the Vulkars in the apartment, but maybe skipping Dia and watching the CS is better.  The third one seems not as good.

Edit: OK, I think I came up with a better option than all of those.  After save buffering the CS with the Beks/Vulkars at the start of the Lower City, run a little further towards the cantina.  When you hit the first blue stripe on the ground, turn around and go back to the apartments.  There should be three Vulkars spawned outside for 400 XP.  Then go in and clear the apartments to hit level 4.  We can skip killing Dia with this, and say nice things to the drunks.  So here's my updated route:

[hidden]
- After Endar Spire: 2125 XP (level 2)
- Kill Sith and droids outside | +400 XP | 2525 XP
(Buy stims from Zelka)
- Rescue bullied merchant | +550 XP | 3075 XP (level 3)
- Kill and loot Largo | +400 XP | 3475 XP
- Kill Sith and loot uniform | +450 XP | 3925 XP
- Avoid fighting drunks | +60 XP | 3985 XP
- Use disguise to enter Lower City | +400 XP | 4385 XP
- Run a little past CS to spawn Vulkars outside, then kill | +400 XP | 4785 XP
- Kill all Vulkars inside apartment | +1250 XP | 6035 XP[/hidden]