Anarchy Online Bureaucrat's Guide to Pistols

A Bureaucrat's Guide to Pistols - Version 1.0

by Ward "Beria" Alsaqri, Omni-Tek Bureaucrat
Last updated February 19, 2002

Introduction

This is a not so brief guide for bureaucrats who have chosen pistols as their weapon of choice. I am not going to go into the pros and cons of pistols versus other weapons since there are a lot of personal decisions that go into that decision. (This guide has been written from the perspective of a high 90s level bureaucrat who has used only pistols as a weapon from level 1).

Strategy

Before we get into the details of what pistol to use, we need to discuss how a bureaucrat uses a pistol. Bureaucrats can deal damage in a number of ways. In general, the most significant source of damage is your droid and charmed mobs/NPCs (let's call droids and charmed mobs/NPCs "pets"). The second source of damage is likely your direct damage nanos (DD nano) and thirdly is your pistol.

A bureaucrat needs to be careful about how they deliver damage, since you typically want to keep your target aggro'ed on your pets. If you do too much damage you will cause the target to switch its attack to you, but you also want to do enough to be able to help out and keep the fight as short as possible, thereby keeping your pets in reasonable health. In missions, my strategy is basically to attack initially by sending in my pets and let them go at it for a bit to build up some hate between the pets and the target. After a few seconds, I initiate attack with my pistol and occasional DD nano. If it's going to be a quick fight or I'm hunting in a team with some heavy hitters and I'm not worried about aggroing the target, I'll start shooting as soon as the target has aggro'ed one of my pets. Once the fight has been going on for a bit and the target is down to about 25% health (or less depending on the toughness of the target), I launch a full assault using DD nanos and any special attacks on my pistol (burst and/or flingshot).

This strategy has implications in your decision of what pistol to use as discussed below.

Characteristics of a Good Bureaucrat Pistol

I've listed the characteristics of a good bureaucrat pistol and rated the importance of each characteristic from 1 to 5 to be used in ranking all of the contenders. An importance rating of 1 means unimportant and a rating of 5 is essential/vital.

Speed - Given my strategy described above, you want a fast pistol so that you can get a shot in between your DD nanos. A pistol with an attack and recharge speed of 1.0 to 1.5 seconds is pretty good. At that speed, you don't have to wait very long (or at all) for your pistol to shoot even if you are chain-casting your DD nano. Importance: 4

Damage Rating - A pistol can be fast, but if it only does 1 point of damage per hit then it's not worth much. The biggest knock against pistols is their lack of damage, particularly against higher level targets. Most pistols are fast, low damage weapons which do not do well against high AC and hitpoint targets. At low levels it doesn't matter as much, but at mid to higher levels this makes most pistols almost useless. Damage rating is given in 3 numbers, for example the QL200 Electron-Charged Pistol is rated 12-180(190). The first number is the base minimum damage, the second number is the base maximum damage and the third is the base critical hit damage. At higher levels, most pistols will be doing damage based on their minimum damage number or on their critical hit damage. I am therefore going to rate the importance of a pistol's minimum damage as a 5, its maximum damage as a 3 and its critical damage as a 3.

Damage Type - From observation, target AC seems to be higher for projectile than other more "exotic" damage types. This means that a pistol that does chemical, radiation, fire, cold or poison damage will be more effective (other things being equal) than a pistol that does projectile damage. Importance: 3

Attack Rating Calculation - Ideally you want a pistol which has an attack rating calculation of 100% pistol skill, and this is the case for the majority of pistols. There are some notable exceptions, such as the Khemo-Tech Model 200 which is 67% pistol and 33% ranged energy. It selecting the candidates for this guide, I have considered weapons with an attack rating calculation of 100% to 67% pistol. Importance: 3

Range and Clip Size - Depending on how you play your bureaucrat, this may or may not be very important. With my strategy, I can get close enough to a target once my pets have engaged it so that range is not a big issue, particularly in missions. You can also use a Yatamutchy Movement Predictor to add to your range. Also, since I am casting DD nanos as well, the pistol will often reload while I am casting. Finally, reload times for pistols are quick relative to other weapons. Importance: 2

Specials - Specials (flingshot, burst and full auto) are a mixed blessing. On one hand, you can get an extra attack or more against your target. On the other hand, you have to spend IP and/or get implants and buffs to equip the pistol. I'm going to assume that specials are a good thing (a vision of Martha Stewart saying "flingshot, it's a good thing" just went through my mind, yikes) for this rating and worry about the IP cost under the next characteristic. Importance: 3

IP Cost - Ideally you want to spend as few IP on your pistol as possible, while still being able to weild a weapon that adds something to your offensive output. IP cost is the "other side of the coin" when it comes to specials. Lots of specials mean lots of IP, particularly for a bureaucrat where all ranged weapons skills other than pistol are dark blue. Importance: 4

Ammo Type - Personally, I don't care what kind of ammo a pistol uses, if it does what I want then I don't mind paying extra for the ammo. I've heard people say they don't like a certain weapon because the ammo (like shotgun shells) costs too much. This might make sense below level 10 when every credit counts, but after that other considerations are much more important. Importance: 0 (I know I said 1 to 5 but this really is NOT important)

Modifiers - There are a few pistols with some unique modifiers, some of which are useful for bureaucrats. One example is the Old English Trading Co. series culminating in the O.E.T. Co. Maharanee with its +25 intelligence and +25 psychic boosts. I know of people who carry lower QL versions of this pistol only for its modifier, they don't care if they shoot it or not. The idea of carrying a pistol primarly for its modifier instead of damage is discussed below under Special Strategies. Importance: 2

Other Considerations - There are certain intangibles that can make a difference, many of which are a matter of personal taste. For example, the River MV is a pistol which makes the wimpiest sound of any weapon I've ever heard. When using this pistol, people have asked me if I am using a pop gun (that is exactly what it sounds like). On the other hand, the Khemo-Tech Model 200 has a very gratifying bang and looks cool (IMHO). I'm not going to include this factor in my ratings since it is a pretty subjective decision.

Ranking of Pistols

Well, enough of the theory. Let's get down to picking the right gun. Based on the characteristics and importance of those characteristics listed above, I calculated a rating for 39 different pistols. First a couple of observations. The rankings of some pistols were a bit of a surprise. Some pistols that are popular didn't make the top 10 while some that I never really considered contenders did quite well. Choosing a pistols is very much a matter of give and take. A pistol may have a good damage output but it is slow, or it's got a decent combination of damage and speed but is projectile damage. In general, Funcom has done a pretty good job balancing pistols, but some pistols stand out as the best choice for a bureaucrat. So, here is one bureaucrat's ranking of pistols:

Number 1: QL SPECIAL Customized IMI Desert Reet 1000 - Rating 65%

Some of you may be familiar with this pistol, others may not. This is not the Desert Reet available in stores. [**Minor spoiler alert**] This pistol is only available as a QL SPECIAL (whatever that means, it used to be a QL80 but was changed in Patch 13.6) and can only be acquired from the corpse of the Lab Director at the end of the Longest Road Dungeon. It is nodrop so you'll have to go and get it yourself. There are a few reasons why this is the best pistol for a bureaucrat. First, it has the best minimum damage of any pistol by far, even compared against QL200 pistols. Second, it's fast. Third, it does fire damage. Forth, it has flingshot and burst special attacks. Finally, it is only the equivalent of a QL80 so you don't have to use a lot of IP to be able to use it. I use this pistol and stand by its number one ranking.

Here are the rest of the rankings:

Rank	QL	Name	Rating
2	100	Atlas Bern C.V. Sarcastic [1]	63%
3	200	O.E.T. Co. Maharanee	57%
4	200	PNG M1007A1 Tactical Revolver	56%
5	120	Polizziotto M202F Hailstorm Senior	55%
5	194	Soft Pepper Pistol [2]	55%
5	200	Knights Inc. Special-Purpose Pistol 29029	55%
5	120	OT Boomer M30 Stagitta	55%
9	200	Galahad Inc. T70 Khan	54%
9	200	Cold Ray Orb [3]	54%
11	200	Electron-Charged Pistol	53%
11	200	Large Ray Orb [4]	53%
13	200	OT New Pistol [2]	52%
13	200	IMI Desert Reet 1000	52%
13	199	MTI VP300 Red s. Caseless	52%
13	152	MTI B-94	52%
13	200	MTI USP 21	52%
18	200	Sentinels ETE Strike Gun	52%
19	200	OT M-10 Nano Flechette Grand Master	51%
19	175	FN Newt 7-7 Pistol	51%
21	200	Hot Ray Orb [3]	50%
21	200	Kolt 58 Magnum	50%
21	200	MTI 99 Agent Match Pistol	50%
24	200	Silver Miniblaster	49%
24	200	OT Boomer +.90AE	49%
24	200	Khemo-Tech Model 07 (Pocket)	49%
24	200	Bigburger Inc. Chapman Max	49%
28	200	River MV	48%
28	200	The Original Plasma Emitter	48%
30	200	Freedom Arms 3927 [5]	47%
31	200	Khemo-Tech Model 200 [6]	45%
31	200	Minielectronium	45%
33	200	DNA-Targetted Executioner Pistol	44%
34	200	BBI Sigma III	41%
35	200	Kolt PDW-37	40%
35	200	Zastaba-Grier Cz-200 Chapman	40%
37	200	Light Beamer Pistol	39%
37	200	Blackened Miniblaster	39%
37	200	OT Biomag	39%

[1] I was surprised by this pistol being ranked #2. I don't know any bureaucrat that uses one. I looked at the ranking calculations and this pistol doesn't do anything really well, but it doesn't do anything really poorly either. Personally, I think this may be a case of the numbers not telling the whole story. I haven't used this pistol so I cannot confirm its ranking with personal experience.

[2] This pistol was included in the data file for the 13.6 patch, I have not heard of it yet "in game".

[3] [**Minor Spoiler Alert**] I believe these pistols are also dropped by the Trash King, but do not have Atrox only restrictions.

[4] [**Minor Spoiler Alert**] This pistol is found on the corpse of the Trash King, a tough customer who lives in Athen Shire. This may not be the best choice for a bureaucrat, unless you are an Atrox since it is Atrox only.

[5] The famous "FA". This pistol is no longer found as loot or mission rewards and cannot be purchased in stores. You will have to find someone who has one from the earlier days of the game. In those days, everyone carried a pair of these.

[6] The Khemo-Tech Model 200 is a popular choice for lower levels. If you really want to stick with them, please be advised that I have never heard of anyone having found one greater than QL125.

Special Strategies - Pistols Aren't Just for Shooting!

The rating criteria used in this guide is focused on determining the best pistol for a bureaucrat based primarily on damage output. There is another strategy that a number of fellow bureaucrats have pointed out that is based on the modifiers that a pistol has. Here is a selection of those pistols for these 'special strategies'.

MTI B-94

This is a very interesting pistol that gives you an experience point buff (XPModifier) that varies with the quality of the pistol as well as having an innate nano formula that buffs your evade skills. This pistol can be dual-wielded giving you 2x the XP bonus. Here is a list of the QL and XP buffs available on this pistol:

QL	XPModifier
12 - 21	1%
22 - 41	2%
42 - 61	3%
62 - 151	4%
152	5%

Galahad Inc. T70 Series

The higher QL versions of these pistols have some modifiers that might be interesting for some bureaucrats. The QL99 Galahad Inc. T70 Tsuyoshi buffs Biological Metamorphosis and Material Metamorphosis nano skills each by 20 points. The QL111 Galahad Inc. T70 Beardsley boost Psychic by 25 and Psychological Modifications nano skill by 20 points. The QL153 Galahad Inc. T70 Priscilla boost Matter Creation nano skill by 30 and Projectile AC by 30. Finally, the ultimate for a bureaucrat as far as boosting nano skills for droid creation is the QL200 Galahad Inc. T70 Khan which boost Matter Creation and Time and Space nano skills by 30 points each.

O.E.T. Co. Series

This series of pistols provide a boost to intelligence (at lower QLs) and both intelligence and psychic at higher levels. This is useful for boost nano skills as well as equiping Int/Psy based armor such as nano or Waitt armour. Here are the modifiers for the various QL of this series of pistol:

QL	Name	Int. Boost	Psy. Boost
1 - 69	Old English Trading Co.	+5	0
70 - 89	O.E.T. Co. Pelastio	+10	0
90 - 99	O.E.T. Co. Pelastio v2	+15	0
100 - 159	O.E.T. Co. Jess	+20	+20
160 - 199	O.E.T. Co. Pelastio v3	+20	+25
200	O.E.T. Co. Maharanee	+25	+25

Other Questions and Answers

Should I dual-wield?

I guess the answer to that would be "it depends". For some pistols, dual weilding is out of the question due to the high multi-wield requirements. In these cases, you would have to weild a pistol of much lower QL in your off-hand, thereby reducing or negating the overall damage output. Dual-weilding lower QL pistols with useful modifiers might be something to consider. Personally I'd have a hard time justifying spending a huge amount of IP just to dual-weild a second high QL pistol to get an extra modifier boost.

What about ranged initiative?

At this point in my career, I haven't put any IP into ranged initiative. This is one benefit of fast pistols. However, in the future once I have put more into nano initiative, I hope to move my agg/def bar to a more defensive stance. This will likely affect my pistol speed and may require some investment in ranged initiative (but I hope not). Update as of Level 97 - I have got myself a 6-slot belt and installed a nano formula recompiler. This has increased by nano initiative to the point where I have my agg/def bar at about 75% thereby reducing critical hits on me substantially. I have not noticed any significant reduction to speed in shooting as a result of this, which so far confirmed by decision not to put IP into ranged initiative.

More Feedback

To comment or view others comments, please visit the Anarchy Online official discussion forums in this thread.

Change Log

Version 0.9 - January 27, 2002
- original draft version
Version 1.0 - February 19, 2002
- added discussion of special strategies - added new pistols (MTI B-94, BBI Sigma IIII, FN Newt 7-7, OT New Pistol, Soft Pepper Pistol)
- tweaked scores and re-ranked

© Copyright 2002

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws