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| Experience (XP) Types Added together, these form your Overall Level (OL) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Combat | Explore | Trade |
Combat Experience (aka Combat XP) is a form of Experience (issued in the form of points) gained by performing combat related functions (see below). You can see your current Combat Level at any time by hitting the "Y" key on your keyboard and checking the "Skills" tab in the window which will pop up.
When you have accumulated enough points to bring your teal-coloured combat bar up to 100%:
- you will advance to the next combat level,
- a Skill Point (used to upgrade any of your skills) is issued, and
- your combat bar will reset to zero.
As your Combat Level (CL) increases, the number of experience points neeed to reach 100% also increases. The maximum combat level is 50. After level 50, you can still earn combat experience points and a skill point per level, but the combat level number will remain at 50.
Gaining Combat Experience
There are several ways of gaining Combat Experience:
- Engaging MOBs (aka "Monsters or Beasts", or "Mobile Entities") in battle. The number displayed next to an enemy's name is its Combat Level. By comparing this number to your own CL number will give you an idea of whether you are looking at total success, a chance of success, or obliteration! Various tactics, such as kiting, can increase your chances of survival against a more powerful opponent.
- certain Missions may give combat experience points as a mission reward
- take Combat Jobs at a starbase Job Terminal (these are formal contracts and occupy space in your Mission Log).
- by being a member of a hunting/battle group (of up to 6 pilots). Combat Experience points generated by the group are shared equally amongst its members. A complicated set of conditions exist relating to the generation of combat points by groups (see next section).
Combat XP acquisition conditions
In order to regulate the acquisition of combat points appropriately, various conditions appply:
- If a mob's Combat Level is too far below yours, you will earn fewer or no Combat XP points.
- If a mob's CL is close to and above yours, you will earn more points according to the difficulty of defeating your opponent.
- If you are a junior pilot in a group with senior pilots who overwhelmingly outgun you, nobody in the group will earn any combat points unless the most senior pilots kill something that has a high enough CL so that it will earn them points. If you are a junior pilot tagging along with a high-level safari squad hunting Big Game, you may wish to make every effort to minimise your ship's signature to avoid attracting unwelcome "one-shot kill" attention to yourself as much as possible. Although extremely dangerous for junior pilots, tagging along on a hunt for highest level mobs can be extremely lucrative in terms of Combat XP (and also Trade XP if the senior pilots of the group agree you can tractor in high-level loot. Remember their ammunition will cost a lot more than yours and they may need a certain amount of loot to cover their financial outlay).
- If hunting in a group of pilots all of whom have the same or a very close CL number, you may find that as more equally-ranked pilots are added to the group, the combat XP rewards may start to drop. You can test this by dropping one or two pilots from the group and seeing if killing the same mobs generates more XP.
- A note for when fighting ungrouped: Combat XP is attributed to the pilot who has dealt the majority of damage to a mob. If you see someone battling a mob and decide to help them out on the spur of the moment without being grouped, if you do more damage to the mob you could end up inadvertently stealing the combat XP - a breach of pilot etiquette. Should you see a struggling pilot who is not about to immediately die, you should either ask if a hand is wanted, or wait and observe until the mob is more than half dead before assisting.
Skills with a Combat Level Prerequisite
Your Combat Level (CL) is a prerequisite for the upgrading of particular skills:
- All skills relating to armaments (Beam, Missile, and Projectile weaponry).
- Critical Targeting
- Energy Leech (JDs only)
- Psionic Shield (JDs only)
- Summon (JDs only)
- (this list is incomplete — please feel free to add skills in alphabetical order once confirmed)