Best Available Character??
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Pestilence Posted Apr 16, 2009, 5:06 pm |
Does anyone have a clue how "best" is determined? My time for a free char. came up last night, so I recruited one, choosing "best avail.". With a recruiter spec. oin town, got Mr. Ray:
Str:57 Cour:24 Dex:17 Spd:14 Only skill above 10 (with several zeros) was driving at 20. Now I'm fine with recruiting a bad stat guy, as it's likely mostly chance, shifted a little if a "free char" and/or recruiting spec. My question is: This is really the BEST char. available? so if I bothered to spend $1000 to recruit another, that character would be worse than Mr. Ray? Just seems weird... Like I said, not complaining, just curious as to what makes a character chosen as "best" Pest |
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Shark Posted Apr 16, 2009, 5:25 pm |
It has to do with your gang fame and probably some other variables, I have gone multiple "best available" recruits in a row with each one actually getting better then the last. I assume you must need a really high fame and maybe multiple specs in recruiter to actually get the best available to be more then roulette.
That being said... Some of the more veteran players I have talked to said the recruiter spec didn't do anything immediately obvious, so perhaps its best to save that for after you have a motivator guy. Hopefully someone a bit more experienced with recruiters can give you a primary source opinion though. |
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Fealty Lost Posted Apr 16, 2009, 5:35 pm |
Pest'...I've also posted about this after getting 5...count 'em...FIVE lame-arse truckers with a 'free' shot in the balance. I had a Motivator and a Recruiter in the town...my leader ganger, in fact.
Nobody can tell you what either of those actually do for you. All they say is 'wait till you're higher level,' then it's great. Well...duh. So, basically, we lowbies are going to get trash for recruits no matter if it's free or not. I've only ever gotten one ganger with a score of above 20 in the primary category I was looking for...and I've recruited plenty. I've had reps over 1000 (briefly) and fame over 750 (again, briefly) and recruited and saw no difference. |
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Shark Posted Apr 16, 2009, 5:38 pm |
I believe we lowbies are actually competing against the other gangs recruiters, If they get the top recruits with their free weekly member, then perhaps we are left with the "slower" and more "physically challenged" recruits hehe |
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Kime Dennory Posted Apr 17, 2009, 3:10 am |
Not really. There are three possible results when you recruit. You can get a pre-existing character (with a skill higher than 20 or I believe he would not be retained in the database), you can get a newly-generated character with a skill higher than 20 and the rest below 10, or you can get a newly-generated character with a skill of 20 and the rest below 10. The last is the most likely.
Choosing 'best available' makes it more likely that you will get a pre-existing character. That's all it does. Pre-existing characters are sometimes worse than what you'd have gotten otherwise... frequently there was a reason they were fired. (I got a gunner with a dex of 10 one week, and a large gunner with a speed of 8 the next.) However, if they left because someone's gang was unable to pay them, they could also be really nice. Incidentally, fame and the recruiter spec both increase the likelihood that this will happen, but as far as I know it isn't matched against anyone else's fame/recruiter rating. You can tell you got a pre-existing character if: he is not last in your characters list when he's created (i.e. doesn't have the highest character ID) and/or if he has more than one skill above 9, a nickname, etc. Other than that, if you get a newly generated character with a skill higher than 20, treasure him. He is also likely to have a higher (possibly much higher) skill cap than the average character. This outcome is much more likely to happen with a free character than one you paid to recruit, and is also more likely the higher fame you have and the higher level recruiter you have (I *think*). However, no newly created character will ever have TWO skills above 9. Typical starting skills are 21 to 25, but some people have seen higher, in some cases much higher. Finally, if you get a newly generated character with a single skill of 20, that's the default. If he's a free recruit, his skill cap on average is likely to be higher than that of a paid recruit, but I don't know the exact likelihood. As for stats, they are not affected in any way by fame, recruiting specific skills vs 'best available', the recruiter perk, or whether a character is free or paid for. Completely independent. BTW, this is all gleaned from multiple months of scanning through *Sam* statements on the message boards. However, my memory is fallible, so it's quite possible that I've gotten something wrong. -KD |
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Marrkos Posted Apr 17, 2009, 5:49 am |
No, I think you've gotten it all, and about as right as anybody not Sam is going to. |
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*JD_Basher* jd.basher@charter.net Posted Apr 17, 2009, 5:57 am |
Yup Marrkos......
'Some' info for the game is just NOT available to us. We are left to figure the info out ourselves... Oh yeah, isn't that part of the fun of the game? JD 
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*Chase Bansi* JohnBMan033@aol.com Posted Apr 18, 2009, 2:18 pm |
*Sam* has also stated that you are more likely to get what you recruit for when your fame is 400+. That would apply to all categories including 'best available'. | ||
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Fealty Lost Posted Apr 18, 2009, 3:03 pm |
...fame 400+...BAH! That's when I got my streak of 5 Truckers...while seeking GUNNERS! And one of those picks was my freebie.
Fame: 586 Rep: 958 When I was slaughtering NPCs in DRs...my fame was much higher. ...might have to go back to my 'roots.' |
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Mad Mike Posted Apr 18, 2009, 3:15 pm |
fame has the most to do with it.
new players were meant to do town events, get high fame, then replace the characters with better ones. when I first started I got my fame over 1000 and when i recruited characters I'd get some with above 20 skill and attributes above 90 |
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t0rp0r Posted Apr 19, 2009, 2:25 am |
I actually got a character with Speed 100 ... once. 
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Iron Wraith Posted Apr 19, 2009, 9:51 pm |
My last free character from best available was driver 65. He had a nickname, but no specialty. I thought he might have maxed, but I went on a race, he gained a point and I got to choose a specialism.
So once in a blue moon it works out for you. I imagine if you confine yourself to recruiting in SS you may get whats left of the barrel. I am going to try the best available with free points in SF to see if the pool is less drained there 
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Fealty Lost Posted Apr 19, 2009, 10:47 pm |
Iron' ...yep, I've tried recruiting in Sars' with 4 slots open, including a free pick. 3 truckers...a gunner with speed 9, dex 20...and a first aid guy. All 'newb' characters.
I don't even worry about it anymore. If they have no zero skills...mid-decent stats...I take 'em and scout the beejeezus out of them. If they aren't progressing...shallow grave time. I'll be mildly surprised if a more-than-new ganger shows up sometime, but I'm not holding my breath anymore. 
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