T3-M4 stopped making computer spikes

[Little Nemo]

I'm not sure if this is a bug. I'm playing the Mac version. My third time going through the game, I decided to try to buy up every special item available, which of course requires a lot of credits. So naturally, since I hate both swoop racing and pazaak, I had T3-M4 make me computer spikes. He would make 11, I would put them in a container, he would make me 11 more, etc. Then I sell them on Yavin. I never had any problem doing this before, but now he stops after a certain number and refuses to make any more. I tried selling the ones I had, but it didn't matter. I even put everything in my inventory into a container, but it made no difference. I went back to my last save and tried again. Same thing. I don't know how many I had him make before that save, but after that point my inventory of computer spikes peaks at 53 and he won't make another.

Is this an absolute limit to the number he'll make, or have I encountered a bug?

[Il_Padrino]

T3-M4 will only make 30-odd spikes (33, I think) before running out of supplies. I assume there is a similar limit on Canderous's stims and Zaalbar's grenades, specifically to prevent what you're doing -- i.e., provide a limitless source of credits.

You may hate swoop racing and pazaak, but sadly they're the only way to make enough cash even to come close to affording lots of high-end equipment. I'm not familiar with the Mac version, but if it includes Yavin, then your best bet is to sell spare equipment at no store other than Yavin (the vendor's purchase prices are about 50% higher than anywhere else) -- and that includes the racing vouchers you win for the Tattooine swoop track. Also, if you beat the Yavin vendor at 10 hands of pazaak, he offers a fairly substantial discount, on top of the 7500 credits you win for beating him. Personally, I almost never use grenades, and so treat them as an explosive form of currency.

[Little Nemo]

Thanks for the advice. I went back to an earlier save, before I maxed out in the way I described, then went on to get another Star Map. I then tried again, and this time got him to make up to 73 or so before he refused to make any more. I wonder if the number of spikes he will make at a given moment depends on how many Star Maps you have? Anyway, I quickly abandoned the idea of collecting all the special items in the game, since I wouldn't actually use the vast majority of them.

And, yes, this time through, I have been careful not to sell anything anywhere else but Yavin.

Thanks again!

[Little Nemo]

Since then I've played the game through a few more times. What I ended up doing was to simply stop buying things. Almost everything you need will be provided to you through the course of the game. The only items I found to be must-haves are the Electrical Capacitance Shield, which can only be purchased from the sleazy guy (Avi? Ari?) who sells stuff by Czerka Landing Port on Kashyyyk for about 8000 credits, and the two special crystals (the Heart of the Guardian and the Mantle of the Force), which you can only buy from Suvam Tan after you've acquired all five star maps and BEFORE you visit the Unknown World. Of course, you have to take care of his lizard problem first. Anything else you can buy (the Dominator Gauntlets, the Cardio Power System, the Gordulan Reaction System, etc.) is icing on the cake, but none of them will make the game noticeably easier.

[Il_Padrino]

Yeah, a *lot* of the high-end equipment is pure convenience or bragging rights. Certainly for your PC you don't need much, especially with a lightsider (the Qel-Droma robes and Circlet of Saresh will see you through almost all of the game) and/or doing Genoharadan missions. (I confess to a weakness for the CNS Strength Enhancer, and if I'm not playing some mix of Scout or Consular I always get Calrissian's Utility Belt to make repairing HK-47 a little more feasible.)

The issue for me comes with tricking out your NPCs and which ones you use. HK-47 is hilarious, but if you don't splurge for one of the upgradeable rifles found on Tatooine, Dantooine, or (for the endgame) Yavin he's actually pretty awful in combat. Canderous is a monster if you rebuild him as a melee fighter, but you're going to want to spend a chunk of change on Yusanis's Blade or Sanasiki's Blade if you want him to do serious damage before getting Bacca's sword on Kashyyyk, and at some point you'll want him in the Heavy Exoskeleton. Same thing with Carth as a blasterslinger -- Cassus Fett's Blaster is a must have (and if you decide to go with a party of melee fighters, which is a pretty defensible choice in the first game, you're going to be buying swords left and right).

NB: I wrote this mostly because I love reeling off these silly names.

[Little Nemo]

Whoa, Il Padrino you are the guru. I have never bothered to use non-Jedi except where a particular mission requires the presence of one, so the idea of tweaking the stats of any of those characters never occurred to me, and I've never seriously thought to buy any of those items. Maybe this time through (my eighth) I'll treat the non-Jedi characters more seriously. I didn't even realize Bacca's sword was so powerful. Is there a way to make Mission actually useful? Her default sniper shot is lame, and in the sewers of Taris I'm always just trying to keep her from getting killed.

[Il_Padrino]

I played both KotORs far more than was healthy back in the day. Just something about them sucked me in; I don't think I'd responded to a game so viscerally since Fallout 2. I like using all the characters as much as I can, both as a challenge (oh boy is there almost no good way to use T3-M4) and because of the interactions you can see with different people in different situations. Next time through, try taking Canderous and HK-47 through your trials at the Sith Academy. They have some priceless stuff to say. (Although Canderous threatening to wring Jolee's neck is pretty hard to top, I have to admit.)

Yeah, Bacca's Blade is VERY powerful, but it's not the champion of melee weapons. Check out Yavin after the first restock (I think it happens after you've found two Star Maps, not including Dantooine, and it definitely happens a second time after you've found all the Star Maps and are about to leave for the Star Forge) -- you'll find the unbelievable Baragwin Assault Blade, which is so good I've considered letting my PC use one instead of a second lightsaber. Canderous built as a melee fighter with two Baragwin Assault Blades (or just one and Bacca's Blade), Heavy Combat Exoskeleton, and a Nerve Amplifier Belt is almost unstoppable. Carth is almost as good as a melee fighter, but Canderous is better, and if you're planning on using both of them it can spread out the better swords a little too thin. Carth with Cassus Fett's Blaster, the Sith Assassin Pistol dropped by Admiral Karath, and dressed in the Environmental Bastion Suit is pretty badass.

All that being said, I've never been able to use Mission effectively. I feel like there must be some way, because there's a huge amount of high octane gear that is obviously geared toward Scoundrels -- most of the Genoharadan stuff, the Baragwin Shadow Armor (which can be bought immediately upon reaching Yavin and which is not too pricey), the more powerful stealth units -- and yet she simply doesn't have the hit points to withstand serious damage. Even with a high Defense -- even without spending lots of time on her she's liable to have the highest defense of all your party at the end of the game -- she still gets whomped on. She doesn't get enough feats to make focusing on Toughness worthwhile, and even WITH them she still gets her ass kicked. She'd likely be better as a melee fighter, but her Strength is subpar and she already has pre-selected feats to guide her toward ranged combat. Canderous and Carth are easy to rebuild as melee fighters because they get so many feats, but poor Mission doesn't have that luxury.

It might just be a combination of ranged weapons being awful in the first game and the Stealth system being poorly implemented. Ideally what you'd do with Mission is have her move in under a stealth field, sneak attack with Critical Shot/Strike, then kill the mook while he's stunned. But using Stealth takes an ungodly amount of time AND once she's de-cloaked she's in hostile territory, far from stronger characters who can have her back, and way too frail to deal with the situation.

It's a shame. She's a pretty well-written character. If anyone ever built her well, I'd love to hear about it.

[Darth Malignus]

T3-M4 will only make 30-odd spikes (33, I think) before running out of supplies. I assume there is a similar limit on Canderous's stims and Zaalbar's grenades, specifically to prevent what you're doing -- i.e., provide a limitless source of credits.

You may hate swoop racing and pazaak, but sadly they're the only way to make enough cash even to come close to affording lots of high-end equipment. I'm not familiar with the Mac version, but if it includes Yavin, then your best bet is to sell spare equipment at no store other than Yavin (the vendor's purchase prices are about 50% higher than anywhere else) -- and that includes the racing vouchers you win for the Tattooine swoop track. Also, if you beat the Yavin vendor at 10 hands of pazaak, he offers a fairly substantial discount, on top of the 7500 credits you win for beating him. Personally, I almost never use grenades, and so treat them as an explosive form of currency.

I read somewhere that the amount of items available from your party members depends on how many planets you've completed. AND, the reason that, say, Canderous will tell you that he's out of stims is simply because your inventory is already full of stims.

Off hand I don't remember how many spikes I got from T3, but it was a hell of a lot more than just 33. At some point anyone producing items (T3, Canderous, etc.) will tell you that they're out, if you keep bugging them for stuff. When that happens, go to the cargo hold, put all your items in a container and ask them again. You'll find that they've got more items after that.

In all of my playthroughs, DS or LS, I've never once had to play one damn game of pazaak or race one swoop race because I was low on cash. I've been able to purchase all of the items I wanted and still have coins to spare.