Repair Tips and Tricks
From Seed
If you're new to Seed or still learning the basics of repairing, try the First Day Guide or Gameplay Topics - Repairs.
This guide aims to collate the tips and tricks of the experienced repairer.
These tips have all been personally verified by me (Actreal) in game, so if you have a new tip to add, please use the Talk page to suggest it so that I can test it before transferring it to the Guide. Thanks.
Beta patch information current as of 20 March 2006.
Contents |
Skills
Skills take time to train, so planning your skill training is important so that you can quickly acquire the more useful repair skills.
Repair skills can be separated into two groups: Specialist Skills and Trade-off Skills.
Specialist skills make you better at repairing a certain damage type by giving you a bonus to repair (5% per level) and giving you access to improved tool functions (e.g. Super Glue requires Engineering level 4). See the table below for the maximum Specialist skills required to use the best functions in the game as a guide to how far to train these skills.
Trade-Off skills provide trade-off abilities (see below), allowing you to increase one aspect of repair at the expense of another. Those aspects are:
- Cooldown - the time taken between repair "hits"
- Repair Quality - unspecified as not implemented yet
- Item Charge - not implemented but tools will use a number of charges for each repair and will need to be recharged
- Item Stress - the amount of stress per repair "hit" - if stress reaches maximum, the tool is damaged and will need repair
- Inspiration Drop - the chance of an Inspiration being gained from a repair job
- Salvage - unspecified as not implemented yet
Each Trade-off skill gives one ability for each skill level. The five abilities given by a single skill increase the same aspect and decrease different aspects. Basic level skills give a +25/-20% or +25%/-25% trade-off. Advanced level skills improve the trade-off to +50%/-10%
As some aspects are not yet implemented in the beta, there is currently no advantage to increasing those aspects. So the skills Quality Assurance, Repair Technician, Resource Saving and Scrounging have no use for the moment and can be ignored in favour of other skills.
Trade-Off Abilities
As some aspects are not yet implemented in the beta, there is also currently no disadvantage to decreasing those aspects.
Therefore, with the right abilities you can improve Cooldown and Item Stress for "free" (i.e. decreasing Quality, Charge, Inspiration Drop or Salvage).
Once you have advanced skills, you can also select opposite trade-offs, so that the net effect is 40% (+50% - 10%) increase to both aspects.
Inspirations
Inspiration drops are currently not implemented. Tips will be added once Inspirations are available.
Equipment
To be the best repairer, you need the best tools.
Best Value for Money Tools with No Advanced Skills
| Damage Type | Tool Name | Function Name | Repair Effect | Skill Required | Tool Base Value |
| Contamination | Monocleaner | Acid Spray | 8 Contamination | Hazmat L1 | 400 AP |
| Electrical | Basic E-kit | Wiresplicer | 2 Electrical | N/A | 3816 AP |
| Electronic | Basic E-kit | Wire and Jumper Kit | 6 Electronic | Electronics L1 | 3816 AP |
| Mechanical | Mechanized Wrench | Grease | 5 Mechanical | Mechanics L3 | 6624 AP |
| Structural | Monowrapper | Patch | 8 Structural | Jury Rigging L1 | 3728 AP |
Maximum Possible Repair Tools
| Damage Type | Tool Name | Function Name | Repair Effect | Skill Required |
| Contamination | Multicleaner | Sterilizer Ray | 18 Contamination | Adv Hazmat L4 |
| Electrical | Mech Clamper or Mechanized Wrench | Photovoltaic cells | 12 Electrical | Adv Electrician L1 |
| Electronic | Heavy Welder or Multicleaner | Soldering Laser | 12 Electronic | Adv Electronics L1 |
| Mechanical | Mech Clamper or Servo Wrench | Clamper | 12 Mechanical | Adv Mechanics L3 |
| Structural | Monowrapper | Super Glue | 28 Structural | Engineering L4 |
For more detail on all tools in the game, see the List of Tools.
Miscellaneous Tips
Targeting Repair Jobs
Sometimes a repair job can be difficult to target. You click on the hatch, but no Target or Examine icons appear. Each job has a sweet spot to access these icons and some sweet spots can be hard to find.
The middle of the hatch generally works for wall hatches.
For floor hatches, if the middle of the hatch isn't working, click on or outside the short edges of the hatch (left or right), inside the white target frame. In my experience, the short edge closest to your character works more often.
Dual Tasking
You can use more than one function on the same tool at a time:
- Use Acid Spray and Biosponge on a Monocleaner to fix 10 Contamination per "hit"
- Use Wire and Jumper Kit and Wiresplicer on a Basic E-kit to fix Electronic and Electrical at the same time
- Use Patch and Super Glue on a Monowrapper to fix 36 Structural per "hit"!
However, using dual-tasking can be tricky. For it to work, you generally need to select both functions before the repair animation begins, although occasionally I have been able to start a second function after using one function for a few "hits".
One method that has worked for many players is to make sure all previous animations have stopped, then click the first and then second function in quick succession near the right hand edge of the cooldown gauge. If it has worked, then both gauges should start to "cooldown" simultaneously.
It may take a few tries to get the hang of it, so don't get put off if it doesn't work at first.
