Overview

With Chapter 5, traders will gain the ability to craft a reverse engineering tool. The trader will then be able to use this tool to deconstruct items, weaponry, armor or clothing in-game and extract "Bits" to create item upgrades that can be applied to other items to enhance them. Deconstructing an item through reverse engineering will destroy the original item, but it will always produce a Bit of some form, so the trader's efforts and items will never be wasted.

Deconstructing an Item

The reverse engineering tool is very easy to use. The trader simply places the item that he or she wishes to deconstruct into the tool. The item will not be deconstructed until the player activates the tool, so traders can avoid accidentally deconstructing the wrong item. Upon activation of the tool, the item will be destroyed and a Bit will be created in its place. The Bits created will be related to the item that was originally deconstructed, and will take the form of either a "Power Bit" or a "Modifier Bit," both of which are necessary to craft an item upgrade.

Deconstructing weapons, armor or clothing that have bonus stats will result in creating a Power Bit. For example, if a trader deconstructed a weapon that had +5 precision, the result of the reverse engineering process would create a Power Bit with a value less than or equal to five. A player's skill in reverse engineering, along with luck, will determine how close the Power Bit is to the original item's value. Creating an item upgrade with a single stat requires a "1st Order Power Bit." Players can create item upgrades with two or three stats if they have purchased the expertise skill to do so, but they will also need to have an existing item upgrade with a single stat, a 2nd or 3rd Order Power Bit, and a Modifier Bit.

The Modifier Bits are obtained when traders use the reverse engineering tool on two junk items, generally those dropped from droids or NPCs. Most combinations will result in a "common" Modifier Bit that corresponds to one of the six major stats: strength, agility, stamina, constitution, luck and precision. However, there are close to 120 combinations throughout the galaxy that will result in "rare" Modifier Bits that deliver a host of bonuses for combatants and crafters alike.

Crafting Item Upgrades

For the most part, Power Bits created through the reverse engineering system can be used to upgrade any piece of weaponry, clothing or armor. However, traders must fashion the Power Bits into an upgrade specific to the type of item he or she wants to enhance, using the Modifier Bits.

A Power Bit and a Modifier Bit are combined in the reverse engineering tool to craft the item upgrade. For example, combining a Power Bit of +5 with a Modifier Bit of "strength" will result in an item upgrade of +5 strength. Also, the trader can choose between two different forms for the item upgrade: permanent (Skill Enhancing Attachments) and temporary (Power-Ups). The SEAs can be applied to items that have an open socket on them. These sockets are found only on crafted items. The Power-Ups only last for a limited time, but they can be applied to crafted, dropped or rewarded objects, regardless of the number of slots.

Applying Item Upgrades

Once an SEA or a Power-Up has been acquired from a trader, any player may apply the upgrade to the item by dragging the upgrade onto the item in the player inventory. Common SEAs can be applied to any socketed piece of weaponry, clothing or armor, but there are some rare and powerful SEAs that are limited to shirts and breastplates.

Only one Power-Up can be applied to an item at any given time, but players can apply a Power-Up to an item that has already received an SEA.

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