What side-effects?

Alright, since I'm fighting EFT to show boosters correctly, I thought I'd do some posts on the issues that give boosters a bad name: side-effects and handling illegal goods. But I should mention that these next 2 discussions DO NOT involve synth boosters. Synth is perfectly legal and perfectly safe, no side-effects, no customs agents to dodge.

But first those pesky side-effects. I must admit the ingame info window for boosters are down-right scary. Each booster has a frightening list of negative modifiers. To the untrained eye, that list makes boosters look downright foolish to take. So let's train those eyes.

I'll use standard exile as an example, a great boost of 20% in armor repair. But that list of side-effects: 20% missile explosion penalty, -20% tracking penalty, -20% armor hitpoint penalty, and -20% capacitor capacity. Ouch .. looks horrible, right?

Not really, boosters carry a CHANCE of side-effects. Standard boosters have a 20% chance. If the fates are against you and you fail that 20% chance, you will get ONE negative modifier, randomly selected. But it goes on, if you get one side-effect, you then have a 2% chance of a second side-effect, again randomly chosen from the remaining negative modifiers (you can't get same side-effect twice). If you are the unluckiest person on earth and you get a 2nd side-effect, you get a .2% chance of a third. You can see the trend downward in side-effect probability.

Note, that if you pass that first test, you are home free .. no side-effects at all! If one (or more) occur, they last the duration of the booster, base 30 minutes.

Improved Boosters carry a base 30% chance, scaling downward exponentially. And strong works the same way, with a base 40% chance.

Not nearly as frightening as that list might lead you to believe.

One final note, you can deal with side-effects with some skill trainig. As I've mentioned before, Neurotoxin Recovery gives you a 5% reduction in the chance of a side-effect occuring per level. So taking the above example again, with Nanite Control V, you havea 15% of the first side-effect, 1.5% for a second, and so on ..

The other key skill is Nanite Control, giving you a 5% reduction in the side-effect modifier per level. So with Nanite Control V, IF you triggered a side effect, it would be less punishing, a -15% modifier instead of-20%.

So don't fear that list .. oh, and do more boosters!

Don't Know Much Biology

Boosters get a bad rap and its hard figuring out why. Even CCP mentioned how boosters seem to be an untapped resource. Who can say why? CCP imagines the influence of some anti-drug education at work in the galaxy ... could they be right?!

Nah, boosters just have the mystique of the black market around them, making them is no easy task so the supply comparatively small when compared to modules and implants which offer similar boosts. Finally, like many, many things in Eve, boosters have the reputation of something that only those leet 0.0 pilots use.

All we need is some basic info to clear the air (someone been smoking?). Combat Boosters are pretty simple. They're a drug that works like a temporary implant. Just like implants, hardwiring, and modules, they give you a boost to one of many different attributes. And just like implants, hardwiring, and modules, boosters come in different strengths offering greater boosts.
But in Eve, there's always a price. The other shoe I hear dropping is side-effects. I have found that people are terrified of the potential side-effects. But don't let fear get the best of you.

Like named tech 1, named, and tech 2 modules, boosters come in different strenghts. Every type of booster comes in Synth, Standard, Improved, and Strong varieties. Synth is your basic version. It offers the smallest boosts but there is ZERO chance of side-effects and synth boosters are legal in empire. Standard strength and above offer increasing boosts but also come with some risks. First, besides synth, these boosters are illegal contraband in Empire space. But this is a pretty meaningless obstacle, one easily overcome. Second, standard and above carry a risk of a side-effect which gives you a penalty in some stat or attribute. The greater the strength of the boost, the greater the chance of a bigger side-effect. The devil's in the details ... in future posts, I'll examine those pesky numbers.

One last thing, boosters are easy to use, requiring just a few basic skills. Unlike tech 2 modules, you don't need a lot of skillpoints to get a good drug habit going. The basic skill required to use boosters is Biology, a level 1 skill. The only pre-requisite is Science I. Each level of Biology gives you a 20% boost to booster duration. The more you know, the longer the high. All told, you could be using the highest grade booster with a 5-6 hours investment in Biology training.

There are 2 other booster specific skills. These skills work to make your booster high a pleasant experience. Nanite Control is a level 2 skill requiring Science IV. Every level of Nanite Control reduces the severity of any side-effect, IF one even occurs in the first place. The other skills is Neurotoxin Recovery, a level 5 skill requiring Nanite Control I as a prerequisite. This skill reduces the chance of side-effects occurring.

A bit of training and you're ready to get into the hard stuff without big risk of side-effects .. who could ask for anything more?!

Stay Tuned .. coming up: "Need to Get it Up? Booster Effects and You" and "And They Call Me a Criminal! Booster, Implant, and Module Prices Compared"

And as always ... need a boost? drop me a line ...