Creature Handling Context 4
This is a consolodated version of a post I'd made some time ago. I've updated some of the information to reflect changes in-game as well as correcting some of the information. Special thanks to everyone that posted questions and answers on the first version of this FAQ; let's keep it going!
Q: How do the new changes regarding the "transfer" command affect me? A: That depends on if your pet was trained with the "transfer" command before it was given to you. If it was, life is pretty much the way it's always been: you can trade your pet with other folks, store it in a droid's datapad or similar. If it wasn't, then the question becomes whether or not you're a CH yourself. If you are, and eventually get (and teach your pet) the "transfer" command (which comes with the skill "Creature Management 4") you will then be able to continue the same as you did pre-patch. If you are not a CH and are the owner of pets that do not have the "transfer" command taught to them, you will not be able to give you pet to anyone else for any reason. This includes learning new commands, renaming, etc.
Q: What do I need to feed my pet? They keep telling me they're hungry! A: Any normal food will do, either foraged or crafted. Note that this has to be real food, not food-type resources. if you get the fork-and-knife icon over it in your inventory, that's the right stuff. This also has the side-effect of healing Health and Action wounds.
Q: When my pet wants to play? What are they asking for? A: Using your pet's "trick" or "trick 2" command will sate their desire to play. This also has the side effect of healing your pet's Mind wounds as well as refilling their Mind pool.
Q: I'm a CH and I keep getting a larger "?" when trying to train. What's up with that? A: That just means that your new creature didn't understand you. Keep trying. It may take a few tries, but eventually they'll get it.
Q: My pet is losing Vitality. How do I fix that? A: You find a Bio-Engineer (BE) that can make Pet Vitality Packs. Be aware, however, that these can be expensive since they can't be factory produced. Also, know that each use of one of these devices will cause your pet to have a *permanent* loss of 1 point of vitality. They're really only useful if you've got a powerful pet that down some serious vitality. The change in the most recent patch took out a lot of the sting of pets losing vitality. They suffer absolutely not stat reductions until they're at less than 75%, which also makes that permanent loss much less of a bother.
Q: About Pet Stims. What's the deal with them and where can I get them? A: They are a special kind of stim that can only be used on pets. They are different in that they require *no special skills* to use (and therefore give no xp either), and also work on a different timer than do normal medical stims, so a CH or Medic that has the medical skills to use normal stims can use both on his/her pet (or medical on themself and pet stims on their creature). These can be very expensive also, again due to the fact that they cannot be mass-produced. Plan on paying somewhere in the neighborhood of 1k-2k per stack of 12-20 depending on the quality and effectivness, and assuming you can find anyone to make them for you at all, of course.
Q: What's the difference between a Housepet and a Companion pet when speaking about non-CHs? A: The term "House Pet" usually refers to someone that's taken a bio-engineered creature and simply dropped it without adding it to their datapad. This makes the creature behave much like furnature in houses in that you can look at them, but not interract with them. Companions, on the other hand, are new with the most recent "big patch" that allows non-CHs to tame smaller animals. Normally, these are Cu-Pas, Bearded Jaxes and the like, and are choses as much or more on their appearance than on their ability to fight.
Q: So if I'm not a CH and buy a Companion Pet, can I train it new commands? A: Nope. Any command the pet has or lacks is the fault (or favor!) of the CH that trained it before it was sold/traded to you. If you want to add more commands later, or change the wording that your pet responds to, you'll also need to seek out a CH. Your pet will also need to know the "transfer" command. Be certain you trust this person with your pet, as you have to give it to them for the training!
Q: What's better for pets? Bio-Engineered animals or wild creatures? A: A large portion of this will be dependant on what exactically you want to use your pet for. If you're a novice CH and are looking for something that can take the paint off a house at 50m, chances are you will want to go out and find yourself a wild baby that has a greater chance of becoming a true beast, as the current BE pets are difficult to train relitive to their power. For example, with only Taming 1, you can go get yourself a Greater Sludge Panther (8k HAM, 250-260 dmg full grown) from the wild, versus something like a Drewback (4.5k HAM, 150-160 dmg) from a BE. As far as housepets and companion pets, go, though, BEs can make some truly fun things that are easy to control, even for a non-CH. Examples of this include the Bearded Jax which are popular due to their cute appearance, or the Gualaama, which is popular in PvP due to its Stun attack.
Q: What are the best pets that Non-CHs can manage? A: Well, again the answer is somewhat subjective, although there are some clear examples of some animals that are better than others. The maximum Challenge Level (CL) a non-CH persona can control is 15. Examples of pets that are at or near that level (and, by definition, more powerful) are the Cowardly Gurrek (wild tamed, CL 15), Rock Beetles (wild tamed, CL 13) and the Kahmurra (bi-engineered, CL 15). The differences between them include resistances (how well they absorb certain types of damage), armor (how much damage they can simply eliminate against any type of non-armor piercing attack) and appearance (how they physically look). When you're choosing your pet it's best to do a bit of homework first to find out what creatures have what stats. Also, know what you want and also what you want to spend. There can be a large disparity between different creature types, or even within the same creature if they're bio-engineered. Cost will also become a large factor for many of us, and there can be a very large price difference between pets based on percieved power and availablilty. Just do your homework and you'll be fine!
Q: What can I expect to pay for a Companion? A: This varies pretty wildly, depending on the CH/BE selling the pet. Personally, I usually sell trained Bearded Jaxes for around 2000 credits, or trained Gualaamas for 3000 credits.
Q: What can and can't the Creature Handler teach a companion pet to do before it's sold? A: A CH can teach a pet any commands that are available to that CH before he/she sells the Companion pet. For example, I have lvl 1 CH skills, so can teach a creature: follow, attack, release, group, trick1(play), and stay. Whomever I then transfered the creature to would then have access to those commands.
Q: How do I heal my companion? A: You can use either Medical Stims, which require some degree of Medic skills, or Pet Stims wich have no skill pre-requisites.
Q: Will my pet regenerate? A: Yes, but since the last patch very slowly. Tricks restore mind (wounds and damage), but can no longer be used during combat. Food will heal Health and Action Wounds, but not damage to the Health or Action pools.
Q: WIll my pet die? A: Under normal circumstances, no. I've heard that in PvP they may suffer perma-death but can't confirm this. Normally, a pet that is killed is only Incapacitated, even if the creature/NPC it was fighting is a "killer". If you wind up at the cloning station your creature will find its way back to your datapad, wounds and damage skill intact.
Q: How many pets can I store on my datapad as a non-CH? A: 2. In order to store more, you would need to be a CH with Creature Management, Creature Training or Creature Empathy at lvl 2 or higher.
Q: How many pets can I have in play ("called") at one time? A: For non-CHs, you can have 1 creature, one droid, and 3 faction pets fielded at the same time. Increasing the number of pets you can have in play at a time requires the CH skill Creature Management at lvl 3 or higher.
Q: I bought bearded jax form the bazaar/vendor but I can't use it, options are examine, detroy and tame. When I try to tame it I get an error. So how does a Non-CH use a pet bought from the bazaar? A: You can't buy pre-trained pets from the bazaar; pets sold there are consider in "deed" form. You'll need to find someone with at least novice CH skills to tame and train it for you, at which point they'll be able to pass it back to you for you to control. Unfortunately, once the creature has been tamed it is in data format so can only be passed from hand to hand.
Q: How do I know what my pre-trained pet's commands are? I can't seem to get it to do anything! A: If you look at your creature in your datapad, it will have the commands that it knows along with the verbage that it will respond to invoke that command listed. For example, it will have "Attack: Fluffy attack" and similar.
Q: How do I name my pet? Do I have to wait for it to become fully grown? A: You do not have to wait. Any trained creature can be named as young as a baby. The way this is accomplished is using its name during training. You click on it, select "train" and then the command you'd like to teach it. Use its desired name as the first word of the command. After learning 4 commands this way, the pet will figure out you're calling it by name. For example, if you wanted to name your new Rancor "Fluffy", you could train the attack command as "Fluffy attack", the follow command as "Fluffy follow", and so on. On the fourth such command the Rancor would now have "(Fluffy)" above its head. Once a pet has been re-named, you can change the commands to whatever you like, omitting the name if you desire.
Q: As a CH, what skill tree allows me to tame bigger, more agressive creatures? A: This is the "Taming" line from the CH skill tree. Note that you cannot tame *any* creature that is considered aggressive (shows red on your mini-map/radar) until you have at least lvl 2 in this skill. To train a truly fearsome beast such as a Gurrek, you'll most likly need to master that skill line (lvl 4 in Taming). This is not the skill line that allows you to control higher level creatures, however, so to control a full-size monster such as this (CL 50) you'll also need high levels in the "Training" skill line.
Q: So about this Greater Sludge Panther. I can't seem to find one, and if I do, will I be able to tame and call it? A: They live on Talus, but are very uncommon. They can spawn nearly anywhere, but almost never do very close to the cities. They are not agressive, although they are killers, so while you can Tame one with Taming 1 a failed attempt could buy you a trip to the Cloning facility. You will also need to have at least Training 1 to manage a fully grown GSP, as they grow to CL 23.
