However it's not all that easy to find all the equipment needed to make some of these armors.

Before we take a look at the various Armor types lets cover the general components you are going to need that aren't sold in the shops.

Programmed MMR (Shape Hard Armor) / (Shape Soft Armor)

This is the real bottleneck in becoming a true Armor producer. To make a Programmed MMR you combine a shop bought Mass Relocating Robots (Available from any good trade skills area) with a Programmed Photon Particle Emitter (Shape Hard Armor) or a Programmed Photon Particle Emitter (Shape Soft Armor). These PPPE's are the hard thing to find.

	PPPE Shape Hard Armor
	PPPE Shape Soft Armor

They drop as team mission boss loot but only at a certain QL, around level 60, they are also a fairly rare drop.

You have two choices, do lots of missions around that QL and hope you get lucky, or pay for one. These items fetch very high prices at the moment, anywhere from 50 to a 100 million credits. If you have the cash and want to splash out keep a close eye on the shopping channels for auctions.

This guide will go through the various types of Armor and the processes required to make them, detailing what you need to make them, and where to find them.

Notum Chips / Fragments

These can either be a notum chip or a notum fragment (Note that notum nuggets wont work). These are drops from mobs or chests in missions. You will need these to be within 10% of the Armor you are attempting.

They are not common drops but you will find them semi regularly whilst running missions be it in a team or soloing.

	Notum Chip
	Notum Fragment

There are other items required but we will cover those as we go through each type of armor.

The Armor Types

• Carbonum Armor.
• Bronto Hide Armor.
• CAS Armor / Barter Armor.
• Metallic Mantis Armor.
• Junkmetal Plate Armor.

Carbonum Armor

The Process

To make Carbonum Armor you need Carbonum Sheets (which can be bought from tradeskill vendors), a Programmed MMR (Shape Hard Armor) and an Etch and Sketch Tool.

Take your shell that you want to make into Armor and use the Etch and Sketch device for the piece of Armor you want on it, this requires Comp Lit and Chemistry Tradeskills. The result will be the shell with Armor pattern Etched on it.

The etched shell is now ready to be cut and shaped, this is done by using it with the correct Programmed MMR. This will result in the piece of Armor you require. This step requires Mechanical engineering and Electrical Engineering.

There is also another method that doesn't require the MMR and can be done with an ordinary screwdriver. All you do is follow the recipe above but use a screwdriver instead of the MMR. However the skill required to use the screwdriver is a lot higher then with the MMR, the highest carb you will be able to make with the screwdriver method is 180ish.

	Carbonum Sheet
	Screwdriver

With screwdriver it will take 6XQL in Mechanical Engineering and 5.5XQL in Electrical Engineering

The Results

It's a nice Armor for nano users with all its bonuses, but requires STA and AGI, not necessarily the base skills that nano classes will be raising. At QL200 it requires 580 Stamina to equip, that will probably mean implants or major buffs will be needed for most nano classes.

It's also good Armor for Atrox's as well as the Nano and NCU boosts help them make up for areas they are traditionally weak in.

It's main weakness is an almost total lack of Energy AC, meaning that any mob that deals energy damage (like robots and probes) will cut through you like a hot knife through butter.

Bronto Hide Armor

The Process

For this you will need the base material for Armor (Bronto hides, more about these later), B.B.I. - Nano Enhanced B-12 Tanning Acid and your Programmed MMR (Shape Hard Armor).

The BBI acid can be found in the usual trade skill vendors. One note about the acid is that it is always QL10, don't worry as this is normal and will work on any QL you are trying.

The Bronto hides themselves drop off of Brontos in the wild, and at higher levels can be found as Boss Loot or team mission chest loot. Each different type of hide provides a different type of Armor.

	Large patch of soft bronto hide - Used for Pants
	Large patch of hard bronto hide - Used for Chest.
	Patch of soft bronto hide - Used for Sleeves.
	Patch of hard bronto hide - Used for Boots.
	Small patch of soft bronto hide - Used for Gloves.
	Small patch of hard bronto hide - Used for Hood.

The Process

Take your hide that you want to make into Armor and use the BBI acid on it. This requires Chemistry Tradeskill and Agility. The result will be a tanned patch of the appropriate hide.

The tanned hide is now ready to be cut and shaped, this is done by using it with the correct Programmed MRR. This will result in the finished piece of Armor.

The Results

The Armor adds nicely to most AC's, but has a slight weakness in Energy and Radiation Damage. It's a matter of opinion if this Armor is better or worse for normal play, but I wouldn't recommend it for PvP where both those damage types are common.

CAS Symbiotic Armor & Barter Armor

These lovely looking new armors can be made through trade skills. Quite apart from looking quite stunning they are nice modifications of the armors on which they are based.

CAS Symbiotic Armor
This Armor is made from modifying Organic or Graft Armor, which can be found in QL 75+ and can be found as mission rewards or bought in superior shops up to QL125.

	Organic Armor Helmet
	Graft Armor Helmet
	Organic Armor Body
	Graft Armor Body
	Organic Armor Sleeves
	Graft Armor Sleeves
	Organic Armor Gloves
	Graft Armor Gloves
	Organic Armor Trousers
	Graft Armor Trousers
	Organic Armor Boots
	Graft Armor Boots

Barter Armor
This Armor is done by modifying nano Armor and is Trader only. Nano Armor is found in QL 75+ and can be found as mission rewards or bought in superior shops up to QL125.

	Nano Armor Helmet
	Nano Armor Body
	Nano Armor Sleeves
	Nano Armor Gloves
	Nano Armor Trousers
	Nano Armor Boots

Note that the Cloak and Cloak hood can't be modified into Barter Armor.

For each part of the Armor you do the following:

• 2 pieces of Notum, These can either be a Notum Chip or a Notum Fragment (Note that notum nuggets won't work). You will need these to be within 10% of the QL of the Armor you want to be making.
• Inactive OT Metamorphing Liquid Nanobots.
• Nano Programming Interface.
• A piece of Organic or Graft Armor (for CAS Armor).
• A piece of Nano Armor (for Barter Armor).

	Inactive OT Metamorphing Liquid Nanobots
	Nano Programming Interface

The Process

Take Inactive OT Metamorphing Liquid Nanobots (remember this has to be within 10% QL of the notum pieces) and combine it with Nano Programming Interface and you get: Activated OT Metamorphing Liquid Nanobots. This requires exactly four times the QL of the Nanobots in Nanoprogramming and 2.5 times the QL in Computer Literacy to complete

Take the Activated OT Metamorphing Liquid Nanobots and combine it with a piece of notum and you get Stabilized OT Metamorphing Liquid Nanobots.

Combine that with a second piece of notum and you get Super-Stabilized OT Metamorphing Liquid Nanobots.

Both these steps require four times the amount of the QL of nanobots in Nanoprogramming and one times the QL in Chemistry to complete.

This is the liquid you need to modify your Armor with. The Armor as to be within 10% of the QL of the liquid nanobots. Combine nano Armor piece with liquid and you get a piece of the relevant Armor.

This final step requires four times the QL amount of the Armor piece in Nanoprogramming to do and 4.5 times the QL in Chemistry

The Results

Both these armors, quite apart from looking very, very cool, offer good protections and are well worth the time to make even though the notum chips and fragments can be a pain to find at certain QL's.

Metallic Mantis Armor

The Parts for this Armor are found in the Smuggler's Den Dungeon. You can find them as random drops off the following mobs:

• Den Mantis Digger
• Den Mantis Drone
• Den Mantis Earthmelder
• Den Mantis Forager
• Den Mantis Runner
• Den Mantis Scout
• Den Mantis Burrower
• Den Mantis Worker

The drops are purely random, but do seem to speed up the further you get into the dungeon. The parts you are looking for are as follows:

	Deformed Mantidae Abdomen - Used in the creation of Metallic Mantis Body Armor.
	Deformed Mantidae Tarsus - Used in the creation of Metallic Mantis Boots Armor.
	Deformed Mantidae Femur - Used in the creation of Metallic Mantis Sleeve Armor.
	Deformed Mantidae Tibia - Used in the creation of Metallic Mantis Leg Armor.
	Deformed Mantidae Head - Used in the creation of Metallic Mantis Helmet Armor.
	Deformed Mantidae Wing - Used in the creation of Metallic Mantis Gloves Armor.

The Process

Using your Mass Relocation Robot (Shape Soft Armor) on the pieces. This takes exactly 3.5 times the piece's QL in Mechanical Engineering skill to achieve, 2.5 times the QL in Intelligence and 2 times the QL in Agility.

The Results

The main addition of this Armor is the nice bonus to energy and projectile damage. There are some other miscellaneous bonuses, and the Armor offers decent AC. The only real drawback is that this Armor only comes in QL's 70-130.

Junkmetal Plate Armor

The Process

To make Junkmetal Armor you need Junkmetal Sheets which you get when using Precious Metal Reclaimers (bought from tradeskill vendors), pieces of Robotjunk (common drops from robots of all kinds and levels), a Programmed MMR (Shape Hard Armor) and an Etch and Sketch Tool.

Take the Robotjunk you wish to make into armour and use a Precious Metal Reclaimer on it to make it into a Junkmetal Sheet (The Reclaimer is used up in the process). This step requires 6XQL in Electrical Engineering.

Take your sheet that you want to make into Armor and use the Etch and Sketch device for the piece of Armor you want on it, this requires 4.5XQL Chemistry Tradeskills. The result will be the sheet with Armor pattern Etched on it.

The etched sheet is now ready to be cut and shaped, this is done by using it with the correct Programmed MMR. This will result in the piece of Armor you require. This step requires 5XQL Mechanical engineering and 4XQL Electrical Engineering.

	Sheet of Junkmetal
	Etched Pattern for Junkmetal (Armor Piece Name)
	Robot Junk (High QL)
	Robot Junk (Low QL)

There is also another method that doesn't require the MMR and can be done with an ordinary screwdriver. All you do is follow the recipe above but use a screwdriver instead of the MMR. However the skill required to use the screwdriver is a lot higher then with the MMR. With screwdriver it will take 6.5XQL in Mechanical Engineering and 6XQL in Electrical Engineering

The Results

It's a nice Armor for tanks wanting more hp love or squishier classes wanting to live a little longer, but requires STR and AGI so seems more guided towards tanking classes. At QL200 it requires 570 Agility and 476 Strength to equip, that will probably mean implants or major buffs will be needed for most nano classes untill the latter levels where other armors will be naturaly more apealing.

The Armours only real pitfalls besides the rather high construction reqs is rather large holes in Fire and Cold ACs.

Conclusion

So that's all you should need to get going. There is one other Armor type that can currently be made by players - The Living Dragon Armor, but that's for another guide entirely.