SWG Basic Combat Training: TKO Hunting Group Methods and Tactics

§VIII Introduction: MOBs and Lairs

Objectives:
- Understand fundamental MOB spawning patterns and behavior.

1. MOB Spawning
1. Trackers off scale man! They're all around us man!
   There are times when your radar may suddenly light up with spawns. Here are some reasons why and what to keep in mind about them:
   1. Dungeons
      Lots of MOBs populate dungeons and it often takes the server some time to spawn them for your client. You may walk over an underground dungeon area and suddenly there is red everywhere. Radar and OM do not distinguish elevation.
   2. Spawn Rings
      Around every city, outpost, POI (point-of-interest), theme park and faction base with mission terminals or mission-granting NPCs there are two rings of missions spawns. One is approximately 1.5km, and the other about half that. These spawn rings are created by people taking missions, and frequent player presence in the area. Past 2km, there should be far less frequent spawns.
2. General Lair Spawning Patterns
   1. Lair-first Spawning
      Generally speaking, a lair will spawn before the lair's MOBs. When you move into an area and see a yellow square on appear on radar, expect MOBs to spawn around the lair shortly thereafter. You may be able to determine from the type or name of a lair (such as a 'Pile of Rocks' or 'Baz Nitch Nest' ) what MOBs will spawn, and whether they are aggressive. This is a matter of familiarity with what nests spawn what creatures on a particular planet.
   2. Lair Spacing
      Lairs tend to spawn 65m or farther apart, but mission spawn areas in which many players are taking missions may spawn lairs very nearly on top of one another. This can cause aggro spawn mixed with non-aggro spawn, which can be difficult to see on radar since the MOB indicators may be on top of one another.
   3. Spawn Radius
      MOBs spawn randomly within a 65m radius around a lair, but seem to spawn mostly within 3/4ths that distance. Nevertheless, standing within 65m of a spawning lair may result in a MOB spawning right on top of you, behind you or between you and your group.
   4. Spawning Rounds
      1. First Round Spawn
         The first round of spawns appear with the lair and usually number 5 or fewer. Different species spawn different numbers.
      2. Second Round Spawn
         A second round of MOBs will begin spawning almost immediately after the lair is attacked even once. It is a common tactic to tap a lair by hitting it once, using /peace and retreating to 65m or farther. Second round spawns seem to only appear one at a time over a period of time, and can sometimes be attacked and drawn away from the lair before another spawns (a risky move). The second round spawn is about the same as in number as the first round, the lair taking a set amount of damage (about 15% of the total lair health) each time it spawns a MOB.
      3. Third Round Spawn
         A third round of MOBs spawns once the lair has taken 66% or more damage*. The third round will begin even if the damage to the lair which brings it down to half is done by its own spawning of the second round MOBs.
      4. Spawn After the Third Round
         A lair may have as many as 5 distinct spawn rounds, but typically only three.
2. Special Events Caused by Rate of Lair Damage
   Between gradually destroying a lair and obliterating it before the GL can say "Wait for melee to hit the nest" is a rate of lair destruction that can cause special events to occur with some MOB types. It is the GL's job to determine when and how to approach and attack a lair, and it is vital that group members follow the GL's directions.
   1. Healing
      Most MOBs will heal their lair, and/or the lair will heal its defenders, if the lair is taking damage rather quickly. The defenders must be very close (5m or so) to receive and give healing.
   2. Boss Spawns
      Doing a lot of damage at a fairly fast, rate will cause some lair types to spawn Boss Mobs in a sort of last act of vengeance before the lair is destroyed. The number of lair types which will spawn Boss MOBs are relatively few at the time of this writing.
3. MOB Assist and Support
   1. Same Lair MOB Assist
      No matter what the color of the dot on your radar, most creatures will support one another if you attack them. A few non-aggro MOBs will not assist their lairmates and often make for relatively easy kills (these types are called 'no aggro, no assist' MOBs).
   2. Assist Range
      At a certain range, MOBs will not notice if their fellow species/faction being attacked. If the MOBs are too close together, most MOB types will assist the target you attacked and help it defeat you. However, if a target is 45 meters away from its lairmates, you can be fairly certain the others will not notice their lairmate in distress.
   3. MOB Defense of Lair
      No matter the range, all spawned MOBs will attack anyone attacking their lair.
4. MOB vs. MOB
   Some MOB creature species are natural enemies and will automatically attack other species, but there are certain conditions which must be taken into account before using this fact as a strategy to help take down MOBs.
   1. Smelling Blood
      Certain natural enemies, such as Nuna and Chuba, will attack each other if their natural enemy is being attacked within their aggro range. Most MOBs may attack anything, even their own lairmates, if they are fighting very close to one another.
   2. Aggro Range
      Most natural enemies will not notice one another until they are within aggro range. Particularly handy are a group of non-aggro MOBs, such as Malkloks, appearing near their aggro enemies, such as Purbole, since you can lead the aggro MOBs attacking you over to their enemies without fear of being attacked by the non-aggros, but gaining the advantage of having the non-aggros attacking their natural enemies. This tactic does not always work, and natural enemies may ignore each other when fighting a player character.
   3. Skittishness
      Some MOBs have natural enemies but will tend to run away if alarmed. These aren't the best MOBs to rely on to assist you or your group in a fight against their natural enemies.

* Thanks to Qin for calculating the precise threshold for third-round spawn.