Carbonum Plate Armor
Carbonum is a porous plastic like material that is resistant to chemicals and blunt trauma. It is often used in the construction of casings for electronics and occasionally armor, but is considered to be sub-optimal because it decays quickly over time.
Carbonum armor is the standard for crafted armor. Relied upon by players to stay unsquished, and crafters to make their bread and butter. Goodly amounts of what you need, nothing much of what you don't. Whether it's their first choice or their last resort, many will use it at some point in their careers. Its required Abilities are Stamina foremost, then Dexterity. It can be upgraded on two different paths, each exclusive to Omni and Clan players. Upgrade with Clanalizer per piece to a Storm Carbonum Armor and with Omnifier per piece to Omni Carbonum Armor
Carbonum has two ACs the highest: Melee and Chemical. It has four medium ACs: Projectile, Fire, Cold, Poison. And it has the infamous "holes", or low ACs, of Energy and Radiation.
Carbonum is a little on the high side for requirements, for its level. This means that when comparing other armor to Carbonum, one needs to look also at the requirements of the other armor and compare them to Carbonum. If they are significantly lower, then one may equip the other sort of armor at much lower character levels, or higher QLs of the other armor at the same character level. Having said that, only Strength/Stamina armor is easier to equip (Essence of Behemoth, Iron Circle, etc) than Carb, with its Stamina/Agility requirements. Agility and Stamina are even easier to Implant than Strength/Stamina, with both available in the Leg implant slot (Agility Shining), and no conflicts with Melee Weapons. Shining Stamina only conflicts with Dimach. Strength Shining, on the other hand, conflicts with all the Melee Weapons skills except Martial Arts.
Appearance and stats
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stat compared to Carbonum Armor equal/better/worse. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Upgrade to Omni and Storm
Upgrade with Clanalizer 
per piece to a Storm Carbonum Armor
and with Omnifier 
per piece to Omni Carbonum Armor
Clanalizers and Omnifiers are consumed in the upgrade process.
Carbonum manufacture
Required Skills
- Chemistry (CH)
- Computer Literacy (CL)
- Electrical Engineering (EE)
- Mechanical Engineering (ME)
Required Components and Tools
| Component | *1 | Location | Min Ql |
| Sheet of Curved Carbonum Plating | C | Shop Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Components and Armour and Clothing Components |
Defines QL |
| HSR - Sketch and Etch (1 or more of the six types*) |
R | Shop Pharmacy and Chemistry Tools and Bases |
N/A |
| Screwdriver | R | Shop Tools for Electrical and Mechanical Engineering |
N/A |
| or | |||
| Mass Relocating Robot (Shape Hard Armor) | R | Rare Loot/Tradeskill | |
*Helmet, Arms, Chestpiece, Boots, Gloves and Leg
The Screwdriver and the HSR-Tools only exist as QL10. They work perfectly well for all QLs of Carbonum.
There would have to be a good reason to use the rare/expensive MRR instead of a Screwdriver; the requirements for the combination, using the MRR, are much lower than with the Screwdriver
Tradeskill Process
The combination of items in Anarchy Online works as follows:
Open the tradeskill window (Ctrl-t). Here you can place the Source (often a tool) in the left box, and the Target in the middle box. two items you want to combine. The resulting product item, or Result, if there is one, will be displayed in the right box. The number of possible combinations that can be made with any item as Source or Target, even if that number is zero, will be shown below the box. A detailed look on the Result item is possible with a simple shift-left-click on it. This examination can be performed upon items in storage packs. Until a combination is performed, the items remain in their storage packs, and do not move to main inventory if the Tradeskill window is closed. If there is no free inventory space before combining items, the item will end in the overflow window, even if items are consumed in the process, leaving an inventory space.
Provided no information on any of the ingredients is desired, the optimum way to combine items is: Bring both items to main inventory. Pick up the Source and hold the item graphic on the cursor over the Target. While holding down Shift, right click. The Result product and tool, if any, will return to inventory. A small number of recipes, e.g. Treatment Libraries, will consume items which are usually used as tools, e.g. Hacker Tools, and not consumed in other recipes.
Example for a sleeve:
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+ | 
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= | 
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Skills: CH, CL |
| HSR - Sketch and Etch - Arms | Sheet of Curved Carbonum Plating | Etched Pattern for Carbonum Arms Can add 2 QL to item |
QL x 4.5, QL x 3 | ||
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+ |
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= | 
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Skills: EE / ME |
| Screwdriver | Etched Pattern for Carbonum Arms | Carbonum Plate Arms | QL x 5,5 / 6 | ||
| or | |||||
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+ |
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= |
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Skills: EE / ME |
| Mass Relocating Robot (Shape Hard Armor) | Etched Pattern for Carbonum Arms | Carbonum Plate Arms
Can add 2 QL to item |
QL x 2,5 / 4,5 | ||
None of the above tools are consumed in this process.
Breakpoints
NCU and Nano Initiative Breakpoints
Bonuses to NCU increase with level of Carbonum armor
NCU
- Level 1-15. . . . . +1 NCU & NanoC Init per piece
- Level 16-43 . . . . +2 NCU & NanoC Init per piece
- Level 44-72 . . . . +3 NCU & NanoC Init per piece
- Level 73-100. . . . +4 NCU & NanoC Init per piece
- Level 101-128 . . . +5 NCU & NanoC Init per piece
- Level 129-157 . . . +6 NCU & NanoC Init per piece
- Level 158-185 . . . +7 NCU & NanoC Init per piece
- Level 186 and above +8 NCU & NanoC Init per piece
Or, to put it another way, Carbonum gets additional NCU and NanoC Init every 28.5 levels, rounded down, beginning with level 16.
Max Nano increase per level
Max Nano = (QL x .8) +1. Every level of carbonum gets 1 + .8 x QL, rounded up. At Quality Level 1, 1.8, rounded up to +2 max nano. At QL 2, 2.6, rounded up to +3. At 3, 3.2, rounded up to +4. At 4, 4.0. Or to put it another way, +1 every level, except for no +1 at every fifth level, starting with no +1 at QL5.
Pros and cons of Carb
- All parts can be bought in shops, therefore reliably obtained.
- Bonuses to NCU, Max Nano and NanoInit (nice for professions which rely on nano skills).
- Parts will get expensive at higher QLs
- Low protection from Energy AC and Radiation AC
Addendum: Carb set at level
Since Carbonum is often used as a comparison with other sets, here are values for various QLs of the full set:
| Carbonum | * | 75 | * | 150 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ProjectileAC: | - - - | 1336 | - - - | 2943 | |
| MeleeAC: | - - - | 1607 | - - - | 3531 | |
| EnergyAC: | - - - | 664 | - - - | 1437 | |
| FireAC: | - - - | 1336 | - - - | 2943 | |
| ColdAC: | - - - | 1336 | - - - | 2943 | |
| RadiationAC: | - - - | 664 | - - - | 1437 | |
| ChemicalAC: | - - - | 1607 | - - - | 3531 | |
| PoisonAC: | - - - | 1336 | - - - | 2943 |
See Also
Reference Links
- Carbonum Armour Calculator - AO Tradeskills
- Carbonum QL1 (-200). Auno database
- Carbonum Armor Manufacture Illustrated - AO Universe
