Here is what ive done and its worked pretty well so far… Starting with what i did, and then what i would do differently if my main goal was just hp.
I started as a miner, and was about 105 hp or so before i started hunting seriously. I started with laser rifle till around level 18 or so and then switched to laser handgun to open up a larger variety of weapons. Continued on that till level 50, and then skilled up some melee weapons while doing the merp mission to get some quick hp from the melee related skills. Now my goal will be to return to laser handgun to reach commando…or pick mining back up, haven’t decided yet; haven’t had much time to play the last few weeks due to real life work.
If i had to do it over, and hp was my main goal… I think i would start with laser hand gun, focus on just that until level 16(maxes h400, which is sufficient for a lot of creatures); blp also works i just have experience with laser so thats why im suggesting it. After that grab some tt melee weapons and go skill up some melee skills while doing the merp missions. After that grab whatever laser rifle was maxed at that point and skill up rifle till 1600 or so which should be pretty fast for 1 more hp from the rifle skill.
If you have any desire to try mining, then after that go drop some bombs and probes. You want to get some skill in, Drilling, Surveying, Mining, Prospecting. Enough for 800 points in each would be 2 more hp, enough for 1600 points in each would be 4 hp. If you dont want to mine, or want to do it faster, just buy some skill chips to do it. Shouldnt be too expensive to bring them up just a lil bit for a couple hp.
After that you should have all the quick hp points you can get. Pick one hit profession and grind to level 40 for coolness unlock, and then to 50 for combat sense. Then to 70 for commando. Thats a long grind, with each much longer then the last. Maybe somewhere in there you might want to bring the other skills up a lil more for a couple more hp here.
If you decide to buy mining skills instead of just mining. Then this should probably be the first thing you do. So you will benefit from the extra hp from the start.
(why 1600? just those skills are all 1 hp per 1600 in the skill, the first 1600 will be MUCH MUCH faster then the next 1600, the first 800 will be much faster then the next 800 and so on. So as soon as the skills start to slow down, you move on to another you can gain fast for quick hp. There are many more skills that contribue to hp that i didnt list that are gained while doing the professions i did list. I just listed the main skill type)
Faster then that…
Start with tt melee weapons and go do the merp missions. You can do diakiba or exosaur or other small hp creatures instead; the bottom line is you want small hp creatures for a more kills/ped, for more skills/ped. Melee will give you the most hp/ped initially so focusing here first gives hp faster, but doesnt open up the laser or blp weapons as fast as starting there. Thus less weapon options, and less hunting options after the initial start.
After skilling up melee a bit 1600 or so in the primary skill, then work on handgun and rifle till 1600 or so each, then do the mining thing or buy a small amount of those skills. Then specialize in one weapon type.
