Tech Spark Types

Tech Spark Types is a character attribute that determines what techs this character is capable of sparking throughout the game. As noted in the Tech Sparking article, tech sparking is a function of what a character can spark, and the enemy that you fight against. These are the two primary attributes you need to be concerned about when sparking techs.

As a general rule, people who start with bows/epees/spears will be able to spark most of the tech lists.

Strategically, the most efficient way to go about sparking techs is to look at the current level of enemies you're fighting, look at what techs are missing, and get the appropriate type that has the right tech on their list, then just hammer away at it. The tech sparking article will give you a good idea as to where you are.

There are a total of 16 character spark types Type 00: Pugilist Type 01: Ascetic Warrior Type 02: Bow Type 03: Epee Type 04: Spear Type 05: Hammer Type 06: Axe Type 07: Stagnant Type 08: Samurai Type 09: Polearm (Axe/Spear) Type 10: The Swordmaster Type 11: Greatsword Generalist Type 12: Generalist Type 13: One-hand Sword Generalist Type 14: One-hand Sword Type 15: Sorceror

For unarmed (the pugilist and the ascetic warrior)
For all intensive purposes, the pugilist and the ascetic warrior are virtually identical in their ability to spark martial art techs save for 2 areas. The Pugilist gets the quadruple kick, while the ascetic warrior gets Dispel Evil and Cat Trick. Beyond that, the Ascetic Warrior is also better at Greatsword and Spear tech sparking. Most martial artists are pugilists, with a single one being an ascetic warrior. Surprisingly, ascetic warriors are much harder to come by, as they are only 3 such characters, one in martial artist lineup, and two in the herder's lineup. (My guess is that herding is a pretty zen activity)

Bows
Bow techs are pretty straight forward to spark. Most people who start with bows as their primary weapon can spark the entire bow tech list. This is why rangers, hunters, and iris are the most reliable bow tech sparkers.

Epee
Epees can be a bit trickier to spark, mostly because a lot of character classes you expect to just be good at epees tend to be better at other things as well. Female light infantry tend to be pretty steady epee sparkers (about 50% of their lineup consists of type 3 sparkers, with the rest being type 14s, which can spark about half of the epee list). The best epee sparkers, however, are the moleman, who are ALL epee specialists.

Spear
There are actually two avenues to sparking spear techs. You can either go with a spear specialist (type 4) or a polearm specialist (type 9). Type 9s are more common in the early game. Amazons, male Mercs, male holy order, male nomads, and privateers all have type 9s mixed into their lineup. The spear specialist is almost exclusively found in the imperial guards. (Specifically, the male imperial guards)

Hammers
Hammers can be tough to spark in the early stages of the game, since most hammer users are mixed in with the casters, which mean your casters will have to pull double duty. (That and a lot of the casters are terrible hammer sparkers, so it's hard to know if you got a hammer sparker or just a caster on hand) The best hammer tech people are probably the herders. The next best up would be the casters. (Ocean Woman,Nereid,court casters F, holy order F, etc)

Axe
Axes are pretty simple. There are two ways to spark axe techs, either through an axe specialist (type 6) or through a polearm specialist (type 9) that and you will find characters who can be reliable axe sparkers. Privateers, Nomad M, and Amazons are all reliable axe sparkers. If you find yourself without any of these guys, there are also a secondary list of characters who sometimes turn out decent axe sparkers. Holy Order M and Merc M can fill in for a pinch.

One Hand Swords
Getting one hand sword techs can be tricky. The techs are spread out among different spark types (swordmaster, samurai, one-hand sword generalist, greatsword generalist, and the one handed sword specialist) Not a single type among this list will get you 100% of the sword techs. What's worse, you will never get a single class that can reliably churn out sword specialists. (Except the samurai from the Eastern Guard) Type 13s are readily available from the very beginning, which will net you parry and sweep down but not much else. Eventually, the 1hs generalist will also get atomic cut at difficult 15. However, this means you will go through a period where your 1hs techs do not grow at all. This gap can be filled with a type 11 for a short period of time, who gets the double cut tech. However, you would do better to find yourself a type 14 (1hs specialist) or type 10 (swordmasters) in the interim. The 1hs specialists can be found with light infantry F and the Merc F lineup, but requires a bit of luck, since it's about only 50% of these classes will come with a type 14. Once you get past mid game though, swords become easier to spark, what with you having better access to samurai types and 1hs Specialists.

Greatsword
In the early stages, you will be filling your greatsword needs more or less with type 11s, the GS generalist. You will note that most Light Infantry Ms are type 11s, with some filling up the Merc M lineup. For the early stages of the game, you really can't go wrong with Light Infantry M guys, since as GS generalists, they will get every early tech up up to double negative sword. The only three techs that type 11s will not get are mortal sword, swallow cut, and no light sword. These are, of course, all extremely high level techs to begin with. (Swallow cut and No Light Sword are both difficulty 40 techs to spark. No Light Sword can't even be sparked off the cuff and must be done through Double Negative) What this really means is that in the early stages before you have access to samurai or swordmaster types, you can just stick with the GS generalists. However, as you start to spark the mid-tier techs and move into the higher level ones, before you move into your last generation, you NEED to make sure you get a samurai type or a swordmaster type to spark the high end techs. This means make sure you get around to recruiting at least one eastern guard at some point.

Stagnant
The stagnant type is generally reserved for story purposes are not allowed to spark techs. (Lest they get too powerful) There are only 3 characters who are stagnant, which are Gerard, Leon, and Coppelia.

Sorcerer types These are not meant to be warriors. They can spark maybe 2-3 low level techs in most weapons (just like other types with weapons they are not specialized with) however beyond that they really cannot do much. Usually, these are intermingled with the type 05s, what with most type 15s being casters and casters generally start out with a club.