Automaton

An automaton is made up of two interchangeable parts, the head which controls the behavior of the automaton, and the frame which determines your automaton's stats, weapon skills and damage type. Both the head and the frame contribute to the total number of elemental slots the final automaton will have; thus determining which attachments can be equipped. There are a total of four frames and six heads that can be acquired. See Puppetmaster: Upgrading Your Automaton to find out how to get them all.

Automatons have their very own gear called Attachments. An automaton carries all of its attachments in its own inventory and can equip up to twelve different attachments. In order to use an attachment it must first be traded to Tateeya in Aht Urhgan Whitegate (I-7) where she will add it to your automaton's inventory. Once traded attachments cannot be removed from the automaton's inventory but it will never be consumed or otherwise lost. Although attachments do stack to 12 for crafting purposes an automaton can only have one of each type and once traded it is available to use on all head/frame combinations.

Automatons are limited to what attachments they can equip by their elemental capacity. An automaton's elemental capacity can be seen in its equipment menu. Each dot and the # / # beside it is your Automaton's elemental capacity. The first number is the elemental capacity being used by the equipped Attachments of that element, and the second is the total capacity that can be equipped at once. Different Automaton Attachments have different charges; lower ones can be equipped in greater numbers, and those with higher charges only a few. Your Frame and Head determine not only your Automaton's HP/MP, skill caps, and stats, but also its available elemental capacity.

While most attachments are used to enhance an automaton's stats (such as Accuracy, Attack, Magic Defense etc.) others will give them job traits like Double Attack or Conserve MP and some will give them job abilities like Provoke or spell-like abilities like Stoneskin without using MP but requiring Maneuvers. Others are unique to automatons and help them perform better. See Automaton Attachments for a complete list.

All attachments are either enhanced or activated by the use of corresponding Maneuvers. The more maneuvers of one element active the more powerful the corresponding attachments will be. For instance with both Tension Spring and Tension Spring II equipped the automaton will receive a total of 15% attack (5% fromTension Spring and 10% from Tension Spring II) with no Fire Maneuvers active. With 3 Fire Maneuvers active the automatons attack will go up by 45%.

Abilities

Ability	Attachment	Maneuver
Blaze Spikes	Reactive Shield	Fire
Meditate*	Heat Capacitor	Fire
Provoke	Strobe	Fire
Barrage	Barrage Turbine	Wind
Blink	Replicator	Wind
Stoneskin	Shock Absorber	Earth
Erase	Eraser	Light
Flash	Flashbulb	Light
Convert**	Mana Converter	Dark
MP Restoration	Economizer	Dark
Shield Bash†	None	None

* Unlike Samurai's meditate, the TP is gained instantly instead of over a short time.

** Unlike the Red Mage's convert, the MP is gained over a short time instead of instantly, and only 50% of the automaton's HP is converted. (It is one-way and cannot be used to gain HP like convert).

†Useable only by the Valoredge frame. Unlike other automaton abilities, Shield Bash cannot be triggered by a maneuver but can be enhanced by attaching a Hammermill. The automaton will automatically use shield bash if it is ready to attempt to interrupt enemy spell casts or TP move charge-ups.

Traits

Trait	Attachment	Element
Attack Bonus*	Tension Spring, Tension Spring II	Fire
Store TP	Inhibitor	Fire
Conserve MP*‡	Power Cooler	Ice
Magic Attack Bonus*	Loudspeaker, Loudspeaker II	Ice
Evasion Bonus*	Accelerator, Accelerator II	Wind
Ranged Accuracy	Scope	Wind
Defense Bonus*	Armor Plate, Armor Plate II	Earth
Accuracy Bonus*	Stabilizer, Stabilizer II	Thunder
Add. Effect: Lightning Damage	Volt Gun	Thunder
Double Attack	Coiler	Thunder
Counter	Galvanizer	Thunder
Magic Defense Bonus*	Mana Jammer, Mana Jammer II	Water
Auto Regen*†	Auto-Repair Kit, Auto-Repair Kit II	Light
Auto Refresh*†	Mana Tank, Mana Tank II	Dark
Conserve MP‡	Mana Conserver	Dark

* The effect of appropriate Tier I and II attachments does "stack" when both are equipped.

†Requires appropriate maneuver for the trait to be active.

‡The Power Cooler is a direct % savings on mp cost while the Mana Conserver bestows the Conserve MP trait, but both attachments serve the same purpose to reduce MP costs.

Unless noted, traits are always active with the relevant attachments equipped. The strength of traits can be enhanced by having 1-3 maneuvers of the related element active. See attachment pages for specific details.