This page describes the various buffs that can help you equip the HUD Upgrade: Enhanced Target Acquisition, dropped by T.I.M., the slayerdroid at the end of the Biomare facility (aka "TLR Mines" or "Foreman's Office") in The Longest Road. The main goal is to get it equipped without having to use any IP. Presumably you're not an Agent, or otherwise trained in Rifle and Aimed Shot. You won't need to worry about over-equipping rules, since the full benefit of the scope will be available no matter what regular skill you have; over-equipping rules apply solely to armor and weapons.
Since the scope requires 394 Rifle and 317 Aimed Shot, the biggest helpful buffs come from an Agent. Unexpected Attack adds 120 to Rifle skill, and Take The Shot gives 130 to Aimed Shot skill. These are fairly high level, and I think Agents less than level 150 will need a bit of extra buffing to cast them, either from another Trader or Meta-Physicist or by going False Profession and buffing themselves. It could be a bit of a hassle for them, so be prepared to pay for their time. While you have that Agent handy, also get Feline Grace (Agility +25) and Enhanced Senses (Sense +15), which will help with trickle down to Rifle and Aimed Shot.
Alternatively, you could use a lower level agent for Sniper's Bliss to get +50 Rifle and +15 Aimed Shot, but in my opinion the difficulty of searching out a higher level agent for Unexpected Attack and Take the Shot is really worth doing so. Depending on your situation the +50 Rifle boost from a Soldier's Rifle Mastery, which does not stack with the other specialist Rifle buffs, might be sufficient for you.
A Trader's Wrangle affects only Rifle, not Aimed Shot. You can get a maximum bonus of 132 to Rifle from a wrangle. If you have never had a wrangle before, be aware that they only last a couple of minutes, so if you need one it should be the very last buff you get, just as you are ready to install the T.I.M. scope. All of your implants, other equipment and buffs should already be set. You might find that the Agent is even willing to False Profession to Trader for you to do the Wrangle.
You can hot-swap a Targeting Scope - Vision Enhancer for more Aimed Shot skill. By "hot-swap", I mean that when you right click the T.I.M. scope in your inventory, which will be installed to the same HUD3 slot that a Vision Enhancer occupies, the bonus to Aimed Shot from the Vision Enhancer will be counted toward the skill check for the T.I.M. scope. (Note: this is unlike implants and armour, which would first subtract the bonus from the already installed item.) The great thing about a Vision Enhancer is that it requires only Perception to equip, and though many people do not raise Perception until later in their character's development, it can be buffed more than any other skill in the game, up to 837 points with the Adventurer's Stare of Cerberus (+600) stacking with the Fixer's Karma Harvest (+130) and Blood Makes Noise (+107). A QL260 Vision Enhancer only requires 721 Perception and gives +304 Aimed Shot, which combined with the general nanoforumla Aimed Shot Expertise easily meets the requirement for the T.I.M. scope. However, getting the Vision Enhancer (even a QL250, the maximum blitzable), Stare of Cerberus and the Fixer buffs might be a bit of a pain, so plan as though you will have not quite so high a scope. While you're hitting up Adventurers for Perception buffs, though, you might want to see if you can get an Eagle Eye from them. It is +20 to Aimed Shot as well as +80 to Perception (and because of the Perception component, it does not stack with Blood Makes Noise). Be aware that the Adventurer buffs are level restricted; the recipient of Stare of Cerberus has to be at least level 175, and the caster level 185. For Gaze of the Hunter (+400) the levels are 135 recipient/145 caster, Vision of the Wolf (+200) is 75/100, and Lucus Opulus (+120) is 25/50.
Don't forget Rifle Expertise and Aimed Shot Expertise for another 20 each, as well as boosting core abilities for 3 more points of trickle-down.
Also don't overlook easily obtainable equipment that can boost Aimed Shot and Rifle. By "easily", I mean things you, or someone of the appropriate level that you get to do it for you, could pull a single player mission to get the item as a reward. It might even be in shop terminals, but you might have to camp them til it turns up. The Galahad Inc. Cinnamon Scout adds 20 to Aimed Shot, and the requirements to equip it will be easily met by everything else you are doing to raise Rifle and Aimed Shot. The QL50 Gripo-Com AKR 1K21 adds 15 to Aimed Shot and 15 to Agility, and you could probably sell it to a low-level Agent when you are done with it, since it is a popular weapon and QL50 is the maximum available for the line. (Thus acquiring one largely will depend on your ability to pull exactly QL50 missions.) The OT-Windchaser M06 Hematite (QL26-29) and OT-Windchaser M06 Ruby (QL50-169), part of the great M06 line of buffing rifles, add 12 to Rifle or 12 Aimed Shot, respectively. At the higher end of buffing weapons that still require less skill than the scope itself, you will find the Scoped Nomad 21.7 BMG Ranger for +20 Aimed Shot. Similarly, the lowest Tsakachumi PTO-HV3a Counter-Sniper Rifle requires nearly as much Rifle skill as the scope (386 vs 394), but if you can get to 386 Rifle and are just looking for those last few points, this could make the difference. Lastly, if you have Notum Wars and your organization has towers, you could place a Guardian Conductor of Ransacking tower, and/or your guild leader could add Universal Advantage - Specialist Aim, for additional boosts to Rifle and Aimed Shot.
I specifically left out the M150 N.A. Booster Edition rifle from the items above, because its additional requirements for Burst and especially Full Auto would only complicate the process of equipping it. If you already have skill in those areas, however, or don't mind implanting it, it would be one more option for an additional 16 to Rifle.
Of course, there are implants. You will need temporary implants to make up the difference for whatever you can't get from buffs. Rifle and Aimed Shot conflict in Shining Eye and Bright Right Wrist, but do not conflict in Left Wrist (Rifle) or Right Hand (Aimed Shot). Given that the Right Hand does conflict with Treatment, however, might limit your implanting options some. At QL125, which a character as low as level 60 could potentially squeeze into, Shining gives +68, Bright is +40 and Faded is +27.
You could get up to 210 bonus from triple implanting with QL200 implants, but frankly if you are able to equip QL200 implants, you don't need to do this, so I'll work with the easily obtainable 125 implants.Finally, don't forget that Rifle benefits from Sense and Agility trickle-down, and Aimed Shot from Sense. I won't cover all the ways you can raise Sense and Agility, but keep in mind the following armor you or your friends may have acquired in team missions: Kirch Kevlar, Sekutek Chilled Plasteel, Nova Dillon, and Servants of Eight.
So here are the best ways you can boost Rifle skill directly. These are not all the ways I described above, just what I would consider the main options.
| Rifle | Source |
|---|---|
| 132 | Maximum Trader Wrangle (58 NCU) |
| 120 | Unexpected Attack from Agent (42 NCU) |
| 67 | QL125 Bright+Faded Rifle Implants |
| 20 | Rifle Expertise (4 NCU) |
| 12 | OT-Windchaser M06 Hematite |
| 3 | Agility and Sense Boost (6 NCU) |
| +354 | TOTAL |
Here are the best ways you can boost Aimed Shot directly. Again, these are not all the ways, just the main options.
| Aimed Shot | Source |
|---|---|
| 130 | Take The Shot from Agent (47 NCU) |
| 107 | QL125 Shining+Faded Aimed Shot Implants |
| 30-300 | Targeting Scope - Vision Enhancer |
| 20 | Eagle Eye from Adventurer (24 NCU) |
| 20 | Aimed Shot Expertise (4 NCU) |
| 20 | Galahad Inc. Cinnamon Scout |
| 3 | Sense Boost (3 NCU) |
| +310 | TOTAL (*) |
(*) Of course, you could not use both the Hematite and the Cinnamon Scout at the same time, so the total Aimed Shot does not include it. The total also uses only a QL100 Vision Enhancer, and still it would easily get you over the 317 requirement. It just shows you the flexibility you have.
Indirectly, the following buffs will also help out.
| Rifle | Aimed Shot | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 0 | Feline Grace (17 NCU) |
| 2 | 4 | Enhanced Senses (9 NCU) |
Lastly, here are the boosts provided by Vision Enhancers at various QL in my stash of them:
| Aimed Shot | QL | Perception Req |
|---|---|---|
| 34 | 102 | 167 |
| 36 | 103 | 175 |
| 41 | 106 | 198 |
| 125 | 150 | 543 |
| 142 | 159 | 613 |
| 150 | 163 | 645 |
| 163 | 170 | 699 |
| 197 | 188 | 840 |
| 211 | 195 | 895 |
From this, the formula can be deduced to be Aimed Shot = (QL - 100 * 1.9) + 30. Example: QL130 is (130 - 100) * 1.9 + 30 = 87. The Perception requirement is roughly (QL - 100) * 7.83 + 151.
Here is a sample of how a level 75 Opifex could go about equipping the scope. It assumes maxed Sense and Agility (unbuffed at 235 and 240 respectively) and minimal Rifle and Aimed Shot (unbuffed at 64 and 63). The steps are listed in the order they would be done. If you wonder how a level 75 can get into QL125 implants, you might want to refer to the methods in my Sample Plan for Installing QL200 Implants at Early Levels. In short, if you have maxed Treatment (and maxed Sense and Agility of this example), then with just a Med Suit, +20 Treatment Expertise, +80 Superior First Aid from a Doc and a QL70 Shining Surgery Head Implant, you should be able to do it. Even without maxed treatment, it would still be possible. After the implants are in, if NCU is an issue you can cancel whatever buffs you needed to put them in. The buffs listed below need a total of 147 NCU.
Below is how Bima, a Solitus Fixer, got his scope equipped at level 106 without even needing a wrangle or any Aimed Shot implants. His base Sense and Agility were maxed at 324, and with the Tir rings and his regular Sense/Agility implants he started with a base of 97 in Rifle and 93 in Aimed Shot. I've glossed over the details of how the high level implants were installed, which is covered by the QL200 Implants plan.
This is a condensed form of the essential parts of Bima's original plan for equipping the scope. It was actually quite a bit more involved than that, because at the time I also wanted to upgrade my maps and some other implants. Thus putting in the high level rifle implants wasn't that big a deal, because I wanted to also put in high level map navigation and new permanent implants. If you are curious, you can see those notes in their original plaintext form at http://www.dd.org/~tale/ao/bima-scope.txt.