IntroductionGalactic Starfighter is an unusual little mode, squirreled away in the bowels of SWTOR. My experience has been that a lot of people are intimidated by it, or otherwise scared away from diving too deeply into it thanks to its intense learning curve and PvP focus. I think this is a shame, because it's the deepest, and in my opinion, best thing added to SWTOR since launch (possibly rivaled by Strongholds, but that's just me!).
This guide is intended to be very basic and easy to skim through for newbies looking for quick explanations. For a more thorough instructional series, I recommend checking out
Derrad's excellent guide here.
halp how 2 lock s-foils in attack position??Well I'm glad you asked! In this guide, I'm going to focus on getting you through your first 10 matches or so - specifically, how the Tier 1 Scout and Tier 1 Strike Fighter that you start with work, and how to learn the ropes from there.
I advise all GSF newbies I fly with to expect a lot of difficulty in their first 10 matches - it's a steep learning curve, and it takes some patience to get the hang of things! So don't get discouraged if you seem to do poorly at first - that's normal!
Important SettingsBefore you jump in, I recommend looking at the GSF settings buried in the options menu. Somewhere in there there's a setting that enables advanced tooltips for your hangar screen - I highly recommend turning this on, as it gives you much more information about your ship's equipment and upgrades!
Also be aware that the controls are very sensitive. Unfortunately, I don't think there's much you can do about it, so be prepared to learn very smooth, subtle movements to manoeuvre your starfighter!
In terms of keyboard controls, be prepared to use a lot of keys near WASD! You'll need your number keys, the function keys above them (F1, F2, F3, and F4), spacebar, and a few other odds and ends. Some dogfights can result in a lot of frantic button pressing as you desperately try to evade incoming missiles while recharging your shields and pulling a hard turn!
HangarOne last thing before you start blasting into the nearest furball - hangar setup! As a rookie pilot, you don't have too much to worry about yet, but if your character is high level and/or has lots of story progression done, then you'll want to look at your
Crew options. Some basic crew are available to all characters, but as your progress in your class story you also get access to your class companions and even Legacy companions. Each companion has different stat bonuses when assigned to a crew position on your starfighter, and an additional active ability when chosen as your Co-Pilot.
For these rookie matches, I recommend choosing crew who boost
Evasion or
Accuracy where possible, and the
Repair ability on your Co-Pilot - this will give you a self-repair ability on your
4 key. As you play more, you'll get a better understanding of the various crew options, at which point you should experiment and see what suits your playstyle!
This is it, boys. It's time to cut across the axis and try to draw their fire.Hit that queue button! Sometimes the queue can be a little slow depending on the time of day. For some company - and helpful pointers - don't forget to
/cjoin GSFHopefully, the most basic controls are mostly self-explanatory, but just in case: Holding
W will make you move fast, holding
S will make you move slow, and holding
spacebar will use your Engine Power to boost at high speed across the map.
Left mouse button fires your lasers, and
Right mouse button uses your secondary weapon (for missiles, hold it down to lock your target, then release once you have a solid tone!). Press
E to target an enemy in front of you.
Your Tier 1 Scout - NovaDive / S-12 BlackboltScouts are fast, agile, hit-and-run dogfighters - your abilities help you get into fights and then get back out very quickly! If you find yourself getting damaged, don't try to 'tank' it -
RUN! Hit your boost and BOLT! Tactically, you want to try to ambush enemies who are already engaged with one of your teammates, then zip back to safety when the enemy notices you. It's very difficult for a rookie scout pilot to successfully dogfight an opponent who's aware of them - you are welcome to give it a try, but if you're feeling outmatched, there's no shame in boosting to the nearest teammates in search of some assistance!
Familiarise yourself with your weapons:
- Rapid-fire Lasers - Unfortunately, these are terrible weapons for newbies. They are very situational, and you should focus the first Requisition you get on upgrading these to standard Laser Cannons.
- Rockets - These are very good but tricky weapons to use. They're actually easier than they seem - they hit anything directly in front of you, exactly like your lasers. Don't let the graphics fool you! Unlike your lasers, however, they have a very narrow arc - only shoot them at targets right in the centre of your screen.
Your special abilities are on your
1,
2, and
3 keys, plus a Co-Pilot ability on
4. Your defaults are:
- Engine Boost - This is your Scout's bread and butter. Piloted well, a Scout's lifespan is measured in its Engine Power Pool, and this ability recharges it! Use it as an emergency reserve, so you can boost out of a fight or evade a missile lock.
- Quick-charge Shield - Similar to your Engine Boost, this will zap a little extra life into your shields if they've been hit. Don't rely on it for much, though - Scouts are flimsy, and this ability only serves to buy you an extra second or two to enact a more viable survival plan.
- Barrel Roll - AKA Newbie Asteroid Collider. This is your default evasive manoeuvre - using it will break any active missile lock on your starfighter, and thus it serves as your last line of defence if you're being dogged by a persistent missile! Beware, however, as it propels your ship directly forward at very high speed, and many a newbie has detonated spectacularly against the nearest asteroid when panicked by a missile lock. It has its uses, but you may wish to consider upgrading to a more newbie-friendly evasive manoeuvre, such as Koiogran Turn.
- Co-Pilot Ability - This depends on your Crew assignments in the Hangar. For starting out, I recommend a Repair co-pilot if you have one available. Activating it will give you a partial (but potentially life-saving) health regen for your hull.
Your Tier 1 Strike Fighter - FT-8 Starguard / F-T6 RycerIf frenetic, high-octane dogfighting isn't your style, you also have a basic Strike Fighter available to play. Strike Fighters are well-rounded, multi-role fighters with a lot of firepower. They don't have the engine capabilities of Scouts, but they're tougher and armed with an array of long-range missile options. As a Strike Fighter, let the Scouts zoom into the fray - you are better served sitting back and lobbing missiles into combat. Your lasers are powerful, but work best after softening up your targets with missiles.
Beware - if you zoom into a furball with no exit plan, you probably won't be leaving it alive. Strike Fighters don't have the engine power to boost in and out of fights at will, so pick your engagements carefully.
Your weapons:
- Rapid-fire Lasers - As above, these are not good newbie weapons. Luckily, you can switch to your alternate laser set with the 1 key.
- Heavy Lasers - These are the heaviest, slowest, longest-range lasers in the game. They're also pretty good! Thanks to their range, they combo well with your missiles, and can dish out a lot of punch to hard targets like Bombers.
- Concussion Missiles - Solid, all purpose missiles! Like many secondaries, they take a little getting used to, and benefit a lot from the first few upgrades (which reduce the locking time required to fire). These are good against all targets, though be aware that any decent Scout pilot will almost certainly evade your missile, so Strike Fighters, Bombers, and Gunships are usually easier targets. Hold RMB while keeping your current target firmly inside the centre of your screen - too much deviation and you'll lose the lock! Once it's locked, release RMB to fire away! Practice, and soon you'll get the hang of firing off entire volleys of missiles!
Your default abilities:
- Switch Lasers - Your Strike Fighter can toggle its active weapon system with 1. Use it to switch between lasers at will - all lasers have advantages and disadvantages, and the Tier 1 Strike Fighter can capitalise on this to use the most effective type of laser in any situation. For now, use it to toggle to your Heavy Lasers, which complement your missiles well.
- Quick-charge Shield - As above. Your Strike Fighter's shields are slightly more durable than a Scout's, but this ability will still only buy you a brief moment to shake whatever's killing you.
- Koiogran Turn - A relatively newbie-friendly evasive manoeuvre that performs a Space Immelmann - you'll flip around 180 degrees, flying the way you came. In addition to being your go-to missile break, it's also useful for quickly turning around and boosting the hell out of dodge! Beware, until you upgrade it, it uses quite a lot of Engine Power, so it's very easy for a rookie to get caught in a missile lock, and no Engine Power left to evade!
- Co-Pilot Ability
Spending RequisitionAfter your first few matches, you should have completed your GSF intro mission and/or daily, which gives you a fair amount of Ship Requisition (plus whatever you earn in the match). Use this to upgrade your ship's existing components, or swap them out for other components. For example, you can use 2,000 Requisition to replace
Rapid-fire Lasers (which are not newbie-friendly) with the much more useful
Laser Cannons or
Quad Laser Cannons. You can also upgrade those components, improving their stats significantly. I recommend upgrading your Evasive Manoeuvre, your Missiles, and your Lasers, but feel free to experiment!
Save your Fleet Requisition (the purple points) - for 2,500 or 5,000, you can buy a new ship, which then benefits from your daily and weekly reward - the more ships you have, the more points you get from your daily/weekly! Using your Fleet Req, you can try out the Tier 2 Scouts and Strike Fighters, which are very effective, or experiment with Bombers or Gunships (ew).
Switch all power to front deflector screens!I mentioned the function keys - F1, F2, F3, and F4. These are very, very important, but might be too much to think about for your first few matches. Once you're ready to start boosting your effectiveness, it's time to start paying attention to Power Settings.
Each key correlates to a Power Setting:
- F1 - Weapon Power
- F2 - Shield Power
- F3 - Engine Power
- F4 - Default
Toggling to a given setting will prioritise that Power Pool - so hitting
F1 will recharge your lasers faster and make them do more damage, but at the expense of your shields and engines.
F2 will supercharge your shields, at the expense of your weapons and engines.
F3 maximises your engine power and speed, but sacrifices your shields and lasers to do it.
F4 is the standard, neutral setting.
Precise usage of these Power Settings is vital to mastering GSF, but is beyond the scope of this simple rookie crash-course. For your first few matches, try using
F3 to boost around the map, then swap back to
F4 once you get in a fight. Once you start feeling comfortable with that, experiment with
F1 and
F2 to suit your current needs.
ConclusionGSF is a very deep and intricate game mode - there's a lot to take in, but hopefully this guide makes the bare basics more palatable. Although I'm not as active as I used to be, if you see me online, feel free to ask me any questions you might have! And I always love to fly with wingmen, especially rookies, so if you're looking for a partner for GSF and I'm online, don't hesitate to ask!