SWTOR Allegiances

In SWTOR, players have to choose between two different factions. This is referred to as an allegiance. The two SWTOR allegiances players can choose from are the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire. In this article, I will be going over the differences between each SWTOR allegiance including story, available classes, and available ships.

I think that the word choice of “allegiance” is an interesting pick over the typical “faction”. In Star Wars: Galaxies, players could defect from one allegiance to the other. While I do not think that this will be the case in SWTOR, it is an interesting possibility.

Storyline

The Galactic Republic are the “good guys” in SWTOR. This is likely to be by far the most popular faction because of this (and the part where they get to be Jedi). The Galactic Republic is a peaceful organization conglomeration of planets and has been invaded in the past by the Sith Empire.

The Sith Empire are the “bad guys”. They are the result of the Dark Jedi overtaking and interbreeding with the Sith race. The Sith have an emperor, but he has disappeared to “pursue his own mysterious goals”. The Sith have previously invaded the Galactic Republic and are on the verge of doing so once again.

The Sith are also according to the storyline a much smaller faction than the Galactic Republic. This ties in nicely to the fact that most of the player base will side with the Galactic Republic.

I have recommended that those interested in PvE and not getting ganked (jumped while questing and exploring the world) to side with the Galactic Republic, as there will not be many Sith around to attack you. However, if you like “world PvP”, the Sith is a good choice because there will be plenty of players for you to attack.

Playable Classes

The major difference in SWTOR allegiances are the playable classes. The Galactic Republic has the Smuggler, Trooper, Jedi Knight, and Jedi Consular. The Sith Empire has the Imperial Agent, the Bounty Hunter, the Sith Warrior, and the Sith Inquisitor.

The Trooper and Bounty Hunter seem very similar, as do the Jedi Knight and Sith Warrior. The Smuggler and Imperial Agent have some slight differences but are quire similar as well.

The only class which seems to have major differences between the two allegiances is the Sith Inquisitor versus the Jedi Consular. The Consular heals and does force damage, but also wields a lightsaber. The Inquisitor on the other hand can heal as well, but looks to rely more on magic (lightning) based damage and does not seem to wield a lightsaber at all based on gameplay videos.

Starships

The other primary difference between playable classes are the Starships available for each faction. while everyone can purchase the “best” ship late in the game for a lot of credits, the starting ships differ slightly:

- The Sith Empire’s two faction-based ships include an all-around average ship and a Stealth Recon ship (hard to detect, if players can own it it would be great for traveling while avoiding getting attacked).

- The Galactic Republic’s ships instead are either offensively oriented or defensively oriented. They have no ship which is comparable to the stealth recon ship that the Sith Empire has, but then again they have the best offensive faction-based ship.

Either way, picking a class over available starships is not worth it as both factions can purchase neutral ships late in the game for a lot of credits.

SWTOR Allegiances: The Final Word

There are only two real differences between the two factions: the Galactic Republic has the Jedi Consular while the Empire has the Sith Inquisitor, and the Galactic Republic will have a lot more players than the Sith Empire.

People who like Player vs Player will benefit from picking the Sith Empire whereas everyone else will benefit from siding with the Galactic Republic.

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