SWTOR Space Combat Strategy Guide

In this SWTOR Space Combat guide, we will be going over the top strategies for space combat in SWTOR so that you can beat all the missions without a problem.

Space Combat is not too difficult in Star Wars The Old Republic as long as you understand the basics laid out for you in this guide.


SWTOR Space Combat Basics

You can access Space Combat in SWTOR by accessing the Galaxy Map inside of your Ship. From there, you can select the space combat missions as if they were planets on the actual map. Simply select the mission you want, fly there, and you begin.

Missions are completed “on rails” – you cannot move your ship forwards or backwards but rather have to follow a fixed course in order to complete them.

Your mission ends when the time is up, not when you complete your mission objectives. Even if you complete all your objectives, if you die (i.e. your Ship’s health drops to 0) before times up, you still fail.

Speaking of dying, your ship’s health is noted by the HP bar at the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. When this runs out, you fail the mission. Your health does not recover throughout the mission, so once it is gone you cannot recover it. You can increase your max health by getting better equipment f0r your ship (Toughness equates to the total health of your ship).

Additionally, you can get access to a shield through equipment which has a much smaller amount of health but regenerates throughout the mission. This really comes in handy and I find upgrading this is more important than any other stat.

Note: Your shield only regenerates when you are not firing the laser. Do not hold down the fire laser button the entire mission or your shield will be worthless.


Space Combat – Attacks

You start with two types of attacks in Space Combat – a laser and missiles. The laser fires off multiple shots per minute and can be upgraded to fire more frequently and deal more damage per shot. You can fire the laser by holding down the left-click button. Be sure to not hold it down when nothing is around so your shield can regenerate.

Your missiles are fired by right clicking, and they do a lot of damage compared to the laser. They are good at blowing up structures like turrets and shield generators and can be used to take out enemy ships that are clustered tightly together.

Your Missiles in the firing chamber can be all fired one after another in rapid succession. This is indicated in the bottom right of the screen. These missiles then reload slowly from your stores until the chamber is once again full. Once you run out of missiles you no longer have any for your mission.

At level 45 you can get access to an EMP and at level 50 you can get access to Proton Torpedos, both of which are covered in the equipment section below.


SWTOR Space Combat Strategy Guide – Equipment

Since Star Wars The Old Republic is an MMORPG, gear is very important. In Space Combat, this is no different. Once you get your ship, a third tab will appear at the bottom of your character sheet (open with a “c” and look for the “Ship” tab) and it has its own equipment you can get for it.

You can buy some Premium-quality equipment (i.e. green) from a vendor in the Supplies quarter of the Imperial and Republic Fleets. Don’t worry about getting actual armor and weapons here – you can get much better gear off the Global Trade Network (GTN), as Cybertechs can make much better pieces of equipment that you can buy for credits.

From the vendor, you can pick up an energy converter, a jammer, an EMP, and proton torpedos. Here is how they work:

  • The energy converter is by far your most important piece of equipment. This allows you to choose between high powered lasers or shield regeneration. When you equip this, you can press the “1″ key to increase your laser damage significantly, at the cost of cutting shield regeneration in half. You can press “2″ to double your shield regeneration capacity, but at a major cost to laser damage.
  • Since you cannot regenerate shields when firing your laser and there is no cooldown on switching, you need to actively switch between the laser mode and shield mode. You will want to stay in laser mode most of the time, but when you get a short break in combat, pop your shield regenerator and you will be back to full shields in no time.
  • Your lasers do virtually no damage in shield regeneration mode, but your missiles work just fine. Use your missiles should you need to take down a target while regenerating shields.
  • The jammer makes you unable to be hit by enemy ships for 10 seconds and is activated by pressing “3″. It has a long cooldown. One good combination is to use the jammer and while it is active use your shield regenerator. Not only can you not be hit for 10 seconds, but you can also come out of it with fully charged shields.
  • Your EMP does massive damage and takes out all ships and even turrets and the like nearby. It has a very large range, but it takes about 3 seconds to actually go off, so you have to use it ahead of time and plan for your future position or you will waste it. This can be difficult to use. It is activated by pressing “4″
  • The Proton Torpedo is available at leevl 50. You get it by holding right click and locking onto a target. It does a lot of damage, but you only get 4. Use it to take out tough targets and bonus objectives like communication towers.

Note that you can buy all of these special items mentioned above with Fleet Commendations. You have to buy these items and equip them before you can get access to the abilities mentioned above.


SWTOR Space Combat Strategy Guide – The Importance of Equipment

Getting good gear for your ship is the single most important thing you can do to increase your success in Space Combat. For example, Grade 2 prototype-grade Ship Armor increases your Toughness (health) from 2000 to 3000 (a 50% increase) and then also increase your blaster damage as a bonus.

The most important pieces of gear you can get are the Energy Shield and the Shield Regenerator. The Energy Shield gives you a shield which absorbs damage, and the Shield Regenerator speeds up the rate at which your shields regenerate. While the shield is just a fraction of your ship’s total health, your shield regenerates over the course of a battle, absorbing thousands of damage by the end of the mission.


SWTOR Space Combat Guide – Completing Missions

Once you have your gear equipped and are ready to start doing missions, the missions themselves are pretty easy. There are only a few things you have to remember:

  • Your ship’s laser should be fired at all times, hold down the left click button to keep it firing. Clicking rapidly will only fire slower than just holding it down.
  • Your laser can kill pretty much anything except boss-type mobs and the shield generators on large ships. Use missiles for these purposes, but do not waste your missiles on weak targets.
  • Missiles in the firing chamber can all be fired at once. This is a great way to take out a ton of targets when you approach a large ship which you have to destroy multiple targets on it but only have a brief window to fire. Missiles then slowly reload into the firing chamber.
  • Do not run into anything. You take far more damage running into asteroids, debris, and ships than you from anything else. It is much better to get hit with enemy lasers.
  • Non-boss ships do almost no damage to your ship and will not pierce your shield, so do not worry about trying to dodge the lasers. It is more important to not run into anything and take down your targets than it is to dodge weak lasers.

SWTOR Space Combat Strategy Guide Conclusion

That is pretty much all there is to it – get good gear, do not crash into objects, and do not waste your missiles and all of the space missions in SWTOR seem to be pretty easy.

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