I notice that two of the scout builds have LLC and frequency capacitors recommended. I am trying this combination now, but not seeing a whole lot of difference between LLC & FC and rapid fires and damage capacitors. Do most of you see similar numbers when comparing these combinations as well?

Quick comparison between the 2 (not considering Tier 5 bonuses to hull/shield damage) assuming +6% Accuracy from companion:

500 Meters: Light Laser = 1259 dps, 116% Accuracy; Rapid Fires = 1068 dps, 116% Accuracy

3000 Meters: Light Laser = 995 dps, 96% Accuracy; Rapid Fires = 897 dps, 91% Accuracy

4000 Meters: Light Laser = 806 dps, 86% Accuracy; Rapid Fires = 726 dps, 81% Accuracy

At short range, Lights have a 17.8% dps advantage. At mid and long range, they have an 11% dps advantage and 5% accuracy advantage. The lower your effective accuracy (whether due to tracking penalties or relative evasion), the larger the benefit of this accuracy advantage will be (at 90% accuracy, a 5% increase is a 5.56% damage increase; at 50%, a 5% increase is a 10% damage increase). Rapids do have a slight advantage in tracking penalty (0.8% compared to 1.0%), but it would take 25 degrees worth of tracking penalty to offset the accuracy advantage of Lights at mid and long range.

All in all, Lights will generally have a 15-20% advantage in effective dps, in exchange for slightly higher tracking penalties and power consumption, and slightly smaller firing arc. Those are things most pilots would happily trade for such a significant dps increase.

All in all, Lights will generally have a 15-20% advantage in effective dps, in exchange for slightly higher tracking penalties and power consumption, and slightly smaller firing arc. Those are things most pilots would happily trade for such a significant dps increase.

This is correct. There situations where rapids can outperform lights are so very very few, and more importantly, entirely meaningless. You have to actually be outside the range at which a light can fire (the slightly better tracking penalty never wins over the base accuracy) and in these situations not only is your dps absolutely terrible, but you are in a constant turn that is very unlikely to be the optimal path.

The lower accuracy combines with the lower dps combines with the terrible cost of a high rate of fire weapon to add up to a terrible, terrible weapon.

I do my QQ here:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=7213927

I suppose I'll have to add a component analysis section at some point (near future?) because of all the great information provided from threads like yours, Verain. Armond also went through substantial effort to compare TT/BO and I think these are very useful things to have available in a guide/compendium.

- Added Pincer's great non-gameplay tips to the "New to GSF?" section of this thread.

Armond also went through substantial effort to compare TT/BO and I think these are very useful things to have available in a guide/compendium.

I should probably redo that into a more reader-friendly format. I'll see what I can do.

Bloodmark Build:

Components:

Laser Cannon (Crit/Shield)

Ion Missiles (Range/Engine)

Interdiction Drive (Duration)

Tensor Field (Turning/Restoration)

Repair Drone (Shield)

Communication Sensors

Large Reactor

Reinforced Armor

Range Capacitor

Crew:

Engineering: Blizz

Offensive: Jaesa Wilsaam (Copilot)

Tactical: Mako

Defensive: Writch Hurley

http://dulfy.net/2013/11/16/swtor-galactic-starfighter/?link=dGEAAAAMAwIBBAkC8gDsAdAB8gLgAuAA4ALgAeA=

Quick to the satellite and defend as long as possible. After destruction you come with the minelayer.

Minelayer Build:

http://dulfy.net/2013/11/16/swtor-galactic-starfighter/?link=dGEAAAADAwIBBQQA7ADqANAA6gHQAuAB4AHgAuA=

Please list your builds in the post. The dulfy builder, while nice, is transient. At some point, the URL won't resolve to the same thing for Reasons.

Your type 3 scout build: Laser / Ion/ Tensor / Interdiction / Repair. Clearly able to be good support at a node and to get people there quickly- even bombers!

Your boy bomber build: Heavy / Seismic / Interdiction / Overcharged / Shield Power Converter. I think mostly covered earlier in the guide, and a very solid bomber versus things that aren't other boy bombers (you'd probably want charged plating for that).

Your strat looks solid, and it talks about something at a level the rest of the guide doesn't really address- what's in your hangar, and which ship do you play when?

Please list your builds in the post. The dulfy builder, while nice, is transient. At some point, the URL won't resolve to the same thing for Reasons.

My English is not good, but tomorrow I will even try to take my build in English words. Without understandability warranty.

Your type 3 scout build: Laser / Ion/ Tensor / Interdiction / Repair. Clearly able to be good support at a node and to get people there quickly- even bombers!

Key point is the rapidity. I am by the combination of tensor and Interdiction first on the satellite. After that, mostly circles, repair drone and when ready tensor, Interdiction and Lingering. We also recommend laser. Ion is almost never used.

Your boy bomber build: Heavy / Seismic / Interdiction / Overcharged / Shield Power Converter. I think mostly covered earlier in the guide, and a very solid bomber versus things that aren't other boy bombers (you'd probably want charged plating for that).

Since I am unsure. Currently developing Charged Plating and will try it.

Your strat looks solid, and it talks about something at a level the rest of the guide doesn't really address- what's in your hangar, and which ship do you play when?

Razorwire and Bloodmark I only use in Domination. Hard in the hangar are still Mangler (Slug, Ion) for Domination and TDM. For TDM Blackbolt (lasers, pods, targeting or EMP (I can not decide) and S/E Converter. Fifth place is variable and pre-reserved for a stealth ship.

In general, I tend to look at ships as tools that are specialized for a task.

Razorwire and Bloodmark I only use in Domination. Hard in the hangar are still Mangler (Slug, Ion) for Domination and TDM. For TDM Blackbolt (lasers, pods, targeting or EMP (I can not decide) and S/E Converter. Fifth place is variable and pre-reserved for a stealth ship.

 

In general, I tend to look at ships as tools that are specialized for a task.

This is very close to my lineup, except I use a Sting in place of the Blackbolt. I like having the Sting available for dogfighting to change things up a bit.

Stealth ships... we'll see.

Here is what I am running in my Quell. It is definately one of my favorite ships. I like to start out a domination match with a barrel roll/ after burner to the node, then open up with a torp to an incoming enemy, then I hit f2, turtle up and try to hold the node. Quads and clusters work pretty great for defending the node or busting turrets for the capture.

Quad lasers - crit & dmg to shield

Cluster missiles - range & plasma warheads

Proton torpedos - speed & range

Quick Charge Shields - regen during dmg

Barrel roll - turning

Lightweight armor

Damage Capacitor

Munitions cap extender

Speed thrusters

Crew :

Copilot - MZ-12 (hydro spanner)

offence - MZ-12

defense - Writch Hurley

tactical - Malavai Quinn

engineering - Avren Geth

Here is what I am running in my Quell. It is definately one of my favorite ships. I like to start out a domination match with a barrel roll/ after burner to the node, then open up with a torp to an incoming enemy, then I hit f2, turtle up and try to hold the node. Quads and clusters work pretty great for defending the node or busting turrets for the capture.

Your Quell build is pretty similar to the one in this guide:

Heavy Laser / Cluster / Proton / Directional / Barrel

Yours is:

Quad Laser / Cluster / Proton / Quick Charge / Barrel

The core of both builds is a high damage missile (cluster) combined with a long range missile (proton).

I've played both Heavy and Quad on this, and I've still not decided which is better. The quads are so good at punishing targets, but the heavies are able to pick off weak targets and acquire targets at longer range.

I haven't played Quick Charge much on my Pike, but at some point I will- I normally play it on my Type 1 strikes only. My reasoning with directional is mostly that you often know where the punishment will come from during much of your fighting, and as such the directional just provides a lot of extra defense.

Meanwhile, I think both builds are in love with being able to right click anyone they can see!

Your companions are chosen from the default list. While that's not bad to start with, you can do better after a bit!

You pick Hydro Spanner, which is a lot less damage healed that Running Interference prevents. I think Hydro Spanner can only really be defended with a charged plating build. I bet if you try another copilot ability for a week, you'll like it much better. Running Interference is good when a dogfight happens, but so is Wingman to help shoot scouts, or concentrated fire for the rare bombers or gunships you have to laser down. The default imperials do have access to wingman, so try that one.

Also, try switching your Avren Geth to 2VR8 (this exchanges 10% blaster power for the superior 13% less cost on blasters- you can blaster for longer, it's always better). While Avren isn't bad to start with, the 10% extra is always worse than the 13% less cost- it's not a huge difference, but you'll like it, especially with quads!

Writch Hurley is a pretty good call with quick charge, but Vector is a lot of missed shots.

Added Dailus's build to the strike fighter section. Thanks Dailus!

In order to avoid having yet another thread clog up these forums, anyone have ideas or opinions for the new gunship and/or bomber? I'll start off discussion with some potential loadouts:

Jurgoran (Gunship): Burst Laser Cannon, Slug Railgun, Interdiction Missile, Distortion Field, Power Dive, Range Capacitor, Regeneration Extender, Large Reactor, Regeneration (or Turning) Thrusters.

Decimus (Bomber): Heavy Laser Cannon, Concussion Missiles, Whichever of the two drones make it to live (though that could really change this build up), Directional Shields, Power Dive, Frequency Capacitor, Regeneration Extender, Large Reactor, Regeneration (or Turning) Thrusters.

Anyone else have ideas? Share them!

New Pike Build.... In tandem and honor of verain's T1 strike...... The Whiskey Pike

Primary weapons: light laser cannons (crit chance, Hull damage buff)

We all no why, high rate of fire, good damage, low tracking penalty means even if poor aim you might get something off, if you have good aim it hurts a lot.

Secondary weapon: Consusive Missile (Increased Range, Engine targeting)

Make the enemy slower and your slow ship can feel fast.

Secondary Weapon: Ion Missile (increased Range, Engine ionize)

Again slower means easier to hit, you dont want to hit some squirly target when you can barely fly straight. And it makes you feel faster and more like a scout.

Shield: Quick Charge, (60% continual regen)

more mobile and less shields, but with a button that refreshes it. Need I say more, obviously will make your Pike feel so much more like a scout with its low shields and high mobility. You need to get in close best way to do it.

Engines: Shield power converter (increased shield power)

More shields, means you can be more tanky, and who has time to remember to hit an engine maneuver when you hear a missile lock, some one is just going to lock another missile any way.

Armor: Light weight

evasion means everything can miss you so good stuff

Capacitor: Damage

Because even if you can only hit every now and again you might as well have it hurt a little

Magazine: Munitions

Your a missile boat acting like a knife fighter, you are still a missile boat so more missiles means more debuffs means more on their tail

Thrusters: Regen Thrusters

Because you want to be like a scout in efficiency so the more efficiency the better.

Crew

Offensive: Improved Firing Arc, Pin Pointing

Easily the best offensive choices on any ship

Defensive: Power to shields, Response Tuning

Best defensive choices on just about any ship

Tactical: your choice/ Prefrence

Engineering: Power to Engines, Efficient Engines.

Co-pilot: Lock down, because the slower you can make your opponent the faster you will feel .

I've been really trying to make somekind of quick charge shield regen build work. So far its ok at dogfighting but it's so weak to gunships that i just cant see it working ever sadly.

I have another Idea with your build, but for it to work I am hoping i can get a couple other strike fighters to work. To make a Strike fighter trifecta.

It's been talked about, but since I've been playing it, the "Archer Clarion":

FT-3C IMPERIUM // FT-7B CLARION

This build, unlike the heal probe build, is instead a burst build. It is very good at threatening a single opponent on cooldown, similar to the power of lockdown EMP scout, but with more survivability, greater frequency, and less of a guaranteed kill.

Your goal is to lock a thermite torpedo (a proton can also work for this purpose, but it changes the build some and won't be addressed here) and as the lock is going out, remote slice your foe. Your remote slicing needs to be fully mastered and configured to shut down engine components.

Against opponents with multiple missile breaks, this is less interesting, but still potent- you can wait for them to blow their other one, or only press it just as you release if you have reason to believe they will jam the engine button first and not have time to realize the issue and press their shield or system button. You can also simply lock down an enemy that your allies are on.

When you need to get a kill, quad lasers are your main option, and you can use an offensive crewmember cooldown to help you out. This combined with a thermite is simply devastating.

:: COMPONENTS

Primary Weapon: Quad Laser Cannon (T4 Increased Critical Hit Chance, T5 Increased Hull Damage)

Given the ranges you'll often be forced to engage at, Quad lasers is a solid choice. You want extra hull damage, as many of your abilities will get hull damage through shields.

Secondary Weapon: Thermite Torpedoes (T4 Increased Firing Arc, T5 Increased Duration)

The larger circle can really help you get a lock, and since many of your shots will take place under the guiding hand of remote slicing, the slower projectile speed is not a huge deal. It won't break the build to take the increased speed, however, and this also is better for if you are shooting without the increased speed. Increased Duration is definitely superior, and if the tooltip had been correct when Stasie wrote it, I would guess he would press for this as well. Now that we know the debuff apparently eliminates hull DR completely for the duration and grants 20% shield piercing, making it longer is a solid gain over plasma unless your opponent successfully hides from your whole team- in which case, the extra damage is likely wasted in any event.

Engine:Power Dive (T3 Increased Turning Rate)

Locating and finding asteroids has never been easier! Every 10 seconds, you can break a missile lock by turning yourself inside out upon the nearest stone!

In seriousness, the advantage of this move is that you will enjoy a lot of safety from missiles, even the frustrating clusters that scouts bring to bear. With practice, you will explode yourself less and less. Another advantage of this move is that it actually MOVES you a distance, so you can simply keep your "down" near a rock such that you can dive almost to it and immediately LOS whatever is locking you. Turning helps you lock a thermite, just as in the standard build.

Systems:Remote Slicing (T4 Engine Power Reduction, T5 Engine Suppression)

The T4 is without merit, but the T5 is the whole reason for the ability. It also drains shields by 660 over its duration, but does not alone stop shield regeneration- meaning that pressed all by itself, it offers very little. If you instead support the drain with quads and a thermite, it adds up in a very powerful fashion.

The limit here is the 40 second cooldown. Don't be afraid to press this on a target who is being locked by allies who have other missiles, especially concussions. Used properly, this move is an execution sentence at best and a 10-ish second CC at worst, with an opponent switching from offensive to defensive modes.

Shields: Directional Shields (T3 Reduced Delay)

This is just a lot of shields, and you can be a bit more aggressive versus some targets by redirecting shield power. The left option is generally superior to the right option.

Sensor:Range Sensors

Strike Fighters have poor sensors baseline, but with these you'll be able to see targets pretty far out. Since your kill cycle involves a lock followed by a boost, this can help you sight enemy gunships to ensure you aren't boosting into a firing squad.

Reactor: Large Reactor

Large Reactor is Only Reactor. The others are barely worth using on builds tailored precisely to them, sadly. A second choice here could be turbo, but you will generally do better in all situations with large.

Armor: Lightweight Armor

Lightweight is the best versus railguns and dogfighters, and those are your big threats. You shouldn't be going through minefields, and power dive should help you against most missiles.

Capacitor: Frequency Capacitor

The highest dps capacitor, all three capacitors are pretty solid. Ranged gives you a bit more damage and accuracy at all ranges, plus unlocks a larger range to begin shooting at, and damage gets the damage done without increasing cost. But I choose frequency because it capitalizes on the relatively narrow windows of effectiveness the best.

:: CREW

Copilot: Salana Rok / Akaavi Spar (Wingman) -OR- Nadia Grell (Bypass)

Evasion is powerful, so things that break that are even more powerful. This will help you get your kills during thermites. If you find yourself focused or too vulnerable, swapping to the standard crewmembers (who bring running interference) is a fine choice.

A Republic-only option here is Bypass. While nerfed, adding even MORE hull piercing to your kill cycle, especially to a thermite impact, is a really big deal. This is more beneficial versus very shieldful targets, such as bombers running to their nodes.

Offensive: Jaesa Willsaam / Qyzen Fess (2 degrees to firing arc, 6% accuracy)

Exactly the same as the standard build, and for the same reasons. The arc is just so important here, and 6% accuracy is always great.

Defensive: Vector / Nadia Grell (10% shield power pool, 5% evasion)

The same as in the standard build, and for the same reasons. These are just the best survival you can normally get.

Tactical: Salana Rok / Akaavi Spar (depth of field & communication / silent running & communication)

Both of these give you the excellent Wingman buff, an important but optional part of your kill cycle. Quad lasers that hit a thermited target are very valuable, and as such I run the accuracy group buff over the evasion group buff.

Alternate: If you are running Bypass here, you could instead take Elarna Dorne for extra sensor range, or any one else in tactical for that matter.

Engineering: Yuun / 2VR8 (13% blaster efficiency, 13% engine efficiency)

To sustain your more costly frequency capacitor and delay going out of energy, the double efficiency crewmember pushes out the double engine crewmember. You have power dive, which gets you a bit further.

I've been really trying to make somekind of quick charge shield regen build work. So far its ok at dogfighting but it's so weak to gunships that i just cant see it working ever sadly.

I've made one.... It's weak... You can't survive long under any focus fire... It's really good on the run tho... if you can LOS maybe 3 sec you can get back at full shield. Unfortunately I don,t see this build working well on a strike, they lack engine power. And you can get better with Directionnal, turbo reactor and just shuffling your shield quickly as soon as you LOS your opponent.

Added Verain's archer build. Thanks!

Nothing major seems to have happened in GSF with the latest PTS patches, as far as I can tell.

I've heard that Fortress Shield was buffed....

Interesting, I'll have to check it out. It'd have to be a pretty massive buff to make it a good choice over DF though.

I've heard that Fortress Shield was buffed....

And Interdiction Mine was nerft.

Interesting, I'll have to check it out. It'd have to be a pretty massive buff to make it a good choice over DF though.

From what I've heard it's just no penality and + 150% on the active instead of 100%... Now if it could be used to refill your shield (currently if you move after activating FS from 0, you don't keep 100% shield, you go back at 0%) it would be viable...