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Stasie's Galactic Starfighter Guide (Ships, Components, Crew, Tips)


TrinityLyre

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Thanks! I've fixed a few broken links, added some more content and links elsewhere and am working on adding additional builds. Here's a rendition of the popular BLC battle scout, feel free to use this or adapt as you please. I am adding this to my Additional Scout Builds section, since it is a very popular (and effective) build. I'll be adding many more variants over time, now that I have "completed" (maxed out and tested every component on) almost six different ships. I've also managed to dump over 250,000 requisition into both the new ships on both factions (and have now mastered 30+ ships), so there's definitely more to come! :)

 

S-13 STING // IL-5 OCULA // FLASHFIRE // IL-5 SKYBOLT

 

The "OP" but often-fielded battle scout, able to vape any enemy target (including bombers and gunships) almost instantly. Posting this variant because it was the traditional build in the past but Burst/Pods and Burst/Cluster are more popular now. Combine Concentrated Fire (or Wingman) with Targeting Telemetry (or Blaster Overcharge) for devastating laser and missile hits.

 

:: COMPONENTS

 

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

Almost perfectly matches the range of Cluster Missiles. I built this scout to do considerable damage for any range up to 5000m. Quad Lasers deal a great amount of damage. Increased Critical Hit for more damage and Increased Shield Damage again for the same reason listed above.

 

Secondary Weapon: Cluster Missiles (T4 Increased Ammo Capacity, T5 Double Volley)

Solid close range damage to offset the long range weaponry you are rocking. Increased ammo in T4 helps to offset the consumption of T5’s double volley, which does considerably more damage than Plasma Warheads. Double Volley also allows you to win an attrition war, though both volleys will be able to be broken by a single maneuver.

 

Engine: Retro Thrusters (T3 Increased Turning Rate)

These are amazing for head-to-head fights, giving you a huge edge with the additional evasion and damage time on the opponent. Retro Thrusters require practice but are quite fun to play with.

 

Systems: Targeting Telemetry (T4 Threat Evaluation, T5 Precision Targeting)

Increases your burst damage capability substantially. I go with Threat Evaluation to boost my scout’s already extremely high evasion, making it both a defensive and offensive cooldown. Precision Targeting means your Cluster Missile and Quad Laser Cannon criticals will absolutely devastate anyone hit by them.

 

Shields: Distortion Field (T3 Disable Enemy Missile Lock)

Stacking evasion is still incredibly worthwhile and still the best defense you can get. Since Distortion Field has a base 6 second duration and likely won’t need to use the additional 3 seconds I opted for a second missile break.

 

Reactor: Large Reactor

More shields to protect yourself with. I find most kills are done through high damage in a short period, which is why I tend to favor Large Reactor over the others.

 

Armor: Lightweight Armor

Being near obstacles you will typically be able to avoid the deadlier missile locks. Lightweight Armor does a better job of negating blaster, railgun and rocket pod fire than the other alternatives. Too many players utilize armor penetrating weapons, so I opt out of Deflection Armor in all my builds save the Razorwire/Rampart. This stacks with the crew passive, Targeting Telemetry, Distortion Field and Running Interference if you choose to go with it.

 

Thruster: Regeneration Thrusters

With all the boosting around evading enemies and closing in to targets and objectives, having a quickly replenishing engine pool is mandatory. I go with Regeneration Thrusters to give myself more staying power in the match.

 

Capacitor: Damage Capacitor

Quad Laser Cannons suck a bit more power than other lasers I use, and I tend to be dogfighting in Team Deathmatch for quite a while so I opt for Damage Capacitor here.

 

 

:: CREW

 

Copilot: Mako / Kendra Novar (Running Interference)

A great defensive ability to complement your already ridiculously high evasion. Can be used in conjunction with Distortion Field and/or Targeting Telemetry for a nice boost in head-to-head fights and for more damage time while being fired on.

 

Offensive: Lieutenant Pierce / Kira Carsen (25% ammo capacity, 6% accuracy)

These crew members provide the best offensive power to your weaponry. Having an extra 6% accuracy for your primary weapon helps overcome evasion-stacking and allows you to take better glancing shots. 25% ammo capacity allows you to carry additional missiles, partially compensating for the capacity loss from the Double Volley upgrade. If ammunition is not an issue, you can switch this crew member to Jaesa Willsaam / Qyzen Fess for the extra 2 degrees to your firing arc.

 

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

I am always a fan of a larger renewable source of defense, and evasion is too good to pass up.

 

Tactical: Mako / Kendra Novar (sensor radius & communication / sensor focus & communication)

The tactical crew is different because of the copilot ability (Running Interference) not being available with identical passives. The Sith Empire gets the better end of this bargain with increased sensor radius and communication range, although the difference feels minimal at best.

 

Engineering: Yuun / 2V-R8 (13% weapon power efficiency, 13% engine efficiency)

Edited by TrinityLyre
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Personally with that build I greatly prefer the extra arc. Allies can resupply me with missiles, after all, but extra arc on that cluster is just SO huge. It's actually pretty great for BLC too, the only cannon that really makes use of it.
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B-4D LEGION // WARCARRIER // SITTING DUCK

 

Support your allies through snares! This build works exceedingly well if allies are also running their own snares (like Ion Railgun, Ion Missile, etc.). Snares (slows, turning reduction) stack additively in GSF, allowing you to debuff an enemy so that they can't move or turn. Sometimes it's just fun to see your enemies weep (while stationary :p). I use this as a fun build from time to time - have to keep the game fresh and exciting! All that being said, here's the sitting duck (friendly Ion Railgun recommended but not included with purchase):

 

:: COMPONENTS

 

Primary Weapon: Heavy Laser Cannon (T4 Ignore Armor, T5 Increased Shield Damage)

I use heavy lasers over the other alternatives for the armor piercing and range. They are great for clearing turrets, drones, mines, killing other bombers and attacking enemies coming in to your area. Bypassing enemy bomber damage reduction is immensely useful. I go with the shield damage upgrade to weaken enemies for my missiles, drones and other allies.

 

Secondary Weapon: Concussion Missiles (T4 Increased Range, T5 Engine Targeting)

Snare #1! Allows you to get some heavy damage in at long range and apply the first of your four snares (30% slow with a 15 second duration)!

 

Engine: Interdiction Drive (T3 Improved Interdiction)

Snare #2! Enemy speed and turning rate is slowed 30% for 6 seconds, giving you a speed boost and making it tough for an enemy to get anywhere.

 

Systems: Interdiction Sentry Drone (T4 Increased Interdiction Effect, T5 Additional Active Drone)

Snare #3! Two drones slowing 50% within 3,500m. Separate the drones so that an enemy is perpetually snared around a friendly gunship camping spot or a satellite! This is your most powerful slow: use it wisely. Combining this with an Ion Railgun snare prevents an opponent from going anywhere. This leaves them at your mercy, wahaha!

 

Shields: Repair Drone (T3 Refill Ammunition)

Group utility, heal and most importantly an ammo refill for those other pilots you are running with (and yourself)! Be careful to place this in a protected area and alert teammates once you have the Refill Ammunition option in T3. Giving allied ships a renewable source of ammunition on a satellite is a wonderful thing to have. If you're selfish and/or only planning on supporting gunships, you can switch the T3 upgrade to Shield Restoration as you'll have a large amount of Concussion Missiles available to fire.

 

Sensor: Communication Sensors

Being under satellites you will typically be visible to almost all enemies, and since a bomber is relatively stationary (fighting only under/over satellites and other obstacles) they do an excellent job of communicating data to friendly players, including the location of gunships and other bombers.

 

Reactor: Large Reactor

More shields to protect yourself with. I find most kills are done through high damage in a short period, which is why I tend to favor Large Reactor over the others.

 

Armor: Lightweight Armor

Use what you please, they all have valid uses on this ship. I listed Lightweight Armor because the evasion will stack with Vector. Again, up to you.

 

Magazine: Regeneration Extender

Blaster power really isn’t an issue with this build, but the regeneration extender allows you to maintain heavy laser fire for quite some time. With a higher rate of weapon power regeneration you can fire on multiple targets or wail on a snared enemy for a longer period of time.

 

:: CREW

 

Copilot: Vector / Oro Wogawa (Servo Jammer)

Snare #4! 20% turning debuff for 20 seconds, throw this up when an enemy's hit by one of your other snares. Works very effectively to prevent practically anything (save someone with Tensor Field) from turning around and engaging you. Unfortunately, Republic players have to listen to Oro Wogawa. I'm sorry.

 

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

Most of the other offensive crew choices are very lackluster and do not contribute anything to bomber damage. Accuracy and firing arc help your heavy lasers out.

 

Defensive: Vector / Oro Wogawa (10% shield power pool, 5% evasion or 15% Shield Regen, 5% evasion)

Chosen for the Copilot ability, Servo Jammer.

 

Tactical: Mako / Kendra Novar (sensor radius & communication / sensor focus & communication)

The tactical crew is different because of the copilot ability (Running Interference) not being available with identical passives. The Sith Empire gets the better end of this bargain with increased sensor radius and communication range, although the difference feels minimal at best.

 

Engineering: Blizz / C2-N2 (10% engine power pool, 13% engine efficiency)

With regeneration extender it’s unlikely you’ll be running out of power to your heavy lasers. Bomber engines don’t last worth a damn, though. I chose the companion that would give the largest bonus to mobility, allowing you to respond more quickly and evade longer when your snares are down.

 

 

-------------------------------

More builds to come! The month leading up to Galactic Housing Decorator will surely give me more time to post silly/interesting builds. Here's some I haven't yet added, but I'm sure you can imagine what they're like just based off the names:

 

-Interdiction Drone Decimus (similar to the trolly Legion above)

-Double Missile Jurgoran (RIP railgun)

-Tanky Mangler (when the odds of dying are so low, but you have a neverending wave of targets)

-Bomberball Legion (sit on a gunship, read a book and give it Wingman from time to time)

-Quads&Pods Sting (lolfair)

-Dogfighting Rycer (want to play an inferior scout? Hi!)

-Missileboat Quell (Cluster/Concussion variant)

 

Have fun and good shooting! :)

Edited by TrinityLyre
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  • 2 weeks later...

You know it's a good expansion when you have an Excel spreadsheet and are calculating optimum paths, and the reward is a virtual treehouse. How many Fabrication Universal Collection Kits do you have to give for a "NO GRILS ALLWED" sign?

 

 

As for XWM, call me when that has an online thing, and I'll swarm over it with the fury of... I dunno, something pretty angry.

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Bloodmark Build:

 

Components:

 

Laser Cannon (Crit/Shield)

Ion Missiles (Range/Engine)

Interdiction Drive (Duration)

Tensor Field (TurningRestoration)

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=

 

 

Amazing how a few dozen hours of flight priorities shift. :D As above, I would now fly only to pure bomber escort.

 

That would be my current status:

 

Laser Cannon (Crit / Hull)

Ion Missiles (Range / Engine)

Interdiction Drive (Duration)

Tensor Field (Evasion/Restoration)

Distortion Field (Missile Lock)

Communication Sensor

Large Reactor

Range Capacitor

Light Armor

 

Crew:

Engineering: Blizz

Offensive: Jaesa Wilsaam

Tactical: Mako (Copilot)

Defensive: Vector

 

Important: At the start, immediately tensor + Inderdiction. No one is faster on the satellite.

 

At the moment I am testing Rapid fire laser as an alternative. Works well on the satellite and it is quite possible that I will change when I have mastered it.

Edited by Magira
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Not true, RFL has better awesomeness.

 

Strictly speaking RFL has more pewiness.

 

LLCs go: pew-pew

RFLs go: pew-pew-pew-pew

 

This is often confused with phewiness, as in, "phew, RFLs really stink as a component."

 

Despite the similar spellings and the fact the RFLs are both pewie and phewy the two traits are actually independent of each other.

Edited by Ramalina
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FLEET SUPPORT GIRL BOMBER:: (B-4D LEGION // GX-1 ONSLAUGHT // WARCARRIER // GX-1 FIREHAULER)

 

This is the build I favor for the type 2 bomber ("girl bomber", "dronecarrier") in TDM. While there are other options (listed in this thread) that can build a better nest, or help at a node better, this ship is very solid at helping your allies apply pressure to a team, while being a very hard target for a solo enemy to take down. This is a VERY valuable part of a "bomberball", though its lack of mines means that it shouldn't normally be the only part.

 

 

:: COMPONENTS

 

Primary Weapon: Heavy Laser Cannon (T4 Ignore Armor, T5 18% Shield Damage )

Heavy lasers have extra range over the other options, and are often useful in a TDM. In situations where lights would be better you are normally going to have to rely on others for support anyway.

The shield piercing is a fine call here, but the shield damage strips shields quickly- an opponent with middling hull and full shields is much better served with this build, and the annoying opponents with full shields but almost no hull will hopefully fall to your concussions or railgun drones.

 

Secondary Weapon:Concussion Missiles (T4 Increased Range, T5 Ignore Armor)

By giving up seekers you can't make a true nest, but you gain the ability to make missile tones that enemies must LOS, boost past, or break, and of course you gain the ability to actually land very solid concussion hits from ranges that are typical in both TDMs. The important thing to remember here is that you are not primarily a missile boat- you should always be clicking on anyone who is performing actions you don't like (for instance, running at your railgun drone, running at your allies, aiming a railgun). Like any missile ship, you should try to release when they have no breaks or when they are close, but with an undending supply of ammunition (and plenty to start with) you can also simply launch to force maneuvers.

 

 

Engine: Interdiction Drive (T3 Increase Duration)

Interdiction Drive doesn't really synergize with the rest of the build as much as it does others (interdiction drone / seeker mine is a great combination). So why pick it? It offers enough. Interdiction drive can force enemies to change everything about what they are doing, and this button can often kill even decent pilots inside a scaffolding- press it as they are turning around a pillar and the instant effect can sometimes score hull damage or kills. It is also very solid should there be a fight that is happening around you, normally your weakest situation. The interdiction drive creates time and debuffs your foes, often leading them into your missiles, or an ally's missiles.

 

 

Systems: Railgun Sentry Drone (T4 Ignore Armor, T5 Reduced Charge Time)

I find that ignoring armor is generally better than the shield piercing. The drone's baseline 20% is already large enough that a scout can't tank the damage forever, and upping it to 28% doesn't change their play for the worse, or kill them that much faster. Meanwhile, enemies that have any manner of hull armor will take the full railgun- since the railgun is moderate dps, this makes the railgun threatening to some enemies who would otherwise not care much, changing their playstyle in your favor. I think the reduced charge is better because the railgun often spends time with enemies flying out of range or otherwise, but the extra damage can be good too. I normally put the railgun drone down somewhat near an obstacle.

 

Shields: Repair Drone (T3 Refill Ammunition)

This is a very solid choice, and allows you to be far more wiling to tank protons and other hull damaging situations to get a kill, as you will often be able to heal to full after. Ammo is the only option on this thing unless you are running a premade with a very odd strategy. The game doesn't record all the rocked pod damage this thing does as yours, but having it recorded under some hero scout doesn't change the reality- that's your damage, because if you weren't there, it wouldn't have happened.

 

Sensor: Range Sensors

Comms are reasonable here, but as fleet support you will almost always be close enough for allies to communicate with you, but you MAY be at the forward edge.

 

Reactor: Large Reactor

This is just the best. I'm not gonna copy my math, but if you have some theory about the other reactors, use the search button, and pick large reactor.

 

Armor:Reinforced Armor

A bit of math will show that you have a higher time to kill versus railguns and blasters with lightweight, and you'll do better versus mines with deflection. So why reinforced? Simply put, bombers have a ton of base hull and no missile break, so adding to that will only help. Going from 2000 hull to 2400 hull makes a big difference, and with heals your enemies will have to wear down that extra 400 again and again. This is the only hull that works against EVERYTHING, and with this build you are in the open a lot. Want to live longer? Get more hitpoints. Or think about it the next time you have a 10 second proton or thermite chasing you from across the map with no way to break. Reflect upon your decision then!

 

Magazine: Regeneration Extender

It's generally better for shooting, and you don't need more missiles, because the drone makes infinity missiles. I mean, that's kind of odd that YOU don't have infinity missiles, but the DRONE can...

Never mind.

 

:: CREW

 

Copilot: Mako / Kendra Novar (Running Interference)

Wingman is a close contender, but this is one of the places I've found RI to be helpful. When you get swapped to by multiple opponents, you need some luck and some engine power to escape back to peels. Running Interference would be nicer with lightweight armor, but it's not bad all by itself. Nullify would be in the running if it didn't last basically no time at all. You COULD also consider bypass, but you'll probably want your heavies to be shield piercing then, and you need to be very aware of enemies with low hull so you can vulture them.

 

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

This helps you lock missiles, which is a big deal on this ship. The accuracy helps your heavy lasers. The other options are both poor for you: you can't run out of ammo, and the 8% haste on reload is just not comparable to these.

 

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

This generally remains the best. You might be ok going with a damage reduction and shield crewmember, but the evasion is nice during Running Interference.

 

Tactical: Mako / Kendra Novar (sensor radius & communication / sensor focus & communication)

The sensor part is very minor, and we want RI.

 

Engineering: Yuun / 2V-R8 (13% weapon power efficiency, 13% engine efficiency)

This build is for TDM. While the minor ability to run into the fray can be nice, you'll spend plenty of times with "tactical reloads" of your engine pool whether you pick the 10% engine or not, and without a satellite to rush to you just don't need that dash of engine power as much. Consider Blizz/C2N2 if you plan to chase purple power ups- the extra on the recharge is very noticable then. The big thing is that in a TDM scenario you will OFTEN have targets for your heavy lasers, and taking shots at the edge of your reticule might be bad for your accuracy, but it can deal damage and get kills, and this crewmember mostly makes taking those shots from a dicey decision to a pretty solid one.

 

 

 

 

Strategy: You boost out with your ships, and let them get ahead while you go full throttle (not boosting) to get your purple back. If an enemy has DO, fly towards them and near an obstacle- your goal is to either kill them or taunt them to you, at which point you will drop your drones and LOS. If an ally has DO, chase him hard and missile anyone trying to peel him. Place Railgun Drones aggressively, but not before the enemy has been met- an enemy is much less likely to swap to a drone once he is already in a fight, as you deny him the "strafe/missile the drone, then peel back and get my shields back" maneuver he would have as an option should you drop the railgun right away. You want the railgun to have multiple targets most of the time. If an enemy missile locks you, boost out of LOS or directly towards them. Watch your engines constantly- never get caught out in the open without engines.

In Kuat, try to select walls with the doors in them. You can gain a lot of time (and engine power) by flying in and out of doors, scaling close to walls, etc. In Shipyards, make use of the larger rocks and the scaffoldings.

Powerups are hard to get, but purple is extremely good for you, blue is better than for most ships, and this is a pretty solid bomber to grab red on. You won't get many DOs compared to other ships, but understand that you'll normally fare best by shooting heavies and not even locking the missiles- the dps on the heavies is amazing, and you'll often land an extra shot or two that you wouldn't should you have launched a missile, and this can often get you a kill.

Set up your drones near other bomber nests and most especially near allied gunships. The ideal situation is a little behind an enemy gunship, such that an enemy gunship trying to snipe it won't have much green range to work with- you want him to get within 14500 of your railgun drone and be like 17000 away from an allied gunship- your ally can definitely exploit that!

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  • 2 weeks later...

As a new player who started only a week ago, wanted to say thanks heaps for this thread. Best guide I found that helped me get up to speed. I've tried the Pike and Star Guard based on recommendations here, but settled on this Clarion build as the ship that's giving me the most fun/effectiveness at such an early stage.

 

 

Clarion Dive Bomber (not actually a bomber)

 

This is a shoot and scoot build with the ability to act as a moving target / distraction, break from a dogfight and outrun other ships with minimal req investment. I don't claim this build is any good when you have all the ship options and the experience to use them (a week in, I have neither). But it does give you a fighting chance against more experienced players and is a great way to learn how to shoot and maneuver without the frustration of getting killed over and over.

 

I play it in TDM because of how slippery and tanky it is. Going 4 kills 1 death is much more beneficial to the team than going 6 kills and 4 deaths on a Pike. Often I accidentally find myself in enemy territory but dive and evade back to friendlies with no trouble -- and hopefully give them something to shoot at while the rest of my team lands kills. In domination I play it for the same reason - holding points and generally wasting people's time when they try and attack me.

 

None of the gear used on this build is higher than level 2, so you have no fancy options. So we're just using basic stuff you can get after a few days.

 

Quad lasers (level 2): Seems like the best short-medium range weapon for this ship. Don't expect to get many kills with them, but you can occasionally land a lucky shot and are fun to spam. The first two upgrades are useful for getting these to a point where you might actually hit something.

 

Proton Torpedos (level 2): Better for a newbie than the Thermite that are often recommended, these give you a large whack of damage that will finish something by themselves, rather than expect you to close in with quads (which is really really hard after just a week of play). The first upgrade is mandatory for reducing lock on times, and the second upgrade is still cheap and gives the chance of a lucky shot.

 

Repair Probes (level 1): If you're trying to draw fire while minimizing deaths, you can't get pecked to death by shots that get through your shields but don't kill. The tier 2-3 upgrades aren't that fantastic for this build so just get the reduced cooldown and forget about spending more points on them for now.

 

Directional Shield (level 2): Bit more tanky than the Shield Projector. These let you throw all shields to aft while you power dive all over the map, bringing us to...

 

POWER DIVE (level 2, but level 3 is great too if you can get it): In caps as it is the core of this build. Power Dive speeds you off at a right angle downwards, so if you use it wrong you'll troll yourself with a controlled flight into asteroid.

 

However, once you get the hang of pointing your nose directly up first, then power diving, this is the greatest thing since sliced bread. With the tier 2 reduced cooldown, you'll have more mobility than many ships. I've managed to lead more experienced scouts around in a huge circle on TDM maps just power diving all over the place. Eventually most players give up in favour of a less annoying target, letting you go back to locking on torpedoes.

 

Bonus points if you can power dive lead people in front of a line of friendly gunships, so always try to have a plan for getting in, getting attention, and having a destination.

 

Power Dive is also handy for satellite rushes in domination. When you spawn, hit F3 for more engine power, then point your nose up and power dive, then afterburner as you come out of the dive. You'll be upside down, but also ahead of other ships. A 10 second cooldown means you'll have it free to use again as you approach the sat, and two power dives and afterburner can let you contest a sat even at the same time as an opposing scout. Then you can fly in a circle around the sat with all power to shields and repair probes, and they typically won't have the firepower to dislodge you by themselves.

 

Lightweight Armor (level 2): Evasion is pretty good as it reduces the damage that gets through the shield, meaning less need for hull repairs.

 

Range capacitor (level 2): Helps you actually hit stuff with Quads, since you have a longer range window and hence less tracking penalties.

 

Large Reactor (level 2): More shields means less hull damage. Between these and other bonuses, your repair probes can cope with their workload.

 

Sensor: Doesn't matter at this low level so leave it stock. Later on I'm thinking communication range to help support the role as a rabbit.

 

Crew

 

Offensive as pinpointing/Field of Fire: Standard offensive crew choice here that means you might hit the broad side of an asteroid with your quads. While you're using torpedoes to get kills mostly, a blaster-oriented crew is still useful as it turns your quads from "pointless" to "might get lucky". I like those odds.

 

Defensive as power to shields/response turning/Bypass: More shields and more evasion means less hull damage in a prolonged fight. Bypass is an interesting ability that means your quads might kill something once in a while if you get a good attack run in. Plus Nadia seems to really enjoy power diving, judging by her cheers. It's a real party.

 

Tactical as crew with Wingman or Running Interference: At low levels not sure if the tactical passives do anything (maybe communication would help the rabbit role), but right now I spent points unlocking a crew with Wingman for a great offensive buff as an alternative to Bypass that help you actually hit stuff with Quads. Not sure which one is better - either way your blasters are mostly entertainment value, so is good to try both.

 

Running Interference is another fine choice since you're actually trying to get shot at, but I prefer the offensive options as I'd rather have the option to make my blasters useful than completely forget about them. At low gear and experience, a buff is really helpful to making blasters work.

 

Engineering with efficient manuevers and power to engines: C2-N2 is a big fan of power diving so enthusiastically tunes your engines so you can power dive all day.

 

 

So that's the build. Not the most offensive ship, but it is very possible to reliably go 4 kills to 1 or even 0 deaths in matches and lock down objectives after just a week in GSF, which after a week is I think the most you can ask for and helps your team more than getting farmed.

Edited by StealthNerf
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Clarion Dive Bomber (not actually a bomber)

 

Quad lasers (level 2): Seems like the best short-medium range weapon for this ship. Don't expect to get many kills with them, but you can occasionally land a lucky shot and are fun to spam. The first two upgrades are useful for getting these to a point where you might actually hit something.

 

Quad are nice. LLCs do a nice job too but are so much harder to use. RFL are thrash. Point.

 

Proton Torpedos (level 2): Better for a newbie than the Thermite that are often recommended, these give you a large whack of damage that will finish something by themselves, rather than expect you to close in with quads (which is really really hard after just a week of play). The first upgrade is mandatory for reducing lock on times, and the second upgrade is still cheap and gives the chance of a lucky shot.

 

Nothing to say here. If you can lock and deliver, protorps are amazing.

 

Repair Probes (level 1): If you're trying to draw fire while minimizing deaths, you can't get pecked to death by shots that get through your shields but don't kill. The tier 2-3 upgrades aren't that fantastic for this build so just get the reduced cooldown and forget about spending more points on them for now.

 

T3 Repair is awesome.. Not for you since you shouldn't run out of protorps easily. But for your team's scouts. An ammo refill for a pod build scout is the best thing ever ;)

 

Directional Shield (level 2): Bit more tanky than the Shield Projector. These let you throw all shields to aft while you power dive all over the map, bringing us to...

 

Charged Plating (T2). Harder to use but with Repair Probe you can basicly neglect the bleedthrough. And with DR Armor and DR crew you can get 99% DR 19 sec out of 30. It's just awesome. HLCs, BLCs, slug and most missiles tear through DR tho. So using it correctly isn't that easy.

 

POWER DIVE (level 2, but level 3 is great too if you can get it): In caps as it is the core of this build. Power Dive speeds you off at a right angle downwards, so if you use it wrong you'll troll yourself with a controlled flight into asteroid.

 

However, once you get the hang of pointing your nose directly up first, then power diving, this is the greatest thing since sliced bread. With the tier 2 reduced cooldown, you'll have more mobility than many ships. I've managed to lead more experienced scouts around in a huge circle on TDM maps just power diving all over the place. Eventually most players give up in favour of a less annoying target, letting you go back to locking on torpedoes.

 

Bonus points if you can power dive lead people in front of a line of friendly gunships, so always try to have a plan for getting in, getting attention, and having a destination.

 

Power Dive is also handy for satellite rushes in domination. When you spawn, hit F3 for more engine power, then point your nose up and power dive, then afterburner as you come out of the dive. You'll be upside down, but also ahead of other ships. A 10 second cooldown means you'll have it free to use again as you approach the sat, and two power dives and afterburner can let you contest a sat even at the same time as an opposing scout. Then you can fly in a circle around the sat with all power to shields and repair probes, and they typically won't have the firepower to dislodge you by themselves.

 

Most awesome engine. I was using it before it was cool. +1000 Just for PDie

 

Lightweight Armor (level 2): Evasion is pretty good as it reduces the damage that gets through the shield, meaning less need for hull repairs.

 

I go with DR armor. 15% more DR is awesome when running CP.

 

Range capacitor (level 2): Helps you actually hit stuff with Quads, since you have a longer range window and hence less tracking penalties.

 

Good choice.. Damage is good if you're using a short range build with quad (like ion/quad/cluster on the StarGuard). Frequency is only good with burst build so LLC/quad'n'pod or BLC. The added power draw keep you from using Frequency in long fights.

 

Large Reactor (level 2): More shields means less hull damage. Between these and other bonuses, your repair probes can cope with their workload.

 

True. There is only a handfulof good build to use Turbo or Regen and even with those, Large still perform well enough.

 

Sensor: Doesn't matter at this low level so leave it stock. Later on I'm thinking communication range to help support the role as a rabbit.

 

Sensor is a wasted component. Upgrade it last to master your ship but doing it before is just unuseful.

 

Crew

 

Offensive as pinpointing/Field of Fire: Standard offensive crew choice here that means you might hit the broad side of an asteroid with your quads. While you're using torpedoes to get kills mostly, a blaster-oriented crew is still useful as it turns your quads from "pointless" to "might get lucky". I like those odds.

 

Yoour choice of passive is good but not for the good reason. Field of Fire is bad. completely and utterly bad for laser (except for BLCs). Sure you get more firing arc, but you shouldn't use it. with quad, firing at more than 10° off center at mid range means you'll miss more than 15% of your shots. It can get at more than 40% against an evasion scout (without DField up). So with quad and every weapon with 1.50% tracking penality you shouldn't fire at more than 8° off center. Field of Fire is useful here for another reason. Your protorps. You give it 4° more to lock in which is huge. Pinpointing is mandatory on about every single build (except some troll build with cluster and Ion Cannons or a double torpedoes build).

 

Defensive as power to shields/response turning/Bypass: More shields and more evasion means less hull damage in a prolonged fight. Bypass is an interesting ability that means your quads might kill something once in a while if you get a good attack run in. Plus Nadia seems to really enjoy power diving, judging by her cheers. It's a real party.

 

Bypass is nice but not that much. DR crew is better when you're using CP. Regen is better when you are using Direct. But Evasion crew isn't a bad choice. 5% evasion is still useful with Evasion Armor. Power to Shield is mandatory whatever build you are using tho ;) I'll talk about actives later ;)

 

B]Tactical as crew with Wingman or Running Interference:[/b] At low levels not sure if the tactical passives do anything (maybe communication would help the rabbit role), but right now I spent points unlocking a crew with Wingman for a great offensive buff as an alternative to Bypass that help you actually hit stuff with Quads. Not sure which one is better - either way your blasters are mostly entertainment value, so is good to try both.

Running Interference is another fine choice since you're actually trying to get shot at, but I prefer the offensive options as I'd rather have the option to make my blasters useful than completely forget about them. At low gear and experience, a buff is really helpful to making blasters work.

 

Tactical. Your crew here doesn't really matter. Use one with both Peripheral Vision and Depth of Field (Comm Boost if you plan to use Comm Sensor) if you don't need an active. If you do. Just forget that and take it.

 

Engineering with efficient manuevers and power to engines: C2-N2 is a big fan of power diving so enthusiastically tunes your engines so you can power dive all day.

 

Yup. Efficent Maneuvers and Power to Engine. Both are the best component if you plan to run a lot.

 

About actives.

Bypass is nice but really good with HLC since it stack with its Shield pen at T3. With Quad it's good but not that much. With Quad and Protorp it becomes really good for one reason. It gives you enough shield pen to actually finish someone that got hit by a protorp.

Wingman is a must. WIth wingman up, you can basicly go spray'n'pray. It's one of the best active.

RI is good if you're stacking evasion (which you are as much as you can or a strike, so not much ;)).

Personally I would go with Wingman on an imp since you can't get Bypass. And for a Pub I would go with either Bypass or WIngman with a Protorp/Quad build.

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Thanks for the comments! I know this build works cause I just die so less than on my other strikes with it, but it's always nice to read feedback by more experienced players.

 

Yeah I'm sure many options like the T3 ammo refill is pretty great eventually, but problem is more that don't have enough req to get that for a while, so am just looking for what gives the most immediate benefit right now. :)

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For whatever reason, Stasie, Drako, and I really really like the Clarion, and so did Sheep back when he played. Tune also likes the Clarion. I think the initial big draw is that both the Clarion and Imperium are clearly excellent models ("clearly clarion"!) in their classes, and the Clarion is arguably the nicest looking ship in the game, and once you play the ship you just find it has so many damned playmodes.

 

I think StealthNerf's post is one I haven't seen- "this is good for newbies". And that has a lot of merit, because even if an individual player isn't new for long, there are a lot of players who don't become vets. Increasing retention is, in practice, a community problem (in theory it's a dev problem, but when you phrase it like that it just becomes class nerfers swearing they won't play unless some part of a game they don't understand is deleted).

 

But, I think that should actually be its own thread, with some fast rundown on which ships should be bought, etc. A new player has a lot to gain from this thread- it's the most valuable guide to GSF period IMO- but I think that something explicitly saying "yea, you're gonna have a hard time shooting opponents at first, there's a lot of practice to be able to really tear stuff up" and making recommendations based on that is solid.

 

 

 

As to your suggestions, I agree with all of them. Rapid Fire Lasers are worthless for noobs and poor for vets. Stasie talked us all into running mastered rapids on scouts for one game, and I still hate him for making me have an Ocula with mastered rapid fire lasers. It felt very close to stock ships when it came to scoring kills. I made a post titled "Rapid Fire Lasers are a Shocking Embarrassment" and it is still true today:

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

 

Quads are friendly and make sense. If your target is in the center and you shoot at the reticule, you score a hit. The hit is for damage that matters. If you can do it multiple times, you will kill your enemy. It also will train you on which targets have damage reduction and which do not.

 

Protons are easier to land that thermites, and do their damage right away. There is also something about the targeting on thermites versus protons (in theory identical) that makes thermites drop lock more often than protons- I am absolutely convinced they are coded differently. I still prefer (and recommend) thermites, but for a new player the proton will be superior. The team aspect of a thermite is also big. I love landing a thermite on a bomber that has a scout approaching him- I know nothing he does will save him, so I'm safe to go target something else. But a proton does damage, right now, that hurts.

 

Directional I wholeheartedly recommend for new players and veterans. Shield Projector requires a bunch of work for it to actually excel, because in order for it to matter the shields you deliver to your allies have to be important. If an ally killed an opponent and got to red one shield arc, your shield projector is probably not going to help unless another enemy attacks his front in those few seconds. It's also a tight area, making it mostly only good on domination, leaving you without a potent defense on TDM. Charged Plating is not for new players period- the entire trick is that you are utterly invincible to some foes, and ludicrously vulnerable to others. Specifically, you will get totally waxed by railguns and scouts, while having little to fear from bombers.

 

The guy recommending charged plating is absolutely incorrect for a new player recommendation. His build- which has 20% from armor, not 15%, and a DR crewmember- has 95% damage reduction during charged plating, essentially invulnerable- to certain attacks. That's a solid build, but to go through piecemeal and be like "oh hey, you should get this crewmember who is only good if you have charged plating, and this armor that is only good if you have charged plating" is just silly, and definitely not for a new player. Also note that these numbers are nowhere near this good if you don't have full upgrades (if you lack even the final upgrade on deflection armor, it DOUBLES the damage you take under charged plating), and a new player shouldn't waste their time with the DR crewmember right away.

 

 

I actually run Bypass on my Clarion, with Thermites. I think that Wingman would probably be a bit better, but the power of a bypassed thermite is frankly absurd. I will point out that this is NOT something empire should consider- while they have superior access to several copilot abilities, there's nothing admirable about their bypass companions. Empire should be running Wingman (which they even start with, though you have to change off some garbage-butt ability like slicer's loop or hydrospanner) or Running Interference.

 

The big reason to recommend Wingman for Empire (or both) is that it gets a new player used to the realities of shooting, and how quads become able to fire effectively across their whole arc during wingman, but normally shouldn't be used much except for the center. Most lasers are like this, in fact.

 

 

I also strong recommend the blaster passive- I certainly get kills off of the edge of firing arc in some situations, but the real reason is, as Ryuku says, is that thermites and protons benefit immensely from the extra targeting range. I consider this to be mandatory for the ship.

 

 

 

Repair probes are the standard build on this ship, and a good recommendation for players of all levels. I definitely enjoy the remote slicing playstyle, especially for landing thermites that players assume they will engine maneuver out of. Nothing is more fun on this ship- NOTHING- than swapping to a scout that blows disto, getting a lock, pressing slicing, and letting the missile fire. Enjoy that, little guy! Such conquest! But it is, in truth, not as powerful as the other two options, and combat command is generally weaker than repair probes.

 

Note also that you (correctly) point out that the T2 and T3 upgrades aren't that good. Ryuku thinks that T3 is ammo, when in fact that is T5. T3 is a solid boost to total healing (it's an extra tick, 20%), but does nothing in the short term. T4 is a larger boost to healing (27% to all ticks), and T5 is the mightiest, allowing your team to basically run quads and pods and never go OOM if they like.

 

 

It's also important because repair probes scale with the player. Newbs use them for effective and real heals, something that the game doesn't give you very easily. More advanced newbs begin popping them with allies around, assuming that some will get healed. Coordinated players heal hull and ammo on cooldown almost. It has great synergy with any bomber (tons of hull, not much shield), any scout (they always run out of ammo), and other strikes (who always end up spending much of the game with progressively lowering hull).

 

 

 

 

Anyway, solid post. But you might want to emphasize the challenges a new player faces, and map the clarion to those. For instance, you might to address how a clarion should detect and act around gunships, nodes, bombers, and scouts that want to attack you.

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'snip'

 

I mixed Repair Drone and Probes ;) My bad on that.

Charged Plating isn't newbies friendly. I don't know. With Repair you can easily recover from Armor Pen. And PDie can help you LoS your opponent. It doesn't make CP in itself better but it synergizes rather well with it. Sure CP on a bomber, a Pike or a StarGuard is hard to use. On a Clarion tho. I wouldn't say it's as hard.

 

And Bypass + Thermite looks fun ;) I will have to try it out someday... Probably on my EMP/Thermite Nova. Or on my double torpedoes HLC Comet.

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