(this is a huge work in progress for me and I will be adding to it steadily over the course of the next couple weeks, any tips / suggestions are appreciated. This is what I originally intended my new player guide to be, but this will serve to much more robust. IMO this is something BW should have done a long time ago *shrug*)

Galactic Starfighter Instruction Manual v 1.0

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Table of Contents:

• 1.1 – Introduction
  
• 1.2 – Basic Controls
  
• 1.3 – Ship Types
  
• 1.4 – Stats Description
  
• 1.5 – Accuracy, Tracking Penalties, Evasion
  
• 1.6 – Components
  
• 1.7 – Game Types
  
• 1.8 – Earning Requisition
  
• 1.9 – Grouping
  
• 1.10 - Resources
  

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1.1 Introduction

Galactic Starfighter is a PvP mini game addition to SWTOR launched with patch 2.6 (2.5 early access). In it two teams of up to 12 players compete in 3 dimension space combat over a variety of maps and two game types. It includes a capture game type, whose goal is to capture and hold satellites and a Deathmatch style game type where players compete over kills.

GSF has a separate experience system from SWTOR's ground game. Anyone can play starting at level 1 and each player starts with 2 ships: T1 Strike Fighter (Imperial: Rycer – Republic: Starguard) and a T1 Scout Fighter (Imperial: Blackbolt – Republic: Novadive). By completing matches and daily/weekly missions you earn “requisition” that can be used to unlock new components, upgrade existing ones, or purchase new ships.

GSF has two play options when queuing: Solo (Fly by yourself and be automatically added to the next available game) and Group (Group with up to 4 people and enter the game together as a “squad” - you can also queue as an OPS group with up to 8 players IE two 4 mans in an OPS group)

Note: both 4 man groups in an OPS must group queue at the same time to ensure the best chance they get into the same game)

GSF at its heart is a team based game, many things are best done as a group. Communication and coordination is very important in many situations. Most groups use Voice programs to talk to one another, solo players can still communicate using text/chat system built into the game.

Continue reading below for in depth information about your ship, components, and other helpful stuff.

1.2 Basic Controls

Ship Movement:

Your ships movement is controlled (default) with the W, A, S, D keys and the Mouse:

W: Accelerate / Max Throttle (Throttle is sticky IE will sit at neutral unless W is pressed and held – in which case you will accelerate to Max Throttle)

Note: Neutral throttle is approximately 3/4th full acceleration

A: Roll (left)

S: Decelerate / 1/4 Throttle (Throttle is sticky IE will sit at neutral unless S is pressed and held in which case you will decelerate to approximately 1/4th throttle)

D: Roll (right)

Space: Boosters (320% speed, only usable while you have engine energy)

V: Auto Roll (will roll you right side up in relation to the map)

Mouse:

The mouse is simultaneously responsible for a targeting reticule that directs where your weapons will fire, and for pitching the ship up, down, and Yaw (left and right). The reticule can be considered a "lead" that the ship will follow.

Note: Your Ship pitches up and down faster than it yaws side to side. For the best results roll your craft so your always pushing up or down, rather than side to side, this way you will turn faster.

Advanced Ship Controls:

There are some additional ship controls that you should familiarize yourself with::

X: Toggle Throttle (Hitting this once will cut the throttle to 0, hitting it again resumes default throttle)

Shift +W: Strafe Up (this will “slide” your ship slowly up without pitch or roll)

Shift+S: Strafe Down (this will “slide” your ship slowly down without pitch or roll)

Shift+A Strafe Left (this will "slide" you ship slowly to the left without pitch or roll)

Shift+D Strafe Right (this will "slide" your ship slowly to the right without pitch or roll)

F: Free Look Camera (Hold down this button to free look without moving your ship)

Z: Allows you to desync targeting reticule and cursor (so you can look up abilites, scroll chat pane etc)

Shift+Z: Allows you to desync cursor without holding Z down

Weapons Controls:

Weapons are aimed and fired (default) with the mouse: Mouse button 1 (primary) and mouse 2 (secondary) buttons.

Missiles, Torpedoes, and Sabotage Probe are lock-on weapons that require you to keep the targeting reticule on the target (and inside your missile firing arc) until ready to fire. Rocket Pods however are "dumb fire" and are fired without lock on.

Note: Missile locks both friendly and unfriendly generate a “Tone” or series of beeps that get faster as you approach lockon. Friendly lock-ons generate tone while locking and then a “Beep” when you can release mouse button 2 and fire the missile. Unfriendly missiles generate a tone while being locked and then a fast tone when they are launched and in transit.

Gunships get access to a railgun, when using a railgun you get a separate “scope” aiming system and your ship stops mid flight. Railguns have to be charged in order to fire, doing additional damage the longer you charge them (while consuming power at the same time)

Note: You can both zoom and unzoom a railgun (using the mouse wheel), unzooming can make it substantially easier to land a shot since it gives you a wider field of view. Zooming in however has negligible benefit (only use I have found is to hit pesky mines and drones)

Note: Gunships have a minimum charge in order to fire. Make sure you charge it long enough!

Bombers get access to mines or drones. These weapons are deployed from a bomber, and depending on type will sit in place and detonate once a player approaches within range(mines) or target enemies (drones).

Targeting Controls:

In GSF shooting at a target is easiest when you have them targeted. There are currently three ways to do this:

TAB: Will cycle all targets within your sensor range

R: This will cycle targets starting with the nearest enemy ship to the furthest

Note: R will also target the last enemy who damaged you, if you get hit try pressing R to see who is attacking you.

E: This will target any ship that is near your targeting reticule

Note: Cycling targets should be done frequently, this helps with “spatial awareness” letting you know which ships are nearby (and consequently which ships are the greatest threat)

C: (Target Camera) will change your camera's viewing angle to show targeted enemy at the center of the screen.

Note: Using Target Camera makes it so you cannot see where you are going, it is mostly used to see where an enemy is and what if any LOS objects are between you and them.

Component Controls:

Your ship has an array of components that determine how the ship operates (affecting both the stats of the ship and what active abilities it has access to.) For this section we are focusing on “active abilities” these are abilities that show up on a bar on the bottom left of the screen and can be used by pressing their corresponding button:

1: Component 1 (System Ability)

Note: Some ships like the T1 Strike have two primary weapons as a systems ability.

2: Component 2 (Shield Ability)

3: Component 3 (Engine Ability)

4: Component 4 (Crew Ability)

Note: Some engine abilities break missiles and grant a short duration immunity to missile locks. Certain Shield and System abilities can also break missiles, with restrictions stated on the ability.

Note: Crew ability is determined by your co-pilot choice (more on that later)

Components typically once used have a cooldown before they can be used again. This varies from component to component, you can tell when an ability is on cooldown by the picture on the bar (unlit is on cooldown, lit is ready for use)

Power Settings / Controls:

In GSF your ship has four power settings:

Power settings change where your power is allocated and should be changed frequently depending on the situation (IE being shot at, making an offensive move, At the start of the match, or to evade attackers etc)

As you choose a power setting you can see a visual indication of the change on the HUD to the right of your ship and shields icon.

Yellow (leftmost bar): Weapon Power Setting

Blue (middle bar): Shield Power Setting

Purple (rightmost bar): Engine Power Setting

These start off (default) each match at a neutral setting. You can by pressing the F keys toggle your power setting with varying affects on how your ship operates:

Increasing power to a pool boosts its regeneration rate by 50%, and reduces the regeneration rate of the other two pools by 25%.

F1: Weapon Power Setting (Increasing weapon power boosts damage by 10%, while increasing shield or engine power reduces weapon damage by 5%)

F2: Shield Power Setting (Increasing shield power boosts max shield capacity by 20%, while increasing weapon or engine power reduces shield capacity by 10%)

F3: Engine Power Setting (Increasing engine power boosts max speed by 20%, while increasing weapon or shield power reduces max speed by 10%)

F4: Neutral Power Setting (No bonus or reduction)

Note: At the beginning of a match you should always presss F3 for engine power, this will allow you to get into position sooner. Just make sure to change it again once combat begins (depending on the situation)

1.3 Ship Types

Note: Ship archetypes can be a tad misleading, as you get to choose many of the components that affect their stats. The following is an overall description of each class. Some craft in each category (T3 ships) mix and match components from one class or another. More on that later.

Strike Fighter: Medium Range, Medium Damage Potential, Best Shields in Game, High Armor

Weaknesses: Lack of Speed and Maneuvering, Less damage potential than a gunship or Scout. Lack of speed can make this craft vulnerable.

Playstyle:

Scout: Fast / Maneuverable, Close Range, High Damage, High Evasion, Low Armor, Low Shields

Weaknesses: Low armor and shields coupled with reliance on evasion can make this craft a vulnerable target when focused. Highly reliant on engine power pool, once this runs out your vulnerable.

Playstyle:

Gunship: Access to Railguns (long range sniper type weapon) Extreme Long Range, Moderate Shields, Moderate Armor

Weaknesses: Static position when firing railgun makes this ship vulnerable, Not Maneuverable, Medium Speed.

Playstyle:

Bomber: Access to Mines / Drones (depending on type) High Armor, Access to support abilities (Like heal probes or hyperspace beacon)

Weaknesses: Lack of access to missile breaks (making it very vulnerable to missiles and torpedoes) Low Shields, Slow, Not Maneuverable, Vulnerable if caught in the open.

Individual Ships / Ship Types

Note: Ship type has no relation to how powerful it is (IE a Type 3 ship is not more powerful than a Type 1 ship)

1.4 The HUD (Heads up Display)

In Galactic Starfighter you have a HUD display for in game information:

The Minimap (Circle on the lower right side of the screen):

This shows your location (green triangle) as well as objects found in the map (asteroids, ships etc)

Red circles are enemy ships that you or your allies can detect with sensors

Green circles are friendly ships

White circles are powerups (powerups only spawn in deathmatch)

The Score Window (Top of screen, this window is different depending on game type):

Deathmatch: In death match this window shows the match time and match score (total kill count for each team)

Domination: In domination this window shows the satellites (3 Triangles) how many turrets each has (small circles around the triangle, up to three for each satellite) who owns the satellite (green for friendly red for enemy) as well as the score and match time.

Note: Watch the score window, you can tell when a satellite is being attacked (turrets dissapear) and when its being captured (Icon flashes and eventually turns gray (neutral) and then red as the enemy takes possession)

(work in progress - breakfast calls )

Great idea I'd like do add some corrections/additions

Most missiles (except rocket pods) are lock-on weapons that require you to keep the targeting reticule over the target while holding mouse 2 for the duration.

It requires holding the target in firing circle...

Note: Full stop can be used to get the edge in a dog fight by shortening the arc you need in order to turn.

However, when your ships stops fully, the turning speed is greatly reduced.

Shift +W: Strafe up (this will “slide” your ship slowly up without pitch or roll)

 

Shift+S: Strafe down (this will “slide” your ship slowly down without pitch or roll)

Shift+A - strafe left,

Shift+S - strafe right

Removed fixed items.

Got some edits for you:

> Mention the mousewheel as default binding for the railgun zoom

> F3 button still claims to boost shielding

An opinion piece:

Strikes have never struck me as a jack of more than the scout trade. What can a bomber do great, a strike do middling, and a scout do well? The answer is not "drop mines"... how is the strike a jack of the bomber trade? The node hugging trade? The area denial trade?

How is a strike a jack of the gunship trade? Does he have an 11km railgun, and a distortion missile break but with a longer cooldown?

Master of none? Strikes have the strongest shields in the game and the Clarion is no hybrid type of anything, it's a very strong support ship with the generally best repair ability.

Strikes are a fighter craft with a good hull, the strongest shields, and medium range weaponry. They aren't in the middle of any continuum as regards function, design, or capability, however. I really think you shouldn't describe them as generalists, jack of all trades, or anything else. I'd say stick to describing their strengths, including the areas where the are superior to scouts, the other dogfighting class.

You also list bombers as having "good shields" and having "the heaviest shields in the game". The ordering of shields is:

Strike > Gunship > Bomber > Scout

I would also recommend that you mention that bombers have a hard time breaking missiles- getting pounded by missiles is a pretty big part of bomber gameplay and something that should appear in the notes for a new player.

Not sure it matters that much at the beginner level, but in the ship description under the spoiler, you have the T3 scouts as having access to repair probes (which are an aoe heal that can't be shot down), when in fact they have access to repair drones, which can be shot down.

Could simplify it to, "Can equip components that repair hull damage on friendly ships," if you thing the distinction between the two would just be confusing to new players.

Edit:

 

You also list bombers as having "good shields" and having "the heaviest shields in the game". The ordering of shields is:

Strike > Gunship > Bomber > Scout

This is true for baseline shields, but I can see where he was coming from in that a lot of bombers in their common builds have substantially larger shield pools than most gunships do in their common builds.

It probably stems from just generally wanting to communicate that bombers are a very tanky ship class.

Given that there's no way to have a purely base spaceframe, it might be justified to talk about ship classes as they commonly exist in practice in the overview, and deal with the combination of spaceframe and components in detail in their own section.

As long as the intro to ship classes section is more honest than the flavor text descriptions in the hangar ( i.e. the functionality of scouts has nothing to do with scouting or reconnaissance), I'm not sure I'd have a problem with glossing over some of the more intricate details in that section. I mean, do you want to give material that a complete innocent in GSF might interpret to mean that they should be holding sats with gunships in preference to bombers? Logic, right? If the gunships have stronger shields they should be able to take more punishment .

Never assume that the manual reader is going to get past the introduction before trying things, or in this case, spending fleet requisition from the intro quest.

Not that a gunship is at all a bad choice, but if you wanted something for the bomber's role, it should be clear in this section that the bombers are without peer for soaking damage.

I edited my above post to remove the old and have the new.

Note: Your spoilered text is a bit confusing, but it does use the phrase "Tier". PLEASE use "type". Never imply (and in fact you should outright state) that the type doesn't imply power or advancedness or skill cap or progression. And avoid the use of "tier" entirely unless you are ranking things by power.

I originally used the Tier thing since thats how I usually think of them, but thinking about it now the T in T2 could just as easily mean type... not sure why I never thought of it that way. Went through and changed the spoiler descriptions for ship types and added the disclaimer. Im still not happy with that section, might have to tinker a bit.

Went ahead and re-tooled the ship descriptions to be more fact and less opinion, this had the positive effect of making it shorter and much easier to read.

and ram thx for the info there, got me thinking about flavor text now... The in game information is really misleading, but in trying to write these things I can see how one can get side tracked easily and become misleading.

Note: I removed the "X" tips but will replace it with a more comprehensive advanced X (toggle throttle) spoiler tag.

This is a turning into a very useful thread for all those new pilots I've been seeing. It's a nice complement to Stacie's guide too.

Please sticky this thread for the new pilots Devs (Yes I'm still hopeful you read this forum on your off days).