My point is simple. Newbies must learn to fly the stck ships. They are well balanced and teach the basic. Beginning on a bomber will keep a new pilot from learning how to actually be evasive and begining on a gunship will keep a newbie from developping a good spatial awareness.

 

Given that maneuvering is clutch to not dying on a bomber and situational awareness is clutch to being a gunship, I don't see how.

 

 

I actually disagree with you quite profoundly- I think Bioware should make it much easier to acquire the ships, but even with no changes at all, I recommend newer players be willing to throw a few cartel coins at the task of unlocking other ships. Given that the tokens provide requisition to ALL ships in your stable, this should be common sense, and in fact a new player will probably be torn between spending his tokens immediately, to purchase very basic quality of life upgrades such as engine component and tier 1 of everything, and instead holding tokens until all ships have been unlocked.

 

 

In any event, I strongly recommend the use of cartel coins to convert to fleet requisition to unlock one or more ships. To convert 10k ship to fleet is 400 coins, and 450 coins is $5 (and that is the worst deal). I also strongly feel that the type 1 gunship and either bomber should be something that all players are trying out and playing.

 

 

Agreed. I also kinda feel that the Type 1 stock ships are underestimated because they're stock (going with the traditional gamer assumption that if it's default equipment it's inherently worse than all the unlockable equipment).

 

Cautiously agree, but I will point this out:

 

The novadive actually IS worse at most scout jobs than the flashfire. The ones that it is better at require some rather deep familiarity with the game. This ship is definitely not a trap or anything, but many pilots would be served well by unlocking a flashfire and trying out burst lasers and clusters. If your desired playstyle was anything like that, the Type 1 scout is a distraction.

 

The starguard, on the other hand, is very frustrating to upgrade. While the stock version is not terrible, the core power of this ship is swapping between weapons, and as you upgrade one weapon, you find the other lagging behind. Much like a stock scout can't burst nearly as hard as an upgraded one, and a stock gunship can't rely on two rails, the stock Starguard is fundamentally bad at his one supposed strength.

 

That's not to say expert players can't get some use. Swapping between unupgraded rapids and unupgraded heavies still provides some strength, but nowhere near what swapping between upgraded ones does.

 

 

It's hard to say how much of this is just the fact that upgrading your gun costs twice as much as in another ship, and how much of this is the tuning on starguards.

 

 

 

In any event: I recommend to absolutely no new players that they stick with the stock ships. They should buy as many ships as they intend or want to play as soon as they can, and the novadive is generally the weaker of the two scouts, and the starguard generally not very strong, while the meta is dominated by flashfires, quarrels, and ramparts. Recommending anyone avoid these strong ships is being dishonest with them- that's not the right advice.

 

 

What you should do is point them to this thread!

I strongly disagree with you.... Yes. Nova is generally less powerful than a CattleScout. Yes. StarrGuard is hard to use in an even remotely useful way. But learning to not do bad on the worst ship should make one a better pilot overall. At least I think so...

I would recommend everyone play every ship. But steering them away from the good ones won't make them a better player, definitely not- you just limit what roles you are able to play correctly.

 

In any event, this thread has several builds that are more or less standard, as well as tips for playing them and what roles they will provide. This should prevent a lot of confusion new players have, as many of the options here are traps!

Edited May 26, 2014 by Verain

For a newer player with a Starguard I'd say the key component swaps are to get Large Reactor, Qyzen, C2-N2 or Yuun, and possibly consider swapping to cluster missiles.

 

For guns swapping the Rapids to Quads or Ions is o.k. but I'd also say that in terms of effective firepower you could just run Heavies full time and not worry about the second gun slot. At least as long as you don't plan on doing a lot of close range turning fights.

 

Other than that the stock build is fairly decent.

 

I do endorse using req. conversion to speed up crew and ship purchases, but the concept of wanting to buy a type 2 scout, type 1 gunship, or any bomber before getting the type 2 and type 3 strike fighters does somewhat baffle me.

Of course, I'm known for a bit of bias when it comes to favoring strikes.

 

As general advice, getting one ship in each category (and getting ones that represent the category well) as early as possible is pretty smart. If you decide that you strongly favor one ship class, it's nice to know early on so that you can concentrate req, and more importantly, flying time, on ships in that class.

in terms of effective firepower you could just run Heavies full time and not worry about the second gun slot.

I think that's a fair assessment, but I'd want to teach the newer player the differences between laser cannons (and rapids/heavies are great for that). Also, I think I'd recommend Directional Shields simply so that they live longer - TTK with Quick-Charge is definitely much lower when you're a slow target and rewards more manual evasion/movement.

 

I do endorse using req. conversion to speed up crew and ship purchases, but the concept of wanting to buy a type 2 scout, type 1 gunship, or any bomber before getting the type 2 and type 3 strike fighters does somewhat baffle me.

Interestingly, I seem to have the best overall strike fighter stats on both my Rycer and Star Guard so I'm not sure I would tell anyone to immediately rush to purchase the other strike fighters. Either way, my recommendation is to find a play style and ship class you like and go with it - everyone else be damned. Some veterans still run only one primary ship to this day, and that ship appears to vary wildly (though much more concentrated on the type 2 scout, or "battle" scout, than any other).

 

As general advice, getting one ship in each category (and getting ones that represent the category well) as early as possible is pretty smart.

Totally. As far as specific ships: Sting/Flashfire, Mangler/Quarrel, Razorwire/Rampart, Rycer/Star Guard. One you start with, the others are cheap and can be picked up quickly. Using requisition tokens after you get these few ships will let you dabble wherever you please in the current "meta" and have a large variety of useful components and ship types to choose from.

Edited May 29, 2014 by TrinityLyre

For a newer player with a Starguard I'd say the key component swaps are to get Large Reactor, Qyzen, C2-N2 or Yuun, and possibly consider swapping to cluster missiles.

 

For guns swapping the Rapids to Quads or Ions is o.k. but I'd also say that in terms of effective firepower you could just run Heavies full time and not worry about the second gun slot. At least as long as you don't plan on doing a lot of close range turning fights.

 

Concussions go really well with heavies though, and koiogram turn should be replaced asap with barrel roll or retro thrusters.

I think that's a fair assessment, but I'd want to teach the newer player the differences between laser cannons (and rapids/heavies are great for that). Also, I think I'd recommend Directional Shields simply so that they live longer - TTK with Quick-Charge is definitely much lower when you're a slow target and rewards more manual evasion/movement.

 

Good point on the directional shields. I'm happy with quick charge on a stock strike fighter because of the mobility gains, but beginners tend to underutilize evasive flying and would generally be better off with stronger shields.

 

For the lasers, it's mostly that there's a reasonable case that if you want to maximize the rate of performance gains you may be better off mastering heavies before you start to spend on rapids.

 

Interestingly, I seem to have the best overall strike fighter stats on both my Rycer and Star Guard so I'm not sure I would tell anyone to immediately rush to purchase the other strike fighters. Either way, my recommendation is to find a play style and ship class you like and go with it - everyone else be damned. Some veterans still run only one primary ship to this day, and that ship appears to vary wildly (though much more concentrated on the type 2 scout, or "battle" scout, than any other).

types to choose from.

 

Well that bit was really more about my personal preferences and peculiarities than general advice. On the other hand I seem to have a weird ability to kill things with proton torps on the Pike and Clarion that somehow doesn't carry over to the Starguard. Probably a matter of my piloting habits between the different strikes, partly stemming from the fact that when I build a Starguard I'm usually thinking about cannons a lot more than missiles.

 

Concussions go really well with heavies though, and koiogram turn should be replaced asap with barrel roll or retro thrusters.

 

Concussions are indeed great, but as the easiest to use missile by a wide margin clusters have a certain appeal for raw beginners that actually want to hit targets with missiles on regular basis.

 

Engine maneuvers I'm not sure that there's enough difference to be worth spending to change engine components.

Koigran is somewhat disorienting, but it has a reasonable cooldown and it faces you back where you just came from in a way that results in less frequent, "controlled flight into terrain," style crashes than the other choices. Barrel roll is a bit long in cooldown for a beginner. None of them are really bad choices, and there are more attractive options once you've become a more skilled pilot.

 

I just felt that when someone is still in the beginner stages they're less likely to utilize the benefits of the other engine options, and more likely to be impaired by the component's drawbacks. I guess my recommendation would depend on whether the player wanted spent req to provide a good long term build or to provide the most immediate benefit. For the long view, swap to another engine and resign yourself to an extra portion of intimate contact with asteroids during the learning phase. If you want to do better right away, get the first two tiers of upgrade on Koigran and then swap when your other upgrades are at least 50% complete and hopefully your experience is helping you earn req faster than when you just started GSF.

 

It's hard to remember as a seasoned pilot, but for a beginner even with the GSF mission rewards requisition can be counted in the 100's and 1000's rather than the 10k to 100k chunks. So there is a certain logic to spending for immediate performance gains to make the GSF experience a bit more fun as soon as possible, and worrying about optimized builds a bit later on. Which approach is best depends a lot on player personality I suppose.

Edited May 29, 2014 by Ramalina

Concussions go really well with heavies though, and koiogram turn should be replaced asap with barrel roll or retro thrusters.

Agreed. I'm partial to Retro Thrusters, but they also have a bit of a learning curve for someone new to the game.

 

Good point on the directional shields. I'm happy with quick charge on a stock strike fighter because of the mobility gains, but beginners tend to underutilize evasive flying and would generally be better off with stronger shields.

Exactly! They're (for the most part) just as likely to evade into a wall.

 

For the lasers, it's mostly that there's a reasonable case that if you want to maximize the rate of performance gains you may be better off mastering heavies before you start to spend on rapids.

I actually do agree with this, though that's mostly because RFLs are much less potent when mastered. Unfortunately, I don't see this (or many things) being fixed any time soon. We work/play with what we have, though I admit I still use RFLs despite the negative comments they receive pretty much anywhere. RFL + Blaster Overcharge + Frequency Capacitor + Sabotage Probe is a hilariously fun build to play.

 

On the other hand I seem to have a weird ability to kill things with proton torps on the Pike and Clarion that somehow doesn't carry over to the Starguard.

Interesting thing to note, as I haven't really tried Protons on my Star Guard that often. I find that Heavies/Concussions/Retros work ridiculously well against most pilots and so I've mostly stuck with it instead of experimenting further. I do bounce back and forth between various thrusters on my strike fighters but tend to stick to Regeneration. I'll be sure to play around with other missiles some more. Probably other lasers, as each of my strikes is mastered more than two times over by now.

 

Concussions are indeed great, but as the easiest to use missile by a wide margin clusters have a certain appeal for raw beginners that actually want to hit targets with missiles on regular basis.

Also true, but I'd recommend a pilot pick up a Sting/Flashfire and try Clusters there. That way the newer player can experiment with different components across their various ships (pods, clusters, concussions, etc.) without sacrificing their ability to upgrade each. I tend to experiment a lot once a ship's mastered. Then again, I also have 3,000+ games played so clearly I'm not the average player.

 

Engine maneuvers I'm not sure that there's enough difference to be worth spending to change engine components.

This really comes down to personal preference, as you've said. I almost exclusively run Retro Thrusters and Barrel Roll on all my ships for utility purposes, but I don't find the others all that terrible (save Power Dive, which I'm still not a fan of). If I had to recommend a basic engine component for the real newbies, it would probably be Barrel Roll. It's useful and very intuitive. It's not that hard to play with, either - point in a direction with open space and press the button.

 

If you want to do better right away, get the first two tiers of upgrade on Koigran and then swap

I follow this rule for almost every ship, and actually have it listed in my guide. Having the cooldown reduction on whatever engine maneuver you use is a massive boon! Larger, I think, than almost anything else that costs 3,500ish requisition.

 

I'm curious, since you seem to mostly (exclusively?) play strike fighters, what engine maneuvers you tend to run with across your various ships. Heck, even your current preferred loadouts for these ships. I've found that since the engine nerfs, I've enjoyed playing double missile break ships (Sting/Blackbolt/Mangler and their equivalents) even more than I did before. Sadly, that's giving me less time in my strike fighters.

 

Which approach is best depends a lot on player personality I suppose.

Very true, but I think it's also a function of how long a player can stick it through and tough it out instead of complain and quit. From my experience, quitters tend to leave in the first handful of matches when their ship's ability to fight (skill and other garbage aside) is extremely weak relative to the veteran player base. They have no armor penetration, no reduced cooldown on their missile break, inferior component choices and weaker defenses. Toughing it out those few matches (or even joining a veteran as their wingmate) makes all the difference in the world. Bottom line though is do what's fun for you - it's a game, and no one should be telling you how to play that game if it isn't what you find fun and enjoyable.

Edited May 31, 2014 by TrinityLyre

I'm curious, since you seem to mostly (exclusively?) play strike fighters, what engine maneuvers you tend to run with across your various ships. Heck, even your current preferred loadouts for these ships. I've found that since the engine nerfs, I've enjoyed playing double missile break ships (Sting/Blackbolt/Mangler and their equivalents) even more than I did before. Sadly, that's giving me less time in my strike fighters.

 

I fly strikes, Novadive, and on rare occasions a gunship. I have the bombers, and a bunch of req on them, but I don't believe I've actually flown them yet. Not that pooping out mines and drones is bad per se, but I think the gameplay would be more fun in sort of an arcade Asteroids/space invader PvE setting with no cooldown or short cooldowns.

It works out something like 90% strikes, 4% Novadive, 1% Quarrel, 5% other. The Republic faction bias comes from where my ground game main characters and guild are.

 

On Jung Ma, which is my home server, I'm for the most part running the strike builds I listed at the beginning of this thread. I vary it a bit sometimes, but those are my favored standards. Novadive is pretty much mastered stock build, Gunship is standard, though I do sometimes run Plasma instead of Slug for the amusement of DOT kills.

 

On The Ebon Hawk, where I now am gearing up ships because I missed getting ships getting shot out from under me by Sammy, Alex, Tsukuyomi, and others who fled to TEH earlier than I did, I'm running somewhat different builds.

 

Basically, there are a lot of aces concentrated on TEH due to cross server migration or alts (except apparently some visitors from Bastion who got flamed for crushing opponents and may not come back. A sad event in my opinion). The aces have been there a while, and tend to have both FOTM and personal favorite ships mastered.

 

As much as I really do like challenge in GSF, trying to kill things with stock RFLs when I draw a group of mostly newbs and we fly against a double premade can be, ah, slightly frustrating. So rather than build my favorite builds, I'm trying to make every req point spent have an immediate impact, so spending 2k to unlock a component is a "waste" of one to two upgrades on stock components. So if it's not what I would consider sort of a 'mission critical upgrade' components don't get swapped.

 

Component unlocks I've done so far are: Qyzen, Nadia, C2-N2, Yuun, Heavy Lasers (pike), Light lasers (clarion), Large Reactor (all strikes where it's not default). I think everything other than that is just the stock builds.

 

That means stock engines on everything at this point. Koigran on the Starguard, Barrel Roll on the Pike, and Power Dive on the Clarion. I think it's also Barrel Roll on the Novadive, but I need the engine maneuver so rarely on it that I don't really remember which one is equipped.

 

I don't particularly like Power Dive, but once I worked out that it's a classic "invert then pitch up 90 degrees to point the nose down" style dive bomb, I started crashing a lot less with it. I tend to pitch up or roll before hitting it so that the "dive" portion is aimed into what I know is empty space instead of into terrain I couldn't see through the body of the ship.

 

On Jung Ma I've been meaning to equip Interdiction drive on either a second string gunship or a bomber to play around with the speed boost it gives. Just haven't gotten to it yet. I'm speculating about whether it has merit in helping bombers cross large empty spaces when trying to get to nodes in domination matches. Basically using it as a barrel roll substitute when it comes to travel, rather than the intended dogfighting aid.

 

Lately I've been using a Heavies, Concussion, Protons, Pike build a lot for sat humping battles in domination. If you work on marksmanship, Heavies are actually surprisingly good at point blank range. I've also been having fun blasting at incoming ships while leading others in a merry chase weaving around the satellite. I think maybe people assume I'm on the defensive ( true most of the time) and are surprised when I take a second or two to fire at them with the Heavies. It seems to me like opponents are often slow to react in that scenario. Don't usually get kills from it, but stripping a shield arc and moderate 10-40% hull damage is fairly normal. If turrets are up it can be deadly, though it's usually the turret(s) that get the kill rather than me.

Edited May 31, 2014 by Ramalina

No.... Bastion Premade left TEH I liked them.. When we weren't a n00b team against them

I think the gameplay would be more fun in sort of an arcade Asteroids/space invader PvE setting with no cooldown or short cooldowns

Have you played any of the TIE Fighter series? What if mines worked similarly to those? That could be interesting. I always thought the way missile cooldowns worked in this game was a bit silly, but I learned (quickly) to set aside any of my early comparisons to other starfighter-style games.

 

Novadive is pretty much mastered stock build

First ship I mastered, too. Imperial-side, though! For the Empire!

 

So if it's not what I would consider sort of a 'mission critical upgrade' components don't get swapped.

That's an interesting way to look at it. I guess I just play a much larger amount of games over time so I don't nitpick over spending requisition too much. The only "effective" thing I do is pool my reward tokens and blow them all after acquiring all the ships. My Bastion pub (Phytia) is sitting on over 170k+ req. worth of tokens. My TEH toon's ships still only have about 40-70k req. a piece, though.

 

Nadia

This is how Jedi fly! This is how Jedi fly! This is how Jedi fly! You got them! This is how Jedi fly!

 

I tend to pitch up or roll before hitting it so that the "dive" portion is aimed into what I know is empty space instead of into terrain I couldn't see through the body of the ship.

This is what I ended up doing, but still feel it's too clunky for me to use (risk vs. reward is too low in my opinion). On the other hand, I'm more than happy to risk the few times I suicide with Retro Thrusters for the incredible offensive power it brings.

 

On Jung Ma I've been meaning to equip Interdiction drive on either a second string gunship or a bomber to play around with the speed boost it gives.

I was going to pair this on my Legion with Interdiction Drone just to see how effective it is, but I haven't gotten around to playing it yet (either). The players I chat with regularly have differing opinions on it, but I mostly see drone bombers as a free kill. Playing an Imperium is much more... amusing.

 

I'm speculating about whether it has merit in helping bombers cross large empty spaces when trying to get to nodes in domination matches.

Tensor Field accomplishes this brilliantly and Interdiction Drive sucks way too much energy to be used for that. Spawning off someone else's Hyperspace Beacon (when possible) is also a great way to increase your bomber's mobility. If I play with an ally who runs Hyperspace Beacon, I typically tend to spawn off that instead to save myself engine power (be it on a gunship, bomber, strike or non-Bloodmark scout). All that extra engine power is useful when you're flying right into the fray!

 

If you work on marksmanship, Heavies are actually surprisingly good at point blank range.

Heavies are disgusting. It's why I list them everywhere they can be equipped. It's easily my favorite laser cannon, and with Frequency Capacitor I find everything about Heavy Lasers is just right. YMMV, though!

 

It seems to me like opponents are often slow to react in that scenario.

I think players get thrown off-guard much faster when you play like that, which is why I play extremely aggressively most of the time. There's something to be said about placing immense pressure on your opponent and taking the initiative in a game like this. It's probably why scouts are so popular (balance aside).

 

I liked them..

I did enjoy our conversation! I can't speak for the others but I still play my one game a day there (for the daily).

 

All that being said, I think I'm going to list a multitude of new ship builds shortly in anticipation of the patch hitting this coming Tuesday! I briefly considered typing up a "how to beat bomber/gunship/scout/strike/whatever combination" section but realized that it would take too long. Further, that information is easily accessible elsewhere throughout this forum (or by talking to pilots that try and develop counter-strategies).

Edited June 4, 2014 by TrinityLyre

Tune's Strike fighter Compendium: The complete Strike fighter.

 

 

First I want to preface this, I am not the best pilot anything any where in my opinion, but I am an extremely experienced GSFer and an even more experienced Strike fighter pilot. I have about 1600 or so matches played across different characters and/or different servers and over 1000 of those matches have happened in one of the many strike fighters. I have nearly every component mastered on all of my strikes on my main and have used MANY different builds on them through out my time in GSF.

 

 

 

I wanted to give a more extensive guide to strike fighter builds and alternates from the T1, T2 and even T3 Variants. In addition to the builds themselves I am going to give the idea and mentality behind each build from the general builds to the specialized. The proven tried and true, and the be cautious experimental only not recommended for first time mastery nor recommended for serious games as their effectiveness is still experimental. All will be placed here for those who really like the idea of a strike but struggle to find its place in the current Meta.

 

I will try not to duplicate any builds we have seen in the past forgive me if I show any.

The first build on this T1 Strike guide will be taking Ramilia's build here http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=7286773&postcount=8

 

And makeing a few alterations, because while its a good build and people are absolutely recommended to take it. The number of builds I am putting here that are close means its easier just to make a few alterations to what we have already seen .

 

Reactor, Large: often times I Feel shuffling shields to neutral and putting power to shields is the fastest way to get shields back up with Directional, And personally I have found that I generally dont need that extra regen to get an arc to full blue once i shuffle it back to just one side after about 5 seconds even with out the regen boost. Not saying the regen boost is bad, but for those looking for an alternative this is the alternate you probably want to go with.

 

Thrusters, Regen: Again this gives up some of that turning for a little bit more ability to run, and chase in the case of going after gunships and other targets. You dont have great tracking with your weapons so I find getting in turning fights with them isnt always the best. Still keeping the turning on the retro thrusters because of the bad tracking on your weapons meaning you want to be able to turn fast enough to keep them centered. But Personally I dont feel getting into a turning fight with this weapon set up is great for you. The clusters thankfully ussually make up for the bad tracking penalties on your primaries though, so you arent completely screwed in a close turning fight.

 

Capacitor Damage: The idea here is you are using quads for EVERYTHING except for targets that have armor such as turrets and charged plating builds, or targets with super low health that one shield pierced heavy laser will finish off. As such we want as much damage as we can pull out of those quads with out making thier energy cost to heavy.

 

 

Co-pilot: Wing man, Again your weapons have very poor tracking and evasion is all over the place. this crew member is the perfect counter to both of these things. When you are dealing with turning fights poping this on can and will assist in landing more hits while locking clusters. When head to heading some one that decides to use disto Field this also comes in handy.

 

Engineering: Engine efficiency, (power to engine, or Efficient fire) basically you want some ability to run down enemies and either you want that to be better or just efficient fire can make the Quads more then efficient enough. Playing with out engine efficiency is just painful.

 

 

Advanced Quad's/heavies, retro flight tip: When going against a burst laser scout Retro at around 3k meters will keep you outside of that scouts good firing accuracy range and damage range while keeping them in yours. A good scout can and will just off center you instead of head to heading, but if they approach for a head to head this drastically increases your chances of winning against a BLC scout.

 

Quads/heavies flight tip 2: Ussually just stick with quads the entire time unless target has armor, heavies only do more damage at ranges where quads cant hit. The regen thrusters allow you to get to that range faster

 

Directional shields Flight tip: Even with this more efficient engine build most things can still out run you. Try not to go below 50% engine power. Most enemies have your same ranges. let them come to you and waste their engine power. This build works very well at gaurding allied gunships.

 

Advanced General Flight tip: Avoid head to heads with quad 'n' pods instead try to come at them at an angle, their pods wont hit you and you have the same chance of hitting each other with quads, but your clusters can and will lock and fire on them either hitting them for good damage or forcing a missile break making them vulnerable to other missiles.

 

Advanced General Flight tip 2: Bassically when fighting burst laser cannon scouts think "quads 'n' pods scout" flight patterns, when fighting quads 'n' pods think Burst laser flight pattern and you should do alright. Of course firing at someone shooting at something else is still preferable to trying to fight 1v1.

 

If going with my alterations and with Ramalia's secondary build (IE Quick charge + barrel Roll) I do recommend going with her turning thrusters with this build as the engine regen provided by quick charge solves the engine problems I personally find with the directional+ turning build (as ramalia has said is an issue and the reason for the suggested quick charge + barrel roll choice) everything other portion of my alternate is still suggested for my alternate.

 

Quick Charge flight tip: when head to heading be sure to put power to shields, after you hit your "Shield ability" button in this head to head swap to power to weapons as you are now closer meaning your weapons are more accurate and do more damage and your max shields now dont matter Swap back to power to shields after your are done with the head to head to take advantage of the regen rate.

 

General flight tip Flight tip 3: if opponent is on you hard try to fly evasively while doing "attack runs" on enemies dropping lasers and missiles on targets as you fly through.

 

 

Another alternate Quads and heavies build is

 

 

Primary weapons: Quad laser cannon (T4 Crit, T5 Shield damage)

Primary weapons Heavy Laser cannon (Ignore armor, Shield Pen)

Secondary weapon: Concussion missile (max range, Either one)

Engines: Retro (if Directional) Engine power pool, Barrel Roll (if quick charge, also usable with directional) Increased ship speed.

Shields: Directional (reduced regen delay), Quick charge (Regen during damage)

Reactor: Large

Thrusters: regen

Capacitor: damage

Magazine Regen

 

Co-pilot: wingman, Concentrated fire or Lockdown

 

Offensive: Firing arc and 6% accuracy

Defensive: Large shields, evasion or quick regen (quick regen highly recommended for quick charge shields)

Tactical: personal preference

Engineering: Power to engines, Efficient maneuvers, Efficient fire also possible if you are ok with sacrificing power to engines (do not sacrifice efficient maneuvers)

 

Build specific Flight tip: This build is a bit more long range then the cluster missile build. As such much less turning fights will happen and more strafing runs. When some one is on your they will be difficult to remove solo which is why the ability to run is so important.

 

Directional Conc missile Flight tip 2: Head to head with directional and Retro's allow for much easier Concussion lock-ons and its highly recommended to use if you feel that concussion is going to take a bit longer.

 

There is more options here for crew as these strafing runs means more people will be dead center on you then before thus wingman is less neccisary for compensating for tracking penalty.

 

Concentrated fire is recommended for those that can often times get people dead center and want a strong burst potential with the strike.

 

Lock down is an interesting choice for some as it allows for easier concussion missile hits occassionally as the reload timer on concussions is a slightly less forgiving then that of Clusters. Combining Lock down with the "target engines" upgrade of concussions can be very good and frustrating for your enemy as their ability to run from you is severly hampered.

 

many of the flight tips from the original group work here.

 

 

The next builds are the Heavies/rapids Primary weapons builds the standard of which you can see here http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=7286389&postcount=5 the variation options on this build specifically I find in the Co-pilot; the engineering, and some of the T5 upgrades. I feel on all the weapons the other T5 upgrade (Shield damage, hull damage, concussion slow) are all options. If those options are taken it should be noted that you will be worse at any bomber running charged plating because the missile just wont hurt as much as the Armor piercing one.

 

The other point that only other variations I would use for this particular Heavy/Rapid Variant is Co-pilot options would also include Wingman, Concentrated Fire, and Lockdown much for the same reason as with the Heavies/quads build. And if you want a little more engine power C2-N2/Blizz are also engineering options.

 

 

Rapid/heavy Flight tip: Use heavies at all times save for when the target starts far out of your center of your arc or at under 3k Meters away. In head to heads do not switch off heavies the delay between switching and refiring is not worth it, but when circling in close quarters with some one nearly dead or nearby around a satelite at under 3k use Rapids for their low tracking penalties and greater damage at 2.8k meters and under.

 

Directional shields Flight tip 3: Keep directional shields to rear for most of the time, if beggining a head to head it will only take 1 button to bring them to double front if you get hit in back while double front 1 more button evens them allowing some back defense. If hit from both angles like that, evasive flying is ussually recommended.

 

Rapids/heavies Flight tip 2: When being chased, terrain is a good place to hide behind and turn around, good tracking weapons of Rapid fires can allow you to really turn the tables on some one around an obsicle.

 

 

Further Heavies/rapids variants the one listed above with Quick Charge Shields (Combat Regen) and Barrel Roll (10% speed) this one is more a strafing run build and is much better suited for attack runs. IE flying straight through targets while others are on your tail (same thing as always when no one is chasing IE kill targets focused on others with either Heavies or rapids.

 

Both The directional shield build and the quick charge shield build can be alternatively equiped with Cluster missiles (ammo, Double volley). With this the Offensive companions with Spare Ammo and Pinpointing also become equally desirable to Fireing arc and Pinpointing.

 

Rapids Cluster Flight tip: these allow for serious pain in close combat high turning fights, engaging anything save for a burst laser build can be killed quickly with little threat to self.

Edited June 26, 2014 by tunewalker

T2 Strike IE the Missile boats:

 

 

Primary Weapons:

 

HLC: These are the standard go to weapon, they have the best range, good accuracy and the all important ability to pick up Armor Piercing. They can be paired with just about any weapons. They have poor tracking penalty though, if firing at the edges of the arcs its recommended to use Wingman.

 

When getting upgrades, make sure to get Armor Piercing, if using Cluster/ Conc, you may want Shield damage, with other combinations you may want Shield Piercing.

 

 

QLC: These are the Go To weapon if you arent worried about armor piercing. They do the most DPS, but can consume energy much faster. The Higher dps make them great if you are looking to go after lightly armored targets like Scouts or Gunships, or even some other strikes. Avoid Charged Plating builds. Much like the HLC they to have poor tracking accuracy so try to keep targets centered and use Wingman if firing at the edge of your arcs.

 

When getting upgrades: If energy is a problem get the reduced energy cost, if its not a problem go for the crit.

 

 

LLC: These are the Short range Weapons of the Pike/Quell They have a strong punch and decent tracking, but they lack range, and Armor Pen. The range with the slower Pike means this is very uncommonly used as it can be difficult to close on targets to really allow these weapons to shine. They are usuable if you intend to make a ship that hugs satilites, but again with the lack of armor piercing it limits your targets. Recommend using Cluster missiles and 1 Armor Piercing missile to both play to its strengths and overcome its weaknesses.

 

When picking upgrades, get tracking Penalty reduction, the second choice is yours to make.

 

 

Secondary Practical Combinations: These combinations are the tried and true works in just about every situation given.

 

 

Cluster/conc: These 2 missiles are the fastest to lock and reload also having the shortest range. They will be the highest dps as they will land much more reliably then other missiles, but they lack truly hard Shield Piercing of the P.Torp thus you will likely need to burn through your enemies shields to bring an opponent down.

 

When Upgrading: Be sure to pick up Double volley for Clusters. For Conc, pick up the extra Range, If you have HLC you can select Target engines for a nice slow, if not recommended to pick up Armor Piercing as you will need it to deal with Charged plating targets.

 

 

Cluster/proton: This is the idea of Ying/ Yang Missiles. You have the shortest fastest reload time weapon in clusters, as well as the longest reload farthest range in Proton. The idea here is to spam Clusters on a target until they have used all their missile breaks or until they have died. If they have used all their breaks, you then lock a P.Torp often times killing them since most ships at just over half die to a P.Torp. Torps also work great on Bombers that cant dodge them if you catch it out in the open.

 

When upgrading: Same as before with clusters, double Volley, With Protons it will be your discretion on Speed or Arc. If you have difficulties keeping them in the Arc, then get Arc, but if you find that sometimes you drop it in their face but because of the slow missile they have time to react and break or have seen them use up their breaks, get the lock and fire, and your enemy often gets his break back before it hits, then get the speed upgrade.

 

(An often used advanced tactic with Proton Torps is to start locking far away, and try to get a head to head where you drop it at 1000 or under meters away with the speed upgrade few have time to react before the missile hits).

 

 

 

Conc/Proton: This is the long range, hard hitting missiles. They take the longest to lock and have the longest reload and range. It can be difficult to reliably land these missiles as with out the more spammable clusters it is easier for enemies to dodge. Recommend to engage at longer ranges when you can. Often times strafing runs (flying from one side of the battle field to the other hitting forcing missile dodges or droping long range missiles close on targets as you go) on targets, or focusing targets already dog fighting others will be your best strategy. When focusing other targets like ones busy dodging clusters you can find a well landed P.Torp can be devistating.

 

When upgrading: See Above (Cluster/Proton) upgrading for Proton upgrades. Conc recommend picking up Target engines to make an easier target for either P.torp follow up or for laser follow up.

 

 

To be continued....

Edited September 3, 2014 by tunewalker

Reserving for T3.

Sweet! I'm excited to see what you have to share, Tune!

 

I added a Decimus/Sledgehammer build, will add more later (anti-bomber Clarion, missiles-only Jurgoran, etc.). I hope people are finding these builds useful, and experimenting with others.

Edited June 7, 2014 by TrinityLyre

Half of the T1 strike compendium is done. Heavies/rapids builds will follow, then Crazy/experimental dont try these at home kids builds will follow taking a break from now Hope you all enjoy what I have already put and what is in store for the future .

 

Edit: if any changes to format or clean-up is wanted let me know and I will try to accomidate .

Edited June 8, 2014 by tunewalker

Thanks for these builds, I've followed them to the letter and have a fully mastered skybolt now. I do really well with it, I get accused of hacking or exploiting but such is life I suppose

Thanks for these builds, I've followed them to the letter and have a fully mastered skybolt now. I do really well with it, I get accused of hacking or exploiting but such is life I suppose

 

I'm really glad that this is helping people. Some of the ships with many mediocre builds are hard to have "recommended" builds for, but I definitely think this nails the type 2 scout really well.

 

That ship DOES have a lot of solid builds. Any but rapids plus pretty much any secondary yields a cool playstyle.

Edited June 9, 2014 by Verain

I have the skybolt, do I have it just for the account I got it for? Do i have to get it for every character that I want to fly it on?

You have to get it on every character you want to fly it on, and it will be specific to that character: if you earn req on character A, character B doesn't get that req.

 

 

None of the ships are bind to account or to legacy.

 

The closest to an exception is that every character begins with a type 1 scout, type 1 strike fighter, and if you were a subscriber over a certain period, your characters also begin with a type 1 gunship. But these ships are also all character specific- even though they all start with one, none of them are shared.

Edited June 12, 2014 by Verain

I noticed yeserday something that I didn't noticed before, while I was playing new gunships. Was attacked, rolled and I knew I was around stones and I'll crashed so had panick clicking buttonts trying to turn myself somewhere. Pressed right click to zoom and I insantly stoped. Like, right 1 meter away from wall, found myself zooming the wall Was that always like that with right clicking? It's like a instant brake, quite useful rofl.

I noticed yeserday something that I didn't noticed before, while I was playing new gunships. Was attacked, rolled and I knew I was around stones and I'll crashed so had panick clicking buttonts trying to turn myself somewhere. Pressed right click to zoom and I insantly stoped. Like, right 1 meter away from wall, found myself zooming the wall Was that always like that with right clicking? It's like a instant brake, quite useful rofl.

 

It's always been like this, but it's not super reliable. Don't count on it working.

 

EDIT: I assumed you mean mid-barrel roll - that's unreliable, scoping anywhere else (regular roll) is pretty reliable.

Edited June 12, 2014 by Fractalsponge

Thanks! Should be stickied

Thanks for these builds, I've followed them to the letter and have a fully mastered skybolt now. I do really well with it, I get accused of hacking or exploiting but such is life I suppose

You're welcome! I always find it amusing when I get those kinds of accusations. Then again, I get really lucky RNG on some of my snap shots.

 

Was that always like that with right clicking? It's like a instant brake, quite useful rofl.

Yep! It's awesome, and I use it all the time when playing gunship.

Edited June 16, 2014 by TrinityLyre