While I have been playing for several years I only recently began to play GSF on a constant basis as a way to gear up my toons. Actually I recall trying it out when I first began and after crashing into numerous asteroids in my Blackbolt I decided it was too twitchy for me. Now I fly bombers whose sedate pace is more aligned to my abilities

First I wish to thank those who created such excellent guides and videos for new pilots. Once I committed to learning the ins and outs of GSF they were indispensable.

Next is the community of pilots. In the hundreds of games I’ve played the amount of toxicity and rage has been infinitesimal. Many matches end with an acknowledgement not only of one's own team during a win but also for a close loss. Compared to the sheer amount of rage present in a regular PvP match, you all comport yourselves with dignity and courtesy which makes it a pleasure to participate.

Finally is the game itself. For all its flaws and inattention by the development team, I find each match to be a challenge. Yes, there are aces that I fear on the opposing team or cheer on my own team who can dominate a game. Yes, there are games that have ended with a score of 4 / 1000. Yes, there are games where I am bewildered by the tactics employed by my team. But these are overshadowed by the thrill of a come from behind victory or a team that finds its synergy to counteract an opponent's strategy or a hard fought satellite battle as the match counter closes in on 1000 for both teams.

I urge you to continue to welcome new pilots into GSF. A few words of direction by a veteran during the countdown can help a new pilot to understand their role and the team strategy. An acknowledgement at the end of the match can encourage a new pilot to return again.

Thank you all for making my time in GSF a worthwhile addition to my SWTOR gaming experience!

After crushing the enemy, it has been known for a few victorious pilots to switch sides... and apologise to the losing side, and rebalance the factions to enable the losers to have a reasonable shot at victory ( and their daily/weekly) next match.

- Now that's something I've never experienced in any other pvp game.

Welcome back, OP.

Yeah GSF is kinda special.

The only drawback of newcomers is the "gear" on the ships as tier 1 ships dont last long against the fully upgraded and optimized ships the veterans fly. Yet still, as you said there are people who can really turn the tide. Overall you never know what you are gonna get from each match.

What I love about GSF is the tactics, mainly deathmatch, hiding behind asteroids, placing drones, mines, repairs, luring out the enemy or keeping formation of gunships, its really much more thrill than regular PVP.

Gearing up can be quit quick if you play smart and spend the req wisely...

Supporting your team for a few matches and not getting repeatedly killed will earn you a few medals, and once the dallies and weeklies start paying out, you can gear up the basics quite quickly. - and to gear up one ship at a time if you can. You'd be surprised how many GS and bomber pilots will thank you for sticking around as their wingman, keeping the battlescouts off their six and peeling/healing for them. Sticking to the best pilot on your squad like glue will enable them to do their job better and you can pick off (assist-medals) any enemies they can't burn down in 1 pass.

Conventional wisdom is to put some of your early req into defensives, such as shields and evasion, possibly engine upgrades too to get you out of trouble quicker. - There are a lot of in-depth guides on this forum.

And if you have CCs you can convert ship req to fleet req at a reasonable exchange rate, subsidising the ship you prefer by using the req gained from the ones you're not so keen on. Easy!

GL and safe flying!

Here is a brief summary of every time I return to swtor. (Typically after things have gotten less busy IRL.)

>Log into GSF,

>I love this! Why don't I play everyday?

>While waiting for the next exciting match, I remember the subtle differences and attitudes of each character. (Typically reflected by cosmetic choices.)

>Subscribe, and happy play till life gets back in the way again.

Rince & repeat. GSF is a close second right after Jedi Knight / Agent Story. (Return of Jadus is at hand!)

Still there are those matches like deathmatch yesterday:

..............................................GS

...................................................... GS

...............................................................GS

.........................................................................GS

Your team

....................................................................GS

............................................................GS

......................................................GS

Where you just get farmed at spawn

And not that long ago we had :

Now pilots have a chance to fight back, it's better don't you think? Almost feels like a game now

long ago we had

Time to put the past behind us, dont you think?

- and to gear up one ship at a time if you can.

Personally I favor doing the GSF PvP missions and only using the fleet req for ship unlocks, stockpiling the ship req rewards in inventory. Then instead of focusing on one ship, I fly all my ships until the daily hangar per ship req bonus is exhausted on all of my unlocked ships. I keep doing this each day until I've unlocked all the ships I want unlocked on that character (typically the stock strike plus the 7 arguably meta ships at a minimum). Then I use up the stockpile of saved ship requisition rewards from the daily and weekly missions. For the fleet as a whole, this basically provides 1-2 ships worth of requisition in terms of "free" gearing efficiency.

Which strategy is optimal depends on player preference. If there's one ship you want geared ASAP, then focusing a single ship is better, and that holds out to 3 or 4 ships. Beyond that, if you're playing a large and diverse fleet then fleet wide gearing is substantially faster if you spread exploitation of bonus requisition opportunities across the fleet as evenly as possible. Of course, the larger your army of GSF alts across servers is, the more appealing efficiency is when gearing hundreds of GSF ships.

Still there are those matches like deathmatch yesterday:

 

..............................................GS

...................................................... GS

...............................................................GS

.........................................................................GS

Your team

....................................................................GS

............................................................GS

......................................................GS

 

 

Where you just get farmed at spawn

Or even worse... when there's 6 gunships on each side and it's a really boring and ultra-slowpaced chess game.

Or even worse... when there's 6 gunships on each side and it's a really boring and ultra-slowpaced chess game.

Yup had it last night, full teams of GS and 2 bombers, stale mate.

like this

Yup had it last night, full teams of GS and 2 bombers, stale mate.

 

like this

Should render in a two month GSF ban for everyone running a gunship IMO.

Should render in a two month GSF ban for everyone running a gunship IMO.

Seems like nobody likes gunships (excepting gunship pilots). But without them, GSF would be a hot mess. I suspect you'd change your tune upon experiencing "Bombers Gone Wild"...unless you enjoy relentlessly flinging your scout/strike into nests bristling with bomber crap, over and over and over.

Seems like nobody likes gunships (excepting gunship pilots). But without them, GSF would be a hot mess. I suspect you'd change your tune upon experiencing "Bombers Gone Wild"...unless you enjoy relentlessly flinging your scout/strike into nests bristling with bomber crap, over and over and over.

Bomber fortress or gunship killzone... at least with the bombers I don't get one-shot.