I had gotten a JK, Trooper and SW to 65. I was thinking to myself that among those three, the JK seems to fit the position the least. The SW of course is always okay with telling people what to do. The Trooper also. As I was thinking about other toons I have leveled to 60 in the past, there are some that just don't seem to fit the "commander" bill.

So imo the classes that best fit the "commander" aura:

Trooper

Sith Warrior

Sith Inquisitor

A female Dark side Consular

The other classes seem to soft to be Commanders.

The other classes seem to soft to be Commanders.

HA! My Bounty Hunter and Imperial Agent would beg to differ! They have the strength of will and cunning to lead the best of them, and neither of them tolerate sloppy work or dissension in the ranks! And I know you said only a DS Consular would work as a Commander, but I disagree with you there as well. A LS Consular would be an excellent leader. As a diplomat, a Consular must be the absolute best at getting people to do what s/he wants, which translates well to commanding an army. And the Consular is no stranger to battle or strategy either, which also helps a bit.

The one character I do have a hard time seeing as a commander is the Smuggler. Yes, I know s/he is technically in charge of an entire pirate fleet, but you have to remember that each ship belongs to a pirate or a smuggler, each of whom values their own individuality and freedom. The Smuggler can't give mandatory orders to a group like that. They follow because they want to, and only as long as it pleases them. The Smuggler's "commands" then would have to be few and far between, and everyone takes care of their own business. In short, I'm not sure a Smuggler is up to being Commander of an entire military group, simply by virtue of his/her background and special skill set. S/he would be a tremendous leader of a section of the Alliance, but I have a hard time seeing them as leading the whole thing. They'd get bored and wander off to lockpick something in the middle of a meeting!

From the point of view of those you command, I think Trooper and either Jedi are the best choices, as everyone would accept their experience as field commanders.

The second tier would be the Sith, you either were part of your government or used to bully it, but nobdy trusts a Sith, especially not another Sith. Agent would also be here, you have the rank of a commander in your military after all.

Hunter and Smuggler are the weird choices here, sure they are very useful assets, but how does that merrit a commanding position? Is the alliance really THIS desperate?

JK already was Jedi General on Corellia, but not my first choice.

JC forged and led an alliance, and was good at it.

Trooper already is a commander of a squad, and officer training is part of regular training, so since he'd be ready to be General, he'd be perfect to lead an Alliance.

Smuggler hell no. He doesnt strike me as someone who cares that seriously about the state of the galaxy.

SW is powerful but lacks experience in commanding larger groups, he usually works alone.

SI is a leader of a powerful cult and had his own considerable power base.

BH doesnt strike me as a leader, he prefers working alone or in a small group.

IA also works best alone or with a mate, not leader material.

(All of them are powerful and great but not all are good at commanding an alliance)

So my best choices would be Trooper or SI. Second choices JK or JC. Others are rather solo heroes.

JK already was Jedi General on Corellia, but not my first choice.

JC forged and led an alliance, and was good at it.

Trooper already is a commander of a squad, and officer training is part of regular training, so since he'd be ready to be General, he'd be perfect to lead an Alliance.

Smuggler hell no. He doesnt strike me as someone who cares that seriously about the state of the galaxy.

SW is powerful but lacks experience in commanding larger groups, he usually works alone.

SI is a leader of a powerful cult and had his own considerable power base.

BH doesnt strike me as a leader, he prefers working alone or in a small group.

IA also works best alone or with a mate, not leader material.

(All of them are powerful and great but not all are good at commanding an alliance)

 

So my best choices would be Trooper or SI. Second choices JK or JC. Others are rather solo heroes.

The SI hasn't shown any qualities of being a leader any more then the other classes aside from the Trooper, JC and JK, who have led more then just their companions. Most of the SI powerbase is managed by others, while I don't count the warrior as that experienced in leading large groups, he/she does get to strategise and lead an assault on Taris, which I guss can count towards it.

Smuggler and BH have no commanding experience. And the agent is more trained towards leading smaller groups.

Out of the way I play these characters, I would rank them: Warrior, Trooper, Knight, Inquisitor, Hunter, Agent, Consular, Smuggler.

I've only taken a Warrior and a Hunter through so far, the Warrior relished at the thought of leading and bending the alliance to his ways. The Bounty Hunter just wanted to get the hell out of there.

I would say the trooper is best for that role, because he/she is a commander throughout their entire story, and are better acclimated as a Supreme Commander of an entire army. The trooper would have alot more experience leading men and women during a war, but would require Jedi and Sith commanders to help lead the force sensitive forces, which they have. The Jedi Knight, as well as the other classes are thrusted into command only at the end of their class stories, and might do well, but are not the best choice. but, any class can work, as they are all good leaders, some better than others however.

Edit:

I also think the Inquisitor would be on the same level as the trooper now that I think about it. As the inquisitor is a dark council member that pretty much helps Marr rule the Empire in the Emperor's absence From the end of the class story, to KOTFE, the inquisitor has been a ruler of the Empire for a few years, and probably knows the position of leader very well by now.

(TL DR at the bottom)

Given JK becoming commander of the Jedi forces on Corellia, I'd say that makes him a top tier candidate. JC is probably equal. JK is probably better for troop deployment and boots-on-the-ground leadership, JC is likely better for organization and long term strategy. However, Lana/Theron do the organization and long term strategy for you, so I'll give JK the leg up between those two. JK gets lore bonus points for having a prior relationship with Valkorion.

Smuggler has a pirate army. However, Hylo Visz seems to have eclipsed the smuggler during the 5 year gap. In fact, while Nok Drayen was legendary, your exploits don't seem to have left the same impact. Realistically, Smuggler doesn't bring anything from his background to the table that Visz doesn't bring better.

Trooper is a strong contender. Taking back the Bastion, commanding 3 military units on Corellia and destroying the Gauntlet? All great accomplishments that put Trooper in high tier.

SW exists as a relative outsider in the Sith. Most of SW's power stems from authority granted by someone who is now an enemy (Vitiate) or dead (Marr). No powerbase, no real leadership skills beyond squad level (remember that Quinn and Pierce made the recommendations on Taris, and Pierce took the Bastion without you). People will listen to SW for sure, but SW needs a ton of support from Lana and Theron to be anything other than a figurehead or battering ram. SW gets lore bonus points for having a prior relationship with Valkorion.

SI is a strong choice. SI had an efficient power base, knew how to instill loyalty and/or fear, and won the Kaggath on Corellia. SI is somewhat hurt in that unlike JK and Trooper, SI tends to outsource most of the planning to Moff Pyron. However, given that Lana and Theron are basically acting like Pyron used to, SI actually benefits from this.

BH is less of a bad choice than you'd think, though not the greatest. At the end of Makeb, Marr gives BH a job "advising his generals". That's huge. In between RotHC and KotFE chapter 1, The BH was canonically to the Sith Military what Lana Beniko was to Darth Arkous. The BH knows strategy, knows how to advise leadership (if, perhaps, not how to lead), and is considered a hero of the Empire while not being IN the Empire. If the BH went light side, they're on pretty good terms with the darn Republic too.

The Agent is the wild card, depending on choices. A "ghost" agent has little leadership experience and is a poor choice, as is a traitor agent. A Hand of Jadus agent is about on the same tier as the SW for the reasons stated above. Theoretically a loyal agent is the best choice, but unfortunately Intelligence isn't truly rebuilt before Agent gets frozen, so Agent never gets to develop leadership skills.

To me, that puts the main contenders between Knight, Trooper, and Inquisitor.

Knight vs. Trooper: Very similar. Both led a squad against an Imperial Doomsday weapon in space (Angral's ship/The Gauntlet). Both led military forces on Corellia and overcome the odds to emerge victorious. It's close, but this one goes to Knight because he's the one who set Ziost and KotFE in motion by killing the Emperor on Dromund Kaas. Lore-wise, this is all the JK finishing what he started all those years ago.

Knight vs. Inquisitor: Let's be honest here--the Alliance system involve traveling to a planet, introducing yourself to someone of importance, doing them a favor and getting them to pledge their loyalty to you. This is what the Inquisitor does best. Whether its a cult on Nar Shaddaa, an overconfident apprentice, or an army of ghosts, recruitment is SI's game. The main thing letting SI down is that SI has no real relationship to Valkorion, and much like how SW lost the support of the Empire with Marr's death and Vitiate's betrayal, so does the SI lose their influence in the Empire when the Dark Council is destroyed and Acina becomes the Empress. Because of that, JK gets this one.

Bottom line: JK makes the most sense from a Lore standpoint, with Trooper and SI in close second. This is probably one of the reasons why Bioware chose JK as the poster character for KotFE instead of JC.

From the Republic side, I would suggest either Jedi Knight or Trooper (granted, Havoc is more of a special ops thing, but the Trooper is still, y'know, in the military unlike anyone else). The Smuggler is not cut out for a military commander, although it could be sort of justified because he/she has a sizable influence in the criminal underworld so he/she would know this and that about dealing with people and sticky situations. I have no idea about the Jedi Consular, I haven't finished the story yet, but so far he/she seems more like a diplomat and a healer to me, although the Order did bestow him/her the title of Barsen'thor, so there's that.

From the Empire side, the obvious answer is a Sith Warrior. The Inquisitor would also be more or less fitting for the job, because they know how to manage and build a powerbase. The Agent, similarly to the Jedi Consular, I can't say cause I've not finished the story and so I don't know how far he/she can go, but so far their position and capabilities seem to lay elsewhere. The Bounty Hunter strikes me as a loner, and even though he/she is supposed to be one of the greatest warriors in the Galaxy, I can't see them spearheading a whole organization aside from their few friends and maybe a bunch of Mandalorians.

That's all in terms of a base commander. KOTFE still has a very specific storyarc and even though it's made to be available to any class, I personally would think that it's perfectly suited only for a Sith Warrior and a Jedi Knight because they are literally the only ones who have a deeper, pre-existing bond with Valkorian/Vitiate and that makes the whole thing better; I mean, sure, the others can be shoehorned in, and the threat is big enough to warrant it, but the story is not as personal this way.

snip

My two mains are JK and SI, they'd complement each other that way

I agree that smuggler is hard to justify in this role. Unfortunately, my smuggler is my main, so I took her through anyway. I sort of played like she was surprised by all these people who kept insisting on following her around and asking her to give them orders. The game doesn't always support that interpretation though.

I have an image in my head of Lana looking over a destroyed Alliance and thinking to herself ''Maybe I should double check my information next time..."

As for what makes sense given the story? JK hands down. He/she has far more history with the Emperor; so from a narrative point of view, that's what works.

I'd argue for a Sith Warrior as well, they also have history with the Emperor that could work well with a narrative, but yes, the Jedi Knight has been the Emperor's archenemy since the launch of the game. Any of the other classes work more like a "ok, guys, this is a huge threat that we have to take down" thing story-wise, but the JK and the SW have that personal archenemy/former servant-turned enemy flavor to it that enriches the experience.

I know most disagree with me, but it really seemed to fit my Agent better than anyone else, possibly due to how I played her, or just my head canon.

From the beginning of the class story through to the endgame content (Malgus, RotHC, SoR) it all just seemed to kind of flow smoothly as a progression from a solo Imperial Agent to someone with a very strong skillset in infiltrating and destroying the largest threats to the Empire, with the ability to coordinate and tap all available resources needed to do so, even the Republic.

To me it plays out fairly well as an increasingly epic spy saga with a fairly decent and believable character arc.

Most of the other class stories to me seem to break down once they hit endgame/expansion content.

Why does a Council Member get their hands dirty on Makeb? And why do they never tap their legions of cultists to help with any of it?

Why is the Emperor's Wrath opposing the Emperor?

Why does a smuggler care what Revan does?

Why is the Bounty Hunter involved at all in KotFE... nobody's paying and the Mandalorians are nowhere to be found!

Both the Consular and Knight should be happy Malgus has fractured the Empire... let it tear itself apart!

But the Agent (I played mine mostly Light Side, YMMV) seems to fit in each one of these scenarios, and grow from each enough to be able to tackle the next leaving her in a perfect position to lead the resistance.

Most of the other class stories to me seem to break down once they hit endgame/expansion content.

Why does a Council Member get their hands dirty on Makeb? And why do they never tap their legions of cultists to help with any of it? Because it was too important of a mission to give to others and Marr called you over there personally.

Why is the Emperor's Wrath opposing the Emperor? Because the Emperor was planning to kill everything including the Wrath

Why does a smuggler care what Revan does? Because Revan was screwing up the smugglers life by sening both Empire and Republic after him

Why is the Bounty Hunter involved at all in KotFE... nobody's paying and the Mandalorians are nowhere to be found! Because Arcaan is hunting him down, plus Arcaan killed the previous Mandalor

Both the Consular and Knight should be happy Malgus has fractured the Empire... let it tear itself apart!

Yes, they want to destroy the Empire, but not at the cost of destroying the Republic as well

Response in bold.

Response in bold.

Your responses are definitely valid, I was just giving my personal reasons why I felt Agent fit best, and why the others just didn't seem to fit as well in my opinion.

To me the game has always felt like it favors the Agent story a bit (all the glorious crossovers and cameos with the other class stories, the way it seems to flow together as I outlined above, etc.) but this of course may be my own confirmation bias. The world as it exists in my head is always way cooler than the world as it really is.

To me the game has always felt like it favors the Agent story a bit (all the glorious crossovers and cameos with the other class stories, the way it seems to flow together as I outlined above, etc.) but this of course may be my own confirmation bias. The world as it exists in my head is always way cooler than the world as it really is.

I hear ya. I'm the same with my Sith Warrior

Truth is, if one wants to, they can find a way to justify everything about their character's story, and the game is built in such a way that it absolutely allows and even encourages it.

Your responses are definitely valid, I was just giving my personal reasons why I felt Agent fit best, and why the others just didn't seem to fit as well in my opinion.

 

To me the game has always felt like it favors the Agent story a bit (all the glorious crossovers and cameos with the other class stories, the way it seems to flow together as I outlined above, etc.) but this of course may be my own confirmation bias. The world as it exists in my head is always way cooler than the world as it really is.

I think this is because the agent was the one class that wasn't based on a character, it was just based on an idea.

As quoted from the writer of the Agent himself.

I wrote the Imperial agent for Star Wars: The Old Republic because nobody else wanted it.

 

That’s not actually true, of course. There were other writers who were interested and willing to take on the task. But as it happened, they were more interested in other classes while I was most interested in the odd duck of the lot–the one class that didn’t correspond in a neat, one-for-one fashion with a classic Star Wars archetype.

In any event, I wanted the agent for myself largely because of that lack of an obvious Star Wars predecessor archetype. It meant the class would appeal to fewer players, perhaps–but it also meant I had a freer hand in developing what the class meant. The Jedi Knight had to fight Sith and the Sith classes had to come into conflict with their masters–players were coming to the game looking for a recognizably Star Wars experience, and they’d be rightfully disappointed if at least some of their expectations weren’t met.

 

But with the agent, no one knew what to expect. Which meant we had plenty of opportunities… and plenty of rope to hang ourselves with.

So we had our two halves, broadly defined by Star Wars without being all-encompassing. The Imperial half was, as mentioned, the Imperial everyman–with shades of Grand Moff Tarkin, the one non-Sith capable of “holding Vader’s leash” and an equal among the mightiest of the mighty. The espionage half was more ambiguous–we knew what spies in Star Wars did (steal superweapon plans, disguise themselves, snitch to stormtroopers), but not so much who they were.

The writers had more freedom with the agent because it wasn't that much of a definite idea with a lot of restrictions.

I think this is because the agent was the one class that wasn't based on a character, it was just based on an idea.

As quoted from the writer of the Agent himself. *snip*

Oddly I think this is what appealed to me most when I rolled my operative during early access. I wasn't making Obi-Wan, or Palpatine, or Boba Fett, I was starting clean with no expectations.

But back on topic, I still think the Agent fits best as the Base Commander, in part because of this flexibility.

It may not be popular, but yeah, Agent works great as the Alliance Commander. His Chapter 1 through 3 were essentially stopping terrorist groups, and now he's in charge of one. He's the new Eagle, and it fits just fine. Makeb even serves as a suitable bridge. The whole "secretly steal Isotope 5 while coercing the few who knows of their presence" thing has Imperial Intelligence written all over it, and it gives the Agent their first taste of leadership.

Hey, as long as the enemy is worse, we don;t call it terrorism!