Streamlining on a New Server

[RickDagles]

There's been a lot of talk on these forums about how important/unimportant upgrades are. There also seems to be a trend toward players starting toons on new servers to see what other competition is out there. And now Drak started a Super Serious Starfighter Sunday on The Bastion which is likely to start up a few new toons on its own.

 

My question to you is -- what is the best way to get a single competitive ship as quickly as possible when starting on a new server?

 

If you were a subscriber when GSF was released you'd be lucky enough to start with the T1 Gunship. Speaking Republic - If that's your best ship then you'd probably want to pick Jedi Consular so that you can unlock Qyzen Fess early on. C2-N2 can be gotten pretty early as well. You'll probably want to use your initial 1000 fleet requisition bonus to get Akaavi Spar and then use your weekly fleet req to get Tanno Vik or Nadia Grell for the evasion boost. For upgrades I'd say it's a good idea to focus on getting the first 2 upgrades of barrel roll, all three upgrades of distortion field, evasion armor, and then probably work on the slug railgun. Any thoughts on this?

 

If you prefer using scouts then you could either save up for a Flashfire or make due with the NovaDive and save a lot of time. With the NovaDive build it might be a good idea to pick a Jedi Knight to get Kira Carsen for the extra rocket pods instead of Qyzen Fess. I think the other companions would be kept the same. What upgrades are most important for the NovaDive? Targetting Telemetry T1 > Laser cannons T0 > Powerdive T2 > DF T2 > Light armor max > max DF > whatever. Any ideas?

 

Also is it in your best interest to play all of your ships to get the X2 bonus? Or mostly better to just focus on the one ship?

Edited October 23, 2014 by RickDagles

[Verain]

My question to you is -- what is the best way to get a single competitive ship as quickly as possible when starting on a new server?

 

Pick a starter ship, buy the reduced cooldown on engine component and that's probably it. Fly a few games, doing the daily and weekly but not popping any ship tokens.

 

Real Money Route:

Buy every ship you can for cartel coins (cost: expensive, like 40 bucks). Convert ship to fleet and buy every ship you can (cost: moderate, 15 bucks or so) . Once you have all ships, pop all tokens. Convert ship req to fleet req (cost expensive, like 40) and dump it all on your main ship.

 

Normal routine:

Convert enough ship to fleet with cartel coins to buy every ship you will be interested in (yes, spend the dollars here, it's worth it- it will run you about 3-7 bucks). Once you have those ships, pop your tokens. Play them normally, but be sure to spend most of your time on the ships you consider the most competitive.

 

 

The free route is to instead stock up on fleet req normally. The problem is that you'll be spending a bit more time having to wait before you click stuff.

 

 

If you really just care about ONE ship being good AND you don't want to spend cartel coins, then just start playing it.

 

 

Upgrade order:

 

If that's your best ship then you'd probably want to pick Jedi Consular so that you can unlock Qyzen Fess early on. C2-N2 can be gotten pretty early as well.

 

Nailed it. I would take Nadia first, as you might not love Bypass but it's got a lot of value, THEN go Akaavi.

 

None of the early imp companions matter, but you start with Salana Rok, who you can literally never switch out and use as a copilot.

 

For upgrades I'd say it's a good idea to focus on getting the first 2 upgrades of barrel roll, all three upgrades of distortio

 

If we're talking gunship, I'm convinced the proper order is:

 

Barrel roll first two (3500) for reduced CD

Slug railgun first tier (1000)

Regen extender x2 (2500)

Buy a large reactor (1000)

Buy lightweight armor (1000)

The next two can happen in what order you want, as both are expensive. I go with the offensive option first.

> Slug railgun third tier (7500)

> Tunnel disto (15000)

 

 

At this point, you're a real boy.

 

> Finish regen magazine

> Lightweight armor x3

> Large reactor x3

> Buy burst laser and tier 1 of it.

 

Now back to expensive stuff:

Slug to tier 5 (25000)

Barrel Roll tier 3 (10000)

Ion to tier 5 (33500)

Burst to tier 5 (32500)

 

...and finally sensors.

 

 

 

Also is it in your best interest to play all of your ships to get the X2 bonus? Or mostly better to just focus on the one ship?

 

What is your strat? If money is no object, then you want as much req on all the ships so you can funnel it to your main. If your goal is to make a fleet of ships (that's my goal, always), then trying to burn x2 definitely helps, but the big thing is getting your fleet deployed as fast as possible so you can start nomming tokens (and I definitely recommend using cartel to ship-to-fleet req to get your fleet to the correct size, whatever you have determined that is- IMO that's the actual mechanic you are "supposed" to use real money for, because it's a huge boost up to a predetermined level AND it's only a couple bucks). If your strat is just to not spend cartel coins but to have one ship, then pick a ship and just play it in every game.

Edited October 23, 2014 by Verain

[Drakkolich]

My usual strategy is to pick one ship, usually the sting/flashfire or mangler/quarrel. I play a few games don't spend the requisition and use cartel coins to transfer that requisition into fleet requistion to buy my ship. I also use that first 1500 from the introduction quest and first weekly to help that along. Once I have the 3 ships I burn my daily/weekly and transfer the 2 starter ships worth of requisition into fleet requisition to buy my 3 or 4 crew members I want for passives. From there its just a pure requistion grind on the specific ship I want.

 

My build on a sting is Burst laser, cluster, Targeting telem, Distortion, Barrel roll. So I swap to those with my first bit of requisition. My first upgrades are 2 points in barrel roll, 3 points in distortion, 1 point in cluster, 1 in burst laser, 1 in target telem and then from there I max all my minors and then master from top to bottom. I've played on many servers and almost always follow this exact method. Once you have one ship well on your way its very easy to play other ships in the "easier" games to gain requisition on them. This method costs about 350 Cartel coins per server, per faction.

 

I only play GSF in swtor at the moment so its very easy to just use the 500 coins I get every month to start up on a new server.

 

That's how I do it, I look forward to seeing how others do.

[nyghtrunner]

I usually go right for a Sting/Flashfire, and there are 2 methods I've developed for both getting and leveling the ship.

 

If it's truly a new alt, I'll just hit the queue with him, and use the stock ships for the bonus req while I level to get to fleet. By the time I'm done with the starter planet, I've usually got 5-6 matches in, which is usually more than enough to get all the bonus req for the 3 starter ships (I get the GS because Sub, so might be different for me). Then I use the cartel coins to get the Sting (If I convert all, I've usually got enough for a crew member as well), go to fleet, get the intro quest, spend a match in a stock Sting, and then use the req from the intro (plus any left over) to get my first or second companion (I usually get Jaesa/Qyzen and Blizz/C2-N2 first).

 

From there, I get into the daily/weekly, and just dive in, which is where my 2 methods will kind of diverge.

 

Method 1:

First upgrades:

Get Quick Charge Shield (1500)

Get Retro + first 2 upgrades (1500 + 1000 + 2500)

Get T1 Upgrade for Clusters

Get BLCs (2000)

Get Regen Thrusters + Upgrades (1000 + 1000 + 1500 + 2500)

Get Evasion Armor + Upgrades (1000 + 1000 + 1500 + 2500)

 

After that's done, I'll start a climb to either finish out the minor components (Range Capacitor, Large Reactor. I think 10k? Might be 11k, because I think you start with Turbo Reactor), or to max out the engines (Additional turning, 10k) and swap to Disto + Upgrades (13.5k).

 

Once all that is done, I'll go in and start upgrading the offensive stuff, making sure I get the first 2 upgrades for all of the weapons before going for T4 on the BLCs (Armor penetration). Once that's done, I'll start in on TT until it's maxed, then start into the Clusters for the last 3 upgrades. T5 BLC is usually the last thing I get.

 

I'll go this route if I'm not feeling like I really NEED the missile break from Disto for the Meta, and can wait on that. Quick Charge gives me a somewhat meaningful reactionary Shield, and effectively gives me I believe 20% (might be 10%?) more shields that I would otherwise lose to low level Disto. It's certainly not as good as top tier Disto, but I feel like it's more serviceable than low level Disto, and thus, becomes worth the cost if I don't feel like I need that extra break right away.

 

If I'm having a rough time without the extra missile break, Then I'll alter the start to this:

Method 2:

First upgrades:

Get Retro + first 2 upgrades (1500 + 1000 + 2500)

Upgrade Disto to T2 (3500)

Get T1 Upgrade for Clusters

Get Regen Thrusters + Upgrades (1000 + 1000 + 1500 + 2500)

Get BLCs (2000)

Upgrade Disto to full (10k)

Get Evasion Armor + Upgrades (1000 + 1000 + 1500 + 2500)

 

But from there, it's largely the same with the exception of not needing to swap back and max out Disto.

 

My reasoning:

I focus first on mobility and survivability. I figure the damage output really doesn't matter too much outside of the T4 BLC upgrade, which is just too much to go for that early for me (I might if it was an exceptionally heavy bomber/charged plating meta, but barring that... It's 2k + 1k + 2.5k + 5k + 10k = 22.5k). I can generally outfly people pretty easily once I've got my crew, Regen Thrusters, and Retro, and can skirt most of the offensives. And once I've got the Secondary components maxed, along with Disto + T3 Engines (Retro), the ship flies like it "should" from a defensive perspective, so it's just about keeping lines a little longer to hit people another time or 3. At that point, the ONLY thing I really hate is trying to solo take a sat (turrets) or running into bombers with CP.

 

The other note... Depending on how quickly I want to truly upgrade, I may continue flying gimme matches in the other stock ships for the bonus req, and use Cartel Coins to transfer everything over. If I do that, I can be looking at needing only the offensives in about a week, and being pretty much where I want to be after 3 or so days. If I'm not too interested in maxing quickly, I'll just do the daily/weekly, try to cap out the bonus req for the Sting/FF each day, and just slowly upgrade for "free" (IE - Not really using more CCs to get Fleet Req). I usually go the slower route at this point, in large because I'm not a huge fan of spending more money on this stupid game.

Edited October 24, 2014 by nyghtrunner

[caederon]

There's lots of great advice already in this thread which mostly echoes my own behavior when starting a new server. I am a subscriber, so I have the T1 gunship to start with, and begin using that immediately. I don't spend daily/weekly req awards until I get to 5k fleet req and grab a T2 scout. After that, I spend fleet to get the crew I need (factional differences apply) focusing on getting +accuracy offensive crewmen and Wingman copilot ability.

 

As far as upgrades go, on the T1 gs, the first level of barrel roll upgrades is usually my initial buy. Getting a Large Reactor early is good, Regeneration Extender is essential. Typically I get the first three levels of slug rail upgraded so it has armor ignore and can easily blow up turrets. I like to get burst lasers quickly, since they're not too expensive, then I start working the ion rail upgrades. The Ion rail AoE talent is 4th tier, so expensive, but to me it's the most essential element of the T1 gs so I like going for it early.

 

With the T2 scout I"ll focus on getting Burst Lasers, Distortion Field, Large Reactor, Lightweight Armor all pretty fast. Getting the lock time reduction on cluster missiles is nice early on, too. I typically leave Targeting Telemetry and the rest of the Cluster Missile talent tree for later upgrading and focus on getting minor components up to speed since they're cheap and effective.

 

I don't worry about the other ships too much, unless I feel like playing them for fun. I like to at least get the T1 Scout's first upgrades on barrel roll and rocket pods, and buy it either light lasers or laser cannon, ditching the rapid fires. But it's not a ship I use in competitive matches too often.

 

- Despon

[MaximilianPower]

If we're talking gunship, I'm convinced the proper order is:

 

Barrel roll first two (3500) for reduced CD

Slug railgun first tier (1000)

Regen extender x2 (2500)

Buy a large reactor (1000)

Buy lightweight armor (1000)

The next two can happen in what order you want, as both are expensive. I go with the offensive option first.

> Slug railgun third tier (7500)

> Tunnel disto (15000)

 

 

Reasonable order, though I typically save up and prioritize slug 3rd tier over magazine/reactor/armor. I just feel like I'm more useful in a dom game when I can 1-shot turrets, which takes 2+ fully charged shots prior to T3 slug. I can see the argument for holding off on that in exchange for the survivability (and extra shots) the above order offers. Personal choice, I guess.

 

Certainly agree with everything else, though.

[zaskar]

Remember Qyzen Fess is killer crew member but a horrid choice for co-pilot for a gunship. His ability is only good for the main weapon, not the rails. Choose an empire toon as they get wingman in the stock five.

[Verain]

Remember Qyzen Fess is killer crew member but a horrid choice for co-pilot for a gunship. His ability is only good for the main weapon, not the rails. Choose an empire toon as they get wingman in the stock five.

 

Nah, his thinking is correct.

 

If you start pub, you start with 6% accuracy, and at some point you need Qyzen to get arc. You also need Nadia for most builds, along with C2N2 or Yuun for engineering, and also you want Akaavi. So he's saying he's willing to play the character in the ground game, grabbing the first companion and the robot butler of the ship, and he's saying consular gets him C2N2 and Qyzen, meaning he has to spend fleet req on Nadia and Akaavi, and maybe Yuun later.

 

Meanwhile, if you start Imperial, you DO begin with Salana Rok, who you actually want for real. But missing 6% accuracy, you need Jaesa, who is not a particularly fast inclusion for anyone, along with Blizz or 2VR8, and Vector. This means you are spending fleet req on at least Jaesa and Vector, and maybe Blizz later.

[zaskar]

Na, I'm right, with the 12x xp bonus a level 1 legacy / character can get the companions in less than eight hours. Not 40 like the before.

 

edit/ you don't actually have to unlock the comps do ya? I've always had them so....

Edited October 24, 2014 by zaskar

[Verain]

Those facts... don't make you right? I really am confused how you think they do. You need to unlock the same number of characters on both sides. Are you implying that empire is better because you can pick a class that gets Jaesa or Vector, even though it's a lot further in than Qyzen?

[zaskar]

Those facts... don't make you right? I really am confused how you think they do. You need to unlock the same number of characters on both sides. Are you implying that empire is better because you can pick a class that gets Jaesa or Vector, even though it's a lot further in than Qyzen?

 

Pretty much, roc is worth more in the early part of the req cycle than Qyzen. She is more flexable, especially BEFORE you get your first companion through the story and even more important if you level via only pvp. If the goal is efficacy, utility will win out in just about every situation. The choice is in what you concider efficient, building a full hanger or a character to 55 with a moderate hanger. If your only goal is a full hanger, I concide Qyzen and councilor may be more efficient for 1/3 of the time you spend.