Newbie�s guide to Star War�s Galaxies
One of the things I enjoy doing in SWG is taking groups of people who have never been outside the newbie fields, and I show them the mountains and hills, shoot the nasties that jump us, and get them some experience. I find that there tend to be certain misconceptions in common, certain questions that always need to be answered, and so on. I thought I�d jot down a few of them, in the order that they�re generally encountered by a new player, as it might be helpful to have them all in one place.
Character Generation
In SWG, your character can undertake any profession. It isn�t like EQ, DaoC, or any other game where you have one �job� and you are stuck there. You can take any, or every skill � so long as you have skill points to spend. Eventually you�ll reach your learning limit, but at that point you should be able to �sell back� any skills you rarely use to gain back the learning points you�ve invested.
The Six Novice skills are
Artisan � they make things
Entertainer � includes image designers, musicians, dancer
Scout � good at movement in the wilds, setting up camps, harvesting animals
Medic� the only profession that can help you heal damage quickly, or eventually actually heal wounds
Brawler � the novice skill encompassing every melee fighting style
Marksman � the novice skill encompassing every missile weapon style
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You start the game as ONE of these starting professions, but there is nothing stopping you from picking up another one. You simply find the appropriate NPC trainer, spend 100 credits, and for 15 learning points you gain the new novice skill.
You have 250 learning points, so you may indeed take EVERY novice skill and still have lots left to learn. Indeed, so long as you can sell back skills in the future, this is a great way to best make use of your new character.
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The Skill Tree�s within each Profession
Each profession has 4 skill tree�s. You can look at these using the skills page (control-S). For Example, the Marksman profession has four skill trees. One is for Rifles, one is for Carbines, one is for Pistols, and one is for general ranged combat support skills.
Each tree requires different amounts of DIFFERENT amounts of experience, or x.p. You can only go up in the rifle skill by spending rifle xp, which you gain by using rifles in combat. You can only go up in pistol skill by spending pistol xp, which you gain by using pistols in combat. You can go up in the ranged support skills by spending combat, which you gain in every combat, but at only at approximately a 10th of the rate of your weapon-specific xp.
Thus, your character will eventually start accumulating trickle after trickle of different types of xp. You can see exactly what xp is required under the skills page (control-S).
TIP: A good idea is to set up an experience bar. Under the skills page (control-S), check the box that says �show indicator bar�, and it will open up a bar that gradually fills as you gain more experience. Since there are lots of different TYPES of experience, you now have to select the bar and tell it exactly what type of experience you wish it to keep track of. Example, it could keep track of pistol experience, or musician experience. When it is full, the bar turns green, and you get a message that you now qualify for the next level of skill.
TIP: There are two mouse-modes in SWG. One is for driving around, and the other is to interact with menu�s and such. You toggle between the two using the ALT key. Press ALT, select a menu, and when you�re finished, you press ALT again to switch back into driving-around mode.
TIP: Most windows are resizable. If you get a vertical crosshairs, you can left-click-and-hold to drag the window to a new spot. If you move the arrow of your mouse to the edge, you�ll get a straight-line, which means you can now resize the window.
TIP: Resize your experience tracker bar to make it show MORE THAN ONE type of bar. You can have 5 open, each one tracking your progress in a new skill.
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The Interface
Well, since we�re on the topic of the interface, we should probably explore a little about the interface.
There is a hotkey bar at the top of the screen, which is accessed by either pressing with the mouse (usually in ALT arrow mode) or by pressing the appropriate Function key. Thus, there is a key for F1 all the way through F12.
TIP: You can resize the hotkey bar so that it is TWO bars wide, meaning there is a row of 12 with another row of 12 below it. The top bar is accessible using the F1 through F12 keys, the bottom row using Shift-F1 through shift-F12. Of course, both are accessible using ALT mouse-arrow mode.
There are multiple hotkey bars. You can cycle through them using the arrows on the left of the hotkey bar, or by using control-tilde and control-+
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What do I put in my hotkeys?
So you get the impression that the hotkey bar is pretty important, but what do I put in it?
Open up an actions page (control-A) to show you the actions currently available to your character. There will be a tab for combat, but there will also be one for moods, socials, other skills, and even self-designed macro�s. At the beginning there are very few combat-skills, but at the very least you should drag-and-drop your �Attack� and �Aim� to your hotkey bar, in a place where you feel comfortable.
The 3 main stances are Stand, Kneel, and Prone. Make sure you drag these to comfortable positions as well on your hotkey bar.
Finally, you can drag equipment to your hotkey bar as well, to make it easy to swap out. Open up your inventory (Control-I), and left-click-and-hold-and-quickly-drag your weapon into an empty hotkey bar. Now, if you press that key, you�ll equip that weapon straight out of your inventory.
Example:
I have a combat hotkey bar. I have an ergonomic keyboard with the Function keys broken up into f1 through f5, f6 through f10, and f11 and f12 all by their lonesome.
I put �stand� in F1, �Kneel� in F2, �prone� in F3. I put �peace� in F4, and if I have it I put �burst run� in f5. That takes care of my first batch.
Now, I put �attack� in F11. I put my weapon in F12.
If I want to equip my weapon, I hit f12. If I want to unequip it (say, for using unarmed combat), I simply hit F12 again.
OR, I could always use Alt, change mouse mode, and use the mouse to select the icons.
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Moving Around
There are a few different types of maps to help you coordinate your movements.
The large-scale, planetary map, is accessible using control-V. It opens up a huge map of the planet, which you can zoom in for more detail. You can set navigational waypoints on this map. Mission waypoints (discussed later) will show up here.
The other map is more small-scale. It is a �heads up map�, accessible using control-M. Call it up and it will show all creatures and buildings around you. The red dots are things that have the POTENTIAL to be attacked (but they may be good guys), the yellow dots are npc�s belonging to missions or quests, and the white dots are npc�s you can talk to, usually to take missions, etc. If you are in a group, your friends show up as green arrows on the HUD.
TIP: Use control-mousewheel to zoom the heads-up map in and out. This way you can have just the level of detail, and range, that you prefer.
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Combat
Combat in SWG is a little different from other games you may have played, and requires a bit of getting used to. If you play a lot of first-person shooters, the first thing you�ll notice is that you can�t just shoot as fast as you can click a mousekey. Instead, there is a combat-queue, a list of commands that you have told the system that you wish to do, in that order. Every time you press a new Hotkey, or add a new command, it goes to the end of the queue.
Each command/action takes one round of combat to accomplish. In the next found, the system looks at your combat queue in order to determine what it is you wish to do.
The default action is �attack�, which is the most simple form of attack. It usually does the least amount of damage, but it is a strong, steady, tried-and-true attack form.
Targetting a creature
If you target a creature, it will now appear in two different windows. One is the actual creature itself, which shows a series of health bars just like you have. It also shows a coloured circle, and a number (either positive or negative). The other place the creature appears is in the �target window�, usually in the upper right hand corner of the screen, above the combat queue. The �target window� shows you the full name of the creature, as well as the distance in metres to the creature.
TIP: You can cycle through all nearby targets using the TAB key
What do I do with all this information?
Let�s start with the actual creature itself.
Once you�ve highlighted the creature using your mouse, you see 3 health bars just like yours, as well as a coloured cirlcle, and an accuracy modifier for the weapon you are using.
The coloured circle is the �con� for the creature, short for the term �consider�. You can get the same results by targeting a creature and typing the command line �/con� or �/consider�. Anything with a GREEN circle is so easy to be laughable. Anything with a light blue to dark blue is getting harder. White means you have an even chance that it�ll beat you before you beat it. Yellow means that it is actually tougher than you. Red is just plain deadly. Use the �/consider� command line to get more information, usually a humorously phrased indicator of just how tough the creature.
Remember, the �con� of the creature changes as you get more skilled with a weapon, and it depends on how much damage the weapon does. If you �con� a creature while holding a rocket launcher, it won�t be as tough as if you �con� the creature while planning to fight with your bare hands.
As for the Accuracy modifier, this number is an integer that goes up the more accurate your attacks are, and goes down the less accurate your shots are. You WANT a good, positive accuracy modifier.
TIP: Get a good positive accuracy modifier
TIP: Every weapon has a �sweet spot� for range. Rifles are more accurate at a distance, carbines are more accurate at medium range, pistols are best at short range. Only completely clueless newbies stand at point blank range trying to blast something with a rifle � their accuracy modifier is probably a huge negative number
TIP: Accuracy changes with position, relative speed, and posture. Kneeling or going prone makes you more accurate, but makes you more vulnerable to damage if the creature closes to melee distance. Running around and shooting makes you very inaccurate. A moving creature is harder to hit than a stationary one.
Look at those modifiers, and see how best to maximize them.
TIP: �AIM� is a skill which allows you to forfeit one attack in order to gain more accuracy for the next attack. Hotkey �Aim� and use it if you are having trouble hitting the creature.
Doing Damage
Different weapons do different amounts of damage, and different types. Everything defaults to the standards �Attack� option, but this doesn�t do a great deal more damage at higher skill levels than it does at newbie levels. Thus, a pistol specialist and a novice marksman standing side-by-side both doing default �attack� with a pistol are going to do the same amount of damage to the creature.
Real increased damage comes from �special moves� , which are learned as you progress your way up the skill tree�s.
Pistol special moves focus on hitting the health pool, the red bar. Carbine special moves focus on doing damage to the green pool, the action bar. Rifle special moves focus on head shots, doing damage to the blue bar, the mind pool.
Reducing ANY pool to zero is enough to incapacitate the creature.
Example of Special Moves and Damage: A Novice Marksman who is using a pistol can learn the first pistol skill and gain �bodyshot 1�. If they stand and do a standard �attack�, they will do approximately 60 points of damage with a CDEF newbie pistol. If, instead, they do �bodyshot 1�, they�ll do 150 to 200 points of damage.
Thus, at higher skill levels, people tend NEVER to simply �attack�, since the damage they do using their special moves FAR outweighs the damage of their default attacks.
REMEMBER: If you�re simply standing their and using �default attack� at higher skill levels, you�re doing no greater damage than the newbie standing beside you (basically).
Weapon Certifications � as you gain skill in a weapon type, you gain the ability to effectively utilize more complex weapons. New novice characters can only use the most rudimentary of weapons. However, the more damaging and more skillful weapons are only accessible if you go up in skill with that weapon.
Weapon certifications, or �certs�, are found in the skills page (control-S). Simply select a skill-level box, and look in the lower right hand description box for any weapon certifications that may have been added. You can also look at other professions using the �all professions� tab, to see what weapons can be utilized at what skill levels.
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Range:
Remember the target window, up above the queue of attacks? It shows the same health bars on the target, but it also shows the range. Most creatures are only attackable with a blaster if you get to approximately 65 metres away. Anything more than that, and you�ll simply have a red dash as an accuracy metre � meaning you can�t attack at that range.
Example: At 15 metres, if you are unarmed, the target will show a red dash for the accuracy metre � since you cannot punch 15 metres! However, arm a blaster, and you�ll suddenly find yourself able to shoot the creature.
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What do I shoot? Who do I hunt?
There are two real types of targets
Animals are anything that is non-sentient. They do not carry loot, they do not have gold pieces in their stomach, and they will not get you any benefits in the form of monetary wealth. However, scouts have the novice ability to �harvest� animals. As a scout (that means ANYBODY with novice scout skill) simply target the corpse of the creature, wait a beat for the system to catch up with you, and an extra option to �harvest� will appear. Decide what type of resource to harvest (usually gives you the choice of hide, bone, or meat) and select it. If successful, you�ll gain scouting experience.
Humanoids are a little tougher, since they tend to use technology � things like blasters, and the like. You do not �harvest� humanoids for skin and bones. Instead, you �loot� them for any equipment and/or credits they may have. Select the corpse, left-click, and choose the �loot all� option. This will give you any dropped items that the fallen humanoid may have.
Special note: Just because you saw some NPC attack you with a cool rifle does NOT mean that you automatically may loot that rifle when he is dead. It may have been destroyed during the fight.
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Then How do I Make Money?! Missions and POI�s
There are �mission terminals� located around the various cities. Missions come in two types � deliver and destroy. Deliver missions will give you a waypoint to a first contact person, who if you converse with him will give you the second (final) waypoint that you need to visit. These deliver missions usually cover long distances, and are often easiest to accomplish if you take a shuttle to cut down on your travel time.
The other type of missions are �destroy� mission. These require that you �take out� an installation, fortification, nest, hive, etc. It could be a hive of creatures, or it could be the power node that is the center of a smuggler�s camp. Regardless, �destroy� missions are more dangerous, because they require simply more than running around. Usually there are 2 to 4 NPC�s guarding the �destroy� target, and then finally there is a structure to destroy at the end to finish the mission. Example: You may have to destroy a Mount mite lair, meaning you have to kill all the mound mites guarding it, and then target the lair and attack it to destroy it. Or, you may have to take out a smuggler�s camp, killing all the smugglers guarding it first, and then take out the specific structure you were asked to destroy.
In either case, it is easy. Simply use the TAB key to cycle through the available targets, and take them out.
Once the structure is taken out, the reward is automatically put into your bank account. No fuss, no muss.
Now, a word about POI�s, or Points of Interest.
On your radar screen (or on your heads-up Map, control-M), you�ll notice that some creatures are RED and some are YELLOW. RED simply means that you COULD engage the creature in combat, not that it is about to eat your face. Yellow means that it is a structure or NPC necessary to a mission, a POI.
Some people delight in running around and killing everything and anything that they can.
However, remember that some people just took a mission to destroy a POI, and may be en route AT THAT VERY MOMENT to come and attack that target. If you destroy it before they get there, they may have no way to complete the mission.
The rule of thumb is: if has a yellow structure, it is a POI. It �belongs� to somebody else, and etiquette requests that you simply leave it alone.
Example: How would you like to travel halfway across a planet to discover that somebody had casually destroyed your mission, and you get nothing for it?
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The Galactic Civil War
You can join the Galactic Civil War on either side by gaining enough faction that the particular side wants to recruit you. First off, you need to find another specialized type of mission terminal � either a rebel misson terminal or an imperial mission terminal. These will give you the same sorts of missions, but these missions will ALSO give you faction with one side or the other.
When you have 200 faction points, you can go to an NPC �recruiter� and tell them that you officially want to join that side of the war.
There are two types of recruits � overt and covert. All overt people are visible as belong to that faction at all times � which means that even the enemy can SEE that they belong to the other side. Overt people are a little less devoted � they only show their true colours if they do something directly opposing the opposite side. Thus, a covert rebel who JUST finished doing a rebel mission and killing some imperials will, for a short time, show up as a rebel. Eventually he�ll go back to being incognito.
This is known as a Temporary Enemy Flag, or TEF. Thus, a covert-recruit with a TEF looks JUST LIKE an overt recruit � except that eventually the TEF wears off, and the covert recruit can wander freely amongst enemy patrols without them being any the wiser.
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Joining Groups:
By far, the best combat experience comes from joining groups of characters and heading off to battle bigger and nastier things as a war party. You gain MUCH more experience that way.
TIP: Use ALT to change mousemode, move the arrow over your radar, and use the minus sign to reset radar range to 128 metres. It is a much more useful distance.
TIP: Use the heads-up map (Control-M) when outside of the town, to show all the people and creatures around you. Party members show up as green arrows, enemies show up as red)
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Okay, those are the most-often requested pieces of information that I�ve found over the past few weeks.
If I had to summarize it down to a few points, it would be these.
1. Double-size your hotkeys (Alt to change mousemode, resize the window double-deep � the top line uses F1 to F12, the bottom line uses Shift-F1 to Shift-F12)
2. Always use special attacks once you get �em
3. LEARN what your most accurate range isAlways use a weapon you�re certified in
4. Never attack random POI�s or missions � leave them for the person who earned them
5. Join groups to get real experience � they don�t expect you to gain hundreds of thousands of xp by soloing
6. If you�ve played another MMO, please please TRY to break out of the old mindset, and recognize that this is a new game, with a new skills system
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Okay, those are my notes.
I�m off to play now!
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