This was posted in the SWG beta forums. Some of the information may be dated.
This is intended as a supplement to the Manual. The Manual is your friend. If you�re already familiar with the basics, feel free to skip around to the section that interests you. All of the advice contained herein is according to my experience, and is by no means comprehensive or guaranteed to be accurate for the current build. Your mileage may vary.
Section 1 � Earning the Prerequisites
In order to tame creatures and make them your pets, you�ll need to earn at least the Novice Creature Handler skill*. The prerequisites for Novice Creature Handler are Exploration IV and Hunting IV (both in the Scout profession). Both the Hunting and Exploration disciplines require Scout XP (as does the Novice Creature Handler skill itself), so you�ll need to earn a lot of it.
The fastest way to earn Scout XP is generally to kill as many creatures as possible, and /harvest resources from their corpses. You can then use the resources for crafting (i.e. camp kits � though please note that making camps gives you Wilderness Survival XP, not Scout XP). You could also sell them to other players, or donate them to Medics at the Hospital (medics are always in need of resources from animals). It�s really not important what you do with the resources, since the act of harvesting them is what gives you Scout XP. If you can get a group together (preferably of people who don�t need Scout XP) and take down lots of more dangerous creatures, you can earn XP fairly quickly. It doesn�t really matter what planet you hunt on, though it will be easier to get a group together in the more populous areas.
Once you have Exploration IV, Hunting IV, and enough Scout XP for the Novice Creature Handler skill, go find a Creature Handler Trainer NPC and learn the skill. The CH Trainer is usually in the University. In some towns, though, he may be standing around in the streets somewhere. Either way, use /find and choose �Creature Handler Teacher� from the list to get a waypoint when in town.
Section 2 � Mask Scent
Once you have Exploration II, you gain access to the /maskscent command. In your long career as a Scout/Creature Handler, this ability is going to be your best friend. If you don�t already have it assigned to a toolbar slot, you should do so now.
Mask Scent gives you a chance to slip past creatures without them noticing you. The more skillful you are, the better chance of success. If it works, then aggressive creatures won�t attack, and more docile creatures won�t run away. Particularly now, when creature popping distances are low and their aggro ranges are high, you�ll want to always have Mask Scent on when not in town. If it wears off, hit it again. If a creature detects you, hit it again.
If you successfully avoid detection by an Aggressive creature, then you�ll be awarded some Scout XP. This is a nice little bonus, but probably won�t replace harvesting as your primary means of XP gain. If Mask Scent fails at the wrong time, you might end up getting mauled by what you were trying to sneak past.
Section 3 � Taming
Once you have the Novice Creature Handler skill, you�ll gain access to the �Tame� option on the radial menu of baby animals. It�s important to note that having access to the Tame option on a given creature does NOT necessarily mean you can actually tame it. Creatures that are Aggressive or that are too powerful will require more skill in the Taming discipline to successfully tame. Unfortunately there�s really no way to tell if you�ll be able to tame something at your current stage of advancement, other than guessing by its con value and trial and error.
In order to tame a baby animal, simply approach it and choose �Tame� from its radial menu. Your character will then start talking to the creature, trying to earn its trust (�Steady! Don�t bite me!� etc). During this process you�ll want to stay as close to the baby as possible. If it wanders more than a few meters away from you, it will be out of �taming range.� After a moment, you�ll get a system message letting you know whether you have succeeded or failed. If you failed, you can choose �Tame� from the radial menu to keep trying until you succeed. Generally if you haven�t succeeded after a dozen or so attempts, you�re probably not skilled enough to tame this type of creature.
Section 4 � Finding and Approaching Babies
Baby animals tend to spawn at lairs, surrounded by adults of the same species. Depending on what planet you�re on, lairs with babies will either be relatively abundant (Tatooine) or completely non-existent (Naboo).
When you spot a lair in the distance, it�s usually a good idea to cycle through the creatures standing around it (TAB) and choose to �Examine� each of them using the radial menu (~) or by typing /examine. The Examine window gives you useful information, such as whether the creature is Aggressive, whether it�s Tameable, and what sorts of resources you can get from harvesting it.
When you find a lair with a baby (the baby will have �Tameable: Yes� on its Examine window), it�s important to remember that even non-aggressive creatures are very skittish about players approaching their lair. If you just blunder up to the lair without preparation, chances are you�re going to get hurt (and lose your chance to tame the baby). Unless you want to be mauled by the lair guardians, make sure you have Mask Scent on as you approach the lair. If you�re detected (or it wears off), then Mask Scent yourself again. Don�t underestimate the importance of doing this, or that cute and cuddly family of furry jax will tear you apart like a pack of vicious dogs!
As a final note while trying to tame: don�t attack the animals. Some people can kill off all the adults without causing the baby to aggro, but I have found this to be a pretty risky strategy (particularly now that babies /follow adults at all times). Tell your group members not to attack the animals. Tell random passersby not to attack the animals, and why. If the baby you�re trying to tame gets involved in combat with another player, you�re pretty much out of luck. For this reason, I tend to retreat to isolated areas to do my taming. This makes any potential combat riskier (as well as reducing the quantity and quality of local spawns), but also greatly reduces the chances of someone wandering along and taking potshots at the creature you�re trying to tame. If you try to tame something right outside a popular town, you�re practically asking for someone to interfere. :/
Section 5 � Training Your New Pet
So now that you�ve successfully tamed a baby animal, the first thing you�re going to want to do is train it some commands. As a Novice Creature Handler, you have access to three commands*: Follow, Attack, and Release. Every time you tame something, you should immediately teach it all three of these.
When you teach a pet a command, what you�re doing is binding that action to a particular spoken phrase. Once you bind �Attack� to the phrase �Sic�em, Fido!� you can make your pet attack your lookat target simply by having your character say that phrase aloud (in this case: �Sic�em, Fido!�).
To do this, choose the �Attack� sub-option under �Train� on your pet�s radial menu. The radial menu will disappear, and a little question mark (?) will float off your pet�s head. This indicates that it�s waiting for you to speak the phrase you want to associate with this command. At this point, just make your character say �Sic�em, Fido!�
If you�re successful, you�ll gain a little Creature Handling XP and you�ll get the message �You have trained your pet a new command.� If you fail, you�ll get the message �Your pet doesn�t understand you.� In this case, choose �Attack� from the �Train� menu again, then speak whatever phrase you wish to bind to the command again. Keep repeating the process until you�re successful (it shouldn�t take more than a few tries in most cases).
Now that you�ve bound this particular command to a spoken phrase, there�s no need to use hotkeys or radial menus to issue the order to your pet. Now and in the future, simply speak the phrase (i.e. �Sic�em, Fido!�) to command your pet.
If you start out four or so commands with the same word (i.e. �Bob attack,� �Bob stay,� �Bob release,� �Bob group�) then your pet�s name will change to that first word (in this case, �Bob�). Note that, as a Novice Creature Handler you only have access to three commands.* You�ll need to advance and learn more if you want to name your creatures.
Section 6 � Storing and Unstoring Your Pet
Until you get the Pack Management skill, you can only have one pet out at a time. Before you can tame or call any additional pets, you�ll need to Store the one that�s out in your inventory. You do this by getting close to the pet and choosing �Store� from its radial menu. Voila! The pet should now appear in your inventory, and will be safely stored there if you logout or are disconnected. You can call him out (if you don�t already have a pet out) simply by double-clicking him in your Inventory. Note that you cannot call (or store) pets while in Combat mode, so be sure you have him out before the battle starts, if you want to fight with him. Right now there seems to be a bug resulting in the permanent deletion of a pet if it�s out when the server crashes, so you�ll probably want to keep all of your pets stored most of the time.
A separate issue is that of pet abandonment. If you leave your pet unattended for more than 30 minutes (usually be disconnecting without storing him first), then he�ll revert to a wild state and you�ll lose him.
Finally, pets will grow (and increase in size and strength) the longer you have them. In my experience, pets grow whether you have them out in the world or have them stored in your inventory, so it�s definitely safer to keep them stored. The growing process generally takes days (sometimes a week or more) to complete, so brand new pets probably won�t be viable for serious combat until you�ve had them for a while.
Section 7 � Using your Pet in Combat
Sooner or later, you�re probably going to want to use your pet in combat. Recall that you cannot unstore pets once your character has entered Combat Mode, so make sure you have him out and ready before hostilities commence. Then you can either order your pet to attack a target (by selecting the target and speaking whatever vocal command you bound to �Attack�), or you can attack the target yourself. Pets will automatically defend their master if something adopts an aggressive posture toward him, so just causing a creature to aggro against you will be enough for your pet to charge into the fray.
Just like players, pets are incapacitated when one of their Health, Action, or Mind bars reaches zero. At this point, an enemy can execute a �coup de grace� (a.k.a. �deathblow�) to kill the pet. In general this is a Bad Thing, and should be avoided. My advice is to never let a pet fight a specific enemy without help. There should always be something else on an enemy�s �hate list� while it�s attacking your pet (another pet, a group member, You, etc) so that the enemy will switch targets if it incaps your pet. Most hostiles will wait until they have incapacitated everything in the area that they�re mad at before going around to issue deathblows.
Section 8 � Healing your Pet
If you have at least the Novice Medic skill, you can heal your pet�s damage with stimpacks, just as you would another player. This is extraordinarily helpful in most combat situations, and can often make the difference between an incapped pet and a victorious pet. If you�re going to use pets in battle, then you should seriously consider learning Novice Medic. Always keep a few stimpacks on hand while traveling, and harvest organic resources from creatures you kill to gain resources for crafting more.
Pets can be wounded like players, as well. If your pet takes a Health or Action wound, you can heal it by feeding the pet after battle. Your pet will think �Fido Hungry!� out loud when it has such a wound (if it�s name is �Fido�). Pets will eat anything players can eat, so travel biscuits are just as good as melons for this. Do note that a bug is currently causing pets to eat the entire stack (for food items that have multiple uses), so a melon with 3 more uses will be used up by your pet in a single feeding session. On the plus side, it generally only takes one feeding of anything to take a pet to zero wounds. Though it�s not a prerequisite skill, I like to have Wilderness Survival I from the Scout tree, to gain access to the Forage ability. This gives you a pretty good chance of finding food for your pet in almost any outdoor area, which is great for healing pet wounds on the run.
If you pet takes a Mind Wound or battle fatigue (you can�t actually see the number for your pet�s battle fatigue, but the Manual says that it does accumulate), you�ll need to Play with you pet. Your pet will think �Fido Play!� out loud when it has a Mind wound (if it�s name is �Fido�). In order to play with your pet, you�ll need to have taught it one of the two pet Tricks (which you get by advancing to Creature Empathy I and Creature Empathy II). Simply say the phrase that you bound to the trick, and the pet will do it (and heal his Mind wounds). It generally only takes one use of a Trick to heal your pet�s Mind wounds to zero.
At this time, pets do not have access to Cloning (as players do). If you pet dies, it is permanently dead. Since pets are difficult to replace (and take time to grow), this can be a significant setback. Keep a close eye on your pet�s HAM bars both before and during battle, and make sure you (or another group member) is doing damage to everything that�s attacking your pet.
Section 9 - Creature Handler XP and Advancement
There are three ways to gain Creature Handler XP: successfully taming a baby, teaching a new command to a pet for the first time, and having your pet contribute to the death of an NPC or creature.
At the moment, the fastest way to earn CH XP is to find a baby, then tame it, train it all of the commands you have access to, then release it. Do this over and over until the baby despawns. Then find another baby and repeat the process. While you can try to advance through combat, there is currently a bug making CH XP gains through combat extremely low. You need to kill something that�s at least an even match to even register on the XP scale, and even then you�ll need to slaughter thousands of even matches just to get Intermediate skills. While this might be workable if you regularly hunt with groups of players, you�re almost certainly going to find the tame and release strategy faster for soloing.
A question I�m often asked is �which Intermediate skill should I get first?� Personally, I recommend Creature Empathy I. If you�re engaging in any combat with your pet whatsoever, you�re going to need the ability to heal its Mind Wounds. Since you can�t do that until you gain access to the first pet trick, Empathy I is a must have skill. Once that is learned, where you go from there is pretty much a matter of personal preference. I like getting Taming I next to increase the range of things I can tame. You may feel that the advantage of Grouping with your pet warrants an early investment in Creature Management I, however.
-Vertexon
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