================================== STAR WARS GALAXIES GENERAL INFROMATION GUIDE ================================== faq written by blue_moogle ___________________ ____________________ / | \ | OBJECT | DETAILS | |-------------------|--------------------| | | | | FAQ version | 1.20 | | FAQ Type | GENERAL FAQ | | FAQ Date | 8/27/2004 | | Game Platform | PC | | Game Genre | MMORPG | | Game Developer | SOE | | Game Publisher | LucasArts | | Language | English | | Monthly Cost | $14.99 US | | | | \___________________|____________________/ _________________________ FAQ \ _____________________/\ ___/ CONTENTS \ \_______________________/ ___/ 1. Introduction 2. Legal/Disclaimer 3. Requirements FAQ - Will my PC run SWG...? - What should I buy so my PC will SWG...? - I meet the requirements, but I get "x" error! - Game Errors and solutions to them 4. Interface FAQ - What's the deal with the different color names? - What's that dot next to the enemy's name for? - What is that little blue number next to an enemy's name? - How do I find my FPS/lag? - How do I change the interface? - Is there a way to have more hotkeys? - It's really dark at night... can I buy a flashlight? - is there an easier way to track my EXP? - How do I hide the interface? - Is there a way to see my name above my character? 5. Combat FAQ - What's the deal with 3 health bars? - Is armor worth it? - I can't equip my armor! - When I equip my weapon, it says I can't use it properly.. help! - What are the strongest professions? - I'm weak, where should I attack enemies? - I have novice in my elite class, where should I attack enemies? - I'm near master of my elite class, where should I attack enemies? - What is slicing and why is it so important? - What's the point of cloning or insuring items? 6. Creatures FAQ - What's the big deal about creatures/pets? - Should I become a creature handler? - How many pets can I have? - What pets can a non-creature handler use? - Are droids worth the money? - How about faction pets? Should I spend my FP on them? - Are pets worth it if you're a melee fighter? 7. Crafting FAQ - I got a critical failure... what is that? - How do I make things? - I have the right skills to make "x" item, but it doesn't show up on my crafting list! What do I do? - Should I stick to surveying or buy a harvester? - What's the point of experimenting? - What's the point of "x" resource? 8. Interaction FAQ - I'm trying to heal my buddy, but it says it isn't wise to do that... why is it saying that? - Trading questions and trading errors - How can I privately message someone without using e-mail? - How can I trade waypoints? - I'm trying to delete my waypoints, but they aren't going away! Help! - I need help with equipment! - No one can understand me! Help! 9. Galatic Civil War FAQ - What's the deal with covert and overt? - Help! I can't join the rebels or the Imperials! - Faction armor... is it worth it? - Help! I was covert, but a rebel/imperial still killed me! - How do I gain FP? - What cities have rebel/imperial mission terminals? - I need help with the monthly story arcs! 10. Jedi FAQ - Is anyone a Jedi? - How do I become a Jedi? - How do I become a Force Sensitive Character (FSCS)? - I saw Jedi NPCs! They are weak, so does that mean player controlled Jedi will be weak, too? - What are holocrons? - What about the badges? - How about random NPC missions? 11. Misc FAQ - I'm a wookiee... I can't equip armor... what's the deal? - How do I contact you? - Can I use this FAQ on my website? - My Healthbars are all black, what do I do? _________________________ FAQ \ _____________________/\ ___/ INTRODUCTION \ \_______________________/ ___/ Hello! Welcome to my FAQ! This FAQ is about SWG and how you play it. If you're encountering errors or have some questions on how to play, then this is the FAQ for you! If you're question isn't answered in this FAQ, feel free to contact me via the methods below! AOL Instant Messanger: Omniscient Van MSN Instant Messanger: blue_moogle@hotmail.com E-mail: blue_moogle@charter.net In-game: Blunai on the Shadowfire Galaxy Well, let's get started then... but first we gotta go through the boring, but required, legal and disclaimer! ***NEW ADDITIONS*** Since this game is a MMORPG, it is constantly changing. If something has been changed by a publish (a gigantic update that adds many features or modifies current ones) then I have put a ***NEW: tag by it. _________________________ FAQ \ _____________________/\ ___/ LEGAL/DISCLAIMER \ \_______________________/ ___/ Alright, this is my FAQ. It's copyrighted by me under the international copyright agreement. Anyways, here's the official way of saying it. Copyright 2003 Alex Perce All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. I only give GameFaqs permission to use this FAQ. If you see any site using this FAQ, please e-mail me at blue_moogle@charter.net If you disagree with anything and you think something in this FAQ is your work, e-mail me at blue_moogle@charter.net and we can try and work an agreement. _________________________ FAQ \ _____________________/\ ___/ REQUIREMENTS \ \_______________________/ ___/ 1. Will my PC run SWG...? A. I don't know because I don't know what kind of PC you have. But, don't worry! I'll tell you how to find out your PC's specs! You only need to find 3 majors things, as they affect the game's performence the most. First, let's find out your video card. Right click on your desktop and go to properties. A window will appear. On this window, click the settings tab. On the settings tab, click the the button called advanced. Another window will pop up. Go to the adapter tab. In the adapter type box, you'll see what video card you have. In the adapter information box, you can see your video card's specs. Pay attention to the memory part of the specs, as this is your video cards memory. Next, to find your system memory (sometimes referred to as RAM) and how fast your PC is. Right click on the My computer icon on your desktop (if you're using XP, you might not have the icon on your desktop, so click the start button and then right click the My Computer icon.) And then click properties. Under the general tab, you'll see everything you'll need to know :) Now that you know your information, see if your computer fits these specs: Video Card memory - 32 mb Memory (RAM) - 256 mb System Speed - 900 mhz ( 0.9 ghz ) I recommend you have atleast the following: Video Card memory - 64 mb Memory (RAM) - 512 mb System Speed - 1700 mhz ( 1.7 ghz ) 2. What should I buy so my PC will run SWG...? A. So you're computer doesn't fit one or more of the requirements? Well, it's a good idea to upgrade everything if you don't fit the requirement but it's a good idea to spend more of your money on certain things. Buy in your things in this order (I also gave an example of what you could buy!) VIDEO CARD - buy this first. A cheap but great card is the Geforce 5200 MEMORY RAM - buy this second. You'll want atleast 512 mb. System Speed - this is a last resort buy. Get a Pentium 4 or an AMD Athlon 2000+ or greater. Just be warned, AMD may not work with some computers if it has been configured to intel CPU's. Before upgrading, check to see which CPU you had previously, and stick with the same brand. 3. I meet the requirements, but I get "x" error! A. Most likely it's your video card. If you get anything along the lines of DirectX, try upgrading directx first. Most likely that will solve the problem. If that doesn't help, you'll have to go out and buy a new video card. See above on what video card I recommend you buy :) 4. Game Errors and solutions to them A. You'll have to e-mail on this one. There are SO many errors (and many are being fixed) that I would have to constantly update my guide with new errors and such. Instead, just e-mail me at blue_moogle@charter.net _________________________ FAQ \ _____________________/\ ___/ INTERFACE \ \_______________________/ ___/ 1. What's the deal with the different color names? A. You'll encounter numerous colored names in the game. Here's a key for each of them. ___________________ ____________________ / | \ | COLOR | IT MEANS | |-------------------|--------------------| | | | | WHITE |NPC, not attackable | | YELLOW | NPC, attackable | | BLUE | PC, not attackable | | RED | N/PC aggresive* | | Pink | Group Leader | | Green | Group member | | Purple | PC Faction Ally | | Violet | NPC Faction Ally | | | | \___________________|____________________/ *If a PC (a player) is red, he is on the opposing faction. If it is a monster, then it's naturally aggresive and will attack you if you get near. If you duel someone, they also get a red name. 2. What is that little dot next to the enemy's name? A. This is the difficulty of the enemy. When you are fighting the enemy alone, this color is determined by your combat skills. When you are in group, it is determined by all the group members skills. Thus, if you're in a group of people and you see an enemy with a white dot, don't try to fight it while your partners are healing! In reality its probably a yellow or even red/dark red! ___________________ ____________________ / | \ | COLOR | IT MEANS | |-------------------|--------------------| | | | | GREEN | very easy | | BLUE | easy | | DARK BLUE | average | | WHITE | Equal strength | | YELLOW | Hard | | RED | Very Hard | | DARK RED | Impossible | | | | \___________________|____________________/ 3. What is that little blue number next to an enemy's name? A. That is your accuracy bonus when fighting an enemy. Each weapon has ideal, minimum, and maximum ranges. As long as you stay between the min and max ranges, you should get a positve accuracy bonus. If you're in the ideal range, you should get a very high accuracy bonus! 4. How do I find my FPS/lag? A. Press ctrl and o at the same time. A window will pop up. Go to the misc tab. Check the "show network status" box. A small window will appear with your FPS and your ping (server lag). 5. How do I change the interface? A. Again, press ctrl and o at the same time. Go to the interface tab. At the bottom of the window, you can change your interface into several different ones. 6. Is there a way to have more hotkeys? A. Yes! Click and hold on the bottom of the hotkey bar. Drag downwards and you'll have another set. To use these, hold down shift when you press the hotkey button. 7. Sometimes it's so dark I can't even see my character! A. Easy fix! Simply press ctrl and L at the same time and your character will magically create light! When riding a vehicle, you will create a very large light allowing you see far into the distance. Riding a creature mount is the same way. If you're simply walking around, your light will be smaller, but you can atleast see the ground in front of you as well as your character! 8. is there an easier way to track my EXP? A. Yes. Open up the skills tab (ctrl and s) and click the checkbox that says to show the exp monitor. You can have up to 8 exp monitors at once. 9. How do I hide the interface? A. Press ctrl, shift, and H at the same time. Press it again to make the interface return. 10. Is there a way to see my name above my character? A. Press ctrl and 1 at the same time. To make it go away, click anywhere on the screen. _________________________ FAQ \ _____________________/\ ___/ COMBAT \ \_______________________/ ___/ 1. What's the deal with 3 health bars? A. In SWG, you have 3 health types. Use the chart below as a key. _________________________________________________________________________ / COLOR | NAME | DESCRIPTION OF HEALTH BAR \ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | RED | HEALTH | This is the main stat for the health bar. It's | | | | like HP in other games. A lot of this is good! | | | | | | RED | STRENGTH | This is your health's defense. The higher you | | | | have of this, the less damage you'll take to your| | | | health pool with each special attack you use. | | | | | | RED |CONSTITUTION| This is your health's regeneration stat. If you | | | | have a lot of this, your health will heal quickly| | | | | | GREEN | ACTION | This is the main stat for the action bar. This is| | | | used when you use skills like burst run or like | | | | health shot. If you use skills a lot, make sure | | | | you have a lot of this. | | | | | | GREEN | QUICKNESS | This is your action's defense. The more you have| | | | of this, the less action you use up when you use | | | | a special skill or when you get attacked. | | | | | | GREEN | STAMINA | This is the regeneration stat for action. | | | | | | BLUE | MIND | This is the main stat for the mind bar. It is | | | | used when you use your mind, like healin or using| | | | survey tools. | | | | | | BLUE | FOCUS | The defensive stat for mind. | | | | | | BLUE | WILLPOWER | The regeneration stat for mind. | | | | | \__________|____________|__________________________________________________/ 2. Is armor worth it? A. Depends on how you play. If you fight a lot, yes, it is worth it. It prevents damage to your main pools (health, action, mind), but uses up your secondary pools. It's your preference really. 3. I can't equip my armor! A. The stronger the armor is, the heavier it is. You need strong stats in all of your HAM pools to wear it. If you wore it before and now you can't re-equip it, you might have been using a buff at the time, or you may have relocated your stats. 4. When I equip my weapon, it says I can't use it properly.. help! A. A lot of strong weapons require skill to properly aim and use without injuring yourself. Since you have to put extra caution into using these weapons, you won't use the weapon properly. Once you're trained in using the weapon, you can use it to it's full potential. To see if you can use a weapon, open up your skills menu (ctrl + s) and look at your certifications box. 5. What is the strongest profession? A. The strongest profession changes constantly. This "uber" profession is nicknamed the FOTM (feature of the month) because a lot of people become that profession. Ask around for the latest FOTM; its not uncommon knowledge so you should find out on your first try! One profession that is for sure the strongest is Jedi. 6. I'm weak, where should I attack enemies? A. Tatooine, Corellia, and Naboo. Attack just outside of Cities, or do missions in these cities. 7. I have novice in my elite class, where should I attack enemies? A. Far out in the wilderness on Tatooine, Corellia, or Naboo.. or anywhere on Talus or Rori. You can even try some advanced planets like Lok. 8. I'm near master of my elite class, where should I attack enemies? A. Lok, Endor, Yavin 4, Datooine, or Dathomir. Some require groups if you want to survive :) Well, of course, if you happen to find a doctor that will buff you, then you will be able to solo just about everything! 9. What is slicing and why is it so important? A. It improves your weapon's damage or speed, and increases your armor's resistence. Overall, it helps you in survival. ***NEW: Be careful though, with Imperial Crackdown publish, SOE has added in a feature where Imperial NPCs will occasionally scan you sliced items and spice. If you're a high ranking Imperial, have no worries! Those stormtrooper grunts don't have the authority to scan you! However, if you're a neutral citizen, prepare to pay a fine! Finally, if you're a rebel, lets just say you'll be making some use of that sliced weapon shortly. 10. What's the point of cloning or insuring items? A. If you clone and then die, you will not suffer any wounds (or very minor wounds, depends on what killed you.) Remember to re-clone every time you change cities! Insuring is currently obsolete, but in the old days, you had to insure your items. Otherwise, they would be left on your corpse (which is where you died.) ***NEW: In one of the publishes, the "Decay" system has been put into place. When you die, you will still spawn back in the last cloning center, but you will now suffer a loss of quality in your items. This is called decay. Example: If you die and you have armor, your armor will now be slightly less effective. A way to prevent this is to insure your items. Don't insure everything! That can be costly! Only insure the items that cost too many credits to replace. _________________________ FAQ \ _____________________/\ ___/ CREATURES \ \_______________________/ ___/ 1. What's the big deal about creatures/pets? A. Currently, they are the only way to solo the advance planets. The point of using a creature is to have it take the damage while you do the fighting. Since creatures have more health, they will last longer than you. Some creatures are even great attackers! ***NEW: Over the span of several publishes, creature handlers have become much less effective of being the solo class. Now creature handler is simply a support class. If you want to solo things, get some buffs! 2. Should I become a creature handler? A. It's up to you. 3. How many pets can I have? A. 3 animals, 3 faction pets (like storm troopers), and 1 droid. ***NEW: The Droid publish has heavily altered droids! They are a lot more useful now, and you can own more than one. Also, you can't just own any three pets now. Everything is based on creature level, and non creature handlers can only use level 10 pets (or lower.) This basically means mounts. 4. What pets can a non-creature handler use? A. Anything that has a creature level lower than 10. This is basically a mount or a very very weak combat creature. 5. Are droids worth the money? A. After the developers nerfed probots, droids have become a total waste of money. They can't fight very well, and they are very expensive. Avoid them for now. Hopefully some combat droids will be made. If you are a medic though, they can be helpful as they allow you to heal wounds outside of a medical center. ***NEW: The Droid publish has added in several new droids and they are definately worth the investment now! Droids can dramatically improve your inventory space as they can hold items. Droids can also advertise your shop! Some droids allow you to heal/buff outside of a medical center; others let you craft away from a crafting station. And of course some fight, too! Best of all, everything has come down in price :) 6. How about faction pets? Should I spend my FP on them? A. Only after you get the armor. For Imperials, AT-ST's are worth a shot. The troopers (storm troopers or rebel troopers) are also helpful. If you get specialized ones (like desert troop or swamp trooper) and use it on the appropriate terrain, the trooper will get a bonus to his attack. It's nice to have if you've been ambushed by the opposing faction. 7. Are pets worth it if you're a melee fighter? A. Yes. Many creatures will target a pet before the melee fighter. _________________________ FAQ \ _____________________/\ ___/ CRAFTING \ \_______________________/ ___/ 1. I got a critical failure... what is that? A. It's not an error in the game, that's for sure. But, it is something annoying the devs implimented. When you're crafting an item, you'll notice the complexity of the item. That's the percentage of how many times this item will fail to be made. ***NEW: High fail items are risky to craft. Want to lower that risk? Buy some clothing or armor with [craft] assembly bonus. Such as, a PA hall is insanely risky to make, thus be sure to have some equipment that bonuses your architect assembly skill. 2. How do I make things? A. You make things by using a crafting tool. Most professions that make things start out with one. 3. I have the right skills to make "x" item, but it doesn't show up on my crafting list! What do I do? A. Some items require specialized crafting tools. Like, Stimpack B's require a chemical crafting tool. Other items require a crafting station to use, like Stimpack C's. Check the items shematic in the datapad to see if it requires one of those. 4. Should I stick to surveying or buy a harvester? A. Unless you're super poor, buy a harvester. Surveying is a waste of time and harvesters are far more effecient. ***NEW: For a much easier (and possibly cheaper) alternative is to simply buy your resources. Many high end items require specific resources that are rare; thus check out the resource shops. These are stocked with both rare and common resources, providing you with the materials you need to create great items as well as the materials you need to "grind" your profession! 5. What's the point of experimenting? A. It improves your items abilities. For weapons, it could be speed and damage. For medicine, it could be damage healed. It's recommended to experiment if you plan on using the item or if you're going to sell it. If you are simply "grinding" you shouldn't experiment since that slows you down. 6. What's the point of "x" resource? A. A lot of advanced items require these wacky resources. Don't worry about them unless you absolutely need them. If you're a resource broker you can usually sell these at a nice price to the crafters that need them (as they are harder to find). _________________________ FAQ \ _____________________/\ ___/ INTERACTION \ \_______________________/ ___/ 1. I'm trying to heal my buddy, but it says it isn't wise to do that... why is it saying that? A. He may not be your buddy afterall! He's on the opposing faction that you are on... it's not wise to heal your enemy! 2. Trading questions and trading errors A. There are a lot of these. Just send an e-mail if you encounter one. ***NEW: For the most part, trading errors have been fixed by the many hot fixes. There is an occasional error from time to time, but the fix is easy: simply restart the trade! 3. How can I privately message someone without using e-mail? A. Use the /tell command. Example, if I wanted to talk to my friend Omif, I would use /tell omif. Whatever follows the player's name is what is privately sent to him or her. 4. How can I trade waypoints? A. Use ingame-mail. Save it as an attachement. ***NEW: Another nifty command to use is the /waypoint command. Have your friend tell you the waypoint numbers, then enter it in with the command. Example: /waypoint 4500 -3491 5. I'm trying to delete my waypoints, but they aren't going away! Help! A. Occasionally you'll get what I call datapad lag. If you use your datapad a lot, it'll lag out. Just log out and log back in and it'll be fine. 6. I need help with equipment! A. Alright, I'll try to explain the basics. There are three core stats that you should aways pay attention to: minimum damage, maximum damage, and weapon speed. Then, some weapons have nice bonuses such as damage over times. Finally, look at the special action costs and ranges. Min/Max Damage: Always try to get a high damaging weapon since well, it determines your damage! Weapon Speed: This is the base attacking speed for that weapon. If you have no speed skill bonuses, this is how fast you attack. However, all combat professions increase your weapon's speed skill. Thus, if you are experienced in your combat profession you will actually attack faster than the given speed. ***NEW: Trying to choose between a high damaging weapon and a fast weapon? Well, if you are new to your profession, go for the faster one since you don't have any speed boosts yet. However, if you are experienced, the faster weapon is pointless since you can't go over the speed cap! Damage over Time: This is often refered to as a DOT. These are extremely beneficial as even when you're not hitting the enemy, the DOT is still doing damage to it! Special Action costs: When you use special moves, such as headshot 1, you use some of your stats. This is determined by the cost listed. Your defensive stat will lower the cost. Range: This determines your accuracy when fighting. Try to stay in the range, otherwise you will miss often or not be able to hit at all! 7. No one can understand me! Help! A. I hope you mean in game. Anyway, that's probably because you're using a language besides basic. If you typed /language (language name here), that'll do that to you. To fix it, switch to basic by typing /language basic. If you're a wookiee, you can only speak the wookiee language. Most people can understand, so don't worry. If they can't, just use a /tell with them. _________________________ FAQ \ _____________________/\ ___/ GALATIC CIVIL WAR \ \_______________________/ ___/ 1. What's the deal with covert and overt? A. When you join a faction, you're covert by default. When you're covert, your enemies don't know that you're their enemy. For all they know, you could still be neutral. When you're overt, you've declared your faction Other overts of the opposing faction can now fight you. 2. Help! I can't join the rebels or the Imperials! A. You first need to get 200 FP (faction points) before you can join. 3. Faction armor... is it worth it? A. Not at all! Faction armor requires extreme amounts of faction points to buy and the stats are horrible. Many armors, such as Composite and Ubese, are a lot better. For a comparison: Faction armor gives only 30% defense while composite can give 90% defense! Save your time and effort and don't get faction armor! 4. Help! I was covert, but a rebel/imperial still killed me! A. You have a TEF then. It's called temperory enemy flag. This means you're an covert, but you indirectly declared your faction by helping out an overt on your team. This can be by healing him while he is attacking an enemy overt. Don't worry, it goes away when you die or after a short period of time. 5. How do I gain FP? A. Do missions for faction NPCs, for faction mission terminals, or do the monthly story arcs. ***NEW: The monthly story arcs are no longer being continued. 6. What cities have rebel/imperial mission terminals? A. Almost all cities have a rebel or imperial mission terminal. Common cities for Rebel are Moenia on Naboo and Anchorhead on tatooine. For Imperial it's Theed on Naboo and Bestine on Tatooine. Also, many player cities have faction terminals. Finally, faction bases will terminals. 7. I need help with the monthly story arcs! A. These change every month, so there is no point for me to publish a way to beat everyone. Just ask on the message boards if you need help. ***NEW: The monthly story arcs are no longer being continued. _________________________ FAQ \ _____________________/\ ___/ JEDI \ \_______________________/ ___/ 1. Is anyone a Jedi? A. Yes, there are Jedi players now. They aren't a common site since they are mostly in hiding since bounty hunters hired by the Empire are trying to kill them. 2. How do I become a Jedi? A. In the next publish (major update), the way to become a Jedi is changing and I currently do not know how. Check the main site when they release more details. To become a Jedi, you first must be force sensitive (see question 3 below) 3. How do I become a Force Sensitive Character (FSCS)? A. The original way was to collect holocrons, but now the system is changing. I have a feeling they'll change the system from time to time, so just check the main site/main forums for the latest method. 4. I saw Jedi NPCs! They are weak, so does that mean player controlled Jedi will be weak, too? A. No, player Jedi are extremely powerful. They can easily kill several enemies at once and only a Jedi caught off guard is weak. Sure, Jedi initiates will be weak since they are new Jedi, but the more powerful Jedi have no reason to worry about most dangers! 5. What are holocrons? A. Holocrons are items that tell you 1 of 4 professions to master. Master that profession, then use the next holocron. Doing this four times puts you on the road to Jedism. However, you must master a fifth profession which the holocrons do not tell you, you must guess. However, Holocrons is the old system and is being replaced by a new on in the next major update... for more information on the new system, check the main site/main forums. 6. What about the badges? A. Badges is apparently the new system to become a FSCS. 7. How about random NPC missions? A. These do not have any relation to Jedi. Jedi missions are given by special Jedi NPCs and not random ones. To get this missions, you first must be a Force Sensitive character. _________________________ FAQ \ _____________________/\ ___/ MISC \ \_______________________/ ___/ 1. I'm a wookiee... I can't equip armor... what's the deal? A. Wookiees are way to large to equip normal armor. This is made up by getting improved stats. 2. How do I contact you? A. Look in the introduction. 3. Can I use this FAQ on my website? A. Possibly; the only official sites I support are GameFAQs and it's partner site, GameSTOP. If you send me an e-mail, I will let you use my FAQ as long as you provide me a link to the site as well as credit when you do post it. 4. My Healthbars are all black, what do I do? A. You have wounds. Go to a medical center and have a medic heal them. Remember to tip the medic when he's done healing you! _________________________ FAQ \ _____________________/\ ___/ CONCLUSION \ \_______________________/ ___/ Well, thanks for reading my FAQ! I hope it helps out when you're playing this great game called Starwars Galaxies! So long for now! -bluemoogle