General Tips & Tricks
Welcome, Padawan! Whether you're a seasoned Jedi Master or a fresh recruit to the Old Republic, these general tips and tricks will help you navigate the galaxy, master combat, and make the most of your journey. Pay close attention, as even the smallest detail can turn the tide of battle or unlock a hidden secret.
Character Development & Party Management
- Attribute Allocation: When leveling up, prioritize attributes that complement your chosen class.
- For melee-focused characters (Soldier, Guardian), invest heavily in Strength for damage and Constitution for health and defense.
- For ranged attackers and skill-focused characters (Scout, Scoundrel, Sentinel), Dexterity improves ranged attack rolls and defense, while Intelligence boosts skill points.
- For Force users (Consular, Sentinel, Guardian), Wisdom and Charisma are crucial for Force point regeneration, Force power difficulty class (DC), and persuasion checks.
- Skill Selection: Don't neglect skills!
- Repair: Essential for repairing droids (like HK-47) and gaining experience. A high Repair skill also allows you to upgrade certain droids more effectively.
- Treat Injury: Increases the effectiveness of medpacs, saving you credits and ensuring your party stays healthy.
- Persuade: Opens up dialogue options, often leading to alternative solutions, extra experience, or even avoiding combat entirely. This is a crucial skill for any character, especially if you want to explore all story branches.
- Computer Use & Demolitions: While not always critical for your main character, having a party member with high ranks in these skills (e.g., T3-M4 for Computer Use) is incredibly useful for bypassing security and disarming traps.
- Party Composition: Always consider your party's strengths and weaknesses before venturing into new areas.
- A balanced party often includes a strong melee combatant (e.g., Zaalbar, Canderous), a Force user (e.g., Bastila, Juhani), and a character with high technical skills (e.g., T3-M4, Mission).
- Don't be afraid to swap party members based on the situation. For example, if you anticipate many locked doors or computers, bring T3-M4. If you expect heavy combat, bring your toughest fighters.
Combat Strategies
- Pause Often: The combat system is real-time with pause. Use it! This allows you to assess the situation, issue commands to each party member, and plan your next move without pressure.
- Focus Fire: Concentrate your attacks on one enemy at a time, especially dangerous ones like Dark Jedi or elite droids. Eliminating threats quickly reduces incoming damage.
- Utilize Force Powers & Feats:
- Force Speed: A must-have for any Jedi, granting extra attacks and increased defense.
- Stasis Field/Stun: Excellent for crowd control, allowing you to incapacitate multiple enemies while you deal with others.
- Energy Shield: Crucial for mitigating damage from blaster fire, especially against large groups of ranged enemies.
- Power Attack/Flurry/Rapid Shot: These feats significantly boost your damage output but come with accuracy penalties. Use them strategically, especially when you have an advantage or are facing a tough opponent.
- Grenade Usage: Don't underestimate grenades!
- Frag Grenades: Effective against groups of organic enemies.
- Plasma Grenades: Devastating against droids.
- Concussion Grenades: Can stun enemies, providing valuable crowd control.
- Mines: Laying mines before an engagement can turn the tide. Place them in choke points or where enemies are likely to patrol. Remember to disarm any mines you place after combat if you want to recover them.
Exploration & Resource Management
- Loot Everything: Seriously, everything. Every footlocker, every defeated enemy, every container. You'll find credits, components, chemicals, and valuable items that can be sold or used.
- Components & Chemicals: These resources are vital for upgrading your gear at workbenches and crafting items at chemical labs.
- Workbenches: Found on the Ebon Hawk and in various locations. Use them to upgrade weapons and armor with modifications like scopes, cells, and armor plating.
- Chemical Labs: Also found on the Ebon Hawk and elsewhere. Use them to craft medpacs, stimulants, and other useful consumables.
- Selling & Buying:
- Sell unwanted items to merchants to accumulate credits. Prioritize selling items with high value-to-weight ratios.
- Only buy items you truly need or that offer a significant upgrade. Don't waste credits on minor improvements early on.
- Look out for unique items or rare upgrades from specific vendors. For instance, the Rodian merchant in the Lower City on Taris often has useful early-game gear.
- Save Frequently: This is an RPG golden rule. Save before difficult encounters, before making major dialogue choices, and regularly during exploration. Create multiple save files to avoid being stuck in an unfavorable situation.
- Check Your Journal: Your journal keeps track of all active and completed quests. Refer to it often to stay on track and ensure you don't miss any side quests or objectives.
Miscellaneous Tips
- Dark Side / Light Side Choices: Your moral alignment impacts Force powers and certain dialogue options. While you can mix and match, specializing in one path (Light or Dark) often yields more powerful Force abilities and unique story outcomes.
- Influence: Pay attention to your companions' reactions to your choices. Positive influence can unlock new dialogue, quests, and even grant bonus feats or attributes to your companions.
- The Ebon Hawk: Your ship is more than just transportation. It's your mobile base of operations, featuring a workbench, chemical lab, and a place to rest and recover. Utilize these facilities often.
- Minigames: Pazaak and swoop racing can be fun distractions and a source of credits.
- Pazaak: A card game that can net you a decent amount of credits if you're skilled.
- Swoop Racing: Requires good timing and practice, but successful races offer significant credit rewards.