Space Captain!
Expert Advice on Becoming a Space Captain

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I have been playing SWG for quite a bit of time trying to figure out what I want to do in the game as a long term profession.... other than becoming Jedi.

Here are some interesting tidbits I hope people find useful:

There are as you all know 3 factions that involve space professions: Imps, Rebs, Neuts

So far only 2 of these three have 3 sub factions: Imps, Neuts
-Each of these factions are found on the 3 starter planets: Naboo, Tat, Cor
-The sub factions are just different Squadrons/Profession for example Naboo you can join up with the Royal Space Force or join Corsec on Cor or the Smugglers guild on Tat (there might even be a 4th trainer here)

As a neutral you get a customizable craft and you can choose who you work for in the War...
I strongly recommend mastering the neutral profession before deciding you want to really get into the war with a faction, this accomplishes two things:
1- You can go to some dangerous areas and pick up new parts for when you drop the Neutral Space Profession
2- You get a XP BONUS... Bet you didn't know that

To get this bonus you need to have mastered a flight profession then dropped it to take on a new one... because you have xp in flight you get a bonus towards your kills allowing for faster progression in the new piloting skill... This is great for High ranking Imperial officers to get their very own VT-49 to command without to much of a delay... since they already have a collection of decent weapons for various levels of training they may have had so they wont have to much trouble with missions... if they haven't sold or gotten rid of them already.

NOTE ABOUT PARTS AND PROFESSIONS:
I have played a little of all the piloting professions and have found that each profession gets better of certain parts engines for example: Rebels do not get very maneuverable engines but they have higher durability while another engine for a Imperial will have a lower durability but higher maneuverability.

IMPERIALS:
Leveling in the Imperial Profession Varies on its difficulty, Storm Squad on Tat has some fairly decent mission that pit you against Tier 3 targets and you can still own before being owned... Upgrading your Shield Recharge Rate, Capacitor recharge, and Weapon will really pay off in this since... you already have a dam good bit of maneuverability and most engines you get in kills are better rated for maneuvering at insane speeds. Always go for capacitors rated DOUBLE or the same for your discharge for the weapons and try and keep over .3 on the re-fire for weapons. It's almost like having infinite ammo for 4 mins if you set up right, I have an Lvl 5 capacitor that has a 40recharge and a 23 discharge on a .35 re-fire.

What nice about the Imperials is around Tier 3 of the profession you can fly TWO different types of Ties example being Tie Interceptor and Tie Bomber at Tier 3. The only difference I can relate is the interceptor is a fast unarmour target equivalent to an A-wing while the Bombers is equivalent to the Y-Wing and Y-Wing Long probe. SO it's up to you which meet your needs....

XP SPOTS: After attaining Tier 1 go to Endor Space Station and look for the busted up Medical Frigate close to the station... you can find T3 X-wings and B-wings you can get almost 1k credits and 3k+ in per kill here. And if you're hurting the station is little fewer than 9k meters from there so hope over pay the fee for full repair and go back to owning, if you die pay repairs go own the last thing you were shooting and repeat. This spot is great to grind through to Tier 3 and if you have the time maybe Complete one or two of Tier 4.

REBELS:
What can I say about the Rebel Alliance... Under manned, even keel with firepower about, and generally... Underappreciated. Out of all the people I do see in space rarely did I see a large number of Rebel pilots flying about blowing away a tie in front of another Imperial Player... They are limited on the types of starcraft they can fly that are non-generic (i.e. Fire Spray). The B-Wing is an under appreciated craft due to its size but it is armable to the teeth in compare to the Fire Spray. One advantage rebels have is the Efficiency of fixing the YKL-NOVA, you can find about everything real quick and fix it and hop back where you were.

XP FISHING: Pretty much take on what you like there's a nice little place where Tier 3 Pirates appear in a nebula around Yavin. If you make good use of your in-flight repair you can do a good bit of hunting.

NEUTRALS:
I will say this is a strange Profession since you get offered 3 different aspects: Smugglers Alliance, CorSec, and RSF... I'm thinking each is aligned to the factions offered, Smugglers are pure Neutral, CorSec is Imp Aligned, RSF more Rebel Aligned. But hey that's my thoughts...

XP FISHING: Everything is just about free game if you can handle it check the spot mentioned in the imperial xp fishing.

GETTING STARTED ON YOUR ROAD TO SPACE CAPTAIN Very Simple, talk to a flight trainer/recruiter and do the novice missions. These beginning mission are simple and your ship with the ProtoType equipment can get the job done. Typically you will get: Escort Missions (defend a target till it can escape), Assassination (Kill a high ranking Pilot), Combat (Engage in a direct fight), Recon... (this typically ends up in a fight), Retrieval/Capture (Disable target and capture ship or cargo) and Duty Mission (This is basically an endless mission its over when you land, quit it, or hyperspace out of that area of space where its at, sometimes you get high level targets after so many waves)

You should get some training after you have completed the basic mission that introduce you to the career of flight. After that you can do mission or take things on yourself. A REAL GOOD plan is to try and find a Ace Pilot for your faction that's making a run out to places like Kessel or Deep Space... some of the kills net you between 3500-10k exp... Even if you are just standing around in the ship.

MULTI-PASSENGER CRAFT XP PATH:
If you can find an Ace Pilot willing to take you up in his Ship be sure you pull your own weight. Gunning may be your main stay on whether you stay on as part of a future crew or a last resort if they really are desperate for crew. There are 4 main jobs on a Multicraft:
-Pilot (Flies the ship and fires missiles/deploy chaff)
-Operations Officer (Controls ships special functions assigned by the Pilot ex /inspacer
-Gunner (2 guys fill this spot but its one job in general)
-Engineer (keeps the components of a starship together when the armors gone)

Typically an Ace Pilots got a personal list of people he has flown with before and they know how he likes his ship run, typically the only spot he will be willing to fill is Gunner spots since all you really need to do is be able to destroy the target. Engineer and Ops require you to have previous knowledge of using or conducting these operations... engineers need to know where all the Panels and Conduits are by type. The Ops person needs to able to adjust shields accordingly for the combat situation, know the correct way to use the special abilities of the Pilots and be able to relay the damaged components and system conduit leaks to the engineer.

On a multipassenger craft you have dangers that can affect the whole crew, Plasma Conduits... These can be lethal, especially if you are standing near it when they explode. About every compartment has a number of conduits, including the cockpit... this is dangerous if you do not check here for a plasma leak since the damage is applied to the pilot and in the heat of a battle he may not realize he's getting burned... and if he gets massively incapacitated... If you do get to play engineer Invest in all Purpose tool sets higher than 5k per set 9k is best. Also be a good idea to adjust your stats so that you have a good bit of health and can take massive amounts of damage if such problems arise like Massive system failures... and that will happen especially in Deep Space and Kessel.

Ops persons must be aware that they need to always adjust shield towards the danger, so if your flying up on your target have more power to the front than the rear. The same said if you're running away or doing a fly by of a target and it gives chase. They should also invest in some tools in case there is no engineer or the engineers down for the count.

Gunners... The mouse and the TAB, X, and Z keys are your friends... also in a pinch Ops commands can be issued from the Gunner position... but do not do so unless the pilot has okayed it. Never Abandon your gun unless (A) guns disabled and the engineers down (B) The pilot gives an all hands to escape pods © your safe in space and you are healing damage from fires and what not. Carry at least a tool kit with 9k tools in case event A happens.

SOLO or TWO-MAN SPACESHIP:
As you begin down the path of Pilot here are two recommendations, when you do get a chance to train pick either weapon usage or starcraft cert. Better weapons on your old starfighter can help out a lot but you may have to really exchange for lighter parts as bigger better weapons mass heavy, better fighters can carry the new weight but you will need to use your old gear till then. But overall always go with those two items first before getting Droid Engineering and Piloting abilities, then again it's your choice of what to take on first. When you get a chance to use a 2-man vessel like the Y-Wing try and find a newcomer to the flight profession and take him up with you, having a gun to watch your tail and helping another get xp develops a strong relationship towards a future crewman on your own multicraft or as a wing man in a mission.

FLIGHT GROUPS:
As rare as it may seem to see a bunch of player TIES trying to fly in formation a group not only can look good cruising around but the varied abilities of the entire wing can help out. 1 Player may have a good vs. shield weapon and another could have a good vs. armor weapon, then you go someone who's got a really powerful missile and you get a bunch of people to watch your tail when things start to get hairy. If you got peeps with two man vessels try and put the lower leveled guys in with them.

MISSIONS: One IMPORTANT THING I can say is that when you do some mission like Assassination... Always try for the Main Target... Not only will it accomplish the mission but those 7 other enemy fighters may just up and hyper out. Make sure you explain the mission to everyone since you don't want someone killing your target you just disabled. Always go for target shot towards critical systems (Reactor or Engine) This damage will help you in the long run.