swtor has adopted a bit of different strategy with crew skills and crafting. It's a bit unusual, but once you get going, kinda fun. Costly, but fun. I'm having to slow down some because I'm not yet able to sell much on the auction and skilling up and gathering mission mats is just getting too expensive.
In the mean time, the quick way to in-game credits? Slicing so I hear.
When you leave your starting planet and head to Fleet Central you can visit all the trainers and learn about the crafting, gathering and mission skills. Each trainer you visit grants you XP and gives you a CODEX entry that describes the skill. You should visit ALL the trainers then read up in the CODEX and confirm which you want to learn.
Get to your Crew Skills information by clicking your Mission Log icon in the top bar. Then click the CODEX tab [at the bottom of the window], then click Crew Skills. Crafting is making something, and swtor allows you to learn only one crafting skill per character. Gathering is collecting items from the world or sending your companions on missions to collect items. Mission skills reward items from the mission the companion completes successfully.
Super Secret Agent Tips!
your crew can craft using items stored in your bank vault
your companion can be off on a mission while you are traveling
some crafting recipes require white items that are purchased from the Crew Skill Trade Vendor - stock these up in your bank vault
missions have a difficulty level - hard missions can fail and easy missions reward no skill increase
you and your companion can both gather items in the wild
collecting items in the wild requires a minimum gather skill level
your crew can go on missions to improve your gathering skill
your crew can queue up to 5 crafting items at a time, per crew member
your skills belong to you but any of your companions help you perform the skill
multiple crew members can simultaneously be dispatched on crew assignments
your crew is very well paid and you can not afford a speeder
a really good Crew Skills Guide
Open the Crew Window by clicking this icon on your companion frame or Crew Window in the top menu bar.
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| Crew Skills & Management |
Take some time on with this window. There is a lot of options and information here.
This is Sonoma at level 16. She trained Biochem, Bioanalysis and Diplomacy. Her Biochem level is 57 of 400. Her bioanalysis level is 88 of 400. Wild gathering FTW!
Sonoma presently has two crew members, Kaliyo and 2V-R8. Kaliyo is her current companion. Kaliyo likes Sonoma slightly more than 2V-R8 likes Sonoma.
The more a crew member likes you the faster they work for you. Perhaps they would also give discounts?
Both crew are on Biochem crafting missions, and you can see the time remaining, per crafting item.
As you level up more crew can be assigned missions simultaneously.
If you companion is away on a mission, the companion frame changes. The companion is not available but will return in 16 minutes. And 01 seconds. Because a second can be a long time.
This is a crafting window. Listed are all the schematics (recipes) known to you. Schematics are learned from the trainer, and from Schematic drops. Slicing is a gathering skill that frequently finds schematics, which means schematics will be listed at auction.
The summary pane on the left shows how many you can currently make of each schematic; if they grant skill points and the difficulty. Selecting an individual schematic will list required ingredients. Pro tip! Your crew can use ingredients that are in your bank.
In the lower right corner, Kaliyo is the current companion, and by default if you click CRAFT now, she will go off for awhile and send back her results.
However, notice the handy drop down indicator? You can pick which ever crew member you like. It does not have to be your current companion. You can have your crew working for you while you are out questing.
Take note that the Diplomacy Missions award Light or Dark Alignment points.
Look closely at your crew in the task assignment window.
Each companion can have different skills buffs.
See Eeet? This might be important if your crew is failing missions. Missions can fail; you spent your credits, got no goods - but you did get a skill point.
As you start collecting items you crafted, stock some up for reverse engineering.
Reverse engineering will return you some of the materials needed to craft that item, as well as offer a chance to make a better version of that item.
A much better version. Just sayin'.
You can only reverse engineer items that you can craft. To RE (reverse engineer), left mouse click the reverse engineering tool at the top right of your inventory window.
You now have a RE wrench, you can tell because the Reverse Engineering label is gold.
As you mouse hover over an item in your inventory that can be RE'd, your mouse will turn into a wrench shape. To reverse engineer that entire stack click the right mouse button.
Super Secret Agent Tip! If you intend to KEEP a few of those crafted health pots to keep yourself alive, make sure to split the stack first. Split a stack by shift-left-click drag.
As you are off gallivanting around the universe, gathering wild ingredients will save you a lot of money and skill you up to boot. Your companion will do most of your gathering (and you don't even have to pay them!). In the screen shot above, my companion Kaliyo is bioanalysing the Yozusk Bonebreaker carcass.
I'm lolly-gagging around, but I could be gathering from something else, or heading on down the road. Provided Kaliyo is not interrupted, she will complete her gathering and catch up to me.
The mini-map is set to display all the gathering nodes in the area. They show on the map as daisy looking symbols. Like this.
If you are so inclined to be crazy, you can turn off the daisy. Just click the mini-map filters over on the upper right of the mini-map.
Items that spawn in the wild are a rip-roaring pain in the arse to find. You would think with the difficulty finding the darn things they would reward superior loot. Items in the wild DO NOT HAVE BLINKIES! The nerve.
You can mouse over a node marker on the mini-map and the mouse pointer information frame will give you more information. Here we see, it is a Bioanalysis gathering node. Scan your mouse around the area until you are lucky enough to see your mouse pointer change to the gathering pointer. Huzzah! Secret Agent Tip! If the node is out of range for you, your ever so helpful well paid crew member companion will trot on over and do the harvesting while you mosey on down the road. Unless she aggro's something and gets attacked. Which if your are an agent you could go into stealth mode to lessen that chance. Just sayin'.
Misc. It's Nice to Know - crafting mats stack to 99 - Biochem consumables stack
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Oh, and if you are out on a long assignment and your bags fill up with
grey items, you can send your companion off to vendor them for you.
Rightfully so, as much as I pay her!
Rightfully so, as much as I pay her!
And this concludes Crew Skills 101.
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