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SWTOR Escape Pod Cast 384: Space on Rails

SWTOR Escape Pod Cast-Artwork Old school space missions… aka “What Sema Does In Space”. Sema enlightens us on space mission tips, tricks, rewards, gear, etc. That and more on this episode of The Escape Pod Cast for Star Wars The Old Republic with @AIESema, @MaxTheGrey and Astromech EPC-384. If you’d like to come join us in AIE, our multi-game guild is always looking for new members. Catch us for an invite on our guild Discord which you can find along with other good guild information at https://aie-guild.org/swtor/

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Catch the live podcast and chat room on Thursday nights around 10:30pm central at http://twitch.tv/newoverlords. Follow and subscribe on Twitter, YouTube, Twitch, etc. to hear podcast news and see our other guild streams.

Podcast theme music by an AI at jukedeck.com

SWTOR Escape Pod Cast 17 – Reputation

SWTOR Escape Pod Cast-ArtworkThis week @AIESema, @MaxTheGrey and Astromech EPC-17 bring you news about Life Day and the Return of the Gree. We also offer up some quick tips for the week on Galactic Starfighter (like how to re-order your ships and why you shouldn’t focus on kills) and we crack open a holocron on the basics of the reputation system.

Oh… and laying ceramic floors on ice planets is a tough job because it’s difficult working in a Hoth-tile environment. (We fully apologize for the quality of these jokes. We’ll see to it that the writer is promptly sacked.)

The reputation tools and links referenced in the podcast include:

Direct podcast download link.

Are you a mature, team player interested in a supportive community? Come join AIE! On Jedi Covenant, find Max playing as: Imperial (Max’z, Mhax, Mhaxs, Mhaxz) Republic (Maxz, Maxxz, M’axz) and Sema playing as: Imperial (Maurienne, Enne) Republic (Semaperdu)

Podcast theme music by Dan-O at DanoSongs.com

SWTOR Escape Pod Cast 16 – Starfighter First Impressions

SWTOR Escape Pod Cast-ArtworkThis week @AIESema, @MaxTheGrey and Astromech EPC-15 are joined by @joswags to bring you some news and talk about Galactic Starfighter first impressions now it has gone live for subscribers.

…and duct tape is like the force because it has a light side, a dark side, and it binds everything together! (Please send more jokes. I’m obviously running out!)

Direct podcast download link.

Are you a mature, team player interested in a supportive community? Come join AIE!
On Jedi Covenant, find Max playing as: Imperial (Max’z, Mhax, Mhaxs, Mhaxz) Republic (Maxz, Maxxz, M’axz) and Sema playing as: Imperial (Maurienne, Enne) Republic (Semaperdu)

Podcast theme music by Dan-O at DanoSongs.com

SWTOR Escape Pod Cast 14 – Starfighter Ships

SWTOR Escape Pod Cast-ArtworkThis week @AIESema, @MaxTheGrey and Astromech EPC-14 bring you news on the the PTS updates, our plans for bonus XP and a teardown of the Galactic Starfighter ships. We cover each ship type and give you an analysis of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly for each ship type.

…and, Alderanian Nectar smells like victory.

Direct MP3 Download Link

Are you a mature, team player interested in a supportive community? Come join AIE! 

On Jedi Covenant, find Max playing as: Imperial (Max’z, Mhax, Mhaxs, Mhaxz) Republic (Maxz, Maxxz, M’axz) and Sema playing as: Imperial (Maurienne, Enne) Republic (Semaperdu)  

Podcast theme music by Dan-O at DanoSongs.com 

SWTOR Galactic Starfighter – First Thoughts

NO-gs ship 1I certainly welcome our new startfighting overlords! I did get a chance to try out the Galactic Starfighter expansion in the close beta over the past couple weekends. With the NDA lifting this morning I figured I’d take this opportunity, along with everyone else that was in the beta, to write up my initial thoughts.

Here are the key ideas and impressions that I think are useful when looking forward to what we have coming:

  1. GS is Fun: Just to kick it off, let me say that GS was certainly quite a bit of fun. I’ll talk next about how this is certainly PvP, but that said, I think the appeal and fun factor will be a bit more broad than typical PvP. There are some extra twists with ship collection, customization and leveling that extend the fun a bit in those directions as well.
  2. GS is PvP: The core of GS is certainly PvP. There is a PvE tutorial space where you can get used to flying a ship around and shooting a couple stationary targets, but all the actual gameplay is based around shooting other people. The couple maps we have seen so far roughly equate to an in-depth version of the Alderan Civil War PvP warzone. Inexperienced players may find some frustration in getting in there and getting blown up quite a bit but the ramp-up isn’t that long in getting used to the controls and the fun of flying a ship around freely softens that ramp-up time.
  3. 3D is a whole new dimension: I really appreciate the lack of “up” in the control scheme but it will be a challenge for new players to wrap their head around at first, especially since you are locked into pretty much a 1st person view, close up on the tail of your ship. Rotating 180 degrees in a barrel roll, for example, will have you flying around in effect upside down. Took me a bit to get used to it and once you embrace the 3D space, you’ll gain more control. Think “the enemy gate is down” as a concept and you’ll be a step ahead.
  4. Control: The controls nearly feel like they should be joystick/controller based but there are some nuances, especially with regard to targeting enemy ships and needing to lead them, that will make it difficult to support those control schemes. It takes some getting used to but isn’t overly complex.
  5. Customization: With different ship types (small and fast, bigger and more powerful, special use (minelayers), etc.) as well as different possible weapons, different abilities depending on which “crew members” you select, and the leveling system to build out the skill tree for various ship components, there will be plenty of opportunity to mess with that meta game in a meaningful way.
  6. Strategy: I think this is something we will see develop over time. 12v12, free for all, “go control some points” will be the starting “strategy” but there are many nuances to various ship abilities (defensive/offensive mines and drones, abilities to drop respawn locations, ship roles working in concert) that have the potential to allow some very interesting fleet mechanics. It will take some team practice and expertise in strategy to see these emerge but I think this could be very interesting in the long term.

That’s plenty for initial impressions. I’ll see about adding notes on specific topics over time and am certainly happy to answer any questions I can on what I’ve seen so far. I’m sure we’ll cover it on the SWTOR Escape Pod Cast as well.

Looking forward to it!

SWTOR Escape Pod Cast 12 – Space Missions

SWTOR Escape Pod Cast-ArtworkThis week @AIESema, @MaxTheGrey and Astromech EPC-12 bring you news on the latest patch, and tips and tricks for getting started with space missions.

…and Spacer Juice is what makes those characters jump up and down constantly while in groups. It also causes players to yell “spacebar!” over and over in random Flash Points.

Direct MP3 download link.

Are you a mature, team player interested in a supportive community? Come join AIE!

On Jedi Covenant, find Max playing as: Imperial (Max’z, Mhax, Mhaxs, Mhaxz) Republic (Maxz, Maxxz, M’axz) and Sema playing as: Imperial (Maurienne, Enne) Republic (Semaperdu)

Podcast theme music by Dan-O at DanoSongs.com

SWTOR Escape Pod Cast 8 – Dread Fortress Tour

SWTOR Escape Pod Cast-ArtworkThis week @AIESema, @MaxTheGrey and Astromech EPC-08 bring you news formerly classified as super secret, patch note updates, and some news of open spots on an AIE Ops team. We also take prospective home buyers on an open house showing of the charming Dread Fortress.

…and judging by the scene in Nemro’s cantina, even if you don’t let the wookie win you should go ahead and continue playing. It’s just a flesh wound.

On Jedi Covenant, find Max playing as: Imperial (Max’z, Mhax, Mhaxs, Mhaxz) Republic (Maxz, Maxxz, M’axz) and Sema playing as: Imperial (Maurienne, Enne) Republic (Semaperdu)  

Podcast theme music by Dan-O at DanoSongs.com