Pilot Archive

From all accounts, Storm Squadron is about the hardest pilot squadron out there. Black Epsilon is a close second, but SS has the longest missions. When I was a CorSec pilot I made the mistake of offering to help someone do their SS mission. I figured it would take 30-40 minutes, then I could go to bed. It took 90 minutes. 88 minutes of boring escorts and 2 minutes of furious fighting with gunboats.

That said, I think it's a badge of honour to have a SS badge. I encourage you to stick with it. Definately try to do the missions solo, but you will probably need help on many of them. I think Carch is in ONE, I've flown with him, he knows his way around space. Also, hook up with the folks in the 6th Imperial Wing, contact Iscra and/or Terrid. The galaxy.pilots chat channel has a few folks on it too at times, you might be able to find assistance there.

If you need a hand with your TIE/IN and Interceptor loadouts, give me a shout. You could also try a Heavy TIE if you don't want to fight with mass issues.

If you're totally fed up with Storm Squadron, do Inquisition.

I needed loads of help too or I would never been able to complete them.
I didn't mind tho since I think it's more fun together.
I'm a reb pilot working for Arkon Havoc. The craziest npc teacher

Get yourself a Heavy TIE and give that a go. And if that doesn't work, cuddle up real cozy like with some SS Ace pilots, because you will have LOTS of trouble trying to solo the Tier 3 missions.

I know pilots who've soloed all the squadrons for all three factions, but I know I couldn't do it. I'm an Inquisition pilot, and I remember being able to solo the first Tier 3 mission, but I needed serious help for the rest. I think I failed the third and fourth Tier 3 missions about a dozen times each. Needless to say, when I traded my TIE Interceptor for an Advanced, the Interceptor was decayed to about 5%. Of course, I came to realize later that my components were total crap.

All this was before the Heavy TIE was introduced. A Heavy will seriously give you an edge over an Interceptor. That 95k mass is a huge bonus. I just got mine and have yet to fill it up, 'cuz I got so used to skimping on mass.

At any rate, don't get discouraged. It took me at least 4 months to finish Tier 3 because I needed so much help. It took my guild leader even longer for the same reason. I've been a Tier 4 pilot for a long time, too. But that was because I took a several-month break from flying until I upgraded my ships.

---

OreVaimov wrote:

Heavy TIE??? I'm not familiar with this, can I fly one at 2/3/2/2?

---

i solo'd storm squadron on starsider a few weeks ago, using only bazaar equipment and the occasional tomo craft job. didn't use a heavy tie either.

there's a few tricks, the biggest being you don't have to fight all the a-wings all the time in the escorts. the trick is to hit 1ship per wave so hard it can't fight back anymore, and then let it fly around damaged and occasionally pot shot you. mind you, don't disable these ships, you gotta damage them to the point where they can barely shoot you, but still fly. if you do this, subsequent waves will never spawn and you'll have a 40 minute "read the forums" mission while you autofollow the escort. of course, it doesn't always work out that way, and you end up blowing up the wrong ship and just sorta slowing down the waves until the end of the mission.

another trick is to really pay attention to the mission, if you are flying by a static spawn and they come at you and blow you to pieces, remember where that spawn was. next time, try to stay a bit farther away from them. no sense in getting in any uneccesary fights. maybe a certain mission is just killing you, i can think of a few at the end of tier 4 that get really tough with the gunboats and novas. hey, endor space has tons of areas with high amounts of imp patrols, i soloed the 3rd mission (or was it the fourth) on my first time by luckily making a boost break towards the imp station in the astroid field. they distracted the novas long enough for me to recharge and blow it up.

the biggest thing though is your equipment, and knowing what each ship needs and doesn't need. gotta have the droid commands. gotta have equipment approrpiate to your level. are ships chasing you down and blasting you from behind? maybe a faster engine and a booster. killing you on the joust? maybe not only a bigger capacitor (for stunting) but more shields. (i found i needed over 800/800 when i hit tier 4).going 2322 isn't the best idea, because you can't really fit 5 and 6 equipment on a tie LN, but if you do decide to get a tie heavy you'll be set going that route. if you get a heavy tie, definately go 2323 next for wo3 and eo3.

if you are dead set on using the interceptor, maybe post your setup (when you get 3322)and i bet a bunch of people will have suggestions on improving your survivability. cheer up though, it's definately possible solo, and i doubt it has anything to do with your actual reflex ability or piloting skills that's preventing you from doing it.

---

Obed wrote:

Find a GOOD shipwright and compare his Mark III gear (and a heavy blaster) to whatever you've looted. Usually, the Mark III stuff will be better. In the old days, SWs couldn't touch looted stuff for quality. Now, it seems to be reversed in general (though, you still can find some amazing loot).

---

Actually, a tier-3 pilot can use Mark IV gear. Confusing, I know...

Only a seasoned pilot with access to good parts can solo a squardon.
My first Squadron was Storm Squadron, it was a constant battle. To either stay awake or stay alive. As Ace, I spent months looting parts. Constantly tuning and tweaking my ship.

My suggestions to you, is to get a Heavy Tie-Fighter (1/0/0/0 to fly it). If you're lucky, get a mentor. To teach you tricks and tips. Maybe even some of his outdated components.

Oh yeah, you need a Droid Interface and a flight computer with Weapon Overload3 & Engine Overload3 (Capacitator Overload3 or 4). Get 2/3/2/3 next.

In my experience, Storm Squadron is the hardest by far.

Read Quadpers0n's post, it has some really good ideas and tactics.

When going up the trees for Imperial, I personally recommend taking the equipment boxes first at every tier, then droid. No exceptions. Find a Tie/In (that's line, not interceptor) that has really good mass...a couple thousand does make a difference for Imperial ships. The Tie/In with decent RE'd equipment is plenty good enough to get you to the Tie Advanced. I never bought an Interceptor. If you dont' have RE'd equipment, go shopping. Chances are, you can find decent stuff already RE'd, or enough parts to do a decent one of your own.

To aid you in this (in terms of time searching the bazaar), go into the Pilot FAQ 3.0: Somewhere in the main post, there is a link to Reverse Engineering. Click it. You should be on a post by Tomo. In this post, there will be a link that says something like Looted Weapon Effects, or something close to that. It is a post where he (and others?) have taken screenshots of what the different weapon shots look like. This is nice in and of itself, but this post has an even nicer bonus - Tomo has the weapons listed by cert level. Some of the names are not complete, but they will immensely help narrow your weapon search. There is another link somewhere where someone listed every part by cert level...don't know where it is offhand, but maybe someone can link this stuff in here to help you out.