Pilot Archive

None are really easy/medium/hard. Most Rebel/Imperial pilots think ALL privateer squads are easy.

I don't have experience with Rebel, so I won't go into that.

Inquisition is widely considered to be the easiest 'pure imperial' squadron, but IIRC, there's a nasty Tier 4 mission in it with two T4 gunboats and two T4 Nova, plus escorts.

Black Epsilon has the most evil Tier 3 grind of any Imp squad, which makes T4 seem tame by comparison. About the hardest thing in BE's T4 grind is a T5 YT1300, and NPC POB ships are pushovers compared to gunboat frames.

Storm Squadron is widely referred to as the "hardest" merely because I think the difficulty is spread out more uniformly over the tiers rather than concentrated in Tier 3 like BE or that T4 mission I'm referring to in Inq.

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As for Privateer, the "easiest" is considered to be Corsec because it's true neutral (meaning everything, except possibly other Corsec fighters, are killable for xp, potentially making an entire sector your playground). At the end you can kill a Rebel or Imperial Vette depending on your preference or alignment. RSF is usually considered marginally easier than Smuggler's (which is considered to be the Rebel neutral squad) because you don't have to deal with TIE Aggressors on a regular basis.

RSF also kind of gets a nod along with Havok squadron because they grant Black Sun missions as T4 duties.

The reason I refer to SA as the Rebel neutral squadron is the Vette you kill at the end is Imperial, and I think SA requires you to mess with Imperial ships during the normal missions as well.

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Finally, the only "perks" to joining one over the other are minor differences in the reward loot patterns and types for each TYPE of squadron. Look up Washell's thread for those details. But since there's really no "easy/medium/hard" rating, more a question of balance, and there's no benefit to being in one over the other.

Message Edited by KaylBreinhar on 06-25-2005 04:05 AM

BE Tier 3 is insanity. Worsened by my weakness of Gunboats, I'd rather take SS over BE.

All Privateer squadrons are quite easy, but Tier 4 RSF Exit and some SA TIer 4 missions stick in my mind - Double Gunboats for RSF and those nasty Aggressors for SA.

Apparently, Vortex is pretty easy on Rebel's half.

For the Arkonhavoc squad I can tell you that the tier 4 missions are really hard. I was unable to do them exept woth another friend who was master. But maybe my ship was scrap too?

I wouldn't say from my experience that Privateer missions are actually easier, in fact, for the most part, most of the missions are identical in theory between the different pilot groups and factions. However, Privateers get a much better ship early on with the Dunelizard than the Rebels or Imperials get, which does make the missions more easy to fly. Both Rebels and Imperial pilots need to get into the third tier before they get a ship with good manuverability and destructive power. Imperials get more manuverable ships before that, but are limited to one gun mount. Rebels get similar destructive power, but in a much less agile form, which is a hassle since they are fighting the more manuverable Imperial fighters most of the time. However, later on Neutral ships are very lousy compared to the other factions, especially when better ships like the X-Wing come into play.

Getting a bettership early on is helpful for the Freelance pilots, but most of the missions are actually pretty similar in nature, just with different foes and allies. It is also to CorSec's advantage that they can attack pretty much anything, with only forces that are hostile to everything being hostile to them, but grinding for xp, even for a new pilot is not that time consuming or difficult, so it isn't that big of an issue.

The Heavy Z95 can easily get you up to Tier 3 to get a X-Wing;
The Heavy TIE can get you to Tier 4.

The new Heavy varients made the earlier tiers that much easier.

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Fedrol wrote:

For the Arkonhavoc squad I can tell you that the tier 4 missions are really hard. I was unable to do them exept woth another friend who was master. But maybe my ship was scrap too?

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Some of the tier 4 havoc missions are hard. My girlfriend and some other members guild are in Havoc now and I ground up 4444 Havoc myself before switching to SA. It takes four good pilots to do a couple of the missions.

One that stands out in my mind... there is a cloud of tier 4 tie interceptors that attacks you and once you engage them, a second cloud of them jumps in right away. I swear there are 12 in each wave and they arrive within a minute of each other. My friend and I were outnumbered 24 to 2 and the results weren't pretty (she died and we failed the mission so I cut and ran...). We helped someone do the mission a few days later and the three of us barely pulled it off (she died againand the other two of us had large repair bills). I won't do that mission again with less than 4 pilots. With 4 good pilots 24 to 4 is not much of a problem. The last time we did it we really kicked ass and no one died.

I have at least three more pilots doing Havoc in my guild. As the squadron commander I can see that I will be very busy when they hit tier 4.

1. Rebel: Recruiter Location: J'pai Brek (-5072, -2343) Tyrena, Corellia
   
   
   
   
   • Akron's Havok Squad: Captain Kreezo, Tyrena, Corellia (-5177, -2281)
     
   • Vortex Squadron: V3-FX {droid} (right across the bridge) Moenia, Naboo
     
   • Crimson Phoenix Squadron: Commander Da'la Socuna (back room of the cantina) Mos Espa Tatooine
   
   
   
2. Imperial: Recruiter Location: Commander Landau (-5516,4403) Theed, Naboo
   
   
   
   • Inquisition: Lt. Barn Sinkko, Kadaara, Naboo (5204, 6728)
     
   • Storm Squadron: Lt. Akal Colzet, Bestine, Tatooine (1110, -3514)
     Note: this is widely considered the hardest pilot squad in the game.
     
   • Black Epsilon: Hakasha Sireen, Imp Outpost, Talus (-2183, 2259)
   
   
   
3. Freelancer: Recruiter Location: Gil Burtin (-1174, -3647) Bestine, Tatooine
   
   
   
   • Smuggler Alliance: Dravis, Mos Eisley, Tatooine, Back room of cantina (3429,-4788)
     Note: this squad is lightly Rebel-aligned. Your final mission will be against an Imperial Corvette.
     
   • RSF Squadron: Captain Dinge, Theed Naboo (-5497,4575)
     Note: this squad is heavily Imperial-aligned. RSF pilots can't hurt Imperial ships and your final mission will be against a Rebel Corvette.
     
   • Corsec Squadron: Sergeant Rhea, Coronet Corellia (-275,4730)
     Note: this squad is true neutral. On your final mission, you may choose to destroy either a Rebel or Imperial Corvette.

Should be ashamed of myself for even asking as I was beta tester for JTL, but each of the 3 squadronsat leastin beta were designed to be easy, medium and hard for each of the 3 factions. Which one is which and are there any benefits to being aligned with a tougher squad??