In the last hours of the Star Wars: The Old Republic Beta I was feverishly playing and recording Space Combat missions which translates to having a blast(-er)! This time I sought out the Balosar Outpost Space Combat mission which is one of the longer runs. It is a Republic side mission (My previous article was from a Sith Inquisitors point of view so I thought I would switch it up a bit) which lasts for about six and half minutes, has many different mission targets and a lot of dodging.

Balosar Outpost Mission Brief

** Beta Disclaimer:Please note that the images and footage are captured from the Star Wars: The Old Republic Beta and is subject to change.**

I took my Trooper out for a spin in her new BT-7 Thunderclap and you will hear her and her trusty sidekick, Aric ‘We Got This!*’ Jorgan yelling things throughout the mission.

I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised by how much more talkative your companion is during the mission, it really makes it feel like Han and Luke’s exhange shooting down imperials during ‘A New Hope’ and I could also entirely picture Aric saying ‘Stay on target’ during a mission. Just a suggestion to anyone reading this.

Balosar Outpost - The Friendly Visual Guide

You can run this without any ships upgrades but I do recommend picking up the teen level upgrades from the Coruscant spaceport before lifting off the first time.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it (sorry, couldn’t help it):

The Empire has constructed an illegal hidden space station in the Balosar system to act as a staging point for covert assaults on Republic territories. All available ships have been dispatched to destroy the station, but additional forces will be necessary to breach the Imperial defenses.

Primary Objectives:

Destroy station turrets

Destroy Station Shield Generators

Destroy Station Hangars

Destroy Station Antennae

Calculate Jump to Light Speed

Bonus Objective: Shoot down Mark VI Interceptors: 0/60

Your first problem is getting through the screen of capitol ships and incoming Interceptor fighters without costing you too much hull damage. If you did pick up the shield upgrade remember that the shield only regenerates while your guns aren’t firing. So rest them when you can.

I didn’t have a problem completing the bonus mission even though 60 fighters seemed like a lot. Certainly is a lot better having them go down in flames than shooting at you!

Also, on the menu of things shooting at you are these defensive satellites:

Defensive Sattellites. Shooting green things at you.

One missile and a little blaster fire takes care of them and it’s worth spending the few seconds on as they can really dole out the ouchies.

All told you get about eight passes at the station, though not all of them offer equal time or range of targets. Sometimes you go over, sometimes you go under and some times you just skirt the station.

Your missiles really help with these targets, although you can risk firing the majority of them at turrets and then realizing you needed other bits on the station too. You can destroy your primary objectives with blaster fire alone but it takes precision shooting and you do need to pour in a good few seconds of blaster fire before the target is destroyed. You don’t always have that much time though.

I had Aric snap a few holos as we passed by to give you visual cues on your targets. That’s what Sergeants are for after all.

Turrets! Often if not always found in pairs.

Shield Generators. You will find a cluster of four in the centre of the stations roof.

Hangars. You will find these all around the circumference of the station.

Antennae. You will find on at the top of four towers crowning the station.

But who wants to look at screenshots when there is a video you can watch instead.

Balosar Outpost Combat Mission 01:

Balosar Outpost Combat Mission 02:

I hope you enjoyed these videos. They are certainly fun to shoot. Pun intended.

*Funny story but in my old guild saying ‘We got this!’ was tantamount to us wiping on bosses with a paltry 1% health left. It became the worst omen of bad raid luck to speak those words, so you can imagine my expression when I heard Aric utter them for the first time toward the end of this mission.