Crew Skills Compendium

[bluekieran]

Crew Skills Compendium

Crew Skills are the SWTOR crafting system - and they let your companions handle the work while you're busy adventuring. There are three types: Gathering Skills get you basic resources, Crafting Skills turn resources into finished items, and Mission Skills bring in rare resources and other benefits, but only at the cost of credits.

You can have three skills total, only one of which can be a crafting skill, and you can train them at level one if desired (although you normally wouldn't pick them up until you leave your starting planet at about level 10).

Table of Contents

I. Gathering Skills

II. Crafting Skills
II.g. Dependencies diagram

III. Mission Skills

IV. Companions
IV.a. Trooper
IV.b. Smugger
IV.c. Jedi Knight
IV.d. Jedi Consular
IV.e. Bounty Hunter
IV.f. Sith Warrior
IV.g. Sith Inquisitor
IV.h. Imperial Agent

V. Reverse Engineering


I. Gathering Skills

You can gather in two ways - by right-clicking on resource nodes as you wander around (those you can gather will show up on your-mini-map and glow), or by spending credits to send your crew on gathering missions.

Gathering skills also have a secondary use - in flashpoints and operations, you can sometimes use a gathering skill to find an easier way to your goal, for instance by slicing open a computer-locked door that allows you to bypass several groups of enemies.

I.a. Archaeology [missions]

• Provides power and color crystals for Artifice and Synthweaving. You can also get the buyable crafting materials such as artifact fragments more cheaply from missions.
• Allows you to mine crystal and "archaeological find" nodes.
  

I.b. Bioanalysis [missions]

• Provides biological samples and compounds for Biochem. You can also get the buyable crafting materials such as hypo-syringes more cheaply from missions.
• You "analyse" defeated animals and plant nodes. Missions will net you more of the same stuff.
• Biochem can be levelled on your starting world, which may provide some handy credits but is not stricly necessary: all the nodes on your next world will be level 1 anyway and it levels pretty fast.
  

I.c. Scavenging [missions]

• Provides metals and compounds for Armormech, Armstech and Cybertech. You can also get the buyable crafting materials such as condcutive flux more cheaply from missions.
• You can "skin" many droids and there are also junk nodes to gather.
• Scavenging can also be levelled to some extent on your starting world, although again beyond some extra credits this isn't essential as you will level it anyway.
  

I.d. Slicing [missions]

• Slicing nets you money, schematics(?) and Augments (these go in the modification slots only found on crit-crafted items). It no longer provides materials for any crafting skill.
• Other rewards include protoype and artifact single-use missions, for gathering and mission skills.
• You can slice electronics safes, broken computers etc you find on your travels, and again there are missions. Both will net you lockboxes (most of which contain credits) and other items. Lockboxes from missions are (on average) worth considerably more than the mission cost; you'll want to run Slicing missions much of the time, making it kind of a mission skill in it's own right.
• Highly recommended for all - take it on at least one character that you'll actually be spending time logged in as. It will fund your other crew skills, and your alts, quite happily (at least at lower levels).
  

II. Crafting Skills

Crafting Skills allow you to create items for yourself and your companions (or to sell to others on the market) including weapons, armour, mods and consumables. [Each of?] your companions can have up to five items queued up to craft at one time.

You can only train ONE crafting skill (unlike gathering/mission). There are also profession-exclusive bind-on-pickup items which mean that the choice of skill will provide some gameplay bonus.

Crafting schematics can be gained as loot, through the Investigation mission skill, and improved schematics are gained through Reverse Engineering. If you de-train and later re-train a skill, you should retain old schematics [unconfirmed].

Crafting the BoP exclusive items requires rare BoP resources that drop in Operations and Hardmode flashpoints: Biometric Crystal Alloy, Alien Data Cube, Self-Perpetuating Power Cell and Rakata Energy Node.

II.a. Armormech[schematics]

• Main recipes: Helm, Chest, Wrist, Glove, Belt, Leg and Feet slot armor (medium and heavy) for non-force users.
• Skill-exclusive items include epic armor like the Armormech items here and here.
• Materials: base metals from Scavenging, exotic metals & compounds from Underworld Trading.
  

II.b. Armstech[schematics]

• Non-force weapons, both ranged and melee; also barrel-slot mods for weapons.
• Materials: base metals from Scavenging, other mats from Investigation.
  

II.c. Artifice [schematics]

• Creates lightsaber hilts and crystals, relics, enhancements, and force-user offhands/generators.
• Skill-exclusives include epic BoP relics that act as trinkets, better than those created from Matrix Shards. Also BoP artifact-level enhancements and hilts, as well as prototype-level BoP shields / power generators.
• Materials: crystals from Archaeology and high-end mats from Treasure Hunting.
  

II.d. Biochem [schematics]

• Crafts adrenals, stims, medkits/med stations and implants.
• Skill-exclusive items include BoP Adrenals, Stims and Medpacs of superior quality.
• Materials: various biological compounds from Biochem, high-end mats from Diplomacy.
  

II.e. Cybertech [schematics]

• Main recipes: Earpieces, armoring, grenades, mods, beacons and droid core and motor armor.
• Skill-exclusive items include BoP grenades (like these), BoP artifact-level mods, armorings, and earpieces and speeder bikes.
• Materials: base metals from Scavenging and exotic metals & compounds from Underworld Trading.
  

II.f. Synthweaving [schematics]

• Creates light, medium and heavy armor for Force users.
• Main recipes: Helm, Chest, Wrist, Glove, Belt, Leg and Feet slot armor for Force users.
• Skill-exclusive items include epic armor like the Synthweaving items here and here.
• Materials: base mats from Archaeology and high-end mats from Underworld Trading.
  

II.g. Diagram

Credit to an unknown source for the original version of this diagram. It shows the crew skill dependencies as I understand them at the moment:

An alternative diagram with more info can be found here, but the one above is the one I'll be keeping updated.

III. Mission Skills

Mission skills allow you to send your crew on missions to gather rare resources and other benefits. It's inadvisable to get more than one mission skill unless you're swimming in credits for some reason, as they're expensive to level up and use.

III.a. Diplomacy [missions]

• Provides dark or light side points, rare Biochem materials, and companion gifts.
  

III.b. Investigation [missions]

• Provides artifact schematics for all crafting skills, rare Armstech materials, and companion gifts.
  

III.c. Treasure Hunting [missions]

• Provides rare Artifice materials, lockboxes and companion gifts.
  

III.d. Underworld Trading [missions]

• Provides rare Armormech, Synthweaving and Cybertech materials, and companion gifts.
  

IV. Companions

Different companions provide different bonuses to crew skills. Tables below show only the skills relevant to the class - the omitted skills don't have any bonuses anyway.

There are two types of bonuses: efficiency, which is a % improvement on the time taken to complete an item/mission, and critical chance. Crit will be most relevant when crafting items which your character wears: armor, weapons, implants etc., as it's these that will be crafted as "exceptional" on a crit, giving them a bonus modification slot for an Augment (which you get from slicing missions).

IV.a. Trooper

	Gathering			Crafting				Mission
	Bioanalysis	Scavenging	Slicing	Armormech	Armstech	Biochem	Cybertech	Diplomacy	Investigation	Treasure Hunting	Underworld Trading
Tanno Vik				+5 crit							+1 crit
Aric Jorgan					+10			+2 crit
Elara Dorne	+10					+10
M1 4X		+5 crit					+5
Yuun			+10						+10

IV.b. Smugger

	Gathering				Crafting				Mission
	Archaeology	Bioanalysis	Scavenging	Slicing	Armormech	Armstech	Biochem	Cybertech	Diplomacy	Investigation	Treasure Hunting	Underworld Trading
Bowdaar			+10					+10
Corso Riggs						+5 crit						+5
Risha				+1 crit					+15
Akaavi Spar		+2 crit			+10
Guss Tuno	+10										+2 crit

IV.c. Jedi Knight

	Gathering				Crafting					Mission
	Archaeology	Bioanalysis	Scavenging	Slicing	Armstech	Artifice	Biochem	Cybertech	Synthweaving	Diplomacy	Investigation	Treasure Hunting	Underworld Trading
T7-01		+10		+2 crit
Kira Carsen									+5 crit		+1 crit
Doc							+5 crit						+5
Sgt. Rusk			+10		+10
Lord Scourge	+10					+10

IV.d. Jedi Consular

	Gathering				Crafting					Mission
	Archaeology	Bioanalysis	Scavenging	Slicing	Armstech	Artifice	Biochem	Cybertech	Synthweaving	Diplomacy	Investigation	Treasure Hunting	Underworld Trading
Qyzen-Fess	+15	+5
Tharan Cedrax				+10				+10
Zenith											+15		+1 crit
Lt. Iresso			+2 crit		+2 crit
Nadia Grell									+10	+2 crit

IV.e. Bounty Hunter

	Gathering			Crafting				Mission
	Bioanalysis	Scavenging	Slicing	Armormech	Armstech	Biochem	Cybertech	Diplomacy	Investigation	Treasure Hunting	Underworld Trading
Mako			+15				+5
Gault Rennow						+2 crit					+10
Torian Cadera	+2 crit								+10
Blizz				+15	+1 crit
Skadge		+10								+2 crit

IV.f. Sith Warrior

	Gathering				Crafting					Mission
	Archaeology	Bioanalysis	Scavenging	Slicing	Armstech	Artifice	Biochem	Cybertech	Synthweaving	Diplomacy	Investigation	Treasure Hunting	Underworld Trading
Vette												+5 crit	+5
Malavai Quinn					+10					+10
Jaesa Wilsaam	+5								+5 crit
Lt. Pierce								+10			+2 crit
Broonmark		+2 crit	+10

IV.g. Sith Inquisitor

	Gathering				Crafting					Mission
	Archaeology	Bioanalysis	Scavenging	Slicing	Artifice	Biochem	Cybertech	Synthweaving	Diplomacy	Investigation	Treasure Hunting	Underworld Trading
Khem Val					+15					+5
Andronikos Revel				+2 crit								+2 crit
Ashara Zavros								+10	+10
Talos Drellik	+5 crit										+5
Xalek		+10	+2 crit

IV.h. Imperial Agent

	Gathering			Crafting				Mission
	Bioanalysis	Scavenging	Slicing	Armormech	Armstech	Biochem	Cybertech	Diplomacy	Investigation	Underworld Trading
Kaliyo D'jannis					+10					+2 crit
Scorpio			+2 crit				+10
Vector Hyllus	+5							+5 crit
Dr. Lokin						+15			+10
En. Temple		+10		+2 crit

VI. Reverse Engineering

[NB: There is a much more detailed guide to Reverse Engineering HERE].

Reverse Engineering is the SWTOR equivalent of WoW disenchanting; it provides very few materials, but it is the way prototype and artifact schematics are discovered. By reverse-engineering premium-quality items (this destroys them), you have a chance of discovering the prototype schematic; RE-ing the prototype items gives a chance of discovering the artifact recipe.

Your chance to get the next level of schematic appears to depend on your (crafting) level vs. the schematic level. At least for armor and weapons, there are three possible blue schematics (critical, redoubt and overkill).

Suggested here: There are 5 chance rates of researching new schematics: Very Low (4%), Low (8%), Medium (10%), High (16%) and Very High (20%)

[bluekieran]

This is still somewhat of a work in progress. Suggestions, corrections and criticism welcome.

[moneda]

(12-03-2011 02:31 AM)bluekieran Wrote:  This is still somewhat of a work in progress. Suggestions, corrections and criticism welcome.

Even as a work in progress it's very well done. Slicing BTW can also result in Protoype and Artifact missions, for Slicing and other Crew Skills.

[Fenris]

Superb work!

[Ezmode]

III.b. Investigation [missions]
Provides artifice-quality schematics for all crafting skills, rare Armstech materials, and companion gifts.

Artifact quality.

[Xyrm]

Section IIb mentions Treasure Hunting as a mission skill for Armstech, but it provides nothing directly of use for Armstech. Investigation, like you mention later is what's needed in this section.

[JunoVC]

Latest patch notes have now split up Underworld Trading missions for rare Metal/Cloth so it will be easier to gather what you are looking for.

ie. separate missions.

Oh and great work, ty

[decoyninja]

nice work. most of the other guides aren't even updated with the mission skill changes.

[Nico]

This is neat. Thanks alot.

[bluekieran]

Thanks for all the input guys, I've incorporated the corrections etc.

I've also gathered a little raw data on reverse-engineering this weekend: it's up at http://twisted.org.uk/content/reverse-engineering.csv if anyone fancies trying to figure out the algorithm. Really need a lot more data, though.