Star Wars Squadrons guide – Mission 3: Through Enemy Lines tips and walkthrough

In this Star Wars: Squadrons walkthrough, we’ll help you with tips and tricks for completing Mission 3: Through Enemy Lines.

Polygon’s Star Wars: Squadrons guides and walkthroughs help you navigate more than a dozen missions set in a galaxy far, far away. For Mission 3, we’ll help you learn to choose a loadout, deal with TIE Bombers, and understand Squad Commands.

We didn’t want our guides to become narrative novels, so we skipped useless advice like “follow the squad leader.” Instead, every Squadrons walkthrough begins with general tips for the mission, followed by specific strategies for difficult sections and objectives. We wrap up with advice about earning mission medals.

Mission 3: Through Enemy Lines walkthrough

Vanguard’s next mission is to escort the stolen Star Destroyer to a secret location.

Mission 3 tips

• An A-Wing is much faster and more agile than an X-Wing, but the hull and shields are weaker.
• You can choose your loadout. Don’t. Start with what Squadrons gives you by default, and then replay the mission with other loadouts to learn about them.
• TIE Bombers deal a lot of damage to the Victorum if you ignore them for too long, so make them a priority. They also have countermeasures against missiles, so focus on using your lasers or anything in the loadout labeled dumbfire, like the ArMek Barrage Rockets.
• TIE Bombers are also much slower than your A-Wing. Keep an eye on your speed when you’re attacking, or you’ll blow right past them. This also means you’re free to Maximize Weapon Power (press up on the D-pad to light the red meter) to take some juice away from your engines and add it to your weapons.
• When the Lambda Shuttles arrive, you’ll learn about Squad Commands. You’ve basically got three things to tell your squadmates: Attack this target (while targeting an enemy), Defend this target (while targeting an ally), or Request Resupply to cancel their orders.
• Shuttles are relatively easy to take out, so split the squadron up with Squad Commands to take them out quicker. Maximize Weapon Power again to get the extra firepower (and because you’ll out-fly the shuttles easily).

Objective: Learn to Drift and Complete a Drift Turn

Between waves of Imperials, Keo will (try to) teach you the Drift Turn. She’ll explain the process, but it will take a few tries to figure out exactly what to do.

Your goal in a Drift Turn is basically to skid sideways in space. There are a few steps:

1. Maximize Engine Power.
2. Boost to go as fast as possible.
3. Turn (yaw) hard — all the way left or right. Rolling has nothing to do with Drift Turns.
4. End your Boost right after you start turning. Do this by throttling down or, on a controller, clicking the left thumbstick again. (This can be changed with the Options > Throttle Down to Stop Boosting setting.) We had a much easier time just clicking instead of worrying about adjusting the throttle.

It will probably take a few tries to get the timing down. Just make sure you’re also flying the correct direction through the Nav Points.

Optional: Destroy Imperial Raiders

While waiting for the Victorum to finish it’s (second set of) Hyperdrive repairs, another wave of Imperials will show up. If you’re going to complete this optional objective to get the Raider Wrecker Medal, make sure you’re using Squad Commands to get all the help you can. The Raiders aren’t overly fast or hearty, but they’re well armed and deal a lot of damage.

There are three Raiders total. One will show up alone at first, and then the other two will show up in a subsequent wave.

Completing this optional objective will add time to your mission and leave the Victorum less protected. You’re not going to be able to complete it and get the Efficiency or Not Even Close Medals on the same run.

Mission 3 Medals

• Mission Complete. Completed Mission 3.
• Efficiency Medal. Completed Mission 3 in 15 minutes or less.
• Enduring Service Medal. Completed Mission 3 without dying.
• Not Even Close. The Victorum escaped with at least 30% hull integrity.

To check on The Victorum’s health, target it and its integrity will show up on your display. You can also target The Victorum and use your ping targeting system to request that your squad protect the ship.

• Raider Wrecker. Destroyed all Imperial Raiders during the Victorum’s escape.

In this mission, you have the choice to tweak the load out. For your main lasers, choose the close range lasers (the Gyrhil R/F Rapid Fire Cannon) that deal more damage. Keep in mind that they have a short range, which is ideal against the slow moving Imperial Raiders.

If you want to deal even more damage, at the cost of not being able to repair your ship, you can choose the ArMek Barrage Rockets as your left auxiliary kit. These rockets shoot straight and output heavy high damage. Simply fly above an Imperial Raider and rain down on them with your close range lasers while repeatedly shooting the rockets you have loaded in your left and right auxiliary slots.