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Star Wars Squadrons guide: All story missions tips and walkthrough Image: Motive Studios/Electronic Arts via Polygon

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Star Wars: Squadrons walkthrough

mIn this Star Wars: Squadrons walkthrough, we’ll help you with tips and tricks for completing all 14 story missions.

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.


Table of contents


Prologue 1 and 2 walkthrough

Star Wars: Squadrons’s two-part prologue is kind of a tutorial in disguise. You won’t need deep strategy or finger-contorting skills, but acclimating to starfighter controls isn’t easy. So rather than walking you through self-evident objectives, we’ve compiled a list of tips that helped us wrap our minds around the game in its earliest stages.

Throttle down whenever you turn

This will always be true, so it’s best to get used to it as soon as possible. Resist the urge to fly at max speed. Crank down your to half-throttle when turning. Save your speed for chasing.

Use Cycle Targets to find enemies

Press the A/X controller buttons (and their PC equivalent) to instantly target the closest enemy. Navigating 3D space in a starfighter will be confusing for hours. Want to get better, faster? Hit a button to five yourself a target, and learn to find it.

Left is for thrust, up is for weapons, and right is for shields

Here’s how we remembered that: The directions match the colors of the related instruments in your cockpit. Thrust is blue and on an instrument to the left of your cockpit, weapons are red when they fire and up at the top of your view, and sheilds are green and on an instrument at the right of your cockpit.

Don’t stop to shoot

Stopping just makes you an easy target. Keep moving, and slow down a bit if it helps you aim. When taking down the Star Destroyer target system, for example, take flyby passes at it.


Mission 1: Form the Vanguard walkthrough

Four years later, Vanguard Squadron will split up to search for some missing scouts and deal with Imperial jamming ships.

Mission 1 Tips

  • Hyperspace Jump Points are directional. You have to go through them the way they’re pointing. Look for the animated arrows at one end.
  • Use Cycle Targets and watch your Combat Display (the green screen on the left of your dashboard) to make sure you’re after the right enemy.
  • You can probably get through this mission without much (unprompted) fussing with your ship’s power distribution, but this is a good mission to practice with it.
  • When a missile locks onto your ship, you’ll see a new gauge labeled INCOMING on your HUD. As the missile closes in, the red lights on that gauge will fill in from the outsides to the center. Your job is to evade (by turning) the missile before it gets too close, or to wait until the red lights are completely filled in to launch your countermeasures.
  • Maximize Engine Power (press left on the D-pad for the blue lights) and pay attention to the prompts on the screen about sharp turns — both yawing and rolling — when dealing with missiles. Setting your throttle to half-speed with Maximize Engine Power gives you lots of maneuverability.
  • Use Request Resupply to repair your hull and fill your missiles and countermeasures.

Objective: Destroy Imperial Jamming Ships, Destroy Imperial TIE fighters, Destroy Imperial Light Cruiser

Optional: Destroy Imperial Jammers first

After you find the scout debris, you’ll follow the Imperials to a new, bigger fight. This time, you’ll have plenty of TIEs, two IGV-55 Jammers, and one Light Cruiser.

To earn the Defense Breaker Medal and complete the optional objective for this mission, you’ll have to play it twice, since they’re opposing requirements. Regardless of which you go for — taking out the TIEs first or the Jammers — save the cruiser for last. Once both Jammers are destroyed, reinforcements will show up to help you take it out.

Mission 1 Medals

  • Mission Complete. Completed Mission 1.
  • Efficiency Medal. Completed Mission 1 in 16 minutes or less.
  • Enduring Service Medal. Completed Mission 1 without dying.
  • Defense Breaker. Destroyed all TIE fighters before taking out the Jammers.

After Frisk identifies the Jammers, approach them but begin to slow down once the game informs you that you should slow down to avoid missiles. Stay in that general area and don’t approach the Jammer. Instead, let the TIE fighters come to you and don’t move onto the main objective until you’ve marked off the TIE fighter objective first.

  • Loyal Recruit. Destroyed Imperial Jammers before the Cruiser to call New Republic reinforcements.

Follow Gunny’s advice and focus on the Jammers before attacking the Cruiser. To avoid missiles, make sure to use your countermeasures, the seeker warheads, to disrupt any missiles that might target you while you focus on the two Jammers.


Mission 2: The Skies of Yavin walkthrough

Vanguard Squadron is heading to Yavin Prime to help out Talus Group and capture a Star Destroyer, the Victorum.

Mission 2 tips

  • You’ve got a slightly different loadout for this mission — specifically, you’ve got Ion Missiles, which disable shields and fighters, opening enemies up to your squadron mates.
  • Gunny’s with you again, so Request Resupply whenever it’s available.
  • The biggest thing you’ll learn in this mission is how to Focus your shields to the front or back. After you use it, make sure to rebalance them (only a single button press away) so you’re not leaving yourself vulnerable. And remember to Maximize Shield Power (press right on the D-pad for the green lights) when you’re not fighting.
  • You’ll have to press a button to lock on and scan parts of the Star Destroyer to find a breach point. Don’t slow down too much while scanning, or you’ll get pummeled by the turrets.
  • To get this mission’s Intelligence Operative Medal, head to the (potential) breach point on the back side of the Victorum’s command tower first. (It’s a hint in the mission briefing, too.)

Optional: Destroy the Interceptors Chasing Frisk

At one point during the fight, Frisk will call for help. A couple of TIE Interceptors will be marked by blue dots with white chevrons. Focus on those to get both this objective and the Trusty Wingmate Medal.

Mission 2 Medals

  • Mission Complete. Completed Mission 2.
  • Efficiency Medal. Completed Mission 2 in 13 minutes or less.
  • Enduring Service Medal. Completed Mission 2 without dying.
  • Trusty Wingmate. Saved Frisk from a deadly tail.

This objective pops up while you’re already surrounded by enemies. To help Frisk, locate the enemy ships marked with blue icons. You’ll have to disengage from the area you’re currently in and fly over to Frisk to take care of the enemies targeting him.

  • Intelligence Operative. Discovered the Victorum’s breach point on the first scan.

If you paid attention during the mission briefing, you’ll remember that they call out the back of the Victorum as the weak point. Instead of scanning all the other sections that appear, go directly to the back of the ship and scan that section first.


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.


Mission 4: Secrets and Spies walkthrough

For this mission, you’ll be playing as part of the Imperial Titan Squadron, escorting a spy out of Project Starhawk.

Mission 4 tips

  • Once again, you’re in a new ship with new weapons, so take your time to learn the basics before messing much with the loadout.
  • TIE Fighters don’t have shields, so your Power Management is a little simpler — you’re only swapping between weapons and engines.
  • TIEs are better armored than X-Wings (minus the shields) and have maneuverability and acceleration comparable to an A-Wing. They’re nimble and can take a beating.
  • Your first task is to take out several Missile Platforms as part of Destroy Outer Defenses. Come at them from below to avoid most (if not all) of their defenses.
  • The rule while piloting a TIE is to keep moving. Use its speed and maneuverability to make up for the lack of shields. This is especially important while taking out the Outpost Defenses and targeting the Turbolaser Cannons. Do strafing runs as much as you can. If you don’t have time for a missile lock, double tap the missile button to launch one straight — if you’re lined up (or uncomfortably close), the missile will hit what you’re aiming at.
  • There are several optional objectives plus the two Medals for this mission that will pull you in several different directions. Focus on getting the mission done first, and then go back for the extras.

Objective: Escort Shuttle Gladius

Toward the end of the mission, you’ll need to escort a Lambda Shuttle (and an Imperial spy) away from the outpost while it’s getting picked on by New Republic forces. Go for the Thin The Herd Medal first by taking out all the New Republic fighters to make the fight a little less crowded.

While escorting the shuttle, hang back a little and wait for fighters to slide in front of you. They’ll be focused on the shuttle, so you can come in behind them to take them out. Maximize Weapon Power since you won’t need speed.

Several New Republic Corvettes will pop in during the shuttle’s escape. Ignore them. There’s nothing a single TIE can do about them, and you’d leave the Gladius exposed.

Mission 4 Medals

  • Mission Complete. Completed Mission 4.
  • Efficiency Medal. Completed Mission 4 in 13 minutes or less.
  • Enduring Service Medal. Completed Mission 4 without dying.
  • Collateral Damage. Destroyed New Republic GR-75s (transports) before any escape.

    After you take out the shield generator on the outpost, Sol wil call out that two transports are leaving the station. When choosing a loadout for your TIE Fighter, you can choose heavier hitting options like the Concussion Missile, which you can launch without a lock on by double tapping the button assigned to that auxiliary slot, and the standard rockets, which you fire directly ahead of you.

    Since the two transports move slowly, you can set your Emergency Power Converter to lasers, which is explained while you make your attack on the shield generator, and then lay into the two transports with your main weapons and dual rockets.
  • Thin the Herd. Destroyed all remaining fighters before the Gladius’ arrival.

    All of the enemy ships will be swarming around a single area. If you’re having trouble taking them all out quickly, remember that you can lock on instantly to an enemy by tapping the Select Target Ahead button, and then tap Ping Target to have your squad focus fire on that enemy. Use this tactic to have your team fight one enemy while you focus another.

Mission 5: The Trail from Desevro walkthrough

Titan Squadron is on its way to tail a group of New Republic engineers.

Mission 5 tips

  • The TIE Reaper is your next new ship to learn. It flies a lot more like an X-Wing than a TIE Fighter. And it has shields.
  • You’re playing more of a support role in this mission, and your weapon loadout reflects that. You don’t have missiles, and your lasers have been replaced with an Ion Cannon that disrupts electrical systems. That means you can take down shields and disable ships, but you won’t be able to destroy them. Use Squad Commands to make sure your squadmates finish off your target.

Objective: Destroy the Tormentor’s Missiles

There’s not a lot of room between the Tormentor and the New Republic ships, so you’ll have to be quick here. And, on top of the missiles, both ships are firing at each other and you, so you’ll have to keep moving.

  • Try to stay out of the crossfire between the two ships whenever you can.
  • Missiles only take one hit from your Ion Cannon to be disabled, so you’re free to Maximize Shield Power to ignore the hits you take from both sides or Maximize Engine Power to stay nimble.
  • Watch your speed. The missiles are quick, but if you’re traveling around too fast, you’ll end up on one side of the fight or the other, and you’ll get shot a lot.
  • Try not to reduce your speed to zero either. You actually have more maneuverability while moving than when you’re at a dead stop.
  • Use Cycle Targets to pick out the next missile to hit, but also watch for them without targeting. Cycle Targets picks convenient targets, but it might miss missiles that have snuck past you. Since they only take one hit to disable, you can usually take them out without targeting them. Just watch for your targeting reticle to turn red.

If you manage to take out every missile before they hit the New Republic ships, you’ll earn the Marksman Medal. This will take a lot of practice, though.

Objective: Escort Shuttles to Transport

There are two sections of this mission where you’ll be escorting Lambda Shuttle from the Overseer to the New Republic ships and back. They fly painfully slowly. Follow them from a distance. Lock on to each of them in turn, and hit them with your Tactical Shields (these act just like missiles, but for defense).

While you’re waiting for your missiles to recharge (watch for the button on your console to turn blue again), target an unshielded shuttle, and use Squad Commands to ask your squadmates to defend it.

Keep your focus on the shuttles. If you get an easy shot on a New Republic fighter, take it, but don’t wander off in pursuit. The shuttles are too slow and vulnerable to be left alone.

Mission 5 Medals

  • Mission Complete. Completed Mission 5.
  • Efficiency Medal. Completed Mission 5 in 14 minutes or less.
  • Enduring Service Medal. Completed Mission 5 without dying.
  • Marksman. Prevented any missile from damaging the GR-75s.

    This can be a bit challenging, but one strategy that helps is making sure you use the Ping Targets command to let your squad shoot down missiles as well. If one zooms past you before you have a chance to shoot it down, you can use Ping Targets and hope your team cleans it up for you.
  • Ionizer. Disabled all GR-75 transports.

    When this objective pops up, you may be a bit far away, so be sure to divert power to your engines and boost over to them before they can get too far. Once you reach them, divert energy back to your weapons systems, and keep shooting each transport until a blue energy symbol appears over the ship. Once that icon appears, that means you’ve disabled it and can move to the next.

    For this objective, don’t use the Ping Targets system. That’ll cause your squad to shoot and destroy the ships, which makes you instantly fail the objective.

Mission 6: Signal to Noise walkthrough

Back with Vanguard Squadron, this mission heads to an Imperial listening post.

Mission 6 tips

  • Your ship for this mission is a Y-Wing. Y-Wings are slow as heck, but that’s OK.
  • For the first time, directions like up and down matter. Y-Wings drop their bombs straight down, so pay attention to your roll and orientation.
  • While you’re doing your bombing runs, you won’t be firing your lasers much, so Maximize Shield Power to protect yourself from the post’s countless turrets.

Optional: Destroy communication array

While you’re doing bombing runs on the receivers, you’ll get an optional objective to destroy the Imperial listening post’s communication array — these dishes were pointed out in the briefing. Destroying them will get you the Reinforcements Denied Medal and prevent a lot more TIEs from showing up.

It’s not quite clear when you mark these targets, but you have to destroy all of the satellite dishes on each tower for your shots to count.

Optional: Defend Corvette

After you’ve bombed the Thermal Regulators, you’ll get an optional objective to defend your CR90 Corvette escort. We had a lot of trouble finding it again after so many bombing runs.

The easiest way to return is to just look for TIEs — especially TIE Interceptors. They’re going to be focused on the Corvette, so they’ll lead you the right way.

Mission 6 Medals

  • Mission Complete. Completed Mission 6.
  • Efficiency Medal. Completed Mission 6 in 11 minutes or less.
  • Enduring Service Medal. Completed Mission 6 without dying.
  • Corvette Protector. Saved the Corvette.
    The Corvette will slowly fly around the perimeter of the structure that you’re bombing. If you don’t see it, look for the green lasers of the TIE Interceptors that go after it. Once you’ve found it, stay a safe distance from its rear and shoot down any enemies that approach it. You can either use your targeting system to direct allies to defend the ship, or shoot down enemies. You can also target the Corvette and use your targeting wheel to highlight enemies specifically attacking it if you’re having difficulty.
  • Reinforcements Denied. Destroyed the communication dishes.

    When Keo calls out the dishes, you can stop your bombing run and focus on shooting the dishes. Since there will be a lot to take out, use your target cycling and ping system to have your squad help you shoot them down. You can also use your target cycling system to make sure you’ve shot them all down. Just fly close enough to the center of the structure and constantly tap the target cycling button to make sure you haven’t missed any.

    To complete this medal, take out all the large, four dish arrays as well as several smaller dishes lining the center of the structure.

Mission 7: Into the Abyss

This mission sees Vanguard Squadron baiting the Imperial Star Destroyer Overseer into a trap.

Mission 7 tips

  • You have a choice of the three New Republic ships you’ve flown so far, along with full loadouts for each. Don’t get overwhelmed. Pick something you’re comfortable with or just pick the X-Wing, since it’s the most generalized (as opposed to specialized) ship.
  • You won’t be attacking any capital ships or stationary targets, so focus your loadout on ship-to-ship combat and quick dogfights.
  • Focus on TIE Bombers whenever they’re in the fight. They deal the most damage to your convoy, so they’re your biggest obstacle to getting the Fully Escorted Medal.
  • The abyss this fight takes place in is a lot smaller than you’re used to from previous missions. You’ll probably hit the edges of the arena while chasing enemies. If you get the Turn Back notification, just reduce your speed, turn around, and pick a new target.
  • Related to that tip, try to stick relatively close to the convoy. It’ll help keep you on track, and all the enemies will come to you.

Mission 7 Medals

  • Mission Complete. Completed Mission 7.
  • Efficiency Medal. Completed Mission 7 in 13 minutes or less.
  • Enduring Service Medal. Completed Mission 7 without dying.
  • Abyssal Protector. Shot down three missiles fired by the Overseer.

    When switching targets, be sure that the missiles are identifiable on your cockpit’s display to make sure you’ve targeted them. Once locked on, take them down.
  • Fully Escorted. Protected all GR-75s transports.

    You have the choice of three different ships to use in this mission. Choose the A-Wing if you feel more comfortable zipping around and chasing TIE Fighters. If you’d like to take it slow, choose the Y-Wing with a windup turret as your main cannon. The X-Wing is a good option if you want to play it safe and don’t have a specific gameplan.

    Regardless, focus on the TIE Bombers that always target the convoys first, before you take on the faster TIE Interceptors.

Mission 8: Fractured Alliance

Back with Titan Squadron, you’ll be defending (and simultaneously raiding) an Imperial supply depot in this mission.

Mission 8 tips

  • The TIE Interceptor you get for this mission is new to you. It’s faster than an A-Wing and just as maneuverable. In standard Imperial fashion, though, it has no shields.
  • You have full control over the loadout this time. Almost all of your fighting is going to be ship-to-ship dogfighting, so plan accordingly. We’ll list our favorite loadout below.
  • Several waves of fighters will jump into the system over the course of this mission. They will always jump in outside of your weapons and targeting range, though. Keep an eye on your HUD, and watch for a flashing red dot when you hear reports of them over the radio. You won’t be able to target them right away, but you’ll get a better idea of where they are.

Loadout

This is the first mission where loadout becomes much more important to how well you do.

Focus your loadout on ship-to-ship combat. Here’s the loadout that worked best for us:

  • Primary Weapon: Standard Laser Cannon
  • Left Auxiliary: Seeker Mine
  • Right Auxiliary: Rockets
  • Countermeasures: Seeker Warheads
  • Hull: Dampener Hull
  • Engine: Twin Ion Engine (the Twin Microthrust Engine works well, too)

Objective: Defend Control Towers and Destroy New Republic Bombers

Through most of this mission, your goal will be to keep the three Control Towers intact. If you complete the mission with all three, you’ll get the Depot Defender Medal.

The way to do this is by completing the other objective(s). Destroy the New Republic Y-Wing Bombers as fast as you can — they’re the ones that will deal the most damage to the towers. Keep cycling through targets and picking off the Y-Wings every time they appear.

Objective: Destroy New Republic Corvette

When the CR90 Corvette arrives, you’ll still be dealing with Y-Wing Bombers and defending the Control Towers. Your job is to take it out as quickly as you can. It’s slow, and it doesn’t have any turrets pointing backward, so get behind it and Maximize Weapon Power. If you have the rockets from our suggested loadout, unload them into the engines.

Objective: Escort Baradium Shuttles and Eliminate A-Wings

Much like the Defend the Control Towers objective above, the best way we’ve found to escort the two Baradium Shuttles is by going on offense against the New Republic A-Wings. Use Squad Commands to help take them out quickly — either by directing your squadmates to concentrate fire or asking them to defend a shuttle.

Optional: Destroy Frigate Turrets

Toward the end of the mission, a Nebulon-B Frigate will show up to ruin your day. You’ll be tasked with taking out it’s turrets, but you won’t get much more direction than that.

Target the entire Frigate — you can’t target the individual turrets — and look for the blue glow/outline that marks them. Slow down (but don’t stop), Maximize Weapon Power, and unload on them. It’ll take a few passes, but each turret only takes a handful of shots to destroy. Just keep moving so the turrets don’t turn all their attention on you.

Mission 8 Medals

  • Mission Complete. Completed Mission 8.
  • Efficiency Medal. Completed Mission 8 in 17 minutes or less.
  • Enduring Service Medal. Completed Mission 8 without dying.
  • Toothless. Destroyed all of the Nebulon-B frigate’s turrets first.

    When the frigate appears, Shen will be ordered to take down its shields with an ion bomb. Wait for him to complete this before attacking. Once disabled, you’ll be able to target its turrets, which are situated around the bottom and sides of the ship. They’re difficult o see, so use your target cycling to find them all. Also, if you tag one that’s on the opposite side of the ship, use the Ping Target command so your team can fire while you swing around the other side to finish it off.
  • Depot Defender. All three Control Towers survived the attack.

    When new enemies show up (as announced on your comms), they will also seek out the currently targeted tower. The three towers you must defend will always be highlighted, so make your way to whichever is in danger to keep it safe.

Mission 9: Chaos at Mon Cala walkthrough

Star Wars Squadrons guide – Mission 9: Chaos at Mon Cala tips and walkthrough Image: Motive Studios/Electronic Arts via Polygon

The Imperials head to Mon Cala in an attempt to distract the New Republic.

Mission 9 tips

  • This is the most varied mission yet, with strafing runs on stationary targets, lots of capital ship attacks, and plenty of dogfighting. Take that into consideration when choosing your ship.
  • We like the TIE Fighter with a mostly standard loadout for this mission. We used the dampener hull — because missiles are annoying — and swapped the repair kit for rockets — they’ll come in handy while attacking the big ships like the Medical Frigate.
  • There are a few phases to this mission, so pay attention to your objectives. If your objective is only to Destroy Anvil Fighters, do that. Don’t get distracted by Corvettes or other targets of opportunity once you’re done because they’ll only drag out your mission (and wear down your hull and ammo supply).
  • Aside from the undefended fuel pods you attack at the very beginning of this mission, everything else you attack will have laser turrets and missiles and a squadron of fighters around it. Always keep moving, even when you’re trying to focus fire on one specific thing. Slowing to a stop is a death sentence.
  • This is a great mission to focus on learning to use your Targeting Wheel. This lets you choose between categories of targets like All Enemies, All Allies, or Objectives for your Cycle Target to cycle through. There will also be a lot of opportunities to use Target My Attacker. We’ll explain more below.

Objective: Destroy Two Transport Ships

After your first dogfight against Anvil Squadron, you’ll head to a new location. Here, you’ll find five GR-75 Transports and their fighter escorts.

By default, your Targeting Wheel (hold left trigger on console controllers) is set to Objectives. This means that hitting the button to Cycle Targets will only cycle through Objective-related targets — in this case, the transports. Cycle Targets won’t pick out a fighter for you to track. (You can still target them with the Select Target Ahead button, though.)

While your only real targets in this section are two of the transports, you’re going to be harassed by fighters throughout. Switch the Targeting Wheel to All Enemies to add them to the cycle. You don’t have to take them all out, but thinning the escorts will make your job a lot easier.

If you continue blowing up transports (you monster), you’ll get the No Cargo Medal for this mission.

Another way to handle getting bothered by enemy fighters is to double tap the Cycle Targets button. This will Target My Attacker, making the last ship to fire on you your new target. If you’re taking a lot of damage from behind, double tap that button, and you’ll be able to track down whoever was after you.

Once they’re targeted, you can also use Squad Commands to call in your squadmates to take them out.

Objective: Destroy Shield Generators

Once the Silver Coronet arrives, you’ll get objectives to take out some of it’s systems, starting with its shield generators.

Use your Targeting Wheel again, and select Flagship Systems. This will cycle through parts of the flagship — the Silver Coronet — that you can target individually. Don’t forget to change it back to Objectives or All Enemies when you’re done, though.

Mission 9 Medals

  • Mission Complete. Completed Mission 9.
  • Efficiency Medal. Completed Mission 9 in 13 minutes or less.
  • Enduring Service Medal. Completed Mission 9 without dying.
  • No Mercy. Destroyed the Medical Frigate.

    The Medical Frigate is slow, but you’ll still face some resistance fighting it. Unload your cannons and missiles on it while also using the targeting ping to make your teammates focus on it as well.
  • No Cargo. Destroyed All Cargo Ships.

    When you reach the second section of this mission, you’ll be tasked with only destroying two of the large transport ships. Once you complete that objective, you’re informed that you can finish the rest or move onto the next objective. Dispose of the remaining ships to earn this medal.

Mission 10: Terisa’s Vengeance walkthrough

star wars squadrons mission 10 Terisa’s Vengeance walkthrough header Image: Motive Studios/Electronic Arts via Polygon

It’s time for Titan Squadron to lead the Imperial attack on the Nadiri Dockyards.

Mission 10 tips

  • Much like Mission 9, this is a bit of a free-for-all. You’ll be doing a little everything you’ve learned so far.
  • You’ll be flying a TIE Bomber this time. It’s well-armored (but doesn’t have shields) and about as fast and nimble as an X-Wing.
  • You’ll have a choice of loadout for most of this mission. You’ll be doing a lot of strafing runs on stationary targets, but you’re also going to need to fight off lots of enemy fighters. We’ll go into our preferred loadout below.
  • The Starhawk is bristling with laser turrets. Getting too close is deadly at just about any point in this Terisa’s Vengeance. Keep your distance as much as you can, and stick to the rest of the dockyards even if that means going the long way around.
  • There are small asteroids around the dockyards. Any time you can, like on your initial approach, use them as cover.

Terisa’s Vengeance loadout

This mission turns into a pretty hectic fight, so you’ll need weapons and components to account for a lot of possibilities.

  • Primary Weapon: Sienar Rotary Canon. This gun takes a (literal) second to spin up, but it deals a ton of damage fast. It’s great for turrets and slow or stationary targets. If you’re quick, it’s even good against fighters.
  • Left Auxiliary: Sienar MR-93 Multi-Lock Missile. Targeting four enemies at once is invaluable in this fight.
  • Right Auxiliary: Sienar Beam Cannon. This beam will drop your maneuverability drastically, but the high damage makes up for it. Use it on runs against big, slow targets.
  • Countermeasures: Seeker Warheads because they work better while swerving around the battlefield, but Chaff Particles will work just as well since you’ll also be doing a lot of straight strafing runs.
  • Hull: Sienar Dampener Hull. Missiles are annoying, and this hull helps a little.
  • Engine: Twin Ion Engine. We like the standard engine here. You’re doing varied tasks throughout this mission, so specializing too much isn’t the best approach.

Objective: Destroy Shield Generators and Optional: Destroy Hangars

Inside the shipyards, your first task is to destroy a handful of shield generators. Shortly after you start on that project, you’ll get the optional objective to destroy some hangars.

Use the dockyards themselves as cover throughout both of these. Fly too close to things, and weave around structures. The sky gets crowded, so you need all the advantage you can get.

Use Target My Attacker to deal with fighters. You can chase them down on your own, or you can ask for help from your squadron.

The hangars are a little fickle about what damages them and what doesn’t, so make sure your targeting reticle is red before you fire on them. The Beam Cannon works great here.

While you’re circling the shipyards, watch for emplacements of three laser turrets on structures. Your Multi-Lock Missiles will take out all three at once.

Objective: Destroy Enemy Corvettes and Optional: Destroy All Evac Transports

When the New Republic Corvettes show up, you’ll get an objective to destroy them. Shortly after that, you’ll get an objective to chase down the fleeing civilians.

If you’re looking for the No Survivors Medal, you’ll need to get both of the GR-75s before they jump away. This will take a concerted effort, so Maximize Engine Power to get close, and focus on them.

When you turn your attention back to the Corvettes, do not come at them alone — use Squad Commands to get help. They also have a lot of laser turrets that point in just about every direction, so there’s no safe direction to attack from. Keep moving to avoid getting targeted, and line up strafing shots with your Beam Cannon.

Mission 10 Medals

  • Mission Complete. Completed Mission 10.
  • Efficiency Medal. Completed Mission 10 in 13 minutes or less.
  • Enduring Service Medal. Completed Mission 10 without dying.
  • Imperial March. Destroyed all of the Nadiri Dockyards’ hangars.
  • No Survivors. Destroyed all GR-75 (transport) evacuees.