Yeah, I know it’s been a while. And here I am, new year and all, with a post that is more a reference for me to collate into one place all the info I need about SWTOR starship upgrades after trying to sort out Grade 2 parts for my alts. This will be a work in progress as I haven’t even looked at the Grade 7 parts that were added in patch 1.6.
Intro
(I appreciate this is a beginners guide for something that is over a year old but in the interests of telling the whole story) If you’re going to try out Space Combat in SWTOR, once you’ve got your starship the first thing you need to do is kit it out. Why would you want to do Space Combat missions? The simple answer is credits and XP. Being on-rails, you know that a mission will only take about 5 minutes at most and doing two missions for the daily space combat quest you can get will earn a substantial chunk of change and experience and fleet commendations to buy special upgrades, Grade 7 upgrades and some social pilot outfits.
Upgrades
There are six standard upgrades which can be upgraded roughly every 5 to 8 levels. The upgrades are rated from Grade 1 to Grade 7. With the exception of Grade 7 upgrades, odd number upgrades (1,3,5) can be purchased from the Starship Upgrades Vendor on your faction fleet vendor while even number upgrades (2,4,6) can be crafted with Cybertech or found on the GTN. The level requirements for all upgrades upto Grade 6 are below. Note that Grade 6 upgrades are artifact items which have a manufacturers name (eg Sienar Systems Beam Charger) rather than the Grade.
| Grade 1 | Grade 2 | Grade 3 | Grade 4 | Grade 5 | Grade 6 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ship Armor | 14 | 18 | 23 | 32 | 38 | 43 |
| Beam Generator | 14 | 19 | 24 | 33 | 39 | 44 |
| Beam Charger | 15 | 20 | 26 | 34 | 40 | 46 |
| Energy Shield | 16 | 21 | 29 | 36 | 41 | 47 |
| Shield Generator | 16 | 21 | 29 | 36 | 41 | 47 |
| Missile Magazine | 17 | 22 | 31 | 37 | 42 | 49 |
(Source: TOR Wiki)
Some upgrades can be gained as quest rewards. These are mostly non-craftable grade 2 upgrades but note that it is also possible to get a Grade 1 armor upgrade on your first mission – even though it’s possible to buy it from the Starship Upgrades vendor. (In this authors opinion, the first mission is quite easy to complete without any upgrades whatsoever.) These missions should be done as soon as they become available. The upgrades and their mission/level requirements are:
Grade 1 Ship Armor – Fondor Escort (R)/Jabiim Escort (I) – Level 12
Grade 2 Beam Charger – Archenar Interception (R)/Nex Peron Sweep (I) – Level 20
Grade 4 Beam Charger – Pakuuni Defense (R)/Skaross Fortification (I) – Level 34
Rendili Hyperworks Beam Generator – Kalee Fortification (R)/Aeten Defense (I) – Level 44
In addition to the standard upgrades, special slot upgrades become available at different levels which can be purchased for Fleet Commendations on a special vendor near the Upgrades vendor. These items are:
Level 25 – Power Conversion Module (divert power to guns or shields)
Level 35 – Electronic Warfare Pod (10s immunity to enemy fire)
Level 45 – EMP Generator (AOE damage to nearby enemies)
Level 50 – Proton Torpedo Tube (Destroy shielded targets e.g. Capital Ship bridges)
Cybertech crafted items
The resource requirements for full sets of crafted upgrades are:
Grade 2
32 Bronzium
24 Plastoid
8 Chanlon
6 Plasteel
20 Mullinine
20 Conductive Flux
Grade 4
32 Bondite
24 Fibermesh
8 Diatium
6 Resinite
20 Titanium
20 Brazing Flux
Grade 6
32 Electrum
24 Polyplast
8 Neutronium
6 Amorphous Carbonite
16 Quadranium
4 Ciridium
8 Promethium
2 Mandalorian Iron
20 Thermoplast Flux
Grade 7 Upgrades
A new set of upgrades was added in Patch 1.6 along with some new level 50 space combat missions. They are available from a variety of sources, including the Cartel market. Details to be added soon.
