If you think about it, Star Wars began with just one farm boy dreaming of getting off his dusty planet and taking to the stars. Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes has finally made Luke Skywalker’s dream come true in game …
If you think about it, Star Wars began with just one farm boy dreaming of getting off his dusty planet and taking to the stars. Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes has finally made Luke Skywalker’s dream come true in game form by adding Ships to the mix in the game’s most recent update.
Longtime players weren’t surprised at all to see them show up, as EA has been teasing their arrival almost since the game first launched. We just didn’t know how starships would affect play or even in what form they’d arrive.
Now we know that Ships don’t revolutionize the game as much as they add onto what is already a very solid foundation. We’ve spent some serious seat time since the update hit to put together a guide to everything you need to know to explore this brand new part of Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes.
At the most basic level, Ships are a lot like Galaxy of Heroes characters. They need to be activated by gathering the proper number of blueprints, which are the vehicular equivalent of shards. Once in your possession, a ship can be ranked up with more blueprints, eventually progressing all the way to the top, seven-star rank.
Ships also have their own training droids called enhancement droids and their own currency called ship building materials. These are utilized in the exact same way you’ve been using their character-oriented counterparts the whole time you’ve been playing.
One big difference for Ships is that even after you’ve got the right number of blueprints on hand, you must have the proper Crew member to unlock the ship. Think of each Ship-Crew combo as a specific team and you’ve got it right. What’s Slave I without Boba Fett at the controls, after all?
Fortunately, if you’ve been playing Galaxy of Heroes for any length of time, chances are that you’ve got quite a few of the Crew members needed to fly the two dozen or so Ships that are available at the moment. If you don’t, you may have just gained a new priority in your daily play without even realizing it.
Except for the super cool animations and new sound effects, Ships play very similarly to characters in combat. You have a fleet of up to five ships, and your object is to wipe out the opposing fleet. Light and Dark side Ships can be mixed together, so your goal is to find the right mix of abilities and types, as Ships can be attackers, support and tanks in much the same way as characters.
Many ship abilities will feel instantly familiar as well. You’ll also recognize the health and action meters, which function in the exact same way they do on the ground.
The big difference in Ship battles is the presence of a capital ship on each side. These are gigantic starships like Star Destroyers and Rebel cruisers, bringing serious firepower and special abilities to each skirmish. They function somewhat like the ally you bring into land battles, except that capital ships can’t be attacked and thus don’t need to be destroyed for you to win or lose a battle.
Another additional twist when you head into space is that both sides can use reinforcements if their capital ships are of a sufficiently high rank. While your starting fleet will still contain five ships, reinforcements are held in reserve and can be called into action when losses are suffered and it is the capital ship’s turn to act. While you can certainly dive right into Ship combat with just four or five fighters, it’s nice to have a few more leveled up and ready to enter the fray to make your whole fleet stronger.
Currently, there are two modes to help you prove your space superiority. The Fleet Arena is just like the Squad Arena, allowing you to climb the PvP ladder for better rewards with five battles against other players’ fleets each day (unless you spend crystals to open up more battles). Fleet Arena Tokens you earn here can be redeemed for blueprints or character shards, which conveniently are for the appropriate Crew members.
A rotating set of Ship Challenges allow you to play for ship building materials, enhancement droids and ability materials to upgrade your fleet’s abilities. These challenges are also the primary way to gain more blueprints for your capital ships, which is essential to continue to build up your overall strength in this area of the game.
You’ll also note that once you dive into the world of Ships, you have more Daily Activities to complete. It’s well worth it to do so; not only do specific tasks earn you rewards you can put toward your fleet, but the completion of all Daily Activities now pays off with ship building materials and Fleet Arena Tokens.
Want to expand your fleet? You’ve got quite a few options at your disposal.
While they don’t offer blueprints at the moment, you’ll also want to keep an eye on the other in-game stores for items and resources that can help your fleet. For example, the Cantina Battle Store has ship building materials and enhancement droids for sale, while the Arena Store offers Prestige tokens that can be used to upgrade your Capital Ship abilities.
In other words, keep your eyes open all over Galaxy of Heroes, as you’ll likely find something to benefit your collection of Ships almost anywhere.
If all of this makes you want to dive right into the outer space portion of Galaxy of Heroes, then I’ve done my job. Anyone can start playing with Ships provided they’ve met the following two requirements:
The nice thing is that just by completing the Fleet Commander events, you’ll have a nice start to a very viable fleet to use going forward. Best of luck with tackling all the new content, and we’ll see you out among the stars!
