UPDATE 13th November 2010: Crew Skills

Crew Skills are...

The Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ galaxy is rich with valuable resources, high-tech schematics, and intriguing opportunities, but what hero has time to devote themselves personally to so many pursuits? That’s where your crew comes in. The Crew Skills system allows you to take advantage of everything the galaxy has to offer without getting in the way of your adventure! You’ll assign your crew of companions to gather resources, craft useful and valuable items, and even to undertake their own missions, bringing you and the rest of the crew a variety of benefits and rewards. Crew skills keep you in the action while you take advantage of all the galaxy has to offer!



Your Starship is home base for you and your crew. While you’re exploring the galaxy and progressing through your storyline, you can relay orders back to the ship. You’ll be able to assign tasks to your companions to gather resources, to craft items at the ship’s workstation, or to embark on special missions. Based on their personal backgrounds, some companions will be more proficient with certain skills, and the higher their opinion of you, the better they’ll perform across the board.

You will be able to select three Crew Skills for your team to train in from among these main categories:

GATHERING SKILLS:

As you explore planets in the galaxy, you’ll discover a variety of exotic resources and valuable pieces of information. With the right training, you and your crew will be able to scavenge for raw materials, slice computer systems, and track down valuable artifacts. The resources and information you gather can be sold on the open market for a profit, or your crew can use them to craft useful and valuable items. If you like, you can select Gathering skills for all three of the Crew Skill slots
available to your team.

Gathering Skills include:

• Bioanalysis – the practice of collecting genetic material from creatures and plants
  
• Scavenging – the art of recovering useful materials and parts from old or damaged technology
  
• Slicing – a skill in accessing secured computer systems and lockboxes to acquire valuable data and rare schematics

CRAFTING SKILLS:

Whether your team gathers resources or you acquire them through other means, they’ll be the cornerstone of crafting. Depending on how you choose to specialize, your crew will be able to construct armor, weapons, implants, or other types of useful items and gear. You can use these items yourself or put them up on the open market for profit. You’ll receive Crew Skill reports even while you’re away from the ship, and if one of your companions returns with the schematics for a valuable item, you can assign someone else to start crafting the item right away on the ship’s workstation without having to return to the ship! Crafting skills are very specialized disciplines; for your three Crew Skills slots, you’ll be able to select one Crafting skill for your crew to master.

Crafting Skills include:

• Armormech – the ability to work with hard metals and electronic shielding to construct all types of personal armor
  
• Artifice – the delicate work of constructing Jedi and Sith artifacts
  
• Biochem –the engineering of performance-enhancing chemical serums and biological implants

MISSION SKILLS:

Mission skills are a unique addition to the Crew Skills system. With these skills, you send companions from your crew across the galaxy on various missions to recover information, hunt down loot, or complete other goals to bring you rewards. When you use a mission skill, you’ll select a companion, choose a mission from an ever-changing pool, and send that companion out after the prize.
You can choose from a variety of mission skills – is your crew into conducting research? Participating in diplomatic missions? Trading in illicit goods? There are many options, each with their own set of benefits and rewards. Some can even earn you light or dark side points.
As with the other skills, your companions complete these missions on their own time and bring the rewards back when they’re done. Any number of your Crew Skills can be a Mission skill, so get ready to put your team to work!

Mission Skills include:

• Diplomacy – the art of conducting and managing negotiations
  
• Treasure Hunting – the ability to track down and recover valuable items by investigating a series of clues