Profit and Plunder - KotFE Chapter 13

War is a difficult thing. To achieve victory in any war (whether in ‘real life’ or in-game) you need a combination of strategy, resources, equipment and some form of advantage. It also takes an acceptance that sacrifices need to be made if you have any chance of winning. Sacrifices, which include people’s lives. If you want to win you have to make difficult choices – and I am pleased that SWTOR has not watered this down when it comes to choices in Fallen Empire. Because war is not free, KotFE Chapter 13 – Profit and Plunder brings to light that you need money to keep your Alliance working.

I like the fact that BioWare don’t water down the complexity of running an operation of this scale. That’s why you need military strength, solid technological research, underworld intelligence and, against the Eternal Empire, a grasp on how to make the most of the Force (whether you are Force Sensitive or not). So let’s see where your funds are coming from!

Untrustworthy Scoundrel Gault Rennow (aka Tyresius Lokki)

After hearing that comms have been blocked with Kaliyo (Chapter 10 – Anarchy in Paradise) and Aric Jorgan (Chapter 11 Disavowed) you are told Hylo needs to talk. She highlights the need for money and introduces you to a Devaronian called Gault Rennow (a Bounty Hunter class companion).

The plan? To loot a stealth ship orbiting a Gas Giant called Vandin, which ‘comes up for air’ once a year (if memory serves me correctly). It’s a floating treasury, hoarding wealth stolen by the Eternal Empire from the worlds they conquered (some may be the Core Worlds).

Meeting Dretcher the Identity Forger

Dretcher has been…relocated by Gault Rennow to keep his skills for himself, and as revenge for trying to blackmail him. No-one ever said you would like all the people you draw into your Alliance, right? Dretcher’s skills are needed because access to the stealth ship – The Guilded Star – has strict access protocols. The plan is to get Senya to pose as Vaylin to give SCORPIO access to the ship’s systems.

Before you can recruit Dretcher however he tries to kill Gault Rennow. So you will have to defeat several rounds of droids which the identity forger has had mail ordered in specially! As there is no time to heal up between rounds, either set Gault to Tank (to take the aggro) or heals. The last doid is a gold-rated one and has a few tough moves so try to stay a fwe paces away during these abilities.

Once you’ve undone Dretcher’s attempt to kill Gault, he agrees, albeit reluctantly to help you with your scheme.

Reuniting with Vette

Your next step is to obtain the warhead part of a missile. Gault has agreed to purchase a missile from some Nikto. But because he is untrustworthy he tries to renage on the deal as he only needs part of the missile. This goes… badly and the result is you gain a bonus mission trying to kill 12 of those Nikto. (This bonus mission is a pain, as you need to back track through the map to find enough of them to kill. But as most bonus missions earn 20k+ it’s usually worthwhile).

Before the raid on the Guilded Star can start you meet the last part of your crew – Vette (Sith Warrior Companion). If you were romantically involved with Vette before your separation 5 years ago when now is your chance to get back with her. She is shocked you’re still alive and, unlike Kaliyo, Vette clearly has missed you. You do get to choose whether to resume your relationship with her or not, but as my Warrior had remained faithful despite not knowing her whereabouts, it was a no-brainer for him!

Time to Raid the Guilded Star

There are a couple of things in Profit and Plunder I really enjoyed – there is plenty of humour throughout this chapter and there are stages where you fight with both Gault and Vette. Vette steals a cannon which she calls Spewie and does not hesistate to take down the Guilded Star crew with it.

Although this chapter has its usual onslaught of Skytroopers, it’s gratifying to see BioWare creating new enemies – specicially officers of the stealth treasury. The mission is a simple step-by-step one, so no puzzles to solve.

Senya and SCORPIO successfully use Vaylin’s identity to gain control of the bridge and Vette unlocks the vault where you leave the war head to basically, vapourise the contents so that Lana can empty the contents into a freighter for transport back to Odessan.

The Boss – Securing Your Profit and Plunder

The boss fight isn’t overly complicated but is a test of endurance. It uses a common model of hovering while shielded at different health levels. You need to despatch each round of extra skytroopers for the boss to be able to be damaged again. As always, watch for the red circles. If you’re a healer class, this takes ages and you do need to watch the health of Gault in particular (Vette comes with 85k HP so can take a lot of damage).

Once you’ve taken down the boss, it’s time for “Plan C” – jump! And get the heck back to Odessan.

Arcann and Vaylin

The relationship between Arcann and his sister Vaylin seems to get more strained the further through Fallen Empire you get. And Profit and Plunder highlights this with Arcann asking Vaylin if “empty threats” are all he can offer him. The concluding conversation with him, has a rather sullen Emperor. His voice contains a hint of sadness we haven’t seen much of. He has spoken about the brother he killed, Thexan, before – with what seems to be regret. His dialogues look back more-and-more – and we are starting to see why he is the person he portrays now: he had a tough childhood, their parents tried to control them and Arcann felt like his mother never understood him.

Creating a sense of affection for your nemesis is a clever play by BioWare, after all it seems your destiny to dethrone and defeat Arcann (which Darth Marr intimates in Visions in the Dark). But how will you judge him once he is defeated?

Celebration and Mourning

Profit and Plunder ends with the Alliance wanting to celebrate their successful raid and drink some booze “which sells more than most freighters”, but your celebrations are interrupted by Major Jorgan and Kaliyo returning from their failed GEMINI Frequency mission. Jorgan lost members of Havoc Squad in the mission and both Aric and Kaliyo blame each other for the failure.

How you deal with that failure is your choice, but I have spotted people on Twitter having Kaliyo executed (probably only an option if you’re already Dark Side, as I haven’t seen it yet). Being a Commander is like being a King, ruling a Kingdom. You have to protect it, decide issues of justice and do what you think is right for your people. And it’s not easy.

TL;DR KotFE Chaper 13 – Profit and Plunder

This chapter is an emotional rollercoaster. You have the humour and victory of raiding the Guilded Star to fund your anti-Arcann Alliance. And you get the kick-in-the-gut of the failed GEMINI Frequency mission. Chapter 13 is cleverly written and does evoke emotions. But just remember, with each choice, you’re moulding the kind of leader you are, and the kind of Empire you are building. And that’s not straightforward!

Screenshots from Chapter 13