Ultimate Tourist Guide to Flying the Millennium Falcon
Bright Suns, tourists of Batuu! I understand that you’re in search of jobs at Black Spire Outpost. Well, one of them is undoubtedly available, depending on how you flexible your morality is. An acquaintance of mine named Hondo Ohnaka is always on the lookout for pilots. You’ll have to prove your mettle first, though. You must pass a test on one of the most legendary starships in the galaxy. Here’s the tourist guide to flying the Millennium Falcon.
The Backstory of Smuggler’s Run
Look, I’m going to be real with you. Black Spire Outpost is home to a lot of terrible people-like creatures. The only thing here that will get anyone’s attention is credits, moolah, or what you humans call cash. The only way for strangers to acquire credits is by working a job.
The ones that pay the best are usually the shadiest. You’ll need to engage in a bit of criminal activity on most of these assignments. And Hondo Ohnaka is frequently the one orchestrating the events. The former leader of the Ohnaka Gang during the Clone Wars, he lost many friends in battles with the Empire and has held a grudge ever since.
Hondo Ohnaka cares about two things: gaining credits and getting back at the Empire. The man’s prized possession is the Millennium Falcon, allegedly the fastest ship in the galaxy. He knows that the only way to pull off most of his heists…err, retrievals is with this vessel. Technically, he doesn’t own it but has it on loan from Chewbacca as part of a business arrangement.
As the owner of a legitimate service, Ohnaka Transport Solutions, Hondo has some cargo that he no longer needs. It’s up to you to do something with it. Well, that’s the original story. Once you enter the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, however, Mr. Ohnaka gives you a different mission.
You are to attain some coaxium that isn’t exactly yours. Let’s just say that you’ll need to gun down the transport ships carrying the coaxium. As always with Ohnaka’s affairs, it’s best not to ask a lot of questions. All that matters is that you’re willing to get in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon and shoot down anything that gets between you and the merchandise that someone else owned right up until you shot them. Don’t worry. Revisionist history will suggest that they shot first.
Picking a Role
Flying the Millennium Falcon is a six-creature job, presuming that the creatures have the necessary appendages to push buttons and pull levers. Since you’re traveling with humans, you should be fine.
You’ll need to choose a role in the cockpit. The six participants will select among three different roles. You can be a Pilot, a Gunner, or an Engineer. Each job assignment comes with different duties.
The two pilots will control whether the Millennium Falcon goes up or down, right or left. Trust me. It’s harder than it sounds. There’s a reason why this spacecraft has seen better days. Rookie Pilots tend to fly it straight through solid objects. To be a Pilot, you should brace for failure and accept that the others in the cockpit may shoot you angry looks when you fly poorly.
Engineers have the most important role when Pilots aren’t great. In videogame terms, Engineers are the healers of the group. They fix everything that’s broken. Whenever the cockpit shakes from a collision and red lights and alarms flash, the Engineer must save the day. They also free the “cargo” from its current/rightful owners. The perception is that the Engineers have the least to do during the mission, though. It’s the best role for those who want to watch more than participate.
The Gunners have the easiest role to describe. They shoot stuff. This task is actually quite difficult in execution, though. During the mission, all of the opposing ships that you encounter are capable of quick three-dimensional movement. You run the risk of aiming where they were, not where they will be.
In terms of positioning, the cockpit consists of three different rows. The Pilots sit on the front row, with the up/down navigator on the right and the side-to-side navigator on the left. The Engineers are in the next row, while the Gunners sit in the back of the cockpit.
Attempting the Smuggler’s Run
Everyone has a view of the digital monitor at the front of the spaceship. You can see whether you’re about to die or not, which is helpful information for a passenger. Everyone has a station where you’ll monitor your post.
For the Pilots, the workspace and action gears/buttons are in front of them. The other two players on the left will look to their left to see the various inputs that they can use to do their jobs. For the players on the right, their workspaces are on the right.
The moment that you sit down, you should take inventory of everything that you can do in your job. A few moments of preparation could go a long way toward your ultimate goal of not destroying the Millennium Falcon. The secondary goal is to please Hondo Ohnaka by, you know, doing your jobs.
Ohnaka is happiest when the Pilots aren’t wrecking the ship. He likes it when the Engineers keep the hull from breaching and all of the other maintenance issues fixed/prevented. He especially enjoys when pilots shoot down the opposition and thereby increase the odds of attaining the illicit goods.
To “help” you in your pursuit, Hondo will shout out instructions, berating you anytime that you fail in your assigned task. He is a sarcastic, impatient being who cannot stand failure. He’s also been worn down by the fact that virtually every would-be smuggler on Batuu is terrible at their job.
Ohnaka will ultimately score you on your attempt, and he will take away points for especially poor performances. Since you’re theoretically trying to get credits from your mission, you want to do as well as possible. Should you struggle, you should expect your post-mission briefing with Ohnaka to be awkward. He may even angrily order you to exit the cockpit!
In the end, Hondo Ohnaka is your boss and thereby your judge. He’ll grade you and give you points aka intergalactic credits. You may want to have your datapad/smartphone out when this happens. Doing well on Smuggler’s Run could cause the locals to hold you in higher esteem during your interactions. Plus, you could open new quests at Black Spire Outpost.
None of this is confirmed, of course. I’m just a tour guide who hears things. The whispers that have gotten back to me suggest that Smuggler’s Run is the first step toward becoming a major player on Batuu.