Star Wars: The Old Republic 'Galactic Strongholds' player housing detailed

Announced back in March, the SW:TOR Galactic Strongholds expansion will introduce player housing to the space opera MMO. While the expansion's Early Access was recently delayed until August , a new BioWare update provides some nitty-gritty on how the free expansion will work and all the fancy things you'll be able to do with your virtual digs.

Players will need to meet a level 15 requirement to access a Stronghold, which can be accessed via a "holo-projected advertisement" on the Fleet. This will trigger a tutorial mission for the Strongholds, which will explain the gist of what you can do. The Stronghold Directory will then allow you to purchase property (with credits or Cartel coins) or look up other players. Strongholds can be managed or travelled to via a new section in the game's main interface.

Strongholds will be customisable via a dedicated editing tool, which uses a simple drag and drop interface. Players can also expand their Stronghold by unlocking doors within the first room. Then, if you want to share your housing temporary or permanent invitations can be sent. If you're inordinately proud of your home, then you can share it on the Public Listing, which will allow members of your faction to visit whenever they wish.

Finally, there's a meta-game for Strongholds: on the Public Listing they are organised by their Prestige score. The more decorations you acquire and the more rooms you unlock the higher your Prestige score.

SW:TOR subscribers will gain access to the Galactic Strongholds expansion from August 19th . Preferred Early Access will begin in September, while content will launch for free-to-play players in October.

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Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.