Everything you need to know if you’re considering buying the Nar Shaddaa Stronghold in SWTOR – layout, hook placement, matching decorations, secrets and recommendations!
Table of contents
Nar Shaddaa Stronghold at a Glance
Fully unlocking most strongholds costs tens of millions of credits. We don’t list specific prices for each stronghold because the amount you’ll spend unlocking all the rooms is nothing compared to the money you’ll have to spend on decorations. Unfortunately, this is a case where if you have to ask, you can’t afford it.
| Expansion Count | 9 |
| Max Deco Count | 475 |
| Centerpiece and Starship Hook Count | 5 |
| Maximum Number of Occupants | 50 |
| Layout | Multi-Level Mansion |
| Style | Glitzy |
| Source | Fleet SH Listings, Nar Shaddaa |
| Release Date | Game Update 2.9, 2014 |
| Usable by Guild? | Yes |
Floorplan and Appearance
Clad in fifty shades of gold, the Nar-Shaddaa Sky Palace is a multi-level floating testament to opulence.
The overall size of the Nar Shaddaa stronghold is most like that of Mek-Sha, though the decorating experience is much closer to that of Tatooine or the Guild Flagships.
Hooks and Room Alignment
Hook and Room Alignment are exemplary. Just like with the Dromund Kaas stronghold, the hook layout in the greatroom is designed to work with the centerpiece hooks outside on the terrace, allowing you to play around with depth.
My only gripe with the entire stronghold is how underutilized this space is as a focal point. There aren’t any hooks on the balconies, and the upstairs window is grated so you can only admire it from the greatroom’s exit if you turn around.
I get the strong impression that the original entrance to the stronghold was on the first floor in the wide open space rather than where it is now on the second floor. The floating starship hook would have connected to one of the three balconies instead of being a detached platform.
There are a lot of reasons that such a change would make sense, chief among them being that the whole thing is floating in the sky, so it doesn’t have to conform to more earthly layouts.
Matching Decorations
Aside from the recently released Utility Deco Bundle, Nar Shaddaa doesn’t have any purpose-built decorations, though stuff from Karagga’s Palace and the Nightlife Event. It’s hard to find anything that clashes with the Sky Palace, but some decos do look better than others nonetheless:
- Luxur (-y/-ious)
- Hutt
- Zakuul
- Eternal
- Imperial
- Republic
- Sith
- Alderaan
- Copero
The opulent style is at odds with the run down charm of somewhere like Rishi or Mek-Sha, but the lighting and color scheme on Nar Shaddaa allow decos from such places to blend right in.
Ease of Decorating
Any stronghold can be decorated easily by just plopping down a thousand Basic Beds, but that’s not what I mean. When I say “ease of decorating”, I am referring to how easy or hard it is to make the stronghold look good.
Some strongholds have well thought-out Hook layouts, reasonably sized-rooms, and a variety of Hook sizes. These sorts of things make it easier to decorate because you don’t have to think as much about where to put things and it’s more about what you want to put in each room.
Other strongholds, particularly the more recent ones, are more difficult to decorate. It’s harder to decorate a stronghold when you aren’t given a lot of space to put decorations, or the room size doesn’t match the hooks, or you can’t line anything up because the devs slapped the thing together in half a day.
Since you need to hit 100% decorated for the Conquest Bonus and get all of your Prestige for Public Listings, the maximum number of decos you can place in a given stronghold also affects how easy it is to decorate.
If the deco count is too high, you’ll be forced to hide a bunch of small decos inside walls and larger decos or end up with a super cluttered stronghold. If the max deco count is too low, your stronghold will likely feel barren or you’ll be forced to leave some rooms undecorated.
| Easy to Decorate | Hard to Decorate |
|---|---|
| Thoughtful hook layouts | Floors and walls are covered with hooks |
| More variety of hook sizes | Less variety of hook sizes |
| Hook sizes match room sizes and shapes | Huge open spaces and tight quarters |
| Appropriate deco maximum | Excessive or insufficient deco maximum |
| Close attention to geometric alignment of architecture | Misaligned architecture and pointless asymmetry |
In terms of decorating gameplay, Nar Shaddaa is best in show. The deco maximum is spot-on, the hooks are exceptional, and the room alignment is precise. The only challenge that comes with decorating the Nar Shaddaa Sky Palace is deciding what to do with it.
You need to have a pretty clear vision if you want the whole thing to feel cohesive or you’ll end up with a museum of sorts. It a side-effect of the stronghold’s moderate size and exceptional versatility. Even then, the closed layout and appropriate maximum number of decos protect not a completely blank canvas like Manaan.
Nar Shaddaa Stronghold Secrets
You can get down and run around on the floating starship hook platform by jumping off the back of the taxi at the entrance. It’s easier to do while mounted.
Jumping is also your only way back up, unless you have Phase Walk or want to exit the stronghold as well because there is no taxi down there.
Nar Shaddaa Stronghold Ideas and Inspiration
Thanks to its incredible deco compatability, you can turn the Nar Shaddaa Sky Palace into just about anything your heart desires.
- Home for your main
- Imperial | Republic | Hutt Embassy
- Cult Headquarters
- Casino and Cantina
- Maximum Security Prison
- Museum
The sky’s the limit for what you can do with this levitating elysium.
Review and Recommendation
The Nar Shaddaa stronghold is a joy to decorate, it’s versatile, it has good hook and room alignment, and looks beautiful.
Category
Score
Ease of Decorating
Hook and Room Alignment
Visual Appeal
I highly recommend getting yourself a Sky Palace as a second home, or at your earliest convience if you love Space Barbie Dream House as much as I do.
