KOTOR 2 - Links and Notes

WARNING: the following contains heavy spoilers about KOTOR II. Do not read it if you haven't played the game yet.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: these are loose notes and various links. It is all very pooly organized, as it is mostly just for my own personal use. A lot of it is copy/paste from things written by other people, without attribution. Sorry, I started this as a local text document and at this point I do not remember where I got all the different pieces from. Some of the behaviors described herein are changed in TSLRCM.

ANOTHER WARNING: you saw that there were going to be spoilers, right? If you haven't played the game, stop reading now.

Useful links:
https://www.reddit.com/r/kotor/wiki/kotor2
https://www.aspyr.com/games/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-ii-restored-content-mod
https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Knights_of_the_Old_Republic_II:_The_Sith_Lords
https://www.reddit.com/r/kotor/comments/8rjlzk/tslrcm_on_mac/
https://www.reddit.com/r/kotor/comments/9z05el/i_bought_and_downloaded_kotor_2_from_the_mac/
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=485537937

Lightsaber damage calculator spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_tsSIT8I1Oje9ZFjdlVTLk3g4MnILCJiK3KUIanbt9k/edit#gid=0

Comparison of build combos (base + prestige):
https://www.reddit.com/r/kotor/comments/jngrdg/an_exiles_path_comparing_the_9_possible_pairings/

This one has a lot of good info, but I disagree with some of his opinions
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/xbox/920194-star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-ii-the-sith-lords/faqs/37036

Comprehensive influence guide, including what to say and what to do
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/xbox/920194-star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-ii-the-sith-lords/faqs/34513

Dark side influence advice:
https://www.reddit.com/r/kotor/comments/cmsgyl/advice_for_dark_side_influence_kotor_2/

This one has a nice list of the best available equipment about halfway down the page.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/xbox/920194-star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-ii-the-sith-lords/faqs/36362

This one is a combined mod for Steam with the Restored Content mod plus a mod that adds a whole extra planet (M4-78). You will find a clue on how to get to M4-78 in Korriban's Sith Academy. But some people say it is buggy and breaks other things.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1402798020

Companion build guides:
https://www.reddit.com/r/kotor/comments/8lvizh/optimum_companion_buildskotor_2/
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1234247381
https://www.reddit.com/r/kotor/comments/8t2r5u/kotor_ii_party_build_ideas/
https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/43697-best-time-to-convert/

These pages basically sum up the whole backstory and plot of the game:
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Atris
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Kreia

Decent (and refreshingly brief) Nar Shaddaa Light Side guide: https://www.reddit.com/r/kotor/comments/3z7lxy/kotor_2_ls_guide_to_nar_shaddaa_optimal_route_for/

Skinning/modding guide, with lots of details: https://deadlystream.com/topic/9338-tsl-file-names-for-player-characters/

Links to spreadsheet listing various conversational influence opportunities in an easy-to-follow way:
https://web.archive.org/web/20140131214326/http://www.starwarsknights.com/influence5.php

And here is a guide focusing on various actions you can take while someone is in your party:
https://web.archive.org/web/20140213061441/http://www.starwarsknights.com/influence3.php

Here are all dialog lines with influence effects (in French, but Google Translate does a decent job with it): http://assiste.free.fr/kotor_2/points_influence.html

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Backstory:

from https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Meetra_Surik#The_Dark_Wars :

Full details of Meetra Surik's adventures in the Outer Rim are unknown, but it is known that Atris had orchestrated the Exile's return to known space. In order to trick the Sith into revealing themselves, Atris leaked her return to the galaxy and, predictably, attracted the attention of the Sith Triumvirate.[3] Surik's return from exile into Republic space occurred in 3951 BBY, in a time where Revan had vanquished Darth Malak and the last of the Jedi were being hunted down and exterminated. The Harbinger, a Republic cruiser bound for Onderon, had been ordered by the Republic admiral Carth Onasi—a veteran of the Mandalorian Wars and the Jedi Civil War—to abort the planned trip and head to the Outer Rim in order to pick up Surik. It was requested she be given status as a diplomatic passenger and escorted to Telos IV, though it was made clear that she was to be given no special treatment nor to make any indications of her identity.[8]

These detail what happened after Revan defeated Malak, but before Meetra returned:
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Dark_Wars
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/First_Jedi_Purge

From the second link above:

By the end of the Jedi Civil War, the already depleted Jedi Order had been all but wiped out. Less than one hundred individuals survived to rebuild. As the Galactic Republic hovered on the brink of collapse, the Jedi Order slowly began to deteriorate. Also, a redeemed Revan left Republic space, denying both the Republic and Jedi someone to rally around to rebuild. An intense climate of disillusionment permeated the Jedi ranks, as the few surviving members faced an unprecedented level of anger and resentment from the Republic citizenship who had begun to fear their former heroes. The Jedi themselves were losing faith in the Order, as they began to ask themselves how and why so many of their number had fallen to the dark side over the years. Even members of the Jedi High Council began to question the Jedi teachings.

And also:

It was a dark and chaotic time for the Order. A steady stream of Jedi, including the Jedi Watchmen overseeing several worlds, stepped down, renounced the Order, and were never heard from again.

This is apparently an in-game quote (unconfirmed):

Atris does says "These Sith are cowards, striking from the shadows to kill Jedi. I needed a target to draw them out - but I could not risk my own life, all that remained of the Jedi. So I arranged for you to return to the Republic, leaked information of your past, and then waited for the Sith to come. And they did."

And someone on Reddit said this:

Atris arranged the meeting on Katarr. That's why Atris wasn't on Katarr, but everyone thought she was going to be. She wanted the Sith to attack the Jedi there so she could see the threat striking them, but she didn't anticipate that the entirety of Katarr would be annihilated, alongside all the Jedi there, in the process.

Nevertheless, it must be admitted that Atris was prepared to sacrifice many Jedi simply to discover the threat striking at them, and ultimately was responsible not only for the death of millions of Miraluka, but in some ways for the death of the Jedi themselves. By underestimation of the enemy and a callous lack of regard for the threat she put her allies in, Atris doomed them all to death and gained almost nothing for it in the process.

That quote and the Reddit person aside, there's no mention on https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Atris of Atris arranging the Exile to come back. And that page seems to suggest Atris was surprised at the Exile's return. So maybe Atris didn't do that? Or maybe that's in the game but not canon (after all, Revan going dark again is possible in KOTOR 1, but isn't canon, so every line in the game isn't necessarily canon...)

And someone else said this (super long):

Firstly, the Harbinger (the ship that the Exile was originally on before they got kidnapped by the assasin droid) may not have been up front about their final destination. The Captain's logs suggested that the Harbinger had been ordered by someone high up in the Republic to basically masquerade as a passenger ship - or, at least, to pretend to have been given over to civilian transportation. This was a ruse to get the Exile on board, as just one of a bunch of civilians from the outer rim (the Captain even states he was given very clear orders to treat him/her just like anyone else).

Interestingly, the wording of the Captain's logs doesn't state that Telos was the destination told to the passengers, just that it was where they were ordered to take the "special passenger" to. So it may well have been that the Exile didn't intend to come to Telos (there are certainly no dialogue options to be pleased about reaching it).

Finally, the Exile is stated to have been constantly wandering the outer rim; moving from place to place, never staying anywhere very long. So it seems likely that for him/her, hitching a ride on a ship someplace new was pretty standard procedure. However, the Harbinger's direction was clearly Outer Rim ---> at least closer to Republic space. Plus, Atris has to have found out about the Exile somehow, which suggests that the Exile had not been so deep into the outer rim for a little while prior to the Harbinger. So perhaps despite not intending to get all the way to Telos (which was clearly a result of Atris exerting influence on the Republic) it is clear that the Exile was heading in that direction anyway. When Atris confronts the Exile, it's interesting that she asks why the Exile has returned, but you can never give her a straight answer.

As for what Meetra would have known about before being exiled, someone on Reddit said this:

The Exile returned to Coruscant for judgement more-or-less immediately following Malachor V. The Jedi there referenced the coming of Revan and the outbreak of the Jedi Civil War, but it was clearly in its very earliest stages at that point based upon the way they refer to it, and the uncertainty they all display when discussing it. Revan declared war on the Republic about six months following Malachor, leading me to believe the Exile's trial began about 6-7 months after Malachor.

And this says the Jedi Civil War, which was started by Revan and Malak's return as Sith, started the same year of the Exile's trial: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/3959_BBY

Here's a notable quote from that page:

You have to understand that it was a time of great uncertainly. We just learned that Darth Revan was back with an armada. Every Jedi that went with him was... lost, corrupted, and as dark as their Master. And then there was you. Many thought you were a spy."―Kava

My Thoughts:
The Exile probably left knowing that Revan was back as a Sith. But she wouldn't have known about Revan's near-death, return and defeat of Malak. She was exiled and cut off from the Force, so she abandoned the galaxy to Darth Revan's control. This could have fed into depression, bitterness, and a sense of failure. As far as she knew, Darth Revan was still in charge. Then she finds out that not only was Darth Revan defeated, but Jedi Revan returned and saved the galaxy from the Sith. Only to have that victory squandered by the idiot Jedi and Republic, and the galaxy pretty much turned back over the Sith.

Meetra might have been vaguely aware that the Republic had been on its last legs against the Sith for awhile, and assumed Revan was still in charge. Then she finds out that Revan was redeemed and victorious, and then this is new Sith. That wouldn't sit well.

Of course, Meetra could have learned all kinds of things while in exile. Maybe she was really well-informed. But I don't think we have any actual evidence of this, and it seems more likely that she would not have been.
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/u/BaronDoctor on Reddit said this:

Former Sith Assassin buried in self-loathing.

Astromech Droid who I want to see meet Chopper across time and space so they can have a Legolas-and-Gimli-style counting fight. "That one's still twitching! Brings me to forty two" "It's still twitching because I'm still discharging my shock arm into it and making it convulse!"

The manufacturer and initiator of an indiscriminate weapon of mass destruction so horrible it made a Jedi turn away from the Force and created an echo of so much rage and pain and terror it wounded a supernatural energy field.

Partially-brainwashed semi-escaped cultist on assignment to track you OR abandoned student who watched the collapse of everyone he put on a pedestal.

Current kidnapped / brainwashed Sith Assassin whom you literally almost kill.

Former child soldier employed by a warrior culture to handle explosives OR slayer of his own tribe (death before slavery) who finds himself owing a debt he loathes from his home culture to someone he despises but he's internalized so many of his home culture values he's managed to twist it into wanting her dead instead.

Megalomaniac droid.

Broken and repaired and broken and repaired assassin droid originally of Sith design.

There is no traditional hero here. There is no vaguely-traditional hero story. Kreia isn't set up as some sage mentor. This is a ship of outcasts and losers and failures and people so messed up by life that they have nothing to lose going with you. Kreia is very much set up as an Evil Mentor who doesn't backstab you but tries to set you up to perpetuate her philosophy, and her last lesson is that mentors are bastards and you should forge your own path.

KOTOR 2 is a game-long twist that asks "How do you recover from a traumatic experience?"

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/u/Valirys-Reinhald on Reddit said this. I haven't fully processed it yet, but I think there's a lot in there that I like, particularly the bit where the Light Side is actually in the middle. More general Star Wars than specific to the games, but still good stuff.

The force is a three dimensional spectrum with selfishness/selflessness on one axis, passion/serenity on the second axis, and order/chaos on the third. The light/balance is in the middle, in the state where one recognizes the value and needs of everyone, including the self; feels their passions and lives life to the fullest, *without letting their passions rule them; and maintains discipline and control over themselves and their surroundings to benefit of all, without letting the world become static and succumb to stagnation. The Dark side is found wherever one goes away from the light, and it's all encompassing nature is what makes it so easy to grasp while the singular balance of the light is so precarious and hard to attain. Kreia, in her final form, is balanced along the axes of passion/serenity and selfishness/selflessness, but she has gone to completely to the extreme of chaos, seeking to plunge the universe into a form of destined anarchy by shattering the very concepts of light and balance through killing the force as a whole. Yes, it will prevent the recurrent cycle of war between light and dark, but only because it will plunge the universe into darkness permanently. The darkness is rooted in people, not the force. The light, the balance, the force, exerts a constant and indomitable pull, like gravity, on those who stray from the light. There are a select few who achieve escape velocity and plunge into the cold darkness, but there is no life to be found there in their freedom. Only silence and solitude.

The Dark is easy because it can be found wherever you go, while the light requires constant effort to stay on balance.

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In-game, T3 says to the Exile:

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Jedi Council Members present at the Exile's trial:
Those are all the Council Members the Exile interacts with in KOTOR 2.

After the Exile leaves, they talk among themselves and seems to know, or at least suspect, that she is a Wound in the Force (although they don't use that term - they're more vague). They also mention the possibility of healing the Exile.

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The stuff below is from https://www.reddit.com/r/kotor/comments/10520v4/theory_all_of_kreias_lessons_tend_to_make_you/

Here's a /u/Snigaroo post on Kreia that was really well worded:

Throughout the course of KOTOR 2, Kreia basically has two concurrent plans going: train the Exile, and prepare the Exile for death. If the Exile dies at the heart of Malachor, the internalized echo which the Exile holds within her will be set free, as if Malachor had happened again. This echo would build on the previous one exponentially, eventually growing so strong that it would deafen the force itself. What this means in practical terms is up for debate--how many people would die in the process, for example, is not known. But it would certainly destroy any ability to interact with the Force, or for the Force to interact with the galaxy itself.

This, as u/fullmetalcatalyst notes, is Kreia's goal because of her philosophy. She sees free will as paramount, and views the Force's controlling of events as the single greatest galactic evil. Moreover, she views the loss of life caused by the Force's constant efforts to rebalance the sides (Exar Kun, the Jedi Civil War, the Shadow War, etc.) as tragic and unnecessary. The Force is effectively a godlike entity, in her view, but one which undertakes its management of affairs mindlessly, forcing everyone to work around its conception of balance, a balance which not everyone would even care to struggle for.

So Kreia uses the Exile, and not all in preparation for the events on Malachor. Kreia's decision to hunt for the Jedi Masters and prove them wrong was ad hoc, formulated only after the escape from Telos when T3 shows that he has Atris's archive; Kreia was not even aware that the other Masters were still alive prior to this. As soon as she realized that they were, however, she modified her plans to include not only training the Exile, but training her sufficiently well to prove to the Council that the Jedi Code itself is what is flawed, that Kreia (who also trained Revan) was not the reason why her past pupil fell to the Dark Side, and that the Jedi Order must be restructured in order to have a hope of success. Even then, only when the Jedi decide to sever the Exile's connection again does Kreia decide to execute them for their intransigence.

Kreia also uses the Exile to take revenge on Nihilus and Sion for casting her out. The Exile, as a Wound in the Force, is indeed the only entity that can even stand against Nihilus (he being a Wound who embraced the Force, in many ways the Exile's opposite), and most of the reason behind Kreia's training of her is so that the Exile will be able to kill him when the time comes.

But there's also a much more obvious (but retrospectively subtle) series of events occurring throughout the game: for the most part, Kreia really is just training you. She has ulterior motives, of course; she expects that you must be strong to face Nihilus and Sion, and you must be well-trained to show off to the Masters. But she is also legitimately intrigued by the Exile, even to the point where she is desperate to be respected by her, and she also knows well that there is a chance that she might lose in Malachor, and in that eventuality the Exile must be well-trained and prepared for what is to come next. This is why you face off against your past systemically, from Atris to Dxun to the Masters, to the vision of what you created in the war (Nihilus) to the doomed planet itself (Malachor): you are being trained to come to terms with your past and to overcome it, so that in the eventuality that you win the duel with Kreia, she will still be victor. The Force will not die, but the future generation of Jedi will be trained by one who turned from the Force, is skeptical of it, and knows the flaws of the Jedi well; moreover, she will have trained a Jedi even greater than Revan, a perfect vision of her ideology.

-------------
Someone followed up with a comment that they thought Kreia wanted you to be strong enough to defeat Nihilus and Sion, but not strong enough to defeat her (which is why she steers you away from either extreme of the Force, which would give you a Mastery bonus). Snigaroo responded:

She isn't training you to die--indeed, that's the point of my argument. She is training you at the same time that she is using you. She wants you to be as strong as you can possibly be, not just because she needs you to tie up her loose ends, but because Kreia desperately wants validation--she wants to train someone who is even greater than Revan, a representation of the newfound truth she believes she has seen in the galaxy. She is willing to kill you if that means that the Force itself will cease to exist, but she realizes she might lose that encounter. And Kreia hates losing.

So her training you is not merely a mechanism to achieve her primary end, but a contingency plan. Effectively, if Kreia is defeated by you in the Trayus, her plan for the Force will not come to fruition. But she will at least still 'win' by having trained her greatest student, someone greater than Revan, her masterpiece. She would never try to hamstring you, because she needs you to be better than any she's ever trained before. And, unlike Revan, the Exile starts from a particularly low point.

----------------
And then elsewhere in that same post, JahnnDraegos said this, which I really like because, as much as Snigaroo has thought through all thus super deeply, he's also a Kreia fanboi and in my opinion gives her too much credit sometimes:
Kreia's philosophy isn't about a power grab. It's about personal free will. That's why she'll criticize your choices whether they are light or dark. She never tells you that you're wrong, you'll note; she asks, "Why did you do that?" She's asking you to explore your own motives.

Because what she's really trying to teach you is how to have agency of your own instead of being a tool of the Force. You helped a beggar on Nar Shadaa? Are you sure you did it because you, yourself, wanted to, and not because it's what's expected of you or because that's the role you feel compelled to fit yourself into? Are you sure you're making your own choices here?

This was Kreia's philosophy. There's no hard evidence within the mythology of Star Wars or KOTOR that her philosophy is valid, mind you. She wound up being a tool of the Dark Side pretty badly by the end, after all. But she chaffs at the idea that her free will is being subverted by the will of an unseen power and everything she tries to teach you leads right back to trying to break those chains.

...Never once stopping to consider that breaking chains is a Dark Side thing.

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Here is a Reddit post with a bunch of info about the True Sith from a purely KOTOR II perspective.

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Kreia talking about Arren Kae. One timeline note: Kreia says that Kae was exiled for having a child "when the crime finally came to light almost a decade later" and also says "she joined the Mandalorian Wars after the shame of her birth was revealed".

And here's a big Kae/Kreia thing.

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People on the internet like to make big inferences about Kreia's "indignities" line when describing what Sion may have done to her when he and Nihilus rebeled against her. They connect this to her line about Atton's "indignities", which is related to lustfulness. However, when Kreia actually says the "indignities" line about her experience with Sion and Nihilus, the game (and by implication Kreia, who is relating the experience to the Exile) is showing Nihilus, who is not anywhere close to her, not Sion, who is beating her up. Combined with the common fan interpretation that it was Nihilus who stripped her of the Force, this gives the impresison that being stripped of the Force was the indignity that she was referring to, not a physical assault. That's not conclusive, but neither is the other argument, no matter how strongly people latch on to it.
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The following is pieced together from various sources and may not be completely accurate.
Nihilus was at Malachor V (although whether in an orbital ship or on the planet, and what is previous allegiance was, aren't completely clear). It seems likely that he was in orbit because of an in-game line something like "his ship still bears the marks of Mandalorian guns", speaking of the Ravager. However, this isn't completely conclusive as he could have taken the ship afterward. Anyway, he had a similar affinity to forming connections as the Exile. Like the Exile, all that death overwhelmed him and caused him to become a Wound in the Force but, unlike the Exile cutting themselves off from the Force, Nihilus survived by filling that void through consuming Force-sensitives.

Sion was from Exar Kun's war, and was on Korriban under Revan during the Jedi Civil War. Presumably, Kreia and/or Nihilus came to Korriban between games and picked up stragglers, Sion among them. This is a bit of a retcon, and based solely on in-game events, a lot of people come to the conclusion that Sion was at, and formed by, Malachor V. (Kreia actually says that Sion was "spawned by the horrors of the Mandalorian Wars", and while this could just mean that when he changed from being a normal human Sith to the rock-monster thing we see in the game, it could also imply he was not from Exar Kun's era.)

Kreia needed someone special, who had been wounded by Malachor, to sacrifice at its core in order to amplify the echo and either kill the Force or deafen the galaxy to it. And there weren't a lot of people to choose from. Nihilus and Sion were candidates, but neither turned out to be suitable. The Exile, however, was suitable, which is why Kreia was willing to go to such great lengths for them.

And as Kreia herself says, it isn't enough for her to win. She wants to be proven right. Kreia values self-acutualization and what she sees as improvement. She wants somone who will study and accept her teachings. Neither Nihilus (driven by hunger) or Sion (driven by rage) are much interested in philosophy. Both Nihilus and Sion are incredibly attached to the Force, Nihilus by his need to consume it (via consuming the life it creates and sustains) and Sion by his reliance on it to sustain his unnatural life. Neither are prepared, or even able, to even consider walking away from the Force. But Kreia hates the Force and wants to reduce or end the galaxy's reliance on it, so students/subjects that are growing continually more attached to it are the opposite of what she's after. The Exile, on the other hand is perfect for her.

However, some of that may not be terribly relevant, as it is unclear whether Kreia was on her crusade against the Force before Sion and Nihilus rebel against her. At a minimum, her plan probably wasn't fully formed. So at the beginning, she may have been looking for apprentices/allies who could help destroy the Jedi (who Kreia was pissy at after they expelled her). There's a good case to be made the Kreia fully embraced the Jedi philosophy when a Jedi, then flunked out after she wasn't really able to follow it. Then she fully embraced the Sith philosophy when a Sith, and flunked out when her apprentices rebelled, beat her up, and stripped the Force from her. And that it was only after that, having tried the Force from both directions, that she decided the Force (and reliance on it) was the real problem, and that both dogmas suffered irrepairably from it, so it all needed to be burned down. If that's true, then she initially recruited and trained Sion and Nihilus strictly as Sith apprentices.

There is apparently (I have not confirmed this) a line where Kreia says to Atris that she (Kreia) was the person who asked Atris to exile the Exile, and Atris either does not dispute this, or says she (Atris) did as she was told (I think those are separate lines in the same dialog tree and you get either one or the other?) If so, then Kreia:
Could Kreia have been wanting the Exile separated from the Jedi that long ago, because Kreia already had designs on her? If so, that could mean her plan to use the Malachor echo was already at least formative. Or it could mean that she thought the Exile could be converted to the Sith. Or whatever Revan's new organization was at that time, because he didn't go instantly Sith, right? Or if Kreia was already aware of Nihilus, maybe she wanted the Exile available to counter Nihilus. Most fan speculation is that it took some time (years, probably) for Nihilus to become the world-devouring Wound we see in KOTOR II. But maybe Kreia saw where that was going, or was at least concerned it might, and wanted the Exile for that eventuality. However, how does the Exile being Jedi preclude that - it seems easier to get a Jedi to take out a Sith than it does to call back an Exile from Wild Space and convince them to take up an old fight.

Mical has a line about Force Bonds sometimes being formed through shared trauma and suffering. Which is kinda what happened with the Exile and Kreia aboard the Ebon Hawk before Peragus when they were fleeing the Harbinger. Of couse, Force sensitives are in tough spots together often in Star Wars without such bonds, but betwen Kreia's knowledge and the Exile's penchant for easily forming bonds, this may have been a special circumstance that Kreia caused, not via the Force (she says in-game she doesn't have the Exile's ability to form connections) but via her understanding of how to manipulate the Exile's ability. Regardless, if Kreia has come very quickly from being abused at Malachor by Sion and Nihilus and has only recently been cut off from the Force, she may be almost as weak as the Exile, and almost completely dependent on her knowledge, rather than her power, at the beginning of the game. There may be subtext where Kreia is regaining her connection to the Force alongside the Exile, at roughly the same pace. This would be a neat fourth-wall break where the XP/leveling process is indicative of their reconnection to the Force. And that fits nicely with the Jedi Masters saying the Exile gained strength as they took lives throughout their journey, which is also kind of a fourth wall break. The point is, there's no reason to think it has been very long since Kreia was beat up, and maybe even good reason to think it hasn't been very long. Well, the fact that Kreia seems pretty far long in her philosophy about hating the Force might be a reason to think it'd been awhile - surely she didn't cook up that whole attitude, and her master plan with the Exile, all in a day or two while on the run. But it is possible she'd been leaning this way for awhile before the breaking of the Triumverate, and also possible that her going that direction was a catalyst for Sion and Nihilus to attack. As beings completely dependent on the Force, they might see her growing new attitude as a mortal threat.

One of Kreia's pivotal lines, after the death of the Jedi Masters, is "And that is what I sought to understand: how one can turn away from such power. Give up the Force and still live." So it is possible that her new philosophy wasn't fully formed - she herself says she was still seeking to understand this. So Kreia's character journey may really be about maturing this initially-nascent idea that the galaxy can exist without the Force. She may be pretty certain it'd be better off without the Force from the beginning, but not know how realistic that is. As much as she hates the Force, it seems likely that she doesn't hate it enough to end all life in the galaxy by killing it. But can it be killed (or at least subdued) without ending all life? She may not be sure at first. So she uses the Exile to find out, and at the same time comes to understand that the Exile is also the key to making that reality happen. In other words, Kreia may know a whole lot less at the beginning than she lets on.

Given that Sion's plan and Nihilus' behavior before KOTOR II seems to be "destroy all Jedi", this seems not unreasonable. They're following the path Kreia already set them on. Only she's decided that's not the right path after all. But at the beginning of the game, there's nothing she can do about it. She's still too weak to face Sion, having not recovered from her separation from the Force, and Nihilus has advanced to where the Exile is probably the only person who can defeat him, due to her mirror condition as a Wound in the Force. So from this perspective, we meet Kreia fairly early in her new understanding, and we (as the Exile) are probably the first person she tries out her new ideas on.

However, there's also no hard evidence that it hadn't been long either. It could easily have been a year or more. And it is possible that Kreia spent that entire time powerless and separated from the Force. It might have been the Exile's presence, (and resulting Force bond) that allowed her to regain her connection - without the Exile it might never have happened. So a less-rushed timeline would be that Nihilus and Sion betray Kreia and separate her from the Force, she spends a year (or two? more?) developing her new philosophy, and then the Exile shows up allowing her to do something about it. So it is also possible this idea isn't new to Kreia. Could be fun to write it different ways in different fanfics.

Kreia is evasive about what she was doing after Malachor V. She apparently found and took over Revan's academy there. It is possible she was actually at the battle, maybe even on the planet surface. She does say something to the effect that she was following Revan's path, searching for him, but isn't clear exactly what she means by that either. So she may also have come across the academy after the battle during this "following" phase. KOTOR II says that Revan talked to Kreia after the Mandalorian Wars about how to leave the Jedi order (at least, I'm pretty sure that's when it happened). Which means she was somewhere that Revan knew how to find her, and that he had access to, and that she was agreeable to talking to him. This is a little problematic if he wanted her dead at Malachor - presumably Revan was capable of killing her, so he either changed his mind about wanting her dead, or something else prevented him from killing her. It is also problematic if she was already starting her own flavor of Sith - presumably Revan would have considered that a threat and shut it down with extreme prejudice. But then again, Revan was a practical person and so was Kreia, so it is possible that Revan saw their goals aligning enough to keep her around to break Jedi and train Sith for him. There seem to be some conflicting things to work out here. It is, of course, possible that she was at Malachor V for the battle, left, then came back. But the timing of the Revan conversation is still tricky, unless it happened before Malachor V (which I guess is also possible?)

There is this exchange in KOTOR II on Malachor:

Exile: "And Revan? He came here, was here. What happened to him?"

Kreia: "It is because he remembered what lay buried here - this place, its teachings. It paved the way to Korriban, you know, its remnants here. And because Malachor, like Korriban, is on the fringes of the Ancient Sith Empire, where the Sith wait for us, in the dark."

Some other pieces of info, not sure how or if they apply:
HK-47's speech about Revan, Malachor, and breaking Jedi
Bastila's holocron: ""I've become certain there is something he remembered in the Unknown Regions. It is a technique he learned fighting the Mandalorians, that allowed him to convert the last of the Jedi who fought beside him - and murder those who would not. And he fears it is still out there... and silent for far too long." (when is this from? I got it off Reddit but haven't confirmed it)
There's a comment with a lot of relevant quotes here, even if I'm not sure I agree with all of it.

When was this visit by Revan to Malachor that Kreia was referring to? It could have been after the Mandalorian Wars, before he went to the True Sith the first time. But the "remembered" bit makes it sound a little like it was after the Jedi Civil War, after the Star Forge and the conclusion of KOTOR I. It also doesn't say that Kreia was at Malachor when Revan made this visit or, even if she was, that she and Revan met/spoke.

Per a comment by Snigaroo, there are good reasons to think she was on the surface of Malachor V:

This is just my thought, but based on her personality, it seems likely that she could have participated in the Mandalorian Wars as a teacher at Revan's academy on Malachor V. And been left there to die by Revan. Her survival would have positioned her ideally to take over - as a former instructor, and perhaps even its administrator, she would already be an authority figure there, and also know everything she needed to about it. Arguments against are that Wookieepedia says she found Trayus Academy while searching for Revan, but what is that based on? And if she was tasked by Revan with fighting on the surface (per Snigaroo's comment above), she'd have already known about it, right? I guess it is one area on an entire planet, so maybe not, but still - it seems disingenious to say she learned about it when searching for Revan when she'd already been on the planet's surface.

Why didn't Nihilus and Sion kill Kreia on Malachor? Nihilus strips her of the Force (implied rather than shown, I think) and Sion beats her up. She was at their mercy. They are both fully dependent on the Force, so maybe they saw her as both no longer a threat, and being more thoroughly punished and humiliated by being made to live without the Force? What they did could have seemed more cruel to them. It is also possible they thought she was either dead, or dying because she would not be able to live without the Force. There is cut content that says Nihilus assumed he had killed Kreia, so this seems likely. Also, it is even possible they locked her up and she used her influence and manipulative skills to have one of the seemingly-endless number of Sith that you have to kill in the endgame let her out. Or used her knowledge of the Academy to break out even without the Force. She could have then either stolen a ship, or taken the Ebon Hawk (if it was there, which is a big unknown). Kreia was pretty good at being sneaky, and also in-game has a line about people developing their non-Force skills. So the sneaking out part she could manage.

It is an open question whether Sion actually wants to kill Kreia, or if he wants to break her. Or maybe he's not content with killing her until he break her. There's a line you only get with a male Exile: ""I will bring his corpse to her. Cast it at her feet. I will kill all she protects, all she shields, until her hands are drenched in blood". It also seems like Sion had the opportunity to kill Kreia on the Harbinger at Peragus, when he cuts off her hand. Or at least give it a lot better try than he did. So it is possible that, in the particular case of Kreia, he's more interested in destroying her than in killing her. There's also the added dimension that (assuming the bit about him being from Exar Kun's time is correct, as it seems to be) he's actually a lot older than her. So being bossed around by this young poser who he can toss around like a rag doll may not sit well with him, and simply killing her would be insufficient.

Also, in the aforementioned cut content, Sion tells Nihilus that he has completed killing off the Jedi Order, and that his alliance with Nihilus is finished. If this confrontation happens before the events of KOTOR II, this helps explain why they seem to be operating completely separately in KOTOR II, rather than in conjunction as the Sith Duo replacement to the Sith Triumverate. There's a good argument for this timeline, as everyone seems to consider the Exile to be the last of the Jedi, so if she was already back and Sion knew about her, he wouldn't think he had finished killing the Jedi. This link has even more versions of their cut confrontation, some of which don't make much sense (Sion kills the Exile. What?). I'm a little unclear whether this is actually cut content that mods are restoring, or if this is fan-created content. So not sure how authoritative these are. It seems likely to me that the audio is authentic cut content, probably from discarded plotlines, but that the visual presentation is fan created. That's just a hunch, though.

There is more cut content from near the end of the game here, but it is only barely related, not restored by TSLRCM, and probably not worth being considered canon. But it might help with context.
Also, there is a bunch of cut audio here, which is also of dubious authority and usefulness.

And here is supposedly all of Kreia's audio. Apparently there is a line where she says "I did not wish to kill you so they cast me down . . . stripped me of my power. . . exiled me." [Filename: 907kreiaend015.wav]. But I never found it. If I ever do, I should record the timestamp.

In two of the videos from the "5 versions", Sion is in Trayus Core. He sees either a hologram or vision of the Exile, then is told that "she" lives. He then tells his lackey to prepare his ship and that he would "attend to this" himself. Then it shows him on the Ravager telling Nihilus that Kreia still lives. In both versions it seems that the "she" is referring to the Exile. One shows Sion killing the Exile, the other has that in the dialog. But if I play mix-and-match with the videos and make my own head canon, it could have gone like this:
Another possibility for why Nihilus and Sion didn't kill Kreia is that Kreia's hold over Nihilus and Sion is so strong that, while both want her dead, neither is willing to strike the killing blow. So the "we'll let her die slowly" thing is an unspoken way out for both of them: neither has to actually kill her, and neither has to show weakness by being unwilling to. The things they say afterward are after-the-fact rationalizations and coping with the fact that neither could break free from her enough to actually do it.

Yet another is she used her "play dead" thing that she did on the Ebon Hawk in the KOTOR II prologue, and they actually think they did kill her.

==================

The pre-Peragus events of KOTOR II are complex, confusing, and inconsistent. Out-of-game, that's probably because the game was rushed to release and this was all never cleaned up as it should have been. In game, we are left making assumptions like characters are confused by the fog of war, misremembering, or lying. We're also left considering whether we should introduce artifacts like ships that were never mentioned just to make things make sense. Below, I try to work through all this based on in-game content, Wookieepedia, Reddit posts, and my own theories.

Here is a discussion about what took place immediately before KOTOR 2 starts: from reddit

And here's another (look for Snigaroo comments): also from reddit

The Captain of the Harbinger, apparently at Carth's orders, diverts from a planned trip to Onderon to the Outer Rim to pick up the Exile and one or more unidentified people. The Captain is to consider the Exile a diplomatic passenger, but to not let the Exile know they're receiving special treatment. The Harbinger then sets course for Telos to bring the Exile to Carth. It is unknown whether the other passenger or passengers were also being taken to Telos, or somewhere else. Or if the Exile even knew they were going to Telos. There are many possibilities, ranging from there being only one other person who was an acquaintence/associate of the Exile, to there being a large group of refugees that the Exile was blending into. If something like the latter, the Captain could have been pretending to be on a mission to assist refugees when in fact he was on a mission to retrieve the Exile.

Additional notes from the Harbinger Captain's Logs:
Other things I noticed in my 2024 playthrough:

Summary:

HK-50, in conversation with the Exile on Peragus, says:
Kreia, in the conversation in the cockpit of the Ebon Hawk just after leading Peragus en route to Telos, says:

The Harbinger logs say:
Reddit thinks that Carth summoned the Exile back to the Core to help himself and Bastila find Revan. And that the only reason he knew to do so was that Atris was leaking info about the Exile. (Presumably, Atris was leaking this info to draw out the Sith. Which I guess kinda worked.) Need to confirm all that.

Carth does say this to Lieutenant Grenn (over communicator) after the Exile leaves Citadel Station for Telo Surface as Carth is approaching Citadel Station on the Sojurner: "The Republic has decided not to take the exile into custody and has adopted a wait-and-see approach." So apparently the original plan was to arrest the Exile when the Harbinger arrived on Telos, but that changed. Unsure if the arresting bit was just to keep them around until Carth could get there to talk to them, or if there was more to it.

If Atris was leaking info, it could explain a lot of things:
So basically, Atris points a beacon at the Exile, and a lot of interested parties all follow it, ending up in the same place at the same time, and all hell breaks loose.

At some point, Carth and the Harbinger captain have a conversation where Carth is basically having the captain confirm that he's absolutely certain about the ID and has visually confirmed that it is from the freighter. That dialog is a little janky, but it sounds like Carth is surprised that Revan's ship has shown up in this way, and wants to be absolutely certain before really believing it.

At some point, the Harbinger medical officer says everyone on the Ebon Hawk was dead. Who is "everyone"? Is Kreia already "dead" before the Harbinger picks up the Hawk? Why would he say "everyone" if there was only one person? Could Sith assassins have boarded the Hawk and been killed? By T3? By Kreia? If there were dead Sith assassins (killed by either T3 or Kreia) then Kreia wasn't necessarily "dead". She could still have been either hiding on the Hawk, or on a separate ship that had not yet arrived. I need to confirm what the medical officer says in-game.

T3 does mention to the Exile that he was trying to repair HK-47 and that he was searching for the Exile. But he does not mention Kreia. (I need to confirm in-game) Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but this is an argument against Kreia being on the Hawk.

Going back even earlier, at some point during or after the Mandalorian Wars, Kreia discovered Revan's academy on the remains of Malachor V. She rebrands this as Trayus Academy and starts her own Sith faction there. (Need to confirm all that)

Here is a sequence of events (of my construction) that consideres (almost) all the above, without requiring anyone (even Kreia) to be lying.:
The one thing this does not explain is why the Harbinger logs say "everyone" on the Ebon Hawk was dead, when a different log implies nobody was there, and we have no indication at all that anyone other than Kreia was possibly on the Hawk, and even she probably wasn't there yet. It is not inconceivable that the Hawk had been boarded by Sith, who were killed by T3, who remained partially functional but was damaged in the battle. That would reconcile the Harbinger logs by taking the perspective that the entry saying they found only a lone T3 unit really meant "the only thing they found alive and at least partially functional was a lone T3 unit". And the second log entry, about everyone being dead, was referring to Sith that T3 killed. That's a huge stretch, but this is hard to explain.

If we say that Kreia was already on the Hawk with T3, the only things that need to change are:
In that case, the "everyone" being dead was an exaggeration - they found one dead person and some disabled droids. Or could some of Kreia's own Sith have boarded the Hawk at Malachor, trying to stop/kill her after her betrayal by Nihilus and Sion, and she killed them then hid? That would give multiple dead people, but also explain why "dead" Kreia wasn't removed from the Hawk by the Harbinger crew. This wouldn't necessarily have occurred immediately after the betrayal - Kreia could have been imprisoned for awhile or whatever, then T3 shows up in the Hawk giving her a way to escape, and the Sith minions board while trying to stop her.

While the exact timing of the failures caused by HK-50 are unclear, they are, according to his statements to the Exile on Peragus, bounded per the above. One possibility (my speculation) is that HK-50 caused the initial minor failures to prevent anyone from discovering/releasing the Exile from the cargo hold, and that HK-50 planned to leave the Exile therein until arriving at Telos, where HK-50 would smuggle them off. HK-50 then became aware of the impending Sith attack and was trying to control the situation in order to get the Exile off the Harbinger in the Hawk. It is also possible that HK-50 was planning to completely disable the Harbinger and use the failures to kill everyone on board, fly the Harbinger wherever he wanted, and take the Exile off at his convenience. This second possibility would fit well with his actions on Peragus.

Fan theories tend to envision some sort of running battle between Kreia and HK-50 when one or the other was trying to get the Exile off the Harbinger in the Hawk, with each trying to claim the Exile as their own prize, with Kreia ultimately winning by trapping the HK-50. But that doesn't match the HK-50's claim that it was "salvaged" from the Harbinger along with the Exile. That could have just been misleading wording by the HK-50. But Kreia could have found the HK-50, maybe disabled by the Sith during the battle, in the process of finding the Exile, and thought it was Revan's HK-47 (which she could have had previous knowledge of). She might have assumed it was trying to *save* the Exile rather than *capture* the Exile, and taken it along as well to help figure out where Revan was. Then upon getting to the Hawk and finding the real HK-47 in the storage compartment, she could have realized what was happening, or at least been confused, and locked the HK-50 in with HK-47. Then gotten "dead" in the attack. Or she could gotten to the cargo hold at roughly the same time as the HK-50 and they formed a temporary alliance to get the Exile off, with each planning to betray the other (which presumably Kreia wins, as the HK-50 is locked up).

It is notable that Kreia doesn't mention the HK-50, and the HK-50 doesn't mention Kreia. If either was heavily involved with the other, it seems like the would have. Specifically, when Kreia sends the Exile off to see what happened to the Peragus mining facility, it seems like if there was an advanced assassin droid running around that Kreia knew was hunting the Exile, then Kreia might have mentioned it, at least in some hidden/veiled fashion. But she said absolutely nothing.

We have no proof HK-47 was in the storage compartment while before the Hawk leaves Peragus. The Peragus droids had been all over the Hawk repairing it (at HK-50's orders) while it sat at Peragus. They could have moved HK-47 from somewhere else on the Hawk. We never make it into the port dormitory during the Prelude where T3 is solo fixing the ship, do we? And aren't there other broken/collapsed areas that HK-47 could have been under?

How does T3 go from "badly damaged" when found by the Harbinger crew to apparently in fine working order in the Prelude? Could they have mistaken 3C for a T3 unit? Did T3 do something to 3C to make them think that, then hide? Did T3 self-repair in the interim?

Here is one kinda wild possibility: Kreia arrives on the Harbinger and, together with 3C, find the Exile in the cargo hold. With 3C's help Kreia transports the Exile to the Hawk. HK-50 arrives at the cargo hold, finds the Exile gone, and starts searching. It catches up just as Kreia and 3C are dragging the Exile onto the Hawk. HK-50 shoots Kreia in the back just as they board. 3C and the badly-wounded Kreia finish dragging the Exile onto the Hawk. 3C holds off the HK-50 while Kreia gets the Exile to the medbay and places the Exile on the bed. Kreia then tries to return to help 3C, but collapses and "dies" on the way (which explains where she is laying). Notice that Kreia never saw who shot her, and likely assumes it is one of the Sith attackers. And HK-50 never interacts with the "live" Kreia, thinks she is actually dead, and therefore doesn't pay her much mind or have any reason to mention her later. 3C can't hold off the HK-50 and is forced to retreat to the Hawk's main hold, where HK-50 disables it and locks it in for good measure. (Maybe with an unintentionally ironic comment about how astromech droids have an annoying habit of self-repairing.) The HK-50, which did not see the Exile taken to the medbay, then returns to the central area to find the Exile. T3, at the console in the communications area, activates something in the kitchen/storage compartment that makes a noise. The HK-50 assumes this is the Exile, and enters the storage compartment. T3 uses the console to seal the door. T3 then pilots the Hawk off the Harbinger. QED.

Regardless of how they all got there, when the game starts:
Kreia's location would be an odd place for her to be "dead" if she had "died" piloting the ship away from the Harbinger. This location makes it seem like she was focused on the HK-50, while T3 handled piloting duties.

Whoever placed the Exile in the medbay apparently had sufficient time and ability to lift her onto the bed and position her properly. Neither T3 nor the other astromech (or the two together) seem likely to be capable of this, given their size. So it was either Kreia or the HK-50.

What about 3C-FD? It is the other astromech droid from the Prologue that T3 can repair, and which can help T3 manipulate the garage doors to get to the starboard side of the ship? Where is it from? How did it get damaged? From randomly being tossed about in the battle? From helping Kreia with the HK-50? Something else? If it participated in the post-Harbinger events before the Prologue, how (and why) did it end up in the Cargo Hold? Where did it originate? On the Harbinger? Or did it come with Kreia (either when she boarded the Ebon Hawk before the Harbinger if she was already on it, or on her other ship if she arrived separately at the Harbinger)? Or could it have even been on the Hawk from before all this (when it crashed on Nathema, if we're going by the Revan book)? Or picked up somewhere when T3 was flying around looking for help for Revan? It seems challenging for Kreia, who at least gives the impression of not having much strength in the Force at the beginning of the game, to have bodily picked up the Exile and carried her to the Hawk during a Sith attack. Could 3C have been Kreia's droid who helped her with this?

Are we "sure" HK-47 was already nonfunctional when all this started?

===========

Jedi Council members around the KOTOR era:

===========

The Exile's connection to the Force:

As with many things, the game is a bit vague and murky, probably on purpose. There are a lot of well-established fan theories that people by now tend to take as fact. But some of that, while convincing and probably true, is still just fan speculation. Things we know for sure:


Very early in the game, on Peragus, before you find Atton, Kreia helps you feel the Force again, guiding you to sense the hostile mining droids on the other side of a door. After that, the game, not Kreia, says "Gaining experience will slowly reestablish your connection to the Force. Go to the level up screen to choose your Force abilities." It is notable that it is the game saying this this, not Kreia, so we can't just say that it is Kreia lying or misleading. And it is notable that the game outright says that you will "reestablish your connection to the Force." We can stil add "through others" to the end of that if we want, and I've taken that interpretation in a fanfic series. But that almost feel like changing the plain meaning of what the game directly said to us as the player. So it is not unreasonable or contradicting the game to take the position that the Exile actually does reestablish their own connection to the Force.

===========
A bit of info on modding:

Now on to the actual filenames, for example the first player entry in appearance.2da "P_FEM_A_SML_01" has PFBAMA in the texa column. Those letters come from
Player
Female
Body
A (the underwear column)
M is a bit of a leftover from K1, which has different underwear for different classes (S, M, L)
A for Asian/Hispanic (btw B = "Black" & C = "Caucasian")
Finally there is a number, a texture variation number that's in the item file (.uti). For underwear it's just 1 (always 2 digits so 01). Final filename: pfbama01.tpc/tga (case insensitive). For other outfits there are different texture variations.

Advanced:
To find which texture an item uses you first again use "Detailed info of 2da files" to look up the column.
For example the n columns are for the Jedi Knight/Master model. In column texn you find PFBN (Sticking with the P_FEM_A_SML_01 row, although the skin colour is not relevant here, there's no A for Asian).
Now you need to find the texture variation number for a certain item (robe). You need to find the item template file (.uti). You can look it up at GameBanshee.
Random example: Dark Jedi Knight Robe
-> Template: a_robe_14
Now you open that item template (Kotor II -> BIFs -> templates.bif -> Blueprint, Item -> a_robe_14.uti), you find that the texture variation is 4 (-> 04). Final filename: PFBN04.tpc/tga.

https://kotor-modding.fandom.com/ has more modding info

===========

Alignment trick for darksiders who want to side with Geeda on Nar Shaddaa for the advanced items that Geeda sells, but who do not want to take the Light Side points: let Atton do it. Assuming TSLRCM is active, there's a sequence where Atton, T3-M4, and Hanharr/Mira fight their way to Tienn Tubb. At least in 1.8.6, Atton can talk to both Oondar and Geeda during this sequence, and any alignment adjustments will not affect the main character. Avoid talking to other party members as Atton, as you can inadvertently lock the main character out of influence conversations.

===========

Light-siders will regenerate Force Points slowly (or not at all) in the Korriban Cave. (Dark-siders will be fine, they feed off the cave's Dark Side energy). You can compensate for this by taking the Drain Force power and using it on enemies. This even matches up pretty well story-wise with the Exile's ability to make connections.

===========

Tips:

- make sure to install TSLRCM
- side with the Ithorians on Citadel Station
- If I have the Handmaiden in my party, do not speak to Visas until I have trained the Handmaiden completely (I'll know what this means when I get there).
- save Korriban for last, and make sure my character's alignment is well-established before I do it
- completed quests on Nar Shaddaa contribute to triggering a plot event which will immediately force you to progress along a very linear and difficult path, and that certain quests will become unavailable after that trigger fires (note that this trigger is not the Red Eclipse encounter). Attempt to travel between modules as little as possible and be as completionist as possible in the time you have, so that you can complete what quests you need to before the trigger occurs. In particular: travel to the Docks, then the entertainment module, before you travel to the Refugee zone, and delay doing the Red Eclipse as long as you can. Also be aware that some conversations can be listened in on with stealth.
- Certain companions like Light Side actions whilst others like Dark Side actions, and some like both. Still other companions care more about the manner in which they are treated than the "alignment" of your choices (although that doesn't mean that they don't take alignment into account); Kreia, for example, does not like having her opinions ignored or disregarded. To an extent, it is up to the player to find out what all of their companions favor.
- Because KOTOR 2 is a game which is, in many ways, driven by the story of your companions, it is highly important to unlock as much of their unique dialogue as you can, and therefore it might well be prudent for the player to actively choose to get high influence with companions which are similarly ideologically aligned to them and low influence with companions who do not agree with their choices, so the player can unlock all of their companions' unique dialogue without having to take actions which are not in keeping with their preferred alignment.
- If you get a companion's influence in KOTOR 2 as low as it'll go, it'll give you the same dialogue and rewards as if you get their influence very high.
- Money is pretty easy to come by, and there aren't many rare expensive items. It is more about upgrading good stuff than buying it. If you need money, crafting and selling stuff is effective.
-You can see all available party members' equipment screens while on the Ebon Hawk.
- HK-47 can become a team member if you find and install all of his parts. However, he is not necessary.
- T3-M4 is a moving upgrade bench
- Give your Jedi members different colored lightsabers to help remember who has what (change the colors on the workbench).
- Use concussion, cryo, or adhesive grenades to hold enemy and then throw frag, plasma, or sonic grenades to damage.
- Team members on the Ebon Hawk will make you stuff if you have less than 10 of whatever it is they make

Lightsaber forms:
- generally: III
- single boss (unless they use a lot of Force powers against you): VII
- single boss who uses a lot of Force powers, or mobs of lightsaber users: II

=========

The Exile's personal lightsaber crystal, at max level gives:
Light Side: +5 STR, +6 DEX, and +7 WIS
Dark Side: +5 DEX, +6 CHA, and +7 STR
Gray: +4 STR, +4 DEX, +4 CHA, +5 WIS, and +5 CON

Depending on your build, the Gray one isn't bad.

=========
Skills and Crafting:

You companions can craft for you, so if they have a higher skill than you, use them.

For breaking things down into components/chemicals
Workbenches: Repair
Lab Stations: Treat Injury
Some guides/posts will say that only the main character's stat matters when breaking down, even if a companion is being controlled. But TSLRCM fixes this, so the main character is not obligated to have a high Repair or Treat Injury to optimally break things down.
Big writeup on skills
Decent T3 repair still requirement summary in comments on this post

The highest DC to recover mines is 45 (50 on Hard). Given that out-of-combat you always "roll" a 20 on skill checks, the highest adjusted Demolitions needed to recover any mine is 25 (30 on Hard). The only minefield you face solo is "Tomb of Ludo Kressh" on Korriban. So if you're willing to skip recovery here, Demolitions can be covered by a companion. You only need adjusted Demolitions of 10/15 to recover the Tomb mines, so minimal main character investement is another options.

You need an adjusted Stealth of 22 to pass the hardest opponent Awareness checks (in the final area Trayus Crescent). If you even bother with Stealth. It is generally pretty useless, but a Watchman or Assassin might use it combined with Sneak Attack for a nice bonus. There are a few areas where Stealth is advantageous but not necessary. Low levels of Stealth are generally sufficient for these.

The games scales the DC of (at least some) locks (and therefore Security needed to open them) with character level. The hardest DC is 28+level (33+level on Hard difficulty). So the Security required is 8+level/13+level. That can be tricky to get. You can get there via INT bonuses (Master Valor, Ossus Keeper Robe, etc.). HK-47 should take at least 10 (15 on Hard) for the TSLRCM area that he has to do solo.

Skill priority for the main character (disregarding class skills) is generally:
Persuade (27) > Repair (21) > Computer Use (21) > Awareness (15) > Security (no max) > Treat Injury (no max) > Demolition (10/25) > Stealth (22)
Numbers in parens are adjusted target values for Normal difficulity, disregarding crafting.
That list considers the stuff that companions can generally do for you

To craft what is generally considered the best stuff, somebody should have (adjusted, including all bonuses, relevant skill shown):
Master Valor gives +5 to attributes, so at worst, it gives a +2 bonus to the adjusted skill level. And various gear has additional bonuses.
Generally speaking, these are the best skills to invest in for each companion. You might adjust this for specific builds, depending on your plans, needs, and what the main character will take. Skills are noted as either High priority or Low priority. Skills with no value aren't (again, generally speaking) important for that companion.

Class Skills Matrix:
Demolitions, Awareness, Persuade, Treat Injury
Class Persuade Computer Use Stealth Awareness Repair Security Treat Injury Demolitions
Scoundrel X X X X X
Scout X X X X X
Soldier X X X
Expert Droid X X X X
Combat Droid X X X X X
Tech Specialist X X X X X
Jedi Consular X X X X
Jedi Sentinel X X X X X X
Jedi Guardian X X X X

Companion Class Matrix:
Party Member Scoundrel Scout Soldier Expert Droid Combat Droid Tech Specialist Jedi Consular Jedi Sentinel Jedi Guardian
Atton X X
Bao-Dur X X
Disciple X X
GO-TO X
Handmaiden X X
Hanharr X
HK-47 X
Kreia X
Mandalore X
Mira X X
T3-M4 X
Visas X

General Skill Matrix:

Notes:
- specific main character builds may want to optimize differently for a particular playthrough.
- this requires GO-TO and T3-M4 to both take the Class-Skill:Demolitions feat. If you don't take that feat, adjust accordingly.
- Visas can swap out a High skill for Security if the main character doesn't have it. This is mostly for the Ravager, where she is a required companion (and Mandalore is the other).
- Bao-Dur can swap out a High skill for Treat Injury if the main character doesn't have it
- Awareness should generally only be taken to (adjusted) 15 (or 20 on Hard difficulty) unless you're doing it for crafting. And adjusted Awareness of 11 lets you influence Mira faster, if you care.
- The main character needs adjusted Computer Use and Repair of 21 to fully repair T3-M4, for the WIS bonus, if it matters. (Although some people said only 15 Computer Use was required????)
- Mira's "Point Guard" ability allows the party to run right over mines without triggering them when she is the leader, which may affect the skills you care about.
- Main character should always maximize Persuade, unless you have a particular reason not to. Nobody else should normally bother with it.

Companion Computer use Demolitions Stealth Awareness Persuade Repair Security Treat Injury
Atton High High Low High
Bao-Dur High High Low High High
Disciple Low High
GO-TO High High Low Low High High
Handmaiden High
Hanharr Low High
HK-47 Low Low High Low
Kreia High High Low High
Mandalore Low Low High
Mira High High High High High
T3-M4 High High Low High High
Visas High High High

==========
Mechanics:

- It is essential that melee characters who special in Dexterity take "Finesse: Melee Weapons". Surprisingly, this also covers lightsabers, so "Finesse: Lightsaber" is completely pointless, and nobody should ever take it.
- Dexterity helps with Defense, so you take less damage. Strength helps with melee damage, so you do more damage.
- Constitution affects which implants a character can equip
- The player character's Charisma score is added to the attack rolls of all party members (KOTOR 2 only)
- Ranged damage is not affected by any attribute (ranged attack is affected by DEX)
- Generally, Dark Side powers favor Charisma while Light Side powers favor Wisdom
- Attribute gains from dialog with companions are adjustments to the attribute itself, not a bonus to it. So, for example, if you need CON 18 to equip an implant, the +1 CON from completing HK-47's dialog counts toward that.

- Computer Use reduces the number of spikes required. But there is no DC for slicing. It is also used to upgrade one of your party members.
- Similarly, Repair reduces the number of parts required, but there is no DC for repairing.
- Security keeps you from having to bash stuff open, which (unlike KOTOR 1) can damage the things inside
- Skills in KOTOR 2 (unlike KOTOR 1) are incredibly important. They all affect dialog, not just Persuade.
- One option if you are really into skills: start as Sentinel with 14 INT and immediately cross-class the two non-class skills. Then level skills evenly. This gives you enough skill points to do almost everything by the time you pick a prestige class, and you can pick whichever prestige class you like without worry about skills.

Flurry: extra attack per round
Critical Strike: increased critical strike range, chance to stun on crits. Strength helps you stun more.
Power Attack: increased base attack damage

Rapid Shot/Sniper Shot/Power Blast do the same thing, correspondingly.

Raw damage output boost (via Flurry or Power Attack) is more dependable, if less flashy.

Flurry (maxed) + Speed (maxed) + Dueling (maxed) + Finesse:Melee Weapoons + a lot of DEX is very viable, and in character.

Need to be at 75% to either Dark or Light by level 15 to get a prestige class.

- After you hit level 15, talk to Kreia to pick your prestige class. You don't have to do it immediately, you could keep leveling as you base class for however long you like. But for most builds you want to do it right away
- If you aren't already level 16, you'll be automatically given enough XP to hit level 16 after the prestige class conversation with Kreia. So if you talk to her immediately after hitting level 15, you'll get a whole level's XP for free.

Regardless of what strategywiki says, the main character does not get to select any Force Powers at character creation (level 1).
You can't use two different types of shields at the same time, so you can either be protected from energy attacks or physical attacks. However, you can stack force powers and shields. So, take the Force Power of Energy Resistance and use that, then use the Mandalorian Melee Shield and you are protected from most attacks.

This works the other way as well, using an Energy Shield + Force Barrier. You can also stack the same type as well, such as an Energy Shield and Energy Resistance.

If you don't have points in Security, you can plant Minor Frag Mines on the lock for locked containers to open them without damaging the contents. You can break down medpacks for the components to make frag mines. However, using Security does give a little XP.

Feat Bonus Penalty Notes
Flurry/Rapid Shot +1 attack/round Attack and Defense
Reduces with rank		 Combines with speed, so up to 5 attacks per round
Critical Strike/Sniper Shot Crit Threat Range + Stun Defense Penalty
Never reduces		 Does not combine with speed, so only works once per round
Power Attack/Power Blast Damage Bonus Attack Penalty
Never reduces		 Does not combine with speed, so only works once per round
Either two lightsabers or a double-bladed lightsaber will generally be more effective than a single lightsaber (for a character who primarily does damage via their lightsaber). This assumes you take all three (or more, if Weapon Master) Two-Weapon Fighting feats (which you should, if you use multiple blades).

However, there are two situations where you might consider a single saber:
If you do choose a single weapon, consider the Dueling line, even if you don't expect to do much damage with the weapon. The bonus to Defense might be worth it. However, you may prefer to put those feats elsewhere, even if you want to boost survivability (Toughness and Conditioning are good choices)

If you focus on unarmed combat, take Dueling. Unlike KOTOR 1, it applies to unarmed.

As for two lightsabers vs double-bladed, generally the best option is a normal lightsaber in the main hand and a short lightsaber in the off hand. This is for two reasons:
  1. normal lightsabers have a higher crit range, and therefore do more damage on average, all else being equal
  2. this gives the opportunity to use more lightsaber crystals, and therefore more opportunity to do things like increase your attributes. You would typically favor attack crystals in your main hand saber, and attribute bonus crystals (if any) in your off-hand saber (which does fewer attacks, and at a penalty). But use whatever is best for your build.
The exceptions would be if your build it is really, really, really important to use the same lightsaber upgrades on all attacks. This would be unusual, but in that case a double-bladed lightsaber would be the only way to achieve it. Or maybe for really high STR builds, where you get the 1.5x STR bonus for all attacks. Normally, though, two sabers is better.

Well, the other exception is if you want to be cool like Bastila or Darth Maul, and hey, if that's what you want, who's going to stop you?

Honestly, this is all very nuanced and heavily dependant on your particular attributes, upgrades, lightsaber forms, etc. And for any decently thought out build, the differences are very small. So really, do what you like and it'll be okay.
You can check the Lightsaber damager calculator spreadsheet if it matters a lot to you.

On STR vs DEX, unlike KOTOR 1 (where STR is generally superior for melee), there are arguments to make either way. STR-based characters will do fine with single, dual, or two-bladed weapons, although the suffer a little with dual weapons due to no extra multiplier on the main hand and a 0.5x STR multiplier on the off hand, while either single or double-bladed get 1.5x STR bonus on all attacks. (All this is damage-only.) Dual wielding loses less for DEX than it does for STR. Or looking at it the other way around, you gain less from single or double bladed for DEX compared to dual.

Single and
==========

Companion summaries, including influence:

Kreia - Peragus. You will need to talk to her often to learn more about the Force (gives you bonuses). She can also upgrade your special lightsaber crystal later in the game (several times). Also, whenever she is part of your party, you get an XP bonus (~7%).

Atton Rand - Peragus. Has ability to keep fighting while any other party member is still up. You can also get a Will+1 increase from him when you talk about reading his thoughts.

T3-M4 - Prologue, Peragus. The same from KOTOR 1. He is also a portable workbench. Oh, T3 has a message from Carth and Bastila if you can get influence with him for advanced repairs. If you can repair him three time (takes Repair 24), you can get a WIS+1 boost.

Bao-Dur - Telos. He has unique (but rarely useful) ability to destroy shields and force fields, and he has a huge amount of skill points.

Handmaiden - Telos, Hidden Base. Male characters ONLY. Spar with her onboard the Ebon Hawk at your levels 10, 14, and 18. You can also get the Battle Precognition feat from Handmaiden in which your WIS mod is added to your DC (talk to her about fighting moves and the Echani style of fighting when that option appears). Don't try to spar with her until after you leave Telos and go to another planet, or the fight is bugged and can't be won.

Disciple - Dantooine, Enclave Sublevel. Female characters ONLY. He is also a portable lab station.

Visas Marr - Ebon Hawk. After you get to 1/4 light or dark side, watch her cut-scene with Darth Nihilous, then the next time you enter your ship, she will appear. Defeat her and she's yours. Talk to her some afterward to gain influence, and possibly Force Insight (add WIS mod to Defense). But you may defer talking to her if you are a male exile, because if you get Visas influence too high too fast, Handmaiden will stop talking to you. Make Handmaiden a Jedi before talking to Visas any more than you have to.

Mandalore - Dxun/Onderon. He's a powerful fighter using blaster rifles or melee. As a side quest with him in your party, go find some of the scattered Mandalorians on the different planets. (This is Canderous Ordo from KOTOR I.)

HK-47 - Ebon Hawk. The same from KOTOR 1. Requires that you find four missing HK components, then repair (which doesn't require skill). He has a solo quest for the HK-50 droid production plant (TSLRCM only).

Mira - Nar Shaddaa. Requires that you be Light side or Neutral. If you get Mira, then you cannot get Hanharr. Whenever Mira is the selected character, your party will not set off any mines. Also, Mira has a wrist rocket launcher (like Boba Fett), and you can make rockets for her at a workbench.

Hanharr - Nar Shaddaa. Requires that you be Dark Side. If you get Hanharr then you cannot get Mira.

G0-T0 - Nar Shaddaa. I didn't find him any more helpful than T3-M4.

You can turn Atton, Bao-Dur, Disciple, Handmaiden, and Mira to Jedi (if you have good influence with them). They have unique requirements as well:

-----------------------

Gaining Influence-

Note: influence gains from conversation often give Light/Dark points, depending on the companion. Take this into account and if it is going to shift you the wrong way, either defer until you get your prestige class, so that you're sure to be sufficiently one way or the other by level 15, or else do it early so you'll have time to make up for it.

Kreia - she values personal strength achieved by overcoming challenges on one's own, manipulation of others, and adherence to one's own path rather than being dominated by the rules or codes of others. She opposes both Jedi and Sith dogma, and generally opposes helping others (because it robs them of the opportunity to grow by solving their own problems).
- She finds Hanharr weak because even though he has physical strength he is bound by his Life Debt code, and therefore has no agency or real power of his own. He is only a tool of someone else's code, with no power of his own.
- For Darksiders, you may get the option to permanently increase your Strength and Constitution by drawing on Hanharr. But you make Kreia happier if you reject it (bottom option, "I do not need his strength" followed by "The only power I need is myself").
- She'll be very upset if you kill the Jedi Masters on Dantooine, because she wanted to be proven right to them, and she can't be once they're dead.
- Kreia's real goal is a clean slate - wiping out the Jedi, the Sith, and the Force (or at least, the ability for Force-sensitive people to connect to it) so that the galaxy can live free from such dangerous and dominating ideologies and stand or fall on its own merits and strengths.
- Ironically, at the end of the game Kreia says she hates the Force because it has a will and it uses that will to manipulate the galaxy to its ends. Which is exactly what she's been advocating to the Exile (and doing herself). So maybe she's actually, and hypocritically, just upset that she's on the "being manipulated" end and ultimately not strong enough to be the master manipulator. Long story short, she's bitter that she's mortal and she really wants to be the Force itself. So she wants to destroy it out of jealousy and a desire for immortal power. Guess she's a Sith after all...

Atton - Atton likes to be respected and taken seriously. He has trust issues, so almost every line that goes "I trust you" will be accepted. Learn his secret at Nar Shaddaa, then talk to him about his past.

Bao-Dur - Gaining influence with Bao-Dur is entirely dependent on him being in the party to see your actions. You cannot increase your influence with him through general conversation on the Ebon Hawk.

Disciple - He likes the Republic and the Jedi, so all of your conversations need to support both.

Handmaiden - Most of your influence with her is won in conversation, and then you get the most by sparring with her and winning three times (at Exile levels 10, 14, and 18).

Mira - The best way to get Influence with Mira is to have an Awareness 11. Ask about why she doesn't kill, follow the Awareness line. Then take her to Nar Shaddaa, near the Cantina.

From someone else:

As a general guideline:
For any of these that you will convert to Jedis, if you like you can hold some of their level-ups to use after they become Jedis, so that they get more Jedi levels. This is great for some strategies, but for others you may want to wait to turn them into Jedi until they get more levels in their base class. Do whatever works for what you're doing. Below are some (but not all) locations for gaining (or losing) influence with certain characters in your party:

Dantooine

Mechanic- Kreia or Bao-Dur
Atmospheric Sensors- Bao-Dur
Mercenaries- Handmaiden, Kreia
Malfunctioning Droid- T3-M4
Salvager- Visas or Kreia
Akerre's Hydrospanner- All
Vrook- Kreia

Nar Shaada

Repairing the Airspeeder- Atton or Bao-Dur
Sick Man- Atton, Bao-Dur, or Kreia
Guy Asks for Credits- Kreia
Guy Getting Mugged- Kreia
Droid Merchant- T3-M4

Dxun

Mandalorian with Permacrete Detonator- Handmaiden, Bao-Dur, or HK-47
Bounty Hunters- Mira or Hanharr

Onderon Port

Bounty Hunter Attack- Mira
Side with Anda- Mira, Visas, or Kreia
Side with Vaklu- Visas
Cantina Attack- HK-47, Hanharr, or Visas
Starport Visa- Atton or Bao-Dur
Droid Merchant- G0-T0
Port Guard Captain- HK-47, Atton, or Kreia

==========

Companion prestige classes:
(some of this is a duplicate of the above section)

The companions who can prestige are:

Bao-Dur
Disciple [Female PC only, w/o mods]
Handmaiden [Male PC only, w/o mods]
Mira [LS PC only, w/o mods]
Atton
For Atton, Mira, and Handmaiden there are three other requirements:

For the Handmaiden, the player must complete all of her sparring matches and speak to Kreia about her first. This dialogue will happen to be permanently locked out if the player reaches higher influence with Visas than the Handmaiden before finishing their sparring (which is very easy to do), so it's recommended not to speak to Visas until the Handmaiden prestiges. She's Soldier => Guardian, so it doesn't matter a lot when you prestige her. Unless you're doing an unarmed build, which is slightly less optimal than lightsabers, but still viable. In that case, get lots of Solider levels first to max out unarmed abilities.

For Atton, the player must meet two Twi'leks in the refugee sector on Nar Shaddaa who say they know him to unlock his later dialogue, which is a prerequisite to discussing his past with him, which in turn is a prerequisite for his prestige class. Might take him pretty far as a Scoundrel for more sneak attack damage if the main character is going to be doing a lot of stunning. Getting Scoundrel to level 17 is a pretty good spot for this. If you're not really using Atton as a Scoundrel, level 11 is a good time to convert him.

For Mira, the player must take her to a special spot on Nar Shaddaa; where and why will be made clear by Mira to the PC when it's possible for her to prestige. Some people wait on prestiging her to get more ranged feats, some people turn her quickly. Either choice is probably okay.

Bao-Dur tends to get used in combat less, so might make sense to delay turning him into a Jedi in order to get enough skills to craft basically everything. He's pretty useful as a skill/crafting specialist, and that seems to suit his character anyway.

For female characters, the Disciple and Atton have romance subplots. FOr maile main characters, the options are Handmaiden and Visas (sorry, if you have a thing for Kreia, you are just out of luck...). To pursue the romance options, talk to those characters at every opportunity and focus on raising their influence levels. But these subplots aren't very impressive and the romance is mostly implied rather than open declarations of affection like KOTOR I.

Jedi Sentinels need as much combat support as they can get: heavy hitters like Mandalore, Disciple, Handmaiden, and Hanharr are best for both roles, with the Sentinel acting in-combat as a Consular. I usually pair a melee heavy-hitter with either HK-47 or a blaster-focused Mandalore, although using the Sentinel as a melee combatant with a Consular and a Tank (Hanharr, Melee-Focused Mandalore, Handmaiden) also works.

==========

Dark side influence guide:

If you absolutely want Bao Dur and Handmaiden to be dark jedi, you will have to go out of your way to make them Dark Jedi. Visas pretty much follows you no matter what, and unless you want exposition and the Force Sight power there's not much need to influence her to have her on your side.

There's two systems in play: your alignment + charisma, and your influence.

Influence is measured from 0 to 100, 0 being "I hate everything about you" and 100 being "I would die for you".

Different characters have different measures of how much their influence moves per influence. Bao Dur for example only needs 3 influence moments to be turned to 100 or 0. Visas, Handmaiden and Atton need more (and Handmaiden has to be defeated in combat three times before anything else)

The thing about a Dark side run is that you can be EXTREMELY nasty in Peragus and Telos before it actually matters what you say. You can get halfway to full dark by just being an absolute jerk to every single person you find up to the point where you get to the surface with Bao. FOCUS on Handmaiden before Visas. The only way to lock Handmaiden's dialogue is by being too nice too quick with Visas. Make sure Handmaiden is already a Jedi before you try to do anything else.

If you do things in the correct order you can leave Nar Shadaa with Atton, Visas, Bao, Handmaiden, and even Mira if you play the "gray jedi going to become evil" route

I recommend going Nar Shadaa, then Dantooine for a Dark Side run. This will give you enough time on those planets to influence "nice characters" to break them, and then complete the game being evil while influencing later game ds characters like Goto, Mandalore, and HK47

Bao Dur influence chances:

Many think he is "tricky" because he only has a few moments in the early game where you can gain influence. But if you know what you are doing you can break him by your first planet.

Tell him It's OK that he passed out and be nice to him when he's in the Telos Jedi Academy prison cell

On Nar Shadaa, fix the speeder (should be easy enough to find the pieces) and have him check your work after you're done (this is also a good influence opportunity for Atton if you ask him to get the security system working and compliment him on his expertise). All you need to do is say "Nice work Bao" and there you go.

Also on Nar Shadaa, being nice to the people in the landing pad should give you at least 1 more opportunity. Since I always go NS first I tend to only bring him with me, since other characters can take over the influence opportunity.

On Dantooine, recover the items from the cave for the guy west of Khoonda, and be nice when you discover what you are doing.

3 or 4 influence opportunities, plus being dark side, are more than enough to break Bao.

Once you get those chances, you can switch back to Handmaiden, be nice a couple of times, and then just fight her. Most of her influence comes from the conversations you have during combat practice with her.

==========

Hssiss glitch:

In the tomb where you encouter hssiss, there is one very specific room with a dead Jedi body in it. You can spam it to collect all items and it will always spawn two hssiss in infinite amount of time. So just fill the room until the frame rate drops and spam force lightning. (TSLRCM may fix this exploit?)

=========

PLANET QUESTS NOTES:

After the prologue, you start on Peragus and then go to Telos. From there,
travel to the planets in any order you want as many times as you want. complete
most side quests to get the XP and chance at alignment shifts.

--------------------------
Prologue (Ebon Hawk adrift):

* This is optional. You can skip this by clicking on noted place in Bridge.
* If skipping, go around and gather up all items first and then skip.
* Get needed parts for hyperdrive from outer hull (use lift).

--------------------------
Peragus:

* Use the torch from the dead miner in the morgue to open some doors.
* Don't worry about missing sith troopers with laser turret, you'll get to fight them onboard for XP.
* Shooting at asteroids will not affect anything later but will get you DS points.

--------------------------
Telos:

* Use the shuttles to travel to unvisited areas.
* Use the Information Terminals to quickly travel to visited areas.
* Get your gear at TSF office in Entertainment 081 section.
* Talk to Lt. Grenn in TSF office for quests.
* The "New Fuel Supply" quest is completed on Nar Shaddaa later.
* For light-side points, complete the Ithorian quests.
* Apartment A1 has side quest.
* Do NOT destroyed the Bumani Exchange Console and kill the guard (only possible on some platforms, may be fixed with TSLRCM). If you do, you cannot enter the area and will have to go back to previou save or start a new game.
* For underground base, optimize your weapons for defeating droids.

--------------------------
Dantooine:

* Talk to the Administrator Adare, Zherron, and others inside Khoonda to get quests.
* Daraala, in Salvager camp near ruins, has some Jedi items for sale.
* After getting quests, go the Enclave ruins, then head to Crystal Cave.
* Talk to Saedhe at crash site near cave before going into cave.
* Help defend Khoonda for light-side points.
* Breaking into north storage door at Khoonda is okay, after getting task to improve defenses.
* Akkere has some Thorium charges, which you can buy from him for 1000 credits.

--------------------------
Dxun:

* It takes a Thorium charge to open the Dxun cache door (from Korriban).
* On downed spaceship, repair the core and bring the droids back online. Don't overload the droids. Repair each droid and put into patrol mode to have them fight for you.
* Use the Mandalorian Guide to quickly go from camp to Ebon Hawk and back.
* Talk to Zuka, Xarga, and Guard Captain for quests needed to get reputation points required by Mandalore.
* In jungle, in quest to hunt down scouts, go back south and then west.
* Complete quests before fighting in Battle Circle.
* Be sure to check out containers in shuttle hangar.

--------------------------
Onderon:

* You can find only two extra Starport Visas.
* Go to Dhagon Ghent's lab in Western Square; talk to people with names along the way to find out what's happening.
* Return to Merchant Quarter and talk to captain Riiken about Ghent.
* Go to Cantina in Western Square to gather evidence about Suulio's murder. Speak to Kiph, Nikko, and Panar.
* Repair the droid merchant for better prices. He also has an HK-47 part and droid parts critical to your investigation (after you learn about them in cantina from Panar).
* Be sure to complete all other actions, such as taking care of starport visas quests, before you have Ghent set up a meeting with the Master Jedi.

--------------------------
Nar Shaddaa:

* To Annoy the Exchange:
- Help Lootra get with his wife
- Fix the freighter order for Fassa
- Agree to help Vogga the Hutt
- Kill Saquesh
* At refugee landing pad-
- Talk to droid TT-32 about quest.
- Talk to Tienn Tubb about changing transponder codes (also has air speeder part in shop).
- Talk to Vossk about bounty hunters.
- Talk to Borna Lys in swoop racing area for side quest.
- For LS points, offer to give the Ebon Hawk to its previous owner.
- Buy items from Oondar before you talk to Geeda (Geeda will have better items for sale after you fully complete Dantooine and Onderon if you side with her). Return after those planets for better items.
* At the docks-
- Talk to Fassa for a quest.
- Talk to Lassavou in flophouse for a quest (has air speeder part as reward).
- In quarters, use stealth to listen to Aqualish thugs talk about Vogga.
- Talk to others in quarters for additional side quests.
- Get air speeder part at Pylon 3.
* At entertainment promenade-
- Buy Juma juice from bartender.
- Talk to Domo and have Handmaiden dance.
* At refugee quad-
- Talk to refugees with names for quests.
- Then go throughout whole section (search all containers).
- Repair air speeder with the three parts; have Atton check work for
influence.
* To get faster notice by Exchange, you can pay Kallah-hah 2000 credits in
Entertainment Promenade.
* You must fix the airspeeder BEFORE meeting with the Exchange and going to Goto's yatch. After that, it will be completely disabled.
* After defeating slavers on Ebon Hawk, be sure that Atton is well equipped.
* Have a good blaster, rockets, and stealth belt in inventory for Mira later (You can only make rockets after you met with Mira).
* After completing the above, travel to other areas to trigger meeting with Visquist.
* On Goto's yatcht, do NOT destroy any utility droids before getting the Shutdown code.

--------------------------
Korriban:

* In valley, picking up items from corpses will cause Hssiss monsters to attack.
* To hear history of dark lords, go to each tomb entrance.
* It takes a Thorium charge to open the sealed door in the academy (there is a charge to be found in area).
* Explore all of academy before going to training room.
* In academy, complete tests at console to open training room and library.
* You must be heavily LS or DS to access the secret tomb at back of shyrack cave. Your force power will not always recharge while in the tomb.
* Search the Jedi corpse multiple times to spawn more Hssiss (this is an exploit--about same as cheat). It doesn't help to level up too much, because as you gain levels, your enemies gain levels, especially the bosses.

--------------------------
End Game:

After you finish all the planets and tie up the loose ends, you can talk to Kreia to start the end game scenarios by traveling back to Jedi Enclave on Dantooine. From Dantooine, you will then travel to Telos, and then travel to the Ravager and back to Telos before heading for Malachor V. You will have no choice about the destinations.

During the last visit on Dantooine, you should have received the Force Power Force Enlightenment, which activates the best of your Speed, Armor, and Valor abilities at once, for less FP. (Light Side, Dark Siders get something else.) Be sure to use that later.

* On the Ravager-
- Mandalore and Visas will be your party members.
- Three of the four proton cores go to locations along the south side. The fourth location is at the top-right side of the screen.
- You can create a proton core from missiles after one core explodes prematurely (use console to activate missile).

* On Malachor V-
- Have the Exile clear out monsters from all areas of surface and depths.
- Buff up before going through large gate.
- At Trayus Academy, exit through one side, clear it out, and then return to exit to the other side for more XP.

---------------------------

Bugs Still in Program (some may be fixed by TSLRCM):

* Telos: Do NOT destroyed the Bumani Exchange Console and kill the guard. If you do, you cannot enter the area and will have to go back to previous save or start a new game. (I think you can only do this on console versions)

* G0-T0's Yatcht: Do NOT destroy any utility droids before getting the Shutdown code.

* On Dantooine or in smoky areas, the game can slow to a crawl. This can be fixed by adding this line to the [Graphics Options] section in the swkotor2.ini file

Disable Vertex Buffer Objects=1

* If program is too choppy, try disabling the Frame Buffer Effects or changing the levels of AA or Anistrophy.

==========

Good planet order for a female Exile:

1) Nar Shaddaa - you can get 2-3 companions and Spoiler.

2) Dantooine - you can get really powerful item and 1 companion there. It might be a good idea to get this companion and then leave the planet before finishing it, however, to do Dxun/Onderon first. (or for male Dark Side, switch after you get the Bao Dur influence after getting the items from the cave)

3) Dxun/Onderon - you can get 1 companion there and the sooner you finish this mission affects how quickly you get the certain follow-up mission later.

4) Korriban - difficult fights and the alignment restriction.

A Light Side male Exile should swap 2 & 3. A Dark Side male Exile may still want to follow the above, to maximize Bao Dur influence (if you're doing the be nice until you max him, then be a huge jerk later to make up for it)

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Guide at https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/xbox/920194-star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-ii-the-sith-lords/faqs/78050 has you jump back and forth between Nar Shaddaa and Dantooine early, doing only specific things in each, so that you make Bao Dur and Atton into Jedis very early. I level-saved and had them both as Jedis by around level 6 without the early game being unmanageably hard.
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In the unmodded game, party members can pass conversation skill checks. If you select the party member with the skill you need and start a conversation you'll use their stats for the rest of the conversation. TSLRCM made this be not the case, which is a bit of a bummer, but the original behavior was admittedly a bug/exploit.
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The cluster of mines, the computer terminals, and the droids to repair in the Dxun attack of the Tomb of Freedom Nadd makes Mira the best candidate to handle this mission. Make sure she is the leader, so her Point Guard ability will make the mines not trigger.
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A party member with the Demolitions skill can use damaging mines to open locked containers, if for whatever reason you can't use Security to get in. This does not damage the items in the container. You won't get any XP for opening the container, though. Sonic mines are good for this, as you tend to use them less for other purposes.
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When you go back to Dantooine near the end of the game to face the Jedi Council, you'll see a cutscene of the courtyard from above, and after the cutscene any party members will be removed. If you run back outside the Enclave you can add your party members back in and they'll be with you when you face the Council. This doesn't change anything, but if you prefer to have certain party members face the Council with you, they can.
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Puzzle Solutions:

Peragus turbolift code:
3-17-13-5-7
Except that HK-50 reversed it to block Coorta, so it is actually:
7-5-13-17-3

Towers of Hanoi ... errr. power pillars:
L-M, L-R, M-R, L-M, R-L, R-M, L-M, L-R, M-R, M-L, R-L, M-R, L-M, L-R, M-R

Nar Shaada docking pylons: Silver Zypher, Alakandor, Toorna

Nar Shaada warehouse: center counterclockwise, left counterclockwise, right clockwise

Nar Shaada Jekk Jeek Tarr tunnels:
  1. straight to fan, turn left
  2. straight to fan, turn left
  3. straight to fan, turn right

Freedon Nadd Math Terminal: x, -, + /

Freedon Nadd unstable component terminal: replace 'C' (eba)

Onderon Palace Armory Key Numbers: 66, 45, 39
Korriban Sith Written Test:
- Freedon Nadd - 20 - Gizka - I always lie - passion - strength - power - victory