Makeb GSI Missions Guide

The below guide was originally written by FJ Brodie for his website FibroJedi. After he decided to shut the site down, I decided to reproduce this and his other GSI guides on my blog - with his permission of course. I also made a few small amendments to update them for the current level cap and to add some new information. You can still find an archived version of his original guide here. 

One of my favourite planets in SWTOR is Makeb. It’s sunny, picturesque and the music is relaxing. Although it has a few weekly Heroic Missions, once you’ve done Rise of the Hutt Cartel, there’s little reason to return – except maybe to gather crafting materials. However Makeb GSI Missions are relaxing repeatable daily/weekly missions. They also crop up occasionally in conquest. So here’s my guide, enjoy!

Makeb GSI Missions Locations Map

There are 5 GSI Missions available on Makeb. As with Tatooine, there are 4 ‘standard’ quests and one ‘Heroic’. There's also a weekly that requires you to complete 10 GSI Missions in one week and will get you bonus reputation and rewards.

Here’s the map showing where each mission is:

Quake Engines

This Makeb GSI mission takes place in the Westwater Settlements. If you’ve completed Rise of the Hutt Cartel, then the Hovertanks in this area are ‘Yellow’, meaning they don’t attack on sight. There are small regulator patrols, but you can clear this GSI Mission with minimal (and sometimes no) enemy interaction.

The aim here is to find three Vibration Emitters and dig them up using your Seeker Droid. These look like little black boxes with antenna sticking up. They rarely spawn near each other, so your best bet is to run/ride around looking for them. As with the Tatooine missions, using your eyes will save you a world of pain compared to using the droid and moving a few paces!

Here are a couple of screenshots showing what the vibration emitters look like:

Quake Engines Mission Rewards

• Repair Toolkit: Small Reputation increase with Galactic Solutions Industries
• Credits (at Level 80): 18,630

Origins of the Makrin

Makrin are a tree-like creature native to Makeb. I think they also appear on Odessen in KotFE Chapter 12 – Visions in the Dark. Young Makrin emerge from the ground shedding Proto-Bark Casings in the process. It is these barks that Galactic Solutions Industries need you to dig up.

Finding the Makrin

To find them you’ll need to travel to the Sunken Pool on Frinn Mesa. The Imperial entrance is marked below. Republic characters need to enter the clearing from a narrow gap in the cliffs to the north (around 1210,2110).

For the Imperials at least, once you’ve travelled there once, there is a quick travel point to save the hassle of the long trek. This Sunken Pool is serene and beautiful, but the creatures there aren’t always friendly!

Proto-Bark Casings can be really obvious (looking like a huge branch), but mostly they are small, unassuming shreds of wood. They do trigger a ‘tooltip’ when you hover your cursor over them.

Use your Seeker Droid to dig up three of these Makrin Proto-Bark and the mission will complete automatically once you dig up the third one. Oh and Makrin look pretty, but when you anger them, they are terrifying!

Origins of the Makrin Mission Rewards

• Repair Toolkit: Small Reputation increase with Galactic Solutions Industries
• Credits (at Level 80): 18,630

The Unbreakable Code

This mission takes you deep into Regulator Territory. You will need to defeat a few regulators and trash some droids on this one. Oh, and probably sacrifice a few lizards and Tonitrans (bring me back a steak if you do, okay?). The premise here is quite straightforward. You head to The Sanctuary area of Makeb and are looking for Four Transmission Towers. These are marked clearly on your map, but there are a lot of similar towers in this area! The Unbreakable Code is a Macrobinocular Mission. Get the towers in your sights, scan them, then upload the data to GSI Headquarters using the handy quick button in the mission list. Job done!

Unbreakable Code Mission Rewards

• Repair Toolkit: Small Reputation increase with Galactic Solutions Industries
• Credits (at Level 80): 18,630

Volcanic Metals

Time to head deep underground in the Volcanic Mesa on Makeb. Your mission here is to dig up a sample of Burnished Volcanic Metal in each of the four areas. These are hard to spot (see screenshot below). But again you are better using your eyes than relying on your Seeker Droid.

You will also have to be careful of the creatures here. There are gold- and white-level foes in this area. Even the ‘weak’ enemies have an annoying push-back ability which can send you flying into the lava. So try not to burn up during this mission!

You need four burnished volcanic metals. And you won’t be able to dig up more than one from each of the four zones. Your Seeker Droid will say that it cannot find anything to excavate, even though there are multiple samples in each zone. So be prepared to fight off (or if you have stealth, sneak around) plenty of critters.

Get your four samples and your mission will auto-complete.

Volcanic Metals Mission Rewards

• Repair Toolkit: Small Reputation increase with Galactic Solutions Industries
• Credits (at Level 80): 18,630

Guarded Research [Heroic 2+]

Guarded Research is a two-stage mission, similar to A Droid Defiant on Tatooine. You are after a set of schematics that Galactic Solution Industries wants to get their hands on, held somewhere in the Hutt Strongholds region of Makeb. As the [Heroic] tag implies, this is the hardest of the Makeb GSI Missions. Here we go…

Stage 1: Scan Three Communications Satellites

If you’re playing as an Imperial, two of these are visible from just outside the taxi area. The third you will need to travel on foot or ride around. I advise on foot as there are regulator forces, static and running around. And there are sentry cannons also manned by Regulators. So, unless you have stealth on your side, you’ll have to fight through some. Even if you do have stealth, there are stealth-detection droids scattered throughout this region.

As a Republic player, you'll have to travel a bit further to be able to scan all three targets. Be aware there are a lot of satellite dishes in the Hutt Strongholds, but you need the specific three to triangulate the location of the schematics.

Stage 2: Revealing the Schematics

Once you have all three, the location of the Schematics is revealed. And the hard work starts! I had a lot of trouble as a healer on this mission. Much easier with player DPS and companion heals, though a high influence level companion is advisable here.

Room 1: There is a panel half-hidden behind some crates. Interacting with this will trigger an alarm. Two sentry turrets will spawn and a gold-level NPC runs into the room. Despatch the turrets – they tend to target your companion so take those down as best as you can. Then kill the human. Heal up!

Room 2: There is a similar panel in room 2 as in room 1. This time however, two gold-level droids emerge from the lockers. Just focus on destroying the one with HL in its name first, as it heals the other one. If it gets stuck in its locker and you become unable to target and hit it, try running around an obstacle or a corner to break line of sight and force it to come out.

Room 3: The Rogue Mercenary Captain

Finally you get to your boss. Good time to trigger Heroic Moment. Some of his abilities are quite devastating, but the Rogue Mercenary Captain is not immune to interrupts, so make the most of that fact. Once you’ve dispatched this guy, collect the schematics from the Terminal that was behind him and the mission will complete automatically.

Guarded Research Mission Rewards

• Repair Toolkit: Medium Reputation increase with Galactic Solutions Industries
• Credits (at Level 80): 29,064

TL;DR Makeb GSI Missions

Although they took time to explain, the Makeb GSI Missions are quicker than those on Tatooine as there is less wandering around. The Heroic 2+ is pretty tough, but that balances the more easy-going four other missions. If you’d like more details about how to acquire your Macrobinoculars and Seeker Droid, you can check Swtorista's guide. May the Force Be With You.