The UC Vanguard is a faction you can join early in Starfield while visiting New Atlantis. Being the “police” of the United Colonies, the UC Vanguard comprises your typical larger-than-life do-gooders. If you wish to join the UC Vanguard faction, you must complete the Piloting Simulator exam in Starfield to show your skills.
UC Vanguard Pilot skill will allow extra perks, giving you more ship control. With this, you can destroy enemy ships more easily. This Starfield Vanguard piloting exam can be frustrating if you aren’t good with spaceship combat.
How to take the Starfield Vanguard piloting exam
As mentioned, joining the UC Vanguard requires some prerequisites to be cleared first, primarily 2 quests, i.e., “Supra et Ultra” and “Grunt Work.” The Starfield Vanguard exam is the main focus of the “Supra et Ultra” quest.
To begin the Starfield Vanguard test, you must speak with Commander John Tuala at the UC Vanguard base in the MAST organization building in New Atlantis. After speaking with him, he will offer you to join the Vanguard, so take him up. There are various perks to joining the United Colonies in Starfield, including discounts from select UC Vanguard-affiliated vendors, additional credits by undertaking faction missions, etc.
After you have concluded your chat with him, you must head to the Orientation Hall below via elevator, where you will find two ‘Vanguard Registration’ terminals you can interact with to sign up on the recruitment enlistment form.
With that done, make your way to the Vanguard pilot simulator area. While you can ignore the various displays in the orientation hall, taking the time to listen and observe the various exhibits can shed some fascinating insights into the history of the world of Starfield.
In any event, whatever you choose, eventually, you will end up at the ‘Piloting Simulation Chamber.’ Keep going straight and take the left staircase. Once at the top of the staircase, take another left and head straight towards the Starfield Vanguard Simulation Pod.
Enter the pod, and you will find yourself in a faithful replica of a spaceship’s pilot chamber, with an empty pilot seat overlooking an impressive, simulated space recreation.
Sit on the pilot seat to initiate the Starfield Vanguard piloting simulator exam.
Vanguard Piloting Exam Tips
The Starfield Vanguard Exam is relatively straightforward. You will have to defeat a wave of different opponents, with each wave stronger than the last, while ensuring you do not die. Of course, being simulated, your ship being destroyed simply results in failure rather than actual death, and you are free to retry as many times as you want with no penalty.
In any event, there are 6 waves in the Starfield Pilot Exam. However, for the quest’s sake, you only need to clear up to the 3rd wave; at this point, you will be notified that you have cleared the trial and are free to continue or leave.
Continuing is lucrative since you can get excellent Credit bonuses by clearing the waves beyond the 3rd. The 5th and 6th waves give you 10,000 and 20,000 Credits, respectively.
The wave distribution for the Vanguard piloting simulator exam is as follows:
- Wave 1: 1x Tier 1 Ship
- Wave 2: 2x Tier 2 Ships
- Wave 3: 2x Tier 3 Ships
- Wave 4: 1x Tier 4 Ships
- Wave 5: 4x Tier 5 Ships
- Wave 6: 5x Tier 6 Ships
Vanguard Piloting Exam Tier 5 difficulty waves can get overwhelming if you let the numbers get to you. Still, there are a couple of tips to take advantage of the enemy AI and mitigate the difficulty somewhat. You must avoid as many attacks as possible by keeping the ship in a cross pattern.
You can also use the nearby asteroids to take cover when overwhelmed by enemy attacks. Follow our tips, and you should be able to complete the Starfield Vanguard simulator exam quickly.
Lock on immediately
Hover your aim reticle over an enemy ship in the distance for a few seconds to lock on. Each of your shots will now connect, and you can whittle down the enemy ship’s HP to zero in seconds.
This is especially effective if done from a considerable distance when the enemy ships first spawn, allowing you to focus more easily on the remaining ship(s) in the Starfield Simulation Exam multi-enemy waves.
Pick the right moments to boost
When enemy ships end up shooting at you from a considerable distance behind, don’t run. Instead, turn around sideways or do a free flip until you’re facing them. Once you are, commit to your boost while they close in on you to quickly get out of their line of fire and end up behind them.
The AI is relatively slow to react in the Starfield Vanguard Test, so even after your course is correct to face the enemy ships from behind, they tend to still fly in the same direction for a bit, giving you time to shoot at them without worrying about return fire. You can potentially take 1 or 2 down just like this, depending on how many ships were previously tailing you.
If they are behind you, rather than try running, turn around and head straight towards them in the UC Vanguard Simulator. Exchanging fire is ideal, but the main goal is to quickly let them pass you by, turn around, and attack them from behind with no return fire.
Aim for enemy missile barrage
Occasionally, enemy ships lock onto you, and a warning prompt indicates a targeted missile barrage heading towards you. However, you can manually aim to take out each missile, nullifying the attack before it damages you.
Be sharp, look for the visual and audio cues for these missile barrages, and get rid of them ASAP to improve your longevity, especially for the later waves. This will help you pass the Starfield Vanguard Exam.
Get Infinite Upgrades
Before starting the Piloting Simulator Exam, take the stairs next to the Simulation Door down. Grab the Simulator Admin Systems Keycard on the table under the ship on the left. Use the Simulation Controls console near the exit and click on Authorized Users Only.
You will be able to bypass the Advanced Lock Hack with the keycard. This allows you to get the infinite upgrades buff, removing the limitations of the debugs between tiers.
Tips to pass the UC Vanguard Exam up to Tier 6
In the Starfield UC Vanguard Piloting Exam, several tiers have varying difficulty levels and are hard to pass. Tier 1 and 2 of the Vanguard Exam are very easy to clear. I have explained what you need specifically to complete the exam from Tier 3 – Tier 6 difficulty.
Tier 3
During Tier 3, you must defeat two “Level 38” ships that will spawn simultaneously. For that, you need to take distance from the ship far from you and focus on the one close to you. Once that ship is destroyed, you can then focus on other ships rather than focusing on both at the same time.
Tier 4
Completing Tier 4 is easy as in this, you will get additional allies as well as Debug Tools, which will give you three perks. These perks are “Shield Upgrade, Damage Upgrade, and Generate Ally.”
Tier 5
In this tier, you will face four “Level 40+” ships, damaging you if not managed carefully. For this, you can use “Asteroids” for cover when facing fire from all sides. You can also avoid damage by getting behind ally ships.
Tier 6
To pass Tier 6, you can use the help of “Infinite Upgrades” and “Debug Ally.” Infinite Upgrade will allow you to use Debug Tool for an unlimited number of times.
Furthermore, you can get a “Level 62” ally ship by unlocking the Debug Ally. Lastly, you can increase your odds by upgrading your Starfield piloting and Targeting Control System skills.
