Optimizing NPCs' side-quests

[Gavroche]

Hello there, I'm replaying KotOR for the nth time and, as I'm progressing through party members' dialogues, I'm wondering which is the best way to make both their quests and side-quests go as smooth as possible, between those two possibilities:

 

• Go through all of their dialogues, then spawn the guy who'll unlock the side-quest;
  
• Go only through the amount of dialogue needed to spawn the guy, do the side-quest (during which the party member will not want to talk about anything else), and then go through what's left of the dialogues.

 

The party members I'm thinking about are mainly Canderous and Bastila.

 

For Canderous, I've never been able to make his quest go "smoothly", as by the time I meet Jagi I've already had several level-ups and used them to unlock most of the war stories (save the one when he's been working for Davik, but this one cannot be unlocked before the Leviathan), meaning the discussion about Althir is already behind me.

I'm not sure what variable determines whether Canderous found his purpose in life after giving/spectating Jagi's death. Is it the next level-up, the next Star Map?

 

As for Bastila, I'd be willing to interrupt her quest when she mentions her family, to complete her side-quest and then take back the course of her main quest, but I'm don't know if the interruption might not break it. On the other hand, I'm not sure the romance is considered "done" if you've completed it *and then* you completed her side-quest (spawning Helena, etc...). Wouldn't the variables make it look like the quest has taken a few steps back? (meaning I'll miss the extra lines in the Rakatan Temple, for example)

 

 

I'm not asking for a detailed exposition of the mechanics of party members' side-quests (though I'd sure enjoy one :]), if you play it a way that makes things go smooth, without knowing how mechanics work, I just want to know what this way is.

 

Thanks in advance