Facing a capital ship in Star Wars: Squadrons’ Fleet Battles

I’m three and a half hours in a demo marathon of Star Wars: Squadrons, Electronic Arts’ new combat space flight simulator. A round-trip fleet battle has been raging for most of the 30 minutes inside the Nadiri shipyards, like a New Republic MC75 Star Cruiser and the Imperial Star Destroyer in which I played a high-risk chicken game. Now is the time for the Empire to make its last effort.

Inside my TIE bomber, I have put all the power into my weapon systems. I am slowly building up a charge on a ridiculous and powerful beam laser. If I can close with 75 without being shot from the sky, I have a good chance of ending the game. Even with a partial charge, the laser beam is a monster that can cause serious damage to even the largest capital ships.

With just over half of the stored laser charge, I touch the directional pad to provide more power to my engines. I’ve only been playing for a while, and I’m not sure how long I have before the load dissipates. However, the biggest issue in question is the multiple turbolaser batteries that bristle on the dorsal side of the New Republic Star Cruiser. In recent passes, I have been chewed. With a little more speed, maybe this time I can evade them.

Just a kilometer ahead is a 150-meter-long Imperial Raider, which has just arrived from hyperspace to join the party. Pushing down on the stick, I put the Raider between me and the 75, dodging behind the small warship and using it to cover me. The gambit works, giving me a little more time to close the gap and charge my laser.

Better yet, it seems no one on the Republic side of the fight has seen me. It’s probably due more to the game’s bad HUD status than anything else, but I’m not complaining. Full horsepower for the engines now as I turn to the left and spin hard, turning to the side of the 75 like a dive bomber lining up on the deck of the Sōryū on Midway Island.

With all the power of arms once again, I hit the right trigger and the right shoulder button on my gamepad. My little bomber stops when the giant green light of the laser beam arches from under the cockpit, it quickly joined my rotating laser cannon as it spins. To my right I can now see the X wing rising above the smooth curve of the 75’s hull, ready to line up the shot. But before they can reach me, I have dealt a fatal blow on the cruise made by Mon Calamari.

Image: Motive Studios, Lucasfilm / Electronic Arts

As the final marker appears, I’m already thinking about how I will tackle the next round of Fleet Battle when Star Wars: Squadrons It comes out live this fall. Close communication will be the key, as each of the five-on-five matches will be classified during online play. I think the hardest part will be finding enough people with the right kind of skills and patience for a top ranked game.

Shooting down an armed capital ship to the teeth with defensive batteries is one thing. Shooting down those same ships as they take on five human pilots who know what they’re doing should be something else entirely.

I can already see different wing compositions and loads that work better than others. Two bombers could suffice, perhaps, with an escort of a few fighters armed with ion weapons that deactivate the shield and anti-ship missile batteries. The only question is whether to make the fifth ship a support ship or load the formation with another bomber.

In an interview with Polygon on Monday, Motive Studios creative director Ian Frazier said these kinds of tactical decisions are part of the plan. Due to the asymmetric nature of capital ships, players will need different strategies depending on which side of the battle they are on.

“Approaching an MC75 Star Cruiser is different from approaching a Star Destroyer,” said Frazier. “Where your turrets are placed, where your tractor beam emitters are relative to the hangar, and so on. All of those things make a difference in how you need to be able to attack those ships and ultimately makes a difference in balance. “

The great equalizer, Frazier said, is the player’s skill.

“Internally, because of the way our capital ships are configured, we have what we call the ‘Porkins to Poe’ scale,” said Frazier. Jek Porkins is one of the many rebel starfighter pilots killed during the Battle of Yavin in Star Wars: a new hope. Poe Dameron is the starfighter ace pilot of the modern trilogy: the man who destroyed Starkiller Base in The awakening of strength.

“If you fly directly to [the capital ship] – in a straight line, you are not doing evasive maneuvers – there is a certain amount of damage that we hope you will receive, ”continued Frazier. “And, if you are performing extremely well, you are [putting] power the engines and you’re being elusive, they’re much less effective. “

Image: Motive Studios, Lucasfilm / Electronic Arts

Eventually, players will learn how to survive an encounter with Squadrons‘capital ships. They will be able to return to the hangar in their own capital ship, rearm and repair before returning for another attack race. After that, the biggest threat will be the other players.

For this reason, Squadrons it will feature a robust practice mode. It will allow players to spawn on capital ships at will and try different strategies. There’s also an offline single-player mode that allows players to fight alongside friendly AI. Add a full five player “comp stomp” mode against enemy AI, and Squadrons It will give players plenty of opportunities to level up their skills before entering the ranked game.

Star Wars: Squadrons It is slated to launch for PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox One on October 2. On PS4, the game will be compatible with PlayStation VR. On the PC, expect to be able to use the most popular flight levers, throttle and lever settings (HOTAS), and rudder pedal sets on the market. The game will also be compatible with PC-based virtual reality systems, including products manufactured by Oculus.

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