The cockpit has throttles, laser charging, shield/weapon/engine power management, radar field for tracking enemy ships, heavy weapon ammo counters, hull integrity, front and rear shields, etc. I compared the display with the old manual for the Star Wars X-Wing and it is almost identical. (Since the TIE fighter has no shields).
The trailer explains what we will be piloting, and there are four ship classes, each with an almost familiar fighter:
Fighters are the most substantial and most suited for head-to-head dogfights. Interceptors give up some firepower and durability in exchange for pure speed. Support ships can resupply squadrons with weapons and disable other ships with their ion cannons, but they don't have much firepower. Bombers, of course, pack a big punch, but they are slow and need cover.
The U-wing and TIE Reaper were invented only a few years ago for Rogue One, for the record for Star Wars geeks.
Squadrons' modern hook seems to be in ship customization, which seems destined to work in conjunction with a leveling system that can unlock more advanced weapons. The trailer states, "Just by playing the game, you can unlock everything you need to customize your pilots and starfighters." From cosmetics to arsenals to over 50 components to how your ship flies, fights, and survives, you can dramatically change your loadout based on your squadron's strategy."
There is much to unpack. There are clearly two elements to unlock items:
The trailer does not explain microtransactions for skins and components, whether any component can be used on any aircraft, or whether Squadrons will track progress on a per-fighter basis, More details about the unlocking process would be interesting. Battlefield's class progression system is probably the inspiration here.
Speaking of Battlefield, Squadrons' big showcase multiplayer mode is a three-stage attack on capital ships called "Fleet Battles," which according to the trailer can be played solo or with a team of friends, against AI or other humans. It can be played solo or with a team of friends, against AI or other humans, according to the trailer. This is much like Operations, which we called the best multiplayer mode of 2016 in Battlefield 1. Fleet Battle opens with a dogfight, transitions to an attack on two smaller mainline ships, and climaxes with an attack on the flagship (a Star Destroyer or Mon Calimari cruiser). The flagship must destroy the hardpoints to sink.
"In each phase, your squadron will either push forward on the front line or retreat to defend." It is the company's choice how to play." The "choice" part here is a bit confusing. Because the trailer also says that the winner of the dogfight "pushes up the front line." I am not sure if this is a tug-of-war, where each team puts their capital ships on the front lines and the match goes back and forth, or if it is a pure attack/defense mode.
How will the defense be successful - is there a time limit on each phase? Is there a fixed number of respawns available to each team? There is still much to learn about how these matches are actually played.
Star Wars: Squadrons looks beautiful though. I like that each battlefield seems to be anchored around a planet, asteroid belt, or cosmic wreckage, something that fixes the perspective and gives a backdrop other than endless starfields. The diversity of playable human characters and aliens appears to be better than any non-MMO Star Wars game. The speed is great for playing on a 144Hz monitor, but when played in VR, which Squadrons supports, it makes me want to puke. But hey, Puke Squadron has a certain ring to it.
Star Wars Squadrons is out October 2.
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