Star Wars: Squadrons

[chipwich]

It doesn't feel like a big improvement to Battlefront 2 starfighters.

[Tamas]

One thing took me a while to realise is that they deem 50% power to be the sweet spot for maneuvering it is even highlighted on the ships' instruments.

Don't really have patience for the story knowing its a filler and the real game is MP. Had a quick try at a quick match (has to be level 5 before you join the real mode). I actually wasn't too bad thanks for everyone being new and not knowing what they are doing. But just with other such games (like Elite) it feels like the X52 just isn't made for sudden turns. Feels like I am a sitting duck and not really making any proper evasive maneuvers.

You have to learn to "boost drift".  Go to max power to engines, build up your boost ability.  Press and hold your boost - you can now turn the orientation of your ship while still travelling in your original direction.  Release your boost and you now accelerate in your new direction.

You have to build up the boost so you can't use it constantly, but apparently you can use this to do a complete 180 degree turn very rapidly.

But remember this is from a guy who played for about 10 minutes.

But I don't think it's your controller.  Both Elite and this you aren't supposed to make turns on a dime.

Yeah, thanks got that down once it came up in the campaign. Dogfighting is also markedly easier in an A-Wing so its probably not just my joystick indeed.

So far the more I play it the more I like it. It's very much like the old games. In-flight controls with the HOTAS are pretty slick as well once you are used to them.

Going to get some multiplayer matches started over the weekend.

[HVC]

well i got bored and bought it. dling now

[Barrister]

Man I really suck at this game.

Fun though.

[HVC]

i'm really good at killing people... i suck at staying alive

[Tamas]

Had a couple of proper multiplayer team deathmatches. You need to be level 5 to join the "proper" MP mode, but that shouldn't be too hard, I am up to level 3 after two victories.

Had more kills than deaths in both matches which is the top extent of my expectations for myself. 

It was super fun. I was flying an A-Wing and there was maybe 1 of the opposing 5 flying an interceptor. Now that was hard to keep in crosshairs even for few moments. You can see the customisation gives options. Twice in the second matches I got killed by a TIE Bomber which I felt was humiliating but on the killcam I could see he was using some rapid-fire laser that absolutely made mincemeat out of me when I ended up flying straight just in front of him.

[Tamas]

Also: it is neat how I can quickly adjust my power settings with a flick of one of the "mini joysticks" on my HOTAS. So much easier than hitting the right function key in the middle of battle with X-Wing/TIE Fighter

[FunkMonk]

So is this the long awaited true successor to the GOAT (TIE Fighter) or is it just some simplified arcade garbage?

[Tamas]

So is this the long awaited true successor to the GOAT (TIE Fighter) or is it just some simplified arcade garbage?

Definitely more a successor but it is not a remake. The single player story although infinitely better animated and judging by the ambience it was made people who are fans of the originals, is kind of meh and  feel like watching the newest trilogy compared to the original one. I believe it is meant to be a multiplayer game.

But the actual gameplay is akin to the classics. Some details are lost to streamlining (you can focus shield direction but not gradually) but there are additional details, most notably ship customisation which isn't just weapon types but choosing shield, hull, and engine to sacrifice in one stat (like shield recharge time) to gain in something else.

[celedhring]

I will just wait for some random insane person to port the old campaigns to this engine. It's bound to happen.

[Barrister]

I will just wait for some random insane person to port the old campaigns to this engine. It's bound to happen.

I dunno - EA games are not known for being easily modded.

[Tamas]

Is there a way to install lasers that auto-target to some extent? I have noticed on some of the killcams I got killed by the guy's weapons following me outside of his aiming rectangular.

[Tamas]

Never mind, found it, the interceptors don't have it (A-Wing and TIE) rest all seem to have an auto-aim weapon option.

[Tamas]

Ugh, for my first Fleet Battle I thought I'd be flying a Y-Wing and deal with capital ships. Thing is... you kinda' need to be covered for that. Might end up turning voice chat back on. With only 5 players I recon even minimal cooperation will make a lot of difference

[Syt]

I've played the tutorial and did a bit of practice flying to get a feel for it.

Is it me, or does the combat feel slow compared to the original games? Actually, to me even the ship combat in the new Battlefront II feels smoother. Also, not a fan of the yaw in game (IIRC X-Wing and TIE-Fighter only had roll/pitch, not roll, pitch & yaw).

The mention of Iskalon from the 1980s Marvel comics made me grin, though.