Thank the maker! 'Star Wars Squadrons' leaked

[al_infierno]

Oh, man.  Please don't fuck this up, EA...

[Gusington]

^Thank you for posting. I am really excited for this now...except for the Ewok bobblehead everything looks to be incredible.

[SirAndrewD]

Yeah, screw the Ewok. 

I'm sure there'll be all kinds of customization.   I'll skip most of them like I do in Elite. 

A few things I saw in a Polygon article tonight with the lead dev.

TIE's do NOT have shields.  And they'll differ from Republic craft. 

Aiming reticles are in.  It's not an auto aim.  The reticle was disabled for the cinematic of the trailer. 

The devs are absolutely trying to recreate X-Wing vs TIE Fighter for a modern audience.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I hope it's good but I'm a bit trepidatious.  The whole 5v5 thing seems to me like it's going to be more like a MOBA or Rainbow 6 Siege than a true space combat sim.  I hope it's not a lot of silly power up combos with the support ship magically beaming over healing or insta-missiles.

[Martok]

I'll admit that gameplay trailer was somewhat loin-moistening.  I shall be strong, however. 

[Gusington]

^Today, you will. Tomorrow...

[SirAndrewD]

A lot of great info here.   The lead developer discusses things like faction differences, balance, flight modeling, matchmaking, simulation elements ect. 

[Gusington]

Gaming sites are beginning to really rally around this as more info and game footage and descriptions are released. Hope springs eternal!!

[SirAndrewD]

Gaming sites are beginning to really rally around this as more info and game footage and descriptions are released. Hope springs eternal!!

They're being very unapologetic and not running from the simulator moniker.  They're also regularly doubling down on this being the successor to the X-Wing series.

In the video I posted the developer talks about how the lack of sheilds and limited view of the TIE variants can be a disadvantage and advantage.   Also how the Rebel ships with their shields make them tankier but harder to play.   Also how they realized that they were doing a sim and needed to find solutions to the "loop of death".   

Comparison shots also debunk the idea that the factions are identical.   Imperials have an advantage on speed, and since they have no shields have easier pip management and the ability to increase maneuverability and firepower faster.   Rebels are tougher.   They all have native differences that can be tweaked. 

Unless we're being sold a bill of goods this looks more and more like X-Wing vs TIE Fighter 2020.   Even the developer said they took their inspiration from that game. 

EA sucks, but they have been moving in the right direction since the Battlefront 2 launch debacle.  They don't want to lose the licence.  This game seems to be them taking a risk. 

[Destraex]

It's sounding better and better I have to admit. HOTAS support and now some actual complexity to the flight systems. Fingers crossed. Cautiously optimistic.

[Gusington]

Loop of Death?

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Two fighters endlessly trying to out-turn one another in the hopes that one will eventually give up and try to straightline away from the circle.  Can be a problem in space sims because you don't have to worry about stalling or overheating your engine like you do in a WWI/WWII sim.   In X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, the Rebel ships could take a few hits when they ran because they had shields but the Imperials were generally faster so they could keep up and get the kill or get back into the circle fight.  Impies could run, generally being faster but their lack of shields meant that they'd usually die before they could escape.

[Gusington]

Ah. How have I never heard that term before? I feel ignorant.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Looks like they are trying to solve it by borrowing the Tallon Roll and Segnor's loop manoeuvres from the X-Wing miniatures game.

[SirAndrewD]

Ah. How have I never heard that term before? I feel ignorant.

It depends on how much space multiplayer you've done.   

The more simplified the flight model the worse the problem becomes too.  Getting in a 1v1 dogfight with ships of same class in BF2's Starfighter Assault is an exercise in utter frustration.

Space games like Elite solve this by having ships with wildly different maneuver ratings and the ability to turn off flight assist and go fully Newtonian.  Power pip management is also a thing, as putting pips to engines increases maneuverability.

Squadrons looks like it's using a bit of both those ideas, and as stated above, putting in ideas from the mini game.

So, yeah, just more confirmation that they're pushing for more sim like elements. 

EA seems to know this too.  In a couple of the print interviews the developers have said that they have no pipeline for DLC or any Live Service support.   Right now it's $40 and you get the game.  I'm sure if it's a success EA might reconsider that, but right now it seems like EA is treating this as a kind of experiment to see if people will really buy and play these types of games nowadays.