Star Wars: Squadrons received its first major content update last week on Wednesday the 25th of November. While the developers were always treating it as a complete package at-launch as an homage to games like the X-Wing series, they also stated that any if there were to be any future updates they would be dependent on how well it sold.
The amount of pre-orders for the game proved to them that
they had a serious audience, and so they arranged to get out not one but two free major content updates before the end of the year. The first contained
components for all four ship classes and a new map alongside the expected
balance changes, while the second… well, let me just say that fans of two
specific ships are really looking forward to December.
Since I have already written about Squadrons in the past, I think that it is fitting that I also cover these content updates as they come. I was always going to write another post about it once December 25th had come and gone for… reasons… but it is always nice to have extra things to write about!
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The New Components
There were four unique components introduced with this first patch, although three of them are shared between two ship classes.
Bombers and fighters get two components between them: piercing torpedoes and the boost extension kit. The first is an equivalent to
the proton torpedo that can bypass shields at the cost of half the damage and
the second gives a ship an immediate 100% charge to engine boost. Both are
useful tools for bombing runs, giving either craft great options to deal damage
and (theoretically) get to safety easier than before.
Fighters and interceptors get ion rockets. These follow the
same principle as the increasingly-popular barrage rockets in that they are
dumb-fire only and can be fired milliseconds apart from each other. While they
can be fired ever-so-slightly more regularly than the barrage rockets, they
have half the travel time to account for their ability to quickly disable enemy
starfighters. I imagine that these will be just as popular in Dogfight as their
non-ion cousins are, but I can also see players attempting to pepper capital ship
shields with them in Fleet Battles.
Finally, the support class gets an anti-msterial rocket turret.
While the first turret targeted players, this turret targets everything else: missiles,
seeker mines, ship subsystems, and even other players’ turrets. A well-played support ship is already remarkably capable of locking down enemy vessels, so I
can see this being a valuable tool in the right hands.
When I first read about these new components, I had one question above all else: how exactly would these work as unlocks? All other components before them had to be unlocked using Requisition, so would these also require them? If so, would the needed Requisition be afforded retroactively if players were high enough level to have earned the needed eight naturally or would everyone have to continue to level up? Alternatively, would they just be given for free?
Motive chose undoubtedly the safer option and made them all available for free. I approve of this wholeheartedly since it means that lower-level players will not be penalised for not having as many levels as other players and have to grind an extra five levels just to have everything (especially if they just hit level 40). Additionally, these are some pretty powerful components for an entry-level player's kit! Good stuff.
It will be interesting to see how the meta evolves with these new components in-play. I have only had experience with using the piercing torpedoes myself, and I am incredibly pleased with them.
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The New Map
Fostar Haven is one of a few maps which were only seen in the campaign of Squadrons, and with this update it has been brought into both multiplayer modes. This therefore means that Squadrons has bested Galactic Starfighter’s map total of six despite not even being two months old. Considering that GSF is six years old soon this is quite depressing, but oh well.
Fostar Haven is easily the most unique map brought to Squadrons.
While most maps with environmental clutter have it centralised with open space
on either side, Fostar Haven has most of its environmental clutter taking up an
entire side of the map, leaving just one side as open space with about a dozen large asteroids
dotted around. Admittedly, this “just one side” is still well over 50% of the
overall map, but it still feels significantly different overall.
This is particularly noticeable during Fleet Battles. Where the other maps see the objective ships follow an identical flying pattern – the flagship flanked by a capital ship on either side – Fostar sees both capital ships from each faction flying on the same side as each other with only the flagships being in open space.
Given the rather limited space in Fostar Haven’s structure
itself, the two capital ships on either side stack on top of each other,
meaning that attacking the lower of the two is slightly risky: while they are
relatively far apart from one another there is still a chance that shots from
both ships will hit players if they find themselves sandwiched between them. This
also means that defenders will find it much easier to rally to defend their
fleet since they will always know which side the attackers are.
Since the flagships are too big to fit anywhere within
Fostar’s structures, the final attacking phase is relatively standard. That
said, some of the supporting beams around Fostar do provide substantially more
cover for approaching attacking ships than the other maps. This makes it possible not just for ships to have a relatively safe passage to the enemy fleet but for these ships to have a safe haven to retreat to allow for shields or cooldowns to refresh.
Provided that nobody spots them, of course...
It is great to see a new map come to the multiplayer of Squadrons
and it is fitting that it is thus far the most unique of the lot. Looking
forward to seeing what else they do for other potential maps!
~
The New Cosmetics
Alongside all the important stuff, this new update also
brought in some new cosmetic items. These are not the first such items to be
introduced, as they brought in some cosmetics inspired by The Mandalorian
in October.
After that shrug of a cosmetic update, the ones introduced
last week are more than just cockpit decorations or ship decals. Motive
have introduced new ship paintjobs, flight suits, and even species.
New Republic ships have access to a special T-65B X-wing skin inspired by Luke Skywalker’s crashing on Dagobah and a new faction-wide paintjob, Typhoon Squadron, which I believe is another game-original squadron. I am not really a fan of either look, but they are far from my least favourite New Republic looks.
Imperial ships have access to a special TIE/LN paintjob inspired by Sabine Wren’s graffitied fighter in the first series of Rebels and a new faction-wide paintjob, Interstellar, which is inspired by the Kenner toys. I really like the look of the Interstellar paintjob, although I feel that the bodywork looks a tad too clean. It has a bit of a “plastic” aesthetic which is very appropriate for the inspiration but perhaps not for actual combat. I think it looks great all the same, and it is now the skin which I am using for my own Imperial ships.
The new equipment is basically all a reskin of equipment
already in the game. The Navigator and Paladin suits for the Empire are bronze-tinged and blue versions of the Reinforced suit and suits including Coastal Defender respectively,
while the Venture suit for the New Republic is a flashier version of the
Elegant set. A bit disappointing to see the first new equipment all being
reskins rather than anything more distinct – an insulated Hoth-style flight
suit for the New Republic would be quite a nice addition, for example – but these are better than nothing.
Finally, the new species are Pantoran and Zeltron. Rather surprisingly, these species have both been added to the Imperial faction. Not that I am complaining about the Imperials getting some non-human appearances, but they do seem rather peculiar choices. Certainly, unlike the New Republic aliens, I do not believe that they can be associated with prominent pilots for their faction but I could easily be mistaken.
As peculiar as these choices are, given that a certain other
blue species had been an extremely popular request, it does at least mean that Squadrons now has two exclusive species which no other game has officially allowed players to
choose. Huzzah!
~
The Balance
While balance changes have been happening in small ways all
this while, last week made a significant change to the bomber class’s offensive
capabilities. Both the TIE/SA bomber and BTL-B Y-wing have access to an
immensely powerful chain gun, the rotary cannon, which absolutely melts anything
unfortunate enough to get in its way.
As such, the bomber could very easily dominate the
dogfighting scene as not only could they pump out a shed-ton of damage but they
could also absorb it as well. Incidentally, the rise of the bomber meta
is what led to the increased popularity of the barrage rockets I was talking
about earlier. In an earlier update at the start of last month, Motive also whacked down the highest maximum HP of the TIE bomber from 4,000 to 3,000, indicating just how many problems people were having with bombers in dogfighting.
This update saw Motive add a 60% manoeuvrability
penalty to a bomber when firing the rotary cannon and its auto-aim equivalent, akin
to the 90% penalty when firing the beam cannon. While they are still capable of
absorbing a fair bit of damage, this does mean that the bombers' dogfighting
capabilities with this weapon equipped is massively reduced. It will still be a formidable
weapon against players foolish enough to attempt a “joust” against them without manoeuvring,
but this is about it.
The rotary cannon will almost certainly remain the weapon of
choice for some in objective play, as while the standard cannon is decent it
does not have nearly as much subsystem-melting potential as either of the rotaries.
One other change which was implemented but quickly retracted due to it crashing some players' games is the reduction of the RZ-1 A-wing's shield regeneration by 33%. Although this change will encourage A-wing pilots to be more conservative with how they fly, I do not see this being a particularly significant change once it gets reinstated.
Maybe it will make more difference than I am anticipating. Who knows?
~~~
Conclusion
Given the uncertainty several players have had regarding the
future of Squadrons, the news of not one but two content updates before
2021 has been received very well. While this one has a fair bit of interesting
stuff, December’s update will almost certainly eclipse it without even really
trying. Not only will it add two extremely popular ships – the B-wing (bomber class) and
the TIE/D Defender (fighter class) – but it will also add custom and private matches as well as an
associated match browser.
This means that not only will we start seeing inter-class
variety in Squadrons like in GSF, but we will also see the
player-game tournaments take on a new lease of life. There have been a few
attempts at this already, but this functionality will really see them take off.
I look forward to seeing what happens!
I am incredibly pleased to see Squadrons getting its fair
share of love from the developer team. Motive are doing a fantastic job
with this game, and I am extremely interested in seeing what else they may add
throughout 2021. Regardless of what the future holds, the fact that we are
seeing such significant additions to the game just two months after it launched
– remember that none of this was planned to be added at first! – is worthy
of celebration.
Thank you, Motive!
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