News - Star Wars: Attack Squadrons first details and video trailer released

[HEXUS]

Disney is accepting beta test applicants now for this F2P dogfighting title.

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[abychristy]

Is this new or old because at some parts it looks like JPEG .

[b0redom]

I suspect that trailer needs a 'not actual gameplay footage' disclaimer. In any case, I'd buy a new X-Wing game in a heartbeat, but I'm really bored of MMO games in general.

I just don't understand the fascination with only playing games against a bunch of strangers on the Internet.

[3dcandy]

Signed up - want to pilot an X-Wing!

[cheesemp]

Hmm. Two issues with this....
1) Free to play. Better not be pay to win. If it copies World of Tanks it'll be ok.
2) How have they balanced up the two forces? Being a long term fan of the old TIE fighter game on the PC (showing my age here), the empire pretty much relies on large numbers of unshielded TIE fighters, TIE bombers and TIE Inteceptors (the one pictured in screen shots above - its point unlike the standard TIE) against smaller numbers of shielded xwings/ywings/awings etc which are far harder to destroy. I know there are exceptions to this rule such as the TIE advanced but it will be interesting to see if they worry about this or just bump up the TIEs stats to match the shielded opponents...

(And yes I'm aware how geeky that last point was however I loved that game and pretty much play it to death in my mid teens and hence and can remember it very well).

[Tpyo]

Re:Cheesemp #2

If they have done a reinforcement style balance (so the empire have weaker units but get more respawns/round) or similar, this would be quite a nice game mechanic that would fit the 'world' it is set in. On the other hand, that balance would be rapidly destroyed by upgrades to those weaker units UNLESS spawning a more powerful/upgraded unit used up more resources/respawn points/whatever than spawning the base units. Fixing it like that could ruin games when somebody with little ability (e.g. new to the game who'd bought the upgrades) used up all their side's respawns to come out swinging in a fully kitted ship with all the bells n' whistles and then failed to make use of it/crashed etc. All in all, I hope they've thought it all through!

[kingpotnoodle]

2) How have they balanced up the two forces? Being a long term fan of the old TIE fighter game on the PC (showing my age here), the empire pretty much relies on large numbers of unshielded TIE fighters, TIE bombers and TIE Inteceptors (the one pictured in screen shots above - its point unlike the standard TIE) against smaller numbers of shielded xwings/ywings/awings etc which are far harder to destroy. I know there are exceptions to this rule such as the TIE advanced but it will be interesting to see if they worry about this or just bump up the TIEs stats to match the shielded opponents...

From X-Wing and TIE Fighter IIRC the TIE Fighter was quite fast but took just 2 energy weapon hits (one salvo or less from most Rebel fighters), the Interceptor took 4 but both were hard to hit once they peeled off and entered dog-fight maneuvers. The Bomber was slow and took 8 hits and was easier to hit but you had to be quick before they got the torpedoes off or your mothership was toast - which was hard when being harassed by the faster TIEs... Later the TIE Advanced and Defender added shields and were even harder to hit...

I remember the Rebel fighters being generally slower without channeling more power into engines and if you didn't sacrifice something for weapons then constant fire only lasted a short while. The X-Wing being average to hit but shielded, the A-Wing being hard to hit but only lightly shielded and once shields were down weak like a TIE. The Y and B wings were sitting ducks but took a lot of hits meaning you had to make sure nobody was on your six to make a long attack run!

I imagine they'll balance it up with the age old "fast&weak or heavy&slow" method, maybe make the TIEs a bit tougher hulled and super-maneuverable with the rebel fighters a bit slower but tougher.

[Odeas]

I imagine with being able to have a 'garage' of ships that damage will need to be repaired after every battle.
Probably either take time or you can spend coins/energy etc to speed up the process to get your ships battle ready again.
I'm pretty sure this is how War Thunder works, another FTP flight game.

May sign up for beta and give it a whirl.

[Nobull]

Do you think it will be anything like Rogue Squadron? Used to love that game.

[Kjnowak]

Do you think it will be anything like Rogue Squadron? Used to love that game.

I hope not, I did like the Rogue Squadron games but can't forgive the first one for having a trench run that had corners and the last one just seemed a bit half-ars*d.

Plus it has been far too long since the last X-Wing game...

[herulach]

Hopefully they just add balance by stacking the teams. 8 x wing vs 24 TIE on a 32man server for example. However, surely the glaring problem here is that it will be hugely dependent on squad play to be any fun. As has been am,ply proved by BFX when it works it works great, when it doesn't work its meh at best.

[sir_markus]

F2P tends to go P2W to fast. I hope they dont make that mistake here.
also why cant they just make a HD remake or something of the old tie and xwing series

[MustardCutter]

I just don't understand the fascination with only playing games against a bunch of strangers on the Internet.

And I don't understand the desire to play games against scripted AI pve

[b0redom]

Touche. I suppose I play Starcraft 2 online occasionally, but it seems that everyone is jumping on the massive online bandwagon even where it's not really appropriate.

I prefer a scripted storyline campaign like the original X-Wing series, or even Uncharted over something which can be potentially ruined by teenagers screaming obscenities from their parents' basements.

[Dooms]

Me and a mate were talking about Tie Fighter the other day. Man that was by far the best in the series

[Brewster0101]

Bring on Elite.... :-)