Star Wars: Squadrons is an upcoming dogfighting game that has taken inspiration from old school Star Wars games like the X-Wing series of games with a meld of new games such as Ace Combat. Details have been slowing rolling out, such as the first person only view and flight-sim features. More details came out about the various ships each faction would have, with the rebels flying the X-Wing, A-Wing, Y-Wing, and U-Wing while the Empire has the TIE Fighter, TIE Interceptor, TIE Bomber, and a new creation the TIE Reaper.
The ships fall into the typical roles of an all-rounder, a quick turn fighting anti-starfighter, heavily armed bomber, and anti-capital ship and a support ship to repair and rearm the rest of the fleet. The latest details are being released about the individual parts of the ship that can be customized and optimized for min/maxing stats. Most ships have seven component slots that can be unlocked and customized, but ships that lack shield generators, notably the TIE line, will have six. These include primary weapons, two auxiliary slots, countermeasures, engines, shields for those who have them, and hulls.
Each part can be unlocked via Requisition points that are unlocked during gameplay. The first four spots are active parts that the player will activate and deactivate manually. These will require the most skill to use effectively. Weapon systems vary first in damage type with energy types, such as ion that melts shields. They also offer weapons that max damage at range with bursts of fire, or a system that optimizes the rate of fire and low damage for pilots who prefer to game end their opponents at close range and with a lot of hate. Auxiliary parts, offer a large variety from astromechs to do repair, mines, torpedoes, or tractor beams. Two of the same item cannot be equipped in each slot, forcing the player to choose two parts. Lastly, countermeasures offer tools to defeat radars and missiles that are tracking their target.
Passive parts change your ship’s performance though percentage buffs and nerfs and does not require the player to do anything with them. Shields can prioritize tanking blaster fire or missiles while being weak to the opposite weapon type. Engines can max speed while diminishing how nimble it is, or vise versa. Lastly, hull changes the base health bar, trading off more maneuverability for more health.
Between power management, overcharging, shield balancing or emergency power conversion, boosting, drifting, throttle management, primary weapons, auxiliary abilities, and countermeasures, the combat piloting experience has significant depth. You can learn the ropes quickly, yet you can look forward to discovering new techniques and tactics for months to come. On top of that, there’s a wealth of customizable components to choose from. There’s a healthy selection to start with and more to unlock through gameplay as you progress.
Star Wars: Squadrons be offering cosmetic changes as well. Cosmetics are unlocked via Glory points, which are gained through gameplay as well and will be persistent in story and multiplayer. The options range from flight suits, which include boots, gloves, jumpsuit, and the helmet. The player will take the role of Red leader on the Republic campaign as Wedge and Luke are now leading the infamous Rogue Squadron. The Republic ships offer a variety of paint jobs based on Red Squadron and the Empire has special jobs as well. Both suit and ship cosmetics are lifted from various sources in Star Wars’ current canon mythos. The last option are dashboard options from bobbleheads to a spare helmet and are not too different from dashboard decals in Elite Dangerous.