Star Wars: Squadrons (successor to X-Wing/TIE Fighter?)

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GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
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actual gameplay and short review and breakdown of controls and modes. fleet battles seemingly have more narrative and mechanisms for depth, but with only 4 fighters per side replayability is a concern.
fleet battles is effectively a moba like dota/lol where you are managing the meta to get to the point where you can take on the end target/wincon.

- Looks like the dev got tasked with putting together *just enough* content to justify a price tag on the game. If the game sees any sort of success, they might get behind a series of patches / season pass to flesh it out with additional game modes, maps, ships etc. The clock is ticking on that license after all, and the miscarriage of story telling that is the sequel trilogy may have diminished the overall value of the license from when EA got their exclusivity.

Game lobby speed happened. 128 players needs a server and server browser. You join games in progress. 5v5 you can spin up quickly as soon as you press the "play now" button. You can thank consoles for that game lobby paradigm. I mean they can support more players, but people complain about joining in games in progress, uneven server balance, etc.

- That's a solid point, no one is going to wait around for 128 players to randomly join their lobby, which raises another question: why did private servers go away? lack of control & inability to force obsolescence on a game when the dev wants everyone to buy their sequel?
 

Midwayman

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2000
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which raises another question: why did private servers go away? lack of control & inability to force obsolescence on a game when the dev wants everyone to buy their sequel?

  • Why let other people make rental money when we can make rental money?
  • Mods lessened the need for DLC, more money!
  • Obsolescence (though pretty old games have servers still up)
  • Anti-cheat
  • Control over settings/content
Part of it is money, but I think a lot of it was just forcing it to a console model. I console owner wouldn't expect to setup something with a 3rd party. They'd expect a monthly fee at best. Same with content- people often would complain about joining a server with weird rules. Solution was to severely limit what you could do. I remember playing all sorts of crazy game modes back in the day, but those keep going away in favor of auto join giving an expected experience. :\
 

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
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I suspect an Xbox controller is going to be the easy and consistent route.

- I've long maintained that console controllers having joysticks and an actually decent number of buttons leaves an easy path open for Space Sims to make a return. Maybe not all the way back to their heyday, but something that scratches the itch for sure.
 
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- I've long maintained that console controllers having joysticks and an actually decent number of buttons leaves an easy path open for Space Sims to make a return. Maybe not all the way back to their heyday, but something that scratches the itch for sure.
You just saved me some bucks!

My knowledge on the subject is very dated but I remember consistent problems setting up a joystick to work, which I am sure has improved post windows XP but every one my friends owned either worked great for a few months then worked crappy for a few months then stopped working. I’m sure this hasn’t changed.
Factor in the game makers knowing that most gamer households will have an Xbox controller and making the game to work with an Xbox controller by default.
For the record I do not have an Xbox controller.
 
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bguile

Senior member
Nov 30, 2011
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I am out of the loop when it comes to joysticks. What are some good ones?

Doesn't matter right now as there are none to be had. Either you will have to buy a used one, or pay over the top pricing. Ab xbox controller is probably your best bet.
 

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
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There's something really satisfying about an old school joystick though! :(

-Indeed, I had (have? might be in my parent's attic somewhere) an old Logitech joystick that I loved playing the old wing commander and freespace games with. It really brought you into the experience in a big way.

Nowadays through I'm in a place where I place a high value on convenience and having to break out some HOTAS for a single game would just be no fun and really turn me off.
 

rivethead

Platinum Member
Jan 16, 2005
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Doesn't matter right now as there are none to be had. Either you will have to buy a used one, or pay over the top pricing. Ab xbox controller is probably your best bet.

I hadn't paid attention, but you're right. I bought an earlier version of the T16000M in 2015* for $30.

Now....it's a lot more:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MQEDEEW?linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1&tag=addedinflue0a-20

* I bought it to play Star Citizen/Squadron 42. Neither game has been released. I was foolish. It still sits, largely unused, in a drawer.
 
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Homerboy

Lifer
Mar 1, 2000
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-Indeed, I had (have? might be in my parent's attic somewhere) an old Logitech joystick that I loved playing the old wing commander and freespace games with. It really brought you into the experience in a big way.

Nowadays through I'm in a place where I place a high value on convenience and having to break out some HOTAS for a single game would just be no fun and really turn me off.

Agreed on all these points. And I will say that back then, games were designed with joysticks in mind. It's almost guaranteed that this game (like all others now) is going to be geared and designed with a game pad in mind, so it's probably going to be the best interface.

I will still long for the flightstick and keyboard combo of TIE Fighter history.
 

Dranoche

Senior member
Jul 6, 2009
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Agreed on all these points. And I will say that back then, games were designed with joysticks in mind. It's almost guaranteed that this game (like all others now) is going to be geared and designed with a game pad in mind, so it's probably going to be the best interface.

I will still long for the flightstick and keyboard combo of TIE Fighter history.

Space sims and controllers are well-suited for each other in terms of movement. Might run a little low on buttons, but plenty of people make it work with Elite, especially on consoles. The devs for Squadrons indicated that they were supporting HOTAS. I imagine device support will be fairly widespread. I think about half of Elite players are using a HOTAS, dual-stick, or stick and keyboard, with most of those on HOTAS. The remaining are split between mouse/keyboard and controller. The Star Citizen community is probably half mouse and keyboard, and half HOTAS or other joystick combo, with a small percentage using controllers. So there's definitely a decent-sized portion of the likely player base that has joysticks and would want to use them.

The only potential issues I can see are the game having trouble differentiating between axes on different devices and/or only being able to recognize so many devices. I don't know about its current state but at one point Star Citizen players with a lot of peripherals were having to unplug extra USB devices and use utilities like joystick gremlin to combine sim devices so the game would recognize everything. I've also occasionally had controller-focused games pick up and mistake my throttle for one of the controller axes. Those types of oversights are often more frustrating than lack of support at all.
 
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I'm keeping it! I still have hopes that SQ42 will be released.

Yeah me too and I am sure it will. I am not sure when or if I’ll like it or more accurately will it be a game I play for more that 20 minutes
Regardless it has been an interesting run.
 
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Just pre-ordered mine. Can't wait!

53 years old and none of my friends are gamers. Dumb bastards.

I’m in this range, I have some that game regularly to moderately regularly with breaks built in.
However
This is not their type of game.
Want to group up?
 

DeathReborn

Platinum Member
Oct 11, 2005
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If it's on EA Play I will give it a shot, got my Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS or a Dual T.16000M to use with it (also both waiting for Star Citizen...).
 
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Steam reviews are mixed, however it appears many negatives are for not supporting VR controls appears you need to wear the goggles and still use keyboard & mouse. Joystick support seems limited.
Anyone buy this and play it?
What is your opinion?
 

Oyeve

Lifer
Oct 18, 1999
21,899
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Steam reviews are mixed, however it appears many negatives are for not supporting VR controls appears you need to wear the goggles and still use keyboard & mouse. Joystick support seems limited.
Anyone buy this and play it?
What is your opinion?
I'm playing it now and am liking it a lot. Decent story so far and the gameplay and graphics are top-notch.
 

rivethead

Platinum Member
Jan 16, 2005
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I found it interesting that Steam was giving away some exclusive digital goodies if you pre-ordered Squadrons through them.

I guess Valve and EA are friends again. That's nice.

 

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
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ugh controls with mouse is horrible....
I sort of expected better GFX as well.
I think the game loses to battlefront in terms of quality, which sort of explains the sub AAA title price tag at 40 dollars and not 60.
EA knew they could not pass this game at 60 dollars, and that is saying a lot seeing how greedy EA is.

IMO, i don't think the game is even worth 40 dollars, lucky for me i have a EA play pro sub.
I would not recommend this game at full price... its definitely a bucket game but that bucket better be a discounted steam / EA sale.

I'm playing it now and am liking it a lot. Decent story so far and the gameplay and graphics are top-notch.

No it loses to battlefront in gfx.
I don't know what engine they used but its definitely not frostbyte, or even cryengine.
Explosions of capital ships could of been done much better, instead it almost borderlines minecraft explosions, they don't feel real.
 
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