9 minutes ago, Odanan said:

How is Star Citizen in 2020? Playable already? (seriously, I backed the game in 2013's Kickstarter and never played it)

It's alpha 3.10 now, and even in that state is better than alot of games.

ALot of ships, every one with their niche. They even showed the Idris and the Javelin!
They added alot of planets and moons to the Stanton system and apparently around end of the year we'll get another system, Pyro.
New flight system, extremely realistic.
Graphically is something absurd, sometimes I just sit there in awe and take snapshots.

Log in and check for yourself man

2 hours ago, Jo Jo said:

Don't a pair of A-wings blow up a Star Destroyer Shield dome in ROTJ with just blaster fire?

1 hour ago, FTS Gecko said:

Yep. Not just any Star Destroyer either, but the Executor . ...

I thought that was canonically Concussion Missiles they were firing off.

If have to rewatch Rogue One for that example, but The Death Star I & II, Starkiller Base, and the one example I can recall from Close Wars (the Malevolence) were all definitely destroyed by ordnance to the weak point, not laser fire.

13 minutes ago, nitrobenz said:

I thought that was canonically Concussion Missiles they were firing off.

If have to rewatch Rogue One for that example, but The Death Star I & II, Starkiller Base, and the one example I can recall from Close Wars (the Malevolence) were all definitely destroyed by ordnance to the weak point, not laser fire...

...anyhow, whether it's blaster fire or ordnance (it is blaster fire in both), ordnance is also available for use by starfighters in Squadrons so the point is pretty much moot; in fact, the Bomber class of ships are specifically described as being more effective in capital ship assaults due to their ordnance capacity. Inconceivable!

Oh, and - as pointed out upthread - you can also shoot ordnance down to protect your capital ships, just like in the X-Wing games...

Thanks for the video links! Those two are definitely "pew-pew" from the wingtip cannons instead of "fwoosh" from the fuselage ports.

Also I just have to say, Battle of Scariff is a beautifully crafted scene.

20 minutes ago, nitrobenz said:

...Also I just have to say, Battle of Scariff is a beautifully crafted scene.

...yeah, I love it. I'm such a big fan of that final act - I'd say it's probably the best space battle we've seen in the series, certainly since Disney took the reigns. All the little touches as well, like the re-use of archive footage of Red & Gold leader - that got an audible cheer when I saw it at the cinema.

27 minutes ago, FTS Gecko said:

...yeah, I love it. I'm such a big fan of that final act - I'd say it's probably the best space battle we've seen in the series, certainly since Disney took the reigns. All the little touches as well, like the re-use of archive footage of Red & Gold leader - that got an audible cheer when I saw it at the cinema.

Indeed. All of the first half of the film pales in comparison with the space battle/Vader showdown. Now that is fan service done right!

PS: Imagine how good a "Top Gun-film in Star Wars" would be.

35 minutes ago, Odanan said:

Imagine how good a "Top Gun-film in Star Wars" would be.

This is what I wanted Rogue One to be back when all I knew about it was the title. What can I say, I hear Rogue and immediately think Squadron. Maybe someday they'll make a movie about a pilot and their friends with some big dreams, maybe joining an academy or learning to fly some rust bucket before joining whichever cause, rising up through the ranks, and taking part in some spectacle worthy missions aboard their fighters. That would probably be the best summer popcorn flick option. Doesn't need to have the most involved story, just some characters worth following for an hour and a half, and an interesting set piece or two.

On 8/17/2020 at 1:56 PM, FTS Gecko said:

Yep. Not just any Star Destroyer either, but the Executor . The Devastator and Subjugator suffered the same fate in canon depictions of the Battle of Endor as well, with various subsystems targeted and destroyed by Rebel starfighter pilots. Then there's the Persecutor in Rogue One, which had it's shield generators taken out by X-Wings before it was crippled with Ion Torpedoes during the Battle of Scarif... And that's not to mention snubfighters taking out one Death Star, then another, then Starkiller Base... 😂 😂 😂

This is all well established Star Wars canon. Targeting the weak points of capital ships is integral to Star Wars lore, and has been since the original trilogy films and their novelisations came out. I'm sure there's many more recent examples in Rebels, Clone Wars etc.

And here's me still mad that of all the things they dropped from the EU with the reset, one of the things they kept are that the globes are shield generators. They could have made them radar/sensor globes like they're clearly supposed to be.

It doesn't make any sense and it's always been a bad read of that scene.

The shields don't drop because the A-Wings destroyed that globe, they were able to destroy the sensor globe because they'd finally broken through the shield.

If they are shield generators, then why are they placed in such an obvious, vulnerable spot? If they are shield generators, how can they be damaged while the shields are still up? Shouldn't the shields be strongest around their source? If they are shield generators, how come no other ship in the galaxy needs obvious external generators? Why doesn't the Falcon need a dome mounted somewhere? Why don't the Mon Cal ships have such an obvious weakness that the Empire can exploit in turn? If they are shield generators, why are they both mounted in the same place? Wouldn't you want one at the fore and one at the stern for even coverage?

But if they are sensor globes, then it all makes sense. They're on top of the ISD's command tower to give them the best 'elevation' away from the main hull and so increase the angle of coverage they can 'see'. They're placed together because they're communicating with each other to build a combined picture of the surrounding area.

Also they, y'know, look like real life radar globes?

Interestingly, Scarif actually hedged on this. They never once say in the film that destroying the globe drops the shields in any way. There are no remarks made after it's detroyed, and all Dutch's voiceover says is to "hit that opening ". Which, sure, could mean an opening in the shields. Or it could mean an opening in the sensor net that would otherwise let them target the torpedoes with defensive fire .

Obviously canon reference books, novels, comics and now games have specifically stated they're shield generators and once again there's nothing I can do about it. But ****, it still bugs me.

Also having a component system in a game that was clever enough to have you destroy sensor coverage that made them vulnerable to warhead attacks (which are supposed to ignore shields, a la ANH), instead of just "hit this weak spot, now the whole ship can be damaged more" would make for cooler gameplay, IMO.

This is a big off topic rant, so sorry about that. Also want to say that I'm hype as **** for Squadrons.

On 8/17/2020 at 2:30 PM, Odanan said:

How is Star Citizen in 2020? Playable already? (seriously, I backed the game in 2013's Kickstarter and never played it)

Honestly, at this point I just wouldn't bother.

They still don't have a finalised, working flight model.

CIG can't figure out that the very first thing that needs to be completed, feature locked and left alone is the basic gameplay for two ships fighting. How they're going to move, what the player has to control, what that's going to feel like.

It's been six years, and they still don't have that.

I got the entry package way back, and I've played it on and off since. It can be fun. Some of the tech in there is seriously impressive, and honestly just watching the localised gravity interact is amazing all by itself, to say nothing of what travelling to an actual planet feels like. But there's..... ultimately nothing to do, and combat against either AI or other players just doesn't really work. And what does work.... has no reason to happen.

It's never going to be finished. I don't think it's ever even going to get playable. And there's still no sign of the single player Squadron 42, because that's never going to happen either. How can it when they can't even figure out how to make basic AI work?

On 8/17/2020 at 2:04 PM, Odanan said:

PS: Imagine how good a "Top Gun-film in Star Wars" would be.

I don't think Star Wars should have a movie about volleyball.

On 8/17/2020 at 7:38 AM, Jo Jo said:

Don't a pair of A-wings blow up a Star Destroyer Shield dome in ROTJ with just blaster fire?

It's beyond clear that it isn't just a pair of A-wings, that the Executor is getting focus fired by the whole entire fleet.

Quoted the admiral.

That's why it comes across as just dumb when you see it in game. If you have an entire fleet firing at the star destroyer, and the last few shots from fighter bring down the shield, fine.

Otherwise, let's just pretend you can be a non-jedi and punch the Star Destroyer with your fist, and one shot it, no Force necessary, in the name of 'balance'

As much as I otherwise like Rogue One the hammerhead ram scene and resulting damage is genuinely the most infuriating to me in all the Disney movies.

On 7/2/2020 at 6:53 PM, KelRiever said:

...5v5 screams bad design to me...

...just seen this, and I'm going to take issue here as well. That is such an eye-rollingly bad take.

For a start, some of the best multiplayer games I've ever played have been small-team experiences. Take Left 4 Dead, for example. An incredible experience, and that only had a 4 x 4 multiplayer component.

This isn't an example of "bad designz", this is an example of focused design. By concentrating on a very specific format, they have the opportunity to balance and fine tune the game play to a much greater degree than they would if they were also supporting 8 x 8, 16 x 16, 32 x 32 mass battle games etc.

10 hours ago, KelRiever said:

It's beyond clear that it isn't just a pair of A-wings, that the Executor is getting focus fired by the whole entire fleet.

Quoted the admiral.

That's why it comes across as just dumb when you see it in game. If you have an entire fleet firing at the star destroyer, and the last few shots from fighter bring down the shield, fine.

Otherwise, let's just pretend you can be a non-jedi and punch the Star Destroyer with your fist, and one shot it, no Force necessary, in the name of 'balance'

According to gameplay that has been shown, the AI capital ships will actually engage each other. During the course of a match, your main capital ships will close the distance and engage.

On 8/19/2020 at 5:52 PM, Jo Jo said:

According to gameplay that has been shown, the AI capital ships will actually engage each other. During the course of a match, your main capital ships will close the distance and engage.

Yep. Then there's the frigates on either side (the Nebulon B's for the Rebels, Artiquens for the Empire) and the corvettes (CR90's/Raiders), and yeah, the gameplay footage so far has done a really good job of showing how much firepower these bad boys are actually throwing t each other. and it's been mentioned several times on the videos that it takes a real, concerted TEAM EFFORT to swing the battle in your favour and take the opposing team's capital ship down. It's certainly not a case of a "non-Jedi punching the Star Destroyer with your fist, and one shot it, no Force necessary, in the name of 'balance'.". There's a reason the mode is called Fleet Battles .

*shrugs* but going off the comments so far, it seems as though some people made their mind up about the game as soon as the letters EA were mentioned. It's a bit unfair to dismiss the hard work of various development studios out of hand, just because you have a raging hate-boner for their publisher.

6 hours ago, FTS Gecko said:

It's a bit unfair to dismiss the hard work of various development studios out of hand, just because you have a raging hate-boner for their publisher.

Unfair? Yeah for the development team at least that does sound very true. Unfounded? Well unfortunately the answer is not really. I'm not gonna pretend that I don't like games that EA has published, but I've also been burned by them plenty of times too. I was there when Marauder Shields tried to save us from the bad ending. I've spent hours grinding for just one loot box to get a chance at the thing I wanted. I've seen promising IP's destroyed by corporate mismanagement and interference, and talented studios acquired only to be shuttered in service of the bottom line.

Now this game does look promising. Every bit of news seems to indicate that this won't be another attempting at milking the player base for ever $1.99 loot box that can be sold, or a product launched before it's truly in a finished and polished state. The passion the developers have for this series and this genre is pretty obvious, and I really do want this to be a success story. That doesn't erase the past though. It's not like it's a particularly distant past either. Caution is all I'm really calling for. Just in case they're blowing smoke, or EA makes some last minute changes to the progression model, please do not pre-order this or any EA product. Once it's out though, and you know for sure what you're paying for, by all means go for it.

2 hours ago, Hippie Moosen said:

...I was there when Marauder Shields tried to save us from the bad ending...

Marauder Shields was the hero we deserved. But only two of the endings were bad. Destroy every time, baybee, with no Extended Cut. 😉

ME3's multiplayer; another (somewhat surprisingly) amazing example of a 4 player multiplayer mode that was incredibly well done. One mode, 4 players only. Not bad design at all

With regards to EA's microtransactions... well, yeah, the history is there. They did seem to learn from the furious backlash over Battlefront 2 however, and the changes they made & years of free updates and content that followed papered over a few cracks. Again, DICE and Criterion (and Bioware), great studios who deserve credit for their hard work.

On 8/19/2020 at 6:17 AM, FTS Gecko said:

...just seen this, and I'm going to take issue here as well. That is such an eye-rollingly bad take.

For a start, some of the best multiplayer games I've ever played have been small-team experiences. Take Left 4 Dead, for example. An incredible experience, and that only had a 4 x 4 multiplayer component.

This isn't an example of "bad designz", this is an example of focused design. By concentrating on a very specific format, they have the opportunity to balance and fine tune the game play to a much greater degree than they would if they were also supporting 8 x 8, 16 x 16, 32 x 32 mass battle games etc.

I think also for a game like this smaller teams will be better for match-making and getting teams working together. Smaller games likely present more opportunities for keeping the skill levels of the sides more even.

30 minutes ago, Frimmel said:

I think also for a game like this smaller teams will be better for match-making and getting teams working together. Smaller games likely present more opportunities for keeping the skill levels of the sides more even.

Exactly. Mass 32 Vs 32 battles may be great for switch your brain off run, gun, die and respawn shooters, but games where teamwork is important are much better suited to lower numbers.

Left 4 Dead is such a great example of competitive team play, working together and communicating to protect team mates, set traps etc. If you didn't work as a team, you lost, simple as that.

20 hours ago, FTS Gecko said:

Exactly. Mass 32 Vs 32 battles may be great for switch your brain off run, gun, die and respawn shooters, but games where teamwork is important are much better suited to lower numbers.

Left 4 Dead is such a great example of competitive team play, working together and communicating to protect team mates, set traps etc. If you didn't work as a team, you lost, simple as that.

Hah, booted up LFD2 the other night with some friends. The Helms Deep modded map is great fun.

I do like that it will be a small player amount will be small, but 5 is an odd number in more ways than one. Any Wing/Squadron/Flight is always even so you can be paired with a wingman. I would have preferred 6 vs 6.

@FTS Gecko I think it’s a great irony that teaser videos are posted and then it’s suddenly bad to say what is anticipated because I disagree with you. Making up your mind before a purchase is the entire point. Otherwise you would be forever buying things and then finding out only too late that you bought something you didn’t like.

And this is not some set of clips, this is extensive enough that anyone should be able to make a decision on. I think what’s going on here is the arguments that this is a deeply lore based game don’t hold merit. And for me I’m not interested in what looks like another arcade fighter game. Even if it’s more Sophisticated than BFII which is a mighty low bar. Not just because it has a star wars stamp on it.

People can like what they want. This game looks very off lore, and like another paymill,

21 hours ago, KelRiever said:

People can like what they want. This game looks very off lore, and like another paymill,

Of course - you're totally entitled to your opinion.

But by putting that opinion out there, you're inviting other people to debate that opinion, what it's based on, decide whether it has any merit and agree - or disagree.

Again, the statement you've put above - "this game looks very off lore, and like another paymill" is demonstrably incorrect, as shown by all the information and discussion already provided in this very topic. Choosing to ignore that information doesn't do your opinion any favours - it just makes it look ill-informed at best, and biased at worst.

Similarly, the statement about 5 vs 5 being "bad design" is also demonstrably incorrect, as some of the most enjoyable and balanced multiplayer games of all time are/were small team games.

You're totally welcome to make your mind up about a game before you've had chance to experience it. Just don't expect others to agree with that particular line of thinking.

WEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDGGGGEE!!!

Yeah, that looks amazing. Deploying from Gozanti cruisers man! 😁

Good breakdown of the new trailer here:

A couple of interesting talking points from the trailer:

We get to see Admiral Sloane and Hera Syndulla , plus we get a shout out to Rogue Squadron from Wedge Antilles .

Plus, we see a couple of assets from the old PC X-Wing series make their first appearances in a Star Wars product for a long, long time. The "orbital installation" from the Imperial mission is a XQ Series Platform , created for the X-Wing PC games and not seen since X-Wing: Alliance:

In the same mission, we see the classic BFF-1 Bulk Freighter , a ship that was again introduced in the first X-Wing PC game and not seen since Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II:

I can't wait to see what else makes it into the game!

I cannot wait to scan a Bulk Freighter!