EA Motive’s got another “Pilot Briefing” blog post up, which means new intel on the upcoming Star Wars: Squadrons. This first-person dogfighting sim, like Fallen Order before it, looks like the sort of Star Wars game players have been asking for since EA’s use of the license kicked off in 2013.
Ship components
As you play and progress through Squadrons, you’ll unlock both Requisition points and starfighter components. You’ll slot together different combinations of components to create loadouts, or builds, suited to individual play styles and situations.
Starfighters with shield generators have a total of seven component slots; fighters without shields have only six. Here are the types of components you’ll be working with to set up your build: primary weapons, two auxiliary-weapon slots, countermeasures, hull, shields, and engines.
“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,” said lead gameplay designer James Clement. “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.
Flying in style
On the eye-candy side of things, you’ll be able to customize the look of both your pilots (one from the New Republic and one fighting for the Imperial Remnant) as well as “all eight of your starfighters.”
EA says that “most cosmetics” will be unlocked through a currency called Glory points, which seems to imply that there’ll be the occasional exclusive paint job or real-money-only item — but that’s just speculation at this point.
Pilots can be customized with different voices, heads, full-body flight suits, torso apparel, legwear, helmets, and gloves. Inside your fighter’s cockpit, you’ll be able to hang and mount various holograms, knick-knacks, and trophies of past victories (e.g., a red crystal from The Last Jedi’s planet Crait). “Your enemies will get to see them when they watch a kill-cam of their defeat,” according to the post.
Naturally, fighter exteriors can be tricked out with various paint jobs and decals, but die-hard lore purists also have the option to disable all cosmetics from their point of view.
“The holo-display, normally used to provide critical phase and objective information throughout the Fleet Battles, doubles as a customizable image projector,” Clement said.
“There are also hanging flairs — like a miniature Millennium Falcon — and dashboard-mounted objects, like a severed protocol droid head or an Ewok bobblehead. Then, of course, there are the ship-exterior paint jobs and pilot avatar customizations, all made through the culmination of months of concept art, modeling, and collaboration with the team at Lucasfilm.”
Squadrons is set to launch on October 2 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
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