Image: Motive Studios, Lucasfilm/Electronic ArtsĪs the final scoreboard comes up, I’m already thinking of how I’ll approach the next round of Fleet Battle when Star Wars: Squadrons goes live this fall.

But before they can reach me, I’ve landed a mortal blow on the Mon Calamari-made cruiser. To my right now I can see the X-wing rising over the gentle curve of the 75’s hull, ready to line up the shot. My little bomber grinds to a halt as the beam laser’s giant green light arcs out from underneath the cockpit, quickly joined by my rotary laser cannon as it spins up. Full power to the engines now as I roll left and bank hard, turning into the broadside of the 75 like a dive bomber lining up on the deck of the Sōryū at Midway Island.įull power to weapons once more, I hammer both the right trigger and the right shoulder button on my gamepad. That’s likely due more to the glitchy state of the game’s HUD than anything else, but I’m not complaining. The gambit works, giving me just a little more time to close the gap and charge my laser.īetter still, it looks like no one on the Republic side of the fight has seen me. Pushing down on the stick, I put the Raider between me and the 75, skitching behind the little warship and using it for cover. Just a kilometer ahead is a 150-meter-long Imperial Raider, which just dropped in from hyperspace to join the party. Star Wars: Squadrons: what it’s like to fly every ship With a little more speed, maybe this time I can evade them.

In the last few passes, they’ve chewed me apart. The bigger problem at hand, however, are the multiple turbolaser batteries bristling on the New Republic Star Cruiser’s dorsal side. I’ve only been playing for a little while, and I’m not quite sure how long I have before the charge dissipates. With just a little over half the laser’s charge stored up, I tap the directional pad to ease more power over to my engines. Even with a partial charge, the beam laser is a monster that can do serious damage to even the largest capital ships. If I can close with the 75 without getting shot out of the sky, I have a decent chance of ending the match. I’m slowly building up a charge on a ridiculous and powerful beam laser. Inside my TIE bomber, I’ve put all power to my weapons systems. Now it’s time for the Empire to make its final push. A back-and-forth Fleet Battle has been raging for the better part of 30 minutes inside the Nadiri Dockyards, as a New Republic MC75 Star Cruiser and the Imperial Star Destroyer I rode in on play a high-stakes game of chicken. I’m three and a half hours into a marathon demo of Star Wars: Squadrons, the new combat spaceflight simulator from Electronic Arts.

Star wars broadside cruiser