Star Wars Battlefront is a near perfect replication of the film franchise in video game form. However, the one aspect it’s missing is the ability to battle in space. Luckily, the development team over at DICE has at least given players the Fighter Squadron multiplayer mode, which transports the action to the air as every player takes control of a Rebel X-wing or A-wing, or an Imperial TIE fighter or TIE interceptor.
Objectives:
- Destroy enemy transport ships.
- Defend your transport ships.
- Destroy enemy fighters.
Fighter Squadron mode is very similar to a more standard team death match mode in other shooters. You earn points by defeating enemy ships, and The side with the most points wins once time has expired. You earn points for taking down AI drones, human players and transport ships. Your focus should be on transport ships as they give you 10 times more points than taking down a human opponent. Between transport ship phases, focus on player-controlled fighters because they’re worth three times as many points as the AI drones.
Defending transports can be tricky, as TIE fighters tend to be a bit faster than Rebel spacecraft, although the Rebels can take more damage, allowing them to last longer in a firefight. Saving your transports and destroying the enemy transports is vital due to the sheer amount of points earned by taking a transport down. Stick with them as much as you can, and watch out for incoming enemies, and when it’s time to take out an enemy transport, send everything you have to finish it off!
Watch for tokens in the center of the map. These generally spawn at low altitudes, making them a bit more difficult to grab. Tokens come in three forms – Repair, which repairs any damage to your ship; Refresh, which helps your ship’s power-ups get refilled; and Hero, which activates either the Millennium Falcon (Rebel Alliance) or Boba Fett’s Slave-1 (Empire), depending on which side you’re on. Having a hero vehicle is great, as they can either take down or defend transport ships much more effectively, as well as take out enemy fighters with ease.
Keep a close eye on your score and the opposing team’s score. If you’re up quite a bit with a small amount of time remaining, focus more on the AI drones than anything else. These are easy to take down, and if you already have a substantial lead there’s no need to go for harder kills. This should also be true if you’re only down by a few points. Focus on the AI drones to catch up and potentially gain the lead while your enemy has their eyes on bigger prizes.
Of course no matter what strategy you employ, as soon as the transport phase begins, you need to defend or attack. There’s simply no comparison to the amount of points earned for a transport ship, so it takes top priority no matter what the score may be.
If you’ve been playing other multiplayer modes, such as Blast or Supremacy, you can find advanced tips and tricks, as well as other advice in our Star Wars Battlefront game hub.
Published: Nov 17, 2015 08:00 am