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How Similar is Squadrons to GSF? Worth Trying Out?


arunav

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I've come to really enjoy GSF the past few years in SWTOR, after not playing it much since the first month or so it was put in the game.

 

Squadrons looks similar in some ways, and I thought folks here would probably have already played it.

 

Is it better? Worse?

 

Harder/more time consuming to upgrade your ships than GSF? Easier?

 

I'd potentially be playing Squadrons on a PC if that matters.

 

Thanks for any input.

Edited by arunav
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They're similar in a few ways, but also different.

 

Unlike Squadrons, the developers of GSF were given enough time and resources to finish it. While GSF has scarcely received updates over the years, any such notion is still on the table and the game mode is very well in the hearts and minds of the developers. It's only a matter of when GSF will be getting another update rather than if, but I don't know what the future holds, really. Squadrons, on the other hand, was quickly abandoned by EA, and it'll probably never receive another update, let alone another bug fix or balance patch. On the plus side, since it is not a part of an MMO, the prospect of a bigger, better sequel is very much in the air, but it likely won't happen anytime soon.

 

Squadrons is okay, but GSF is better in almost all regards. There is more customization to be had, personalization, more ships, bigger maps and more players per team, and various other aspects. What GSF does not have, however, is a first-person cockpit view, PvE, and a story ...and perhaps a few other things, maybe.

 

I consider GSF an arcade with flight simulator elements, and Squadrons as a flight simulator with arcade elements.

 

Squadrons and GSF both have their problems, but in my personal opinion, I'd much rather put up with getting sliced and protorped in GSF than deal with these pingpong players in Squadrons who bounce around in their starfighters at incredible speeds and awkward angles, and can somehow instantly melt you with pin point accuracy. I'm currently in the midst of uploading a video to YouTube where you can see what I am talking about, at least to a degree.

 

Still, I enjoy Squadrons for what it is. It's not much, and it doesn't have the lasting power that GSF has, but I like to try it out every now and then. I am currently playing it a lot more than I used to, but I don't expect I'll stick to it as much as I do to GSF.

 

Buy Squadrons when it is on special rather than for full price; I don't think it's worth the default price tag, but perhaps that's just me.

 

It's been a while since I upgraded anything in GSF, but if I were to estimate, it should take just as long to upgrade a ship in Squadrons as it does in GSF. If any longer or shorter, probably not by much?

 

[EDIT: You can change the controls to mirror that of GSF to ease yourself. I did that and was able to play quite naturally rather quickly despite it being a different game. Not everything will be 1:1, but close enough.

 

Some of the ships have functions or lack functions you'd expect them to, like the B-wing having two choices for beam cannons despite being a bomber and not a gunship, or battlescouts dropping seeker mines. Positively, protorps and beam cannons are regulated to anti-Capital Ship affairs, unlike in GSF. My A-wing is happy, lol.

Edited by ForfiniteStories
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I'd call Squadrons a version of the X-wing series with modern graphics and focused on 4v4 PvP.

 

There are enough similarities that GSF premades absolutely dominated Squadrons tournaments, but a lot of them also have experience with more flight sim type games too, so it probably not all GSF skill transfer.

 

Having a HOTAS helps, but you can do ok with m+kb or a game controller. Fairly well designed as far as being input hardware neutral.

 

Concur that it's a good buy on sale.

 

There will still be a learning curve when you first play. Expect to suck for a while.

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I'd call Squadrons a version of the X-wing series with modern graphics and focused on 4v4 PvP.

 

There are enough similarities that GSF premades absolutely dominated Squadrons tournaments, but a lot of them also have experience with more flight sim type games too, so it probably not all GSF skill transfer.

 

Having a HOTAS helps, but you can do ok with m+kb or a game controller. Fairly well designed as far as being input hardware neutral.

 

Concur that it's a good buy on sale.

 

There will still be a learning curve when you first play. Expect to suck for a while.

 

And which Squadron were these premades? Were they part of Splinter, Randos as those were the two ones that won most of the events.

 

Squadrons is more like X-wing series but unfortuantely due to short development times there were some design oversights that has caused the meta to about making hte most out of boosting and energy exploits to fly in a way that's hard for the netcode to keep up with some odd bugs ( like not being able to drift boost on separate buttons with HOTAS )

Edited by Anishor
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And which Squadron were these premades? Were they part of Splinter, Randos as those were the two ones that won most of the events.

 

Squadrons is more like X-wing series but unfortuantely due to short development times there were some design oversights that has caused the meta to about making hte most out of boosting and energy exploits to fly in a way that's hard for the netcode to keep up with some odd bugs ( like not being able to drift boost on separate buttons with HOTAS )

 

Rando's was founded by GSF players, and began as mostly SRW players.

 

GAS was almost entirely GSF players except for a single player. (And after we left Squadrons because the Devs told us they were going to fix the flight model, we got that player to come play GSF lol)

Edited by Drakkolich
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Rando's was founded by GSF players, and began as mostly SRW players.

 

GAS was almost entirely GSF players except for a single player. (And after we left Squadrons because the Devs told us they were going to fix the flight model, we got that player to come play GSF lol)

 

You left because they were going to fix the flight model? Also cool didn't know you guys were from GSF :)

I flew with one of the splinter squads for a bit as a bomber pilot, but the fact my favorite ship ( the b-wing ) had very limited capacity on the meta with the energy management + boost gasping kind of turned me off.

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You left because they were going to fix the flight model? Also cool didn't know you guys were from GSF :)

I flew with one of the splinter squads for a bit as a bomber pilot, but the fact my favorite ship ( the b-wing ) had very limited capacity on the meta with the energy management + boost gasping kind of turned me off.

 

I meant "weren't going to fix the flight model" , sorry about that typo.

 

Basically we figured out the constant boost drifting really early and used it to dominate the first tournament, and then they tried to make a few changes to fix it, we knew full well that if they kept it the way it was the gameplay was going to become very stale very fast, and once the Devs told us they were moving on and not making anymore changes we just bailed. We weren't having fun anymore and even though we were the points leaders when we left, we just didn't want to keep putting in that many hours in a game we weren't enjoying.

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They're similar in a few ways, but also different.

 

Unlike Squadrons, the developers of GSF were given enough time and resources to finish it. While GSF has scarcely received updates over the years, any such notion is still on the table and the game mode is very well in the hearts and minds of the developers. It's only a matter of when GSF will be getting another update rather than if, but I don't know what the future holds, really. Squadrons, on the other hand, was quickly abandoned by EA, and it'll probably never receive another update, let alone another bug fix or balance patch. On the plus side, since it is not a part of an MMO, the prospect of a bigger, better sequel is very much in the air, but it likely won't happen anytime soon.

 

Squadrons is okay, but GSF is better in almost all regards. There is more customization to be had, personalization, more ships, bigger maps and more players per team, and various other aspects. What GSF does not have, however, is a first-person cockpit view, PvE, and a story ...and perhaps a few other things, maybe.

 

I consider GSF an arcade with flight simulator elements, and Squadrons as a flight simulator with arcade elements.

 

Squadrons and GSF both have their problems, but in my personal opinion, I'd much rather put up with getting sliced and protorped in GSF than deal with these pingpong players in Squadrons who bounce around in their starfighters at incredible speeds and awkward angles, and can somehow instantly melt you with pin point accuracy. I'm currently in the midst of uploading a video to YouTube where you can see what I am talking about, at least to a degree.

 

Still, I enjoy Squadrons for what it is. It's not much, and it doesn't have the lasting power that GSF has, but I like to try it out every now and then. I am currently playing it a lot more than I used to, but I don't expect I'll stick to it as much as I do to GSF.

 

Buy Squadrons when it is on special rather than for full price; I don't think it's worth the default price tag, but perhaps that's just me.

 

It's been a while since I upgraded anything in GSF, but if I were to estimate, it should take just as long to upgrade a ship in Squadrons as it does in GSF. If any longer or shorter, probably not by much?

 

[EDIT: You can change the controls to mirror that of GSF to ease yourself. I did that and was able to play quite naturally rather quickly despite it being a different game. Not everything will be 1:1, but close enough.

 

Some of the ships have functions or lack functions you'd expect them to, like the B-wing having two choices for beam cannons despite being a bomber and not a gunship, or battlescouts dropping seeker mines. Positively, protorps and beam cannons are regulated to anti-Capital Ship affairs, unlike in GSF. My A-wing is happy, lol.

 

Thanks for the response.

 

I expect it'll be on sale on Steam over the holidays, and will likely give it a try.

Edited by arunav
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