New Space Combat Information

PC Action, a German Magazine, released new information today on Space Combat from a demo that was shown to the press leading up to GamesCom. To say that the information has blown up the Star Wars: The Old Republic Official Forum would be an understatement. Sean Dahlberg replied after stating:

As announced during Comic-Con International...

First, thank you to all of you who participated in our Comic-Con Reveal mission! While we didn't quite make the numbers, we definitely saw how excited the community is about this and how everyone came together. After all of that, there's no way we could hold back with our special reveal at Comic-Con!

If you've been following the news coming out of the Star Wars: The Old Republic panel at Comic-Con International, you've heard the announcement that we will indeed have Space Combat as part of the TOR experience! But what does that mean? Space combat is an alternative gameplay experience to the primary game of storytelling, questing, and ground-based combat. In space combat, you fly your personal ship to various hot spots on your galaxy map. From there, you will blast your way through asteroid fields, enemy fighters, frigates, destroyers, and a variety of other obstacles that will evoke memories of some of the great Star Wars space battles.

To learn more, pick up the October 2010 edition of PC Gamer which hits newsstands starting August 17th for screenshots and an exclusive interview or check back with us in the weeks to come.

Check out the cover of PC Gamer's October edition here:

http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/07/23/st...led-in-pcg-us/


There is an article about by the PC Action magazine that gives more details about Space Combat. There is a translation for this posted by a few users but I ask that everyone keep the discussion of the topic to this thread. Keeping the conversation within a (single) thread is easier for the team to look at consolidated constructive criticism and feedback instead of having to search all over and reading numerous short threads.

While discussing this, as always, be courteous to your fellow community members.

UPDATE[1]: To clarify, Space Combat is not a Turret Shooter (this is probably obvious after seeing the screenshot but some people were mentioning it in the other thread).

UPDATE[2]: Added the poll from a community member's thread.


For details on the information that was released today, check the community thread on the Official Forum linked below. Hat tip to Chris and Jamis on the heads up. You can find our community discussing the news on our forum.

Comments

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  • #81 Darthrauch
    K hope I'm not repeating this darn thing went goofy on me. I for one love space. Wing Commander ,all the SW stuff even Jedi Star fighter. I would have Voted no space at all to what they gave us. I will not use space now unless the REWARDS ARE SUPER. I would have waited 2+ years for a Real Space Expension then this garbage sadly. I have been a Fanboi and have stuck up for everything they done up to this. Not a Deal Breaker for me.Some it is sadly, J2L is one big reason SWG kept a good Sub after all the NGE down fall. ;-( just upset with this Clone War Clone.
  • #80 Darthrauch
    I myself would have loved a J2L Space. I didn't expect that it would be all that in March unless it was a plan all along. But to give us a Dumb downed space is a kick to the chops. I understand J2L is a hard system to learn. They could have added where your Computer did all your shields and Cap switch and what not for rookies. J2L was the Best space for a MMO still is the best space in any MMO. U could have 8 ppl from your guild in your Gunship 5 running turrets ,2 Eng, a Co-Pilot. This was a real group fight. Now u could have add ppl along just to get xp u could had a party with the whole guild and ppl taking breaks and switch spots. u Could of had your crafters crafting while they was get space xp from your guild kills. U could have had Guilds in fighters out side helping protect u from Reb's and a-wing's. This is and will always be the Best Space MMO out there I guess. I would have gladly waited another year or 2 for Good space. Now I real don't think ToR will ever have good space. There isn't many Co. who will make a Big Engine change. So sadly we will be stuck with them taking this off Rail's in a year to add Co-Op and PvP. But it will still be a sad Star Fox that even Bored me when I was 10 or so when it first came out. Lmao I fought my Mom and dad for weeks to get Star Fox and after maybe a Month nv played it again.
  • #74 Jaswar
    this is a translated version from a community member on the TOR forums of what is involved in space combat and the info on the jedi's from the german pc gamer article

    "We call this gameplay "tunnel shooter". That means there are especially designed levels which make you follow a certain path. The players has a range of weapon systems to choose from to use against his enemies. You will receive a quest beforehand. If you're in space you will automatically receive side quests.

    * Missions are supposed to be a few minutes short and are more of an "action snack".
    * There won't be any PvP space combat at launch.
    * PC action played a mission, which included fighters, corvettes and cruisers. There task was to shoot 20 fighters and destroy the enemy's mothership.
    * Missions are well-staged/designed, there won't be any flying around doing nothing.
    * Space combat is single-player for now, the hotspots are chosen from you space ship's bridge.
    * Escort missions are planned.
    * Space combat missions are completely optional for now, if you don't want to do them, you don't have to.
    * There are six different types of space ships. Smuggler, Bounty Hunter, Agent and Trooper will have their own type of shop. The two Jedi and the two Sith classes will have to share a type.

    Classes

    * The Jedi Knight will be able to choose the guardian or warden specialization [names might differ]. The guardian is good at taking damages whereas the warden is a more offensive class. Seems like we've got a tank and a DPS class here.
    * The Trooper also has to choose between two specializations: "Weapon stage" and "Super Trooper" [names might differ]. Whereas the first specialization focuses on heavy weapons, the "Super Trooper" is supposed to be more flexible and quick carrying an assault rifle.
    * Similar details were mentioned earlier and PC Action again confirms that the Jedi Consular may choose between a "control" or "support" specialization.

    Companions

    * Jedi Knights will have a little T7 droid as their first companion. The little unit will be in for a good fight since it's equipped with blasters and rockets.
  • #72 Tricky
    I am a Star Wars fan & am fully planning on playing SWTOR despite the garbage space combat they're trying to lay on me.

    I just think it would've been nice to have a system in place that the majority of forum voters asked for is all.
    http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=18061&highlight=space combat launch

    Less that 1% actually wanted a rail-shooter but now it seems like 200% of BioWare can do no wrong buttkissers are on the forums defending it. I'm confused about that.

    I would've liked free-flight space combat in SWTOR with PvP & exploration & epic storytelling missions. That doesn't mean I wanted space combat to be the main focus of the game, no, I just wanted space combat to be at the same quality as the ground game. The ground game is not like one of those toy-gun shooter arcades that you see at movie theaters that lead you around on rails to shoot at targets on a predetermined path, the ground game has open world & free-character movement, the ground game has exploration & PvP.

    The main focus of the ground game means that it should have the bulk of the content, while the space game would have at most a 1/3rd of the ground games content, but both the ground & space games would be quality.

    I'm sad & feel cheated, but it's alright. Space combat is optional. I used to be the kind of person that wanted to play in space, now I'll take the options to avoid it unless I need to get from one planet to another.

    Thanks BW for making a Star Wars & space combat fan want nothing to do at all with your version of space combat.

    If they do change it into x-y-z-axis free roaming space flight, well I'll most likely still be here, my Bounty Hunter all maxed leveled & looking at the sky with hope for what could've been dripping off the edge of his vibroblade as he takes out all his frustrations of the crappy action going on up there in space by killing everyone in PvP.
  • #73 Jaswar
    what would happen if they didnt do space combat at all then??? hey at least its in there ....little side mini games to do in space sounds like fun to me :) and from what I read in pc gamer there is engine upgrade loot as well
  • #75 Tricky
    If they didn't do space combat then all I would have to be annoyed about is that there is no space combat.

    Now I'm stuck with a form of space combat, on-rails tunnel shooter, that I absolutely despise. I'm a fan of space games & rail-shooter type space games are my least favorite genre of space games. It's like the Jedi classes in SWTOR. No matter how great their stories & the skills & gameplay for those classes are, I do not like Jedi so I'll never want to play the Jedi classes.

    So my main problem with TOR space combat is that there's no free-roaming player controlled flight & that settles the choice for me. No matter how amazing they make it, I won't participate in space combat until they get the ship off of that goddamned rail.

    I'm bitter a little, but I'm not in full ragequit mode or ready to dooooooooom BioWare to failure cause this is the choice of gameplay they used for space combat. I'm just gonna treat it like any type of optional game feature in this MMO.
  • #79 abner_ford
    I believe the poll results you're comparing are missing one key thing: They didn't have an option for "no space at all". I'd be interested in knowing how many people would've voted for the no space option, because there are people that did not want it. I wanted something close to X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter, but I didn't expect anything. I loved Star Fox, so if I can have either nothing, or Star Fox with cinematic set pieces put together by BioWare, well by golly I'll take the latter.

    It's garbage to people that were set on "Flight sim or bust". Don't know what to tell you guys. But it's not a make-or-break element to a majority of the game population. Most people were not going to be swayed one way or the other depending on BioWare's implementation of something they've stated was going to be an optional experience from the moment they announced it.
  • #78 Jaswar
    they said that once the game gets going ...there gonna do that in future updates. the article said that they will have PVP space combat and coop play , but in the meantime by the looks of it I am thinking its gonna be pretty intense ...
  • #71 sojournerjedi
    At least there will be plenty room for an expansion.
  • #57 Nasqueron
    I'd rather have Pod Racing than Space Combat. Make it so.
  • #63 flem1
    I'd be pretty surprised if swoop racing didn't make it in somehow.
  • #59 abner_ford
    Start a 200+ page thread about it and we'll see.
  • #56 Jaramukhti
    Watching the storm on the official forums has been very entertaining. However, isn't there a saying about the foolishness of making sweeping judgements without all the facts?

    All this article had to do was feature the words "Tunnel Shooter", and everyone ran around like someone set their hair on fire. Really there was no reason for that reaction -- this article didn't reveal enough of the core elements to make any sort of judgement on how exactly it will play ingame.

    It sort of reminds me of the chaos after seeing the multi-player gameplay from E3. People made their snap judgements on how SWTOR was just using a clone of the current trinity. Then, weeks later, we see that there is much more depth to it than we may have seen on first viewing.

    I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the fireworks. People will make quick judgements on everything, and later may realize that they were too swift to jump to conclusions. Until then, they make for some awesome entertainment.
  • #69 Invader Mig
    There was quite of bit of information in that article if you actually read it. People didn't just read tunnel shooter and went crazy. They read the part about you not being able to control the direction or speed in which your ship moves and they also had the audacity to say "similar to Rogue Squadron". Lack of any sort of multiplayer at launch also put a damper on the excitement for space. I know there are people on the forums who are just raging, but there are also people there with justified disappointment. As I explained in an earlier comment this whole ordeal was very much hyped, and it turned out to be a tunnel shooter with 2-8 minute missions.

    As far as weeks later seeing a video that showed much more depth to ground combat, that's laughable. The healer did a slam or two and slashed the enemy when it was about to die. Despite the popular belief on this site, the new vid does not show anything disproving a hard trinity in that particular encounter. If examples are always taken from WoW then that might have some merit. Even in wow I was able to throw in attack on my healing priest when running dungeons, so I don't see how that changes anything. There are many other MMO's where the healer can sneak in a cc or attack here and there like the consular did, that doesn't mean that their role is a hybrid. That was definitely the case in Lotro, and that game had a hard trinity too.

    The thing that might really change this dynamic is companions, but we have yet to see them in action. Those 2 videos were not every different from each other, and in no way changed the fact that everyone there "in that particular encounter" had a specific role.
  • #66 Jaswar
    completely agree with you ..im a very excited about space combat in the game in any format and I thank you Bioware for putting it into the game. We defintely are gonna be learning ALOT more in the months to come about all the little details, heck if its only a single player experience Great , I would do this part of the game when I just wanna get off the planet and blast my way through the asteroid belt encounter. One thing the babies are forgetting that there should be some good rewards for doing this part of the game as well, And yes i get a kick out the the forum trolls ...such a sad sad group of ..well whoever they are .....such whiners and unfortunately, it seems, that they have found this great site. Do us all a favor and go post your misery somewhere else. This site is way to mature for you
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