Star Wars: Squadrons is worth revisiting with today’s 4.0 update

The B-Wing and TIE Defender were added for free

Motive Studios added the B-Wing and TIE Defender to Star Wars: Squadrons today as promised, along with a server browser, custom matches, TrackIR support on PC, and more cosmetics “that will be rolled out over time through in-game events and Operations.” Here’s the under-a-minute recap trailer.

And here’s the developer breakdown for those two new ships.

B-Wing

• Heavy Gunship playstyle, back-line fighter
• Low maneuverability, relies on boosting/drifting to move and turn efficiently
• High durability and primary damage output, explosive capital ship damage and built-in ion cannons
• Relies on Support/allies to reach capital ships and survive while dealing damage
• Ideal for staying back behind Fighters/Interceptors and laying down heavy fire on enemy ships
• Unique component: Ion Beam
  • Deals massive ion damage to capital ship shields and subsystems
• Unique component: Gyro/Aux Control Module
  • Allows gyroscopic cockpit roll while holding the auxiliary button, rotating the entire ship around your cockpit. Wing angle determines bomb release angle. Missile evasion is also increased while gyroscopic roll is in motion.
  • Also increases ammo count for auxiliaries that use ammo; otherwise, improves auxiliary cooldown rate.

TIE Defender

• Highly adaptable anti-starfighter specialist, front- and mid-line fighter
• High survivability with strong shields but very susceptible to ion weaponry
• Requires frequent, skillful power management and use of boost/drift for ideal performance; poor power management can be detrimental
• Unique component: Advanced Power System
  • Gives instant, significant overcharge to the system with max power. If no system has max power, gives weaker overcharge across all systems.

Bug fixes and balance changes were also a major push in Update 4.0. A few points worth highlighting:

• Ongoing server-side matchmaking improvements
• Fixed an issue where PlayStation 5 visuals appeared blurry.
• Fixed an issue where the game would not detect all input devices if multiple were plugged in
• Fixed an issue where the mini-stick input on the Hori HOTAS for Xbox One did not work properly
• Added the option to toggle game controllers between dynamic (default) and static throttle. This option can be used to correct the behavior of the throttle on certain input devices, such as the Hori HOTAS for PS4.
• Reduced the max time waiting in the briefing room from 120 seconds to 90 seconds
• Improved the loading time of the friends list for players with many friends
• Fixed an issue where some players couldn’t progress past the objective to “Follow Gunny” in Mission 1
• Individual sub-tiers in the rank ladder now display their SR requirements

Free new content is a pleasant surprise for any EA-backed Star Wars game, especially one that fans are feeling. If you haven’t come back in a while, there’s also the recently-added Fostar Haven map.

Today’s update is intended to be a “final thank you,” so content-wise, this is probably it.

Update 4.0 Release Notes [EA]