November is keeping the ball rolling with Clone Wars era content in Star Wars Battlefront 2. We know both Obi-Wan Kenobi and Geonosis are coming later this month but now we know a little bit more about both of these things.
In today’s Community Transmission we learned about the various phases of Galactic Assault on Geonosis along with getting an up-close look at the AT-TE and Obi-Wan.
Galactic Assault has traditionally featured a lot of frantic combat but the developers wanted to mix things up with Geonosis and add a lot of vehicular combat for the final two phases, something that has been missing with previous Galactic Assault maps.
Galactic Assault on Geonosis will still feature three phases but these phases will likely feel different the first few times you play them. Here are the phases as laid out in today’s Community Transmission:
Phase 1:
RE-ACTIVATE A DAMAGED AT-TE
The first phase is very much focused on infantry combat with the Clones needing to call in reinforcements and re-activate a damaged AT-TE. During this phase, the objective of the Droids is to stop them.
This phase will take place in typical Geonosian canyons with plenty of pathways and cover available.
Phase 2:
HARDCELL TROOP TRANSPORT
The second phase marks the shift from infantry to vehicular combat. With vehicles now coming into play, the tight canyons will give way to a vast battlefront, meaning a change in tactics and gameplay will be required.
The objective during this phase is to bring down or defend (depending on your team) two Hardcell Troop Transports. Mechanically and gameplay-wise, this objective is a mixture of the destroy objective (as seen on Crait with the generators) and walkers The Hardcell Troop Transports are static objects that the Clones need to destroy before they run out of tickets.
However, they need to be weakened before serious damage can be dealt to them (similarly to walkers). This can be achieved by using the special ability of the AT-TEs. This ties into the overarching theme of Geonosis of the AT-TE’s being the cornerstone of the battle.
Phase 3:
SECURE TURBOLASERS
The third phase is an all-out attack by the Clones. Their goal is to recapture some abandoned Turbolasers to take down the Droid Core Ship. During this phase, the Droids must do everything they can to defend the Turbolasers or loss will be imminent.
Gameplay-wise, this is a capture point, but with a twist.
As noted earlier, we didn’t want to create a narrow funnel towards the end of this battle, so this capture point is actually around 200 meters wide. You may be inclined to think that this could turn into an infinitely contested objective. To prevent this from occurring, the capture point can only be captured by the AT-TEs. In addition to this, the capture can’t be contested.
This creates a scenario where the Clones know that they need to escort their AT-TEs into the area, so they can capture it. At the same time the Droids can see these slow-moving giants’ approach from a distance and plan accordingly.
The intent here is to create the feeling of a battle where the game is not won or lost by a single person sneaking in and taking an objective. Rather, it’s an entire army moving forward and playing the objective together.
New Vehicles
Geonosis will bring in new vehicles from the Clone Wars era, most notably the AT-TE. Since this is a huge tank the droids will have missile launchers to counter them in increased numbers. The lock-on time will be shorter and the droids won’t be marked when launching them.
This sounds similar to the way the tank is destroyed on Naboo and Kashyyyk except it doesn’t mark the player launching the missile.
Another new vehicle is the Separatist Alliance’s OG-9 Homing Spider Droid. These will deal a lot of damage to the AT-TEs so they will have to be taken care of promptly.
Star Wars Battlefront 2 is out now on PS4, Xbox One and PC.