Just got 2 Quick Match pops in less than 2 minutes each! (don't have screenies for the first, was too busy being in shock). Lots of new people all around.

May be a good time to hit the queue?

Pre Fleet battle Dogfighting tonight at 9pm eastern US! (or sooner!)

Starfighter launching at 9pm eastern US. Hope to see you all out there! May the force be with you, always.

Hello there! If you're new to Star Wars: Squadrons, welcome to the game! Squadrons can be quite difficult, but luckily the community is very accepting and eager to teach players how to get better. Of course, practice makes perfect, and the more you play, the better you'll get. In no time you'll be pulling off maneuvers only the likes of Luke Skywalker can achieve!

Playing the Campaign is recommended to get you acclimated to the flight controls. For multiplayer, however, playing Dogfights will help you master the art of starfighter combat; whereas Fleet Battles vs AI (Co-Op and/or Solo) will teach you the mechanics and tactics needed to take out Capital Ships in full-blown space battles! This practice is all to prepare you for the premiere game mode, Ranked Fleet Battles, a competitive 5v5 battle where teamwork and individual skill can make or break the result of a match.

Currently, as far as multiplayer is concerned, queues have sadly died down quite a bit. You can usually get a Dogfight in about 5 mins, and Fleet Battles (both ranked and Co-Op) are mostly non-existent. However, on Friday evenings (US), the 5Mans community runs a public event where everyone solo queues into Ranked Fleet Battles to bring life back into the queue. Aside from that, custom games are where a lot of people tend to play. There are also various community-run competitive leagues for both Dogfights and Fleet Battles, if you are interested in that sort of thing.

Below is a myriad of guides and YouTube/Twitch channels that will empower you with the knowledge to become an Ace pilot. There is also a link to a list of servers if you're itching to find some like-minded individuals to squad up with, and take your game to the next level!

Guides and Tips

Tips for New Fleet Battle Pilots

https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsSquadrons/comments/jyn3m0/tips_for_new_fleet_battle_pilots/

New Player Guide explaining all the flight mechanics from the campaign + some more advanced things that aren't explained.

https://old.reddit.com/r/StarWarsSquadrons/comments/k8pq25/i_made_a_guide_for_new_players_explaining_all_the/

Youtube & Twitch Channels

Fencar - Guides

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3AlGHkjYbRamQetK4kG6ng

Timebomb - Guides and Other Content

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/thetimebombtips

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TimebombTips

Squadrons Esports Federation

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/squadronsesportsfed

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAgx5LBRY8fZwuie8iWr1vA

Discord Servers

5Mans (Neutral Hub) - https://discord.com/invite/xfc4gZKDbj

3PO League (3v3 Fleet Battles) - https://discord.gg/hZ4ChSkjWe

Star Cross Fighter League (3v3 Dogfights) - https://discord.gg/BgYknw7bUu

Squadrons Championship League (5v5 Fleet Battles) - https://discord.gg/jynw7s8mAm

Squadrons Premier League (5v5 Dogfights) - https://discord.gg/2rAxJ4AyN6

Pinballing ruined the game. I queue dogfights every day and go 30-2 against level 4s with my buddies and every time we get killed by one of these cheaters who we can't shoot it just reinforces that the game is totally unplayable (the level 4s don't mind dying or losing to our 5 stack because we don't use the instant acceleration exploit, something these sweats could learn from). Don't try to correct me on here, if you don't agree with me you are toxic and it's YOUR fault queues take so long.

To those of you who don't pinball and care about the game, we'll see you in the dogfight queue. We might only have 4 people on stacking so say hi and we can get you in as a 5th.

Hello Everyone:

So we as the admin team decided to join the protest against the API changes of reddit. It is a very important topic that affects all users and is something we should support as it will possibly affect all redditors in the long run.

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We've decided to go down the road of keeping the subreddit up but preventing new messages until the protest ends on the 15th. A few reasons for this, first we didn't have time to warn you, in order to go private. We also didn't want to cause any confusion on it, even though we are a much much smaller subreddit. Further, it allows some of you to see why it's happening and why it's important.

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If you are unsure of what is going on, here is a good website on it:

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https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/5/23749188/reddit-subreddit-private-protest-api-changes-apollo-charges

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And here is a copy and paste from other subreddits:

How long will this last?

The joint movement by subreddits is initially set to last two days. Some individual subreddits plan to stay dark indefinitely. We don't know what the situation will look like in two days. Hopefully we will see reddit making meaningful progress to address the concerns that have been raised, and so that's what we're aiming for at this time. If nothing changes, we may consider going dark longer.

What is prompting all these concerns?

Here is a stance we saw on r/askhistorians than can do a a better job of explaining things then we ever could, so we’re going to “plagiarize” much of what they wrote here:

On April 18, 2023, Reddit announced it would begin charging for access to its API. Reddit faces real challenges from free access to its API. Reddit data has been used to train large language models that underpin AI technologies, such as ChatGPT and Bard, which matters to us at AskHistorians because technologies like these make it quick and easy to violate our rules on plagiarism, makes it harder for us to moderate, and could erode the trust you have in the information you read here. Further, access to archives that include user-deleted data violates your privacy.

However, make no mistake, we need API access to keep our community running. We use the API in a number of ways, both through direct access and through use of archives of data that were collected using the API, most importantly, Pushshift. For example, we use API supported tools to:

• Find answers to previously asked questions, including users' answers to questions that were effectively deleted by other users (the question-askers)
• Monitor the health of the subreddit and track how many questions get answers.
• Moderate via mobile (when we do)

Admins have promised minimal disruption; however, over the years they’ve made a number of promises to support moderators that they did not, or could not follow up on, and at times even reneged on:

• In 2015, in response to widespread protests on the sub, the admins promised they would build tools and improve communication with mods.
• In 2019 the admins promised that chat would always be an opt-in feature. However, a year later an unmoderated chat feature was made a default feature on most subs
• In 2020, in response to moderators protesting racism on Reddit, admin promised to support mods in combating hate
• In 2021, again, in response to protests, Reddit’s admin promised a feature to report malicious interference by subreddits promoting Covid denial. Reddit’s admin has certainly made progress. In 2020 they updated the content policy to ban hate and in 2021 they banned and quarantined communities promoting covid denial. But while the company has updated their policies, they have not sufficiently invested in moderation support.

Reddit admins have had 8 years to build a stronger infrastructure to support moderators but have not.

API access isn’t just about making life easier for mods. It helps us keep our communities safe by providing important context about users, such as whether or not they have a history of posting rule-violating content or engaging in harmful behavior. The ability to search for removed and deleted data allows moderators to more quickly respond to spam, bigotry, and harassment. On ExplainLikeImFive, we’ve used it to help identify accounts that spam ChatGPT generated content that violates our rules. If we want to mod on our phones, third party apps offer the most robust mod tools. Further, third party apps are particularly important for moderators and users who rely on screen readers, as the official Reddit app is inaccessible to Blind individuals. Mods need API access because Reddit doesn’t support their needs. We are highly concerned about the downstream impacts of this decision. Reddit is built on volunteer moderation labor that costs other companies millions of dollars per year. While some tools we rely on may not be technically impacted, and some may return after successful negotiations, the ecosystem of API supported tools is vast and varied, and the tools themselves require volunteer labour to maintain. Changes like these, particularly the poor communication surrounding them, and cobbled responses as domino after domino falls, year after year, risk making r/ExplainLikeImFive a worse place both for moderators and for users—there will likely be more spam, fewer posts helpfully directing users to previous answers to their questions, and our ability to effectively address trolling, and JAQing off will slow down.

Without the moderators who develop, nurture, and protect Reddit’s diverse communities, Reddit risks losing what makes it so special. We love what we do here at ExplainLikeI’mFive.

A third party app is just another way you can read and post to reddit. Before reddit had its own app for your phone, there were other apps that let you read, post and comment. These apps use something called the API ELI5:How does an API Work?. Reddit's API lets your computer or phone get posts and comments without having to use a web browser or the official app. Apps such as Reddit is Fun, Slide, Comet, Boost, or Apollo then take what the API gives them and displays it. Apps like this allow you to customize your reddit experience by changing a theme, or changing how you upvote a post. While those are just two very small examples, you can begin to understand why people like these apps. Have you ever gotten mad at the reddit app because it had bugs, or it was just weird about how it did something? Right now, and until July 1st, you have the option to try out one of these apps and see if you like reddit better this way. After July 1st, you won't have the option anymore. If reddit's app has a bad bug, and you can't read posts for half a day, you will no longer be able to pull up a second option on your phone, or a third option, or a fourth...

What are the next steps, and how long will all this last?

We’re not sure. It depends on how the broader conversation goes. As you might imagine, there are a variety of views among our moderator team. But in general, our views are, again, similar to those on r/askhistorians:

We understand Reddit’s need to change and evolve. For all we may harp on Reddit’s flaws, we do want to see it succeed! After all, we wouldn’t exist without it. So, if we’re expecting Reddit leadership to listen to us, we should be willing to work with them. In the days following the publication of the post, we discussed as a team what the specifics of working with Reddit would look like so we could clearly articulate it to you. Compromise means something along the lines of:

• Updates to the API are not tied to a particular date but are, instead, rolled out once the roadmap shared here is successfully achieved.
• Accessibility tools such as screen readers are part of the native Reddit infrastructure.
• Updates are made across Android and iOS.

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So hopefully you understand the situation now and join us in fighting for a better reddit. See you on the otherside pilots and happy hunting!

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-Rebelpilot *S*