Phantom Squadron and the Future of Jump to Lightspeed

Jef Reahard Posted: Oct 23, 2008 1:28 AM ET
Category: Interviews 0

Star Wars Galaxies: Phantom Squadron and the Future of "Jump to Lightspeed"

MMORPG.com Star Wars Galaxies Correspondent Jef Reahard writes this interview with the commander of the Phantom Squadron in SOE's Star Wars Galaxies, a group dedicated to making the Y-Wing a viable and dangerous PvP craft.

Spend any time with the pilots of the Starsider server's space community and you'll no doubt hear of a crazy group of Alliance fighter jockeys known as Phantom Squadron. Headed by Jamys Farstrider, the Phantoms are famous for wreaking havoc on the server's Imperial pilot population, and doing so while flying one of the game's least popular ship models, the Y-Wing Longprobe.

The Star Wars Galaxies version of the Koensayr BTL-A4 Y-wing "LongProbe" starfighter is pretty close to its counterpart in the Star Wars films and Expanded Universe: namely an aging heavy fighter/bomber that has seen better days and is pressed into active combat service only due to the shortage of equipment experienced by the fledgling Rebel Alliance. Galaxies' space combat favors much lighter, nimbler interceptor chassis such as the famous X-Wing, the tiny A-Wing, and the numerous Imperial TIE fighter variants. The Y-Wing was never much of a traditional dogfighter, and still has problems engaging in 'turn- fights' with quicker opponents, but the Phantoms have harnessed the chassis' durability and prowess as a missile platform to form a formidable fighting unit that is unique among Starsider's PVP pilot groups.

Recently, I sat down with Commander Farstrider to ask him about the inspiration behind the squadron as well as the future of Jump to Lightspeed.

MMORPG.com:	First off, why the Y-Wing?
Captain Fastrider:	Well, at the time the Squadron was recommissioned, Starsider's Alliance forces had no real working bomber squadron. We had a few crazy people willing to fly, mostly new alumni of the Rara Avis Flight Academy run by Halyn Lance. We had a dire need and I saw a place for us to fit and the Y-wing era of Phantom Squadron was born.
MMORPG.com:	You guys have something of a reputation for making the Y- Wing viable in PVP. Can you elaborate on the how and why? Is it tactics? Equipment? All of the above?
Captain Fastrider:	Well I don't want to take credit for pioneering it, I believe that goes more to Halyn and his people. I attribute (our success) to good people, practice, great equipment, and a crazy streak a mile long since fleet balance is so poor in SWG due to the developer's inaction and incompetence. (Space combat) skews in favor of interceptor class ships, so we fight a constant uphill battle. Flying Y-wings is completely impractical unless flying en mass because of this.

MMORPG.com:	What do you like best about Galaxies' space game?
Captain Fastrider:	Well, I love piloting as a whole. Currently its the main thing that makes logging in worthwhile for me. I love the feeling of flying in formation with my squadron and the fleet. I love how Starsider creates our own events in the face of the lack of content thanks to years of neglect from SOE, and they're more fun than really anything SOE could do anyways.

MMORPG.com:	And the worst thing about the space game?
Captain Fastrider:	I hate the lack of content. Until Chapter 8, which is getting close to a year ago, space in SWG hadn't seen any real new content since the Rage of the Wookiees expansion (2005). That's over two years of NOTHING. Once Chapter 8 comes along, we get thrown a bone with a new space sector in Ord Mantell, new missions, new chassis, new stuff to do...it wasn't as much as we the pilots would have liked. They have told us now at best we MIGHT get more content in six months, but they refuse to give us what we want, they refuse to fix the bugged ARC-170 hit box that has been wrecked since they tweaked Chapter 8, then they fixed it and it broke again about a month later and is still unfixed.
MMORPG.com:	Sounds like the future is a bit uncertain. How do you see the Phantoms and the community as a whole going forward?
Captain Fastrider:	The devs have proven themselves to not understand space, or the wishes of the pilots that inhabit it. They also seem to be oblivious to the ticking clock that is the time left until JTL isn't the only arcade-style starfighter MMO. Or maybe they just don't care anymore, but I do. Its destroying my community in game. That I hate more than anything.
MMORPG.com:	So a lot of pilots are thinking of moving to Jumpgate?
Captain Fastrider:	Well, they SAY they are. I myself, plan on giving it a shot and I know I've seen quite a few familiar names over on the Jumpgate forums.
MMORPG.com:	And the Phantoms?
Captain Fastrider:	Phantom Squadron is breaking off from SoF (Spirit of the Fallanassi, its mother guild) as its official squadron to become an open squadron and hopefully strengthen itself and the Alliance in the process.