Inspired by the Project Reality modification for Battlefield 2, the game will place its players in a realistic environment and encourage them to work together. Doing so tends to be an excellent way to build an immersive and visceral combat atmosphere. To those familiar with PC shooters, the best way to describe this would be as a middle ground between the Battlefield and Arma series.

Built from the ground up in the Unreal Engine 4, Squad pits teams of up to 50 players against each other in white knuckle modern day combined-arms combat scenarios, with both conventional and unconventional forces. The players dictate how the scenarios unfold with base-building and interactive environments, intuitive squad command and management tools and large-scale warfare where strategy and leadership are just as important as a quick trigger finger.

The battlefield of Squad is built around organized teams using both the environment and the assets available within the ga6me to wage a tactical battle against an opposing team. From role organization to base building to vehicle mechanics, teamwork amplifies the effectiveness of the tools at your disposal. Supported by intuitive positional VOIP and navigation systems players will be able to maintain situational awareness and seamlessly interact with others. Dedicated chain of command channels and localized voice will be an effective tool for communication and organization.

Offworld Industries announced that Squad’s Alpha 16 update is now playable on public test servers, adding one of the tactical shooter’s most anticipated features, helicopters.

Completing the combined-arms toolkit, the UH-60 Grouse and MI-8 Hip transport helicopters can be flown on Squad’s Gorodok, Kohat, Tallil, and Yehorivka maps.

Alongside helicopters, Alpha 16 brings more maps and optimizations to Squad including Mutaha, a rural Afghanistan-themed map designed for Territory Control. The Narva map has also seen some optimizations for improved gameplay across all game modes.

Season 1 of the Offworld Industries Squad Championship also starts today, pitting sixteen teams with 36 players each in head-to-head firefights. All matches will be streamed or hosted on the Squad Twitch channel through the Grand Finale on Nov. 16, where the winning team will receive a unique Squad weapon skin and other swag.

Systems

• Added Helicopters. Helicopters are an exciting new system of transport that brings about a new dimension to the battlefield, literally. Each conventional faction will get access to medium-lift helicopters capable of transporting troops and supplies. Helicopters are piloted by special Pilot roles much like how heavy vehicles require dedicated Crewmen. 
• Added Helicopter Tutorial. Helicopters require a degree of skill and practice in order to operate effectively, so we’ve provided a tutorial that takes you through the basics of piloting, the interface, and even a special time trial challenge course! (Complete with rings!)
• Added a Soft-Boundary system for all layers that feature helicopters. This new boundary system is improved in that it gives the player a warning to turn back to the battle area before they are killed by the system. Different tolerances are set depending on whether the player is on foot, in a ground vehicle, or in a helicopter, making helicopter travel far less punishing than if they were to immediately crash into an invisible wall.

Vehicles

• Added the MI-8 “Hip” to the Russian Ground Forces. This is a medium-lift helicopter capable of carrying up to 9 passengers, not including the pilot, copilot, and 2 crew-chiefs (door gunners). It is armed with 2 door mounted PKP machine guns for self-defense and can carry up to 1500 points of supplies.
• Added the UH-60M “Grouse” for the US Army and British Army. This medium-lift helicopter can carry up to 9 passengers, not including pilot, copilot, and 2 crew-chiefs. It is armed with 2 window-mounted M240H machine guns, suitable for some light degree of protection. It carries up to 1000 points of supplies.
• Disabled all vehicle engines being able to be turned on during the staging phase.
• Fixed FV432 APC being stuck in 1st Gear at all times.

Deployables Gameplay

• Shoveling down friendly radios no longer cost tickets.
• Fixed Radio health not blocking spawning when damaged by anything except destruction by shovel.

• New map: Mutaha. Although this region seems idyllic and pastoral at first glance, it has become a contested area between Syria and Iraq due to its highway access and naturally irrigated farmland.  The locals have long abandoned their houses and shops, but the war-town streets are anything but quiet as ground forces push to secure this crossroads in the desert. Initial map layers include AAS, Invasion, RAAS, Territory Control, and Skirmish.
• Added Helicopters to Gorodok, Kohat Toi, Tallil Outskirts and Yehorivka map layers.
• All map layers that have helicopters now include main bases with helipads that can repair and resupply helicopters.
• Narva optimizations.

Known Issues

There are a few known issues with the helicopter flight model right now. They will be fixed as development proceeds. They include:

• Gunner view occasionally flipping upside down. (Presumably, these gunners have gazed into the Sphere too long.)
• Possible to see through fog in some occasions.
• Vehicle engine sound delayed after getting out of the vehicle and the engine shutdown playing upon ignition.
• Collective is maintained when the tail rotor is disabled. (Cartwheels!)
• Some textures may fail to render or appear black.

 

Squad seeks to establish a culture of camaraderie that is unparalleled in competitive multiplayer shooters. This is a game where you can work together and coordinate with your team: players from around the world, often that you just met.

Squad will support up to 100 players in competitive multiplayer. This broad scope serves to immerse the player into a rich battle environment filled with challenges and opportunities. With teams of sufficient size, some players can perform supporting roles while leaving enough front-line combatants to provide fun and challenging gameplay across the full expanse of the battlefield.

A wide variety of support vehicles and aircraft will be included. Tanks and close support helicopters will spearhead a team’s assault into enemy lines while transport helicopters and APCs will provide much needed logistics and transportation support.

Commanders and squad leaders will be given the ability to shape the battlefield through construction of defensive and offensive fortifications as well as control of battlefield planning and supplemental combined arms assets. Coupled with this, spawn dynamics will be affected by occupation of territories and level of supply each objective is receiving. Organized control of the battlefield will ensure a properly supported supply structure and pave the way for a strategic victory.

It’s all about teamwork.

Key Features:

• Massive Online 50 vs 50 Squad-Based Combined Arms Warfare
• Large scale maps up to 8km^2. (currently working with 2km and 4km maps)
• Organic and Emergent Gameplay, this won’t be a linear shooter
• Maps based on Geographic Information System satellite data of real world locales
• True First Person (aka ‘body awareness’) character models, there won’t be walking gunheads here. High quality models and complex animations systems.
• Built in Voice Over IP using the best codecs available, with attenuated localized, intra-squad radio, and inter-squad command radio communications.
• Simulated damage models and simulated ballistics
• NO grinding rewards system and no dress up dolls
• Showcase Deployables and Base Building which no other military FPS has.
• Real world current time period armaments using highly accurate modelling
• Teamwork oriented gameplay that doesn't require a clan or private server to fully realize the potential of the gameplay.
• The creation, defense, destruction and resupply of chained spawn positions in an overlapping and always fluid emergent chessboard designed in our maps.
• A very open development team with excellent community communication, and preparations in progress for mod support near retail release.
• Essentially an "everything" game. Infantry/Logistics/Air Combat/CAS/Armor Warfare

Squad is currently available on Steam Early Access for $39.99