Star Wars: Squadrons pilot crashes into a Star Destroyer, comes out on top
David beats Goliath in outer space.
Whether weaving inches away from asteroids or losing TIEs in the guts of a space station, Star Wars: Squadrons wants you to feel like you're pulling off stunts ripped straight from the films. For one pilot, however, it wasn't the trench run that needed recreating, but the moment a doomed rebel pilot smashes his hatchback-sized starship into the bridge of a Star Destroyer.
Turns out, that's a perfectly valid way to win a round of Squadrons.
Now, it's been a minute since I watched Return Of The Jedi. But there's a bit near the end where, having been shot out of the sky, a rebel pilot careens his ship into the command centre of a city-sized Imperial ship, the impact itself sending the star destroyer crashing down into Death Star 2.
Having seen this, Reddit poster _Aedric reckoned it seemed a good enough plan to emulate in Motive's competitive dogfighter (cheers, Eurogamer).
Gray Squadron kills a Star Destroyer by ramming the bridge with a spinning A-Wing from r/StarWarsSquadrons
Somehow, there's a little more to _Aedric's manoeuvre than just slamming the bridge of a Star Destroyer. Writing in the comments, he explains how he used a stealth jammar to hide his ship from the opposing team, overloading his shields to tank incoming fire from the capitol ship itself.
It's also unclear whether the impact itself killed the giant (does Squidworms have impact damage on destroyers?), or whether it was just an unfortunate side-effect of the screaming barrage. Fortunately, the ending screen shows _Aedric anachronistically flying away to safety, his squaddies beside themselves with laughter at this ridiculous killing blow.
A surprisingly viable tactic - if not one I'm likely to use myself, having accepted my role as a menacing Imperial foil to the New Republic's best. Our Ollie's been figuring out the best builds and tactics for the game's lineup of starships, including this handy guide on how to drift in Star Wars Squadrons.