Firstly, the new map is called Tau Crater. It`s described as:

…a smoky, forested island that features lots of vertical elements to give players tons of cools places to use the jetpack; huge trees that you can fly up into and land on their branches, an enormous recovery crane with lots of trusses and platforms to fly around, and of course, the name sake, a truly gargantuan capital ship wreckage smashed into the ground forming Tau Crater

 

The capital ship is fully traversable meaning you can use the jetpack or other aircraft to fly up to its various surfaces, pipes, and destroyed sections. Hop out, use them to recon the other bases, snipe, call-in a binoc strike, whatever.

Around the crater are salvage platforms that have been constructed and serve as some of the bases in the Tau Crater. There’s also a huge fiery hole in the middle of the wreckage that you can climb though as a troop to quickly cross from one side of the level to the other. There are massive chunks of wreckage scattered around the level and the recovery efforts at these locations are bases as well.

There will be 10 layouts for Tau Crater and, since the jetpack is described as a massive, game-changing addition to Warhawk, there will be 30 bonus layouts that add jetpacks into the original Warhawk content. The post by Dylan Jobe features all the layouts for Tau Crater here

Now onto the jetpack, or rather the Icarus Mk.1 Rocket Pack

The jetpacks are described as

equipment that the salvage crews are using to work on the wreckage so the style of it is very much like the equipment you might see at a construction site. This is true for the Daedalus Rapid Assembly Device (D-RAD) as well. Think of it as a vending machine for jetpacks

 

Whilst standing next to the Daedalus you must press square to take a jetpack, much like you do when you wish to enter a vehicle or turret. The Daedalus then begins manufacturing another jetpack for another player to take. This construction period is said to control the balance of the game so not every troop always has a jetpack. The Daedalus will not be destructible and cannot be moved.

You can enter vehicles if you have a jetpack. This will allow you to bail out of a Warhawk or Nemesis whilst in flight, much like using an ejector seat. If your passenger in a plane also has a jetpack they too can bail out. This makes for some new and interesting tactics.

The controls are similar to controlling other vehicles: R2 is the thrust button. By pressing thrust your character will go higher. While flying you use the analogue sticks to move around. If you let go of the thrust button you start falling towards the ground. If you will to engage in combat while flying, a press of the L2 button will engage what is in essence `hover mode`, allowing you to concentrate on dealing death from above.

The jetpack also has a `boost-dodge` feature similar to the afterburner on the planes. Double tap R2 and you`ll boost into whatever direction you are pressing. This is useful for shaking off missiles. The only missiles which can acquire a lock-on onto the jetpack are those from the troop`s rocket launcher - the Warhawk/Nemesis and the missile turrets cannot get a lock.

It will be possible to fly with the flag or with cores while using the jetpack.

The booster pack is due to arrive on the 28th August, one day after the 1.5 update which will feature the EU design competition winning paint jobs and insignias (mine included…yay!), trophies (full details here) and custom soundtracks.

See you on the battlefield (or even above it )

Source

 

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