Warhawk Operation: Fallen Star

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So I’ve been dropping hints for a few months now on the blog and finally, at Leipzig Games Conference this week, we unveiled our third expansion for the Warhawk Universe — Operation: Fallen Star.

The sweet, sweet hotness that is the Icarus Mk.1 Rocket pack and once you’ve played it, you wonder how you ever played Warhawk without it!


Normally we announce stuff here in the States but we thought since Warhawk has a global player base, lets show it at Leipzig first this time.

Before I answer some of the questions that I’ve seen from the past couple of days, let me give you all a rundown of what’s included in Operation: Fallen Star.

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There is an entirely new level – Tau Crater! It’s 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, you guessed it, Tau Crater.

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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.

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There are massive chunks of wreckage scattered around the level and the recovery efforts at these locations are bases as well.

Tau_Map

In total there are 10 new layouts for Tau Crater and since the jetpack is a massive, game-changing addition to Warhawk, we included a crap-ton of bonus layouts for the original game too — there are 30 bonus layouts that add jetpacks into the Warhawk’s original content.

TC_Mission_CriticalTC_West_CoastTC_Tug_of_WarTC_Eastern_ShoreTC_Direct_AssaultTC_Crater_ClashTC_Heavy_LiftingTC_On_the_DeckTC_Holed_UpTC_Under_Fire

And yes, of course the jet pack can be used with both of the new free game modes that we released with the v1.4 Update. Jetpack Collector mode is awesome!

Now the jetpack itself is big departure from the way we normally do vehicles and this was very, very intentional. With each of our Booster-Packs, we specifically look for mechanic changing ways to freshen-up the game — and Operation: Fallen Star is no exception.

So here’s the run-down on the jetpack…

Icarus

First off, the jetpacks are 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. One of our players on the Warhawk forums asked if it was like a “hot-dog-stand”…well, yes it kinda is :-)

You run up to the Daedalus and then press SQUARE to grab a jetpack off the rack, like you would to mount a vehicle or turret. The Daedalus then begins its automated construction process and makes a new jetpack for another player to grab. This construction period helps control the balance of the game so that not every single troop always has a jet pack.

Daedalus

Now to help protect against brutal base camping, we opted to not have the vending machine, err….the Daedalus be destructible. In some of our early play sessions, it just was too easy to ravage the other team if you could destroy the Daedalus.

The Warhawk forums also wondered if a jeep could drive the vending machine around, sorry, the answer is no. We spent a lot of time tuning the placement of each of the vending machines and towing them around the level would have introduced some pretty brutal exploits.

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You can also mount other vehicles if you have a jetpack. So you and your team can coordinate fast strikes with the 4x4s and then all jump-jet out to make a flag run or scoop-up a team’s cores. If you have jetpack equipped, you are also allowed use it like an ejector seat and bail out of our Warhawk or Nemesis if you get into a dicey situation. Another great tactic is to use the Warhawk and run fly-by at the enemy base then have your buddy in the passenger slot bail out with the jetpack.

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The controls for the jetpack are really easy too and operate the same as any other vehicle in the game so it should feel really natural to start using one.

R2 is the thrust button. Press it to engage the jets and your character will be carried higher and higher into the air. While you’re flying, use the analog sticks to move around. You can let off the thruster button to disengage the thrusters and your character will begin to drop towards the ground.

If you are flying around and you need to focus on combat and not thrust control, all you have to do is hold L2 and the jetpack will automatically emit enough thrust to maintain your current altitude. This way you can focus on raining death from above :-)

The jetpack also has a boost-dodge feature, similar to the afterburner for the aircraft. Simply double-tap R2 to engage the boost-dodge. The direction of the boost-dodge can be performed in any direction, backwards, forwards, side to side, even straight up depending on which direction you are pressing when you dodge.

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Now this feature not only is a great way to get around the battlefield, but the “dodge” part of the boost-dodge is key for scrubbing missiles. There is only one missile in the game that can acquire a jetpack lock-on and that’s the troop missile launcher. So if you are up in the air and you see the missile warning pop-up on your screen, you better do a dodge, otherwise that missile is going to nail you! Now if you have a jetpack equipped but you are just running around on the ground, the missile launcher can’t get a lock on you…and this is another good way to help avoid getting hit.

Another question that our players wanted to know is if you can fly with the flag using a jetpack and the answer is yes. We took a lot of time to make sure all the traversal speeds were tuned just right and CTF and Collector mode are crazy fun with the Jetpack — hell, even just straight up deathmatch is way more fun!

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So here are some of the details: Operation: Fallen Star is being released on August 28th worldwide and is $7.99 in the Playstation Store. We also worked with SONY to get a new bundle pack ready too. The new Booster Combo Pack includes all 3 of the expansions for only $15.99. That’s like getting all 3 Booster-Packs for the price of only 2!!! Quick — deploy the wacky waiving inflatable arm-flailing tube men!!!

As a reminder, keep you eyes out for our FREE v1.5 Update that goes LIVE on August 27th!

So that’s it for now — I’ll do my best today to answer comments cause I didn’t get to at all with my last post cause I was crazy busy traveling for meetings. So let ‘em rip!

Oh, and one last thing, Kudos to 3 people (topodisc, mattnz, cubehouse) who were able to breakdown my crazy color-swatch-HEX-string-mythology-reference!

Rock on,

dylan

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384 Comments

58 Author Replies

  • Hey Dylan, I got a few questions……

    1. Is this whole v1.50 free? I dont really like buyin things off of the PSN…. So I was just curiouse, I cant find an answer anywhere, I really want the Jet Packs!…. =(

    2.I put WarHawk in this morning around 7AM EST time, and it didn’t work, it tells me to check my internet connection settings… Nothing is wrong with it eccept that it says a UPnP code isnt available, does this have to do with the update? or am I screwed heehee…

    3. You guys at Incognito should add ROBOTS! That would be neat.

    Thanks Dylan for answering!!!! I really Apreciate it.

  • Hey Dylan,

    First off, great work with this next expansion pack.It looks amazing and will be (in my oppinion) the best one so far.

    Second, I wanted to thank you and the team for picking my paintschemes and insignia’s in the EU contest! I’m honored to be part of this game other then being “just” a gamer!

    Keep the excellent work up.

  • @Ambioxale

    All updates of warhawk are free and it’s live…. warhawk disn’t work because of this update but it’s fine now.

    The booster pack that comes tomarrow isn’t free… like always a new map with new vehicle in this case the jetpacks.

    @Dylan
    Why the trphy pics are so small???? you made an unike image for each trophy and I can’t enjoy it.

  • Thanks, cmargary

  • hey dylan 2 things
    1. Great job on the 1.50 its awesome, will be buying fallen star straight away tomorrow.
    2. To get up a rank I need the warhak recruitment badge but ive already gotten it twice once in a ranked server and once in a non-ranked server could I get a little help?

  • ***********NOOOOOOOO!!!!***********

    There was a typo in my GGL account. They sent my blade to a PSN that doesn’t exist :o. Dylan, please help.

    -BurntOrange32 (PSN)
    -spyker3292 {at} gmail

    Thanks. I really hope you get this. But it isn’t the end of the world :\. Just makes GGL partly a waste of time (I didn’t do to well ;)).

  • @herb the thing is, still the ones who’re more skilled can join in as well. There’s no recruit -recruit clan available.

  • Hey, has anyone that got patched received any trophies?

  • Hi Mr. Jobe,

    great job as always! Your team and you rules!

    But one thing: I like this hints for the next game. You can announce it official, would be nice :-)
    I am sure its “Warhawk 2”! Cant wait for it!
    Tell me; 2009? Come on!;-)

    By the way

    Im the Webmaster of http://www.mywarhawk.de

    Its the first german speaking community made by Warhawk Fans and we are getting every day new users!

    It would be nice if there is from your or sonys side some support.

    I wrote already to Incognito, but no answer yet.

    You or your team can let me know and we can keep in touch!

    Thanks for your great work and this great game!

    Bye

    Torsten

    PS: My Email Addy: torsten@mywarhawk.de

  • Why are the images for the trophies so small? They are hard to see, and the diameter can easily be increased by at least 50%.

    That said, great game. SOme make you play in ways you didnt think of.

  • OK, to answer my own question:

    I received one trophy each for the first two tutorials – the third one was kicking my butt!

    Once I logged in to the online game I automatically received a trophy for my rank.

    That makes three so far. I need to read through the descriptions of each trophy to see what I have to do to earn more.

    Can’t wait until tomorrow to get the next pack!

  • The trophy images are unbearably small. Did you really think they were good? You can’t even make out what they look like? I’m on a 30 inch tube TV, and I can’t for the life of me make out what the images are. This should be fixed with a patch ASAP, nothing like ****ty images to ruin trophies.

  • It might be buried in here, but the way to have in-game music is via the XMB. Just open it when you’re logging in and select your music! I need to create a new playlist – I may use some Star Wars music to set the mood!

  • BTW, I’m up to eight trophies so far! Can’t wait ’til tomorrow – darn havin’ to go to work!

  • so the jet pack going have the update 1.5

  • anoother lame ass gameee for the ps3

  • @Madman

    Yes… and the images are so way cool because they post some of them here so please Dylan make it bigger..

    @cameron

    WTF? warhawk lame?

  • So all of you who have been saying, “I can’t get this game because I don’t have a credit card..blah…Blah.Blah” First of all wouldn’t one of those one time use debit cards work. Anyway the PlayStation Network Card will be available in September at fine retailers everywhere. Here is the official word from Sony. Now purchase WarHawk and get out there, you are missing out. Join my Clan, my id is WilliamAgain.
    Oh and the reason that these babies aren’t everywhere is because the casher has to activate them and that takes a little infrastructure.

    http://www.us.playstation.com/PS3/About/pscard

  • @ anyone who can answer.

    Do u have to buy the booster packs to unlock the platinum trophy?

    (thanks in advance)

  • Hey I Just wanted to know with the new update is there a possibility that in the future there will be some water based vehicles is the warhawk world i would think that having some wort of ships or anything of that type would greatly improve the game because not everyone is in the air and it would definitely put a new pace in the warhawk game thanks for your time

  • i cant wait anymore its driving me crazy i need jetpack its like a drug how much more must we wait….. the hours seem like days why must there be trailers why why!!!!!!!!! 30% trophies another 70% to go :)

  • I woke up with anticipation early this morning and it still hasn’t been released :(.

    Any word on that. The time is now 9:55AM GMT (UK Time).

  • Yeah , me too.

    When it will be avaible to buy it???

    49% Trophies :]

    Bye!!!

  • Yeah when is this little beauty going to be released!

  • Yeah, gimme gimme!

  • 2.50pm gmt (UK) and still no update to the store, what gives?

  • Hello,
    Love the game but have been having problems with rank advancements since the last update and so has my buddy. We have met all of the requirements and have the points and everytime I enter a game I have been recommended for the advancement but it never allows me to accept as in previous advancement. Also I have been trying to download the new board fallen start but I am unable to. Any advise would be appreciated. Anxious to play new boards.
    Glenn

  • dylan i hav warhawk but i havent got the booster pack yet i got the last two and it says i got thecombo pack but i havent any help u can giv me??

  • what time does this pack come out in the store today?

  • What a surprise, NOT. Europe is getting a bad deal again.

    Why isn’t there x3 bundle for Warhawk in Europe?

  • WHERE IS IT WHERE IS IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    12:47pm US Time I want it n I want it now!!!!!!!!!

  • just a question i recently bought an additional PS3 for my bedroom and downloaded warhawk, but get a error on start up that says 80029752 and i am using my same PSN ID as my other PS3 which is Mustang00gt can it only be on one PS3 at a time?

  • Hey Dylan – Warhawk is absolutely awesome and thank you for taking the time to answer our questions! Knowing that the developers care about what we think is cool!

    I was thinking, have u guys thought about adding these things in later future expansions?

    – Water world map with boat vehicle platform and boat vechicles?
    – a map with floating giant motherships as our main bases for red/blue team with gun turrents on it :)
    – short boost for jeeps to get away from planes that try to pin jeeps down
    – sniper gun that can take out tanks or atleast damage tanks
    – a button where if we push it we can view what is behind the plane while in the air
    – different types of machine gun weapons for jets? Like a machine gun that can shoot a little bit more wider spread?

    Let me know! Thxs!

    -Henry

  • What exact time does the fallen star booster pack come out

  • what time eastern standard time is the map pack getting released…

    I think if You bought the other map bundles you should get a discount on this one… or at least for the same price as $$$

  • He can’t give an exact time as it is out of their hands. Whenever Sony updates the Store…that’s when it will be available.

  • To Dylan and the rest of the crew,

    I want to thank you guys for your non-stop support for this game. You guys are the best!

  • Mustang

    The answer is yes. You can only sign onto your PSN ID on one PS3 at a time.

  • Yahooo! Got the pack and just finished playing after a few hours.

    Nice job Dylan + team.

  • 2 p.m. Est. still no update! I’m getting impatient lol

  • Yais….what timezone are you in?

    It’s 2:20pm USA EST and no pack for me yet…ARGH!!! I worked from home today just for this!!!

  • Wait mens , firts it was Japan I think , and now the rest of the World xD

    Be patient , its just time…

    *****C’MON DYLAN JOBE , READ THIS****

    Alot of people have the Bug in the Captain-Major-Air Marshal ranks.

    Help!!!

  • dylan, y did u give warhawk the lock on ability wih the mg’s against the jets, this has just ruined this whole new map pack, this is why warhawk isnt as popular as it should be, always giving the warhawk too much superiority, against everything else,

  • Message to Mcann07 :

    This is true , but in the Reality , I think its the same , always an airplane its the best in combate…

    Bye!!

  • I want the dropship together with the jetpacks. Why can’t we mix the map packs :(

  • Yeah! Why can’t we mix map packs!

  • when does the ps store update? I’m rather anxious to see this expansion.

  • I checked the Japan store and the UK store…they both have it…
    I tried to buy it but my UK user can’t use my US based credit card account… DANG :-(

  • still not on US store :(

  • Serious…STILL NOT IN THE EFFING US STORE!!!
    ARGHHH!!!
    I could have been at work today

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