Squad Alpha 14 Adds Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank, Territory Control Game Mode, and More!

Published: June 6, 2019 10:32 PM /

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squad alpha 14 challenger 2

Squad Alpha 14 is here! This latest update to Offworld Industries' first-person shooter on Steam Early Access brings some heavy armor onto the field — and that's not all that's coming. A new map, a new game mode, and a boatload more equipment have been added into the game for players to enjoy!

If you haven't had the chance to play Squad, it's a first-person shooter that has big aspirations. Battles consist of 40 vs. 40 melees involving combined arms — that means you'll see a mix of infantry, heavy weaponry, and even heavy armor link tanks and infantry fighting vehicles.

One of the first big-ticket items added in this patch is the Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank.  This flagship British tank bears the distinction of never having a single unit lost to date to enemy fire - only a single Challenger 2 has ever been destroyed... and that was when it was fired on by another Challenger 2 in a regrettable friendly fire incident. That's not the only piece of heavy armor entering the fray; the Russian BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle has also been added to the game.

squad alpha 14 bmp 1
The Russian BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle is one of several fun new toys added in Squad Alpha 14.

Also added in today's patch is the M3 MAAWS Carl Gustaf, the American version of Sweden's 84mm Carl Gustav recoilless rifle. (For the non-military nerds out there: it's a big-honkin' rocket launcher.) It's capable of firing HEAT, Heavy Tandem HEAT, and Smoke rounds, allowing this single piece of equipment to serve multiple roles.

You'll be able to test out many of these new additions on a brand-new map, too. Skorpo is an area of the world tucked away in Western Norway. It features an island, lots of coastlines, and varying elevation to provide a challenging combat experience. Skorpo is one of the game's maps that will also make use of the new Territory Control game mode. Have a gander at the below video to get a sense of how this new game mode works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=523MeBMCmH8

Here are Cliff's Notes on Territory Control, straight from the official patch notes:

  • A neutral hex requires one player to capture. A contested hex must be neutralized and captured by at least three players.
  • An enemy hex takes 40 seconds to neutralized and a neutral hex takes 40 seconds to capture.
  • Capturing a hex unlocks all adjacent (bordering) hex zones for capture.
  • Bleed: For every two hex zones captured beyond owning 60% of all hexes, the enemy will start bleeding 1 ticket per minute with a maximum of 5 tickets per minute for 10+ hexes captured beyond 60%.
  • When a team captures 95% of all hexes, that team instantly wins.
  • Losing all tickets will cause a team to lose the round.
Territory Control certainly seems a good bit more robust than the standard "Capture one of several points on the map" gameplay in similar military shooters. You're able to play this new game mode right now on the new map Skorpo as well as several other maps already in the game.

We've only covered a small portion of the cool changes and new additions made in Squad Alpha 14; you can read the patch notes in full over at the game's official website for all the fine details. Otherwise, you can watch the video patch notes for Squad Alpha 14 over on YouTube. The Alpha 14 update for Squad is available to play right now; you can get into the action yourself by buying Squad on Steam for $39.99 or your regional equivalent.

What do you think of the new additions in Squad Alpha 14? Do you think the addition of more heavy armor will change the dynamics of the game? Let us know in the comments below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOgSJEVr86U

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


A photograph of TechRaptor Senior Writer Robert N. Adams.
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One of my earliest memories is playing Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo Entertainment System. I've had a controller in my hand since I was 4 and I… More about Robert N