Update, August 24: We’ve learned a lot more about Battlefield 1’s new competitive game mode, Incursions. In an interview with the game’s producer, David Sirland, he told us about balance and matchmaking, and how Incursions will exist alongside the other Battlefield games.

Battlefield 1 Incursions is a new competitive 5v5 mode coming to Battlefield 1. It condenses all the of the action from the base game into something much more intense and strategic. Sirland says that “the difference here is that we are really focusing you in on specifics, filtering away stuff that you don’t normally have access to in regular Battlefield,” but in turn adding things like a lobby and a draft phase. Sirland says that his teams’ aim with the game “has been to get to the core of ‘what is Battlefield’.”

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Arguably the biggest change to the previously existing Battlefield format, however, is Incursions’ in-game progression. In order to get around balance concerns, especially those surrounding the potential power of Incursions’ few available vehicles, you’ll progress as the game goes on. Sirland says it’s “much like a MOBA, where your character, or your kit, or your vehicle ramps up as you go, allowing us to create power spikes – either early, mid, or late game, and balancing the game that way, so there’s always someone coming up with a power spike who can change the tide of a game.”

Characters and loudouts will also work differently. Sirland says “each kit is more or less a subset of a class, normally based around one core gameplay loop. In many cases that means it’s based around a gadget, so the syringe for instance. Then we pick weapons and features for you, that as you rank up in the game will fit that role specifically.” The introduction of a draft phase also means that you’ll play that role throughout a match, without the ability to swap roles or weapons.

But rather than simply adapting on Battlefield, Incursions is having to make its own decisions in some cases as well, including tackling issues stemming from in-game communication. Sirland says that his team have already developed a ping system for the alpha “to counter the problem that some people don’t have voice chat enabled but we can’t rely on text. This will be expanded as we go, so player can create a language of how to tell people what’s happening.”

Original Story, August 21:Battlefield 1 Incursions is an intense, 5v5 strategy game mode coming to the game, with some alpha gameplay arriving in September.

It’s a mode optimised especially for competition, which means developers DICE have overhauled the scoring system. Incursions is a mode where “every point matters,” and its gameplay seems to resemble that of Rainbow Six Siege.

Vehicles will also be available in the game, and will have a significant impact on the smaller, more focused battles.

Battlefield 1 Incursions is “super early in production,” so it’s likely we won’t see a full version of the game for a long time. You can, however, register for the closed alpha on Battlefield.com.