For the most part, when fighting our endless battles in asteroid fields, the 'how' and 'why' of the battle usually isn't a big deal.

Rebels all have hyperdrive, so wherever or whenever they want to strike, they can get there. And as to the Imperials...maybe it's a patrol working through their shift, operating off of some distant Star Destroyer...or guard forces launching from an Imperial base in the asteroid field...etc. Lots of reasons for a group of TIE Fighters to be meandering around, protecting the peace. Perhaps they just got lost...were part of a convoy, or something.

In any case, the Raider opens up a new avenue of scenario background, in that (as the background article notes SEVERAL times) one of its primary uses is engaging in its own sort of recon or raiding missions against targets in the Outer Rim. Indeed, the TIE Advanced is specifically noted as being a good fit with the Raider owing to it carrying its own hyperdrive.

So it just occurred to me...well, can the Raider actually fly with anything else at all, given an inability to carry its own fighters??

The fighters in the Empire that have hyperdrives create a pretty short list:

- TIE Advanced

- TIE Defender

- TIE Phantom

Adding in 'large' bases brings a few more:

- Decimator

- Lambda-class shuttle

- Slave-1 (Bounty Hunters?! We don't need their sc...oh...okay, yeah, I guess we do.)

That's...not a lot of options.

Yeah, you'd hope they give you some at least flavor for carrying some tie fighters.

TIE Interceptors are often fitted with Hyperdrives, among other upgrades, no?

One can also assume that a TIE Carrier awaits just off the board, having launched whatever hyperdrive-incapable ships you choose to bring along. Should FFG announce the Gozanti or some other carrier-style support Huge, then you can also bring it to the actual battlefield.

Eh, Interceptors with hyperdrives seems like one of the more egregious EU-fanboy-overreaches. Like, "Oh man the TIE Interceptor is so cool, and it'd be EVEN MORE RAD with...like, shields...and...and extra weapons...oh and also hyperdrives...and, like, some kind of jamming beams...OH AND A CLOAK...oh, and..."

I mean, seriously. If it was so simple to just slap a hyperdrive/shield/cloak on anything, why wouldn't the Empire have done just that, rather than designing the very-different-looking TIE Advanced (vs the regular TIE Fighter) or TIE Defender and TIE Phantom?

Some type of platform modifications are expected, to be sure. The kind of modifications the EU writers tended to throw around so casually, on the other hand, were often the sort of thing that more commonly defined a new class.

Fit it with racks.

honestly just having non hyperdrive masses on ships in one concentration sounds like a terrible and impractical idea. im sure there must have been a better way to do things.

maybe there's an imperial raider trailer expansion pack in the pipeline...?

Well you can just have these ships tagging along in the rear of the battle.

These are imperial Transports from the Rebels TV show. Carries four Tie Fighters and are used for Patrols in the Outer Rim too. They are also not designed for battle so they will not be part of the battle.

honestly just having non hyperdrive masses on ships in one concentration sounds like a terrible and impractical idea. im sure there must have been a better way to do things.

I do rather hope we get some Gozanti TIE carriers in the game. I doubt they'd be stuck with an 'off screen' presence, given the number of guns on them (especially compared to the Rebel Transport, which DOES have to fight for its life on the battlefield...and THAT ship carrying no weapons at all!)

I do rather hope we get some Gozanti TIE carriers in the game. I doubt they'd be stuck with an 'off screen' presence, given the number of guns on them (especially compared to the Rebel Transport, which DOES have to fight for its life on the battlefield...and THAT ship carrying no weapons at all!)

Two Laser Cannons, four Quad Cannons and Proton Torpedoes. More fire power than a YT1300.

Those Star Destroyers or planetary bases juuuuuuust outside of your 3' x 3' area are carrying all your short range fighters. No need to worry. They just can't be bothered to turn their guns towards a petty 100 point squabble.

Those Star Destroyers or planetary bases juuuuuuust outside of your 3' x 3' area are carrying all your short range fighters. No need to worry. They just can't be bothered to turn their guns towards a petty 100 point squabble.

Absolutely, and that totally explains 90% of our games we play at the moment.

What it doesn't do is explain where the TIE Fighters, Bombers, and Interceptors would be coming from alongside a hyperdrive-equipped ship specifically designed to detach from the fleet's support for its operations.

Hopefully, the solution is simply FFG bringing us the Gozanti, and "problem solved". That ship can carry a handful of non-hyperdrive-equipped fighters into battle, as needed, with the remaining Epic fleet being filled in (if needed) with TIE Advanced or Defenders who can fly in on their own.

(The Assault Gunboat showing up would also be pretty cool, if for no other reason than the imposed variety on match. Imperial Epic...where you cannot bring any TIE Fighter, TIE Bombers, or TIE Interceptors!)

Maybe the Rebels are using their hyperdrive-equipped starfighters to attack the Raider and its VIP crew members at a refueling station? The TIEs are there because they are the station's normal security detail.

I kind of like the idea of Rebel and Imperial ships tractoring in asteroids prior to the battle. And one side grumbling about not getting to place the big asteroid

Given imperial doctrines of war, it makes sense that they would have an inexpensive to produce, non-combat support carrier that could bring in squadrons of TIEs and stand off outside the combat zone until after the battle.

It could also just be running escort duty to prevent a bad case of trench run syndrome.

Thematically, the Raider should be filling the same role as a few squads of Tie Fighters. So it makes sense to me that you wouldn't need to bring a large fighter escort. Granted, it makes for a more flexible tactical situation to have several fighters.

But otherwise, yes: Gozanti cruisers hiding just outside sensor range...

While many of the advanced imperial fighters have hyperdrives you really don't want to do any long jumps in them. Sitting in a space suit for hours or even days is very uncomfortable and I know for a fact that the TIE defender only has two days of supplies aboard. They use the hyperdrives on their fighters for short jumps only, if there are TIEs operating anywhere there is a ship that can carry them near as well.

Tactically speaking, it makes sense for the TIE carriers (whichever they are) to stay out of the battle anyways. The Raider holds the role of front line fighting with fighter support while the carriers just babysit their little goslings that are the hyperspace incapable squints, eyeballs, and dupes.

Tactically speaking, it makes sense for the TIE carriers (whichever they are) to stay out of the battle anyways.

It kinda doesn't, though. Consider WW2 carriers (as the 'Star Wars' setting seems to use WW2 naval actions as the model for combat) - the battleships and cruisers certainly formed a screen around them, but stayed VERY CLOSE TO THEM.

After all, if the enemy slipped past or around you and got to the carrier...it was largely defenseless, so could be easily wiped out and there goes most of your long-range attack power.

And that is fine for the typical battles we play - it's entirely possible in an engagement between a half dozen TIE Fighters and X-Wings in an asteroid field, that there IS a 'carrier' some distance off-map that is their base, and it may well have some Raiders or other light destroyers (maybe that new Gladiator-class Star Destroyer) nearby for protection. But that's sort of the point - if there is an 'off-map carrier' involved, then that is also where all the other major starships are going to be, to protect it. A carrier cannot be lost, or risked by leaving it defenseless. (In WW2, certainly, but even moreso in Star Wars with hyperdrive-equipped Rebels. Imagine a flight of B-Wings dropping out of hyperspace and salvoing a pile of torpedoes at the defenseless carrier while the Raider is off lollygagging around in an asteroid field with the carrier's fighter wing? Disaster!)

I think there are only a few possible tactical situations that would lead to the battles we play:

• There is an off-map fleet that the non-FTL fighters are based from...in which case, that's where every Huge ship present is going to be, to protect the carriers from surprise fighter attacks, and no Huge ships will be in the asteroid/fighter battle. (FWIW, this generally parallels the way most WW2 naval combat occurred)
• There is not an off-map fleet, and the battle in the asteroid field is the entirety of the Empire's presence in the area...in which case, to get non-FTL fighters into play, the Empire does need a Huge fighter carrier (like the Gozanti?) that can be present in that battle, rather than being risked by distance from its escort.
• As the article implies, the Raider just does not operate with non-FTL fighters. Per the OP, that actually brings up some interesting implications in "thematic" lists, so might be worth exploring the considerations around.

After just rereading the Raider article, it seems to me that the primary roll of the Raider is that of fleet escort. Like destroyers and cruisers escourting a battleship or carrier in WW2. Just because it can doesn't mean a Star Destoyer is always flying around on its own. I can see a Raider or 2 attached to a SD to help fend off fighters while it conducts planetary assault or attacking other capital ships.

The other roll is quick attack. It goes in to attack a small base or something with a small squad of hyperdrive craft as an escort. Raider takes out the base while the escorts take care of any craft that get airborne. Another option may be that the Raider is inserting a strike team to a planet's surface covertly with hyperdrive fighters agian escorting.

There is no reason to assume that there would not be a plausible reason as to why the Raider would be operating near non-hyperdrive TIEs, even in an asteroid field. The TV show Rebels has already shown that the Clones established a base on an asteroid so there could be an Imperial one "off map" in a game. Or that the Raider is heading back to a base after a mission and finds it's home base/way point/refueling depot/etc...under attack or is responding to a distress call from an Imperial outpost. Out on patrol as a system patrol craft with a few Interceptors in the Outer Rim perhaps?

Just a few explanations how a Raider can be paired up with regular TIEs beyond saying there's a SD off to the side which I think could still be worked in, modifying the GR-75 mission I think.

I'm in agreement with xanderf

I also think that most players of X-Wing really don't care all that much, so it's not an issue for FFG to deal with.

For those of us who want a bit more out of our game (I like to call them 'narrative stakes'), it should take more thought and organization. (Read more about my thought process, and the thoughts of others in this thread, on the Armada forum.)

So, for my part, if you want a story around your games (and I do!), then you're going to have to flesh it out yourself and not expect FFG to do it for you. On the one hand, that means just having your own headcanon that you have in your mind, but don't share with your opponent. Maybe that makes you limit your build choices. However, that doesn't sound very satisfying to me. Beyond that, you're going to have to build the story with your fellow players.

The raider is a corvette. They are based on real naval assets that are not made to be carriers. The star destroyers are both the cariers and the battleships. In the PC games, frigates also could carry fighters but were larger than corvettes and transports.

Unrelated, but this is my problem with the Gozanti is that it carries so few craft (two? Four?) and in a way that doesn't make sense. Why are the ties exposed? Where do they get repaired? You dropped a bolt? In space? Bye bye!

Unrelated, but this is my problem with the Gozanti is that it carries so few craft (two? Four?) and in a way that doesn't make sense. Why are the ties exposed? Where do they get repaired? You dropped a bolt? In space? Bye bye!

I view them more like ad hoc carriers. They aren't the Fighter's permanent base of operations but rather a temporary transport for when sending a full size capital ship is too much, or when the Star Destroy the TIEs are based on needs to project a measure of force in multiple systems at once.

Communication's tech:"Sir, that insignificant backwater planet is reporting trouble with raiders again, do we abandon protecting sector capital to go chase down the scum?"

Captain:"No, detach a half squadron of TIEs to the gozantis to deal with it."

That sort of thing.

I think it's reasonable for a Raider to break off from its strike group of capital ships and for a Star Destroyer to launch some fighters and send them along with the Raider for a combat air patrol around the sector. That's a plausible scenario for why 1) a Raider would travel away from a strike group, and 2) fighters accompanying a Raider wouldn't need to be hyperdrive-capable.