To all those who point out what's canon now, thanks a lot, I know about eu/legends and canon. Merely pointing out how little fun so little canon actually is. Han an Chewie are just friends/lovers, wookie life bond not being a thing, Bobas ship having no name, from what we see Boba isn't even a decent bounty hunter. He collects a Hansicle and falls into the Sarlacc. Heck, that "Darth" is a title isn't even in the movies, maybe sith just change their names and think darth is a pretty wizard name, the next might call himself "Moonlight Nightshadow" So I'm going with "as before until changed"

Maybe TIE Fighters have always (in real canon) had life support.

What does it matter?

It may sound not like much to you, but to me a TIE fighter with life support is not a TIE fighter anymore.

Keeping the Pilot alive is definitly not on the list a TIE fighter should do, that's solely up to the pilot:

• Go out there, take this ship that's among the fastest and agilest in the galaxy and destroy the empires enemies.
• No shields, just don't get hit, if you manage to get hit in that ship you're useless anyway.
• No complicated targeting computers. Here, a giant window in the front (think about it, that window is huge compared to other ships. and small windows all around you, so you can see everything, no target computers, you do that on your own.
• Life support? You just need to breathe to fly, so here take this helmet.
• Hyperspace? Do you wanna run away? We put you where you're supposed to be.

Succeed and you will return to glory. Die, and we won't care, 'cause that ship cost less than the emperors daily pedicure.

Maybe in one of the next episode we'll see stormtroopers manning a rescure party for their own. Because suddenly the Empire values their equipment and important personnel.

I know I'm reacting strongly. That's what being a fan/geek is partly about

ps: I'm by no means a gun expert, but think about the STEN gun in ww2, biggest advantage: dirt cheap to make. no fancy schmancy stuff. just the bare necessities.

I don't know if you have ever looked at the cockpit of a real fighter with any seriousness before, but the TIE Fighter (and every TIE craft since the Eta-2 Actis) has about the most useless design ever. Yes, you can see a lot of things out the front of your fighter and a little bit out the top... but that's it. Real fighters - from the Fokker Eindecker to the Mitsubishi Zero to the F-22A - have much better visibility than the TIE offers: Not only can you see in front, but you can see out the sides over the wings, and behind you. As do most other fighters in Star Wars. Without sensors, the TIE Fighter's pilot is practically blind.

Still science fiction. To be honest, I read somewhere (think it was one of the old sourcebooks) that the TIE Pilot sees more than other pilots because of the huge window and windows on the back) and I just kinda accepted that. he might not see his sides, but he sees in front and downward, which in space where its more likely than in atmosphere that fighters appear from below should be an advantage I think.

But I'm sure I don't know enough about fighter planes and cockpits for that discussion, so I have to believe you.

I might have missed an instance where it is flown in Space by one of the rebels without protection, if so please politely remind me. But all that I can remember are these.

in the last episode of the first season i think, the tie fighter that was painted like a matchbox car.

Where are you getting that Fett's ship is nameless? I can't recall if they say the name in Clone Wars or not, but it's up on the databank:

http://www.starwars.com/databank/slave-i

The Databank had a radical cleansing after the great EU shakedown, so if it's up there it's official. Unfortunately in some cases, ref:

http://www.starwars.com/databank/alderaan-cruiser

To all those who point out what's canon now, thanks a lot, I know about eu/legends and canon. Merely pointing out how little fun so little canon actually is. Han an Chewie are just friends/lovers, wookie life bond not being a thing, Bobas ship having no name, from what we see Boba isn't even a decent bounty hunter. He collects a Hansicle and falls into the Sarlacc. Heck, that "Darth" is a title isn't even in the movies, maybe sith just change their names and think darth is a pretty wizard name, the next might call himself "Moonlight Nightshadow" So I'm going with "as before until changed"

After reading some of the latest issues of the Star Wars and Darth Vader comics (which are now canon). I'm starting to concede that Boba Fett may be the bad ass that the fandalorians peg him to be.

After reading some of the latest issues of the Star Wars and Darth Vader comics (which are now canon). I'm starting to concede that Boba Fett may be the bad ass that the fandalorians peg him to be.

sounds like I got some shopping to do.

I might have missed an instance where it is flown in Space by one of the rebels without protection, if so please politely remind me. But all that I can remember are these.

in the last episode of the first season i think, the tie fighter that was painted like a matchbox car.

Ah yes, right at the end of the episode, they make their escape in the decorated Tie and the Inquisitor's Tie Advanced. It's a very brief flight in both cases - a few minutes. One could easily interpret it as running on the air that hadn't leaked out yet in a desperate flight from an exploding ship, if one wished. One doesn't need to throw out previous ideas just yet so we might be okay.

I was actually more surprised by Vader's Tie being able to hyperjump in the latest episode. Is there precedent for Ties with hyperdrives?

Han an Chewie are just friends/lovers, wookie life bond not being a thing,

Actually, the comics show Han as having a wife, at least as late as between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back.

http://metro.co.uk/2015/06/08/wtf-han-solo-had-a-wife-before-he-met-princess-leia-in-star-wars-5234848/

So yea, that's canon now.

I might have missed an instance where it is flown in Space by one of the rebels without protection, if so please politely remind me. But all that I can remember are these.

in the last episode of the first season i think, the tie fighter that was painted like a matchbox car.

Ah yes, right at the end of the episode, they make their escape in the decorated Tie and the Inquisitor's Tie Advanced. It's a very brief flight in both cases - a few minutes. One could easily interpret it as running on the air that hadn't leaked out yet in a desperate flight from an exploding ship, if one wished. One doesn't need to throw out previous ideas just yet so we might be okay.

I was actually more surprised by Vader's Tie being able to hyperjump in the latest episode. Is there precedent for Ties with hyperdrives?

Yep, several. Vader's TIE Advanced X1 (pretty much the prototype Advanced) was regularly stated in the EU as possessing a hyperdrive, and several models of TIEs, such as the Defender, Hunter and Phantom all had hyperdrives too.

Han an Chewie are just friends/lovers, wookie life bond not being a thing,

Actually, the comics show Han as having a wife, at least as late as between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back.

http://metro.co.uk/2015/06/08/wtf-han-solo-had-a-wife-before-he-met-princess-leia-in-star-wars-5234848/

So yea, that's canon now.

saaaaay whaaaaaaaaaaat? I really need to get me some of those.

Han an Chewie are just friends/lovers, wookie life bond not being a thing,

Actually, the comics show Han as having a wife, at least as late as between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back.

http://metro.co.uk/2015/06/08/wtf-han-solo-had-a-wife-before-he-met-princess-leia-in-star-wars-5234848/

So yea, that's canon now.

I find it sort of adorable that the article assumes that she must be off the scene by the time of Eps 5&6 because Han says he loves Leia. It's like the concept of Han cheating on someone never crosses their mind.

They need to look up the word 'scoundrel'.

Maybe TIE Fighters have always (in real canon) had life support.

What does it matter?

It may sound not like much to you, but to me a TIE fighter with life support is not a TIE fighter anymore.

Keeping the Pilot alive is definitly not on the list a TIE fighter should do, that's solely up to the pilot:

• Go out there, take this ship that's among the fastest and agilest in the galaxy and destroy the empires enemies.
• No shields, just don't get hit, if you manage to get hit in that ship you're useless anyway.
• No complicated targeting computers. Here, a giant window in the front (think about it, that window is huge compared to other ships. and small windows all around you, so you can see everything, no target computers, you do that on your own.
• Life support? You just need to breathe to fly, so here take this helmet.
• Hyperspace? Do you wanna run away? We put you where you're supposed to be.

Succeed and you will return to glory. Die, and we won't care, 'cause that ship cost less than the emperors daily pedicure.

Maybe in one of the next episode we'll see stormtroopers manning a rescure party for their own. Because suddenly the Empire values their equipment and important personnel.

I know I'm reacting strongly. That's what being a fan/geek is partly about

ps: I'm by no means a gun expert, but think about the STEN gun in ww2, biggest advantage: dirt cheap to make. no fancy schmancy stuff. just the bare necessities.

I don't know if you have ever looked at the cockpit of a real fighter with any seriousness before, but the TIE Fighter (and every TIE craft since the Eta-2 Actis) has about the most useless design ever. Yes, you can see a lot of things out the front of your fighter and a little bit out the top... but that's it. Real fighters - from the Fokker Eindecker to the Mitsubishi Zero to the F-22A - have much better visibility than the TIE offers: Not only can you see in front, but you can see out the sides over the wings, and behind you. As do most other fighters in Star Wars. Without sensors, the TIE Fighter's pilot is practically blind.

Still science fiction. To be honest, I read somewhere (think it was one of the old sourcebooks) that the TIE Pilot sees more than other pilots because of the huge window and windows on the back) and I just kinda accepted that. he might not see his sides, but he sees in front and downward, which in space where its more likely than in atmosphere that fighters appear from below should be an advantage I think.

But I'm sure I don't know enough about fighter planes and cockpits for that discussion, so I have to believe you.

Seeing downward is very important in real life, too. It's why the cockpit is almost invariable as far forward on the aircraft as possible (older light aircraft had their cockpits more toward the middle of the aircraft because the engine sat in the front - look at the P-38 Lightning). It's part of why the Soviet Union and United States developed "look down, shoot down" radar guidance systems during the Cold War (to destroy aircraft flying nape-of-the-earth). It's why most helicopters have windows on the bottom of the cabin (gunships forgo those windows in favor of armor). Most aircraft put the pilot on top of the aircraft because: A-That's how gravity works; B-They generally want some protection against ground fire, and; C-Most attacking aircraft are going to (if they can) attack from an altitude greater than that of the fighter.

The ideal cockpit for a combat aircraft would be a transparent sphere with a 360º HUD. Of course, this creates problems with where the rest of the fighter goes....

The Umbaran starfighter is probably one of the best designs in the Star Wars galaxy (from a pilot visibility perspective).

(Excellent visibility, unparalleled by any craft that I am aware of in Star Wars or real life and the entire cockpit appears to function as a HUD. The amount of pertinent information available to the pilot without having to ever take his or her eyes off the enemy and visibility means that the Umbaran starfighter should punch above its class and easily be able to handle starfighters that have better armor, heavier weapons, greater speed, and better maneuverability.)

Maybe TIE Fighters have always (in real canon) had life support.

What does it matter?

It may sound not like much to you, but to me a TIE fighter with life support is not a TIE fighter anymore.

Keeping the Pilot alive is definitly not on the list a TIE fighter should do, that's solely up to the pilot:

• Go out there, take this ship that's among the fastest and agilest in the galaxy and destroy the empires enemies.
• No shields, just don't get hit, if you manage to get hit in that ship you're useless anyway.
• No complicated targeting computers. Here, a giant window in the front (think about it, that window is huge compared to other ships. and small windows all around you, so you can see everything, no target computers, you do that on your own.
• Life support? You just need to breathe to fly, so here take this helmet.
• Hyperspace? Do you wanna run away? We put you where you're supposed to be.

Succeed and you will return to glory. Die, and we won't care, 'cause that ship cost less than the emperors daily pedicure.

Maybe in one of the next episode we'll see stormtroopers manning a rescure party for their own. Because suddenly the Empire values their equipment and important personnel.

I know I'm reacting strongly. That's what being a fan/geek is partly about

ps: I'm by no means a gun expert, but think about the STEN gun in ww2, biggest advantage: dirt cheap to make. no fancy schmancy stuff. just the bare necessities.

I don't know if you have ever looked at the cockpit of a real fighter with any seriousness before, but the TIE Fighter (and every TIE craft since the Eta-2 Actis) has about the most useless design ever. Yes, you can see a lot of things out the front of your fighter and a little bit out the top... but that's it. Real fighters - from the Fokker Eindecker to the Mitsubishi Zero to the F-22A - have much better visibility than the TIE offers: Not only can you see in front, but you can see out the sides over the wings, and behind you. As do most other fighters in Star Wars. Without sensors, the TIE Fighter's pilot is practically blind.

Still science fiction. To be honest, I read somewhere (think it was one of the old sourcebooks) that the TIE Pilot sees more than other pilots because of the huge window and windows on the back) and I just kinda accepted that. he might not see his sides, but he sees in front and downward, which in space where its more likely than in atmosphere that fighters appear from below should be an advantage I think.

But I'm sure I don't know enough about fighter planes and cockpits for that discussion, so I have to believe you.

Seeing downward is very important in real life, too. It's why the cockpit is almost invariable as far forward on the aircraft as possible (older light aircraft had their cockpits more toward the middle of the aircraft because the engine sat in the front - look at the P-38 Lightning). It's part of why the Soviet Union and United States developed "look down, shoot down" radar guidance systems during the Cold War (to destroy aircraft flying nape-of-the-earth). It's why most helicopters have windows on the bottom of the cabin (gunships forgo those windows in favor of armor). Most aircraft put the pilot on top of the aircraft because: A-That's how gravity works; B-They generally want some protection against ground fire, and; C-Most attacking aircraft are going to (if they can) attack from an altitude greater than that of the fighter.

The ideal cockpit for a combat aircraft would be a transparent sphere with a 360º HUD. Of course, this creates problems with where the rest of the fighter goes....

The Umbaran starfighter is probably one of the best designs in the Star Wars galaxy (from a pilot visibility perspective).

(Excellent visibility, unparalleled by any craft that I am aware of in Star Wars or real life and the entire cockpit appears to function as a HUD. The amount of pertinent information available to the pilot without having to ever take his or her eyes off the enemy and visibility means that the Umbaran starfighter should punch above its class and easily be able to handle starfighters that have better armor, heavier weapons, greater speed, and better maneuverability.)

The Umbaran tech in those episodes was great. Had a really spooky vibe to it and I loved how the clone troopers had to work at it.

I'm thinking that for fighters in the near future, assuming they're not entirely replaced by drones which seems likely, full VR will be the way they go. A transparent cockpit is anachronistic when you can wear your VR goggles and have near 360° field of view both above and below. Though I imagine they'd keep the transparent shield as fallback in the event of problems.

The F-35 has this already. There are cameras all around the plane that feed to the helmet of the pilot. He has a 360° view of his suroundings.

The F-35 has this already. There are cameras all around the plane that feed to the helmet of the pilot. He has a 360° view of his suroundings.

Excellent. My power to foresee the future has now moved up to the present. If I can just nudge it forward a little from here...

It may just be Vader's ship, but it looks to me like Tie Fighters definitely have targeting computers. Given what a bad-ass he's supposed to be, I don't see why he'd have them, but his pilots wouldn't.

check out 6:17 on this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v5VahaEL7s

The Umbaran starfighter is probably one of the best designs in the Star Wars galaxy (from a pilot visibility perspective).

I'd been wondering what those were! I'd just been calling them Thighmaster class airspeeders!

The only problem with NOT having a cockpit window is that should the visual system fail, you are flying blind.

There is also the possibility that TIE helmets are said for of Holographic HUD. The solar Panals are not solar Panels but sensor arrays. Now this isn't likely, but could be an interesting option. Even if the wings aren't that, if the pilot helmets have a holographic HUD, that they see the view where there head looks could be possible. Could be what all those triangle panels in the TIE are.

Or they have the little red dots that every flight sim space shooter seems to have for enemies.

I think given what we've seen with The Force Awakens that the "solar panels" will be waste heat radiation panels.

Well you don't need huge sensor panels to see 360x360....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/04/01/meet-the-most-fascinating-part-of-the-f-35-the-400000-helmet/

A genre like star wars constantly evolves based on the whims of plot and cool factor. It was almost comical that in some scenes of Rebels that a TIE cockpit had room for 3 to have a brawl. If TIE fighters were made on the cheap would expect some hand dug foxholes would be roomier. More empty space means more surface area you have to armor, which means more weight.

Well, the trouble with making TIE Fighters tiny is that you have to fit Darth Vader in one. And Darth Vader is 6'8". And he's not going to want to be cramped. For a US fighter pilot (who must be between 5'4" and 6'5" tall) that's going to be downright spacious.

Well, the trouble with making TIE Fighters tiny is that you have to fit Darth Vader in one. And Darth Vader is 6'8". And he's not going to want to be cramped. For a US fighter pilot (who must be between 5'4" and 6'5" tall) that's going to be downright spacious.

But he isn't flying a normal TIE Fighter. You really only need enough space for him to come down through the top into the seat and be able to reach the various controls. So, the top of the dome would be just above his head with him sitting angled towards the back. The whole thing would probably need to be no more than 5' in diameter to hold him, his chair, his controls and the other angles inside the dome would be filled with equipment for the fuel, weapons, computers, etc...

I'm 99.9% certain that the cockpit of the TIE Vader is identical in dimensions to the cockpit of every other TIE-series fighter - certainly identical to the TIE Defender, and likely very similar to that of the TIE Bomber (and friends).

I'm 99.9% certain that the cockpit of the TIE Vader is identical in dimensions to the cockpit of every other TIE-series fighter - certainly identical to the TIE Defender, and likely very similar to that of the TIE Bomber (and friends).

Indeed. There are going to be a wide variance (tall variance?) in the heights of people across the different planets of the Empire. Unless there is some reason to suppose that a Tie-fighter would be specifically designed only for the short end of that spectrum, then one would expect them to be large enough to cater for taller pilots as well. That's not true of our real world fighter planes because these are made in only small numbers and cost colossal amounts of money - it is okay to make them how you feel like and then exclude those pilots that can't fit, because you're always going to have way more candidates to fly them than you have actual planes. But space ships in Star Wars are a commodity and Tie-Fighters known to be cheap, mass-produced fighters. You're not going to want to tailor them just to short people.

It's probably pushing it to have multiple people in there but they at least concede this in the episode with a character remarking that "these things weren't built for three" when they're all squashed up against each other.

Indeed. There are going to be a wide variance (tall variance?) in the heights of people across the different planets of the Empire. Unless there is some reason to suppose that a Tie-fighter would be specifically designed only for the short end of that spectrum, then one would expect them to be large enough to cater for taller pilots as well.

So… Herglic Tie Fighter pilots?

Indeed. There are going to be a wide variance (tall variance?) in the heights of people across the different planets of the Empire. Unless there is some reason to suppose that a Tie-fighter would be specifically designed only for the short end of that spectrum, then one would expect them to be large enough to cater for taller pilots as well.

So… Herglic Tie Fighter pilots?

Herglics just use the Tie as a space helmet with funky side vanes. For actual transport they ride on Corvettes in threes.