So, with the canon for star wars being altered, in this instance concerning the appearance of B-wings and A-wings, I started thinking about the rarity of these crafts. Both of them appear long before the battle fo Endor, or even the Battle of Yavin. The A-wing is now manufactured by Kuat, and was flown by Phoenix Squadron in Rebels - The Siege of Lothal. The B-Wing was flown by pirates.

Now, as the old legends had these ships designed by characters that were on screen, because, hey if you are a character on screen in the movie, you automatically have to be doing something else, instead of just being there. I'm looking at you Willrow Hoods, and your icecream maker. Since the old legends is thrown out and the canon is altering things, I've decided that the rarity shoudl be lower.

What would be a good Rarity for each of these craft? They aren't manufactured by the rebels any more, I figure lowering the rarity of the A-wing by two and removing the sensor jammer would be approriate, as well asl the cost by about 50,000 credits. The B-wing, maybe just lowering the rarity by 1, but keeping the cost high.

Any thoughts?

What is this about B-Wings and pirates?

In the novel, Heir to the Jedi, set after the battle of Yavin, Luke fights battles some pirates in B-wings.

Well, the Rarity may also reflect the difficulty in obtaining the ships on a small scale (such as what the PCs will generally be doing) rather than in bulk.

B-Wings have a history of being notoriously finicky and prone to things going wrong if not rigorously maintained, so the Rarity there could reflect how difficult it is to procure a properly working B-Wing, especially for an independent buyer.

As for the A-Wing, perhaps their popular enough with insurgent squadrons and planetary defense forces that being able to arrange to buy them individually as opposed to in large quantities just isn't feasible or even generally worth the hassle for the production company.

In the mean time, you've got larger groups that are willing to buy in bulk and may not be quite as picky about the overall quality of the ships; many companies accept that a certain percentage of any bulk order is going to contain defective goods that will need to be repaired or out-and-out replaced.

You're not saying that the B-wing is by extension a "pirate" fighter though right?

Personally I'm kinda glad they seem to have removed those from the "made by the rebellion" position. I'll miss Strike Force Shantipole, but if in exchange we reduce the resource footprint of the rebellion, I'd say that's a win.

So, with the canon for star wars being altered, in this instance concerning the appearance of B-wings and A-wings, I started thinking about the rarity of these crafts. Both of them appear long before the battle fo Endor, or even the Battle of Yavin. The A-wing is now manufactured by Kuat, and was flown by Phoenix Squadron in Rebels - The Siege of Lothal. The B-Wing was flown by pirates.

Now, as the old legends had these ships designed by characters that were on screen, because, hey if you are a character on screen in the movie, you automatically have to be doing something else, instead of just being there. I'm looking at you Willrow Hoods, and your icecream maker. Since the old legends is thrown out and the canon is altering things, I've decided that the rarity shoudl be lower.

What would be a good Rarity for each of these craft? They aren't manufactured by the rebels any more, I figure lowering the rarity of the A-wing by two and removing the sensor jammer would be approriate, as well asl the cost by about 50,000 credits. The B-wing, maybe just lowering the rarity by 1, but keeping the cost high.

Any thoughts?

Well AoR is supposed to be in the Legends universe no? I am pretty sure with the old canon thrown out a lot of the stuff in the books doesn't event exist anymore (heck, I can't even find an entry for Corellia in the databank...)

Well AoR is supposed to be in the Legends universe no? I am pretty sure with the old canon thrown out a lot of the stuff in the books doesn't event exist anymore (heck, I can't even find an entry for Corellia in the databank...)

...Yes, but no, but yes.

"Legends" is the brand identifier for stuff that follows the EU timeline of events, it's not an identifier of what is and isn't canon, which is why the RPG doesn't have Legends labeling. However the RPG isn't cleared with the story group either, at least not on the level of a new Novel or Comic, so it's not canon.

That said it doesn't really matter as the RPG is by definition just a game system and setting information for the generation of noncanon fan made events. It's not a definitive guide for the galaxy like it was back when WEG was literally creating massive swaths of the galaxy as needed by the game product line.

And the old canon wasn't thrown out, really. That implies that it was all removed and vowed never to return, which we know isn't true.

It's more of a massive open ended right to retcon at whatever scale is needed for the future of the brand. Centerpoint Station could easily show up in canon if someone decides they want to go there. It's just that now, what the station is, how it became so, and what it did, is no longer set. This isn't because Centerpoint was a good or bad idea, it's because Centerpoint's previous appearances and activities were based around the actions of Luke/Han/Leia/andohdeargodwhycanttheydiealready, Actions that for the sake of the new movies not being stupid and awful had to be removed from the timeline.

@ Ghostofman: no, I'm not saying that the B-wing is a pirate ship, but if is a ship used by pirates. The same could be said of z-95's and Y-wings.

So the old legends works haven't been thrown out, but relocated to the recycling plant for sorting out the rubbish from the reusable. Let's be honest though, the likelihood of seeing anything legends set after Return of the Jedi is pretty slim as most of it is the equivalent to used diapers and non biodegradable styrofoam containers.

@ Donovan: I get where you are coming from, in regards to the current rarity. While those are decent reasons to keep, the fact that these ships can be awarded to the players from the alliance for duty rewards, and we have seen the ships prior to Yavin, leadse to think that they are not as difficult to find anymore. They (the alliance) do have them, and many will be used vessels. As to the B-wing being a hangar queen, that is up in the air at this point as well as if may not be the case.

Honestly, I see the Rebellion favouring easily accessible, albeit older designs, that are reliable, compared to anything that may not be able to take off because of massive maintenance when the Empire shows up. If the whole fighter wing was in the state the Millenium Falcon was during the battle of hoth, the empire would make short work.

In regards to the a-wing, since there is currently no canon source for the jammer system (not even in x-wing, it is) I think the lowering of the cost to 100,000 and simply removing that device and lowering the rarity by one. I just want to make sure that it is fair enough.

Well AoR is supposed to be in the Legends universe no? I am pretty sure with the old canon thrown out a lot of the stuff in the books doesn't event exist anymore (heck, I can't even find an entry for Corellia in the databank...)

...Yes, but no, but yes.

"Legends" is the brand ... [shortened for length]

Right, but I would assume that the stuff that has been released so far has been following the legends stuff so updating it to the new canon might be a bit difficult to do (at least at the moment since there is so little info).

Quick question to ppl who know a lot more about this than I do: if FFG creates original content for their SW lines, does it become part of the "Legends" brand? or is it in SW Limbo?

They way I figure it, after the clone wars ended, the Rebel alliance was working in the dark, in secret.

One of the things they needed was their own Capital ships, and star fighters that could work on thier own (hyper capable) and be better then Imperial fighters.

So for 20 years they were developing their fleet. in secret. it wasn't until the battle of Yavin, where the outraged allowed the ability to engage in a military campaign. A-wings and B-wings were in production at the time of the battle of Yavin, but not deployed... at least if they were it was in small numbers.

That begs the question, how did Bail Organa get such a huge fleet? Yet keep it "off the books" from the Alderaan government. You know for a fact that after Rebels season 2 Ep1 they are going through the wreckage of those A-wings Darth Vader blew up, and the Carrier for any clues. It makes no sense. the orgins of the Rebel fighters is so murky that it is really impossible to figure out anymore.

and Heir to the Jedi was a crappy book. I have never been more disappointed in a SW novel.

In the novel, Heir to the Jedi, set after the battle of Yavin, Luke fights battles some pirates in B-wings.

I want S&V B-Wings in X-Wing, now.

Well AoR is supposed to be in the Legends universe no? I am pretty sure with the old canon thrown out a lot of the stuff in the books doesn't event exist anymore (heck, I can't even find an entry for Corellia in the databank...)

...Yes, but no, but yes.

"Legends" is the brand ... [shortened for length]

Right, but I would assume that the stuff that has been released so far has been following the legends stuff so updating it to the new canon might be a bit difficult to do (at least at the moment since there is so little info).

Quick question to ppl who know a lot more about this than I do: if FFG creates original content for their SW lines, does it become part of the "Legends" brand? or is it in SW Limbo?

Limbo, like ToR. Until you start talking clone Emperor, Jaina Solo, and Admiral Thrawn you don't really get into Legends, just some funky "not canon till we say it is" area.

@ Ghostofman: no, I'm not saying that the B-wing is a pirate ship, but if is a ship used by pirates. The same could be said of z-95's and Y-wings.

So the old legends works haven't been thrown out, but relocated to the recycling plant for sorting out the rubbish from the reusable. Let's be honest though, the likelihood of seeing anything legends set after Return of the Jedi is pretty slim as most of it is the equivalent to used diapers and non biodegradable styrofoam containers.

@ Donovan: I get where you are coming from, in regards to the current rarity. While those are decent reasons to keep, the fact that these ships can be awarded to the players from the alliance for duty rewards, and we have seen the ships prior to Yavin, leadse to think that they are not as difficult to find anymore. They (the alliance) do have them, and many will be used vessels. As to the B-wing being a hangar queen, that is up in the air at this point as well as if may not be the case.

Honestly, I see the Rebellion favouring easily accessible, albeit older designs, that are reliable, compared to anything that may not be able to take off because of massive maintenance when the Empire shows up. If the whole fighter wing was in the state the Millenium Falcon was during the battle of hoth, the empire would make short work.

In regards to the a-wing, since there is currently no canon source for the jammer system (not even in x-wing, it is) I think the lowering of the cost to 100,000 and simply removing that device and lowering the rarity by one. I just want to make sure that it is fair enough.

Ok

1: The preview for the upcoming canon Battlefront novel refers to the Alliance launching an offensive involving thousands of ships I find it incredibly unlikely that a group which could assemble such a navy doesn't have the means to produce ships.

2: The Databank says that the A-Wings seen in Rebels season 2 are not the same model as the ones seen in Return of the Jedi. The Alliance extensively modified the design for increased speed.

From what I saw of the season 2 trailer, and I may be wrong here, it appears that the B-Wing in the trailer is a prototype. If so it was designed for and likely by the early pre-Alliance rebel forces. This also fits with the B-Wing databank entry which states that the B-Wing was designed by rebel engineers.

3: I don't feel like going into full details again but I believe that it would be much easier for the Alliance to hide fighter factories and shipyards plus easier for it to supply them with the resources they need to function then most people think, Hiding factories and resource mines in an area as vast as the Star Wars galaxy would be far from impossible.

4: Creating a new class of ship or fighter takes four things. First engineers who are able to create the designs, second time for them to create the designs, third a factory to build the ships once they are designed and fourth resources for the factory to use t build the ships. I seriously doubt that there are no engineers capable of creating new ship designs who hate the Empire enough to work for the rebellion, and there is no evidence that designing new ships and fighters in Star Wars would take longer then the rebellion existed,

Well AoR is supposed to be in the Legends universe no? I am pretty sure with the old canon thrown out a lot of the stuff in the books doesn't event exist anymore (heck, I can't even find an entry for Corellia in the databank...)

...Yes, but no, but yes.

"Legends" is the brand ... [shortened for length]

Right, but I would assume that the stuff that has been released so far has been following the legends stuff so updating it to the new canon might be a bit difficult to do (at least at the moment since there is so little info).

Quick question to ppl who know a lot more about this than I do: if FFG creates original content for their SW lines, does it become part of the "Legends" brand? or is it in SW Limbo?

Limbo, like ToR. Until you start talking clone Emperor, Jaina Solo, and Admiral Thrawn you don't really get into Legends, just some funky "not canon till we say it is" area.

Got it, thanks!

Ok

1: The preview for the upcoming canon Battlefront novel refers to the Alliance launching an offensive involving thousands of ships I find it incredibly unlikely that a group which could assemble such a navy doesn't have the means to produce ships.

2: The Databank says that the A-Wings seen in Rebels season 2 are not the same model as the ones seen in Return of the Jedi. The Alliance extensively modified the design for increased speed.

From what I saw of the season 2 trailer, and I may be wrong here, it appears that the B-Wing in the trailer is a prototype. If so it was designed for and likely by the early pre-Alliance rebel forces. This also fits with the B-Wing databank entry which states that the B-Wing was designed by rebel engineers.

3: I don't feel like going into full details again but I believe that it would be much easier for the Alliance to hide fighter factories and shipyards plus easier for it to supply them with the resources they need to function then most people think, Hiding factories and resource mines in an area as vast as the Star Wars galaxy would be far from impossible.

4: Creating a new class of ship or fighter takes four things. First engineers who are able to create the designs, second time for them to create the designs, third a factory to build the ships once they are designed and fourth resources for the factory to use t build the ships. I seriously doubt that there are no engineers capable of creating new ship designs who hate the Empire enough to work for the rebellion, and there is no evidence that designing new ships and fighters in Star Wars would take longer then the rebellion existed,

1. Is it possible they could manufacture ships? Sure it is. I've never said that they couldn't build thier own ships, but with a whole galaxy of designs, wouldn't it be easier to steal or purchase the plans and build one of those rather than design a new one? A reliable, easy to maintain would be more common. Finally, in regards to new ships even off it was possible, why is it one of the on screen characters that has to do it?

2. The databank entry also doesn't include the mention of the pirate b-wings so it is not complete, as that is from a canon source. That or they are not keeping track of the new canon as closely as they should, and we will run into the same lore mess that the old legends fiction had.

3. I have said it is possible. But designing all new weapons of war when you can use what exists, even if you manufacture knock offs yourself, and is proven to work is far more likely. Look at how common the AK-47 rifle is. It is reliable, and easily reproduced so everyone seems to use the rifle, or copies of it. Much of the rebel forces is likely non military people, or who have minimal training. Not every pilot will be an ace, every soldier a commando. Many would be idealists that want to fight the empire. Equip as many forces as possible with as much as possible, also less elite troops will be lost, don't spend as much on them. There was a line in the movie Braveheart about certain pikemen being cheaper than arrows.

4. You forget one VERY crucial step. TESTING the designs, refineing them. Would you send troops, pilots, etc out to a combat mission without testing the designs out? Making sure they get your pilots home safely. You could be assuming that this would be done in one of your 4 things, but it would take a certain type of crazy to take an untested combat fighter into a real combat situation, not to mention I it doesn't work, you've jeopardized the mission and the lives of your allies. .

My main issue with the rebels building these craft is that it had to be a on screen character that did it. So much of the old fiction hand every movie background character had very few degrees of separation from something else in the movies that it was absurd. Sometimes an ice cream maker is just what it seems. One of my complaints about the prequels was there was so much, winking to the audience, in terms of cameos and linking characters together that it was lazy writing.

Yeah, being able to assemble "thousands of ships" and being able to manufacture high performance starfighters is not the same thing.

Take a look at the X-wings and Y-wings in Ep IV. The rebellion is pretty obviously flying those things on duct tape and a prayer. Assuming the old "Incom defection" background is still valid, it looks like the Incom team stole a couple hundred prototype x-wings, and the Alliance is flying those prototypes until the s-foils fall off. If the Incom team was able to find the resources to manufacture more X-wings (which is a little more viable since all the developmental and operational testing had already been done and paid for) they'd probably only be able to pump out a limited number, as they'd also be producing replacement parts for all the X-wings already in service.

Furthermore (and here's some adventure seeds for ya) the iffy thing about manufacturing your own fighter craft is those resources. Yeah you can probably find plenty of Iron and Aluminum without attracting attention. And the rebellion could probably even piece together enough 3-D printers and droids to fabricate most of the parts just fine on a make shift assembly line somewhere. The issue is things like the fusial thrust hegan particle ionizer (totally made that up, but stay with me). Yeah, it may be a grapefruit sized item that it's just another engine widget, but it uses Illudium PU-36 for the core housing, a very expensive and hard to find element. The Empire doesn't need to search every backwater warehouse looking for the underground assembly line building X-wing fuselage frames. They just need to find the secret clean room where the fusial thrust hegan particle ionizers are assembled, and for that all they need to do is set up a bogus Illudium PU-36 buy, and follow the materials. One strike and X-wing production grinds to a halt.

And if the rebels repel the attack on their secret facility, will the imperial commander say: "what happened to the kaboom? There was supposed to be a factory shattering kaboom."

I don't think parts would be that hard. Using a bit of EU you can see that the Falcon's main engines are actually a series of smaller engines. What's to say the X-Wing engines aren't similar to a type that's normally used in a commercial design? Even if they are tweaked for combat use, the rarer engine elements could be acquired from the commercial engines and the aftermarket parts could be custom made.

In a galaxy of quadrillions of sentient beings I don't think that it would be too hard to hide the purchase and transport of resources. Especially when you're not working in mass quantities that a formal army does.

Well, seeing as Incom designs are usually linear, i.e. the T-16 having many of the same features as the Z-95 and the X-Wing, so much so you can use the T-16 as a cheap "Trainer" version. I would imagine a great many of the vehicle components would be interchangeable.

So you could always just tell the Empire that "No, no, I'm not producing these fusial thrust hegan particle ionizer's for production of X-Wings, I'm making them to sell as an aftermarket add on to Z-95's to increase their performance! Honest! Oh you're asking about that one missing shipment? Um, Pirates?"

I mean its mostly speculation, but in the EU the above example is actually how the Rebellion financed and supplied itself in the early days. Even in the days of the New Republic, there were supply shortages (In the Rogue Squadron books, there are times when pilots are grounded due to their X-Wing being destroyed and replacements being delayed/unavailable).

I don't think parts would be that hard. Using a bit of EU you can see that the Falcon's main engines are actually a series of smaller engines. What's to say the X-Wing engines aren't similar to a type that's normally used in a commercial design? Even if they are tweaked for combat use, the rarer engine elements could be acquired from the commercial engines and the aftermarket parts could be custom made.

In a galaxy of quadrillions of sentient beings I don't think that it would be too hard to hide the purchase and transport of resources. Especially when you're not working in mass quantities that a formal army does.

The fusial thrust hegan particle ionizer was just something I pulled out of my butt. It's not about any actual engine component, it's about how advanced tech always needs some special THING that you can't just get without someone noticing. Maybe it's made from a rare element, or just a dangerous material that strictly controlled. Maybe it requires special tools or equipment to make, tools and equipment so special they can't be bought on the open market because they are custom built to order by the manufacturer. Maybe it's such a complex item or software build only a couple of guys from the Incom team even really understand it and much of what they do for the rebellion is day-in-day-out manufacturing that one special thing, making keeping them safe a massive undertaking since they also need to be somewhere where the tools and materials they need are available.

If it's not the fusial thrust hegan particle ionizer for the engine, it's the gravity alinement fittings for the sensors, or the subatomic neutron shield for the reactor, or the negative power inverters for the laser cannons, or the midichlorian containment tanks for the hyperdrive. Something on that fighter needs something that you can't just build in your garage out of sheet metal from Tagge's Home Improvement Warehouse.

A real world comparasion might be the Chinese J-31 stealth fighter. Yeah, it's all nice and fancy, and some even think it might be able to outperform a F-22 or 35.... but the engines on that thing are Russian, because the Chinese just don't have what it takes to make high performance jet fighter engines domestically...

I can see both sides with the changes to canon with the A-Wing and B-Wing. On one hand, I liked the story of Dodonna designing the A-Wing and Ackbar designing the B-Wing, but it does bring up some incredulity about how they kept up with supply&demand for the highly advanced tech fighters.

On the other hand, making them just another starfighter from the large corporations ditches some of the originality of the storyline, but makes them more accessible and the logistics more realistic. (And now I can put them in my 1 BBY EotE game).

@BigSpoon I like a middle of the road. These guys designed them, being superior engineers, and custom designed some well made ships better than what come off the regular assembly line. But they need a big manufacturer to build them, so they use their contacts to get a corp to pump them out at one of their smaller, backwater plants where the production can be quickly re-tooled and no one will notice them being made.

@Ghostofman I get where you are coming from to make a great story. For me though, I have a hard time accepting that any piece of a starship engine would be so rare as to require that level of control in a galaxy so full of ships flying around. There are probably several billion ships zipping around space at any given time. Even if some are 50 years old, there would be so many ships being pumped out every single day from major corporations that nothing in their design could be so rare. And even if you did say the Plotonium was a controlled material the manufacturers would be working with such massive quantities that they could easily loose a shipment or two without it being the faintest blip on the radar.

Now if there is something about a ship that is special, then heck yes break out he Plotonium and give your best Machiavellian GM laugh.

Ok

1: The preview for the upcoming canon Battlefront novel refers to the Alliance launching an offensive involving thousands of ships I find it incredibly unlikely that a group which could assemble such a navy doesn't have the means to produce ships.

2: The Databank says that the A-Wings seen in Rebels season 2 are not the same model as the ones seen in Return of the Jedi. The Alliance extensively modified the design for increased speed.

From what I saw of the season 2 trailer, and I may be wrong here, it appears that the B-Wing in the trailer is a prototype. If so it was designed for and likely by the early pre-Alliance rebel forces. This also fits with the B-Wing databank entry which states that the B-Wing was designed by rebel engineers.

3: I don't feel like going into full details again but I believe that it would be much easier for the Alliance to hide fighter factories and shipyards plus easier for it to supply them with the resources they need to function then most people think, Hiding factories and resource mines in an area as vast as the Star Wars galaxy would be far from impossible.

4: Creating a new class of ship or fighter takes four things. First engineers who are able to create the designs, second time for them to create the designs, third a factory to build the ships once they are designed and fourth resources for the factory to use t build the ships. I seriously doubt that there are no engineers capable of creating new ship designs who hate the Empire enough to work for the rebellion, and there is no evidence that designing new ships and fighters in Star Wars would take longer then the rebellion existed,

1. Is it possible they could manufacture ships? Sure it is. I've never said that they couldn't build thier own ships, but with a whole galaxy of designs, wouldn't it be easier to steal or purchase the plans and build one of those rather than design a new one? A reliable, easy to maintain would be more common. Finally, in regards to new ships even off it was possible, why is it one of the on screen characters that has to do it?

2. The databank entry also doesn't include the mention of the pirate b-wings so it is not complete, as that is from a canon source. That or they are not keeping track of the new canon as closely as they should, and we will run into the same lore mess that the old legends fiction had.

3. I have said it is possible. But designing all new weapons of war when you can use what exists, even if you manufacture knock offs yourself, and is proven to work is far more likely. Look at how common the AK-47 rifle is. It is reliable, and easily reproduced so everyone seems to use the rifle, or copies of it. Much of the rebel forces is likely non military people, or who have minimal training. Not every pilot will be an ace, every soldier a commando. Many would be idealists that want to fight the empire. Equip as many forces as possible with as much as possible, also less elite troops will be lost, don't spend as much on them. There was a line in the movie Braveheart about certain pikemen being cheaper than arrows.

4. You forget one VERY crucial step. TESTING the designs, refineing them. Would you send troops, pilots, etc out to a combat mission without testing the designs out? Making sure they get your pilots home safely. You could be assuming that this would be done in one of your 4 things, but it would take a certain type of crazy to take an untested combat fighter into a real combat situation, not to mention I it doesn't work, you've jeopardized the mission and the lives of your allies. .

My main issue with the rebels building these craft is that it had to be a on screen character that did it. So much of the old fiction hand every movie background character had very few degrees of separation from something else in the movies that it was absurd. Sometimes an ice cream maker is just what it seems. One of my complaints about the prequels was there was so much, winking to the audience, in terms of cameos and linking characters together that it was lazy writing.

1: Stealing buying, or obtaining already prepared design plans and making their own copies is how the EU/Legends Rebellion got most of its fighter and ship designs. The X-Wing and Y-Wing were both obtained through such means after all. The A-Wing and B-Wing were the only fighters we saw the rebels use in the movies which were designed in house by the Alliance in Legends and the A-Wing was as much a modification of the R-22 Spearhead as it was a new design just as how in the new canon the Return Of The Jedi A-Wings are a modified version of the Rebels A-Wing.

2: We'll have to wait to see what happens with the B-Wing story in Rebels season 2 then. But I agree it seems like the databank is only covering what's in the movies and CGI shows so far.

3: I see nothing wrong with the Rebels using and producing existing designs when they can obtain plans for existing designs that suit their needs. When they can't obtain the plans for ships suiting their needs, either because such a design does not exist, or because they can't buy or steal the plans they have to either develop their own designs or do without.

4 I was actually counting the testing phase as part of the design step. Still the only things you need for the testing that can't be done in the factory would be pilots, an area to run the craft through its testing, some holocams or probes to record the tests so you get multiple angles on it for examination plus a datafeed to an observation platform in case something goes horribly wrong, and targets when the time comes for combat testing.

4 I was actually counting the testing phase as part of the design step. Still the only things you need for the testing that can't be done in the factory would be pilots, an area to run the craft through its testing, some holocams or probes to record the tests so you get multiple angles on it for examination plus a datafeed to an observation platform in case something goes horribly wrong, and targets when the time comes for combat testing.

If only testing were that easy.

While you're basically correct on what you need, it's the level that you need it at that is grossly underestimated. You don't need optics, telemetry, data feeds, and observation platforms in case something goes wrong. You need it every single flipping time. Because while you certainly need to piece together what went wrong when something goes wrong, when something goes right you also need to review it with the same level of scrutiny because there's always a chance that even though it worked it didn't work correctly, or it failed completely and just "worked" by sheer luck.

the area to run the craft is also far more complex then you're thinking. Yeah, you need a secure, safe place to fly... that's tough enough. Now you also need to be able to accurately represent every single environment and condition the craft is expected to operate in. Open space, nebula, atmo, wet atmo, dry sandy atmo, breathable, nonbreathable, areas with naturally occurring radiation, areas with artificial radiation, areas with naturally occurring electromagnetics, areas with artificial electromagnetics and on and on and on.

Not to mention evaluating sensor cross sections, comm and data systems, and on and on and on.

And the real fun is the actual process.

You start with Developmental Testing ("Can we make a fast recon/interceptor") where you test it till it works.

Then Operational Testing ("Can a pilot actually fly the fighter we built?") where you test it to see if you built something that actually has use.

Then back to Developmental ("Can we redesign it to be useful and still have it work?")

Operational again (Did our changes fix everything without causing new problems?")

And then cap it off with Survivability/Vulnerability ("If the empire uses an off the shelf jamming package on it will the entire thing explode?")

and that's a short version where things worked really really well. I left out the parts like where the day before a dozen prototypes were expected to roll off the factory floor Admiral Akbar insisted it be amphibious and General Madine demanded it be able to cloak and able to carry a 40 man special operations platoon both in the same meeting.

There's a reason the military is always afraid of being outpaced technologically. It takes so long to get something from drawing board to battlefield it's totally possible for an opponent to go to Taggemart and buy something off the shelf that outperforms your top of the line system simply because something Araykd was making for every nerfherder in the galaxy just needed to be built to survive typical use and not everything the galaxy could ever throw at it.

We don't know how long craft development takes in canon really. In Legends however it was pretty fast. The Victory class went from project launch to combat deployment in around 2 years, the B-Wing in around 6 months or less.

The closest thing we have to a canon project timeline is the Eta-2 Actis with design launched early in the Clone Wars and combat deployment by war's end three years later.

On a side note its interesting that the Interceptor class Frigate is now canon and a Clone Wars era ship. That means that both the Star Wars Strategy games which had strong space components have had ships they introduced canonized. I wonder if we'll see some fighters from the space sims and space action sims soon?