...the fact that the shuttle is the only ship in the game with no EPT pilots...

You mean the only one other than the Punisher, K-Wing, and the Rebel Y-Wing?

You could give Epsilon Leader Experimental Interface and Shield Upgrade and you'd have a ship similar to Darth Vader for 3 points cheaper.

Why would you give Epsilon Leader Experimental Interface? That does literally does nothing but make him 3 points more expensive.

Defenders were very rare ships produced during an era of insurrection inside the Imperial ranks. Even if you discount the whole Zaarin mutiny, there weren't enough TIE Defenders produced to warrant putting even a handful on perpetual escort duty without taking a sizable percentage away from combat action where they were needed most.

Include the Zaarin fluff, and the Defender was also in the hands of a traitor, the Imperial Guard had traitors in its midst, and the production facilities for both the Avenger and Defender had been destroyed. Once pirates managed to capture Defenders and use them against the Empire, all non-loyalist Imperial Defenders were eradicated and ones in loyalist hands were taken out of combat to keep the tech safe with the Empire.

Either way you hack it, these ships were too valuable to waste keeping pace with a shuttle that probably had multiple Star Destroyers in system with it to keep the very foundation of the Empire safe. And any Sith Lord who knew it was a poor idea to let an apprentice have access to you while you're sleeping probably was paranoid enough to want escorts that could respond to an attack if need be, but not be too powerful as to be able to betray and destroy his shuttle with little chance of being killed themselves.

And none of that means jack **** if the Emperor gets blown up because his escorts were a couple crappy Interceptors.

...the fact that the shuttle is the only ship in the game with no EPT pilots...

You mean the only one other than the Punisher, K-Wing, and the Rebel Y-Wing?

good point , i had forgotten about the new ships, however the Y-wing has had access to EPT since the transport

...the fact that the shuttle is the only ship in the game with no EPT pilots...

You mean the only one other than the Punisher, K-Wing, and the Rebel Y-Wing?

good point , i had forgotten about the new ships, however the Y-wing has had access to EPT since the transport

good point , i had forgotten about the new ships, however the Y-wing has had access to EPT since the transport

You could give Epsilon Leader Experimental Interface and Shield Upgrade and you'd have a ship similar to Darth Vader for 3 points cheaper.

Why would you give Epsilon Leader Experimental Interface? That does literally does nothing but make him 3 points more expensive.

Yeah, didn't see the lack of EPT. No stores in my area even carry the new core set yet so I haven't been able to even eyeball somebody else's purchase.

Defenders were very rare ships produced during an era of insurrection inside the Imperial ranks. Even if you discount the whole Zaarin mutiny, there weren't enough TIE Defenders produced to warrant putting even a handful on perpetual escort duty without taking a sizable percentage away from combat action where they were needed most.

Include the Zaarin fluff, and the Defender was also in the hands of a traitor, the Imperial Guard had traitors in its midst, and the production facilities for both the Avenger and Defender had been destroyed. Once pirates managed to capture Defenders and use them against the Empire, all non-loyalist Imperial Defenders were eradicated and ones in loyalist hands were taken out of combat to keep the tech safe with the Empire.

Either way you hack it, these ships were too valuable to waste keeping pace with a shuttle that probably had multiple Star Destroyers in system with it to keep the very foundation of the Empire safe. And any Sith Lord who knew it was a poor idea to let an apprentice have access to you while you're sleeping probably was paranoid enough to want escorts that could respond to an attack if need be, but not be too powerful as to be able to betray and destroy his shuttle with little chance of being killed themselves.

And none of that means jack **** if the Emperor gets blown up because his escorts were a couple crappy Interceptors.

Doesn't matter if it's not the best solution to us, it's the lore behind the TIE Defender.

The best quality mass produced Imperial dogfighter was the TIE Interceptor. These Interceptors were heavily modified to better protect the Emperor. They could be easily replaced if they had to sacrifice themselves to accomplish this. The Defenders on the other hand were so rare that the Empire would make multiple attempts to capture them from traitor forces in order to bolster their own numbers.

Why use a fighter that can't be replaced when you can still make a hyperspace capable, superior in every way to the standard TIE Interceptor that probably will serve as only a ceremonial purpose anyway? Do you think anybody planning the Emperor's travel would allow things to get so desperate that the Emperor's TIEs would be the linchpin in his defense?

And consider the Emperor himself. This is a man who seemed pretty sure that he could foresee any turn of events and plan accordingly to turn it to his advantage. Try to cheat him at 3 card monte, and not only would he find the Queen, but the palmed card that you had thought was the Queen was actually a dirty syringe. If he wasn't so sure in his ability to predict danger, I figure he'd have Dark Troop Mk III's as his personal guard instead of his normal Red Guards and would have a cloaking shuttle that wouldn't become visible until it was safely at its destination.

You could give Epsilon Leader Experimental Interface and Shield Upgrade and you'd have a ship similar to Darth Vader for 3 points cheaper.

Why would you give Epsilon Leader Experimental Interface? That does literally does nothing but make him 3 points more expensive.

Yeah, didn't see the lack of EPT. No stores in my area even carry the new core set yet so I haven't been able to even eyeball somebody else's purchase.

Defenders were very rare ships produced during an era of insurrection inside the Imperial ranks. Even if you discount the whole Zaarin mutiny, there weren't enough TIE Defenders produced to warrant putting even a handful on perpetual escort duty without taking a sizable percentage away from combat action where they were needed most.

Include the Zaarin fluff, and the Defender was also in the hands of a traitor, the Imperial Guard had traitors in its midst, and the production facilities for both the Avenger and Defender had been destroyed. Once pirates managed to capture Defenders and use them against the Empire, all non-loyalist Imperial Defenders were eradicated and ones in loyalist hands were taken out of combat to keep the tech safe with the Empire.

Either way you hack it, these ships were too valuable to waste keeping pace with a shuttle that probably had multiple Star Destroyers in system with it to keep the very foundation of the Empire safe. And any Sith Lord who knew it was a poor idea to let an apprentice have access to you while you're sleeping probably was paranoid enough to want escorts that could respond to an attack if need be, but not be too powerful as to be able to betray and destroy his shuttle with little chance of being killed themselves.

And none of that means jack **** if the Emperor gets blown up because his escorts were a couple crappy Interceptors.

Doesn't matter if it's not the best solution to us, it's the lore behind the TIE Defender.

The best quality mass produced Imperial dogfighter was the TIE Interceptor. These Interceptors were heavily modified to better protect the Emperor. They could be easily replaced if they had to sacrifice themselves to accomplish this. The Defenders on the other hand were so rare that the Empire would make multiple attempts to capture them from traitor forces in order to bolster their own numbers.

Why use a fighter that can't be replaced when you can still make a hyperspace capable, superior in every way to the standard TIE Interceptor that probably will serve as only a ceremonial purpose anyway? Do you think anybody planning the Emperor's travel would allow things to get so desperate that the Emperor's TIEs would be the linchpin in his defense?

And consider the Emperor himself. This is a man who seemed pretty sure that he could foresee any turn of events and plan accordingly to turn it to his advantage. Try to cheat him at 3 card monte, and not only would he find the Queen, but the palmed card that you had thought was the Queen was actually a dirty syringe. If he wasn't so sure in his ability to predict danger, I figure he'd have Dark Troop Mk III's as his personal guard instead of his normal Red Guards and would have a cloaking shuttle that wouldn't become visible until it was safely at its destination.

Actually he did have a cloaking shuttle........

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Emperor_Palpatine's_shuttle

I already have enough trouble with adding too many upgrades to my shuttles!

The Tie Interceptor is special and it should stay that way.

Or do you want the A-wing Title applied to every Rebel pilot? An extra elite pilot talent on every single Rebel ship, especially the ones that normally can't take one, would be hilarious.

Doesn't matter if it's not the best solution to us, it's the lore behind the TIE Defender.

The best quality mass produced Imperial dogfighter was the TIE Interceptor. These Interceptors were heavily modified to better protect the Emperor. They could be easily replaced if they had to sacrifice themselves to accomplish this. The Defenders on the other hand were so rare that the Empire would make multiple attempts to capture them from traitor forces in order to bolster their own numbers.

Why use a fighter that can't be replaced when you can still make a hyperspace capable, superior in every way to the standard TIE Interceptor that probably will serve as only a ceremonial purpose anyway? Do you think anybody planning the Emperor's travel would allow things to get so desperate that the Emperor's TIEs would be the linchpin in his defense?

And consider the Emperor himself. This is a man who seemed pretty sure that he could foresee any turn of events and plan accordingly to turn it to his advantage. Try to cheat him at 3 card monte, and not only would he find the Queen, but the palmed card that you had thought was the Queen was actually a dirty syringe. If he wasn't so sure in his ability to predict danger, I figure he'd have Dark Troop Mk III's as his personal guard instead of his normal Red Guards and would have a cloaking shuttle that wouldn't become visible until it was safely at its destination.

That sounds like a bunch of fanfiction you're creating to justify something someone else wrote that didn't make any sense to begin with.

Let's be real here, the only reason Royal Guard TIEs are Interceptors is because it was some SWG designer's favorite ship, so suddenly, it's the chosen vessel of the Royal Guard(even though in order to make it up to the task, they had to add a bunch of systems like shields and a hyperdrive that those other ships had already). Even the Advanced would have made more sense than the Interceptor(especially since the one time the player is actually doing the job of escorting the Emperor in TIE Fighter, the Advanced is what you're flying).

And as for the Emperor not needing powerful defenses because he was so good at predicting danger, if he was so good at it he wouldn't be ****ing dead at the end of RotJ.

Great, Tie-Phantoms that can decloak before everyone moves, Barrel Roll and Boost with PTL before moving with advanced sensors do a green maneuver to remove the stress and cloak back with advanced cloaking device all in one package.

I thought we just fixed the phantoms?????

The bulk of the TIE Defender's lore comes from the expansion to the PC game TIE Fighter. A good amount of the later missions go into the shortages that plagued the fighter. Practically everything I said about the Defender comes from it or is based upon it. The TIE Advanced was also covered from this material and there's nothing in the EU or movies to say that it was mass produced to the extent of the TIE Interceptor.

If the Emperor believes that everything is as he has foreseen it, he isn't going to stop to second guess his predictions until they start to be proven wrong. In the grand scheme of things, that was probably right before Darth Vader threw him to his death. He was still just as big of an arrogant SOB right up to that point. I mean your point proves mine. He put himself on a half completed battle station in the tail end of the galaxy and brought what he considered to be the biggest threat against him up to his throne room along with his father who the Emperor not only knew was conflicted in regards to his son, but was by definition of being Palpatine's apprentice supposed to try to bring an end to his master's life.

Palpatine either was crazy, suicidal, or thought that he had a clear enough vision of the future that exposing himself to all that risk had no real consequences to his health. If that was his view of Endor, then it probably extended to other aspects of his personal security. Why second guess yourself if you think you're omniscient?

So once again, it's either take limited fighters off the front lines to fulfill to protect a person who believes that they could predict every threat to their person, or use cookie cutter fighters to do the same thing. In the end, the Emperor died on a space station, not in his shuttle. I guess the IG TIES did the job.

The bulk of the TIE Defender's lore comes from the expansion to the PC game TIE Fighter. A good amount of the later missions go into the shortages that plagued the fighter.

I'm not saying they aren't rare. I'm saying if anyone has the pull to get AAAAANY starfighter he wants to be his escort, it's the goddamn Emperor.

The fighters that fly next to Lambdas are more of an honour guard than an escort. If you want to get somewhere safely you stay in the Star Destroyer.