Who Put Those Guns There?

By Folkenhellfang, in X-Wing

Just a thought:

Why are all the shuttles in this game, save one, carrying top class primary weapons? I can see the argument about simple game balance, but the Hawk's primary stands in stark contrast. It just seems silly that a shuttle could out gun her escorts. Frankly, I would like to see more support abilities on shuttles than roided out primaires on space taxies.

You take taxies in safe civilized places. You take armored personel carriers in war zones.

The shuttle cannot manuever well and blows up easily to more maneuverable ships if it has no escort.

The hwk primary was a mistake

Yeah, more support options would be cool. More pilots should do the trick, maybe ep 7 -9 will bring a new shuttle title, pilots, or a new support ship.

Edited by GeneticDrift

Why are all the shuttles in this game, save one, carrying top class primary weapons?

In the lore, the Lambda in particular is meant to be able to fill in as a troop transport or even act without escorts, so being heavily armed makes a lot of sense (it also means that, even if you do provide escorts, you don't need to provide as many as you would another ship).

Too bad the rear guns are just a decoration in the game. :(

anti-pursuit lasers?

Well... okay.

The Star Wars universe is filled with piracy. This is why freighters and transports have weapons on them in Star Wars.

This is also why every hatchback in the Mad Max universe has a spear gun turret the rear glass used to be.

You are also comparing the HWK-290, a civilian light freighter designed as a cargo transport, with a military class transport designed for the safe conveyance of VIPs. It makes sense that the military ship would have more shields, armor, and weapons than a civilian cargo hauler.

You are also comparing the HWK-290, a civilian light freighter designed as a cargo transport, with a military class transport designed for the safe conveyance of VIPs. It makes sense that the military ship would have more shields, armor, and weapons than a civilian cargo hauler.

I dunno. The YT-1300 and YT-2400 disagree.

A long time ago I played a game called Car Wars and I liked to put a vulcan cannon turret on my minivan. Sure, the thing handled like a drunken whale, but she did damage.

Edited by Darth Chuck

Both the YT-1300 and 2400 came stock with some defenses, a one or two laser cannon turrets, while the HWK was unarmed unless modified. I'm not saying that civilian craft wouldn't or can't be as well armed in a stock configuration, just that it is more likely that the military ship stock is superior in armament.

Read up on the stats for the YV-929 Armed merchant freighter if you think civilian ships aren't well armed.

Interesting. I guess never seeing one in action caused me to think lightly about the Lamda. Always thought it looked cool... Maybe I should be thinking of them in terms of a 40k Land Raider instead of a Rhino. Is there any fluff info on the Attack Shuttle that would explain its high firepower?

Interesting. I guess never seeing one in action caused me to think lightly about the Lamda. Always thought it looked cool... Maybe I should be thinking of them in terms of a 40k Land Raider instead of a Rhino. Is there any fluff info on the Attack Shuttle that would explain its high firepower?

Interesting. I guess never seeing one in action caused me to think lightly about the Lamda. Always thought it looked cool... Maybe I should be thinking of them in terms of a 40k Land Raider instead of a Rhino. Is there any fluff info on the Attack Shuttle that would explain its high firepower?

It's a custom job, and really is more of a fighter than just has room for extra people in it than it is a shuttle proper

Too bad the rear guns are just a decoration in the game. :(

It really should have had a secondary arc.

Both the YT-1300 and 2400 came stock with some defenses, a one or two laser cannon turrets, while the HWK was unarmed unless modified. I'm not saying that civilian craft wouldn't or can't be as well armed in a stock configuration, just that it is more likely that the military ship stock is superior in armament.

Cargo? Hardly. More like a Courier vessel / personal transport.

Yeah, more support options would be cool. More pilots should do the trick, maybe ep 7 -9 will bring a new shuttle title, pilots, or a new support ship.

Why would we need the new movies to give the lambda new titles?

TBH I really like the ST321 title, sure its seldom used in the 100 point games but slap it on Jendon with a weapons engineer in the an epic game escorting a few bombers....good times

I think it's best to think of Star Wars armed transports in the context of Age of Sail merchantmen. Even "stock", they were armed to defend against pirates, and easily accommodated more weaponry to defend against higher threats, or become a threat themselves.

The Star Wars universe is filled with piracy. This is why freighters and transports have weapons on them in Star Wars.

This is also why every hatchback in the Mad Max universe has a spear gun turret the rear glass used to be.

No that's cause they are all lazy criminals down under who cba to get out the car to knick stuff hence the spear gun :P

Interesting. I guess never seeing one in action caused me to think lightly about the Lamda. Always thought it looked cool... Maybe I should be thinking of them in terms of a 40k Land Raider instead of a Rhino.

No!

Don't think of WH40K at all...

Ever!

* At least not when comparing it to this game.

Think of the Lambda as just what it is... a heavily armed attack transport. Any questions about why it has such a high attack factor in XWM can be answered by a simple glance at the model. If you still have questions about its firepower, those questions should be more in the order of...

a) "Why does it only have 4 Attack Dice?" or

b) "why is it limited to forward arc only, when it clearly has guns that could cover the rear and swivel to cover the side arcs as well?"

* I answer those questions by...

1. accepting that this is only a game... and one that does not place a high emphasis on "realism" or in-universe accuracy but emphasizes play-ability and balance and...

​2. the Lambda may be heavily armed but it is still a shuttle, with less agility than a snub fighter, so it probably has some difficulty lining up shots... that is what the swivel guns are for, to make it easier to track agile targets in the forward arc, not to engage targets outside that arc. I think of it as equivalent to some of the gunship versions of the B-25 Mitchell bomber of WWII (some versions armed with up to 12 forward-firing heavy machine guns)- heavily armed? YES, Agile? NO.

Also, the Lambda shuttle that we use is in fact a heavily armed people carrier.It's not even the version the Imperial troops use when they need to get someplace that will shoot back really hard,
Look up the Imperial Assault Shuttle aka Sentinel Landing Craft. Faster. More streamlined. Better weapons and shields. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sentinel-class_landing_craft/Legends
Just imagine this thing as a Palp-mobile.