I had the opportunity (or misfortune) to fly against the following gunboat build:

Rho Squadron Veteran (21)
Crack Shot (1)
Harpoon Missiles (4)
Long-Range Scanners (0)
Os-1 Arsenal Loadout (2)

With the harpoon missile and long-range scanner, the gunboat can get a lock on you LONG before you can even engage the fighter. While this particular gunboat build prefers to reload then re-fire the harpoon missile, it can also get in close and hit you for 3 attack dice if you are not careful. While its primary weapons are not the best way to attack, it can still utilize its primary weapons which feels very reminiscent of "Going to guns" . Also, while it does lack the maneuverability of other ships, it can more than make up for it in speed. The slam action makes this fighter one of the fastest in the X-Wing galaxy. Adding crack shot is the icing on the cake that just makes this ship feel even more potent than it already is.

All of these characteristics remind me of the F-14 Tomcat. The F-14 was the US Navy's premiere fleet defender from 1974 to 2006. A fleet defender's primary job was to intercept enemy aircraft (particularly bombers) before they were able to deliver their payloads. The f-14 had two characteristics that defined it, variable wings and the phoenix missile. The F-14 could change the angle of its wings depending on the speed it was flying. It could tuck the wings back to make it more of a delta wing style aircraft which reduced drag making it exceptionally fast. It could also extend its wings to make it more maneuverable at lower speeds. The Phoenix Missile was a very special missile. It required an incredibly large and powerful radar system to work and was still is the furthest reaching air-to-air missile the world has ever seen. While nearly all aircraft were too small and nimble to carry the phoenix missile, the F-14 was a heavy lifting fighter and remains to this day the only fighter able to use the Phoenix missile.

So Let's check the fast facts:

Imperial Gunboat F-14 Tomcat

Fast (while slamming) Fast (While wings are back in the delta shape)

Carries Potent Missiles (Harpoons) Carries Potent Missiles (Phoenix Missiles)

Long Range (Scanners) Long Range (Large Radar System)

Can Dogfight (Primary Weapons) Can Dogfight (Going to Guns)

But wait! There is more:

Resilient (4 hull and 3 shields) Resilient (Two engines in case one fails plus the fuselage is designed to produce lift so it can land while missing a wing)

Two Engines Two Engines

Looks awesome Ditto

In the old expanded universe, the Tomcat-esque ship to me was always the X-wing but as long as folding in the wings doesn't improve speed, I think the Alpha-class Star Wing EASILY wins the title of the space F-14. Now if only we could make it canon in Star Wars again

Fun fact: the only country whose pilots have aerial victories flying the F14 is Iran. They got it a few from the US before the Shah was toppled and did very bad things to Migs with them in the Iran-Iraq war.

Related Fun fact: When we retired the F-14 we shredded the aircraft so no spare parts could be taken from them. This was done because the only other country to use the F-14 was Iran.

Other related fun fact: Danger Zone!

25 minutes ago, Odanan said:

Other related fun fact: Danger Zone!

I like running my Harpoon Rho Boats with Deadeye to keep my targets open.

I like running my Harpoon Rho Boats with Lightning Reflexes to keep my movement open.

1 hour ago, Biophysical said:

Fun fact: the only country whose pilots have aerial victories flying the F14 is Iran. They got it a few from the US before the Shah was toppled and did very bad things to Migs with them in the Iran-Iraq war.

Incorrect. On 19 August 1981 2 F-14s from VF-41 engaged and shot down 2 Libyan SU-22 "Fitters" over the Gulf of Sidra. Also, on 4 January 1989, 2 F-14s from VF-32 engaged and shot down 2 Libyan MiG-23 "Floggers" over the Gulf of Sidra. The final F-14 kill in US service, a Mi-8 "Hip" helicopter using an AIM-9 "Sidewinder" occurred during Opperation Desert Storm.

Something something...DANGER ZONE

1 hour ago, Mackaywarrior said:

Related Fun fact: When we retired the F-14 we shredded the aircraft so no spare parts could be taken from them. This was done because the only other country to use the F-14 was Iran.

That's less fun because it means all those beautiful F-14s got torn to pieces.

On the bright side, when we finally start building the Valkyrie variable fighters, they'll have to build shiny, brand new chassis.

This is officially the best thread ever.

We finally have the real-life airplane nerds agreeing with us GUNBOAT nerds that the GUNBOAT is awesome.

So when will it be canon? Extreme levels of fandom worked for the Defender (Rebels)! I'm guessing either Han Solo Movie or Marvel Comics.

We don't know whether the Gunboat could alter the geometry of its 5 wings to assist it in atmospheric flight, but we DO know the outermost ones could move and there had to be a reason to tack that many extra surfaces onto the craft. Heck, X-Wing had a cutscene showing the Gunboat attacking a planetside Rebel base in lieu of TIE Bombers. Seems to me that they weren't just for long range recon/attack.

7 minutes ago, flyboymb said:

We don't know whether the Gunboat could alter the geometry of its 5 wings to assist it in atmospheric flight, but we DO know the outermost ones could move and there had to be a reason to tack that many extra surfaces onto the craft. Heck, X-Wing had a cutscene showing the Gunboat attacking a planetside Rebel base in lieu of TIE Bombers. Seems to me that they weren't just for long range recon/attack.

Yeah, I tend to think that GUNBOATS are kind of like torpedo bombers in the video games (but they're a lot like an F-14 in this game). Fans would have given into their hatred and struck down FFG with all of their fury, but the GUNBOAT probably should've had bomb slots given what other ships in this game now have bombs.

I actually compared the skuurgs more to f14s, especially with how big they are. Even sharpied "maverick" and "Iceman" on the models and magnetized mav to fly inverted. I think gunboats might be a little more mig 31. The no k turn to me says they have some low speed maneuvering issues.

Great debate, I salut you all.

27 minutes ago, catachanninja said:

I actually compared the skuurgs more to f14s, especially with how big they are. Even sharpied "maverick" and "Iceman" on the models and magnetized mav to fly inverted. I think gunboats might be a little more mig 31. The no k turn to me says they have some low speed maneuvering issues.

I don’t think that is a bad choice either. The turret addition to the scuurg makes it feel less like a fighter though to me. The gunboat can make a U-turn, it’s just a wide and fast one lol. Also, the scuurg is so limited in pilots it almost seems like one of those prototype planes people build themselves. With the bomb Loadout and advanced sensors I’ll meet in the middle and say the scuurg is a B-1 lancer Lol

Plus something about the shape of the gunboat vaguely makes it seem like an f-14 to me. Probably my imagination lol

@T70 Driver, you are correct. I believe what @Biophysical meant was Iran has the only F-14 aces.

2 hours ago, T70 Driver said:

Incorrect. On 19 August 1981 2 F-14s from VF-41 engaged and shot down 2 Libyan SU-22 "Fitters" over the Gulf of Sidra. Also, on 4 January 1989, 2 F-14s from VF-32 engaged and shot down 2 Libyan MiG-23 "Floggers" over the Gulf of Sidra. The final F-14 kill in US service, a Mi-8 "Hip" helicopter using an AIM-9 "Sidewinder" occurred during Opperation Desert Storm.

Hmm... I'm trying to figure out what I had in my head, then. Was there some thing only Iranian F14s did?

2 minutes ago, Biophysical said:

Hmm... I'm trying to figure out what I had in my head, then. Was there some thing only Iranian F14s did?

Darn, looks like you posted just as I was editing my post so I wouldn’t double post lol.

Iran has the only F-14 aces.

9 minutes ago, Mackaywarrior said:

I don’t think that is a bad choice either. The turret addition to the scuurg makes it feel less like a fighter though to me. The gunboat can make a U-turn, it’s just a wide and fast one lol. Also, the scuurg is so limited in pilots it almost seems like one of those prototype planes people build themselves. With the bomb Loadout and advanced sensors I’ll meet in the middle and say the scuurg is a B-1 lancer Lol

Plus something about the shape of the gunboat vaguely makes it seem like an f-14 to me. Probably my imagination lol

@T70 Driver, you are correct. I believe what @Biophysical meant was Iran has the only F-14 aces.

Heh, the skuurgs wide profile reminded me on an f14 with wings extended.

So the real question, what is the silencer, my gut says f22, but the tie phantom has that covered neatly. They can't all be raptors, right?

1 minute ago, catachanninja said:

Heh, the skuurgs wide profile reminded me on an f14 with wings extended.

So the real question, what is the silencer, my gut says f22, but the tie phantom has that covered neatly. They can't all be raptors, right?

I've been thinking about this as well. I tend to agree the F-22 is a phantom (pre-nerf lol). As a family I think the T-65 X-Wing is an F-18 Hornet while the T-70 is a super hornet. That leaves Poe's black one as the Advanced Super Hornet since it incorporates stealth (target lock stripping FTW).

With its great maneuvering, robust chassis, and potent fire power, perhaps the MiG-35? My other guess would be a super up-to-date F-15.

25 minutes ago, Mackaywarrior said:

I've been thinking about this as well. I tend to agree the F-22 is a phantom (pre-nerf lol). As a family I think the T-65 X-Wing is an F-18 Hornet while the T-70 is a super hornet. That leaves Poe's black one as the Advanced Super Hornet since it incorporates stealth (target lock stripping FTW).

With its great maneuvering, robust chassis, and potent fire power, perhaps the MiG-35? My other guess would be a super up-to-date F-15.

I always thought the tie defender and f15 were a good comparison, the f15 was one of the first American fighters with actual maneuverability in mind and i feel like the white k turn encapsulates that.

2 hours ago, Kieransi said:

We finally have the real-life airplane nerds agreeing with us GUNBOAT nerds that the GUNBOAT is awesome.

Actually, that happened when I joined the forum.

that does it! i'm officially painting one up as "the black bunny"

15 minutes ago, catachanninja said:

I always thought the tie defender and f15 were a good comparison, the f15 was one of the first American fighters with actual maneuverability in mind and i feel like the white k turn encapsulates that.

That's one of the problems (and advantageous) of playing a space dogfight game. There is problem quite a bit of overlapping qualities with exceptional aircraft. Not to mention all these spaceships should also have a pre-Vietnam era counter part since we use primary weapons SO often. Truthfully, I have no idea what the Defender is because it is so unique to fly. The only aircraft I feel confident in pinning down aircraft counterparts are the following:

Tie Fighter: MiG-21

T-65: F-18 Hornet

T-70: F-18 Super Hornet

T-70 Black one: F-18 Advanced Super Hornet

Missile Loadout Gunboat: F-14

A-Wing: General Dynamics F-16

Resistance A-Wing: Lockheed f-16?

K-Wing: A-10

To make it easier on myself, I am just limiting it the miniatures ships and not all the canon they come with.