I remember first seeing the TIE L/N designation in the Decipher CCG in the mid 90s. Its been around a long time, not sure how you missed it.

I shot the serif, but I did not shoot the deputy.

3 hours ago, Incard said:

...... I would not say such things, if I were you.

If he does, will you be very put out?

8 hours ago, drail14me said:

Well, I’ll say the /ln designation is about stupid. In the 40 years I’ve been a Star Wars I’ve never heard the Tie having that designation. Furthermore, in my military career, I never saw anything officially designated as “Line”. Yes, unofficial slang, all of us in the combat arms were “Line” soldiers but nothing officially had that designation. It wasn’t an M1A/ln battle tank, or an M2/ln IFV, or an AH-64/ln. Yes, they were all vehicles “of the line” but just no designation.

To be fair, all the TIE's are technically just named TIE. It'd be like if every vehicle in the army had the same M1A designation. You'd have to come up with something just so you can tell them apart.

the real question is how the TIE Bomber got the /Sa desegnation

Surface Assault, pretty sure.

The real mystery is TIE/CA Punisher - pretty sure that's the first time that's been printed.

3 hours ago, mad mandolorian said:

the real question is how the TIE Bomber got the /Sa desegnation

Surface Attack, presumedly.

the TIE Fighter should have had a more sensible designation, or just had TIE as its designation, standing for something more descriptive of its function like the IRD (intercept/recon/defense) or AT (all terrain) series. Something like Tactical Interceptor Escort would cover its main role as seen in the films. Then the x1 TIE Advanced sorta makes sense as a variant. The TIE Bomber/shuttle/boarding craft...I don’t know, maybe a totally new acronym, or Transport Interdictor E...something. Eh.

and obviously the Interceptor is the further specialization of the I in TIE if it stands for Interceptor. Anyway, just done thought experiments of mine going back a quarter century at least.

13 hours ago, Forgottenlore said:

But scarfs can make you look all dashing and heroic.

...so can scars, for that matter.

4 hours ago, UnitOmega said:

Surface Assault, pretty sure.

The real mystery is TIE/CA Punisher - pretty sure that's the first time that's been printed.

This is baffling, but the Punisher was always a mess. I remember it used to be called TIE/IT Interdictor and then suddenly it became Punisher in X-wing.

4 hours ago, UnitOmega said:

Surface Assault, pretty sure.

The real mystery is TIE/CA Punisher - pretty sure that's the first time that's been printed.

"Cooler Assault-craft" is my guess.

6 hours ago, UnitOmega said:

Surface Assault, pretty sure.

The real mystery is TIE/CA Punisher - pretty sure that's the first time that's been printed.

Well in real life we call aircraft carriers "CVs", so.... not everything has to make sense, and something not making sense in Star Wars doesn't make it unrealistic.

21 hours ago, Rakaydos said:

"Line" refers to standard military issue. It's a bog standard Tie Fighter of the Line.

I didn't know this about the modern military, and that's kind of funny. In Ye Olde Naval combat (Napoleonic era) "Ship of the line" referred to a ship strong enough to stand in the "line of battle" (Ships used to literally line up across from one another and fire).

Because these were the heavier ships, they were definitely _not_ the "standard issue" ships. They were generally reserved for experienced captains or commodores.

18 hours ago, drail14me said:

I always thought TIE was the designation. Your Emperor needs to be more creative than “TIE Line”. I’m not worried though. You won’t take me to your Emperor. There’s still good in you.

TIE stands for "Twin Ion Engine", and a whole heck of a lot of Imperial fighters have that type of engine. Hence many of them are "TIE (something).

47 minutes ago, Punning Pundit said:

Because these were the heavier ships, they were definitely _not_ the "standard issue" ships. They were generally reserved for experienced captains or commodores.

They might not have been the commonest - but they were the standard for fleet battles.

A "first rate" would be rare. A "third rate" of 74 guns was common (eventually half of all "ships of the line" were this).

39 minutes ago, Ironlord said:

They might not have been the commonest - but they were the standard for fleet battles.

A "first rate" would be rare. A "third rate" of 74 guns was common (eventually half of all "ships of the line" were this).

Literally "the standard for fleet battles" because that's what the name meant. The "standard" ship would be a frigate- a ship that was below the line.

1 hour ago, Punning Pundit said:

TIE stands for "Twin Ion Engine", and a whole heck of a lot of Imperial fighters have that type of engine. Hence many of them are "TIE (something).

strangly there are many TIE designs that appear to use completely different engines than the /ln and x1, but i suppose they all use a variant of the engine design.

Still, I wish TIE had been ‘bacronymed’ to have more meaning than just designating an entire line of spacecraft after an engine type. But then when the line includes Starfighters, shuttles, bombers, scouts, Interceptors, landing and boarding craft and even submarines and ground based tanks, trying to pretend that Twin Ion Engine has any meaning just gets thrown out the window.

3 hours ago, That One Guy said:

Well in real life we call aircraft carriers "CVs", so.... not everything has to make sense, and something not making sense in Star Wars doesn't make it unrealistic.

Carrier Vessel? Makes sense to me.

TIE/ca could be Capital Assault, meant to attack capital ships. A TIE Punisher looks like it carries enough munitions to be a serious threat to small and even medium capital ships, and a squadron could threaten a large capital ship.

Eh, works for me,

5 hours ago, eMeM said:

This is baffling, but the Punisher was always a mess. I remember it used to be called TIE/IT Interdictor and then suddenly it became Punisher in X-wing.

IT can be the ‘off brand’ or maybe a prototype designation. Or a variant of some kind. Let your imaginations run wild!

or it’s the TIE Information Technology and it’s job is to ask if the computer is plugged in and turned on.

21 minutes ago, GrimmyV said:

Carrier Vessel? Makes sense to me.

C is for cruiser, V in the navy stands for fixed-wing, heavier than air, from French Voler or something like that, I don't know French.

3 hours ago, That One Guy said:

Well in real life we call aircraft carriers "CVs", so.... not everything has to make sense, and something not making sense in Star Wars doesn't make it unrealistic.

I believe that nomenclature comes from the idea of an "Aviation Cruiser" - IE., taking the early Naval assumption about the role of a carrier as merely a scout for the battle line into account. Using the 'V' from aviation instead of the 'A', as that was already in use (AC = Armored Cruiser turning into CA = Heavy Cruiser, which is basically the same ship type and role...but not...so they just reversed the lettering to make the distinction clear)

2 hours ago, Punning Pundit said:

I didn't know this about the modern military, and that's kind of funny. In Ye Olde Naval combat (Napoleonic era) "Ship of the line" referred to a ship strong enough to stand in the "line of battle" (Ships used to literally line up across from one another and fire).

Because these were the heavier ships, they were definitely _not_ the "standard issue" ships. They were generally reserved for experienced captains or commodores.

Indeed. "Line of battle" ships, where we get the derivative description "battleship" from. To be distinguished from ships that could not stand in the line of battle - originally frigates, corvettes, sloops, etc. ("Cruisers" added later as a new step between a frigate and battleship)

21 hours ago, drail14me said:

I always thought TIE was the designation. Your Emperor needs to be more creative than “TIE Line”. I’m not worried though. You won’t take me to your Emperor. There’s still good in you.

You want to get weirder and to use your RL Military Experience? If I remember correctly x is the designation used in the Military for Prototype. Well the Prototype Advanced is the V1 which would suggest the actual finished model and the Advanced finished design is the X1 designation. So they in a way used the designations just in the OPPOSITE context.

So I guess TIE/po is just a typographical error?

It is actually pretty surprising you've never heard that before. Like, never even on wookieepedia or anything?

First time I saw it was when I started flying for The Empire in Star Wars Galaxies. That was in 2003.

20 minutes ago, nexttwelveexits said:

So I guess TIE/po is just a typographical error?

I've heard it can really move.

10 minutes ago, Captain Lackwit said:

It is actually pretty surprising you've never heard that before. Like, never even on wookieepedia or anything?

First time I saw it was when I started flying for The Empire in Star Wars Galaxies. That was in 2003.

When I was an imperial cadet I noted the TIE designations in the d6 SWRPG by WEG even before flying Defenders and GUNBOATS in the service of Admiral Thrawn in THE GAME.