33 minutes ago, Cgriffith said:

Battlefront 2 (Atari hasn't been around since 1986)

Another successful trolling! GUNBOAT!

1 hour ago, Biophysical said:

Practice? Rebels can barely fuel their fleet, so they practice in simulators. TIE Fighters probably cost as much as a sandwich to fly for 30 minutes, and they're super standardized, so pilots get a lot of actual meaningful hands on training. Knowing Imperial respect for lives, err, desire for realistic training scenarios, they can probably push them pretty hard, which is good once combat actually happens. Not saying there's live fire training or anything, but high stress training scenarios in the ship you'll actually fly in combat makes for a good pilot.

Plus, it's not as though Imperial pilots fly against hardened Rebel veterans in every engagement. Most Imperial pilots would find themselves deployed against common smugglers, pirates or local militia the majority of the time, who will have both inferior numbers and inferior tech.

Who remembers taking a Z-95 Headhunter into combat during X-Wing: Alliance?

"You gotta love the Z-95. Nothing beats the feeling of power they give you!"

Yeah, right.

1 hour ago, Cgriffith said:

Battlefront 2 (Atari hasn't been around since 1986)

thatsthejoke.gif

1 hour ago, william1134 said:

Also when using a mini swarms of named pilots I get too confused as to who is who and who is doing what...

This proves that you have no true love for the swarm or TIE Fighters. A true swarmer loves the ship and all the flavorful, unique pilots and he uses those pilots to confuse the enemy not himself!

I wonder if they'll do anything with Howlrunner and Obsidian Squadron in the app builder.

15 hours ago, Biophysical said:

Practice? Rebels can barely fuel their fleet, so they practice in simulators. TIE Fighters probably cost as much as a sandwich to fly for 30 minutes, and they're super standardized, so pilots get a lot of actual meaningful hands on training. Knowing Imperial respect for lives, err, desire for realistic training scenarios, they can probably push them pretty hard, which is good once combat actually happens. Not saying there's live fire training or anything, but high stress training scenarios in the ship you'll actually fly in combat makes for a good pilot.

There are two more things that need to be mentioned. First, I'm fairly certain all the pilots come from an Academy, so they receive a baseline level of training. Second, it sorta becomes a numbers game. The quantity of pilots plus the disposable nature of said pilots means that it's a mathematical certainty that you'll end up prospecting a certain number or gold nuggets. I mean, for every 1,000 pilots they train, a few of them are bound to be natural aces, and all of them will be put through the sifter to find said aces. The alliances attracts their aces a different way. The nature of the Rebellion is bound to attract those who are already skilled pilots whose brash or devil-may-care attitude pushes them to become aces. Because virtually all of them are choosing it as a calling, a high percentage of them are likely to already be quite talented (whereas Imperial recruits may join for many reasons: career paths, naval/military lineage and familial pressure to join, or simply because they don't really know what they want to do, and cultural expectation).

12 minutes ago, That One Guy said:

I mean, for every 1,000 pilots they train, a few of them are bound to be natural aces, and all of them will be put through the sifter to find said aces.

But once they are found, they should be transferred to a more survivable ship. A talented pilot is too valuable a commodity to risk in a cannon fodder unit once they are identified. So while the attrition tactics of the empire make sense for producing aces, those aces should not be staying in the basic fighter for long once they’re good enough to be recognized.

23 minutes ago, Forgottenlore said:

But once they are found, they should be transferred to a more survivable ship. A talented pilot is too valuable a commodity to risk in a cannon fodder unit once they are identified. So while the attrition tactics of the empire make sense for producing aces, those aces should not be staying in the basic fighter for long once they’re good enough to be recognized.

It is possible that an Ace pilot who has Initiative 4 or 5 in a basic TIE is only an Initiative 2 or 3 in a ship that is more difficult to fly. Maybe they do get better ships, but their skill doesn't transfer 100%.

I mean, just imagine the Bomber and the Punisher. How many more systems are there in the Punisher? You have shields to take care of, more loadouts of weapons... The added bulk when flying... I really doubt that any Gamma squadron schmuck could pull it off as well as the basic bomber.

TIE swarms still needs multiples at the same Initiative for easier movement, unless you're a crazy micro-managing genius.

1 hour ago, spacelion said:

TIE swarms still needs multiples at the same Initiative for easier movement, unless you're a crazy micro-managing genius.

Or you can just use your brain a little and plan ahead some. I flew 6 TIE Fighters with 3 different Pilot Skill numbers (8, 7, 7, 4, 4, 4) and they didn't cause me much trouble because of it.

Likewise. It’s slightly more challenging than all the same init, but not much.

5 hours ago, That One Guy said:

There are two more things that need to be mentioned. First, I'm fairly certain all the pilots come from an Academy, so they receive a baseline level of training. Second, it sorta becomes a numbers game. The quantity of pilots plus the disposable nature of said pilots means that it's a mathematical certainty that you'll end up prospecting a certain number or gold nuggets. I mean, for every 1,000 pilots they train, a few of them are bound to be natural aces, and all of them will be put through the sifter to find said aces. The alliances attracts their aces a different way. The nature of the Rebellion is bound to attract those who are already skilled pilots whose brash or devil-may-care attitude pushes them to become aces. Because virtually all of them are choosing it as a calling, a high percentage of them are likely to already be quite talented (whereas Imperial recruits may join for many reasons: career paths, naval/military lineage and familial pressure to join, or simply because they don't really know what they want to do, and cultural expectation).

I expect this very much to be true. Those okay pilots are still useful to the Empire. Sometimes you just need a warm body to inspect passing cargo, bully some restless natives, or scare off pirates.

5 hours ago, Forgottenlore said:

But once they are found, they should be transferred to a more survivable ship. A talented pilot is too valuable a commodity to risk in a cannon fodder unit once they are identified. So while the attrition tactics of the empire make sense for producing aces, those aces should not be staying in the basic fighter for long once they’re good enough to be recognized.

I expect some of them are, but remember, the most common "upgrade" would be a TIE Bomber or TIE Interceptor pilot. Maybe some pilots don't have the technical skill necessary to fly a bomber, or they just aren't good enough to fly an interceptor. Furthermore, maybe there are a host of non-skill reasons they're not transferred to a different fighter. Maybe their commander doesn't like them. Maybe they're bad at the schmoozing game needed to get a transfer. Maybe on paper they're in a good unit, and commanders want to keep the unit together, but it hasn't been slated for upgrades to Interceptors yet. Maybe the fleet they're in has enough Interceptor or Bomber pilots, and it's not worth going through the paperwork to transfer the promising pilot somewhere else. Maybe command wants to keep a handful of really skilled pilots on the TIE Fighter squadrons keep them dangerous and to provide a good influence for the newer pilots.

2 hours ago, Biophysical said:

I expect this very much to be true. Those okay pilots are still useful to the Empire. Sometimes you just need a warm body to inspect passing cargo, bully some restless natives, or scare off pirates.

I expect some of them are, but remember, the most common "upgrade" would be a TIE Bomber or TIE Interceptor pilot. Maybe some pilots don't have the technical skill necessary to fly a bomber, or they just aren't good enough to fly an interceptor. Furthermore, maybe there are a host of non-skill reasons they're not transferred to a different fighter. Maybe their commander doesn't like them. Maybe they're bad at the schmoozing game needed to get a transfer. Maybe on paper they're in a good unit, and commanders want to keep the unit together, but it hasn't been slated for upgrades to Interceptors yet. Maybe the fleet they're in has enough Interceptor or Bomber pilots, and it's not worth going through the paperwork to transfer the promising pilot somewhere else. Maybe command wants to keep a handful of really skilled pilots on the TIE Fighter squadrons keep them dangerous and to provide a good influence for the newer pilots.

Also this

7 hours ago, Biophysical said:

I expect this very much to be true. Those okay pilots are still useful to the Empire. Sometimes you just need a warm body to inspect passing cargo, bully some restless natives, or scare off pirates.

I expect some of them are, but remember, the most common "upgrade" would be a TIE Bomber or TIE Interceptor pilot. Maybe some pilots don't have the technical skill necessary to fly a bomber, or they just aren't good enough to fly an interceptor. Furthermore, maybe there are a host of non-skill reasons they're not transferred to a different fighter. Maybe their commander doesn't like them. Maybe they're bad at the schmoozing game needed to get a transfer. Maybe on paper they're in a good unit, and commanders want to keep the unit together, but it hasn't been slated for upgrades to Interceptors yet. Maybe the fleet they're in has enough Interceptor or Bomber pilots, and it's not worth going through the paperwork to transfer the promising pilot somewhere else. Maybe command wants to keep a handful of really skilled pilots on the TIE Fighter squadrons keep them dangerous and to provide a good influence for the newer pilots.

Spoken like a true military bureaucrat.

28 minutes ago, Samwise Gamgee said:

Spoken like a true military bureaucrat.

Hey, I'm not saying it's right.

Before "Rebels" gave us pre-yavin interceptors and defenders, the TIE/ln was canon-wise basically the only standard fighter the Empire used pre-Yavin. Thus ot makes perfect sense for having a lot of aces.

Also, it was always dicussed as a disposable but very efficient chassis. That we perceive it as weak was achieved through the xwing novels and video games. After all, the standard TIE was a force to be recogned with in Ep IV.

33 minutes ago, MaxPower said:

Before "Rebels" gave us pre-yavin interceptors and defenders, the TIE/ln was canon-wise basically the only standard fighter the Empire used pre-Yavin. Thus ot makes perfect sense for having a lot of aces.

Also, it was always dicussed as a disposable but very efficient chassis. That we perceive it as weak was achieved through the xwing novels and video games. After all, the standard TIE was a force to be recogned with in Ep IV.

I mean, an outnumbered Black Squadron caused a lot of casualties to "superior" Rebel fighters.

2 hours ago, MaxPower said:

Before "Rebels" gave us pre-yavin interceptors and defenders, the TIE/ln was canon-wise basically the only standard fighter the Empire used pre-Yavin. Thus ot makes perfect sense for having a lot of aces.

Also, it was always dicussed as a disposable but very efficient chassis. That we perceive it as weak was achieved through the xwing novels and video games. After all, the standard TIE was a force to be recogned with in Ep IV.

To be fair to Rebels, the Defender was a limited, prototype project that never hit full production...those resources had to go elsewhere. Same with the TAP as a limited ship.

Bringing the interceptor into Rebels felt a bit odd though.