2 minutes ago, The Jabbawookie said:

Really though my problem is never seeing the New Republic, the Rebellion's primary goal, having any positive effect on the galaxy. There's nothing in the films that shows us it's worth it; Canto Bight sure isn't inspiring. The storyline focuses on the fight itself, and what they're fighting against, but not what they fight for.

My issue with the ST, and we're veering way off topic here, is this. At the end of Return of the Jedi the Empire is overthrown, the Sith are defeated, the Rebellion (presumably) is restoring peace and justice to the galaxy in the form of the New Republic, the Jedi return to guard that peace, Luke fulfills his destiny, and Han and Leia get their happy ending. Now, to create a sequel you need drama, so at least some of that has to be undone in order to create that drama. But the sequels undid ALL of it. The Empire wasn't defeated, it just hid for a while, not all the sith were destroyed, the New Republic failed totally, the Jedi remain gone, Luke rejects his destiny and turns his back on the galaxy, Han and Leia split and, in fact, are LITERALLY reset to their roles before the OT.

If they had just let SOME of the triumphs of the OT actually stick. The Empire isn't totally gone, but the New Republic is diligently striving to free the rest of the galaxy. There are still Sith plotting in the shadows, but now there are new (inexperienced) Jedi to oppose them. Luke isolates himself, not because he's a bitter, broken man, but because he has become so idolized its starting to resemble worship (think G'Kar at the end of B5). Han and Leia's kid has become the enemy of the universe, but the two of them are struggling through it and still in love with each other.

Instead, the entire set up they actually went with basically says "all the conflict, heroism, and striving in the movies you loved was pointless, nothing at all came of it".

Anyway, extra galactic invaders as a new faction,

I don't hate the generic idea, but it seems like lazy writing and, as others have said, strongly resembles the Vong. Those drawbacks can be overcome, but until they are, best to keep it out of the game.

On the other hand, I have never liked that they created the Chiss either. Thrawn should have remained an enigma, with it never being revealed where he came from or who his species is. Much like Yoda. By giving him and his species a back story, it destroys the mystique around the character. Plus the massively irritating but very predictable Star Wars tendency of modeling an entire culture off a single individual, so of course the Chiss were cold, calculating, moderately artistic and problem solvers with a large, strong military.

2 hours ago, Forgottenlore said:

You have have been proven wrong.

Need I post an image?

The TIE Experimental x1 is the result of trying to do something new with so little and if nothing else, it's succinct. Let's flip the script with two pods and one panel array, with an outboard gun. I think it's neat! I'd fly one of those (I know, it's automated) and enjoy gunning enemy fighters down with the large gun.

The TIE Oppressor is the result of handing Timmy a few TIE Interceptor kits, telling him to make a new fighter, and that's the result after adding some aircraft parts on top of all that. It's over-designed, over-complicated, overloaded, no even balance it's... terrible. Like the rest of the Star Wars Galaxy TIEs- they added too much to cram in some coolness factor with no artistry. TIE Fighter's contributions of the TIE Defender and TIE Avenger didn't go too far in trying to show new stuff, something I think everyone appreciates given how in-demand TIE Avengers are and how successful the TIE Defender turned out to be. I can't recall anyone clamoring to get the TIE Oppressor into X-Wing. Or the TIE Interdictor Punisher for that matter.

I know this is off topic, but not a subject I'll budge on. I would have been pissed if FFG depicted this horrendous monstrosity before either the Assault Gunboat or the TIE Avenger. As it is, they went too far with the TIE Interdictor Punisher and the TIE Aggressor (which is just a TIE Advanced with some of the wings clipped off and a turret bolted to the back).

All I'll add to TLJ conversation is that, while I can agree it didn't get everything right (My fiancee and I just had a discussion on some things that didn't work. The whole slow-chase-in-space would have been much better as anything else), I don't think it was a complete waste. And it's certainly better than II and III by sole virtue of not having awkwardly-directed Hayden Christensen as our leading man. A director's cut would do a lot of good for this movie to clean some of it up.

Getting back to these-guys-as-third-faction... I think unless they make a big showing in Resistance, I doubt we'll see it. I'll put more stock in the Republic/Separatists showing up in accordance with the last clone wars season or finally moving on to Resistance/First Order. It's the same thing with the Chiss and the various pirate groups, there just isn't enough of them to stand alone as an independent faction.

Really I think the discussion should still be over whether the Clone Wars is going to be a thing. As much as I'm against it, that's more likely of a possibility than random faction 3 from ex non-animated/movie media.

Regardless, you are pretty clearly wrong. The M1 is likely the ugliest, most inane space ship in all of sci-fi. Take that top set of panels off and the oppressor isn’t actually that bad. There are certainly many, many other Tie variants that are far worse. The tie torpedo bomber, the tie lambda, the tie star cruiser, the tie crawler, but none of them, nor any other ship or vehicle ever invented for fiction tops the tie experimental m1 for sheer stupidity, laziness, and ugliness.

8 hours ago, Norsehound said:

Poorest design goes to, and forever will be, given to star wars galaxies' contributions to the lore. Nothing will ever beat how shoddily assembled the TIE Oppressor is. That's literally a third grader made tie fighter.

The mandator Iv at least looks like an interesting new age take on star destroyers. I want to see one variant if they removed the honking cannons and made it a more conventional ship. But, I really dig how mold-breaking the first order designs are, anyway.

Here is an opinion on the Mandator IV from a semi-professional 3D modeler... and an amateur tattoo artist.

http://fractalsponge.net/?p=2568

I really like his work, and I really wished Ansel Hsiao was part of Lucasfilm's design team. This is the guy who made 2 of my favorites the Bellator and Secutor, and he most certainly would have made something better than the Mandator IV.

10 hours ago, Norsehound said:

They go too close, you hate the force awakens.

They stray too far, you hate the last Jedi.

How is Disney supposed to win this one?

By continuing the storyline that Lucas made, and that the EU followed up on.

Speaking for myself, I wanted to see an established New Republic trying to solidify it's control with threats within and around it. The Imperial Remnant has a reformed government created by Pellaeon and Thrawn to deal with the reality of losing the Galactic Civil War, so Imperial fans/players have something to root for. I wouldn't mind one or two Imperial splinters still kicking around like Zsinj as an interesting antagonist to both the Imperial Remnant and New Republic.

I wanted a developing new Jedi Order under Luke Skywalker, who is trying to learn from the mistakes of the old Order. An onscreen schism between Imperial and Republic students that leads to the Imperial Knights would be cool, and a nice reference to the original story draft of Star Wars.

I wanted something new rather than retelling the same story like the Force Awakens, while maintaining the lore of previous films instead of breaking it like the Last Jedi did.

Edit: Being a fan of the Greater Maldrood I would like to have that Imperial splinter faction in a movie. The sibling rivalry between Treuten and Kosh Teradoc could make for an interesting film adaptation.

7 hours ago, The Jabbawookie said:

The storyline focuses on the fight itself, and what they're fighting against, but not what they fight for.

To be fair to RJ, he did cover what they were fighting for:

(1) Temporary freedom for a handful of space-horses and feeling really self-congratulatory about it, even whilst leaving all the physically abused child-laborers in their wretched conditions to endure the wrath of the space-horse owners, presumably.

(2) Sacrificing yourself AND your love interest AND everyone else you care about in the base so that your love does not sacrifice him/herself in order to save everyone. Oh, also, falling madly "I'll die for you!" in love with someone over the course of a two-hour roadtrip during most of which you fight with one another is both plausible and excellent character-driven story telling.

I mean, it was a terrible attempt at capturing the spirit of the Resistance and what it's all about... but it was there


I fully expect that RJ's Trilogy will be to Star Wars what the Hobbit Movie Trilogy was to Tolkein's Middle-Earth.

5 hours ago, AllWingsStandyingBy said:

To be fair to RJ, he did cover what they were fighting for:

To be fair, joyriding fathiers through a casino would be pretty fun. But that’s not something they had, they were just fighting fathier slavery (I know you’re not seriously defending TLJ, but that scene was kinda cool.) ? I’m talking about what the galaxy should already be like, seeing as they won the war (to a point where they shrugged and didn’t ask where so many Imperial personnel went or why outer rim children were being kidnapped, but they won.) I feel like a teacher who gave the Rebellion a thirty-year assignment, then come collection day they tell me the First Order ate their homework. I still want to see thirty years worth of work, no matter what condition it’s been in recently.

11 minutes ago, The Jabbawookie said:

To be fair, joyriding fathiers through a casino would be pretty fun. But that’s not something they had, they were just fighting fathier slavery (I know you’re not seriously defending TLJ, but that scene was kinda cool.) ? I’m talking about what the galaxy should already be like, seeing as they won the war (to a point where they shrugged and didn’t ask where so many Imperial personnel went or why outer rim children were being kidnapped, but they won.) I feel like a teacher who gave the Rebellion a thirty-year assignment, then come collection day they tell me the First Order ate their homework. I still want to see thirty years worth of work, no matter what condition it’s been in recently.

Didn’t you see those exploding planets in TFA?

I mean, one if the major criticisms was YOU COULD SEE MULTIPLE EXPLODING PLANETS WITH A HYPERSPACE BEAM WEAPON AT ONCE....

... So I’m sure you saw it ?

8 minutes ago, Drasnighta said:

Didn’t you see those exploding planets in TFA?

I mean, one if the major criticisms was YOU COULD SEE MULTIPLE EXPLODING PLANETS WITH A HYPERSPACE BEAM WEAPON AT ONCE....

... So I’m sure you saw it ?

Only one star system. Even if they were dumb enough to consolidate almost all their fleet there, I don’t believe they consolidated almost all their civilization there. Heck, we know they didn’t because the capital rotated.

5 minutes ago, The Jabbawookie said:

Only one star system. Even if they were dumb enough to consolidate almost all their fleet there, I don’t believe they consolidated almost all their civilization there. Heck, we know they didn’t because the capital rotated.

At the start...

After “bloodlines” I got the impression they’d settled post Mothma

2 minutes ago, The Jabbawookie said:

Only one star system. Even if they were dumb enough to consolidate almost all their fleet there, I don’t believe they consolidated almost all their civilization there. Heck, we know they didn’t because the capital rotated.

A bit off topic but I'd like to mention what an economic burden that would be on a planet to build the necessary infrastructure for the Galactic Senate and other government agencies. Did Lucasfilm establish the rotation times?

6 minutes ago, Piratical Moustache said:

A bit off topic but I'd like to mention what an economic burden that would be on a planet to build the necessary infrastructure for the Galactic Senate and other government agencies. Did Lucasfilm establish the rotation times?

Kinda like the Olympics, but bigger.

6 minutes ago, Drasnighta said:

At the start...

After “bloodlines” I got the impression they’d settled post Mothma

That may well be true. Coruscant was pretty darn settled, but it was just one city-world among countless developed planets (and presumably is still intact.) The New Republic lost its crown jewel, maybe, but it wasn't called "the Hosnian Republic." And those other former capitals probably didn't just wither away under the crushing pressure of a presumably kinder system...

Just now, The Jabbawookie said:

Kinda like the Olympics, but bigger.

That may well be true. Coruscant was pretty darn settled, but it was just one city-world among countless developed planets (and presumably is still intact.) The New Republic lost its crown jewel, maybe, but it wasn't called "the Hosnian Republic."

We know Mothma got her 90% military force reduction through, what we don’t know is if the Centrists were able to meaningfully repeal it, and even then, how fractions the whole republic is.

I mean, the first order might have wanted to kill a poor weakened single system “new republic” out of SPITE after it fractured to nothing... because they seen the sort to hold a freaking GRUDGE...

1 minute ago, Drasnighta said:

We know Mothma got her 90% military force reduction through, what we don’t know is if the Centrists were able to meaningfully repeal it, and even then, how fractions the whole republic is.

I mean, the first order might have wanted to kill a poor weakened single system “new republic” out of SPITE after it fractured to nothing... because they seen the sort to hold a freaking GRUDGE...

Which would make the current storyline downright pathetic.

Just now, The Jabbawookie said:

Which would make the current storyline downright pathetic.

You mean it isn't already?

8 minutes ago, Piratical Moustache said:

You mean it isn't already?

Nope.