OK, hear me out internet.

Star Wars Squadrons has 4 classes of ships:

• Fighter: X-wing vs TIE Fighter
• Bomber: Y-wing vs TIE Bomber
• Interceptor: A-wing vs TIE Interceptor
• Support: U-wing vs TIE Reaper

One of the most classic Rebel fighters , the B-wing is sadly not in the game.

We need a new role for it: the Assault class : something between the Fighter and the Bomber class, focused in capital ship hunting. To differentiate it? - Two groups of guns.

You can equip Ion cannons + Laser cannons, Laser cannons + Beam cannon... any mix you want.

And what is the opponent for the B-wing? What ship has very similar hull, speed, shields and weapons? Yes, the Assault Gunboat Alpha-class Star Wing .

Sure, it has a little less guns, but so do the TIE Fighter (comparing to the X-wing) and the A-wing (comparing to the TIE Interceptor).

So, Motive Studios, just do it. Bring this majestic angel of 5 wings not only to a better position in canon, but also to the game that will redeem the space combat in Star Wars gaming.

Hear me, Gunboat Cult. This is our crusade! Spread the word!!

Ok, but if you're going to give Rebels the B-wing and the Star-wing, you probably have to give the Empire something as well, right?

Pretty sure the idea is to add B-wing for the Rebels and the Assault Gunboat for the Empire. And i approve, i want both of those ships in the game.

why should the Empire get a Rebel ship? according to wookiepedia, the Star Wing was fielded by the Rebel Alliance and there isn't a canon source suggesting that it was ever an Imperial ship. and since we all know wookiepedia is the flawless arbiter of all information related to star wars, this begs the real question we should all be asking:

FFG rebel star wings when

1: Newer information indicates the ship is an Empire ship that the Rebels stole occasionally.
2: Rebel Files was an in-universe document and not comprehensive at that.
3: A ship changing faction from Legends to new Canon would be weird.
4: The Assault Gunboat should be an Empire ship, the end. Anyone saying otherwise is rebel scum.

13 minutes ago, Woorloog said:

1: Newer information indicates the ship is an Empire ship that the Rebels stole occasionally.
2: Rebel Files was an in-universe document and not comprehensive at that.
3: A ship changing faction from Legends to new Canon would be weird.
4: The Assault Gunboat should be an Empire ship, the end. Anyone saying otherwise is rebel scum.

Thank you.

Oh @Odanan , your unbridled enthusiasm and loyalty to Cygnus Spaceworks is an inspiration to us all!

2 hours ago, Maui. said:

why should the Empire get a Rebel ship? according to wookiepedia, the Star Wing was fielded by the Rebel Alliance and there isn't a canon source suggesting that it was ever an Imperial ship. and since we all know wookiepedia is the flawless arbiter of all information related to star wars, this begs the real question we should all be asking:

FFG rebel star wings when

From the EU books, the Starwing (or gun-boat) was an imperial ship.. Always has been.

Of course, they could add the TIE Striker as the B-wing opponent instead. Officially, it has 6 guns and it's slow in space (even if crazy fast in atmosphere) . The only problem is: the TIE Striker has bombs instead of torpedoes.

So... can we agree the Assault Gunboat is still the best candidate?

...there's always the TIE Defender. Or potentially the TIE Advanced.

😉

If I recall the Defender was the ship used as the counterpoint to the B wing in Galaxy At War as well.

But that would be lame! I want the Lambda and F-15's lovechild!

9 hours ago, FTS Gecko said:

...there's always the TIE Defender. Or potentially the TIE Advanced.

😉

TIE Defender has a weapon loadout kind of similar to the B-wing, but it's a crazy fast and manoeuvrable ship, while the B-wing is a turtle. The is no way the devs would add the TIE Defender to the game without: 1- nerfing the **** out of it, or 2- buffing the B-wing to it's level, making all other ships in the game obsolete.

TIE Advanced has more in common with the A-wing than any other TIE. Besides, it is often used as a Vader's trademark. Some people would find strange more than one of these ships in screen, specially piloted by nobodies.

PS: you... traitor!

19 minutes ago, Odanan said:

PS: you... traitor!

Just playing Devil's Advocate here @Odanan , there's no way I'd betray our beloved five-winger angel! 😂

All glory to the GUNBOAT!

1 hour ago, FTS Gecko said:

Just playing Devil's Advocate here @Odanan , there's no way I'd betray our beloved five-winger angel! 😂

All glory to the GUNBOAT!

Too late, too little. Expect the ISB to arrive where you are soon for... re-education.

It saddens me to have missed the initial cry to get Gunboats onto the table and into X-wing in the first place. So I can and will join you on this hill Odanan!

Starwings! Starwings everywhere!

8 hours ago, Odanan said:

TIE Defender has a weapon loadout kind of similar to the B-wing, but it's a crazy fast and manoeuvrable ship, while the B-wing is a turtle. The is no way the devs would add the TIE Defender to the game without: 1- nerfing the **** out of it, or 2- buffing the B-wing to it's level, making all other ships in the game obsolete.

TIE Advanced has more in common with the A-wing than any other TIE. Besides, it is often used as a Vader's trademark. Some people would find strange more than one of these ships in screen, specially piloted by nobodies.

PS: you... traitor!

I'd certainly see the Advance as a counterpart to the B-wing before i'd ever see a defender as one

it would be much more logical if they add the defender, and the b wing.

The other issue with the Gunboat is that it visually does evoke the empire to some extent, but it also evokes some Rebel ship concepts like their wing design and placement. Their silhouette especially heavily resembles an X-wing from certain angles, which is a big deal for games, especially action games. As a bonus, The Defender is very clearly an empire ship just from its visual design, but also is distinct from other TIEs in a manner that would make it super easy to to recognize both its team and class.

But. I. Still. Want. The. Gunboat.

1 hour ago, "Quickdraw" said:

it would be much more logical if they add the defender, and the b wing.

So, they will need to nerf the heck of the TIE Defender, specially the speed and manoeuvrability. Is that what you want, guys?

7 minutes ago, dezzmont said:

The other issue with the Gunboat is that it visually does evoke the empire to some extent, but it also evokes some Rebel ship concepts like their wing design and placement. Their silhouette especially heavily resembles an X-wing from certain angles, which is a big deal for games, especially action games. As a bonus, The Defender is very clearly an empire ship just from its visual design, but also is distinct from other TIEs in a manner that would make it super easy to to recognize both its team and class.

TIE Reaper already is a little different from the other TIEs. And there is the Gunboat's big sister, the Lambda.

7 minutes ago, dezzmont said:

But. I. Still. Want. The. Gunboat.

So have little faith, would you?

1 hour ago, Odanan said:

TIE Reaper already is a little different from the other TIEs

It isn't just about being visually different from the other TIEs. It is specifically that the Gunboat doesn't fit the immediate visual profile of any other imperial fighter confirmed in the game, and worse, has a similar silhouettes to an X-wing when head on or at the rear. Confusing sillouettes aren't a dealbreaker, but it is rough, especially for a ship 99% of people playing the game wouldn't know about and would wonder about.

1 hour ago, Odanan said:

So have little faith, would you?

Considering nothing has indicated the assault shuttle will be in the game, and ignoring the visual profile of it, a lot of other things are riding against it, it is hard to describe a belief that the ship will be in the game even as faith. More like raw desire.

It is fully possible it would show, especially if the ship roster is not a strict 1:1 matching ship category deal but a bit more sprawling. But I would not hold my breath, even though, again, I truly wish that not only would it get in there, but Star Wars transmedia started making new designs and ideas again.

4 hours ago, dezzmont said:

Their silhouette especially heavily resembles an X-wing from certain angles, which is a big deal for games, especially action games.

You know that the Gunboat.... Originated in a game, right?

If recognisability of silhouette wasn't an issue in the early 90s on a DOS game with pre texture graphics, why would it be a problem now?

This is before you get into the argument that there is a UI over the top of all this with an IFF display that should make it all the more obvious.

Well, we can live in hope I guess. After all, the head dev was a fan of the original X-Wing games - and shared some of his old childhood drawings of the PC games that included the glorious Gunboat - but all of this is assumes DLC will be released for the game in the first place.

And for that, it's going to need sales.

So, time to put up or shut up pilots - we've been asking / begging for a Star Wars space combat sim for years . Well now we're getting one, so... you buying?

59 minutes ago, GuacCousteau said:

If recognisability of silhouette wasn't an issue in the early 90s on a DOS game with pre texture graphics, why would it be a problem now?

Because it was in a single player DOS game from a time before game design really got a lot of concepts nailed down as an art form. Most modern multiplayer games consider this a big enough issue that if the character design or mechanics don't allow for different character sizes and shapes they will reduce their graphical fidelity to forcibly alter the silhouette via a colored outline.

But I don't think this is the main reason its unlikely, in fact it was a totally minor reason I just mentioned offhand as one more strike against the thing despite how cool it would be to have in the game, the main reason is more that it doesn't match what the layperson knows as the imperial faction, and Disney has the IP on lockdown in a lot of ways and its unlikely they would sign off on a flagship starfighter game busting out a legends canon ship as anything more than a throw-away like it was in Rebel Files.

The main point in its favor is simply that this game is trying to evoke X-wing a lot and it came from X-wing. That doesn't do a lot for my hope, but it might be they were so gently poking at the concept of the ship specifically to hype it for a release and return in squadrons, perhaps, if we want to irresponsibility wildly speculate.

I don't understand the issue with the silhouette.

It is based on the Lambda Shuttle, an iconic Imperial ship.
I don't see how you could confuse it with an X-Wing. The lateral wings angle is totaly different, there is no fin on an X-Wing and the body shape and size does not match.

The design is cleary imperial. This is not a TIE design, but this is still imperial.