Budgernaut said:

I had picked up the 'medium ship' info before but can't recall where - other than it did come from FFG. I do know it wasn't this video (thanks for posting), as I hadn't seen this one yet.

While watching this, something dawned on me. The bases for the medium ships are larger, some who have seen them close up estimate close to double length and width of the fighter bases. For movement, this means they effectively move about 40mm further than smaller ships each round (the extra length of the base). Curious if they addressed this somehow.

IIRC, the TIE Phantom would become visible for a short time whenever it fired its weapons systems. Its primary advantage was being able to secure an optimal position prior to attacking.

What I wonder about, is whether the "T" in TIE still stands for "Twin" in the case of a three-winged vessel.

I believe it stood for Twin Ion Engine, not referring to the solar panels ('wings').

I definitely think at some point in time they should bring in cloaking ships. I think it would definitely bring a ton of new strategies and skill to the game.

I knew it! Wave 3 is Star Trek ships! ;p

Woah woah lets not go there quite yet.

…or ever

There are only something like three cloaking strike craft in Star Wars and all of them are imperial craft. One of them is the Emperor's shuttle, the other two are the TIE Phantom (which, apart from first appearing in Rebel Assault, appeared recently in EaW: Forces of Corruption), and the bizzare TIE Hunter.

I can see the Emperor's shuttle having an equipment slot where the cloaking device can be equipped in the future, presuming the Lambda is in Wave 3. The TIE Phantom, if/when it appears in a future wave, will be the vehicle to show off the cloaking device and have it included in the package.

I'm sure people would expect the rules to include removing the miniature from the table for complete secrecy, but I think practicalty will rule out in the end. This could mean either the fighter can't be attacked or targeted (or attack and target by itself) over the turn (declare in movement action), or it gets like two more evasion dice when being fired at.

Personally I'd rather have two more TIE Defenders over a Phantom *shrug*

Norsehound said:

Whoa did not even know about that, but I would definitely want a TIE Defender most of all.

As for the remove from field, I think cloaking should just not let you target lock them or target them for an attack. But after THEY Attack they are visible for the rest of the turn.

However I'm not sure if FFG would make cloakable ships, or if they did they would need a downside because you could always troll and just fly around cloaked and not shoot until you get in a great position…

I'm sort of tempted to make some Uglies from the models available. Especially since I order too many… yes I think I must do this.

I like the Idea of Pirates in Star Wars, and well I could cut up 2 each of an X-wing, Y-wing, and Tie Fighter and make a pirate force. I would use the rules and base of the basic ships so the game would be 100% legit mechanics wise, but would look cool. Hmmmm if I actually do this I'll post some pics

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Y-TIE

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/X-TIE_Fighter

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/TYE-wing

Maybe I'm just stingy with money but I find the thought of purposefully breaking these models to assemble pirate fighters well… unsettling. 'Specially when I'm dropping a little under $20 for each of them.

Those minis from the fleet battle game though… many of them end up so warped and distorted that it wouldn't be too out of place if you wanted to hack those up and put them together.

I think the idea of ugly fighters is pretty cool. Granted I'd probably never do it myself, I'd love to see them.

What I'd be most interested in seeing, beyond the TIE Bomber and B-Wing which I am sure we are going to get:

TIE Avenger (improved TIE Advanced, personally my favorite TIE)

TIE Defender (long shot, very strong ship)

Z-95 Headhunter (great for early Rebellion scenarios and gives the Rebels a 'cheap' ship)

Imperial Shuttle (useful for all sorts of scenarios)

Assault Gunboat 'Starwing' (From the computer games)

-Will

Ok, it's settled FFG, Tie Defender and Z-95 will be in wave 3, ok?

The imperials are going to get an ion-equipped fighter sooner or later…. and the number one contenders are the Assault Gunboat and the TIE Defender (unless the skipray has them…?)

The problem is, when you have the TIE defender why would you want to use the Assault Gunboat? The TIE defender does everything the gunboat can but better. One could argue that the B-Wing is just a better Y-wing with that same logic, but it's pretty sure that the B-Wing is distinct enough that FFG will provide them (plus they're an on-screen fighter). The Assault gunboat, sadly, is probably not going to be represented given how popular the TIE/D ended up being :

…Unless the gunboat can be made distinct somehow. It's a little surprising that torpedoes and missiles are distinguished as different warheads in the game… perhaps the Gunboat will have Torpedoes (to serve as a quick bomber with shields) while the TIE/D has missiles (to serve as a dogfighter?).

Norsehound said:

Given your arguments above, I'd say it's more likely we'll see a missileboat before a gunboat. It would be sturdier than a TIE Bomber, have weaker lasers, but it would have shields and the boost ability (beacause of the SLAM engines).

I noticed there's plenty of space on the expansion/upgrade bar for a particular craft to have many multiples of upgrade cards attached. Of course, a real missile boat with that many missiles would be worth an entire squadron of rebel craft… but fitting for how incredible the Missile Boat really was.

Seems that would be a premium craft though… something like an award from an FFG contest or something.

Can you imagine if the Missileboat only had a primary weapon attack value of 1? It would require lots of missiles to make it worth it, and would make it so it wouldn't have to be a special award ship. So which would be better: 2-3 concussion missiles, 2-3 proton torpedoes or a mix? Maybe even 2 concussion missiles and 2 proton torpedoes? How many actions do you think can fit on an action bar?

The whole point of the missile boat was to be an anti-TIE Defender craft (As Zaarin was ruining imperial production capabilities with those very fighters). I can't recall missions where it was put into a bomber role… but with a permanent concussion missile armament and a tractor beam (Action: If this turn movement is straight, cancel all agility rolls on a craft you have targeted in your forward arc), it seems designed for killing fighters quickly.

Which will probably make the missile boat in X-wing games either incredibly powerful single ship (6 concussion missiles? Rolling 4 dice each attack for the fixed missiles?), or as a support ship throwing concussion missiles at targets while they're tangling with TIE fighters. When I think about it, the reason the TIE Bomber and B-Wing might have been held back is because they'll act as battlefield support ships, throwing missiles from the sidelines, instead of being in the dogfight. With the absence of capital craft to attack it means these heavy bombers will be serving as makeshift missile carriers.

Parakitor said:

I assume you mean Upgrade Bar and not Action Bar. But using the Y-Wing as a reference (just because it has a bunch), I'd say 6 (maybe 7 if they can squeeze it in) is the most upgrades possible in the standard Upgrade Bar at the card bottom. The Y-Wing has 4 and it's just a bit over half the bar. Now, that's not to say they couldn't/wouldn't alter the card format if they release a ship with a boatload of available upgrade options but on a standard card, 6 looks about tops to be able to fit.

Jim

Personally I think that after a wave 3 with the inevitable B-wing, Tie Bomber, and hopefully imperial shuttle and something else, it would be better to go to new factions instead of dipping into the EU. I think new factions would give a better feel for the game for customization and creativity. 2013 vote for Galactic republic and trade federation

Harleequin said:

I second that vote! (it will save me a ton of money) ;p

Hellfury said:

Also, the I like the rebel fighters, but there did seem to be a bit of an obsession in the EU to continue the "letter-wing" thing. It's not like the needed to do that, as even the B-wing (and to a slightly lesser extent the A Wing) barely justfies the name anyway. It's not like the z95 Headhunter was called the "T-Wing".

borithan said:

if i ever meet george lucas im going to try to trick him into saying something like "yeah we shoukd have totally called that a t wing, we will now" on video recording, because as we all (should) know, if george says something… it instantly becomes canon… other than greedo shooting first ill never accept that… lol

borithan said:

In part I agree. I feel the craft in the flight simulator games were well thought out, and I appreciated the addition of a non-TIE into the standard imperial fleet as a specialist fighter (the gunboat), rather than concocting yet another TIE variant for the role. The Defender I feel is the ultimate expression of the "Best TIE Possible", even moeso than the Avenger (which was essentially the x1 mass-produced), and I think it should have been left at that.

But looking at Wookiepedia's entry on TIE fighters we've got a group of craft which are little more than frankenstein monster assemblies of components and parts together to call it 'TIE (intimidating name).' The TIE interdictor for example is just an attempt to cram as many TIE Bomber pods together with wings to make it look fashionable. The aforementioned TIE Hunter was essentially an X-Wing and represents the most gimmicky TIE fighter I've ever seen.

For myself I can accept so many TIE designs because they represent a design mentality that works for the empire, so naturally they'd have a group of classes utilizing the technologies common in all of them. I can accept, for example, the TIE Vanguard and the TIE/gt because they're versions of the prolific TIE Fighter adpated to specific roles, and they take the effort to make distinct components instead of slopping together multiple parts of existing ships. Same thing with the TIE Scout, since it shares only details similar to other fighters but the unconventional shape and bulk equate it's unconventionality with other early TIE fighters, especially in the New Hope period when the Empire didn't have sophisticated fighters yet.

It's sometimes hard for me to swallow, but I can understand the mentality behind all the different TIE designs as well. It's like any real world air force really. Sure, everyone knows about the main fighters, but there are so many other limited run, special duty craft that see action as well.

Mainly though, I feel that the Avenger, Defender, and gunboat make the most sense. These craft were presented in games where there was reason for their development and provided a rich backstory.

Some of the others like the Oppressor and Aggressor have only appeared in a now defunct game, and therefore I would prefer it if they vanished from canon.