This is a thread for breathless enthusiasm about the mighty Incom T-65 starfighter, known in service with the Alliance to Restore the Republic as the X-Wing.

For the purposes of this thread, one must be as excited about X-Wings as Christian Bale is about Mustangs in this clip:-

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I am a big fan of X-Wings. After the first time I saw Star Wars I demanded that my dad construct me one out of lego (this was long before you could buy official ^tm Star Wars lego). The first video game I bought with my own money was the collectors edition of Lucasarts X-Wing, and I will always fly an X-Wing if one is available in a game, even if other ships are better. With the USS Enterprise, I think the X-Wing is one of the truly great science fiction vehicle designs.

So what? you might ask. I don't really know. I just love X-Wings. I think that clip from Empire of the Sun really captures the excitement I still get from pondering them. So, anyone got any good ponders, especially as they might relate to Star Wars roleplaying?

The X-Wing was the first fighter plane I ever saw in action and it rocked. Now, if the Enterprise had a stock of X-Wings (and a couple of 'A' and 'B' Wings to boot) I could die happy.

They're not bad; they're no F35 Lightning IIs, but they're not bad.

They're not bad; they're no F35 Lightning IIs, but they're not bad.

That is INSUFFICIENT ENTHUSIASM!!!11!!!!

:0)

Case in point, I don't think many people are going to love F-35s in the same way they might an F-22. Because an F-22 is a no expense spared pure breed air dominance aircraft intended to take on and eliminate the hordes of Su-27s and Mig-29s of the Soviet Union in massive dogfights over germany in the final battle between freedom and communism and an F-35... isn't.

Another example is F-14s vs. F-18s. An F-18 is a much more practical aircraft, but I don't think people love it as much as F-14s because an F-14 was a pure interceptor, carried phoenix active homing missiles, looked cooler and Tom Cruise flew one in Top Gun.

Slike how on Top Gear they will occasionally say that a Lamborghini is the ultimate supercar not because it has the best performance but because it is pure theatre and every teenage boy wanted a poster of one on his wall.

So this is my thing. I wanted a poster of an X-Wing on my wall as a kid, and I think they way to approach X-Wings is to consider ways to make them even more attractive as a subject for teenage boys to have as a poster on their wall.

So, at least in this thread, one must consider if a certain way of discussing X-Wings will make them a more or less attractive subject for a poster on the wall of a teenage boys bedroom, and discard any notions that might make them pause and choose a picture of something else.

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I think this is quite a successful updating of the design. Paint it Air Defence Grey and give it a flameless canopy and we are on our way.

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Why so much love for the X-Wing? Yes it looks cool, but I've always had an issue with the desire to have closing/retracting wings. Other then a cool factor, it's pretty unrealistic. Aerodynamics versus spread laser pattern? It's a repulsorlift craft that can float and is intended to fight in space, so why the need?

Now the TIE fighter, that is something so much more original. The only originality of the X-Wing was the split wings (well not fully original thinking back to WW1 aircraft). It's the standard elongated nose with guns on wings craft. The TIE fighter is something not seen before. So much more original.

Posted 10 September 2013 - 01:20 PM

They are supposed to be Nazis, and you are supposed to hate them for being Nazis.

Christ almighty that this even needs explaining...

I'm an Imperial fan (boo, hiss!), but I can appreciate the capabilities of the X-Wing. In, well, X-Wing at least, it's (fittingly) the best fighter on the board. Impressive attack coupled with respectable resiliency and a measure of flexibility makes this craft worthy of the title of mainstay with the Rebellion. Other fighters have weaknesses to exploit, the X-Wing does not. When fighting the X-Wing one must grit your teeth and bear it, shooting it until it's dead, and that's without considering whose flying it!

A worthy adversary.

Hey, I'll stop derailing the Space Nazi fanboy threads when the Space Nazi fanboys can restrain themselves from derailing every other thread . You know, the ones not about playing Space Nazis in a game where you can't play Space Nazis in a franchise where the Space Nazis are clearly the baddies?

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I'd have said that the very act of making the ship reminiscent of WW2 fighters is part of the charm. It isn't a flash gordon rocketship, but a Spitfire or Mustang, and we are instantly thinking about, well, stuff like this:-

I'm a girl, and even I think x-wings are kinda cool.

I'm a girl, and even I think x-wings are kinda cool.

I am not a teenage boy (any more) either. But for these purposes I like to roleplay as one!

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See, Flash Gordon flew these things:-

And as well all know, Lucas told his model makers to 'dirty down' the ships in Star Wars. Make them look used and dented and scortched.

I always preferred the A-Wing.

Always been a fan of the X-Wing ever since I saw the original Star Wars when I was a wee little tyke.

The fact that in every RPG where it's showed up, the X-Wing has been a near-perfect mix of speed, firepower, and durability just makes it that much cooler in my eyes.

Plus, having your own astromech buddy along for the ride doesn't hurt either.

The X-wing is a very cool design and as a kid watching those birds flying across the screen and blazing through the trench scenes in Star Wars on the big screen always gave me a thrill. But, it was the B-wing that I really fell in love with. That ship was so cool. It was totally asymmetric and had guns poking out all over. Yep, I was sold.

That being said. If a B-wing isn't available I'll always fall back onto a X-wing.

I have always liked to look of the Y-Wings.

The first video game I bought with my own money was the collectors edition of Lucasarts X-Wing

Me too . . . and it should be noted the game is sitting in my disk drive as we speak. Even to this day few sound tracks can move me the way that old midi-music does.

Am I correct in saying (my Beta book is in the post) that starting AOE characters can't have X-wings?

I mean, EoE offers you the iconic MF or Slave 1, so wouldn't most AOE characters wanting to fly dogfighters want X-Wings rather than Y-Wings?

People are going to want to play something like Rogue Squadron, surely?

Am I correct in saying (my Beta book is in the post) that starting AOE characters can't have X-wings?

I mean, EoE offers you the iconic MF or Slave 1, so wouldn't most AOE characters wanting to fly dogfighters want X-Wings rather than Y-Wings?

People are going to want to play something like Rogue Squadron, surely?

That would be correct.

The closest the book offers is that the party starts with a number of Y-Wings equal to half the group's size, rounded up.

Although, much like the EotE book says that you can pick any ship that has a cost of 120,000 credits or less, I suspect the game won't suddenly blow up in your face if you do opt to let the PCs each have their own X-Wing to start with. I ran a rather fun though sadly short-lived d6 campaign with the PCs all being part of a fighter squadron, well before the Rogue or Wraith Squadron books were published. It was quite a lot of fun, and most of the PCs were quite happy to be flying X-Wings of their very own.

The first video game I bought with my own money was the collectors edition of Lucasarts X-Wing

Me too . . . and it should be noted the game is sitting in my disk drive as we speak. Even to this day few sound tracks can move me the way that old midi-music does.

I've got X-Wing Alliance installed, basically for the virtual cockpit and padlock view (the one where the screen is always centred on your target instead of your fighters nose so you can see what it is doing when your ship isn't pointing at it.) And I have the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade project improved X-Wing installed, because the one thing I didn't like about XWA was, ironically, the poor quality X-Wing model it used.

The distinctive Lucasarts art style of the cutscenes from X-Wing is really what I think is the definitive Star Wars look though:-

(In particular, this, right here, is what I think of when I think of Star Wars:-

wouldn't most AOE characters wanting to fly dogfighters want X-Wings rather than Y-Wings?

People are going to want to play something like Rogue Squadron, surely?

I would imagine that the idea is that you start with the less desirable Y-Wing so when you finally get the ship you actually want it is an exciting moment.

I think it is more likely that you will start with a ship you don't want and then the game will fall apart before you get to the bit you actually want to be playing so it is better to skip ahead to the interesting bit.

(FWIW, consider that beta feedback. Quit pissing about and make with the X-Wings!)

I have always liked to look of the Y-Wings.

Truth be told, in the Rebellion era, the Y-Wing is actually my favorite snubfighter. I really don't know why, it's much uglier then the X-Wing or B-Wing. Perhaps that is the reason in itself?

(ARC-170 is the coolest in any era - droid, pilot, co-pilot, tailgunner, S-foils...)

I've got X-Wing Alliance installed, basically for the virtual cockpit and padlock view (the one where the screen is always centred on your target instead of your fighters nose so you can see what it is doing when your ship isn't pointing at it.) And I have the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade project improved X-Wing installed, because the one thing I didn't like about XWA was, ironically, the poor quality X-Wing model it used.

X-Wing is STILL my favorite starfighter simulator. It was fairly complex and challenging (fingers flying around reverting power between Shields-Engines-Lasers). I've always thought it was pretty crazy that nothing has been created since that captured that dogfight feel. Most starfighter simulators are just point in the right direction and fire without any swirling dogfighting.

ErikB you can still play it on a modern machine? "Upgrade project"?

I have all of the old discs piled up someplace even though I don't have a box anymore which can accept a floppy. Just can't throw them away.

I'll take a TIE Interceptor any day of the week.

(X-Wings are a pretty cool second though.)

ErikB you can still play it on a modern machine? "Upgrade project"?

With a spot of faffing about:-

http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-x-wing-alliance-upgrade-project/tutorials/x-wing-alliance-installation-on-modern-operating-systems

The XWA Upgrade Project has a bunch of improved models for the game:-

http://www.xwaupgrade.com/

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Here we see an early model X-Wing:-

The Replica Prop Forum has a lot of interesting stuff about the X-Wing models used in the film:-

http://www.therpf.com/f10/one-stop-x-wing-thread-124738/

Nice photographs! I recall owning the one manufactured by Kenner back in the early days of the Star Wars craze. Through my enthusiastic play, it did not remain intact for too long.

I always like to visualize the McQuarrie concept x-wing as the improved new republic version.