Every so often I see people saying, I can't wait till FFG realease a Death Star model for the X-Wing Minature game..

Here is an example of a proxy to scale.

Personally I do not believe a Death Star is feasible or even desirable, yet I cannot resist quoting this on you:

When it launches the Death Star will be featured here: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4075

Actually the Death Star was one of the fist things we got. Sure it is a game mat + a mission, but isn't that basically what the Death Star is to a fighter.

"The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force"

Actually the Death Star was one of the fist things we got. Sure it is a game mat + a mission, but isn't that basically what the Death Star is to a fighter.

Indeed, even at a 1/300 scale the Deathstar would be 500m diameter, it could never work as a model on the board.. But every so often someone suggests it.. Or a Star Destroyer.. which would be 17.5 foot long. They just are not practical as anything other than boards to play on top of (and after playing on the GF9 Death Star mat, I think I'll use the Hoth Map on the back next time)

The image is to scale.. The Taipai 101 building is just over 500m high.. so the big blow up ball is the size the Deathstar would be if it was scaled to the same size as X-Wing.. It's quite impressive if you try to imagine one of your fighters in relation to it.

To give you specifics, to 1/270th scale, the DS-1 orbital battle station would be 163 feet wide and the Death Star 2 would be about 2 miles wide. The Death Star 2 is approximately the size of Tethys, the moon of Saturn.

To give you specifics, to 1/270th scale, the DS-1 orbital battle station would be 163 feet wide and the Death Star 2 would be about 2 miles wide. The Death Star 2 is approximately the size of Tethys, the moon of Saturn.

The sources I have for the DS-1 orbital battle station at 160 kilometers in diameter, which would work out around 1,940 feet at 1/270 scale.

We know we're getting capital ships that don't scale with the starfighters. I think it's pretty likely we're going to get a Star Destroyer. I'm less confident about the Death Star showing up in model form, but it could happen.

The Death Star can be perfectly feasible for X-Wing. Who has to say it has to be the entire Death Star? It can only be a portion of it so we are playing with 3d terrain.

I would love to have the portion of the 2nd Death Star where Lando and company go in to destroy it. I think that would be awesome terrain and would love official Trench Run terrain as well.

We know we're getting capital ships that don't scale with the starfighters. I think it's pretty likely we're going to get a Star Destroyer. I'm less confident about the Death Star showing up in model form, but it could happen.

The big ships they are releasing aren't really capital ships, they are cruisers. The scale for the big ships is also very similar to the fighters.. 1/270 for fighters -> 1/300 for big ships.. a star destroyer would have to be 1/1750 to even fit on a 3x3 board. Which is a completely different scale. I think it's possible we might see a Tartan Patrol Cruiser, the Vigil or a Imperial Customs corvette, though 250m is pushing the top end a bit for the Tartan and Vigil.

It is also very possible we might see the Imperial Gozanti from the new Rebels cartoon, as that is around the right size and time period.

Ah here we go again about scale. Why even bother with scale when we play on the same plane? Combat is not in 3d space.

So who cares if a ship is 1/1000 scale? Who is to say the Star Destroy or what ever capital ship is not far away? Still represented on the board, but not as close as the fighters are.

Basically X-Wing is playing as if they are boats or battleships. So let the fighters be to scale roughly and let the capital ships be out of scale. Lets have nice beautiful Star destroyers and what not, lets play with them, and let them be out of scale.

Like come on, we are playing with toy fighters. We can't use our imagination about having a Star Destroyer on the board and thinking it's a bit further away than the fighters? Do we really need everything to scale to have fun?

Do we really need everything to scale to have fun?

I'd say most of us do think everything needs to be to scale or at least close to it. One of the selling points of X-Wing is the scale they use, and the fact that they made everything to proper scale.

There's almost weekly posts here or elsewhere about how the A-Wing or HWK aren't to scale. One of the most common complaints about Attack Wing is the lack of scale.

So yes, if having an ISD in the game means it's at 1/1000th scale, I think most of us would simply rather not have one at all. At that rate the whole point of the ISD is lost. Besides there's simply no real room in this game for a ship the size of a ISD... It's not like a CR-90 is a match for it, let alone 100 points of X-Wings.

I don't think it matters if you call them capital ships or cruisers. They are not to scale with the starfighters, so they set a precedent for other ships being off scale. It's kind of crazy not to offer a Star Destroyer for this game.

There's almost weekly posts here or elsewhere about how the A-Wing or HWK aren't to scale. One of the most common complaints about Attack Wing is the lack of scale.

So yes, if having an ISD in the game means it's at 1/1000th scale, I think most of us would simply rather not have one at all. At that rate the whole point of the ISD is lost. Besides there's simply no real room in this game for a ship the size of a ISD... It's not like a CR-90 is a match for it, let alone 100 points of X-Wings.

I think some people complain about the scales of the current models because FFG says they're all to the correct scale.

We will soon be able to buy ships for this game that are not to scale with the starfighters, and FFG has told us so (maybe still pending approval from LFL but whatever). Some folks won't buy them for whatever reason, but "It's not to scale with the starfighters!" isn't going to be a valid complaint. We know the Corvette and transport aren't to scale, and it isn't going to stop a lot of us from getting them.

Programmed from childhood. Pants too tight. Moichandizing!

They are not to scale with the starfighters

Acually they're pretty close to the proper scale for the starfighters. 1/270 vs 1/300 is not that huge of a difference. No where near the same change in scale you'd need to make a ISD fit.

Also in terms of game play. A squad of X-Wings, Tie Bombers, B-Wings, Y-Wings, ect... Would be a match for a CR-90 in a stright up fight. They'd be an threat to a ship that size.

It would take every fighter the rebels owned to be a threat to a ISD.

So even with the difference in size, the difference in firepower and shilding is enough to make a ISD pointless in this game.

Then there's the issue of cost. Even if you made it small enough to fit on a table a ISD model is going to be $150-200.

I don't think it matters if you call them capital ships or cruisers. They are not to scale with the starfighters, so they set a precedent for other ships being off scale. It's kind of crazy not to offer a Star Destroyer for this game.

But it would be insane to think that anyone had enough fighters to take one out. Even an entire group of people pooling their minis would have a real tough time against a Star Destroyer. Let me dig out some stats from my old RPG books:

Hull: 7D+1 (11D+1 at starfighter scale; the X-wing is 4D)

Shields: 2D+2 (6D+2 at starfighter scale; the X-wing is 1D)

Weapons:

50 Heavy Turbolaser Batteries 14D damage starfighter scale (X-wing: 6D for the cannons)

50 Heavy Turbolaser Cannons 11D damage

20 Ion Cannons 8D damage

10 Tractor Beam Projectors 10D damage if you fight them

Fighter Compliment:

36 TIE Fighters

12 TIE Interceptors

12 TIE Bombers

8 TIE Recon

4 TIE Fire Control

1 Assault Shuttle

Even without the fighters a Star Destroyer is a mean, MEAN beast, then if you add fighters you might as well put your head between your legs and kiss your 6 o'clock goodbye.

From this perspective, it would not make any sense to include it, because nobody would have enough minis to take one on and it would have to be mere window dressing in order for any mission to be anything other than a suicide run.

And forget the whole "destroy the shield generator and you can kill it" idea from the X-wing computer game. First of all, it's made clear in the cross-sections books that those globes are actually scanning equipment that have shield projector vanes for the bridge set on top of them. The generators themselves, as they should be, are buried beneath several meters of armor. Second, you'd have to get past the shields in the first place to take them out even if they were generators, which is impossible in a fighter (unless you've got a death wish).

They are not to scale with the starfighters

Acually they're pretty close to the proper scale for the starfighters. 1/270 vs 1/300 is not that huge of a difference. No where near the same change in scale you'd need to make a ISD fit.

Also in terms of game play. A squad of X-Wings, Tie Bombers, B-Wings, Y-Wings, ect... Would be a match for a CR-90 in a stright up fight. They'd be an threat to a ship that size.

It would take every fighter the rebels owned to be a threat to a ISD.

So even with the difference in size, the difference in firepower and shilding is enough to make a ISD pointless in this game.

Then there's the issue of cost. Even if you made it small enough to fit on a table a ISD model is going to be $150-200.

Rebel fighters seem to be good at blowing up Star Destroyers and Death Stars in the movies and games.

From this perspective, it would not make any sense to include it, because nobody would have enough minis to take one on...

Exactly put the size of the thing to the side for a moment and just consider the scale of it in terms of capablity.

It would take 5-6 CR-90's to compose a credable threat to one.

Plus what would a ISD acutally be used for? The turbolasers can't hit a fighter, even if the point-defense lasers can. But at the size people are talking about it's too far away to for the PD to be effective.

There is simply no reason at all to add a ISD into the game as it is now, or even with things like epic rules. It just simply does not fit. The only way I'd see FFG making a IDS model is if they decide to add some sort of captial ship game in, simular to Attack Wing.

The only reason they can is because they always had capital ships backing them up. The capships would take out the shields so the fighters could hope to stand a chance against them.

Rebel fighters seem to be good at blowing up Star Destroyers and Death Stars in the movies and games.

Actually no they're not. They helped finish off the SSD at the battle of Endor, but that was due to the massive amount of damage it already took. Other then that, there isn't a case in any movie where a fighter can destroy a ISD.

The games allowed it, but those were video games so they can hardly be used as evidence from canon.

Plus what would a ISD acutally be used for? The turbolasers can't hit a fighter, even if the point-defense lasers can. But at the size people are talking about it's too far away to for the PD to be effective.

Actually, they can, it's just difficult. The Avenger was able to successfully hit the Falcon, and the Executor was able to kill many Rebel fighters on their approach to the bridge, of which Arvel Crynyd was the only one remaining, and right after we see him get hit we see an X-wing vaporized in an instant from the side, which is a horrible angle to shoot a starfighter from.

Just imagine your 900 billion dollar robot loosing to a 120,000 dollar robot. If I was the emperor Id have an ego trip as well and build that thing back up.

Actually, they can, it's just difficult.

They can, if the fighter is flying in a stright line at the gun itself. But short of that, it's not going to happen other then a lucky shot. Like the fighter flying into the bolt.

At the range a ISD would have to be in order to fit at anything resembling scale, it would be so far away that it would have effectively 0 chance of hitting a fighter.

Did you not read the part where the Executor hit an X-wing, dead center at close range (<100 meters), from the side ? That's an incredible shot, akin to hitting a bird with a rifle as it's flying past you!

Plus, they would definitely have hit the Falcon if they were aiming to kill it as opposed to disabling it for capture. Vader himself ordered Boba Fett and the other bounty hunters explicitly to avoid killing them, so his Star Destroyers likely had the same orders. That they hit the Falcon at all was probably an accident, with all the juking Han was doing.