JediDefender.com Forums
Multimedia => The Original Trilogy => Topic started by: Jesse James on October 16, 2003, 04:08 PM
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What's your favorite and why? All EU choices (Including TIE uglies) are welcomed by the way.
I'm a TIE Defender kinda guy myself... Power engines, shields, and a nice weapons array... The optional beam weapons are a dandy addition as well, and help boost the vessel's speed.
Rarity kind of makes it a unique one to me also. Being that it never saw full production and only the handful in Thrawn/Zaarin's fleets ever saw combat, it makes it really a fun/unique vessel that the Alliance never did match.
The great thing about that ship (And TIE Fighter the game in general) is that it wasn't free from harm. The Defender, though superior, was easily shot down when a group of good A-Wingers or X-Wingers would gang up on it.
So what's the one you dig the most and why?
Oh, and if I had to go wth a film TIE, I'd go with the Interceptor... Just vicious looking. I loved those when I was a kid. :) Cobra flew mine of course though. Their secret weapon against G.I. Joe I guess.
EDIT:
Here's a link for some fun too... To help you with information on TIE Fighters with pictures...
The first is the Star Wars Tech Commentaries review of TIE Fighters (Hosted by theforce.net). http://www.theforce.net/swtc/tie.html
It's pretty decent and thorough but not everything at Tech Commentaries I agree with. Some of it's too picky I think, and often times applies too much "Earth theory to Star Wars fact" as I like to put it. It makes things less imaginative so I don't always agree. It's good to read through though.
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TIEs are equipped with automatic ejection seats, which have been seen in action in the asteroid field in The Empire Strikes Back and in many old and new comics.
Huh? Has anyone seen this? I don't remember an ejection seat...
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Hey Lando,
It's a tough one to catch, but watch the one TIE that nails an asteroid while chasing the Falcon. It's a teeny tiny easteregg type thing, but a TIE Pilot is ejected (And on fire to boot) into space above the cockpit (Meaning he was propelled upward).
The EU's taken it a step further and pilots eject in the flight sim games pretty regularly... I'd put it at about a 50% ratio actually...
After a hectic battle there's often multiple pilots floating in the dead of space, and the truly sadistic (Myself included) can buzz around and pick off survivors for target practice (A common thing in WW2 actually where pilots would exact revenge on ejected pilots parachuting to safety by strafing them).
It's tough to see in ESB, but it's there, trust me, and one of my more favore moments. :)
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I'll definitely have to check that out....tonight!
On the topic of TIE's, the one EU design I take exception to above all others is the TIE crawler. Stupid, stupid idea. Why would anyone think to make the TIE into a tank? From all available evidence that I've seen, the TIE is a pretty flimsy design, and not suitable for an armored land vehicle.
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I agree Lando, it's pretty bogus... A weak design at best. I'm not sure what EU source came up with it originally actually. The treads are fairly sturdy though... As a land vehicle it was "possible", but as a tank/armor piece it looked fragile at best (And a terrible firing arc considering the weapns under the pod wouldn't be able to aim anywhere but where the tank itself was facing).
I saw a neat/accurate custom of one once that was to-scale and did the design some justice. It's still a bogus EU vehicle that I sorta just disregard. :)
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My favorite TIE is the Interceptor, but I'm also a sucker for the Bomber. :-*
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The Bomber translated into such a wonderful toy that I would agree you can't deny it's an impressive ship, especially since you can hold a to-scale one and just admire it.
The Interceptor was nice too, though the cockpit ball didn't look as nice... Otherwise I think I'd have held it higher than the Bomber if for nothing more than it's more menacing look with the pronged Solar Panels.
Their "real world" translations ranked lower than some of the EU ships to me though because of the ease of which both can be shot down. One good quad burst from an X-Wing can take either out, though the Bomber holds out a little bit more.
Flying bombers though is like flying space bricks. Slow, not maneuverable hardly at all, and your mission designation is always NOT to defend yourself but rather to unload ordinance on a target who's likely to have brought all its guns to bare on you... Just not a fun ship to be in. ;D
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Well I'll go for a "Squint"....Tie Interceptors are just the Sports Car of Film Ties....
They are fast, have 4 guns and their speed does not compromise maneuverability too much.
I like the bomber, but if it is going to be that slow and large, it needs to have shields or hyperspace....but then I guess it would be a Y-wing....
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I love the TIE ships but especially the TIE Defender. Here is a link to a thread about Defender (I would have attached the pic but don't know how)
http://www.jedi.ro/forum/viewthread.php?tid=197
Name/Model: TIE Defender
Designer/Manufacturer: Sienar Fleet Systems
Length: 11 Meters
Crew: 1
Speed Rating: 180MGLT
Weapons:
3 Medium Lasers
2 Medium Ion Cannons
2 SFS M-G-2 General Purpose Warhead Launchers
Description: The TIE Defender was a prototype Imperial fighter that was developed shortly after the Battle of Endor. After initial testing, which was believed to be personally supervised by top Imperial Navy commanders, the TIE Defender was deployed to a small number of elite TIE wings. Since that time the TIE Defender has made itself the preferred substitute to the aging TIE Interceptor.
This vessel represented a radical departure from conventional TIE designs and featured three sets of solar collection panels mounted at equilateral points around the fighter's cockpit. On each solar array a medium laser cannon has been mounted, while dual ion cannons have been fixed underneath the cockpit. Following specific Navy directives, Sienar Fleet Systems developed a ship that was fast, heavily armed, and equipped with a hyperdrive. Also departing from the convential TIE design, the fighter is now equipped with a pair of Novaldex shield generators. At over 300,000 credits per unit, it is more than five times the cost of the TIE/ln.
While the TIE Defender is one of the most sophisticated fighters ever developed, its cost, combined with the upheaval that followed the death of the Emperor, has prevented the fighter from coming into widespread use. Despite these limitations, the Empire has found a way to substitute the TIE Defender for the much older TIE Interceptor.
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Hey JKNO,
I'll include the 2 most common designs (the ship was developed in the TIE Fighter PC sim, and used one design shown but was later changed to the other design, and sadly I forget which came first now even) known to the community here.
(http://rds.yahoo.com/S=96062883/K=TIE+Defender/v=2/l=IVI/*-http://www.koozeen.spb.ru/empire/tie/tie/defender_sketch.jpg)
&
(http://rds.yahoo.com/S=96062883/K=TIE+Defender/v=2/l=IVI/*-http://www.koozeen.spb.ru/empire/tie/tie/defender.jpg)
A quick note on your reference of the ship...
The ship, if I'm recalling correctly, was developed BEFORE the Battle of Endor, as it was first introduced in TIE FIghter which chronologically takes place before Endor. In the game it actually sports quad-lasers, dual Ion cannons, and the dual warhead launchers as well. Pretty heafty payloads if I'm not mistaken also, and shields/armor that rivals most any fighter if not surpass any in service. Nice stuff.
In TIE Fighter, the ship was never much more than prototyped... It made it to production only in limited numbers prior to Endor, and in factories that were remotely located beyond the galaxy's outer rim territories. The TIE Defender was part of a technology development program by Grand Admiral Zaarin that also included the development of cloaking technology for medium sized vessels (which literally blew up in Zaarin's face). Zaarin attempted a coup de tat, but failed as then Vice Admiral Thrawn moved his fleet in to supress the renegade fleet and secure the technology developments.
Zaarin also developed the TIE "Avenger" Advanced fighter which was the new up and coming fighter at the time, and an advancement on the TIE Advanced x1 design used by Vader.
EU clashes at this point, as much of it claims TIE Interceptors weren't in service till AFTER the ANH events, but X-Wing and TIE Fighter deviated and claimed Interceptors to be predecessors to the TIE advanced, and in use long before the Battle of Yavin. That's why there is some discrepency there in what EU claims what.
TIE Fighter says the Advanced x1 (Vader's TIE) then instead lead to a decently shielded, fast, and hyperdrive capable TIE "Avanger" Advanced that was a hybrid of the best attributes of Vader's TIE and the Interceptor. Zaarin's engineers developed the Defender then, as a means of Imperial fighter squads regaining space superiority as the "Avenger" was definitely a good fighter but still matched by better skilled pilots in the Alliance using X and A-Wings.
The Defender, and the ship that never saw full production, the Missle Boat, were to be the fighters that would win the war by turning Alliance tactics against themselves while utilizing the superior financial ability of the Empire to produce a vastly superior fighter in decent #'s, and in a short period of time.
Coincidentally, the X-Wing series also says the A-Wing was a pre-Yavin ship as well as the Interceptor, and now even some EU claims the TIE Bomber was created after Yavin though most EU doesn't lean that way.
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Defenders just showed up in my book tonight....Pretty interesting...But I like the Traditional TIE Fighter....It just symbolizes everything Imperial. :)
Nice thread.
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i got loads of comics and tie figyters cant eject because the piolet just be floating in space
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i got loads of comics and tie figyters cant eject because the piolet just be floating in space
I probably shouldnt say this but... What does that mean??? You're incredibly confusing.
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He's Wrong anyway....
He obviously hasn't clesely read any X-Wing series boos, or the Empire comic series..
TIE pilots can eject...They have limited oxygen, but that's why they wear Helmets and also why the Imps keep some Lambda Class Shuttles up in the Battle...To pick up Ejected Pilots.
Read, friend.
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Yeah thats what i thought, because i thought I read somewhere they could. Then he comes along and confuses me.
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A TIE Pilot is seen ejecting in TESB actually, so it's canon that they CAN eject... He ejects on fire when an asteroid hits his fighter, but he ejects straight upward, nonetheless.
EU claims both Imperial and ALliance pilots CAN eject, but Imperials use an automated system as opposed to a manual one, and the Alliance can use either/or. Automated if they're prepared to use it (IE: set it to on, and have their life-supprt gear on), or manual if they need to get their stuff on if they know they're in a bad situation they aren't getting out of.
Consequently, it's one of the more fragile systems in all fighters, and often the first to be rendered inoperable it seems.... Then again, flight control was lost very often for me in the X-Wing sims as well. Hated when that happened. If I was lucky, nobody was targeting me and I either culd dump all power to engines and hope to outrun anyone who came for me (in a straight, unmaneuverable line away from combat), or I was hosed.... And if engines went too, I was more or less FUBAR.
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My favorite TIE would have to be the interceptor. Those things are mean-looking! Always loved 'em...