[aRaven]

Hi all!

I watched the Battle of Coruscant recently and at the beginning you can see obi wan and anakin engaging the afterburners (blue engine glow flashes) when diving under the capital ship.

so when the fighters of the pre civil war era have afterburners, it would make sense that the later craft have them also. what can we expect from the SWC in that regard? I'd love to see some underpowered SLAM systems on a X-Wing.

[TopAce]

The X-wing and the other -wings and TIEs don't have any kind of afterburner. Only the Missile Boat has SLAM systems in canon, if I remember correctly.

[aRaven]

you never see them use afterburners. that doesn't mean they don't have any. even the anakins n-1 naboo fighter gave a brief burst when leaving the battle droid control ship.

its hard to believe only the eta 2 interceptors (in EIII) have them

[jr2]

Eh, they're called "Overdrives" - I'm not sure about their being canon, but I know the games had them.  (When pressed, the X-Wing would fold its S-Foils and flare engines; all other types of craft just flare engines and go faster.)

[Wobble73]

Eh, they're called "Overdrives" - I'm not sure about their being canon, but I know the games had them.  (When pressed, the X-Wing would fold its S-Foils and flare engines; all other types of craft just flare engines and go faster.)

Yeah, Rogue Squadron had something similar (IIRC), but it was more like a top gear than an after burner! It certainly didn't seem limited by fuel.

[Turambar]

this is the part where i come in and do my grouchy old man thing (despite the fact that i am but 20) saying that new star wars is not canon, and that you shouldn't be using things from episodes 1-3 as reference as they were only created to sell small plastic toys.

rogue squadron game mechanics are a bit too arcadey for our purposes, as well.  a higher speed but limited maneuverability mode for craft with s-foils would be canon though, and should be implemented.

[TopAce]

Turambar: All the movies are the highest level of canon. It's a fact. It's as much a fact as Earth being spherical. Stop arguing against facts.

[aRaven]

rogue squadron game mechanics are a bit too arcadey for our purposes, as well. 

i agree.

a higher speed but limited maneuverability mode for craft with s-foils would be canon though, and should be implemented.

why would only a craft with sfoils go faster? an x-wing going faster with its wings closed?
doesn't make sense... and there is no "would" be canon. Either it is canon of 1st, 2nd, 3rd a.s.o grade or it isn't.

[Turambar]

why would only a craft with sfoils go faster? an x-wing going faster with its wings closed?
doesn't make sense... and there is no "would" be canon. Either it is canon of 1st, 2nd, 3rd a.s.o grade or it isn't.

speed increases because weapon energy is shunted towards the engines in that mode (enough power for at least one shot is kept [wraith squadron]), and maneuverability is hampered because the main engines have less space between them, and the (small invisible) maneuvering jets on the wings are not spread out [egvv and one of the x-wing books, i think]

[Flaser]

The X-wing uses "etheric rudders", not manuevering jets.

(My physics subdaemon shudders in me whenever I tell things like that.)

[aRaven]

you can divert power to the engines without closing the s-foils (ala x-wing (game))

another source of the xwings maneuverability is the gyromagnetic devices in the engines...

offtopic, but nice read: http://saxman.xwlegacy.net/Starfighters/X-wing.html

[maje]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the Millenium Falcon engage afterburners when trying to divert the Star Destroyer Avenger's weapons energy to the bridge shield?  I know that Han never specifically says afterburners, but it does have the general appearance during that chase sequence of ESB.

[spartan_0214]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the Millenium Falcon engage afterburners when trying to divert the Star Destroyer Avenger's weapons energy to the bridge shield?  I know that Han never specifically says afterburners, but it does have the general appearance during that chase sequence of ESB.

Correction: That would be engine flare from rapid acceleration, not an afterburner.

you can divert power to the engines without closing the s-foils (ala x-wing (game))

Fact. Though Star Wars isn't noted for its realism (sound in space, aerodynamic starfighters), we are dealing with logic here, ergo we can use the logic that there is (almost) no resistance in space.

another source of the xwings maneuverability is the gyro magnetic devices in the engines...

Fact. And there are variable exhaust nozzles on the 4L4's (the exhaust nacelles in your link). The gyro magnetic devices help the variable exhaust nozzles in tight turns.

The X-wing uses "etheric rudders", not maneuvering jets.

(My physics subdaemon shudders in me whenever I tell things like that.)

Addendum: The "etheric rudders" are a combination of the variable exhaust nozzles and gyro magnetic devices.

speed increases because weapon energy is shunted towards the engines in that mode (enough power for at least one shot is kept [wraith squadron]), and maneuverability is hampered because the main engines have less space between them, and the (small invisible) maneuvering jets on the wings are not spread out [egvv and one of the x-wing books, i think]

Fact. X-Wing starfighters have an energy diversion system similar to FreeSpace's Energy Transfer System.

this is the part where i come in and do my grouchy old man thing (despite the fact that i am but 20) saying that new star wars is not canon, and that you shouldn't be using things from episodes 1-3 as reference as they were only created to sell small plastic toys.

rogue squadron game mechanics are a bit too arcadey for our purposes, as well.  a higher speed but limited maneuverability mode for craft with s-foils would be canon though, and should be implemented.

Query: Why would a higher speed limit maneuverability? The A-Wing starfighter has much faster fusial engines, but due to well-placed maneuvering jets and large variable exhaust nozzles. The TIE fighter is also faster than an X-Wing and also has increased maneuverability (in space; once it hits atmosphere...well, read the later X-Wing series books).

Yeah, Rogue Squadron had something similar (IIRC), but it was more like a top gear than an after burner! It certainly didn't seem limited by fuel.

Correction: The "top gear" was more than likely a quick transfer of energy to the engines and then a quick transfer back.

[jr2]

Ya... I think the "Overdrive" should be limited, but have a huge energy reserve.  (Remember the X-Wings in ANH had S-Foils locked until they prepared to have a go at the Death Star... )  So, probably enough for 5-10 mins or something.  Can someone verify that the speed boost is called "Overdrive"?  That's what I've heard it called (by my SW friend 10 years ago), but IDK what the source was... he had the movies, the games, and the books, so it could be anything.

[spartan_0214]

There isn't anything on the Star Wars wiki that says anything about an overdrive. However, Thrawn apparently helped develop a gunboat that had a SLAM system...

[chief1983]

In terms of an actual afterburner, there's not enough evidence in the movies that have the ships we're currently working on, or the other sources that deal with them, to prove that they should exist.  But, we will be doing some interesting stuff with the energy transfer systems on each ship, and some of them are going to have drastically different characteristics.  There are a couple of exceptions to this of course.  The Falcon may indeed have some sort of speed boost device, and the SLAM system in Thrawn's ships, but by and large, most ships don't have anything like an FS afterburner I don't believe.  As far as what possible purpose the S-Foils on the X-Wing could serve in space, I believe we're going with the way the maneuvering system works being the reason for it.  S-Foils open may aid the ships in making faster turns by having the gyro system further apart, while having them closed may increase efficiency or some other techno babble.  I don't think that simply opening and closing the S-Foils directly affects the ship's velocity.

[jr2]

Hmm... but my friend wouldn't have told me that they were called Overdrives unless he heard it from someplace... if I can find where he got it from....

[chief1983]

There may very well be a source that says that, but if it's a comic or one random novel, I really don't think it's enough to go against the rest of the sources.

[spartan_0214]

According to the Star Wars Wiki, S-foils were used for heat dispersion, atmospheric stability, and, on the X-Wing starfighters, increased weapon range.

[aurora_energy]

I think its possible that it has got to do with wind resistance, but that would only be the case when inside the atmosphere....

maybe the sfoil links together to not need to send the power from the generator to 1 engine back to the generator and instead let the energy pass through 2 engines resulting in doubleing the aperage. but yes you would be right, the primary reason for the sfoils are to have a more surrounding fire area... if that makes any sense...