One time admirer and lurker, first time poster and
still admiring!
Here's my observation as to what's "canon" enough to be in any Star Wars game that's set during the Original Trilogy:
(1) Any of the ships that actually appeared in the first three films
(2) Any of the ships from the prequel films
And anything beyond that is pure speculation due to the fact that the Lucas Empire has grown so mammoth that its only means of survival is to satiate itself,
endlessly I might add, on money. And they will do anything, and I do mean
anything to latch their leach-like mouths on us fanboys' wallets.
Words such as "continuity," "artistic expression," and "character development" are flat out the window of a 200 story skyscraper when it comes to the empty suits that guide this behemoth. And that's the cold, hard, and most importantly of all, easily
demonstrated truth.
"Retconning" is a term of pure corporate propaganda. And the overwhelming majority of the time, the EU's retcons are so pathetically awkward that it would be far easier to read an editorial blurb at the start of every chapter that reads "Odds are significantly high that events detailed here will be made meaningless later..."
The "sloppiness" of such "mistakes" is
not genuinely accidental, but rather
perfectly predictable when one reflects a little on
the system that produces it. I fell for it for a while too, but have come to see it for what it is, and I've freed myself from the ravenous cash register that the EU is.
That said, it seems implausible to me that anyone can somehow pretend that the Prequels, and
all of their content "didn't" happen. They can
wish to banish them from history, but billions of current/future dollars will
prove otherwise.
For myself, the Prequel ships should be included to some degree, however marginal, in this total conversion of the FS2 engine. As has been stated in an earlier post, the Republic color schemes on the fleets of vessels was quickly done away with, and it seems
more than reasonable to expect to see them serving in some capacity in the Original Trilogy. Just because they weren't in the OT films does
not mean they somehow weren't in that universe.
It never fails to boggle my mind how quickly fans of the completely cliche'd Thrawn Trilogy race to defend the creation of a non-cinemized Zahn craft as being
more "canon" than ships that have
actually been on screen. Such individuals epitomize George Orwell's definition of "doublespeak" and "doublethink."
The majority of the Prequel ships could easily be stuck in backwater/light duties, and be present in low numbers. Fighter craft, which tend to have a much shorter lifespan than a capital ship, could be used quite convincingly as pirate ships, mercenary units, and whatnot. They could even be doctored up with customized paint schemes, or (even more believably in my opinion) graffiti. Capital ships could be handled in a similar fashion, although due to their enormous costs, it seems to me that they'd be less likely to get a new paint job. Certainly, their weaponry and systems would be swapped out for others, and these different systems wouldn't necessarily be superior to what we've seen in the films; they could be cannibalized from even older or inferior ships.
The point is that the Prequel ships can be used, and would certainly add more flavor and character to the game. And without question in my mind,
increase the likelihood of the mod being downloaded, because in spite of all of the badmouthing of the Prequels that goes on, there are
far more people who enjoyed them enough not to let the "canon technobabble" bother them in the least. They
would appreciate to see these ships, however briefly, in the game.
