[Ghost]

Or.. you know... no oxygen left on the bridge, and people got sucked out/vaporized/burned beyond belief, and they couldn't do anything. Think logically. An A-wing could not crash into anything that large and do anything kinetically. It would have to be side effects, and I don't think the helm controls would vaporize.

[Cobra]

you're not getting it. the helm controls were vaporized and sent the Executor spiraling out of control.

[Ghost]

Prove it.

[Akalabeth Angel]

Dudes, the people piloting the ship on the bridge got killed, and then the Executor was pulled down into the Death Star's gravity well before the crew could re-establish control using the auxiliary bridge or what have you. I don't see what's so difficult about that.

Or put another way, A-wing hit Executor's brain, Executor stumble into Death Star and go BOOM.

[StratComm]

I guess the bigger question is why did the Executer vaporize itself when only its nose hit the Death Star?  The main reactors are way back near the engines, so why didn't it crumple like tinfoil until it got reasonably close to the reactor casing?  Oh, yeah, because it's a movie and because 'splosions look cool.

Though that one explosion in particular still strikes me as the worst explosion in the entire trilogy.  I mean, you can see the flames spread out across the top of the box that it was shot in (the column suddenly mushrooming out across the top of the screen isn't something a real explosion would ever do, unless there was a solid surface there to guide it), nevermind the flaming crater that it leaves behind.  It's just poorly done in comparison to even the other effects of the series.  The effects of convection on flame are exactly why you always, alway always shoot an explosion for a sci-fi effect from the bottom.

[NGTM-1R]

*cough*

Just thought I'd point out the Star Forge is not a Dyson Sphere; it's a large space-station, probably in the Death Star range of scale, that appears to be sucking up stellar material from the surface of the star it's near.

I always suspected the Executor didn't blow up: it hit a magazine, reactor fuel storage, or something else 'splody in the Death Star, THAT blew up, then the Executor blew up too. The flame does seem to come from the impact point.

[Akalabeth Angel]

Magazine? Of what, turbolaser casings?
It's just a bad explosion, a shute of fire which moves FAR too fast considering its supposed to be 16+ km long. Quit searching for in-universe explanations, and look at it for what it is.

It's like the Tie Fighter cannons, in ANH they were like WW2 fighter planes firing a quick succession of shots. And in the later movies they fired seemingly-more powerful and inter-spaced shots. Do all of the Tie Fighters have new guns? No, it's just a new special effect.

[NGTM-1R]

Proton torpedos, concussion missiles, thermal detonators. The Death Star has large wings of TIEs, including TIE Bombers which use all of the above. (And possibly other craft, like the Assault Gunboat. I'm told there's even a TIE Defender hidden in the rush of TIEs past the Millenium Falcon in RotJ, but I've never been able to find it for myself.)

It also has a large garrison force aboard, multiple divisions of Imperial Army troopers and stormtroopers. They make use of explosives: proton grenades, standard grenades, thermal detonators, probably whatever the Star Wars equivalent to plastic explosive is.

[Night Hammer]

i didnt think Defenders were around by ROTJ

[NGTM-1R]

The events of TIE Fighter actually start shortly after Hoth, and the final campaign available (I have TIE Fighter on CD, so I have everything from the mission disks as well) is titled "Ultimate Victory" and includes missions from the lead-up to Endor, like killing some Rebel capital ships to ensure they bring in all their possible reinforcements, and assassinating a Bothan who thinks the Death Star II information might be a trap. It's done from the cockpit of the Missile Boat, so the T/D is around too.  I'm not quite sure where your pilot is for Endor, though, as it's been too long since I've played that campaign.

The Defender appeared before then in X-Wing Alliance, too. TIE Defender group Shadow shows up at the Droid TIE testing facility to oppose you: I remember them all too well, because I nearly wet my pants when one of them came after my fighter. Fortunately he wasn't quite as uber as I remembered.

[Spicious]

Originally posted by Cobra
the helm controls were vaporized

I doubt the exploding A-wing would really vaporise all that much.

The Executor exploded because, when it hit the Death Star, someone fell on the self destruct button.

[phatosealpha]

The player in TIE Fighter isn't at endor.  While the emperor is off doing his thing with the death star 2, you get commissioned to go help Admiral Thrawn Chase down the traitorous Admiral Zaarin.