[brandx0]

Technically, in the first movie the TIE Pilots were well outnumbered.

[Akalabeth Angel]

Technically, in the first movie the TIE Pilots were well outnumbered.

      Is it ever said how many TIEs the Death Star launches? I remember the command centre says something about a second group of ships, heading your way yadda yadda. That being said, the Turbolaser towers should count for something. Plus what do you need TIEs for when the Rebels got people like Porkins who are just going to fly into a building anyway.

[brandx0]

32 Rebel fighters, 8 Imperial.  The Death star didn't launch any fighters but vader ordered his personal squadron out there (Black squadron, which only had 8 pilots).

[IceFire]

Technically, in the first movie the TIE Pilots were well outnumbered.

I don't know...see the movie seems to have the abridged version of the battle. The novelization has a much longer more intense version of the battle which was more interesting and there were many more Rebel and Empire squadrons fighting it out.

[brandx0]

32 vs 8 isn't just from looking at what is shown on screen, it's confirmed as canon from other background info as well

[FUBAR-BDHR]

Is that counting Vader?  I believe the movie shows 3 groups of 3.  2 groups of 3 Ties and one group of 2 Ties and Vader. 

[MR_T3D]

yeah, vader counts as, like, 20TIES or something

BTW: wasn't theis derailed TIE-int thread supposed to be about TIE/Defenders

(prefer the idea of bulkier fighter, to make sense, but mishmashed ints look good aswell

[Rand al Thor]

Yep, sorry folks, I got a bit carried away. RP, you sound like you know what you're on about so we'll leave it at that.

And for my on topic contribution; was it really 8 vs 32? How do the other sources account for the Rebs getting pasted? I know that, in the films at least, fighter sized deflectors don't seem to count for much but it still seems like a huge advantage. Is it just marked up to the fact that a whole death star is shooting at the Rebs as well?

Obviously from the previous ranting, I take most of my Star Wars fighter mechanics from the games so how is it supposed to work? Or how do you guys envision it working? Do all Tie models run rings around rebel fighters? Or are you attempting (successfully?) to bring flight positioning into the mix? Or just Vader?

And finally, are all shielded fighters going to be easy to hit targets? For instance in the X-Wing series of games, unshielded Tie Fighter/Interceptor and even Bomber to some degree, are vastly more difficult to hit than shielded craft. Which I though was far too unbalanced. But what really freaked me out was that when your shields failed, unless you took all charge from them, any hit to your shields that wouldn't have even charged back to 1%, would be transfered completely to your hull, which basically maded shielded fighters death traps.

I'd guess that whether this happens or not will be a feature of the Freespace engine, but I can't remember how it works in retail. Please tell me the above wont be the case.

[chief1983]

Considering this was only split because it went off topic in the first place, going off topic here is completely allowed, and I'll just update the subject to '2nd most misleading subject ever' if it gets that bad.

[Renegade Paladin]

Awwww, and I was getting all ready to fire up FRAPS and go take on unlimited waves of 3 TIE/Ds for five minutes and see how many I could get.   

[FUBAR-BDHR]

Considering this was only split because it went off topic in the first place, going off topic here is completely allowed, and I'll just update the subject to '2nd most misleading subject ever' if it gets that bad.

If it gets even worse then the other topic will you switch this names around so you can really confuse everyone?   

[StarSlayer]

*facepalm*

To think this started during a discussion of the Squint's weaponry when I used the Defender as an example of a craft that used its "hull laser mounts" for something other then the regular Eyeball.

[Scourge of Ages]

Ok, let's see if I can post anything relevant...

I agree that the TIE-D was wayyyyyy too overpowered. But it was nice for those times when you didn't want to worry about dying or anything silly.
In my opinion, the Interceptor was the premier main-line Imperial fighter. It was fast, powerful, and plentiful.
The standard TIE-Fighter always seemed like a deathtrap, TIE-Bomber too.

I guess the best way to stay alive in those is to command your AI wingmates to go in first, and then sneak in around behind your target

[Aardwolf]

It looks like they'd have to cut off the guys head in order for him to pilot that thing...

[brandx0]

Nah it's just built like a race car.  The entire thing is built to just barely contain the pilot

[IceFire]

*facepalm*

To think this started during a discussion of the Squint's weaponry when I used the Defender as an example of a craft that used its "hull laser mounts" for something other then the regular Eyeball.

No worries...I think people like to talk about the Empire's ultimate starfighters.  I'm a huge fan of the TIE "Avenger" as I said earlier...in any case the TIE Fighter games I think were a huge influence on space sim folks like all of us so its not surprising people like to talk about it.

When I was talking to the Volition guys about the FreeSpace games I remember a couple of them saying that when they sat down and decided on what they wanted to make...they wanted to basically do something that was as good as TIE Fighter and blending the game styles of Wing Commander, TIE Fighter, and any of the other space sim classics together into something spectacular.

So with TIE Fighter being so memorable and the ships it had being such classics now...not surprising people like to discuss them...allot

[MR_T3D]

what if sheilds are only good for absorbing one good laser hit...or two.

THAT would make balance easier

[On_Your_Six]

In order for the balancing issues to be addressed for the Defender (I actually would rather not see it at all, the Avenger is passable, but the Interceptors equipped with shields would be the best way to go, in the vein of TIE Fighters later campaigns.) the best way to go would be to have the speed take heavy hits when powering either the lasers or shields.  There's no way a power core that can fit within a TIE is possibly going to be able to have the kind of output to maintain recharge rates and blazing engine speeds (I don't subscribe to the "solar panel" wings idea).  Essentially, say you were to go for max recharge for the weapons, well that beast has 4 laser and 2 ion cannons,the speed I thing should be dropped to around par with the Interceptors speed.  (Mind that I've got the XWA speeds in mind here). 

But again, bleh to the Defender, it's just too ridiculous (the design is badass though).

[swashmebuckle]

what if sheilds are only good for absorbing one good laser hit...or two.

THAT would make balance easier

In keeping with the "movie" accuracy this mod is going for, I wouldn't expect starfighter shields to absorb fire like they do in other sims, nor for them to be completely nerfed (Luke and Wedge both shrug off direct hits at Yavin, though they clearly cause problems for both fighters)...Shield balance is mentioned directly a few times in the trilogy, so it should hopefully still be a significant factor in surviving a fight.  As for the Defender, I like the idea of slowing it down, and I'd like to see it taken further (say original TIE fighter speed).  That would both balance out its excellent armament/shielding and give it a reason to not be called the TIE Attacker (other than that sounding stupid).

[Flipside]

I always felt the TIE/D, like the Assault Gunboat were designed by LucasArts for one purpose, which was to give a player a ship to fly in Mission that could actually take more than a couple of hits. I loathed flying the T/B for example, but I still consider it one of the best TIEs regardless because it did exactly what it said on the tin.