B-Wing: Underused Starfighter?

hahaha...i feel that B-Wings are more or less attached to carriers or Capital ships rather then being more "independent" like X-Wings...e.g,Rogue & Wraith Sqns usually have based on world rather then off Cap Ships...although they do appear on cap ships from time to time...

 

It's not so much that I'm a big B-wing fan. Far from it (shielded squints and avengers are more my bag). It's just that X-wings are *way* overused in the NJO. I can understand them staying in service during the war, but seriously, they're archaic by now. Even if the majority of them are flown by private citizens like Luke, Jacen, et cetera, I find it incredible that actual military units (not to mention Rouge-freakin'-Squadron!) are still flying the thing. Unlike a capital vessel, there's only so much you can do before the basic frame is physically altered to a noticable degree.
So yes, I'd love to see some more B-wing E2 attack fighters thrown into the mix. And some bloody E-wings. They're *superior* to the X-wing. *sigh* I guess they're just a fan favorite.

 

Peacekeeper: That would probably be because the X-wings that Rogue and Wraith Squadrons use have landing gear suited to land on a planet. B-wings land on their side, on one of their S-foils, and lack proper landing struts (as far as I know), making landing them on planets very hard to do. And all the space taken up by engines, weapons, etc. leaves precious little space for survival gear.

 

B-wings do have landing struts, which extend out of one side of the main body and one of the wings.

I'd post pics of the B-wing action figure vehicle, which has landing gear, but I don't have any pics (but I do have the vehicle )

 

I'm going to have to have another go on XvT, because I never really noticed the laser convergence thing; I found the B-Wing to be a good craft for dogfighting and assault.

 

Z-95 Headhunter - Important Before ANH
Y-Wing - " "

X-Wing - Important in the Movies

A-Wing - Heavily underused
B-Wing - Even more heavily underused.

V-Wing - EU but cool
E-Wing - EU but cool

I think that the B-Wings should be the Jedi craft. They were barely used, and then replaced by the E-Wing Starfighter.

Hmm. You're right.

 

B-Wings are definitely one of the best starfighters around if you know how to use them. I spent a lot of time playing X-Wing and the expansions for it, and I learned how to compensate for the B-Wing's laser placement. XWA introduced convergence, which was a godsend and made the BW a force to be reckoned with in the hands of an experienced pilot. Everyone has a preference about which fighters they like, this one was mine. Imperial strike forces were nothing for a squad of B-Wings.

 

"I can understand them staying in service during the war, but seriously, they're archaic by now. Even if the majority of them are flown by private citizens like Luke, Jacen, et cetera, I find it incredible that actual military units (not to mention Rouge-freakin'-Squadron!) are still flying the thing."

We are talking about a highly advanced civilization. There are only so many ways to "redesign the wheel," so to speak.

Even putting the x-wing at, say, 50 years old, I can't see how it would be "archaic."

That being said, it is supposed to be a mid-spec starfighter, meaning its good at lots of stuff, but not the very best at everything (not specialized for bombing runs, etc). I agree that it is overused, and I would love to see more mission specific-type starcrafts used more often.

 

A fifty year old fighter plane *isn't* archaic? P-51 Mustangs and F-86 Sabers are all well and good, but no degree of upgrading will ever make them a viable threat to even an F-4J Phantom II, much less an F/A-18E Super Hornet.

Galactic Civil War-era TIEs are obsolete (hence Thrawn ordering interceptors to be equipped with deflector shields), so methinks that the X-wing shouldn't be far behind.

 

A B-wing can be a nasty dogfighter if the other guy/AI doesn't treat it cautiously. Many a TIE Interceptor and Advanced has bought the farm under a B-wing's guns. The placement can actually help in a dogfight, since you don't have to get the guy dead center in your sights - this was one of the things that made the P-51 Mustang such a good fighter. The massive amount of energy in its power systems also allows you to be a lot more flexible with changing ELS settings than an A-wing - drop the shield recharge to zero and replenish them with cannon power set at 3/4, and you can keep pace with a TIE Fighter or X-wing and still take and dish out punishment. The manuverability isn't too bad - B-wing versus an Assault Gunboat is a total massacre that goes in a B-wing's favor.

One thing I've been wondering is if the B-wing could possibly be replaced by a beefed-up E-wing, analagous to how the old A-6 Intruder and A-7 Corsair attack jets in the US Navy and Air Force have been replaced by the F-14 Tomcat, F/A-18 Hornet, and F-15E Strike Eagle. Perhaps the Series IV E-wing mentioned in Star by Star is a tougher, twin-seat version with more torps and maybe an ion cannon.

 

That, sir, would kick ass.

 

A fifty year old fighter plane *isn't* archaic? P-51 Mustangs and F-86 Sabers are all well and good, but no degree of upgrading will ever make them a viable threat to even an F-4J Phantom II, much less an F/A-18E Super Hornet.

Don't go dissin the Mustang, those things kicked serious Me109 ass



PS: I know you're not "dissing" anything

 

Yeah, the P-51 was a neat bird. My personal favorite is still, and forever will be, the F4U Corsair, though. Yeah baby.

An interestig tidbit:
During a war in Central America a few decades ago, the final production Corsair shot down the final production Mustang. Strange stuff.

 

Corsairs freakin' rocked.

 

Ooh-rah!
It's all about the Black Sheep squadron and their badasstic F4Us.
*thumbs-up*

 

K-wings!!

 

Gosh, yeah. They were supposed to be a failry big deal. And they got, what? Two books? Three?

 

Behind the Skipray Blastboat & the YT-2000, B-Wings are my favorite craft. I like big, slow, heavily-shielded ships w/ a LOT of firepower; and I've never had a problem w/ hitting TIE's (fire-link lasers & ions--even a glancing blow vaporizes them).

I always wondered why the Alliance didn't use Blastboats more instead of developing a brand-new fighter...

 

comparing a 50 year old SW starfighter to a 50 year old earth plane makes absolutely no sense.

I don't know how to explain that any better, it seems plain as day to me. Could someone help me here? Or am I standing alone, out in the cold, the winds of Hoth freezing my little toes off? Heh.

 

I think I understand, Colt.

There is no DIRECT comparison between old piston/prop aircraft and jet aircraft because the technology is fundalmentally different.

A better example would be the B-52, which turns 50 next year. As a heavy bomber, there is NO other substitute, even though newer, more advanced designs have come around. The B-52 is suppose to remain in front line service until 2045!

Like the X-wing, the B-52 survives because of a continual upgrade program.

Nations like S. Korea still use upgraded F-4 Phantoms along side of F-16's, because they can be improved to be nearly as capable as the newer fighters.

the A-10 has not been produced since the 70's, but it performed wonderously in Iraq..

The X-wing is simply the "morale" fighter of the Alliance. The pilots trust and take pride in them, and it reamins viable through upgrades and retrofits...

What could be better?

 

Seeing a different fighter in a Star Wars novel?
:\

 

By the time the NJO comes around, Incom had upgraded the X-wing at least twice. I know the newest version is the XJ X-wing, which is what high ranking Jedi, (Luke et al) use as well as Twin Suns and currently the Rogues. In Onslaught, gavin was simming in the Xj's predecessor, I believe ( but I am not sure) the A1 X-wing.

Both upgrades had improved speed(not much), more effficient power plants, and a better overall computer packages( to the point that they could be quickly upgraded with the new targetng info and stutter fire lasers). They are also backward compatible, meaning that R2 droids can still fit in them, but they are probably more efficiet with an R7 like Anakin had.

As for the B-wing, it is underused ( as with the A-wing) I think that the authors need to be more innovative with it's use and other fighters. Like Allston's use of the B-wing as a Remote-controll station "or mobile HQ" for Twin Suns, the New republic needs to go back to innovative ways of using their resoures.

An interesting idea is that after the NJO story arc is done, they could go back and do an "X-wing" like series focusing on a B-wing or A-wing squadron. I'd like to see what happen to Pash Cracken.

DZ

 

I've got a fanfic series in the works that follows Keyan Farlander's fighter squadron through Hoth and Endor, with a later arc planned for the Thrawn Trilogy and beyond. For exposition, Keyan is the pilot you play in the original X-Wing computer game and the sole surviving Y-wing pilot at Yavin.

In the one I'm working on now (about 20-odd pages done out of a planned 750+), Keyan forms a composite squadron as a sort of mini-raiding group, with one flight of B-wings as the assault component, one flight of A-wings as the escort component, and one flight of X-wings as a "swing" component that can aid either the B-wings or A-wings (this unit makeup is actually designed from Bonus Missions 2 and 3 on the X-wing Collector's CD-ROM, which I plan to write up). Among the pilots are a Calamarian B-wing jockey named Ibitsam (prior to her appearances in the X-Wing: Rogue Squadron comics) and a young Cal Omas flying X-wings. The second arc would pick up during the Thrawn Trilogy, where Farlander is assigned to field the first squadron of prototype E-wing fighters.

 

Well, you got to ask those who have gone against B-Wings to really understand what they can do.

In 1999 and 2000, there was no greater X-Wing Alliance fan then myself, and the B-Wings COULD be very dangerous. Going at them from teh front is pure suicide if the opposing pilot is a marginally good gunner. They have a very small profile when you got at them head to head, and were just as hard to hit going at them from the back also. They obviously were huge targets to hit when you could flank them, of course.

And if you are good with your mission orders and allocation, and employ good wing man tactics, B-Wings of course are great.

One time, I boosted forward really well, locked onto a ISD's Shield Generator, and then ordered my wingmate to attack, with me falling in behind him; with another online player covering us in an X-Wing. We managed to take out both Power Generators in our attack run, leaving the ISD all to vulnerable to our Ion Guns.

 

I'd only choose a B-Wing over an X-Wing if I know I'll have to blow up something big or if I need to disable something. Anything else I go for an X-Wing. Dropping an ISD on hard is easy enough in a solo X-Wing, though it probably takes a little longer.