Lit Fleet Junkie Flagship- The technical discussions of the GFFA (Capital Ships thread Mk. II)

S-Foils are pretty cool, it looks more like one wing that splits into 2 rather than the previous models that had 2 wings that moved apart (if that makes any sense). Also different color scheme from the previous version. Maybe like the Old X-wing and TIE fighter games they will come in different colors?

 

They seem smaller, too.

Any close-ups on the TIE's?

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

The blue markings harken back to the ANH novelization, when Red Squadron was known as "Blue Squadron". They ended up removing the blue markings due to the issues they caused when filming against a blue screen. As far as I am concerned, it is high time for blue X-wings!

RE: size, they don't look smaller to me. Sleeker maybe, but essentially the same 12.5m, +/-.

--Adm. Nick

 

I might be easy to please when it comes to sci-fi fantasy stuff, but after seeing those x-wings and stormtroopers I was pretty excited about this movie.

Just need an ISD mark III in the next trailer

 

What I am wondering about in Episode 7 is the TIE fighters. Although it was in the EU, which is now non canon, I thought TIE Interceptors were intended to replace the old TIE fighters, and surely would have largely replaced them by now.
My own guesses are:
A: NuCanon TIE interceptors are not a replacement/upgrade of the TIE but instead have a slightly different role that is only really for ship to ship combat where as perhaps the TIE fighter is a more general fighter craft.
B: The Economics of the time meant that TIE fighters stayed more prominent (actually this one was in the EU).
C: TIE fighters are way more iconic and well known/remembered than the interceptors and better for sequel in terms of nostalgia and helping the audience to relate this film with the original trilogy.

Of course, this was just a teaser and perhaps these TIEs were just old equipment fallen into the hands of Mercenaries. So who know what we will see come next year.

 

I would probably go for that one. It had a huge production run and I would see no reason why there wouldn't still be a bunch still in service 30+ years later, especially in the more isolated part of the Galaxy.

Since we have seen updated X-Wings and Stortrooper armor in the trailer, I am sure we will get some new TIE variants as well.

 

I would lean toward B, but the TIE's might belong to another party while the Imps upgraded to Interceptors & Hunters.

Besides, I never bought into the EU theory that the Imps couldn't manufacture TIE's post-ROTJ. TIE's are supposed to be cheap & simple. While they might not be able to build SD's & other capital ships, TIE's should take minimal effort. And a cash-strapped Empire should be able to field far more TIE's than the Rebels can field X-Wings.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

I'm pretty sure the Empire can produce fighters and warships -- they can build the former on one planet after all (Rebels), and the Empire probably still has thousands of industrial planets post-RotJ. They'd have an abundance of designers and technicians able to be put to work on new ones too.

However, the relative stagnation of the Star Wars universe would mean that basic TIE fighters would be competitive for quite some time, and the Empire probably had a large surplus of them. Hence, they'd still be using them.

Which is why older walkers and ISDs we've seen in the OT will likely still be in the film.

The big change during the PT would be due to war starting up again, so you'd start seeing larger warships and newer fighters until they've hit a practical limit for production and effectiveness.

 

Double run

 

While Zahn has the Imperials start using other fighters, in Specter of the Past (Preybirds) this is because:

"They're being scrounged from who knows where - probably some fringe pirate or mercenary gang. And they're being scrounged precisely because we're down to a single major shipyard and it can't keep up with demand for capital ships, let alone starfighters."

so - they don't lack the technical capacity - but their production facilities are busy producing other things.

 

Fighter production is relatively easy. As anotherdemon pointed out, even a backwater planet like Lothal can build TIE's. It's the capital ships that take the most effort. Besides, Preybirds seem like they would be more complex and expensive than TIE's.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the Imperial Remnant taking a page from the Rebellion and converting bulk cruisers & transports into TIE carriers.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

The Galactic Empire already did that in Rebels - modified the Gozanti transport design, making it a TIE carrier.

 

Don't forget, the Galactic Civil War had probably exhausted the Imperial Remnant so much in credits that they could afford to simply build a TIE factory on worlds needed for agriculture since instead of thousands of star systems, they only had eight sectors and probably thousands of non-military civilians.

 

That Gozanti was a purpose-built prison ship with external docking for fighters....like a Carrack cruiser. I'm thinking more like bulk cargo haulers modified for fighters....like in the first TTT book.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

It seems to be a refitted general use freighter which the Empire just took a liking to, since TCW and even the PT has the more normal version show up several times.

 

The Imperial Gozanti doesn't appear to be all that impressive, though that might be due to them taking on the hero ship (which is very impressive).

Shame there hasn't been any larger ship to ship combat yet.

 

Four TIEs don't make a ship a carrier. In that regard the Gozanti is more like some battleships from before and during WW2, which had 2-4 airplanes for scouting or as messengers. I'm also surprised, that the ship is called a cruiser. Its civilian version would be a transport or freighter, while militarily it would be a corvette (it is even from the same company, that builds the Corellian Corvette and even lesser armed, than that one).

 

Considering how small it is - 4 TIEs is a lot.

 

MACs are the much better example here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_aircraft_carrier

Not really surprising since the CEC Consular and Bail´s CEC build Runner are also called cruisers.

 

Not really, if you consider, that Wraith-Squadron managed to ferry an entire squadron of the larger X-Wings around on a Corellian Corvette (alright, eight X-Wings and four TIEs).

 

Wasn't that corvette a heavily converted one, "trying very hard to be a pocket carrier"?

It was also twice the length of a Gozanti (Gozantis are 64m long, Corellian Corvettes are 120m-odd or more).

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Gozanti-class_cruiser

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Tantive_IV/Canon
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Corellian_Corvette

I'd say the closest equivalent to the Imperial Gozanti might be the Merchant Aircraft Carrier:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_aircraft_carrier

 

The Night Caller was also significantly bigger than a Goanzti, as was the FarStar which archived a similar feat.

 

Ups, saw a 1 for hundred, where there was none. Also got the impression from the pilot of Rebels, that the ship was larger than it is.

How embarassing.

 

TIEs are pretty small, and they probably don't need much in the way of support once loaded up, other than fuel, which could be siphoned from the Gozanti itself.

It's plausible to fit the 4 on the one Gozanti.

Which makes it a fairly good patrol vessel and armed freighter, which is what we see it doing in the show.

 

Four fighters is also a pretty standard "unit" - the Falcon was attacked by 4 after escaping the Death Star, and the "finger-four" formation was historically pretty good:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger-four

 

GFFA squadrons also tend to be 12 birds, broken into 3 flights of 4.