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

For a real world troop lander comparison...

Spoiler

According to Wiki, Higgins Boats from the Second World War were about 36ft long, almost 11ft wide, and could hold 36 soldiers. So if those troop landers looked bigger than that they could possibly carry more troops than that.

 

Just finished the VR Vader Immortal for the first time. On a couple ship related notes:
1)The main character's ship, the Windfall, is a nice freighter design. Even though I adore the Lambda, I have grown just a bit tired of the drop down wings use in shuttle designs recently. Like all of them pretty much, just kind of overused. Here, in a nice twist, the wings drop out to a horizontal position, extending the profile laterally. Can't find any pics online of the configuration but makes for a neat twist. It's brief but the ability to walk around the interior a bit is a highlight and gives me hope for a dedicated game with such an experience in the future (nice enough on a freighter but a Star Destroyer would be even neater) Hope to see the design again.

2) Also features a TIE with an antipersonnel cannon, which is the first time I remember seeing such a thing. Attached and protruding from an upper lateral side of the ball cockpit. Shot out red rapid fire bolts on top of the standard dual green bolt cannons. Otherwise looked like a standard TIE fighter. Probably more a custom than a dedicated variant? The Empire has never struck me as particularly worried about collateral damage but maybe for use against infantry near sensitive locations (which would fit its use in the game's context).

Apologies if this has been brought up before - figure the game is a few years old so probably awhile if so. For those otherwise curious, I thought Vader Immortal was a neat if short experience. Worth it for hardcore fans (but wait for a sale as they happen from time to time)

 

Found a page on Artstation that has some art for it...but not the pivoting wings. The only thing I saw with that was on the hologram on the dashboard in the cockpit.

https://shenric13.artstation.com/projects/8lQJqm

 

Yes, that's how you most often see it throughout the game. It's either in a hangar or there's a neat bit where your character has a model of it in the ship itself and you can pick it up (actually one of the highlights for me as it's cool to feel like you actually have this thing in your hand). It's really I think just near the end where you head into hyperspace that you get an external view of it flying off (the rest of the time you're just looking through your character's eyes and are either inside it flying or it's on the ground) I think the base design is solid enough but it was the splayed wing thing that sold me on it's look. From what I remember the wings pivot so the longer surface is outward so the stubbier bit must fold inwards.

 

That's the weird thing...with Fallen Order they have all this video of the Stinger Mantis flying around and taking off and landing with the wing pivoting all around. With this barely nothing.

Let's hope this does not shrink...it shows the wings lowered.

 

Hmm, you know, looking closely at that page you linked, it has two holo shots of the profile in the cockpit. One in hyperspace with the wings as I described and one in realspace with the wings angled outwards but not flat. Makes me now think it has 3 configs; raised for landing, angled out for normal flight and straight out for hyperspace (kind of like Star Trek's Voyager shifts its warp nacelles when making its warp trips). I confess that brings the design down a notch in my eyes as I really like the wings straight out, but still gets a pass from me. I like the dashes of (still appropriately muted) colour on the freighter. Helps give it some character whereas most freighters we see are one colour in Star Wars or have less colour anyway. Thanks for the link.

 

I watched some of the game play and it looks like the one near the pilot station is real time of where the wings are. Then there was a station at the rear where is showed the wings up as they were looking for damage on the sensors. The back station could just be that...showing a damage assessment without showing the wings in their current configuration.

 

You're right, there is a segment where you are scanning for damage at the back. But it looks like in some of the shots, the pilot station holo shows either angled outwards or flat outwards and I think the latter looks like it corresponds to hyperspace. Maybe I'll have to fire up the first episode and keep a close look at the pilot station (will have to wait a bit as my daughter would absolutely demand she have access to the VR if she learns we have it and there's a warning not for children under 12 in regards to eye development so must remain a secret for now and await her being out)

 

I just found it when I searched for the game play in looked at videos.

Edit..another from that game....The Victor-Wing.

 

Hmm, for the life of me I can't remember seeing that ship. I just read the Wookiepedia summary and I remember them talking about the opening narrrative with stealing spice but from what I remember the game actually opens with you in hyperspace and then next thing you know, Interdictor. I did play the 1st episode a while back while just hitting the other 2 recently so I may very well be misremembering. All the more reason to give it another go, I guess.

 

Wonder if the next episode of "Kenobi" will feature the early (chronologically) appearance of Vader's TIE Advanced.

 

I just watched the cutscenes for the game recently and they are there, but they are a real blink and you miss them moment at the very beginning of the game, as in the first few seconds, when the player is probably focusing on other things.

I am surprised they bothered to model the ships for such a brief appearance.

Interesting idea. Was it established in legends when exactly his fighter was first developed?

 

Wookieepedia does not give particular year.

 

This is only about 5 years before it showed up in Rebels. Could be a functioning prototype if not early production.

Alright...back to The Windfall for a moment...just found this forum with pics of the ship with teh wings in both positions and a video of the landing gear retracting and wings pivoting....
https://groinkick.freeforums.net/thread/3/star-wars-model-links-thread?page=9

 

That explains it (about the ships in Vader Immortal). Early on I was really just acclimating to the experience. About Vader's TIE, I've always preferred the Legends idea where it is a newer prototype and only recently appeared before ANH. New canon already discounts that with its appearance in Rebels, so go for it. Now that you got me thinking about TIEs, seems like a good place for the Inquistor TIE to make a live action debut (though was Rebels implying Lothal was its absolute in universe debut? Maybe difference between actual secret prototoype and production model. Maybe the protoype to the prototype). Or even an appearance for the TIE/rb. I'll temper my expectations, though and assume nothing. Fun speculating but I've found actually anticipating ship stuff in Star Wars leads me to disappointment and gets in the way of enjoying the show/movie itself. One of the big reasons I've always found second watches of Star Wars media more fun. Once I KNOW there's not some ship stuff around the corner, I can focus on the story itself. (Only exception in recent years is Rogue One which vastly overdelivered on what I expected fleet wise).

 

I would say yet to Vader's TIE appearing in this series. It has been 10 years since RoTS and I would think Vader would have made it known he needed a better ship and as I said earlier it would be at at least the functional prototype stage. Seeing the /rb would probably be a good thing if they do it as Solo is set in 10bby so it fits the timeline.

I would keep the Inquisitor model introduced during Rebels though.

 

With the latest appearance of the Imperial troop lander I got curious about how many troops it could theoretically fit inside, so I put together an image using a picture of the lander from the second art of the Mandalorian book.

I had to resize the stormtrooper (around 2m tall before, 1.8m after resize) and the different views of the lander as they weren't in scale with each other (the front and rear view still aren't entirely right, possibly because there is a bit of perspective in play). If the majority of the bottom section of the lander can be used, It can theoretically fit 3 rows of 9 troops; giving a total of 27 stormtroopers.
I think it could fit more as the troops are facing towards the sides of the lander (didn't have a side view image of the stormtrooper), if instead they were facing to the front, there would be enough space for at least one or two more troops per row; giving a total of 30-33 troops. Additionally an extra row (bringing it to 4) could fit if the two outer rows of troops are leaning against the hull, facing inwards, and the two centre rows are facing towards the front - this would allow for 8-9 per outer row, and 10-11 per inner row; giving a total of 36-40 troops.

 

And that's if they put in seats. Let's face it...from the Clone Wars era LAAT to the First Order's AAL it has been standing room only. So who's to say this one is different. 36 to 40 hand holds hanging from the upper hull for balance.

 

FO Stormtrooper: The seats in the troop carrier need improving.

Imperial Stormtrooper: You have seats?

 

Come to think of it, they have a tie interceptor in Fallen Order and that is 15 BBY and it was based off Vader's prototype from what I recall...at least in legends, I suppose I don't know about canon.

(As much as I love that game's story, Trill having an interceptor so long before Yavin when we only seem them in the movies in ROTJ really bugs me. Legends also kept pushing back the interceptor annoyingly far.)

 

Not the only ship they did that with. IIRC the Howlrunner was introduced in Dark Empire but the Allegiance book put them right after ANH

 

I'm pretty sure at least one of the EGTV&V, maybe both, I can check when I'm home, have the Howlrunner as Incom's first big post-X-Wing defection debacle product. It just wasn't popular outside of some higher-ups closer to Palps. So the timeline with Allegiance does work.

 

Maybe I am mis-remembering but I thought that Incom was on the outs until the Rebels took out the Emperor and then they started ramping up again under the NR and the Howlrunner was not designed or released until a few years after Endor.

 

You're not! The little blurb about Incom near the beginning of the EGTV&V says the Howlrunner was released shortly after Thrawn's campaign, and the page on the Howlrunner itself says it's a contemporary of the A-9 Vigilance. In the NEGV&V (which I had been reading about the Howlrunner over the weekend, strangely enough) was vague on the dates of the Howlrunner on its specific page (which I read) and only had dates in the Incom blurb at the beginning (which I didn't read).

 

The snowspeeders from ESB (and also Kenobi, I guess): are they purpose built for combat? And what is the rear seat for, in non-snow adapted versions?