Star Wars: TIE Defender (Legends Sources) - Spacedock

[@Spacedock]

If you learn but one thing from watching Spacedock let it be this: The TIE Defender makes the X-Wing look like a Gungan Bongo with sidearms taped to it's hull.

[@husia77]

😊😊😊

[@husia77]

im first

[@Squige137]

And don't even get me started on green k-turns...

[@thefuturist1867]

Spacedock please do a video on the uscss nostromo or the uscss Prometheus

[@terryforsdyke306]

but that did not stop the Rogues from taking them down like they were nothing, sugesting the "best" Rebel/Republic pilots are way better than the best imperials. probably because the Rebels get the chance to learn from mistakes, if you are dead after a pair of laser hits like most TIE Fighter pilots you will not have the chance to learn

[@Ausogiea]

I seem to remember that the Defender was also equipped with a modest Tractor beam, which it could use to grapple with enemy fighters and hold them in its sights longer. The beam could also be used to latch the Defender onto nearby capital ships, allowing it to perform highly unpredictable manoeuvres far beyond what its intrinsic agility would allow.

[@billvolk4236]

This guy could make a video describing the features of a sewing machine and it'd sound cool. In fact, he should do that.

[@lillyanneserrelio2187]

The Singer Sewing Machine Model D, comes standard with 3 leg base mount and so seamstress came to call them "Trips" They were the pinnacle of Singer engineering and would have dominated the (sewing) world except a lack of funding due to CEO Tawkin's doctrine on "Bigger is better" and instead put their funding into factory sized machines for stiching large scale projects.

[@animated000]

Lol he should

[@CHEF-55457]

@@animated000 Agreed!

[@eg0nmaker]

Concur.

[@souplike.homogenate]

Peak April Fool's episode potential

[@k-874]

*Would you rather:* *Have 3 Million of the most OP Tie-Fighter* *OR* *One Round Moon that could easily be destroyed by 2 fughter squadrons*

[@FBI-ju5no]

Small correction, that "round moon" couldn't be destroyed by fighters, save for very specific circumstances. Ask yourself: in episode 6, why didn't they immediately go for an opening in the second death star?

[@detachsoup6061]

FBI 1987 still its a simple question, or a fighter that makes every small mission in space impossible, or a gaint moon than you can use since you destroy youre own planets (their rebels, they live with youre population.)

[@FBI-ju5no]

@@detachsoup6061 It's a fundamentally flawed question. Two fighters under normal circumstances CAN'T take out a death star, so there isn't a point in asking. As for "every small mission in space impossible" don't know what your asking her, cause that sounds awful. And "destroy your own planets" not so much, as there were no confirmed imperial casualties on Alderan, and the death stars were more a symbol than an actual weapon. You knew they could blow up your planet, so you didn't bother trying to rebel.

[@benlaskowski357]

Let's look at it this way: how much did the Death Star cost and how many TIE Defenders could be built for that amount?

[@apassionatenerd.3564]

@@FBI-ju5no they did go for an opening in the second death star, several ships including the falcon flew down a huge shaft to blow up its core. If you mean "why didn't they go for another trench run?" It would probably be because the route they took had less defense throughout than the trench and id assume the Empire probably ducktaped over that hole in the trench when they built the second death star.

[@wolfu597]

Grandadmiral Thrawn: "If someone of Ezra Bridgers modest skill, can best three trained pilots, our new fighter will give us an overwhelming advantage against the rebels"

[@ericmaserati5840]

The TIE Defender was the only ship in X-Wing Alliance that would make me consider bugging out rather than staying for bonus points. Only the A Wing or a YT-1300 (or higher) could match up against two or more coming at you. Beast of a ship!

[@DeetexSeraphine]

"...and the X-wings, tallied on it's hull." 0.o Damn... Ominous. Well spoken, eloquent.

[@CHEF-55457]

Well... That was a fast and short video! Just what I needed!! :)

[@ReZel80657]

Really wish this would show up in the new Star Wars cannon like episode 8 or 9

[@isaackim7675]

Maybe you could do a breakdown of Marvel Cinematic Universe’s wideranged aircrafts?

[@alexbush2183]

can you do more halo ships pleased, love this channel btw keep it up 👌👌

[@deeacosta2734]

How can you see out of this thing?

[@DaddyHensei]

The Empire would have won if they didn't keep spending tax dollars on moon sized battle stations with reactor problems!

[@stardude2006]

Don Dude That's why they lost the War

[@vividsparrow4378]

stardude2006 No shit sherlock

[@DeetexSeraphine]

"...and the x-wings, tallied on it's hull." Okay yeah, that would be a frightful sight.

[@tuxedotservo]

In X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter (I think - whatever the first one that was multiplayer was), and all my friends piled into X-Wings - I picked the Defender... ... and proceeded to shoot all three of them down as they whimpered helplessly on speakerphone.. I even made it "fair" by not using missiles. I *loved* that ship...

[@terryforsdyke306]

I was under the impression they cost as much as several squadrons of TIE Fighters, at only 4 times the cost of a basic TIE Fighter it would be well worth replacing losses with Defenders, the fact that it can suvive more than 1 laser hit with sheilds down, and that the sheilds could suvive several laser hits or even missiles/torpedoes (which would destroy TIE Interceptors or Bombers with a single hit), make the Defender far more economical, as 1 defender is worth about as much as a squadron of regular TIE Fighters in terms of combat effectiveness.

[@Spacedock]

The cost of assembly is four times that of a TIE/Ln, but the source does heavily imply that the full-process of bringing a Defender into service costs far more, what with component prices, pilot training etc.

[@terryforsdyke306]

I supose you could also add in the fact that TIE Fighters and Interceptors were essentialy disposable but a Defender would need maintenance, and after a fight it could cost more to repair a Defender than build a new Fighter, also unlike the more common TIEs the Defender routinely carried missiles, something rarely done with a Fighter or Interceptor. I dread to think how much the Cygnus Missile Boat would have cost, it could carry upto 64 warheads, one of the missions in TIE Fighter had your breifing include something to the effect of try to save the Star Destroyer but do not loose your ship, the experemental missile boat is far more valuable than the Star Destroyer.

[@UltraSuperDuperFreak]

I never understood why economy play a role in many things (i didtn say i dont understand why it happens, yup cant explane that one better) , i mean ... if you wanna win the war..just make em. Print more money , worry about economy after war have been won. Or pay those making em, the same as other cheaper ship types. weather it would be construction or resource gathering and so on. heck force people to work, it is the Imperials to get resource freely, not excatly the good guys. give people the training for free, its not a business (pretty sure you need trainer for the other ships aswell in some degree). Its a war you have to win or everything is lost. However running dry of a resource needed , that one i understand. But you cant run dry of money if you are the one in charge galaxy wise. (Only reason price goes up is if somebody is greedy in many cases irl. new and better doesn allways mean cost more to make. Its only because they know people pay more they raise it. )

[@danielchew8739]

Printing more money on a wimp is a terrible idea, the more money you print the less the money worth, it would cause a hyperinflation if not manage properly. Look up what happen to Germany after WWI.

[@drearyplane8259]

Terry Forsdyke I think it may have been that they required skilled pilots to be cost-effective but TIEs don't need so much skill when en masse.

[@vegaobscurax23]

Spacedock, I just wanted to express my admiration and enjoyment of your videos. They're very professionally made and, narrated and I never fail to feel a burst of excitement when I receive a notification that you've uploaded a new video.

[@Spacedock]

Appreciate it, thanks for watching. :)

[@wgtgs5409]

This is the F-22 Raptor of the Imperial Fleet

[@sim.frischh9781]

F-22 has no shields, Defender no stealth. Lackluster comparison. But it IS what the F-22 is supposed to be, i agree on that.

[@wgtgs5409]

Sim. Frischh I was going for a IRL equivalent so of course it doesn't have shields, and I meant in roles and their limited production run with only 187 ( including prototypes) raptors built

[@RhodesianBushmaster]

195 actually. 187 are combat ready and in service, the other 8 were prototypes.

[@wgtgs5409]

Jameson Locke thnx

[@rahbaralhaq]

That would be the TIE Phantom not Defender.

[@GottHammer]

Loved this ship in 'TIE Fighter'. I wish that game would get a remake/remaster. Keep the story, characters, just make everything prettier & sound better. *imagines TIE Fighter in Frostbite* Le sigh. Also, anyone looking to play as an Imperial pilot: GOG has the' TIE Fighter Special Edition', currently at $10 (although there are sales). It also now has the 1995 Collector's CD-ROM release, included. IMHO, TIE Fighter is still one of the best PC games I've ever played, and probably my all-time favourite Star Wars game. :)

[@MissionReloadedGaming]

dude! you can buy it on Steam! it still plays very well...but yeah the graphics are still just as you remember them :P

[@EcchiRevenge]

You'll have to pick up a coin on the battlefield to spawn into Tie Defender. Or buy the upcoming Tie Defender lootbox. ;)

[@Urbanfisho]

I still have the deluxe CD edition with all add ons. Running it on a modern PC is problematic. Tried it on DOSbox, it runs but couldn't get full screen and couldn't calibrate the joystick, so was unplayable.

[@commanderosis435]

One of my favorite games of all time. LucasArts, The mechwarrior Franchise and Wing Commander defined my childhood gaming. These games blow away modern games without even trying.

[@maevrik]

In TIE Fighter, the TIE Defender had a freaking tractor beam

[@SultanOfAwesomeness]

Am I the only one who really dislikes how Star Wars rebels has introduced TIE Defenders well before the Battle of Yavin? It just doesn't sit right with me.

[@biggsdarklighter0473]

Well, Grand Admiral Thrawn Recognized the importance of Anti Guerilla Fighters

[@FatalShadow13]

Honestly it kind of does sit wrong with me as well, like how they had A-wings before X-wings, really little stuff in the grand scheme of things, but it bothers me a little. In Legends there was a legitimate need for a new imperial space superiority fighter that could effectively counter the X-wing after the Battle of Yavin. In Rebel you don't even see an X-wing until after the Defender. The A-wing too, was introduced ABY, in response to the costly Death Star Trench Run, which almost the complete destruction of Gold and Red Squadrons, the Rebel Alliance decided it needed a fast attack interceptor.

[@Zeknif1]

I enjoy its depiction in Rebels because is demonstrated that Thrawn was a forward thinker who was attempting to address a crippling issue in Imperial Doctrine even before the X-Wing's introduction cast aside any illusion of Imperial Dominance through Superior Numbers. The A-Wings however, give me more of an issue as they are portrayed as a cheap and readily available and frankly low performance fighter rather than the speed demon of a rebel response to lessons learned from the Battle of Yavin. What it seems to me in Disney Canon is that they went from A-Wings in a stock configuration -> X-Wings -> A-Wings modified post Yavin + X-Wings. I honestly would have preferred Surplus and salvaged Z-95's as the Rebel's Pre-X-Wing workhorse, however, the new continuity could explain the absence of A-Wings at Yavin and Scarif by claiming that the RZ-1's were sent off to workshops for an overhaul in response to intel gathered on Imperial TIE projects. I'm assuming that TIE interceptors went through a similar upgrade phase.

[@chrisgregory3955]

@@Zeknif1 That's because they're not actually A wings but R-22 spearheads. The R-22s (introduced to account for timeline discrepancies in the original X-wing games) are the poor man's A wings and not nearly as good. Very similar design too.

[@void2258]

I am generally annoyed with everything being moved forward. A and B-Wings are also suddenly pre-Yavin.

[@evildude951]

I have to say, nothing would make me more happy than if they put some of these advanced empire ships in The Last Jedi

[@Spacedock]

I was discussing yesterday what it might be like if the First Order stuck a 360 Gun on one of these like the TIE/SF. General consensus is that it would be the most farcically overpowered starfighter in the Star Wars fiction. xD

[@robertmartinu8803]

Spacedock Hmm, let's consider a missile boat with upgraded laser armament/something like the blastboat :o

[@Furzkampfbomber]

@ Spacedock _"the most farcically overpowered starfighter"_ There is _never_ enough Dakka, even in Star Wars! Anyway, with 360 Gun you mean a gun that can fire in every direction, just like the SA-43 hammerhead in Space: Above and Beyond had? I would love you to make a video about those, btw. Not as "scifi-y" as a Tie fighter, but quite capable and a cool design as well. I think they would be an interesting opponent for the Colonial Viper.

[@youwayo]

*First Order

[@Darth234Ravenous]

​@@Spacedock imagine a full squadron of defenders serving the first order using old rebel tactics on enemy fleets.

[@10kanojias]

This is like the german 262, brilliant but brought too late into the war to make a difference

[@LtCWest]

Except that unlike the 262 this one had no engine issues ^^

[@vividsparrow4378]

LtCWest Hail imperial engineering!

[@rangodeldiablo]

Well, it wasn't made late into the war, it was actually made just at the right time. But unfortunately not many of them were made because of how expensive they were

[@davidlewis5312]

@@rangodeldiablo that actually wasn't the problem. The problem was pilots. Germany had lost a ton of pilots by 44. They actually had more 262s than pilots who could fly them

[@twandepan]

@@davidlewis5312 even more of a problem was the fuel: they didn’t have any.

[@KillerOrca]

Bet the First Order's wishin' they had a couple of these right about now.

[@GAdmThrawn]

I want to see how well a TIE/D can go up against a TIE/SF.

[@thomasscroggs3080]

Unfortunately because it is newer, we don't have the details about the TIE/SF. Give the improvements between the T-65 and T-70 X-WIngs, I suspect the SF has better shields, engines, and lasers. It also has fewer blind spots thanks to the turret. The advantages of having two crewmen cannot be overlooked. The Defender, however, has a better power plant, more lasers, and ion cannons, which the TIE/SF lacked. In the less tangible points it has a better field of view and likely has more maneuverability. The fact that it only had one crewman would also have a few advantages. I think in the end it probably comes down to the pilots. Defenders were piloted by the Empire's most elite members, but the Order's pilots were basically raised from birth to be pilots. So in the end, until more details about the actual specs of the TIE/SF comes up, its a toss-up.

[@inkedseahear]

I can't believe after everything they still went back to produce standard TIE fighters

[@thomasscroggs3080]

They did not go back. The first order used the TIE/fo for its standard missions. While the TIE/fo didn't have a hyperdrive it did have shields. They also upgraded the TIE Interceptor with shields. Both were still probably cheaper to make then the TIE Defender.

[@inkedseahear]

OK cool, never knew that

[@PhilosopherGaming]

Ahh The Defender, the main reason I go back to Tie Fighter (the game) to this very day.

[@Miada0814]

I like how the empire decided that a fleet of TIe defenders was Impractical, but not a giant Death Star 2, where you put all your eggs in one basket just to have it blow up....again.

[@Furzkampfbomber]

There are two things in the TIE fighter design that I've never really understood. 1.) What is with the extremely limited field of view? A Tie pilot basically only has an outlook to the front, which I think must be extremely limiting in many scenarios. 2.) Are those solar panels really necessary? I guess the solar tech in Star Wars is way more advanced and efficient than what we have nowadays. And as I get it, the solar panels are meant to deliver _additional_ power to relieve the engines whenever possible as much as possible. But still... I think those panels limit the field of view even more _and_ they make the fighter more vulnerable. All for some extra energy that can't even be harvested when operating on the dark side of a planet or in deep space.

[@jonashemmingsson7301]

Furzkampfbomber try playing fighter squadron in battlefront in first person

[@SargeRho]

I always thought that they were radiators for the fighter's power reactor.

[@Furzkampfbomber]

@ Jonas Hemmingson Played SW: Battlefront for a bit (not a big fan of MP anyway), found it incredbly boring and without content (personal opinion!) and gave up on it without ever playing Fighter Squadron. So I had to look for some 1rst person gameplay videos and... ...boy, this is _terrible._ It looks like playing while looking through a roll of toilet paper. Half of the screen is blocked by your fighters interior _and_ in addition, you also have those annoying struts. I hate it. :D

[@Furzkampfbomber]

@ Sarge Rho In this case, they would be equally useless when the Tie fighter is not deployed in an atmosphere, since radiating heat energy in a vacuum is a pretty futile endeavour.

[@SargeRho]

No, Radiators are what real-world spacecraft use to get rid of their heat, because radiation is the only way to get rid of heat in a vacuum, other than venting coolant. The large white panels on the ISS are radiators (single row between the solar arrays, triple row near the middle of the station), as are the insides of the Space Shuttle Orbiter's cargo bay doors. You can also see fins on Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators, these are also radiators. If you've watched Avatar, the dull red glowing rectangular pieces on the ISV Venture Star are also radiators.

[@Rapture-Asuka]

would fly this..if i had hands.

[@jelleposthuma8786]

Anduril hahahah

[@GoldRider4265]

bloody brilliant XD

[@jayburn00]

Could you do the V38 Assault Fighter/Tie Phantom please? I always thought that if implemented correctly it could be the ultimate troll ship (seriously, I felt like I was playing whack-a-mole at first in the second to last space mission of Rebel Assault 2, fighter would fire on you and then cloak, and then decloak to fire on you again and then recloak, its like Star Wars took the Scimitar and shrunk it into a fighter, but this fighter came first). Was supposed to be invisible to regular sensors (radar basically) even when not using its cloak, and could only be detected visually according to some sources. There were several versions of it in legends (Rebel Assault 2 version, EaW: FoC version, probably a few others as well). It also has an interesting backstory if you look at why it was so difficult to make a cloak generator with the capabilities that the Tie Phantom had (required special crystals, the last of which were harvested by a proto-deathstar called the Tarkin by cracking open a moon or planet to get at the last of the crystals to create the cloaking devices for the Tie Phantom and the Terror [Super Star Destroyer using the same cloaking technology])

[@jayburn00]

Maul's ship also was partially stealthed with Stygium crystals. The head of the Phantom Tie project (Admiral ?Saarn?) also used them on his Super Star Destroyer, the Terror (which Vader temporarily took command of while supervising the final stages of the project) as well as on the production facility itself. I think when the Phantom Tie Project was vaporized it also took the only known large reserve of stygmium with it, which is why no one else had new stygium based cloaks afterward.

[@ElJorro]

Warhammer Battle Barge Moya Covenant Cruiser Lexx

[@Furzkampfbomber]

Let's at least add a Peacekeeper Command Carrier! But seeing the Lexx in a Spacedock video would definitely be interesting.

[@sayhallo3769]

What about the revalation in rogue on? That has a good chance to beat the hell out of a defender

[@jamesb6102]

Skygrasper from Gundam seed? It's an in atmosphere fighter with plenty of roles, from spotter to anti mobile​ suit

[@darthcalanil5333]

Personally I love the canon side of things soo much more than legends. Thrawn being the mastermind behind the Defender makes so much more sense than the Empire just realising the Defender's value after they lost a Death Star to a fighter.

[@stevieboy7149]

The 20 people who disliked were x-wing pilots

[@Ryvaken]

There was a homebuilt "ugly" design called a "Tri-Fighter" or "clutch" that was basically a Defender without the wing panels. It had the TIE Fighter cannons on the cockpit plus a single ion cannon on the upper pylon. It was an effective starfighter that outperformed the standard TIE at a comparable cost.

[@sendai0082]

now it's officially CANON

[@GAdmThrawn]

While it was great to see them on the small screen in Rebels, I think that it's introduction was way too early. The Rebels have yet to become a significant threat to the Empire and already there are factories constructing this that will make it be the dominant fighter in any space battle. Syndulla even said that they have nothing in their arsenal that can counter this. And with their loss of Phoenix Fleet and their base, along with a portion of Dodonna's fleet, I find it very hard to believe that the Rebels can recover enough to fight against the TIE Defender. Unless Dave Filoni and the writers do something stupid and have the X-Wing be superior to it, which will no doubt outrage a portion of the fanbase (including yours truly) and leave Rebels on a sour note. With that out of the way, I did enjoy using these in battle in Empire at War: Forces of Corruption. Nothing is more thrilling than seeing a massive cloud of all TIE variants from Defenders to Interceptors to Scouts to Bombers come together and swarm over enemy fighter squadrons and support ships. It takes seconds for each engagement to end allowing openings for the Imperial warships to step in and concentrate on the space station. What would normally take 5-10 minutes for a battle, it's now brought down to less than 5. I even created a fleet commanded by Boba Fett called Ghost Fleet that was composed of Defenders, Scouts, and Phantoms, with the latter being its namesake. I never did got far enough in TIE Fighter to pilot. I was a terrible pilot in that game.

[@DIEGhostfish]

Grand Admiral Thrawn The X-Wing is probably about equal to the All-Lasers non-elite prototype run.

[@steellynx8972]

Hi. I realize that its been Five years and you probably know this already but just in case. The third canon Thrawn book Treason Explains why There were no defenders post rebels. Thrawn made a bet with Orsan Crenic that he could solve an issue with beast attacking convoys meant for star dust (the death star) in a week. If thrawn won the Defender project would get the funding and dunium (warship grade metal) it needed and if he lost he would have to wait until star dust was finished. Thrawn found out the issue was pirates and internal B.S. was the issue not the beasts and resolved it, but because he didnt fix the beast issue he technically lost. So the defender lost its funding, Lothal's production plant and unfinished chassis were destroyed and Thrawn was lost in space. So the project was abandoned fully and the empire fell. The Good new is we may get a live action Thrawn soon(ish)....maybe....

[@charlesnowlin4359]

Tie Defender=Galactic Empire ME-262 =WW2 Germany

[@tapiopuranen88]

Ah the good old days when I routinely destroyed star destroyers flying in a defender.

[@henryedge8914]

Can u do raider class corvette?

[@deathsnake6956]

Yea. It is now even Canon in the new Battlefront 2

[@Urbanfisho]

The Tie/d was 1 of the best Imp fighters (apart from the Imp Misboat) ever built! It was great to fly in Tie Fighter, all those years ago!

[@TheNomnomnom0815]

I remember being allowed to test fly these things in the old TIE Fighter game like half a century ago... Such an amazing feeling! And honestly, if it 'only' costs four times as much as a standard TIE, that's still cheap considering how many standard TIEs one of these can replace in terms of combat prowess.

[@thebravegallade731]

plus the x wing was three tiimes as expensive as a TIE so...

[@rdubayoo]

A great fighter, but Thrawn's solution was simple: Shoot missiles at it over and over until it explodes.

[@Charistoph]

Not just any missiles, missiles launched from a turbo-boosting light bomber.

[@robwhatling8666]

First saw a tie defender, along with Grand Admiral Thrawn, in Tie Fighter PC game back in 1995/96, 20 years before any appearance in Rebels

[@simicmagic4806]

My opinion; best starfighter ever. I would match this fighter against any other fighter from any other franchise. B5, Robotech, Battlestar Galactica, hell even Star Trek.

[@doylethelovely2555]

Imperial budget minister: I’m sorry guys the tie defender too expensive and complicated to serve as a replacement for the tie fighter. Also imperial budget minister: And that’s another quarter of the economy going towards the second death star and I don’t see anything wrong with that

[@Fortnite_Frost_Clips]

If the empire made Tie Defenders instead of Death Stars they would’ve crushed the rebellion a long time ago

[@DIEGhostfish]

I like the Legends origin for the Defender better. And how Thrawn one-upped and outwitted its creator.

[@imthestein]

The Defender always felt like the Empire version of a B-Wing given how powerful it was

[@terryforsdyke306]

The TIE Defender had more firepower than the B Wing, but the B-Wing was comparatavely slow and sluggish, designed more to take on corvettes, Frigates and Star Destroyers than other fighters, do not get me wrong the B-Wing was a great ship still, but more focused on durability and firepower than speed and agility, the Defender had speed, agility, and Firepower at least equal to the best the Aliance had, only in durability did the Y and B-Wings have it outclassed, but no aliance ship had the same speed or agility. the Defender was seriously overpowered.

[@void2258]

The TIE-Defender couldn't match the B-Wing for missile load, and couldn't carry heavier bombs than proton torpedoes (which were left out of the games because the programmers didn't want to have to deal with dumbfire, laser guidance, and drop targeting). In the games they looked equivalent because the player ships were never armed with bigger stuff, but in universe the B-Wing was far superior to the TIE-D vs capitol ships IF it could get into bombing range.

[@DT-vw7zs]

imthestein In the games they are very similar except for the TieD speed. When you add the books in the difrence becomes clear. TieD is as fast as an A-wing with more guns and warhead launchers but is unstable to turn at high speed just like all Ties. This means it must make wide racetrack turns unless you dead stop and axis turn with thrusters. The B-wing is slower, heavy armored, has similar gun compliment, but more and heavier warheads. As for handling of the B-wing the games and books have 2 very different descriptions. In games they are the slowest fighter around, slugish and hard to turn. In the books they are faster than Ys slower than Xs and the most maneuverable thing around, able to completely turn within thier own radius from cockpit even at full speed. Thats the point of the rotating cockpit, is you fly the cockpit and the rest of the ship adjusts automatically. So your turning ends up being just the space needed to swing that massive wing around. This is lost in the games however because it would be a headache to program. So the B ends up flying the same as any other ship often with its stearing centered on its main engine pod not the cockpit.

[@DIEGhostfish]

Elliot Jenner There's no drop in space. TIE Fighter had Proton Rockets and heavy spacebombs for dumbfire only warheads.

[@DIEGhostfish]

David T In space, or even in atmosphere with its shields up it could turn just fine.

[@SheyD78]

I did always enjoy the Tie Defender. Almost as fast at full shields and weapons as a tie advanced with all power to engines, shield as strong as a corvette's (according to the in-game ship manual), the quad laser pattern that makes hitting fighters easy, manoeuvrable enough to easily match advanced or a-wings, and enough warheads to take out whatever target you specced for, with advanced concussion missiles, advanced torpedoes, heavy rockets or heavy space bombs. An absolute monster who's only problem was the introduction of the missile gun boat with its ungodly warhead load and slam overdrive. Still more enjoyable to fly. At only 4x the cost, it would have been a bargain, since it only ever loses to other tie defenders unless you're bad. Then again the game allowed for a certain amount of cheese so maybe that's unrealistic.

[@saadqureshi7127]

Why couldn't we see this in the movies or even the tie intercepter. It's always tie fighters.

[@maarek71]

The original TIE Defender appeared in the TIE Fighter 90's PC game, and didn't exist until after the battle of Hoth. It was awesome to fly! That's a game that really needs a modern remake.

[@krankysfirebrand485]

Ls-9 is the same guns as the tie interceptor they are medium cannons and are tiny

[@davidshafer1872]

Could you do a video on the Gladiator class?

[@Daehawk]

Considered doing a vid on Chiggy von Richthofen from Space:Above and Beyond? Had fun flying these in Tie Fighter's addon Defender of the Empire.

[@MortimerZabi]

To be honest though I preferred the TIE Avenger in X-Wing Alliance. Its smaller frame made it harder to hit even if it was slightly slower and less sturdy.

[@youwayo]

Apparently, TIE/D and TIE/AD were so good that any later Star Wars games that had them after it's debut in TIE Fighter had to either be nerfed or cut from the game all together

[@valiatus6719]

TIE Defender standing by!

[@darthroden]

The Tie Defender reminds me of Chiggy Von Richtoven's fighter from "Space Above And Beyond".

[@Nsan]

One of my favorite games was the old Tie Fighter game by Lucasarts. Whenever I got a mission piloting the Tie Defender I knew it would be a bad day for the rebels.

[@MundoEcchi]

2:25 Macross Missile Massacre

[@MrRikersBeard]

My favourite fighter ever

[@m.a.2633]

Amazing, if were a pilot of the Empire, granted a ship like this, I'd be unbeatable, crushing the Rebellion with ease.

[@minethree58]

So this was like the Tiger I for the empire? Really incredibly good but too expensive and maintenance-heavy to make a strategic impact.

[@thebravegallade731]

and too late

[@MrMalvolio29]

I simply cannot understand how an Empire stretching over an entire galaxy “couldn’t afford” single-pilot fighters of comparable quality to the X-Wings and B-Wings of the Rebel Alliance. This is just as illogical as there being no point defense lasers on the ISD-it seems like a “flaw” necessitated simply by the writers’ wanting the Rebels to “be victorious.” Otherwise, the only conclusion we can draw is that the IMPS were stupid.

[@ericbrammer2245]

But, the A-Wing, in a cost-value comparo, wins.. Well, IF you put good/great pilots into them. Being that the Empire only allowed ACES into these Fighters, that alone means it's in it's own Class. So, had, only "Aces" been sent to A-Wing flights (Yes, and I get that A-Wings are single purpose, and Very Light craft), would the A-wing had been enough to de-value the TIE Interceptor brand? And, could the Resistance make enough A-Wings/T-70's to hold the TIE Interceptors at bay? I think so, but the losses, Ow...

[@Corristo89]

So the Empire basically never found a happy medium between a fast moving piece of tin foil and a completely overpowered superweapon.

[@corvusdove874]

I felt like a huge jerk for loving Tie Fighter better than X Wing on the PC back in the day. Then I got into the Tie Defender. Morals slipped right about then.

[@larkinflight]

Next please: Black Lance Dragon from Wing Commander. The most powerful fighter of that franchise (and you can fly it)

[@Exocartonic]

You mocked the Prometheus from Star Trek ( rightfully so) due to its over the top silly design yet you don't have a problem with the Trip? 🤔

[@That80sGuy1972]

This proves my nerd argument that The Empire favored the mass production over higher quality. Thank you. The Empire was akin to the 80s Soviets. You know, had the technology and resources but favored production and efficiency because it always worked and was the only edge they got due to the brilliant defectors. Also akin to WWII.

[@KuraIthys]

You know, I don't think the Empire's accountants really understand the logistics of winning a battle. OK, so the defender is 4 times the cost of a standard Tie fighter? So what? It's clearly vastly superior to one, so unless the additional training required is so extreme that it vastly outweighs the benefits, surely that isn't such a problem? I'd not be particularly surprised if two tie defenders with decent (not Amazing, just... Decent) pilots could do about as well as 10 standard tie fighters combined... Granted that does depend on circumstance, since those 10 tie fighters can in theory engage 10 separate targets, while two defenders can, for obvious reasons only engage 2 targets at a time. (even given their faster speed and likely killing things faster than a standard tie, you'd still struggle to hold off multiple opponents that are all heading towards different objectives.) Still, even given the cost difference, surely you could justify replacing the Tie Interceptors in a standard Star Destroyer's complement with Defenders, and then replacing the standard Tie fighter complement with, at a bare minimum, Tie Interceptors. Meaning the standard fighter complement would go from something like 4 Tie fighter squadrons, 1 interceptor and 1 bomber squadron, to 4 interceptor , 1 bomber and 1 defender squadron. That alone would make a HUGE difference to the combat effectiveness of the fighter screen...

[@MGerdtell]

Can you imagine the sheer level of badassness if the first shot of Episode seven had been a Resurgence class launching a swarm of these bad boys? It wouldn't do anything for people new to Star Wars, but hardcore fans would be like "well the Republic is in REAL trouble now". Of course the Republic would need something to go up against it, like an A-Wing refit or maybe even a new generation of X-Wing. But until those roll out, they are on the back foot in what used to be their main stick of space warfare.

[@FakeFoxSR1]

Honestly I'd love to see an empire that didn't have the tarkin doctrine or at least one that is more reasonable(?). I could say the First Order is that but I don't count it cause if they had a NR vs FO fight remencent of the Empire vs Rebel the New Republic would eventually come out on top cause the learned from the empire that having more effective rather than cheaper designs is better and they would have more ships available. The only reason the First Order almost won was because the New Rupublic was lazy and scared to get in another war. But then again I'm not the most lore knowledgeable so I could be wrong.

[@DavidDemma]

Hey Spacedock Any chance we could get an overview of a Culture GSV? Any configuration, doesn't matter which.

[@TheOtherGuys2]

I still think the TIE Defender looks dumb. It looks like someone was trying to be creative without actually putting any thought into it, and said "Okay, TIE Interceptor, but with *three* wings!!! And also it's got shields and hyperdrive and lasers and ion cannons and missiles!" This is the kind of ship that feels like it was invented by a 12 year old, and looks like that 12 year old was gluing bits of his broken toys together.

[@steelrexer1062]

Financially... impractical... ... How many moon sized battle stations did they build, again?

Absolutely superior small craft to all others -> too impractical compared to Death Star (which can be destroyed by superior small craft). Yeah right... Ffs

[@SouthernInquirer55]

A fun and great visual and informational vid.. yet the core concept that the fictional Empire was or could be in any way hampered by financial concerns or limitations is laughable! Even now we print money to build stuff like the F35? Money and economies would (should) mean nothing to these fictional Star Empires.. Again, great stuff! just not anchored in any reality.

[@gunterpatee4963]

Why does this ship remind me of Naboo ships .. o yeah! Its cuzza the angles; angles work on our lizard brain. And there I go thinking about shiny Naboo ships - all shiny and sweaty in that white bodysuit...yeah kitty scratch that thing right offa her! Princess Amidala go back in time and make me your Anakin!!

[@raphaelhanna8345]

I can understand the reasoning for not adopting the TIE defender but personally I think a more economically viable upgrade to the TIE fighters would have been to make TIE variant with shields, secondary projectile launchers and a hyper drive which would give a good enough upgrade to standard issue TIE fighters without costing too much

[@thatgamingtitan]

@Spacedock I have an idea for your ships vs videos. What if the Star Wars Executor Class Star Destroyer came across a Halo Covenant CSO-Super Carrier. Let me know what you think.

[@psilos197]

Can you make a video about the ship "AVALON" from the movie "Passengers". I think is very cool ship!!

[@gabrielherman8229]

People always talk about how if the empire just mass produced these they would have won with ease, and while that is true, the cost seems to be forgotten. A single TIE defender costs 300,000 credits to build, so just filling one ISD with the would cost over 21 million credits. A better use would to have been to replace the interceptors aboard a star destroyer with the defender, and replace the standard TIEs with the interceptor.

[@dinosaurfan123]

Honestly, I kinda wish Palpatine had the foresight of Thrawn and not built the Death Star 2. Same with the original Death Star, but I’m gonna let him have that one toy. If he hadn’t ordered the construction of the Death Star 2, then the Imperial Navy could’ve made their starfighters far more effective against the Rebel Alliance, and potentially eliminate one of their biggest strengths. Adding point-defense turrets back to the Star Destroyer line would’ve also helped tremendously. But if the Empire had the right amount of funding, then they could’ve seriously revamped all of their starfighters, replacing the standard TIE Fighter with the Interceptor, and having the Defender be an advanced ship still reserved for the best of the best pilots, potentially making up a large enough part of the total starfighters to be a constant threat. Honestly, the Empire could’ve easily won if they had just enhanced their own starfighters, made more of an effort to counter enemy starfighters and not waste resources on massive super weapons when they KNOW that the Rebellion uses hit and run tactics, maximizing their chances due to their superior starfighters. Take away the superiority and the Empire has enough resources to wait out the Rebellion, so long as they were making regular attacks on known Rebel bases

[@3Rayfire]

The TIE Defender, what a piece of machinery. The kilogram for kilogram best weapons platform the Empire ever produced.

[@marckrieger3277]

X-Wing Killer? Pfft I destroyed planty of them with my X-Wing in X-Wing Alliance. No seriously i love that design it is second only to the Interceptor for me.

[@kahmul]

"This fighter that's 10 times better than the normal TIE but costs only 4 times more is financially unpractical. Let's go back to building a planetoid sized battlestation for the second time"

[@geonerd]

So, a few dozen square meters of solar panel can power a spaceship and its (presumably megajoule+) weapons? OK-dokey.

[@oneandonly-jj]

Damn... I was certain this video was going to be about the TIE Advance X1, but that doesn't make me happy to see a TIE Defender!

[@viralshadow]

So a fleet of Tie Defenders wasn't financially sound, but building moon sizes battle fortresses where?

[@californiumblog]

The idea of "too expensive for widespread use" in the realm of Star Wars baddies is always laughable. These are the guys who make planet-sized death machines in the time most people couldn't pay off a house.

[@jlokison]

interesting that the TIE Defender has been slightly changed in that new canon introduced them 2 to 3 BBY. Their production on Lothal being them driving reason for the early Rebel Alliance being willing to assault the world.

[@ShyRaven2161]

If the Empire hadn't built those two deathstars, they probably would have had enough money to replace all standard TIE's with Defenders and assembled thousands of additional star destroyers and maybe even doubled their Super Star Destroyers - The Rebels wouldn't stand a chance

[@davehood2667]

Am I the only one who noticed how closely the TIE-D rips off the Taiidan Defender from the first Homeworld? All they did was add TIE fighter styling.

[@seriousthree6071]

So, what if, instead of building the second death star the imperial navy had produced thousands of Defenders? The outcome might have been significantly different.

[@ThatJerseyBloke]

How about doing the Imperial Raider Corvette? I can't find any solid specifications on this ship and it's already got a prominent place in the upcoming Battlefront game.

[@DannyHeywood]

1 Vs 1 On X-Wing Alliance....you have to get behind it...if not, pull your pants down.

[@erogonmalaki1386]

My top four favorite star fighters 1tie defender. 2tie intercepter. 3ywing .4startreckscorpion

[@JustTooDamnHonest]

The TIE Defenders were only reserves for pilots that were not cannon fodder. Well at least some people within the Empire wasn't stupid.

[@kitsychan]

Its strange, they have changed it now with the Tie Defenders Being Grand Admiral Tarkins Baby seeing a need for these fighters to counter small mobile rebel cells. Being built on Lothal they were meant to outmatch anything the rebels had access to.

[@emilyfranciscomatanzo5213]

Apparently they're canon now, woo! (New Thrawn book trilogy is Canon and they're in the books)

[@mr_Mmph]

Do you think you'll ever make a video on the humble vulture droid? 'cause your videos are great and I think that that would finally push me to subscribe