Talk:TIE/D Defender/Legends

Accelerational Value?
Is the Defender actually meant to possess a slower acceleration than the TIE Interceptor? Because this is rated at 4220 Gs, while the Interceptor is at 4240 Gs. I always thought the Defender was meant to be blisteringly fast, more along the lines of 144 MGLT, or in the terms of Gs, 4896 Gs. Being the 'ultimate Imperial starfighter' it seems its supposed to be, it seems strange to me that they didn't have the improved drive system of the Avenger, especially since I remember it using a Tri Ion Engine, instead of a Twin. Of course,t he last bit is purely recollection, so I'm probably wrong again.
 * I think it should be faster, but if the majority of the sources says otherwise, then I guess it isn't. Admiral J. Nebulax (talk) 12:53, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

Unfortunately, all we have to go on other than game mechanics is The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels. It gives the Defender slightly (less than &frac12; of 1 percent) lower straight-line acceleration but a much higher atmospheric flight speed (1,680 vs 1,250 km/h). (Of course, all the atmosphere speeds are way too low except the ones in the Ep3 ICS, but that's another problem entirely.)

Comparing their stats in Star Wars: X-wing Alliance puts the Interceptor at 110 MGLT and the Defender at 144 MGLT, and those are the top speeds. The problem is, assuming a Star Wars ion drive works on the same Newtonian physics as a real-world ion drive (and there's no real reason it shouldn't), there shouldn't be such a thing as a "maximum speed" in the absence of a friction medium like air. Unfortunately, neither the spaceflight games nor the RPGs recognize this. (And there's no really reliable way to convert MGLTs to Gs. I've tried. It averages out to roughly 34 Gs per MGLT, but only if you ignore wild variations in individual ships.)

The WotC version of the SW RPG is the only one that has provided statistics for the Defender, and it lists both the Interceptor and the Defender as "Maximum Speed: Ramming," which (although fairly vague) would seem to agree with the miniscule variation in acceleration listed in the NEGVV.

The TIE Defender is the "ultimate Imperial fighter" because of its other attributes. In both the RPG and the flight sims, it's more maneuverable than the Interceptor and has heavier armament and shields than the X-wing (in the WotC RPG, the shields are stronger even than the NJO-era T-65AC4, though it still has the standard TIE series tinfoil hull).

Can you tell I put way too much thought into these things? &mdash;Darth Culator  (talk)  19:35, 26 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Hey, I'm grateful for it. Admiral J. Nebulax (talk) 21:05, 26 March 2006 (UTC)