Missile Boat

XM-1 Nova Wing The XM-1 Nova Wing, commonly referred to as the missile boat, was an advanced Imperial starfighter built by Cygnus Spaceworks to counter Grand Admiral Zaarin's TIE/D Defenders.

History


The Nova Wing was designed by Grand Admiral Thrawn, and it is believed to be based upon the older, more common Alpha-class Xg-1 Star Wing. Unlike many space superiority fighters, the missile boat was designed to utilize projectile weaponry as its primary armament. To compensate for its weakness in dogfighting, it was equipped with a system known as the SubLight Acceleration Motor, or "SLAM."

Shortly after its introduction, the XM-1 nearly fell into the hands of the Rebel Alliance. One of Zaarin's co-conspirators, Namuura Din, was believed to possess information about Emperor Palpatine's trap at Endor, and planned to turn it over to the Rebels. In addition, he had acquired a Nova Wing called Sealion. To prevent the Rebels from acquiring either of these assets, Darth Vader was sent to capture Din and his Victory-class Star Destroyer, Zeplin. The capture operation was successful, but the Nova Wing had already been transferred to the Rebels. Soon after, Vader's forces tracked Sealion to a Rebel space station. Imperial forces destroyed Sealion before the Rebels could analyze it.

Having escaped theft by Zaarin's forces and dissection by the Rebels, the XM-1 Nova Wing was a key part of Thrawn's plan to eliminate Zaarin.

Characteristics
The missile boat's armament consisted of a single laser cannon, two advanced concussion missile launchers capable of holding 40 missiles, two additional projectile launchers which could also be equipped with concussion missiles or a variety of other warheads, and an optional tractor beam projector. The XM-1 was also equipped with a revolutionary SLAM overdrive system that could double the ship's already impressive speed, but only by rapidly draining energy from its laser cannon.

Because of the fact that this fighter was designed as a missile carrier, it lacked primary firepower, only wielding one laser cannon. To balance this, the missile boat had shields stronger than the X-wing and an overpowering secondary capacity. In addition, the laser cannon had an unusually fast recharge rate compared to other starfighter lasers.

The design was also reasonably maneuverable and relatively difficult to hit. The Nova Wing proved very capable in combat with Zaarin's stolen TIE Defenders.

Behind the scenes


The appearance of this craft differs significantly in the games Star Wars: TIE Fighter and Star Wars: X-wing Alliance. In the earlier game, the original appearance of the Missile Boat was sleeker and more aggressively contoured. In the later appearance, the missile boat bears a stronger resemblance to a Lambda-class shuttle. The reason for this inconsistency remains unknown. Most fans consider the original, sleeker representation from TIE Fighter to be the "true" representation, and the original version is the one seen most often in printed sources.

Although this craft was initially left out of the multiplayer-oriented game Star Wars: X-wing vs. TIE Fighter for the sake of balance, the game data files still have an entry for the craft library which reads, "This is the King Hell God Emperor Starfighter of Death and you can't fly it yet!"

Appearances

 * Star Wars: TIE Fighter
 * Star Wars: X-wing Alliance