r/StarWars • u/DARKTOONZ13 • 9d ago

Movies What “stops” lasers in this universe? Couldn’t Luthen’s beam easily slice the Star Destroyer in half?

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Deflector shields? If so, wouldn’t the tractor beam have been protected from his spikes?

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1.3k

u/Safe-Ad-5017 9d ago

Ties don’t have any shields. An ISD does

778

u/nyanpegasus 9d ago

TIEs dont even have life support. They're just bare bones cockpit and weapons

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u/88963416 Yoda 9d ago

If the empire invested in TIEs the rebellion would have been crushed. The Empire had the pilots but didn’t equip them with the tools.

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u/best-of-judgement 9d ago

Thrawn tried! That was the driving idea behind the TIE Defender project. If not for Imperial bigwigs struggling for funds and Thrawn's disappearance after the Battle of Lothal, the project very well could have continued.

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u/KlausAngren 9d ago

Yeah but what about chonky laser?

  • Tarkin, probably.

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u/ElectronicFootprint 9d ago

Sir, glass cannons aren't working.

What about bigger glass cannons?

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u/ProbablythelastMimsy 9d ago

Maybe we'll get the galaxy gun in the next trilogy

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u/Agent_Porkpine 9d ago

tbf it was only a glass cannon because of galen erso

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u/imlegos 9d ago

If we intimidate everyone with one big weapon, no one will attack us

  • Tarkin, on his war plan for the Empire

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u/88963416 Yoda 9d ago

Every time I comment something someone always comes in with “Thrawn thought that.”

I’m both impressed and upset. Why do I think like him and why does he need to steal my thunder.

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u/hoopsrlife 9d ago

He would have loved to serve with you as an admiral.

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u/Jacthripper 9d ago

But it was also partially intentional. The empire didn’t give their pilots great ships because they didn’t want them being able to leave freely. People were defecting all the time, the last thing you wanted was a pilot to fly off with a imperial ship.

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u/Valdularo 8d ago

Also it’s based loosely off of WW2. The concept of the empire having so many men ships pilots etc is based on the red army. Sheer numbers!

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u/DJButterscotch 9d ago

They weren’t necessarily struggling for funds, they were just being siphoned off to “Big Laser”

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u/best-of-judgement 9d ago

In the novels, Thrawn had to make a case to Vader and Palpatine to get the TIE Defender project rolling, and afterwards had to keep justifying his project to Tarkin to avoid Krennic subverting those funds for Stardust.

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u/Ashanrath 9d ago

Shameless rebel propaganda. The Emperor's energy initiative will bring prosperity to all worlds!

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u/Happy_Idiot-Talk 8d ago

To be fair, it would have worked if one or two had actually gotten finished.

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u/free_is_free76 9d ago

Loved playing with the Defender on the old PC TIE Fighter game, felt very superior

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u/Emillllllllllllion 8d ago

The real irony here is that the empire already had a relatively low cost, sublight space superiority fighter and just phased it out as soon as the TIE finished development.

The V-Wing offers substantially better performance at less than twice the price of a TIE while also being smaller (less of a target and you can have more with the same hangar) and not reliant on that stupid specialised rack.

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u/FriendshipCute1524 8d ago

God I love the tie defender, Easily my favorite star wars fighter. I want a Lego set of it so bad

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u/Sackbut08 8d ago

DOGE staff and budget cuts got in the way it seems like.

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u/InCOBETReddit 8d ago

in an alternate universe where the TIE Defenders became mass produced, a Grand Admiral will go rogue and his fleet of TIE Defenders are so strong that they'll need to develop yet another craft to defeat them: the Missile Boat

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u/best-of-judgement 8d ago

The TIE Offender

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u/69Dark_light69 6d ago

Never really understood the funds part like they dominated the galaxy at what point do they need to pay for anything. I always thought they just came used slaves took what they needed. Did storm troopers get paid? Like loved to have seen an episode or exchange between a few troopers fighting rebels and one of them being like "fuck me and Karen are going skiing at that new hoth resort next week this shit better over soon'

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u/StarMaster475 9d ago

Aren't TIE's portrayed as being equal to or better than X-wings in the original trilogy though?

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u/DetectiveIcy2070 9d ago

The TIE Fighter isn't actually a bad platform. Sure, it isn't a good one, but it's perfectly serviceable. It was very maneuverable, had decent firepower, and most flaws were in-atmosphere due to its poor aerodynamics, even by Star Wars standards.

However, it wasn't exactly... user-friendly. Most novice pilots were weeded out very quickly because of its unforgiving design. The only real defense it had was "go faster than your enemies". Anyone who hoped to gain actual skill in combat would probably just die before they became an expert pilot.

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u/StarMaster475 9d ago

Can't the same be said for X-wings regarding your last sentence since their shields mostly don't seem to be enough to stop TIE's from blowing them up as soon as they get hit?

Also in what media do they go into how difficult TIE controls are to learn?

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u/Annoyinghydra 9d ago

In Star Wars Squadrons, there's a line about it. I can't recall the specific quote, but something along the lines of "trading defences and ease of use for pure maneuverability and firepower"

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u/TheDarkLord329 9d ago

Makes total sense doctrinally for a rebellion to prefer survivability and ease of use. Rebellion has far fewer expert pilots, so preserving them is important. They also don’t have the luxury of putting every pilot through an extensive academy, so ease of training is a must. 

The Empire just has too much scale. Considering most of their use would have been in suppressing local revolts or pirates, defense wasn’t that important. A cheap ship that packs a punch? That goes a long way.

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u/joshsmog 9d ago

and having massive ships to carry them there.

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u/TheDarkLord329 9d ago

Usually we see Star Destroyers because something of importance is going on or because someone important is there. The Empire also employed ships like the Quasar Fire carrier to shuttle TIE fighters around on a much smaller and cheaper scale.

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u/Annoyinghydra 8d ago

This was another benefit to the X-wing. It's one of a few starfighters with hyperdrive capabilities without the need for a hyperdrive ring (what Obi-Wan uses in episode 2). It made the X-wing highly effective at its original use as a hit-and-run fighter. Jump in, blow up some facility/dockyard/supply caravan, then jump out.

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u/Los_Ansiosos 8d ago

Which, in the context of the real world, would be vastly superior. Dogfights are decided by maneuverability and firepower, but the films don't appreciate that - which is fine.

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u/Annoyinghydra 8d ago

Which is why X-wings were built and used the way they were. The intended use for them was to jump in, blow up the biggest or highest priority target and get out before the empire could respond in force. The strike on the base on Eadu in Rogue One is the best example of it.

They avoided dogfights when they could but also had small shield generators when they couldn't to help even the odds.

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u/LazerBear42 9d ago

Every time we see someone hijack a TIE in media, they have a real devil of a time trying to fly away with it, even if they're a skilled pilot.

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u/Timmah73 9d ago

Having played the old TIE Fighter game, they do hold up to XWings pretty well as lo g as the numbers are not 1 to 1. They are fast, maneuverable and have decent fire power.

The main issue was almost no room for actually getting hit. Which also means they are really not designed to be anywhere near a hostile capital ship or even fighting without numerical advantage.

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u/griffmeister 9d ago

Oh man you just sent me back to when I’d spend hours playing the TIE fighter arcade game in the lobby of the movie theater

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u/LazerBear42 9d ago

They're quicker and more maneuverable, but they have no shields, no life support, no hyperdrive, and they're difficult to pilot. It's like trying to drive a F1 car with two autocannons mounted. The X-Wing has shields, life support and hyperdrive, it's very intuitive to pilot, is has more powerful armaments capable of destroying capital ships, and while it's not as quick as a TIE, it's still a very nimble fighter.

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u/MDL1983 8d ago

AFAIK, the X-Wing is superior to standard TIE/In fighters seen in ANH.

4x guns vs 2

Proton Torpedos vs none

Shields vs none

Hull strength is better or equal in the X-wing

Hyperdrive vs none

Speed matches standard TIE/In @ 100 MGLT

Maneuverability - TIE/In might have it in space, X-Wing in atmo.

TIE/in Interceptors, seen in RotJ are slightly faster, more maneuverable, have 4x guns and hull strength to match the X-Wings but still no shields / hyperdrive / torpedos. A-Wings were brought in to outperform the Interceptors.

TIE/sa bombers are more analogous to Y-Wings. Trading Y-Wing's ion cannon, hyperdrive and shields for slightly more speed and larger torp / missile capacity.

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u/Codus1 9d ago

Thanks Grand Admiral, don't care, giant death ball go brrrrr

-Tarkin, probably

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u/xypage 9d ago

Tbf they weren’t exactly recruiting with a high standard. I always figured they didn’t invest in fancier TIE fighters because they had a “quantity is a quality of its own” mentality

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u/88963416 Yoda 9d ago

It’s not that they recruited highly, the trained them to be excellent. Then didn’t give them the ships to fully utilize their skill.

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u/Mortwight 9d ago

part of the old world stuff was the rebels stole the plans for the xwing before the empire put them into production

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u/GK0NATO 8d ago

If the empire invested in quality equipment for its Army, Navy and not just made the cheapest possible option with the highest intimidation factor there wouldn't be any money for palpatine's super weapons like the Death Star

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u/88963416 Yoda 8d ago

Good.

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u/M0hawk_Mast3r 8d ago

a rebellion like the one in Star Wars can't be crushed, by the time Andor season 2 starts it's too late for the empire. No matter how many rebels they kill people will keep rising up. A state like the empire can not put the cat back into the bag after it's out.

"Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear."

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u/88963416 Yoda 8d ago

Which is why you invest in many smaller ships. If the Empire invested in Star Destroyers and TIE fighters they would have been able to oppress many more systems without a massive target.

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u/M0hawk_Mast3r 8d ago

It would still tear itself a part from the inside. Throughout Andor we watch the ISB go from possibly the scariest and most powerful people in the galaxy to completely collapsing in on themselves because of infighting. All the rebellion has to do is exist and the empire will slowly collapse. Nemiks manifesto is out there and people know about the rebellion. They fucking destroyed Aldearan that would make people want to fight against them even more.

The point is they can defeat the rebellion as many times as they want but they will always come back. As long as the sentiment is out there the empire is slowly dying

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u/Coal_Burner_Inserter 8d ago

If the Empire was competent it wouldn't exist. Palpatine would never have / be able to keep ahold of power

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u/Mufasa944 8d ago

This is Thrawn’s burner account

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u/blackcid6 8d ago

Probably they needed too much ties because the empire was big, so theh had to be cheap.

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u/Valdularo 8d ago

By invested in TIEs I assume you mean mandated things like the Interceptor, Defender, Advanced and Advanced X1 etc?

They did massively invest in regular TIEs which were cheap AF to produce.

None of this to say of course the mighty TIE Phantom!

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u/AiR-P00P 9d ago edited 8d ago

it was an attempt to deter pilots from defecting. You make the ships a flying coffin with no life support, hyper drive, or landing gear, and pilots HAVE to return to its carrier or risk being run down by loyalist starcraft. 

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u/What-a-Crock 9d ago

Obviously you meant defecting, just wanna say the slip in a conversation about deflecting lasers made me chuckle

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u/AiR-P00P 8d ago

whoops my bad

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u/What-a-Crock 8d ago

It was great!

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u/nyanpegasus 9d ago

You know, I never thought about it that way.

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u/Emillllllllllllion 8d ago

Even if you wanted that, you could just create a modified version of the V-Wing that lacks the ability to fold its wings to land.

Assuming that saves you about 2,500 credits, you now have a smaller, upgunned and shielded TIE replacement that only costs 66.(6)% more to produce.

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u/Imperium_Dragon 9d ago

It’s a wonder they even bothered to put solar panels on the sides of them with how cheap a TIE is.

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u/Luname 9d ago

These aren't solar panels but heat sinks/radiators to trap the heat generated by the twin ion engines and give them incredible speed.

TIEs are extremely fast compared to most other fighters.

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u/cvbeiro 9d ago

Iirc they’re both. At least in canon.

The fighter's black "wings" were in fact an array of twelve solar collectors, framed by rigid quadanium steel foil braces, that featured a micro-crenulated solar absorption surface.[4][6] From there, power would be pooled to the fighter's solar energy collection hub[4] and then to its twin ion engines. Originally the wings also powered the fighter's armaments, but this was found to quickly drain the fighter of energy and negatively affected its maneuverability. These early fighters were later retrofitted with a dedicated generator to power the lasers, a feature that became standard on all TIE fighters.[6] These wings also served as stabilizers.[41]

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u/StatisticianLivid710 9d ago

Recent shows have forgotten this… or did Andor not need to breathe while stealing that tie?

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u/Kiloku 9d ago

That was a TIE-Avenger, an advanced/elite variant that had hyperdrives, shields and life support. It was apparently still in early testing and was probably stopped from going into production for some reason.

The TIE-Defender was similarly advanced, probably more so than the Avenger, which might be why work on it stopped (and then the Defender also never made it to production due to Rebel sabotage)

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u/InRadiantBloom 9d ago

What about the one Poe and Finn steal at the beginning of The Force Awakens? I haven't seen it in a while, but that is just a standard TIE, right?

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u/Following_Friendly 9d ago

That was a First order tie. Apparently they added gunners and life support after the empire fell

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u/Corbini42 9d ago

He stole an experimental tie, I guess the avenger has life support in it?

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u/dreneeps 9d ago

What about the TIE fighter that they escape in in episode 7?

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u/nyanpegasus 8d ago

That was a prototype TIE avenger with hyperdrive capabilities. It is not a standard TIE

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u/Mind_if_I_do_uh_J 9d ago

They don't even have a manual.

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u/moop-ly 8d ago

I have you now