A question from a non-player

[mcsproot]

My only real experience of the X-Wing series is X-Wing Alliance. I recall playing a demo version of one of the older games (X-Wing VS Tie Fighter I think but can't recall) but had no idea what I was doing. Don't think I even moved.

At any rate, on paper this game to me would appear to be infinitely more difficult than any X-Wing game, for the simple reason that Tie Fighters are not shielded. In XW-A, even with a heavily shielded craft I'd still die sometimes and need to redo the mission. How on earth could someone be expected to play when it's 2 hits and you're dead?

[QuiteThePooPooHead]

If the lasers on the enemy craft are undercharged, then it's more like 3 hits, but yeah. The standard TIE fighter is very vulnerable. However, they have a smaller profile and are quite maneuverable, which is what you will use in lieu of deflector shields. It's not that bad, you just have to be sure to start taking evasive action when your threat indicator warns that a weapon is being pointed at you.

[Kharn!]

The tie fighters profile is very small like flippy says, plus, as long as you dont fly level for more than a few second to line up your shots you are fine, its very maneuverable. (Tip: All ships turn faster at 1/3rd throttle, drop to 1/3rd for a second, pull a hard turn and hit it backup to full throttle, the rebels struggle to match that, except the awing, that thing is a beast.)

Just to add to flippys comments, all the Empire ships have a threat indicator above the reticle, if the left red lights up, a fighter is firing at you, take evasive action. If the middle green one lights up, a capitalship or platform turret is drawing a bead on you. If the right indicator flashes yellow, a fighter is locking a missile onto you. When you are in the unsheilded ships, you got to watch this thing, as soon as it lights up like a christmas tree break off and take evasive action.

You don't fly alone, often, youll be part of a four ship flight group, so use your wingmen to help, Shift-A attack my target (self explanatory), Shift-C cover me (wingmen attack the current fighter attacking you). Also, different to X-Wing, your flight group is often a smaller part of a larger attack, something I really like about Tie Fighter, you might be escorting bombers, or running space superiority while the tie bombers are hitting a capital ship, or assault transport board an installation, so leave the cap ships, they're not your concern, and hit those fighters!

on the earlier missions, you will mainly face obsolete fighters, like the z95, the y-wing and occasional x-wing, so its not too bad. Infact, on earlier missions, once the action hots up, you get ordered back to base lol, so if you don't feel happy taking overwhelming odds on, cut and run and leave it to the heavier ships that command sends in!

[mcsproot]

Originally posted by Kharn!:

The tie fighters profile is very small like flippy says, plus, as long as you dont fly level for more than a few second to line up your shots you are fine, its very maneuverable. (Tip: All ships turn faster at 1/3rd throttle, drop to 1/3rd for a second, pull a hard turn and hit it backup to full throttle, the rebels struggle to match that, except the awing, that thing is a beast.)

Just to add to flippys comments, all the Empire ships have a threat indicator above the reticle, if the left red lights up, a fighter is firing at you, take evasive action. If the middle green one lights up, a capitalship or platform turret is drawing a bead on you. If the right indicator flashes yellow, a fighter is locking a missile onto you. When you are in the unsheilded ships, you got to watch this thing, as soon as it lights up like a christmas tree break off and take evasive action.

You don't fly alone, often, youll be part of a four ship flight group, so use your wingmen to help, Shift-A attack my target (self explanatory), Shift-C cover me (wingmen attack the current fighter attacking you). Also, different to X-Wing, your flight group is often a smaller part of a larger attack, something I really like about Tie Fighter, you might be escorting bombers, or running space superiority while the tie bombers are hitting a capital ship, or assault transport board an installation, so leave the cap ships, they're not your concern, and hit those fighters!

on the earlier missions, you will mainly face obsolete fighters, like the z95, the y-wing and occasional x-wing, so its not too bad. Infact, on earlier missions, once the action hots up, you get ordered back to base lol, so if you don't feel happy taking overwhelming odds on, cut and run and leave it to the heavier ships that command sends in!

I have only played X-Wing Alliance so only have that to go on really.

I recall the mission there, where you are being tested for the rebellion. I found that mission almost impossible! I just couldn't figure out how to avoid getting locked onto in the y-wing, and I'd end up taking 8 missiles and die, even with full shields and health. I think the way I managed to win was to basically hyperspace out of the area for about a few seconds to cause them to go after my wingman, so I could missile the gunboats that otherwise would instantly kill me.

[El Rushbo]

Not every mission has you in an unshielded craft either, especially later on in the game when you're assigned the more advanced imperial fighters.

[mcsproot]

Originally posted by El Rushbo:

Not every mission has you in an unshielded craft either, especially later on in the game when you're assigned the more advanced imperial fighters.

The only shielded TIE I am aware of is the Defender, though I know in the Expandoverse (my term) there are others.

But it does look like this game does throw you into the deep end. Like 'hey, you can take 2 maybe 3 hits if you're lucky, and the AI will probably focus on you, have fun!'

[El Rushbo]

Originally posted by mcsproot:

Originally posted by El Rushbo:

Not every mission has you in an unshielded craft either, especially later on in the game when you're assigned the more advanced imperial fighters.

The only shielded TIE I am aware of is the Defender, though I know in the Expandoverse (my term) there are others.

But it does look like this game does throw you into the deep end. Like 'hey, you can take 2 maybe 3 hits if you're lucky, and the AI will probably focus on you, have fun!'

The Assault Gunboat, the TIE Advanced (also nicknamed TIE Avenger), the TIE Defender and the Missile boat are the shielded craft that you fly. As far as being unshielded, it does tend to make you more observant and cautious. Since you're generally more nimble and speedy than whatever you're fighting, it's pretty easy to get behind an enemy fighter and let him have it. Plus the missions are a bit on the easier side early on so it won't just immediately toss you into the grinder.

[QuiteThePooPooHead]

Originally posted by mcsproot:

Originally posted by Kharn!:

The tie fighters profile is very small like flippy says, plus, as long as you dont fly level for more than a few second to line up your shots you are fine, its very maneuverable. (Tip: All ships turn faster at 1/3rd throttle, drop to 1/3rd for a second, pull a hard turn and hit it backup to full throttle, the rebels struggle to match that, except the awing, that thing is a beast.)

Just to add to flippys comments, all the Empire ships have a threat indicator above the reticle, if the left red lights up, a fighter is firing at you, take evasive action. If the middle green one lights up, a capitalship or platform turret is drawing a bead on you. If the right indicator flashes yellow, a fighter is locking a missile onto you. When you are in the unsheilded ships, you got to watch this thing, as soon as it lights up like a christmas tree break off and take evasive action.

You don't fly alone, often, youll be part of a four ship flight group, so use your wingmen to help, Shift-A attack my target (self explanatory), Shift-C cover me (wingmen attack the current fighter attacking you). Also, different to X-Wing, your flight group is often a smaller part of a larger attack, something I really like about Tie Fighter, you might be escorting bombers, or running space superiority while the tie bombers are hitting a capital ship, or assault transport board an installation, so leave the cap ships, they're not your concern, and hit those fighters!

on the earlier missions, you will mainly face obsolete fighters, like the z95, the y-wing and occasional x-wing, so its not too bad. Infact, on earlier missions, once the action hots up, you get ordered back to base lol, so if you don't feel happy taking overwhelming odds on, cut and run and leave it to the heavier ships that command sends in!

I have only played X-Wing Alliance so only have that to go on really.

I recall the mission there, where you are being tested for the rebellion. I found that mission almost impossible! I just couldn't figure out how to avoid getting locked onto in the y-wing, and I'd end up taking 8 missiles and die, even with full shields and health. I think the way I managed to win was to basically hyperspace out of the area for about a few seconds to cause them to go after my wingman, so I could missile the gunboats that otherwise would instantly kill me.

I don't know about X-W: Alliance, but in TIE Fighter, I've found that the best way to evade missiles is to dump everything into engines, fly away from the missile, then take evasive action when the missile is roughly .3 to .5 km away. I picked up this tactic in X-Wing after I encountered TOD missions where I had to contend with large numbers of Gunboats. It worked in X-Wing, and it seems to work just as well in TIE Fighter. Ideally, though, you don't want them to get a chance to fire a missile in the first place; none of the standard TIE models are able to survive even one of them.

[Kharn!]

"Doop, Doop, Incoming Missile"
<Press Space to Target>
If you are quick, you can shoot them down in Tie Fighter

[Athywren]

Originally posted by Kharn!:

"Doop, Doop, Incoming Missile"
<Press Space to Target>
If you are quick, you can shoot them down in Tie Fighter

That's impossible! Even for a computer.

(Srsly tho, you learn pretty quickly how to handle missile locks and, as has been mentioned, TIEs are nimble little ships. Gotta love 'em. Besides, can you take secret missions for the emperor in X-Wing? No? Didn't think so! I mean... that would be counter productive, I guess.)