8 replies to this topic

[Ghostrider]

The Imperial fleet has seen a number of important changes in its technical development over the years, and Grand Admiral Thrawn, as you might expect has introduced a number of critical changes to military specifications and introduced a number of uplifting ideas to revitalise flagging morale in the fleet. However, it is probably best to first briefly examine the technical changes that took place in the Galactic Civil War.

Tie Series developments:
The GCW era saw a number of improvements to the TIE series, with the ubiquitous TIE Fighter, and the only slightly less common TIE Fighter x2 with GCW-era enhanced lasers. The Tie Interceptor similarly introduced “chin” blaster cannons just before Endor, and the Tie Bomber upgraded to the Bomber x 2 with increased ammunition capacity at about the same time. The TIE Bomber is also often supported by the Xg-1 Star Wing on many missions. While the Tie Avenger and Tie Defender had both been developed past prototype stage, very few units were built.
The Empire has, however focussed much more effort into a range of armoured transports, gunboats and heavy shuttles. The Skipray, for example has seen a large number of variants, from the prevalent GAT-12h with concussion missile launcher and the modern 12j variant with increased warhead capacity. Delta DX-9’s are very common, and see active service alongside the older Lambda T4a & b models, as well as the heavily armed Sentinel-class Landing Craft, which has recently been upgraded to give increased warhead capacity.

Corvettes, Frigates and Cruisers
These craft have mostly fallen out of favour with the Imperial fleet, as the roles for the late Clone-Wars era craft have largely been superseded by the second generation heavily armed transports on the one hand and light cruisers on the other. The Bayonet Light cruiser, for example has been surpassed in every respect by simply retrofitting the Carrack Light Cruiser and Dreadnaught Heavy Cruiser to improve shielding and combat durability, with that added bonus of a basic fighter compliment to the Dreadnaught Mark II, making these designs a common sight in most fleets. The only real holdover is the venerable IPV-2, which with a decent torpedo compliment, makes for a handy customs inspection vessel and is common on smaller worlds.
A notable addition to the frigate line is the Lancer-class, which performs admirably in an anti-fighter role, but unlike the EF-77 Escort Frigate, is unable to withstand the firepower of even medium cruisers for long. The direct opposite of this ship is the Strike-class Medium cruiser, which adds good long range firepower with a heavy barrage of turbolaser fire, but us vulnerable to starfighter attack.

Thrawn’s Influence
As expected, Thrawn has made considerable changes to the fleet composition, and in particular has paid significant attention to the problem of limited resources, much effort has been made to reduce raw material consumption. Enter a new generation of shielded fighters and bombers. All of the basic TIE variants are now manufactured with basic shielding to extend product life. Furthermore, Thrawn has personally overseen development of the elite Avenger and Defender models to modern specifications. While the Avenger sees a modest shield upgrade, the Defender has been completely overhauled, making it the deadliest starfighter in the galaxy, featuring better acceleration, upgrades to advanced proton torpedoes and an improved countermeasures system. In addition, Thrawn has introduced two new concepts with massive payloads – the heavily shielded Scimitar Assault Bomber designed to immolate targets with 8 fire linked torpedoes and the ugly Xm-1 Nova Wing, whose hump-backed design carries both concussion missiles and proton torpedoes.

Star Destroyers
As expected, the Imperial-class Star Destroyer forms the core of the Imperial Fleet, and it is of particular note that nothing larger than this is currently available to the Empire, although there is a reasonable quantity of vessels built on the Imperial-II space frame, including a few Dominator-class Star Destroyers. Overall there are over 60 Star Destroyers in the fleet supported by almost 200 cruisers and light support vessels. The only limitations of the fleet are the limited number of hyperdrive-capable strike fighters, but the new elite designs should redress this balance. While the lack of Super-class Star Destroyers may seem a problem to standard Imperial doctrine, the precise balance of forces masterminded by Grand Admiral Thrawn should easily make up for this deficit, ensuring a swift takeover of many vulnerable systems once the Offensive is launched.

[Casen]

I love the realistic mix of advanced and old fighter designs, really adds to an authentic and evolving feeling to the mod; putting you right in the center of the war.

Keep it up guys.

[Kaleb Graff]

Will the tech system finally be changed so you don't have to start from Mk. I of everything again? It just bugged me having BLT-A1s on the same menu as B-wing prototypes, and personally, I don't upgrade the older stuff much, as I get more for my credit upgrading the new ships.

[Phoenix Rising]

Will the tech system finally be changed so you don't have to start from Mk. I of everything again?

I haven't implemented it yet, but I plan on doing so. For historical campaigns, upgrades will mirror where they were canonically.

[Kaleb Graff]

Thank you so much. Would it be too much to ask to do something similar with carrier-based fighters?

[Phoenix Rising]

Would it be too much to ask to do something similar with carrier-based fighters?

Dynamically upgrade them, you mean? Heh, if that were feasible, there would be no need for a complement mechanic in the first place.

Linking independent fighter upgrades to those that launch from carriers was my original idea of how to handle spawns all along (well, after hoping to do them as "true" carriers, Rebellion-style), something I soon realized would not be possible in the context of EaW. Believe me, I wish it were. We'll just have to accept that the mechanic we're using is flawed, but, as of v1.2, I believe it will be the least flawed of our possible options - the basic operating principle of it being that old carriers are assigned old complements, and vice versa. Given that the carriers will be newer for TO, my hope is that it won't be too much of an issue.

[Vitek]

Hello, I was redownloading some files and noticed that slim campaign has been updated on 7/22/09 according to page. What is this update? I seen no mentions here on forum.

Edited by Vitek, 28 July 2009 - 02:55 PM.

[Tropical Bob]

Probably small things like dual-booked planets (Chazwa, and one or two others.) and things like that.

[Phoenix Rising]

See here. Any updates at this point would be bug-related opposed to content-related. Even so, everyone should re-download.