TIE/LN à la Traveller

[EldritchFire]

I'm working on a Star Wars conversion to Traveller (MGT2e) and thought I'd share my TIE fighter. I went with a sphere hull since it's partially streamlined—I can't imagine those flat wings make it easy to manoeuvre in atmosphere!
And yes, I know some people say you can't have two weapons on a firmpoint. But this is Star Wars, where weapons rarely come in singles.

TL12 (MCr9.815; 4 hull points)

• Hull: 10dT sphere; MCr0.4
• Armour: Titanium: 4; 1dT; MCr0.04
• M-Drive: Thrust: 6; 0.6dT; MCr1.2
• Power: Fission (TL6): 18 power; 2dT; MCr0.8
  • basic systems: 2; M-drive: 6; sensors: 2; weapons: 6
• Fuel: 4 weeks; 1dT; MCr–
• Bridge: Cockpit; 2.5dT; MCr0.015
• Computer: Comp/10; –dT; MCr.16
  • Evade/1 (MCr1); library; manoeuvre/0
• Sensors: Military grade; 2dT; MCr4.1
• Weapons: Firmpoint-mounted dual pulse lasers; –dT; MCr2.1
• Cargo: 0.9dT

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Prejudice:
This is a small and cheap, but fragile fighter. I would say the evil Imperial juggernaught deserves better. This is more of a keystone cop?


Technical notes:
If you use Crystaliron you save some space, for very little extra cost. You might have more armour.

A tech advantage or three on the lasers would increase the firepower, at some cost.

 

[Reynard]

Remember the TIE fighters in the original movie were quantity over quality. They blew up left and right but there were swarms of them.

 

[GamingGlen]

The two lasers could each be weaker, their combined power is equivalent to a single Traveller laser. It's a matter of aesthetics, and dealing with fiction that didn't bother having any rules.

You're going to have to deal with quad turbo lasers in turret mount at some point, and decide what turbo means (some tech upgrade/advantage, perhaps?).

 

[locarno24]

And yes, I know some people say you can't have two weapons on a firmpoint. But this is Star Wars, where weapons rarely come in singles.

You also can't have "quad lasers" in a single turret. When I did something similar, I found the easiest thing to do was to consider "beam lasers" to be a linked pair of lasers whilst a 'pulse laser' is a single mount (so the falcon has a twin beam laser turret, and the E-wing had one beam and one pulse).

Remember the TIE fighters in the original movie were quantity over quality. They blew up left and right but there were swarms of them.

That was definitely a spin that subsequent books and games put on them, but in fairness, in the original film, the TIE fighters do pretty nearly as well as the Rebels....

I'd definitely go for Crystaliron armour. The Empire didn't use awesome high-tech armour of expensiveness, but TL12 is not unreasonable for "modern day" tech for a spacefaring society, and, as noted, either you can have more armour for less volume, or (more likely) the same armour in less volume.

4 weeks fuel seems a little excessive for a short-ranged fighter.

 

[Condottiere]

The TIE fighters trade armour for maneuverability, so the engines can be technological level thirteen with maximum propulsion.

 

[EldritchFire]

Prejudice:
This is a small and cheap, but fragile fighter. I would say the evil Imperial juggernaught deserves better. This is more of a keystone cop?


Technical notes:
If you use Crystaliron you save some space, for very little extra cost. You might have more armour.

A tech advantage or three on the lasers would increase the firepower, at some cost.

They are minions, quantity over quality. But it's still better than the light fighter in HG.

The two lasers could each be weaker, their combined power is equivalent to a single Traveller laser. It's a matter of aesthetics, and dealing with fiction that didn't bother having any rules.

You're going to have to deal with quad turbo lasers in turret mount at some point, and decide what turbo means (some tech upgrade/advantage, perhaps?).

Turbolasers are more barbettes or bay weapons, not turret weapons.

And yes, I know some people say you can't have two weapons on a firmpoint. But this is Star Wars, where weapons rarely come in singles.

You also can't have "quad lasers" in a single turret. When I did something similar, I found the easiest thing to do was to consider "beam lasers" to be a linked pair of lasers whilst a 'pulse laser' is a single mount (so the falcon has a twin beam laser turret, and the E-wing had one beam and one pulse).

Actually you can. Quad turrets appear in the High Technology chapter of HG.

Remember the TIE fighters in the original movie were quantity over quality. They blew up left and right but there were swarms of them.

That was definitely a spin that subsequent books and games put on them, but in fairness, in the original film, the TIE fighters do pretty nearly as well as the Rebels....

I'd definitely go for Crystaliron armour. The Empire didn't use awesome high-tech armour of expensiveness, but TL12 is not unreasonable for "modern day" tech for a spacefaring society, and, as noted, either you can have more armour for less volume, or (more likely) the same armour in less volume.

Why go for costlier armour when I have the room for cheaper armour? TIEs aren't technological marvels. They're cheap ships.

4 weeks fuel seems a little excessive for a short-ranged fighter.

1dT is the minimum, and that's 4 weeks for a ship this size.

The TIE fighters trade armour for maneuverability, so the engines can be technological level thirteen with maximum propulsion.

If you want maximum propulsion, you want the TIE interceptor, not the TIE fighter.

 

[wbnc]

I like it. The TIE was always seen as hopelessly out matched by the X-wing. and it was. The X-wing was just that good. Until the X-wing was introduced the TIE was a terror for rebel forces. It was faster than the Y-wing, and Z-95 headhunter, and had plenty of firepower for its small size. And the Empire built LOTS of them.

 

[locarno24]

Turbolasers are more barbettes or bay weapons, not turret weapons.

Definitely. I'd say Barbette - there are occasional shuttle or fighter-class ships (like the TIE Lancet or TIE Big-gun) which manage to fit in a single turbolaser, but it's always a struggle. There are 'heavy turbolasers' (the big-ass turrets on an ISD) which are more bay weapon level.

They are minions, quantity over quality. But it's still better than the light fighter in HG.

Which it should be. TIE fighters were mass-produced, but still kicked pirate and merc Z-95s, separatist holdout droid fighters, and similar fighters in the teeth when put in the hands of professional navy crews.

Why go for costlier armour when I have the room for cheaper armour? TIEs aren't technological marvels. They're cheap ships.

To each their own. Bonded superdense would be 'technological marvel' to me. The TIE fighter may not be an expensive ship but it's still built to military grade, and 'normal' military grade to a TL12-14 society is crystaliron.

 

[dmccoy1693]

I noticed they didn't have solar panels for power. That's what the wings are, solar panels.

 

[EldritchFire]

I noticed they didn't have solar panels for power. That's what the wings are, solar panels.

Right, but solar panels aren't powerful enough to be used in combat, so I omitted them.

"Extendible solar panels provide backup power for a ship's power plant…extending their range and endurance."

Extended range/endurance isn't something a starfighter needs.

 

[locarno24]

They are, but solar panels generating enough power for an energy-weapon armed space dogfighter is....questionable. Certainly it's not possible within traveller rules.

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

They are, but solar panels generating enough power for an energy-weapon armed space dogfighter is....questionable. Certainly it's not possible within traveller rules.

I still question the fission power, you would think the Galactic Empire would use something better. Also a lot of these fighters are equipped with hyperdrives.

 

[Jeraa]

They are, but solar panels generating enough power for an energy-weapon armed space dogfighter is....questionable. Certainly it's not possible within traveller rules.

I still question the fission power, you would think the Galactic Empire would use something better. Also a lot of these fighters are equipped with hyperdrives.

A TL 12 Fusion plant would fit better. You can run at only 1/2 the base power rating by shutting off non-essentials, and if I remember right normal TIE fighters didn't even have life support. A reduced basic power rating would seem to fit. That brings power requirements down to a max of 15/round. A single TL 12 fusion plant produces 15 power, but does cost a bit more than 2 fusion plants (MCr1 compared to MCr0.8 ). Make it a Budget plant reduces the fusion plant cost to MCr0.75, cheaper than the fission plant. With the Increased Size disadvantage, you gain back 0.75 tons of space. So it is cheaper and more efficient to use a budget TL 12 fusion plant over a fission plant.

As for hyperdrives, regular TIE fighters didn't have any.

 

[Reynard]

I'm looking over the Wookiepedia description for the TIE/LN. It has a power source for the weapons and a primary power source for other needs so maybe those are solar panels for a Traveller version. No life support so it can run on half power. Pilot wears a space suit. (These guys are cheap!) Max acceleration.... 4,100gs!! Give it Maneuver 9.

"TIEs were designed to attack in large numbers, overwhelming the enemy craft. Standard attack squadrons consisted of 12 fighters while full attack wings were made up of six squadrons." Yeah, that's winning by attrition. The ejection seats made it easier for the pilots to willingly climb inside "knowing' they would be rescued.

 

[EldritchFire]

I'm looking over the Wookiepedia description for the TIE/LN. It has a power source for the weapons and a primary power source for other needs so maybe those are solar panels for a Traveller version. No life support so it can run on half power. Pilot wears a space suit. (These guys are cheap!) Max acceleration.... 4,100gs!! Give it Maneuver 9.

"TIEs were designed to attack in large numbers, overwhelming the enemy craft. Standard attack squadrons consisted of 12 fighters while full attack wings were made up of six squadrons." Yeah, that's winning by attrition. The ejection seats made it easier for the pilots to willingly climb inside "knowing' they would be rescued.

I'd be very careful of using Wookiepedia as a definitive source of information. For one, the 4.1k G acceleration you cited is legends material not canon. Legends stuff is from old games, books, comics, etc that are not part of the canon story. I'm going by what we see on-screen, not what some obscure book claimed (most likely with no evidence to substantiate said claim) in the late '80s or early '90s.

As for the solar panels, regardless of what Wookiepedia says, according to HG solar panels are not usable for starfighters (bold added for emphasis):

"A ship equipped with solar panels consumes power plant fuel at one–quarter the normal rate so long as it is only engaged in minimal manoeuvring and does not fire any weapons. Minimal manoeuvring does not include long periods at full thrust, so solar power alone is useless for most commercial and military vessels."

And the basics of the craft is based off of the light fighter in HG. Hence thrust 6.

 

[EldritchFire]

They are, but solar panels generating enough power for an energy-weapon armed space dogfighter is....questionable. Certainly it's not possible within traveller rules.

I still question the fission power, you would think the Galactic Empire would use something better. Also a lot of these fighters are equipped with hyperdrives.

A TL 12 Fusion plant would fit better. You can run at only 1/2 the base power rating by shutting off non-essentials, and if I remember right normal TIE fighters didn't even have life support. A reduced basic power rating would seem to fit. That brings power requirements down to a max of 15/round. A single TL 12 fusion plant produces 15 power, but does cost a bit more than 2 fusion plants (MCr1 compared to MCr0.8 ). Make it a Budget plant reduces the fusion plant cost to MCr0.75, cheaper than the fission plant. With the Increased Size disadvantage, you gain back 0.75 tons of space. So it is cheaper and more efficient to use a budget TL 12 fusion plant over a fission plant.

As for hyperdrives, regular TIE fighters didn't have any.

This is some great advice! I'll be sure to use these modifications on my next revision, thanks!

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

They are, but solar panels generating enough power for an energy-weapon armed space dogfighter is....questionable. Certainly it's not possible within traveller rules.

I still question the fission power, you would think the Galactic Empire would use something better. Also a lot of these fighters are equipped with hyperdrives.

A TL 12 Fusion plant would fit better. You can run at only 1/2 the base power rating by shutting off non-essentials, and if I remember right normal TIE fighters didn't even have life support. A reduced basic power rating would seem to fit. That brings power requirements down to a max of 15/round. A single TL 12 fusion plant produces 15 power, but does cost a bit more than 2 fusion plants (MCr1 compared to MCr0.8 ). Make it a Budget plant reduces the fusion plant cost to MCr0.75, cheaper than the fission plant. With the Increased Size disadvantage, you gain back 0.75 tons of space. So it is cheaper and more efficient to use a budget TL 12 fusion plant over a fission plant.

As for hyperdrives, regular TIE fighters didn't have any.

There is the scene from the Force Awakens Po and Finn escaped a Star Destroyer in a Tie Fighter, it would have been a very short escape if there were no life support or hyperdrive. Finn seemed to think the Tie Fighter had a hyperdrive as he wanted to jump to another system, and they weren't wearing spacesuits so there must have been life support.

 

[EldritchFire]

I still question the fission power, you would think the Galactic Empire would use something better. Also a lot of these fighters are equipped with hyperdrives.

A TL 12 Fusion plant would fit better. You can run at only 1/2 the base power rating by shutting off non-essentials, and if I remember right normal TIE fighters didn't even have life support. A reduced basic power rating would seem to fit. That brings power requirements down to a max of 15/round. A single TL 12 fusion plant produces 15 power, but does cost a bit more than 2 fusion plants (MCr1 compared to MCr0.8 ). Make it a Budget plant reduces the fusion plant cost to MCr0.75, cheaper than the fission plant. With the Increased Size disadvantage, you gain back 0.75 tons of space. So it is cheaper and more efficient to use a budget TL 12 fusion plant over a fission plant.

As for hyperdrives, regular TIE fighters didn't have any.

There is the scene from the Force Awakens Po and Finn escaped a Star Destroyer in a Tie Fighter, it would have been a very short escape if there were no life support or hyperdrive. Finn seemed to think the Tie Fighter had a hyperdrive as he wanted to jump to another system, and they weren't wearing spacesuits so there must have been life support.

And that would be the TIE/SF, not the TIE/LN.

The SF has shields, a hyperdrive, a gunner and turret. The LN is the 'classic' TIE seen in the original trilogy as well as the Star Wars: Rebels TV show.

 

[EldritchFire]

Also, if anyone is interested, the home for my Star Wars conversion can be found here. Any and all updates will be made there.

Link is also in my sig.