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Thread: Will the b-wing ever be a viable ship?
Meuw
Fri Dec 17, 2004 8:15 pm
#53
sorry bud the B-wing was never meant to be a fighter. It was designed as a capital ship interdiction craft.....translation: it was a little ship made to blow up big ships. Ever seen a frigate dogfight? Nope, thats why the B-Wing doesn't need to turn. Shame that in this game this is the one place they decided to be true to the abilities of the ships from the old games.
Amuro0079
Sat Dec 18, 2004 5:07 am
#54
No one ever said the B-Wing shouldturn likea fighter. We're just saying that the handling of the B-wing should be between the Y-Wing and the X-Wing,i.e, around30% more maneuverable than the Y-Wing,as it should be in Star Wars canon. That's not asking to make the B-Wing a fighter, is it?
Meuw wrote:
sorry bud the B-wing was never meant to be a fighter. It was designed as a capital ship interdiction craft.....translation: it was a little ship made to blow up big ships. Ever seen a frigate dogfight? Nope, thats why the B-Wing doesn't need to turn. Shame that in this game this is the one place they decided to be true to the abilities of the ships from the old games.
Ilorr
Sat Dec 18, 2004 5:44 am
#55
"Really ships need a Armour/Shield Modifier as well as an Engine Modifier."
David I could not agree with you more on this and I have been saying it since beta. One can only hope what once the 20 new members of the design team get up to speed that this will get done... if not sooner.
S-1-l2-H-C
Sat Dec 18, 2004 7:13 am
#56
the bwing should not handle like a fighter, but it shouldnt handle like a nova courier either (the ypr stats are the same, look it up). it needs to be just slightly worse than the freelance and impreial master ships.
Butterbean569
Sun Dec 19, 2004 12:49 am
#57
Do you guys have *any* idea what canon is? Let me tell you this, Video Games are basically the lowest form of canon out there. Fan-Fiction is the only form that's lower!
According to George Lucas, the only real canon is from the movies. What have we seen the B-Wing do in the movies? Act like a slug and go on bombing runs. Below the movies are books and comics, and below those are games.
Movies > Books/Comics > Games
Anything in the books/comics or gamesthat conflicts with the movies isautomaticallythrown out. Anything in the games that conflicts with the movies or books/comics is automatically thrown out. The B-Wing is a cumbersome bomber in *both* the movies and the books/comics. Sorry guys, the TIE Fighter/X-Wing series really means nothing in this debate.
Amuro0079
Sun Dec 19, 2004 6:58 am
#58
From the Databank of starwars.com:
The B-wing Starfighter, designed by me and Verpine/Slayn and Korpil manufacturing is the most heavily armed starfighter seen in the Rebuplic Navy. I got the idea for this fighter shortly after the Empire came out with a new Capital ship, the Nebulon-B frigate. When this frigate was first manufactured, the Alliance, which had no medium cruisers, could not combat the Nebulon effectively. The Mon Cal Star Cruisers were too valuable to divert from more important missions, so our solution was the creation of the B-wing fighter. The B-wing is short for Blade-wing, so named because of its dagger-like appearance.
The Shantipole Project, as it was dubbed, brought the prototypes into service a lot more quickly than expected, due to superb design qualities. The B-wing has a modular design. Because of this, it can have its weapons system switched quickly to fit different mission parameters. This way, a commanding Officer can have many more mission options than would otherwise be possible. The most popular combination is to move the ion cannons to the command pod and put laser cannons on the S-foils.
The B-wing is a very heavily armed craft. It has an armament of one laser cannon, two autoblasters, three medium ion cannons, and two proton torpedoe launchers. A special laser targeting system allows the B-wing to "paint" other craft, aiding in fire solutions. This allows the B-wing to engage multiple targets at once, but it makes it more easily detectable to long range opponents. The B-wing also boasts heavy armor and shields. It is propelled by a powerful Quadex Kyromaster engine powered by a Vinop O2 K ionization reactor with four individually adjusted thrust nozzles. The power convertors are Slayn and Korpil JZ-5g7 models.
Where the B-wing is superior in firepower it is inferior in speed (no faster than a Y-wing) and in hyperdrive (twice as slow as an X-wing or Y-wing). To make up for its lack of speed, it is extremely maneuverable. A gyroscopic cockpit allows the execution of some maneuvers that would otherwise make the pilot feint or lose targeting ability.
Deandrada
Sun Dec 19, 2004 1:33 pm
#59
Being slow to maneuver is one thing. The B-wing is a slopy mess to all but the steadiest of hands.
GangaWolf wrote:
From starwars.com:
The Alliance drew many needed supplies by raiding Imperial convoys with their venerated X-wing and Y-wing starfighters. In response to this piracy, the Empire countered with heavily armed starships -- escort frigates -- protecting their shipments. The Alliance countered with the B-wing starfighter.
Developed by the insectoid Verpine of the Roche asteroid field, under the supervision of Admiral Ackbar, the B-wing starfighter is a bizarre-looking craft. Like other Verpine vessels, the B-wing has a complex gyroscopic control system that keeps a pilot along a single orientation during maneuvers. Though this stabilizes the ship as a weapons platform, the gyroscope is an engineering and maintenance nightmare.
The B-wing carries an extremely powerful array of weapons, including a heavy ion cannon, proton torpedoes, auto-blasters and a trio of laser cannons. Alternate configurations feature three laser cannons, three ion cannons, and twin torpedo launchers. Since the vessel is designed to engage capital ships, it has phenomonal firepower, but lacks speed and maneuverability.
I too wish the B-Wing was more manuverable, but it looks like the implementation in JTL is consistent with established Star Wars cannon. It is meant as part of a strike force, not as a dog fighter.
DavidHarper
Sun Dec 19, 2004 3:06 pm
#60
Butterbean569 wrote:
The B-Wing is a cumbersome bomber in *both* the movies and the books/comics. Sorry guys, the TIE Fighter/X-Wing series really means nothing in this debate.
Do you have any idea what you are talking about? Can you show me anywhere in the movies where we see the B-Wing being a cumbersome bomber or slower/less manouverable than the Y-Wing? Same in books can you point me to any books where it states the B-Wing is less Manouverable than the Y-Wing?
Cos many people have shown where the B-Wing is listed as being faster/more manouverable than the Y-Wing. The sources people have quoted came out way before this game did. As others have stated we don't want this just so we can have some uber ship, we want it because it conforms with the current cannon. All we want is for the B-Wing to have manouverability inbetween the Y-Wing and the X-Wing which is what it should have.
BillyBobthe50th
Sun Dec 19, 2004 4:14 pm
#61
For those of you comparing the B-wing to a huge monster made to kill cap ships..
If SW space combat is like WW2 air combat, it would go something like...
B-Wing=Stuka
The stuka's task was to dive in at a steep angle, drop a massive bomb, then go back and re-arm, what other fighter you know of does something like this? The B-wing.
DavidHarper
Sun Dec 19, 2004 4:38 pm
#62
The B-Wing was designed to replace the Y-Wing because the Y-Wing was being killed by both Capitol Ships and Fighters. The Y-Wing was just too darn slow and un-manouverable. The B-Wing was made to be able to hold its own against the newer Imperial Fighters as well as take on the bigger Imperial ships. It was NOT designed purely as a bomber!
Why would the Alliance go and make a ship which would fare worse against fighters when that was one of the Y-Wing bigest faults!!
Butterbean569
Mon Dec 20, 2004 1:15 am
#63
That refers to its ability to keep the pilot in a constant place relative to the ship, *NOT* it's turning ability. The gyroscopes allow the ship to revolve around the cockpit, but have no effect on its ability to turn at a fast rate. This allows for manuvers that aren't possible by other ships not because it can turn faster than them, but because of its unique way of manuvering.
Marzuk147
Mon Dec 20, 2004 1:28 am
#64
The Bwing isnt even superior in firepower. Extra missle slot, ok big whoop. Extra cannon slot? Yeah sure, thats just 1 gun. Ill take a Rihkxyrk over the Bwing any day.
Butterbean569
Mon Dec 20, 2004 3:25 pm
#65
ILM's internal charts placed the original X-Wing, original Y-Wing, and original TIE all at the same agility. The B-Wing was significantly slower, though. (The TIE Interceptor was more agile than all, and the A-Wing even more so.)
While having the Y-Wing and TIE as the same agility really seems odd, that's what the official canon source says. The only way to disprove this is to actually find a scene in the movie that shows otherwise. There are many conflicting pieces of evidence of how manuverable the B-Wing is, but this is the highest source out there that discusses the B-Wing, and it says that the Y-Wing is more manuverable.
Just for gameplay sake, I think it would be a bad thing to have the B-Wing more manuverable than the Y-Wing. It would end up a total "composite in space" type of deal. Think about it...If the B-Wing was more manuverable than the Y-Wing, and nearly as manuverable as the X-Wing, there would be no reason to fly any other ship besides the B-Wing and A-Wing. Two ships that are useful...that doesn't sound very fun does it?