Pilot Archive
Thread: YPR and TIE's
One thing you need to remember is that the Heavy TIE is a new ship that was added with the ROTW expansion. Until ROTW came out, the TIE Advanced had more firepower and mass than any other TIE that was designed for speedy dogfighting rather than bombing duty. Even in a post-ROTW situation, the Advanced has one significant advantage over the Heavy: the second gunpoint (it's also faster than the Heavy, but since the YPR on the Heavy is better, you don't really see the speed advantage as much).
The easiest thing to do as a new Imperial Pilot is to get a Heavy and never change to other ships. However, I think you lose the feel of being an Imperial Pilot if you do this. Part of what makes being an Imperial challenging in space is that we have low-mass ships. The ROTW ships kinda threw the original balance of JTL out of whack. Pretty much all of the ROTW ships are 'better' than the original JTL ships. Since I've become an Ace, I spend a lot of my time going back to check out the ships that I either dismissed or skipped all together.
In terms of what those numbers mean, you'll want to check out the FAQ for a good explaination. The quick answer is that all the stats for an engine are better when they're higher. Looking at your engine, I'd say that you could probably do a lot better at 4333. In an Advanced, I'd suggest you start collecting stuff to get RE'd. But in the meantime, you should get a crafted Mark IV engine versus whatever you have now. The FAQ will show you the hard cap for each of the different ships. Trust me, your engine is NOT suffering due to the caps.
I flew the advanced and checked out the numbers, it seems the first group of ypr numbers indicates the chassis, since the advanced was lower, and those first sets of numbers stayed the same even when I put a lvl 1 engine in both.
The second set indicates the engine itself, and those numbers did change accordingly with engines, which makes what the numbers stand for about as clear as mud or as clear as the number on weapon pup's (which I still have yet to master)
All my engines suck I know 
But waiting for another 400k xp and 4422 pilot I have a RE'd 78/76/79/95 engine that I paid dearly for, I just wish it had a little more top speed. I can actually fit it into my advanced, but I'll have to dump the lvl 7 guns and go with a pair of RE'd lvl 5 guns. Even though the heavy is "better", I still lean towards the advanced, I just like the looks of it, and the two weapons points. I don't agree that we even have ships with so much mass that make it easy for almost anyone to load whatever they want into it. I had to put a lot of near-spreadsheet work and time and money and trips to vendors and making friends with master shipwrights to make my advanced into a good ship.