That’s for sure. I have it on X wing vs tie fighter

Honestly, it doesn't deserve to be on this list, because its problem is just being UNKNOWN. Yes, the first entree is like this too, but it was also a major lore thing in the EU as to how powerful it is, in part thanks to its ridiculous armor. Its basically the SANE version of trying to put something like the Sunkiller into the setting of Star Wars. A very seriously durable craft, but not an invincible one that can ram through super capital ships or blow up stars like the fighter/falcon-sized version of a doomsday weapon Mary Sue that can only be destroyed by literally throwing it into a black hole. The TIE Fighter (the standard one) itself should be on this list. Because it is well known, and yet everyone and their uncle insults it, comparing it either to the Interceptor or Defender, or the X-wing where most people think that it is just rubbish compared to all three. A lot of people basically think that the standard TIE Fighter is a heap of rubbish. Unless they have followed lore videos previously commenting on it being decent, which are very few in number overall compared to videos that either laugh at things like that "TIE tank" or instead just look at more obscure ships. Seriously, I've had people tell me that its inferior to the V-wing, its predessesor, and the so-called "Jedi Starfighter" (the latter especially being due to the whole thing about how they are almost entirely flown by, you know, Jedi?).

And it was totally unrealistic why Advanced2 and Defender TIEs not used in crucial battles And also Non - presented Imperators SD in battle of Endor; that ships staying inactive and wait .... Third question : Lancer frigate , Arquitens Light cruiser , strike cruiser, carack Light cruiser .... nothing of them launched against starfighters , newer ?! Inteligent MAN can mistake one time but not everytime repeat one mistake

@@mirkojorgovic In Legends, there was a TIE Defender squadron present at Endor.

Film showed Ax1, TIE vigilant, TIE Ln, TIE interceptor

The Y-Wing is OP in the right hands. The Ion Cannon can be downright unfair.

The Avenger, to me, is what the Empire should've tried to mass produce when the Defender proved to be too expensive. You still have a fighter that can outperform the best the Rebels have with the Avenger, the Defender's just overkill, and it pains me to say that as much as I love the Defender. Unfortunately, there's a saying in regards to warfare: children study tactics, men study logistics.

And, unless I'm misremembering a throw away line from a legends book, the B-Wing cockpit was designed for Mon Cala. Can't recall the book, but Ackbar was flying Leah to the 'Wind Cathedral'.

The Empire could have used an Infantry and Air support setup. You see in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, US forces typically fought Insurgents using both Infantry supported by Aircraft, since it is highly unlikely that the Insurgents would want to fight off against total US airpower. So in my opinion this could be adapted into Star Wars as a tactic against Rebels, Stormtroopers supported by Aircraft. (I am talking about your typical rebel force, You know the small-time groups with no starfighters since the X-wing is superior to the TIEs)

@@drewf41 Dark Apprentice, Book 2 of Jedi Academy trilogy. It was a 2-seater version

Love the description in the first rogue squadron game: The workhorse if the Alliance. Not quick or flashy but it gets the job done.”

I have always felt the Vulture droid was the superior swarm fighter, for exactly the reasons you gave

You are correct in that in a sense of how many you can field a Vulture droid makes more sense. However the Empire’s reasoning, to my understanding at least, for using the Tie fighter comes a bit like this, one everyone hates droids now so they’ll hate us if we’re using a fleet of them, two why use droids when we can use people, which will make their families more loyal and willing to support us since they’ll have one of their own working for us. It basically comes down to propaganda versus effectiveness and they chose propaganda

I believe the Tie had a more powerful laser cannon armament, but still.

Your pricing doesn’t even take into account the cost of training a pilot, which adds even more to the cost of a TIE. Training a new pilot also takes time, probably a year at least. Training a new droid takes seconds (likely taking the combined experience of all the vulture droids and uploading it into each new unit.)

Honestly, justin's response hits the nail on the head. Imperial navel doctrine was far more concerned with appearance then it was about actual effectiveness, due in heavy part to the Tarkin Doctrine. Why was the fleet of arguably one of the best capital ships in star wars history, the venator, replaced with a fleet of Imperial Star Destroyers, despite the fact that Imperials were outright designed to be brawler ships with other capital ships (in a time where the war was over and most of the enemies would be in freighters, fighters, corvettes, MAYBE frigates if you are lucky)? Cause the empire can't be using well recognized craft of the republic and they wanted to use the big scary beatstick of an Imperial to fear the enemy into submission. TIEs, while not scary like the Imperial, could make the same effect with sheer numbers AND came with the bonus of "hey, see that dot in the sky? That is a loyal imperial citizen doing their part. Are you doing yours?" You inspire fear AND potential loyalty all in one swoop… If we look at legends, we also get another reason for TIEs over droids. You see, Papa Sheev was a user of Battle Meditation in Legends. He could manipulate battlefields across the galaxy and screw with people's heads at a whim. This power RELIES on weak minded people crewing every single aspect of your military to maximize its effectiveness. So, by choosing TIEs, he makes sure every single fighter in his armada is a target for his manipulation. He can't do that with droids… at least not through the force, anyway.

It's like an advanced tie and tie interceptors baby lol

@@isaiahleonard9352 Pretty much yeah haha

The Tie Avenger just screams spec-op for me tbh, also only the most skilled, honored, respected and elite imperial pilots can fiy it into battle. The Y-Wing was my favorite Star Wars ship (besides the X-Wing, it's a close second)

@@loganwhitney8471 It's basically equivalent gameplay wise to the Royal Guard TIE Interceptor. But a slightly bigger target from above/below, and a tiny bit more durable under the shields.

Also had missile tubes in the wings, not under the cockpit, in the original game model. Although that version of course, was a bit more polygonal.

Its always bugged me that they never made a kit of the k. Granted it was only really featured in the one trilogy, but an awesome looking ship.

@@blackc1479 It's in X-wing

@@owenparris7490 huh, which one? (Assuming you mean the vid games, i know they did a mini for whichever tabletop, but ive never played.) I mainly know it from the black fleet books.

@@blackc1479 It's a mini lol sorry. Wouldn't mind seeing it post episode 9 or during the interwar years before 7 in a show. Either way, it'd be cool, don't you think?

@@owenparris7490 it would be frikkin awesome. Whenever i think of the k it reminds me of a line from the first book, a pilot thinking of it as (paraphrase) "a mean, chip on the shoulder, looking for trouble star kitty". And then when i saw what it actually looked like...yup. Seriously, how often in SW do you get underwing pylons?

Those clips were from a trailer for the video game "Star Wars: Squadrons" that released on PS4 and PC last year (I think it was last year). I'll post a link to the full video in a sec. It's badass

Here it is: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nJiGoLKiz7zDZ4U.html

I just watched it. Thanks for putting the link. It was fantastic.

yeah, It was frustrating to be a glass canon, until finally I got shields, but I'm a crappy shot, so I am very dependent on having shields. I'm happiest in a B wing.

Its something that needs to be remembered. But NOT something that belongs on this list. I'm sure most people who actually remember that the damn thing exists would say its very much NOT underrated.

@@michaelandreipalon359 The Nebulon-B (in my headcanon, which basically means EC-Henry's history of the ship as per his rendition of what it WOULD have looked like in Imperial service, and may well have looked like in a few instances), is a perfectly decent ship. Even if it has been stripped down a bit too much, either at the scrapyards before they were acquired by the Rebels, or if they have simply been stripped down by the Rebels themselves to create a purpose-made ship (i.e. turning one into a medical frigate or something).

I like the Defender's design, although I have noticed the proportions of the ship get warped in different ways every time I see it. In particular, there's what I call "The Stubby Version" that I just hate lol But the Avenger is by far my favorite. Despite being part of the Advanced line, it feels like a direct successor to the TIE Interceptor which I love and it was the first TIE I've ever seen use warheads, have a hyperdrive, and have shields. To me, it's like the TIE version of an X-Wing and A-wing hybrid. Soooo cool

The tie avenger is one of my all time favorites and so is the Razor class starfighter it's practically unknown

Love me some Tie Avenger!

@@collins3D I made my own star wars Imperial splinter group that used them as their primary starfighters i

@@brendonbewersdorf986 this is the way! What's it's name?

Yeah

I mean, that is mostly due to its age really. And some components of it CAN be upgraded to a point. Most people accept that its a pretty good ship, but just one that may have remained in service for too long... because it was at least better than whatever else they could scrounge up or buy enough of. And well, if a last generation fighter bomber is better than the latest intentionally-modifiable-into-mil-spec-vessel civilian designs that manufacturers were putting out, then it has to be pretty decent even in the early-mid Imperial era.

Made out of paper? It's considerably more durable than an X-wing by any accounts

Same here, as much as I respect the defender, the avenger seems/feels like my kind of ship.

It depends a lot on the game, in original Tie Fighter the Defender was better in every way besides size being both faster and with better maneuverability (physics breakingly so in the pre remastered version).

@@CareerKnight That's fair; I never played the game it debuted in but in EaW mods and X4: Interworlds it seems to be like a heavy strike fighter compared to the avenger beiing the more nimble but lighter dogfighter. Then again I also prefer the avenger aesthetically 🤷‍♂

@@vincediscombe7360 Some things try to balance it against the Avenger whereas in the original it was simply the next step in the evolution of TIE design (so in that regard the mod approach is a bit like trying to balance the Interceptor against the Fighter or the X-wing against the Z-95).

@@CareerKnight the interworlds mod in general stays pretty faithful to canon where it can wrt ship performance, though it is constrained by the game's core mechanics- the ships' speeds are decided by [engine power/ship's mass]. Guess the defender hull is just that bulky in interworlds 🤷‍♂

I mean it was just a slightly worse V-Wing for half the cost... Not really "underrated", as we know they're dangerous in large numbers... they just suck individually.

@@DarthWall275 Quantity can be a quality all of its own.

And that was him at 2% power.

That wasn't the Avenger though, that was actually the TIE Advanced x1, the precursor to the Avenger.

The Avenger being something like the x5 model, yes.

Playing rogue squadron or any other game with Naboo starfighter, it was my favorite. Fast, maneuverable, great pilot visibility, small target, with two powerful rapid fire cannons.

Most people see "droid starfighter" and then think "oh, like those B-1 battle droids that everyone just mows down. Quantity over quality." Which to be fair, was something they did tend to do at times (for various reasons). The Tri-fighter's main occurance in games also does not represent its deadliness very well.

Y-Wing go BBRRRRRRRRR

The A10 is shot down by any AA that's better than a dude with RPG. It's not a good analogy, especially as the 30mm Vulcan is kinda pointless.

A-10 of star wars is K-wing.

@@wojtek561 Why not both? Specially as the K-Wing is kinda of a replacement for the Y-Wings

I might suggest the opposite for that ARC-170 remodel - with its big laser cannons and design for long-distance operations, a stripped-down ARC might make an excellent raider craft. Hyperspace into a system, inflict serious damage, hyperspace out. Picking off enemy convoys or shuttles that haven't quite gotten outside of the nearest gravity well might also be a good role for it.

The Arc 170 is not really a normal fighter so much as more a heavy fighter or even fighterbomber. Fighters as a whole moved towards smaller frames during, but especially after the Clone Wars, in part due to maneuverability becoming the most important thing to have in a fighter (due to both some realistic reasons, as well as just a bit of circumstances relating to both the fact that force sensitives were driving what were seen as the best fighters, and good old imperial propaganda after that). The "Next Generation Arc 170" may well have been the K-wing. Which itself is similar (as someone else here noted) to an A-10 Warthog, except it actually CAN engage fighters to a half-decent degree. Not much more than half-decent, but still better than an A-10.

Also, no, the N-1 was not that great. It wasn't bad though. But it was definitely a local Nubian design in the end and only really meant for them since they could afford it, and one which would never see very far-spread use simply because it wasn't good enough to stand up to the cost/performance ratios of various other fighters which outclassed them (ESPECIALLY cost). It was strong enough, but people already thought it was pretty awesome because one or more games may have made it seem even more awesome, and because some really gifted kid from some outer rim sandball was able to use one to destroy the droid command ship blockading the world he was on, essentially single-handedly.

@@michaelramon2411 even escort is a possibility. During the Thrawn Crisis Feyla was using A-Wings as escort despite being created for dogfighting. The Arc had long range capability as a scout and raider so it a Jack of All Trades type of ship.

@@SephirothRyu I would agree until you put interceptors up against modified freighters. Han Lando and others would blow apart 3 or 4 Ties before loosing primary shields because while their ships weren’t the fastest or most maneuverable it had tough shields, thick armor and 360 degree firing solution. Skilled pilots also didn’t hurt.

Technically, is it actually a starfighter?

@@williamlang6728 No

“Your paintings look like the things they look like.” -Homer Simpson

It got me through Training on Tatooine several times !!

He did a playthrough of two of the games if you haven't seen them

In one game it's quoted as "can make circles around a X-wing"... it's all about agility... but that agility comes at a price (no shields, no hyperdrive)... Yet, it is never was overrated.

In any scenario with plot armor removed, the rebels would lose.