“Put your pilots closest to retirement in them to avoid pension payments.” He remembers Dolores from Imperial HR! 🤩

I find it funny how this is supposed to apparently be a new better fighter to combat the A-Wing, yet the TIE Intercepter does exactly the same. Both lack shields and hyperdrives, just that the TIE Intercepter had more guns and armor on it

3:45 Imagine being so bad you make the TIE Fighter seem preferable and more advanced.

I almost get the impression this thing was meant to be automated and the pilot was added at the last minute... In my head it makes more sense to remove the cockpit, use the resulting space to add a integrated droid pilot and a torpedo/missile launcher and then have a heavy armored carrier deploy hundreds of these things at once, but what do I know.

Tbh, considering it's debut was in Dark Empire, maybe it was meant for a droid to pilot it, kind of like the Tie Droid

I like the idea that cost cutting, bureaucracy and backing bad designs(slow tanks that trip! TWO Death Stars!, etc.) contributed heavily to the fall of the empire.

It's almost sad, in a way, that Dark Empire and its sourcebook's writers made a hotshot new starfighter, wrote about its good qualities, and then was straight out contradicted by later material so that their ship becomes a useless mistake.

Video games have done a lot of reputation damage for TIE Fighters (and Stormtroopers, for that matter). The original trilogy clearly established that they were dangerous and could hold their own against Rebel ships. When we did a starfighter fan film, we had an X-wing get destroyed by a TIE Fighter. We had so many people comment that "X-wings have shields" and they therefore couldn't be destroyed that we made a montage of TIE Fighters destroying X-wings from the OT as a response.

The A9 seems to be like the TIE Tank. Some artist puts it in a comic forcing some writer to create lore for it to explain it's appearance, but it's so ludicrous it's written into the in-universe category of "bits of history we want to forget."

I love how you are waking up and choosing to ROAST both Star Wars, the vehicles, and the fans, in like 50+% of these videos in the recent months. Keep it up 😂😂😂😂

More battle breakdowns

One of the things mentioned about the fighter was that each engine and the laser cannons. Had their own power generator. Allowing power to be diverted if any of the generators were disabled. Only really useful if the engines are still working. Also it was created by Kuat to steal some of the lucrative fighter contracts from Sienar Fleet Systems for their TIE fighters.

For elements of the ship that the New Republic would be incorporating into future designs, look no further than the Jumpstar HPF starfighter. It’s a fighter made and used by the Galactic Alliance, the successor to the New Republic, in and around 130~137 ABY-ish. Physically, it looks extremely similar to the A-9 Vigilance, clearly a later generation version of it. It comes with a hyperdrive, shields, laser cannons, and specialized “marker missiles” that latch homing beacons onto a targeted ship. It was used as a tracking ship by the GA, meant to pursue enemy ships through hyperspace. This all comes from the Legacy Era Campaign Guide.

Hey Eck! Devils Advocate here. So certain elements of this fighter are definitely better than a regular tie. The biggest is the field of view. This ship would allow pilots to see what looks like more than 90 degrees more than a tie which in a dogfight could be extremely preferable. Also, the whole armor thing seems a bit silly to me. How many times have we seen a tie fighter survive a hit anyway? All this fighter really needs is a missile rack to give it some flexibility and it would be blatantly better than a tie fighter imo.

The turbolaser was something those essential guides did a few times, they also gave the Ewing a light turbolaser. Personally, I like the idea that where possible, both the new repulic and empire experimented with a starfighter with a turbolaser and decided it was too much of a headache to deal with en mass, even if the resulting craft was quite powerful.

The gun layout on the A-9 struck me as being two things: a heavy laser cannon for hard targets, and a lighter laser cannon for dogfights. So instead of requiring torpedo bays, it just has a powerful energy weapon for strafing capital ships etc. A bit like certain WW2 fighter planes that featured a single large-caliber cannon flanked by machine guns.

At a guess, the things that later designs would incorporate would be whatever combination of 'soft' factors that made it both easy to learn to fly and with a high skill ceiling. So often you only get one of the two, if you even get either. Whether that's HUD design, avionics, MFD placement, advanced functions interfaces, whatever. It'd be something that doesn't show on a spec sheet, not the speed or the armour or the turning rate or whatever, but something that crews praised.

After my mom died when I was 7 my stepmom introduced me to Star Wars it bonded us together it has been the one thing that I can turn to when life sucks to take my mind off of it all. So thank you ECK!!!❤

If you just take it as escribed in Dark Empire, its an excellent fighter. Or rather, an excellent interceptor. Really fast, reasonably maneuverable - and with turbolasers. Yes, you pooh-poohed the idea, but it makes PERFECT sense if you consider it a ship that NEVER dogfights. It sweeps in at extreme speed, starts firing well out of the range of whoever it is attacking, probably makes at least one one-hit kill on the enemy formation (because fighters can't take turbolaser hits), then sweeps through the enemy formation and accelerates away, not even trying to engage. Get well out of range, swing around, and do it again. Basically, the "Splash" tactic used by US fighters against A6M Zeroes in WWII. If you try and use it as a space superiority fighter, you'll get your head handed to you. Use it as intended and it's a terror.

I always thought the TIE's were inspired by the Jedi ETA-2 Actis star fighters, the interceptor the most resembling the ETA-2 Actis when it was in full combat mode.

I do like the unconventional approach of just bolting some naked engines to nacelle mounts straight from the factory. It's bold in not even hiding how little they expect the pilot to survive. No need to put plating on something you're not expecting to come back.

I’ve liked the look of the A-9 vigilance. I do wonder if it could be salvaged to be more than a heavy cannon on a space-worthy pod racer.

First time I've ever heard of the A-9 referred to as a TIE series Starfighter.

When they were talking about elements they will use in their own fighters I think they meant the scrap metal they'll melt down to make into a better fighter

I recently started learning about different IRL military hardware. The superlight weight fighter sounds more like the f16 compared to its predecessors of the f14 and f15, as well as its backwards step of being design focused around dog fights, something that peer state airframe were moving away from.

There is a small niche of fighter aircraft in real world air forces that is just a pure speed interceptor. The Russian MIG-25 was designed for pure speed to be able to chase down American SR-71 spy planes. These planes don't need to dogfight, drop bombs, or really do much besides being really really fast. This thing is kinda similar. Maybe it could be used as a quick response planet based defense force. Something that can get up out of the atmosphere quickly, or maybe run down hit and fade attacks before they can jump away.

To go over all the things they would need to do to fix this: Fuselage: - Bring the cockpit forward so the pilot can actually see where they are going. - Reduce the size and length of the thruster pylons. The closer to the centre of mass they can bring it the better. - Make the shape more streamlined with a narrower front facing profile to make it harder to hit. Engines: - Add in a third engine right behind the craft's centre of mass. - Upgrade engine gimballing (or whatever equivalent Star Wars uses) to increase maneuverability. - Increase engine power and throughput (like the ability to divert all power to engines) Weapons: - Upgrade primary laser turrets to heavy lasers. - Add an underslung torpedo launcher with 2-4 rounds of ammo. Equipment: - Upgrade its reactor to something much bigger. - Add shield system. - Add hyperdrive. If all of these things were done, I could see this ship taking on a useful role as a surprise hit and run raider or pre-invasion scout ship. It won't be cheap if they did, but at least you would be getting something serviceable for your credits.

Fleet battle between Grand admiral Thrawn vs. Ender Wiggin Each one has an equal sized fleet with equally capable subordinates, and since Ender is from a different universe each has equal understanding of the technology they’re using. They are in command of Star Wars vessels. Pick a famous fleet of your choosing I’d suggest death squadron

I could see a high speed anti Capitol Class fighter with turbo lasers specifically for targeting rebel ships to counter their hit and run tactics.

For surprise attacks, I could see this ship being workable in an Imperial Escort Carrier, which itself is a fast and nimble pocket carrier designed for ambushes and spec ops. But at the same time, you could stock an IEC with almost any TIE Fighter [Especially the elite TIE Hunters they would often run with] and it would work just as well if not better, so the only way I could justify using Vigilances in an IEC is if there wasn't anything better availible.

#askeck How were the Seperatists able to get past Coruscant’s planetary shields when they attacked in Episode III? Lore ship Versus video request: Resurgent vs. Starhawk Tie Striker vs. New Republic V-Wing World Devastator vs. Vong Worldship Tie Silencer vs. X-83 Twintail Tie Silencer vs. Tie Defender (legends version) Keldabe vs. ISD II MC90 vs. Nebula class star destroyer Nebula class vs. Pellaeon class Majestic class vs. Bothan Assault Cruiser EAWX: FOTR’s Mandator II portrayal vs. Subjugator Praetor vs. Subjugator EAWX: TR’s Mediator portrayal vs. Resurgent Starhawk vs. Bulwark MK III

The design elements due to be incorporated were probably the power shunting from the various generators: the ability to quickly and easily divert power is a strong positive, as would eventually be seen in Star Wars Squadrons.

Someone hasn't heard of the Q-wing! 😄

I just like the way it looks. I was such a fan of the Dark Empire artwork that I think I just liked the look. I had no knowledge of the quality of the craft.

I have always thought an advancement on the A-wing would be a centrally located trio of lasers and external missiles packs on the wings that could be jettisoned once empty. So in such a case the A-9's cannon mount would be useful info. Of course the sequel trilogy DID come out with a new A-wing. It had a longer nose. Peak design!

Hey Ecks. Video idea question: do you think that if, somehow, a Star Trek exploration ship would make it into the Star Wars Galaxy, it would have success in charting the unknown regions since it isn’t reliant on Hyperspace lanes?

So, basically, later authors decided that the Empire can't have a good ship because it's like a TIE and EU writers decided that TIEs have to suck?

Re: Heavier starfighter weapons The go-to analogy is, of course, back to WWII fighters. It's worth noting that despite the US's noted preference for machineguns (in this analogy, these'd be the normal laser cannon) every air force fielded interceptors with a mix of cannon (automatic or otherwise) as well. The A6M Zero had a 20mm autocannon as its main weapon, supported only by a pair of ~.30" machineguns compared to most US fighters mounting four to eight .50" machineguns. Sure, you can't spray the sky and hope for a hit with a cannon, but you won't be very effective with a faster firing weapon, either. Point is, the heavier weapon literally blew apart what it hit. And the Zero is an obvious comparison here, aside from the A-9's short legs. It was a flimsy, maneuverable fighter built on the cheap... but in the hands of a skilled pilot could tear through fighters that were, on paper, it's equal or even superior. Then again, the reason the Zero was cheap was because Japan was still working on that whole industrialization thing coming off centuries of isolation (IIRC, the plant that built the plane had to use draft animals to pull the newly built planes to ship them;) the A-9 could be devastating if you had a group with lots of manpower and training but little money to buy spaceframes with. Anyone else would figure their money was better spent on a more capable fighter.

Do you think a turbolaser fighter could be a niche role, if we do take its weaponry as written in the sourcebook? Perhaps a high speed standoff craft for poking corvettes and pickets?

Ironically, the A-9 still has better visibility for the pilot than a TIE because its cockpit layout *isn't* a window on a single side blinkered by huge panels.

This ship reminds me as a quick yet vulnerable a10 warthog. It's use case should be air to ground and that's basically it.

"What's that? It's hideous!" - Lord Farquaad

Sounds like a good interceptor in the actual IRL interceptor role: shooting down bombers. In Star Wars there's usually no climb speed (space) but this thing seems great for a mission that consists only of catching up to bombers asap and then killing them.

space ships, space battles, and more specifcially, dogfights in space, are what got me most into star wars next to lightsabers. I love learning about the ships in star wars honestly. the recent videos have been very interesting lately for sure.

It’s called an “interceptor” Which suggests it’s meant to have a role like IRL interceptors, scrambling to meet enemy bombers before they drop on their targets. Since bombers (IRL, pre-stealth Cold War and earlier) don’t have to maneuver, their wing geometry and multiple engines can carry them faster and higher than fighters. So “interceptors” originate from a specifically bomber-killing role IRL. Through the Cold War this varied to interceptors being look-down radar specialists, able to cruise at high altitudes and lock on to enemy planes from a commanding viewpoint. All this material makes it seem like the various authors and artists coming later might not have had an awareness of the IRL reference

It's actually a lot like real life interceptors, very high top speed and powerful weaponary but terrible manouvreability. Its description says it's a territorial defence interceptor, with the y-wing's defence turrets on the top, being able to fire directly downwards means you can fly upside down under them and start blasting with very little risk. Then speed away before they can hit you. Come back round after and repeat on the way back to the ship if they're not dead yet. But against a fighter, it's gonna die real quick, you might be able to outrun laser bolts because they'll dissipate but missiles have the range and speed to hit the A9. It also probably won't work against anything with proper all round turrets and a good enough sensor array. But tie bombers and y-wings don't have those.

considering the visual similarities between the A-9 and the E-wing I'd guess that's where the elements the NR engineers liked went

Hey Eck, in numerous videos you mention ships made by Kuat (koowat? kue-ott?) shipyards. Do you already have a video on these shipyards? If not, could you consider making one? (I'm new to the expanded lore.)

My guess for the features incorporated into future New Republic starfighters was always some features of the engine design itself and the literal flexibility of the laser cannon mount. Being able to fire off-axis or even in a fully unexpected direction could have some distinct tactical benefits. Rapid, hull-hugging attacks could hypothetically be easier to execute safely if the pilot could fly straight across the hull without needing to angle to get weapons into arc--just fly over as close as possible and possibly even under the minimum angle the defensive turrets could depress to.

Maybe there are small tricks in how it was built that can be applied to making other ships more reliable or more manufacturable. Not all technology is in monolithic systems and capabilities, some of it is things like stamped recievers.

I feel like if we go off of that one source book that says they have heavy turbolasers they made sense as an *actual* interceptor Very fast very hard hitting fighter made to kill or incapacitate slower larger targets. Enemy capitol ship just exited hyperspace? Launch a dozen squadrons of these things to pummel it with the fire power of an entire fleet of star destroyers before it can close to engagement range. Enemy transports trying to run? They won't get very far with this thing chasing them Enemy ship trying to escape? Blow its engines out with precise hard hitting firepower

The engines sounds pretty good, maybe try to do experimental tie fighters with them and see what happend

The change in quality after the sourcebook sounds like the same thing that happened to the E Wing. Dark Empire was still pretty early EU and the new fighters were meant to replace the classics. They were unpopular because the designs leave something to be desired and people just like the iconic ships. So, later, Borge the Vigilance and the E-Wing were retconned as having significant design issues necessitating the return of the classic fighters.

Ya know, a cool strategey for the fighter would be to jump a few carriers on either side of an enemy fleet. The figters would launch, speed through the enemy fleet while firing before landing in the carriers on the opposite side. Finally the carriers would hyperdrive away. Because ther fighter is so cheep, you could probably bring hundreds. And because of their speed the whole manuver might only take a few minutes. Is that a good idea? Eck?

What I find funny is that the game Jedi Starfighter features the Saboath Fighter, which is basically just an A9 with more guns and better shields.

Smart imperial engineer: "Okay, guys, I have an idea about how to dunk on the Rebels." Emps: "Uh huh?" SIE: "Vulture Droids. Lots of 'em!"

Kinda reminds me of the Me-163 Komet. The Komet was rocket-powered and could climb to 34,000 in 3 minutes 45 seconds to intercept bomber formations and pepper them with 20 and 30mm shells. However there were some problems. 1: To save weight, the landing gear would be dropped after takeoff. The only landing gear was an extendable skid. It would be safe to say that landings would be extremely hard on both the pilot and the airframe itself. 2: The propellants for the rocket engine were extremely toxic and corrosive, there was an instance where a pilot was dissolved when a fuel line ruptured during a crash. 3: The fueling procedure was dangerous. The rocket engine used two propellants called "T-Stoff" and "C-Stoff". On their own they were non-flammable but when mixed together they violently exploded. If both were accidentally mixed together outside the combustion chamber then the unfortunate ground crewman would simply wind up as a fine red mist. 4: Powered flight only lasted 7 1/2 minutes. After that the flyer was simply a glider and was easy picking for any fighters.

My thought on the Vigilance as a series, A-9, then the (plot armor we fixed everything!) A-10 was always "we can't SAY it's a government contract NOT for pirates... BUT..." it is meant for sudden surprise attacks but needs a carrier... like a disguised freighter. Great in a straight line or surprise cone... like it was launched by a disguised freighter or something? I think it was meant to be a special operations fighter, why they'd dump money into its development. And the closest public sector to SPECOPS? Pirates. In starwars, seldom a difference, ask omega squad in Triple Zero

I sort of wonder if the person mentioning the fighter being armed with two turbolasers thought that that's what the two outboard engine pods were. Pretty sure that was what I thought when the Dark Empire Sourcebook came out (but it's been a long time since then).

The best use I can imagine for this thing is planetary defense on a budget. If you're never leaving a system, the lack of hyperdrive becomes meaningless. And while the heavy lasers make for poor dogfighting, the biggest threat to a planetary invasion is the capital ships, which this could make good hit-and-run strikes against. Of course, this could be done much better by dedicated bombers with fighter escort, but at least it's something.

I literally made a Hank Hill disgust gasp when I saw the thumbnail.

Tbh the only conclusion is that the Empire (and its ship designs) is written in a way so it will lose constantly, in every possible engagement.

The Empire never did fully learn to mass produce the TIE Avenger and Defender what could outclass everything the New Republic ever made.

This is just another case of something being introduced in a Star Wars book/comic and being nerfed in every other showing. The main one everyone knows being the Hapans.

The TIE Fighter was misused it was never intended to be a spacefighter It was intended to be the point defense system for an Imperial Star Destroyer

You know what...? I think this thing would be a blast to fly! It's pretty small, probably has great acceleration, and that laser canon is enticing. I wouldn't downplay the potential of that laser cannon; sustained fire from laser cannons can exceed the total damage potential of proton torpedoes. I don't believe a laser cannon set up like that would ONLY be able to fire straight down. I think it's more likely that it was gimbaled and could fire in a large forward cone, and ALSO a larger firing range downward. This would mean it doesn't need to approach its target head-on to fire, giving it more evasion in an initial pass. This gimbaled laser canon could also partially make up for its inferior maneuverability. However, controlling a gimbaled gun simultaneously with piloting a ship would be quite challenging. That's why I want to fly it! On that very matter, I discovered something interesting a few months ago: the earliest sources covering the A-Wing did NOT grant it any kind of missile launcher, but DID grant it gimbaled laser cannons. "A Guide to the Star Wars Universe," the WEG's "The Star Wars Sourcebook," and "The Farlander Papers" which came packaged with Star Wars: X-Wing all list it this way. I think it's only starting with the actual Star Wars: X-Wing *game* that the gimbaled laser cannons are removed and concussion missile launchers are added. I think Totally Games probably strongly considered implementing the A-Wing as originally described, but was unable to do so for technical reasons, or because there were no commercial joysticks at the time that would allow such a thing. Maybe they thought controlling it with the keyboard would suffice, but it never panned out. Anyway, from that moment on, the A-Wing lore changed. Later sources claimed that Incom made a New Republic version of the A-Wing that supported gimbaled laser cannons, in contrast to earlier models. My headcanonization is as follows: "Star Wars: X-Wing," "The Farlander Papers," and "The Star Wars Sourcebook" indicate that the A-Wing was designed by Jan Dodonna and Walex Blissex, and manufactured in small numbers by Rebel engineers. Other sources claim early A-Wings were made by hand out of whatever materials were available, and this seems to jive with the previous fact. I believe all these original A-Wings were built with gimbaled laser cannons and no missile launchers, as the early - primarily BBY - sources claim. Then the Rebellion got the capacity to manufacture A-Wings en masse, but couldn't do so at the previous specifications. Perhaps the amount of downtime repairing the laser gimbals was too much, or perhaps some parts did not exist in large quantities. However, these new A-Wings were able to add concussion missile launchers instead. When Incom took over production during the New Republic era, they made A-Wings that had the best of both worlds, and included more reliable gimbal-mounted laser cannons as well as the standard concussion missile launchers. I'm sure you can see the relation here: both are fast interceptors designed with gimbaled laser cannons. The difference is the A-9 had this as a standard feature, on more powerful cannons. A squadron of these flying over a Mon Calamari Cruiser could cause serious havoc, and they'd be able to evade and attack effectively at the same time. I also wouldn't discount this laser cannon's accuracy against starfighters out of hand, since we have no reason to believe that they are inaccurate. Of course, the A-Wing has better defenses, maneuverability, and concussion missile launchers. By this time, they've also likely regained their own gimbaled lasers, even if they're less powerful.

I love the sass in your title. That's my kind of energy.

Boom & Zoom fighter tactics are a real life thing which would be the A-9's bread and butter which mean maneuverability isn't such a big deal. Obviously not against capital ships but against slower fighters and bombers. It's an interceptor, so it's role is to intercept enemy fighters and bombers as quickly as possible. It's not an offense geared fighter but a defensive one. When you detect Y-Wings or B-Wings the A-9 intercepts them as far away from your base as possible to support patrolling fighters which will be the first to engage. TBH, I would argue the Empire doesn't have a true fighter craft and tries to force interceptors into the role.

"I am so specialized I cannot be defeated!" *is so specialized and simplified it turns useless* Sad for the A-10 Thunderb- Vigilance

The engines and the ability to shoot straight down seem the most interesting features.

It seems that the A-9 would more useful as a police vessel rather than a frontline fighter. About the only military use for something like this is as an advanced trainer.

The dark empire seems to have eccentric engineers, frustrated with the pervasiveness of traditional Sienar designs, taking advantage of the new doctrine of the resurrected emperor and his theoretically unlimited resources to mass-produce their original designs which previously remained at the prototype state It gives the dark empire a very unique style, while later the imperial remnants will return to classic designs

The specific engine design might have been reused. It was a very powerful, efficient sublight engine that fitted in a nice cylindrical housing. 4 of them might make a nice alternative engine for a new generation x-wing.

Dolores from Imperial HR approves of near retirement pilots flying in A-9 Vigilance fightercraft.

I really appreciate that there are several crappy or not particularly viable military vehicles and weapons and star wars. Given the number of tanks and guns and planes that have been produced by a real world militaries that are known to have horrible problems and are hated by their crews, it makes the universe feel more realistic to know that crappy, designed by committee and built by the lowest bidder weapon systems exist no matter where in the universe you go

It strikes me as an ultra cheap, easy to fly fighter, that Kuat tried to upsell by claiming it was for performance reasons not production costs. In the (Legends) lore, the TIE is actually very hard to make, even though it is simple in theory, because it requires a high degree of manufacturing precision. Only the Empire has the resources to make something like it and treat it as disposable. And even they can only afford it due to the huge numbers they buy. And it apparently is very difficult to fly at a high level, and train on. So a more restricted Empire, possible without access to Sienars plants, might find an easy to fly, cheap fighter of more conventional construction advantageous, even if it was a downgrade from the TIE.

I will hold that the A9 wasn't as bad as the T-wing. Incidentally another A-wing competitor.

This fighter has all the hallmarks of a product imagined, pushed, designed, and released by a marketing department.

I'd say whichever Kuat con-man came up with this had a pretty good scam going on. Made some quick and easy credits out of some desperate Imperial holdouts. As for how to use these near hunks of junk? Well, if they were packing heavy laser cannons, they could at least threaten gunships or light escorts. So if you could trade a squadron of A9's for something like a cargo hauler, a corvette or a troop transport than that's a pretty good deal. But so many better options.

I would love a deep dive on the different types of cannons and what vessels had them.

2:34 If a TIE is made of Cardboard then this is made of tissue paper.

The stats show that this is supposed to be an interceptor which charges from a higher attitute at its enemies and then regains that height instead of engaging in dogfights. In WW2 german pilots completely avoided dogfights and used this tactic.

I'd be curious to see your take on its contemporary, and MUCH less conventional - contemporary in Imperial service, if there's enough material to do a feature on the Shadow Droid (or more generally the Dark Empire special projects which, outside of the superweapons, haven't got much of a spotlight).

"Sir. Some of the TIEs materials are easily available. The fuel source is literally dirt cheap." "Bah. Use cheap substitutes!" "But Sir. The life support has no components at all." ... "Use CHEAPER substitutes!"

I really like the idea of a fighter armed with turbolasers - kind of like WW2 fighters that were armed with cannons (P-39 Aircobra, Yak-9, or variants of the BF-109 and A6M 'Zero' fighters)

The Empire went from fielding Zeros to zeros.

Gotta give the I-7 Howlrunner mention now since we're on the subject of 160,000 credit price range star fighters.

Day 36 of asking for Titanfall vs halo matchup

A-9 Vigilance interceptors. Speedy little things." "Weak hulls. I used to crack 'em with my teeth and suck out the meat inside."

It would be quite useful in numbers, but that would also require some type of mega-carrier. If it was very easy to learn to pilot it, as is stated, you could have mega-carriers jump on with a complement of 100+ unit squadrons that launch all at once. This effectively becomes a "bombing squadron" with high likeliness of survivability (due to numbers and speed), that can lay down near turbolaser firepower in the thousands of shots per second. Low manufacturing costs, easy trainability, low cost of rearming, extremely condensed launch bay storage... That's devastating. Used in this manner, it's just like having reusable and nimble warheads in the hundreds that have sentient intelligence behind it and able to stay on the battlefield to continually pick more targets. Even capital ships couldn't survive a quick wave of these things.

When talking about maneuverability, it made me wonder, do Star Wars ships have inertial dampers? This is an extremely important technology. I don't think I've ever heard it discussed.

Turbo lasers are a strange "descriptor" The falcon for example had 2 turrets each with 4 quad linked turbo lasers. Now while we "always hear" them say its just laser cannons, when talking about how to tell the difference between lasers and turbo lasers apart... in star wars... "turbo lasers have recoil, if you see the barrels retract after firing, or recoiling, then its a turbo lasers." it was the on screen "descriptor" to tell the difference. It was source material writers that changed things later. Essentially the falcons guns were based on a 40mm bofors design.

Okay, but the comments made at 4:08 did make me imagine a scenario where a like, underfunded rebel cell on a scapping or shipbreaking planet harvests a bunch of turbo lasers that the strap onto ugly fighters that have been stripped down of everything but their engines and the turbolasers. Imagine like, 10 squadrons of starfighters like that doing a suicide run on the ISD that tends the planet. Might make for a cool, if short martyrdom story

I would say it would work quite well against soft ground targets. As soon as you mentioned that the turbolaser can be pointed down it's purpose is quite clearly as a pseudo bomber.

KSE/KDY had access to a number of effective starfighter designs. If they really wanted to create a space superiority fighter to compete with the TIE/LN/IN, they had the stuff. This could be a case where the project got corrupted from its original intent during a management transition or something. So is this purely Legends so far,? because maybe it can just be ignored.

The only possible scenario I can see deploying these A-9 Vigilance is in an ambush setup, most likely in nebula environments where sensors are highly compromised, or in heavily dense asteroid fields. The idea would be to take advantage of the A-9's profile while they barrage an unsuspecting target with those long ranged turbolasers. And those targets would likely be warships, maybe not those large ISDs, but smaller ones.

‘From Kuat Drive Yards, who brought you the Death Star I & II!’

As I remember it the point of the starfighter was it was cheap and would bulk out the fleet, this was a period where the New Republic was still struggling to go from a primarily resistance navy with high performance but expensive ships to a galactic navy with the mass to patrol the whole galaxy and doing it on a shoestring budget as they didnt have anywhere near the Empires defence spending, they were relying more and more on captured TIE fighters and ISD's to fill out their fleets but they were no longer in production and hostilities with the Empire and opportunity to acquire more in combat were dying down.

The five TIE Experimentals? The Bizzaro and its siblings? How about a breakdown of all of them to determine which was stupidest and which was least stupid? For my part, I think the least stupid was the TIE Warhead.

I expected star wars to have fighter similar to the spitfire with a pair of Canons and 4 quick fireing guns When you said it had capital grade guns i was hoping this was the it due to the title