The Imperial War Machine

Sienar Fleet System's TIE Starfighter is the standard space combat fighter in the Imperial Navy. The solar arrays on the wings use solar energy to augment the propulsion and weapons systems. It is very fast and maneuverable, and is cheap and easy to produce, but lacks shields of any kind. Because of this, the TIE Fighter's greatest strength lies in vast numbers. During a battle, the enemy can be defeated through sheer attrition. The Empire has endless numbers of TIEs and more are constantly being produced. It is standard for an Imperial-Class Star Destroyer to carry one comlete Wing of TIEs, which makes 72 total fighters.

The standard TIE Fighter comes in several specialized models, including the TIE/ln, a slightly upgraded version of the original TIE that has replaced it as the standard, the TIE/rc, used for reconnaissance, the TIE/fc, for fire control, and the TIE/gt, for bomb and torpedo attacks.

The TIE/gt was replaced by the TIE Bomber. The TIE Bomber has a double hull, with a separate payload for carrying extra bombs or torpedoes. In addition, is is equipped with advanced targeting systems and is more heavily armored. Although the TIE Bomber is equipped with two laser cannons, it is slower and less maneuverable than other TIEs and is therefore not intended for dogfighting. It is for this reason that an escort of TIE Fighters or TIE Interceptors sometimes accompany TIE Bombers on missions in order to protect them from enemy fighters.

The TIE Interceptor was developed shortly before the Battle of Yavin but not put into general use until just before the Battle of Endor. The TIE Interceptor is faster, sleeker, and more heavily armed than the standard TIE/ln. The standard hexegonal wings were modified into the bent-wing, dagger-style design. The extended front parts of the wings created field of view problems for the pilot, so the front-center sections were taken out, leaving the four dagger- like prongs, each with a laser cannon on the tip.

The TIE Advanced is modeled after Darth Vader's custom TIE. Like the TIE Interceptor, it has bent wings with the front-center and rear-center sections of the wings removed to create a wider field of view, and has four laser cannons. In addition, it has shields, a hyperdrive, and is faster and more maneuverable.

Cygnus Spacework's Assault Gunboat is a starfighter modeled after the lambda-class Imperial Shuttle. Like the TIE Advanced, it is equipped with shields. It is armed with two laser cannons as well as two ion cannons for the disabling rather than destruction of enemy vessels. However, the Assault Gunboat is relatively slow and not very effective in dogfighting.

When the TIE Defender was developed, it was the pinnacle of starfighter engineering. It was nearly twice as fast as a rebel A-Wing, had shields even stronger than the famed rebel B-Wing, and was armed with four laser cannons and two ion cannons. In addition, it was usually equipped with a tractor beam that prevented enemy craft from maneuvering. Unfortunately, this incredible starfighter fell the hands of traitors and became a threat to the Empire. Grand Admiral Thrawn was immediately put in charge of developing a countermeasure to the TIE Defender.

The Missile Boat was the result. Modeled after the Assault Gunboat, two of its wings were replaced with enlarged missile bays. One bay always carried 40 Advanced Concussion Missiles; the other carried anything from Advanced Proton Torpedoes to Heavy Space Bombs. The Missile Boat was also equipped with a highly advanced targeting system that took half the time to lock on as previous systems, as well as the tractor beam. Although the Missile Boat had a speed comparable to that of the TIE Interceptor (when all systems were evened out), it was equipped with a new SLAM system. The SubLight Acceleration Motors doubled speed and acceleration when it was engaged by draining energy from the ship's single laser cannon.

Not only did the Missile Boat prove very effective against the TIE Defender but against entire enemy fleets as well. Its 40 Advanced Concussion Missiles, compared to the standard 16 on the TIE Defender, could take care of fighter opposition, while the other bay filled with 10 Heavy Space Bombs, as compared to a maximum of 4 on the TIE Bomber, was enough to take out several enemy capital ships. Each Missile Boat was like a squadron of TIE Bombers and its escort of fighters all rolled into one.

The Imperial-Class Star Destroyer is the backbone of the Imperial Starfleet. It is 1.6 kilometers long, with 60 turbolaser batteries, 60 ion cannon batteries 10 tractor beam projectors, A Wing of TIEs, and a variety of ground assault vehicles and troops. Two shield generators on the bridge superstructure surround the vessel with powerful energy defense shielding. The triangular hull is designed to expose an enemy vessel in front of the ship to all weapons at once. The Imperial-Class Star Destroyer is one of the most recognized and feared ships in the galaxy.

The predecessor of the Imperial-Class Star Destroyer was the Victory-Class Star Destroyer. Commissioned by the Old Republic at the end of the clone wars, it was once the ultimate warship in the galaxy. The 900 meter long ship carries 24 TIEs and is armed with 10 quad turbolaser batteries, 80 Concussion Missile launchers, and 10 tractor beam projectors. Although many still serve in the Imperial Starfleet, most are used by system defense forces and private fleets.

Shortly after the Battle of Yavin, the Executor, the first of a new Super Class of Star Destroyers was constructed and presented to Lord Vader as his personal command ship. These 17 kilometer warships, although extremely powerful, were also very expensive, even for the Empire, and so relatively few were ever built. Only the most powerful of Imperial Commanders recieved one.

An even larger warship was constructed by the reborn emperor to serve as his flagship. The Eclipse-Class Star Destroyer was a solid black vessel nearly twice as long as a Super-Class Star Destroyer. It had uncountable armaments and shields strong enough for it to simply ram enemy capital ships.

The Interdictor Cruiser is a special class of Star Destroyer. Though it is lightly armed and capable of defending itself, it is not desighned for heavy or direct combat. Instead, a massive gravity well generator that makes up the core of the ship disrupts the lines of Realspace and simulates the presence of a massive stellar body. Not only does this field prevent ships from entering hyperspace and escaping, but if a ship in hyperspace enters the interdiction field, then it is pulled back into Realspace. This makes the Interdictor Cruiser very useful both for keeping a losing enemy from retreating and for setting up ambushes for ships in hyperspace.

One of the Rebellion's major tactics was to raid Imperial supply convoys, weakening the Imperial war effort while augmenting their own meager supplies. Star Destroyers were too valuable as heavy combat warships to waste on escort duty, yet the convoys obviously needed protection from the Starfighter attacks.

The Nebulon-B Escort Frigate was the result. Built by Kuat Drive Yards to protect the Imperial supply convoys, these 300 meter craft are armed with 12 turbolaser batteries, 12 laser cannons, two tractor beam projectors, and two squadrons of TIEs. The Nebulon-B Escort Frigate proved devastatingly effective against starfighter raids, but unfortunately a significant number fell into Rebel hands, such as the Medical Frigate seen during the Battle of Endor.

Although the Empire has used many different vehicles, none have proved as effective as the AT-AT and AT-ST Walkers. The All Terrain Armored Transport in an inexorable assault vehicle as well as armored troop transport. These walking fortresses are over 15 meters tall, have armor plating capable of withstanding most energy weapons, 4 heavy laser cannons on the head, and resemble giant quadrapedal beasts in order to terrorize the enemy into submission. Although they are relatively slow moving, they are nearly unstopable and can simply walk over, crush, or blast through enemy defenses.

The All Terrain Scout Transport is smaller and more lightly armored than the AT-AT, but is faster, more maneuverable, and can fit in places the AT-AT can not go. The AT-ST stands 7 meters tall and is armed with 4 laser cannons, a concussion grenade launcher, and claws on the feet for slicing through obstructions and defenses. It complements the AT-AT well, and is well suited to reconaissance, protecting the undersides of the AT-ATs, or aiding ground troops.

At the time of its constuction, the Death Star was the ultimate technological weapon in the Galaxy. The battle station was 120 km in diameter and held 27,048 officers, 774,576 troops, pilots, and crewers, 400,000 support personel, over 25,000 stormtroopers, various support ships and ground assault vehicles, and 7,200 TIEs. It was armed with 10,000 turbolaser batteries, 2,500 laser cannons, 2,500 ion cannons, over 700 tractor beam projectors, and a superlaser capable of destroying a planet.

The Death Star was designed by Bevel Lemelisk and built in secret over the prison colony world of Despayre in the Horuz system. The Empire was only able to use the superweapon once, destroying the planet of Alderaan, before the Rebels exploited a weakness in the structure and destroyed the Death Star in the Battle of Yavin.

Four standard years later, a second Death Star was built over the Endor moon. This new battle station was 160 km in diameter and had a superlaser that was more powerful and accurate than the original, and could even be used against capital ships. Instead of being constructed in secret, the Emperor allowed information about the new Death Star to be 'leaked' into the Bothan spynet and in turn the Rebellion. The information 'revealed' that the new battle station was still being constructed and was relatively defenseless, except for an energy shield being generated on Endor. In actuality, however, the Death Star was fully armed and operational. When the Rebel fleet made their attack on the 'unprotected' Death Star, they found a large portion of the Imperial Navy lying in ambush as well as a battle station that could destroy their capital ships with one blast. Unfortionately, due to the unexpected aid of the Endor natives, the Rebels were able to destroy the shield generator, exposing the core of the Death Star to attack, and managed to destroy the second Death Star before it could be completed.

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