One of my favorites in the TIE FIGHTER game! Yes, not too fast, not too maneuverable, but well-armed and well protected! An allrounder like the X-Wing with different strengths. Especially the ion cannon comes in handy! If I was an imperial pilot trying to defect from the Empire, I would try to be transferred into a gunboat unit. From there, use your hyperspace drive and deactivate any tracking devices... 😉
In an episode of Larry the Stormtrooper (UA-cam), the Rebel Alliance was finally attacking the Death Star, the one that Larry happens to be on. He jumps into an Alpha-Class assault gunboat, not noticing the Flux Capacitor ( _Back to the Future_ ) in the back a~n~d…
I remember these from TIE Fighter. Slow but you and a wing man could really bust the rebels up. And the ability to disable the enemy and then come back later and finish them off, made them much more fun to fly than the Missile Boat.
IMO the only problem with the Assault Gunboat is that it should've had a bit bigger dimensions to highlight that it's in a completely different category from TIE fighters. The official size comes from wanting to give the Empire a fairly direct equivalent to shielded Rebel fighters in the X-wing/TIE Fighter video games, but I think keeping the same basic visual design but making it somewhere about halfway between an X-wing and a Lambda-class shuttle in size would've been more fitting. Go all in on it being a "gunboat" rather than a starfighter. This would also have fit better with the Legends sources that said the standard complement of an Imperial Star Destroyer consisted of 72 TIEs (varying mixes of 60 TIE Fighters and Interceptors depending on the era plus 12 Bombers) and 5 Assault Gunboats. If the Gunboat was a good deal larger than a starfighter, it would explain why they weren't organized into the typical 12-fighter squadrons.
The Alpha-class Assault Gunboat is quite a bit faster and more maneuverable than people would expect, whilst a tad worse than an X-wing it's role and payload is more similar to a bomber like the Y-wing which it handily outclasses. Undoubtedly very deadly in the hands of an experienced pilot able to compensate for the mediocre handling and speed to fully use its sheer versatility and firepower. Supposedly if the price listings from the Edge of the Empire tabletop RPG are correct the new price of an Assault Gunboat is even slightly cheaper than the T-65 X-wing so the Imperials were really cheaping the hell out by not procuring more of these. (135,000 vs 149,999)
Does remind of the Arc-170 Starfighter in profile.. but not sure if this one had a co-pilot to fire the projectiles etc!!? Both were "aggressive reconnaissance" ships too 😆
I can totally see a resemblance! The stats list it as being a single-pilot vehicle, so all the firing controls must've been linked into the central command console. Good point! This ship would definitely fit an "aggressive recon" classification!
@@hyperspacedatabase I can see Krennic having one instead of his shuttle (if it had more space inside!). Maybe one will appear in the Andor series ..that'd be good!!
@@neilmurphy966 yeah, it'll be interesting to see what ships they feature in the show. It could be that we see some of these legends ships brought to life!
I love the assault gunboat. I know a lot of people hated it in Tie Fighter, but this thing was better than the Tie Avenger imo. The Ion Cannon is just so overpowered.
Oh for sure! Maybe slap some interceptor wings on it, or a rear-facing gunner turret, or a second, swiveling b-wing cockpit underneath with a low-hanging laser turret, and you've got an ugly all ready to go!
It seems like this assault gunboat would have been a deadly combination with the kind of Gozanti-class cruisers and light cruisers used by the Empire in the Star Wars Rebels TV series.
I'm thinking we see a stealth version at some point? With this type of layout if you get close enough without being seen even a capital ship could fear this one. Mass unload of missiles at point-blank range on engine systems????? Also, those diamond-boron missiles would be hell in this thing with stealth lol ... Also for some reason I'm thinking stealth/jammer/recon???? It's certainly big enough for the comm equipment....
@@hyperspacedatabase ya I'm thinking you could have a version we're the middle pods are replaced with medical pods on racks for landing zone evacuation under heavy fire??? With that armor and shield systems it should make for an awesome ambulance lol ...
I feel like they could have upped the engine performance a bit when better tech came out. Otherwise it was the perfect ship for a multi-role purposes, just with an engine equivalent to a K car.
Gun in SW or real life work. Small highly movable platforms. JFK in WW2 took out a Japanese cruiser (small battle ship) with a PT boat. Roughly what this ship would be in the SW galaxy. But I had almost no knowledge of this ship till your channel 👍🏻. I surely would use these in my fleet, well my dream fleet 😉 as escort for personnel carriers. Or small planetary outposts. Where large numbers wasn't posted . Your cover tons of ships never talked about. Only amongst die hard SW fans. Like the Emperor's personal shuttle. Not the one we've all saw. Iv NEVER liked the Lambda . Do you have more info on the different types of missiles 🚀
The name is a mouthful, but this ship was well worth it!
What's a mouthful about the Cyngus Spaceworks Alpha-class Xg-1 Star Wing Assault Gunboat?
@@DIEGhostfish Haha, rolls right off the tongue!
One of my favorites in the TIE FIGHTER game! Yes, not too fast, not too maneuverable, but well-armed and well protected! An allrounder like the X-Wing with different strengths. Especially the ion cannon comes in handy!
If I was an imperial pilot trying to defect from the Empire, I would try to be transferred into a gunboat unit. From there, use your hyperspace drive and deactivate any tracking devices... 😉
Totally!!
too bad Empire at War did not include this fighterbomber ... along with the TIE Avenger and Missile Boat
Great vid Jonsey! The Starwing is one of my favorite Imperial vessels from the Tie Fighter game. "Mu-2, incoming missile!"
It's such a great ship!
this is still a neat looking ship. you can never go wrong with tri wing based vehicles. ^-^
I totally agree!
i can really appreciate the love and time you've put into the vid, i hope more star wars fans see this. TLDR - well done & thank you
Thank you very much! It's super great to learn more about these ships as I cover them, the Star Wars nerd in me just gets so excited about it!
@@hyperspacedatabase keep it up, im loving it. also keep it up with the empire ship there my fav
@@UndaLupus Thank you!
I agree, The Empire has ALL KINDS of super awesome ships!
@@hyperspacedatabase agreed they have my two fav ships, Tie Advanced v1 and the Raider-class Corvette
@@UndaLupus both fantastic ships, nice choices!
In an episode of Larry the Stormtrooper (UA-cam), the Rebel Alliance was finally attacking the Death Star, the one that Larry happens to be on. He jumps into an Alpha-Class assault gunboat, not noticing the Flux Capacitor ( _Back to the Future_ ) in the back a~n~d…
I remember these from TIE Fighter. Slow but you and a wing man could really bust the rebels up. And the ability to disable the enemy and then come back later and finish them off, made them much more fun to fly than the Missile Boat.
Classic!
Great In-depth video. I prefer your longer videos compared to the shorts. I just searched the name and was happy to see one from this channel.
Thank you! The longer ones are great as well, these are just nice, condensed versions for quick viewing. 🙂
IMO the only problem with the Assault Gunboat is that it should've had a bit bigger dimensions to highlight that it's in a completely different category from TIE fighters.
The official size comes from wanting to give the Empire a fairly direct equivalent to shielded Rebel fighters in the X-wing/TIE Fighter video games, but I think keeping the same basic visual design but making it somewhere about halfway between an X-wing and a Lambda-class shuttle in size would've been more fitting. Go all in on it being a "gunboat" rather than a starfighter.
This would also have fit better with the Legends sources that said the standard complement of an Imperial Star Destroyer consisted of 72 TIEs (varying mixes of 60 TIE Fighters and Interceptors depending on the era plus 12 Bombers) and 5 Assault Gunboats. If the Gunboat was a good deal larger than a starfighter, it would explain why they weren't organized into the typical 12-fighter squadrons.
This ship is strangely real-world-like. Almost like a jet fighter on steroids.
Right? It definitely has that jet-fighter look to it!
The Alpha-class Assault Gunboat is quite a bit faster and more maneuverable than people would expect, whilst a tad worse than an X-wing it's role and payload is more similar to a bomber like the Y-wing which it handily outclasses. Undoubtedly very deadly in the hands of an experienced pilot able to compensate for the mediocre handling and speed to fully use its sheer versatility and firepower.
Supposedly if the price listings from the Edge of the Empire tabletop RPG are correct the new price of an Assault Gunboat is even slightly cheaper than the T-65 X-wing so the Imperials were really cheaping the hell out by not procuring more of these. (135,000 vs 149,999)
Too bad this vessel's use wasn't as widespread as it could've been. I blame penny pinching, Imperial arrogance and the disregard for their pilots.
Too true. The Imperial mantra definitely left their pilots and soldiers out to dry. Oh, what could have been!
Does remind of the Arc-170 Starfighter in profile.. but not sure if this one had a co-pilot to fire the projectiles etc!!? Both were "aggressive reconnaissance" ships too 😆
I can totally see a resemblance!
The stats list it as being a single-pilot vehicle, so all the firing controls must've been linked into the central command console.
Good point! This ship would definitely fit an "aggressive recon" classification!
@@hyperspacedatabase I can see Krennic having one instead of his shuttle (if it had more space inside!). Maybe one will appear in the Andor series ..that'd be good!!
@@neilmurphy966 yeah, it'll be interesting to see what ships they feature in the show. It could be that we see some of these legends ships brought to life!
I love the assault gunboat. I know a lot of people hated it in Tie Fighter, but this thing was better than the Tie Avenger imo. The Ion Cannon is just so overpowered.
Super OP!!
I wonder how the gunboat would look if patched as an Uglie, must be a few combos that were fearsome 😉
Oh for sure! Maybe slap some interceptor wings on it, or a rear-facing gunner turret, or a second, swiveling b-wing cockpit underneath with a low-hanging laser turret, and you've got an ugly all ready to go!
It seems like this assault gunboat would have been a deadly combination with the kind of Gozanti-class cruisers and light cruisers used by the Empire in the Star Wars Rebels TV series.
Totally agree!
I'm thinking we see a stealth version at some point? With this type of layout if you get close enough without being seen even a capital ship could fear this one. Mass unload of missiles at point-blank range on engine systems?????
Also, those diamond-boron missiles would be hell in this thing with stealth lol ...
Also for some reason I'm thinking stealth/jammer/recon???? It's certainly big enough for the comm equipment....
Oh yeah! It would be pretty amazing with a stealth system on-board, and those missiles? 💥
@@hyperspacedatabase ya I'm thinking you could have a version we're the middle pods are replaced with medical pods on racks for landing zone evacuation under heavy fire??? With that armor and shield systems it should make for an awesome ambulance lol ...
I feel like they could have upped the engine performance a bit when better tech came out. Otherwise it was the perfect ship for a multi-role purposes, just with an engine equivalent to a K car.
Totally!
Loved flying this ship in tie fighter but I have a special love for the tie avenger. This was the tits
It is a baller!
Gun in SW or real life work. Small highly movable platforms. JFK in WW2 took out a Japanese cruiser (small battle ship) with a PT boat. Roughly what this ship would be in the SW galaxy. But I had almost no knowledge of this ship till your channel 👍🏻. I surely would use these in my fleet, well my dream fleet 😉 as escort for personnel carriers. Or small planetary outposts. Where large numbers wasn't posted . Your cover tons of ships never talked about. Only amongst die hard SW fans. Like the Emperor's personal shuttle. Not the one we've all saw. Iv NEVER liked the Lambda .
Do you have more info on the different types of missiles 🚀
Thank you very much! I haven't done an episode on the different types of missiles, but that's something I can look into!
👍