# Q about TIE fighters **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 26, 2016, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789 "2016-10-26T16:52:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/101 "2016-11-03T18:34:51Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Alas, from the EU deleted canon. Indeed (though I was a big fan of the X-Wing flight sim games in the 90s, and I remember him well). I’m not sure that his identity has ever been given in movie-level canon; I think that all of the Y-Wing pilots who were specifically shown in the film itself were also depicted as having been blown up. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/102 "2016-11-03T19:11:29Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > This one doesn’t even require a fanwank. The movie includes a scene of the Imperial commander explicitly dismissing any threat posed by the Rebel fighters. The only reason there were any TIE fighters in the battle at all is Vader got bored sitting around and decided he wanted to shoot something. There’s not precisely how the movie goes. TIE fighters are actually deployed twice. 1. Some fighters launch to oppose the Rebel fighters. When an Imperial officer informs Tarkin there is “a threat,” the implication is that someone realizes they might be trying to take a shot at the ventilation shaft. Tarkin brushes this off, but someone made the decision to launch fighters before Vader goes out. 2. After the initial engagement is well underway, Vader goes to the hangar - seemingly on his own - and tells two pilots that some Rebel fighters have split up from the main group, and to come with him. So he is alarmed as to what’s going on. It’s not explained if he was told of the weakness that Tarkin was informed of, of if it’s just his Force sense telling him there’s a danger. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/103 "2016-11-04T00:19:05Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Why does the Empire use a unique configuration for their fighters- the big radiator panels- when afaik nobody else in the SW galaxy uses an analogous design for their fighters? In a recent episode of Rebels, the Mining Guild seems to be using a variant of the TIE as patrol ships. Ah yes, came up on google > **[Mining Guild TIE Fighter](https://starwarsrebels.fandom.com/wiki/Mining_Guild_TIE_Fighter)** > > The Mining Guild TIE Fighters were TIE Fighters flown by the Mining Guild to protect their refineries. They had a distinct yellow color scheme, clearly delineating that they were not in direct service of the Galactic Empire. They also had a notch cut... ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/104 "2016-11-04T00:23:52Z")
So, slower and less maneuverable than the standard TIE fighter. But if they are being used as _patrol_ ships, that makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/105 "2016-11-04T00:58:11Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > In a recent episode of Rebels, the Mining Guild seems to be using a variant of the TIE as patrol ships. > > Ah yes, came up on google > > [http://starwarsrebels.wikia.com/wiki/Mining\_Guild\_TIE\_Fighter](http://starwarsrebels.wikia.com/wiki/Mining_Guild_TIE_Fighter) Max speed 1,200 kph??? Ok, seriously, that isn’t sufficient to reach orbit around anything much larger than a baseball, and it is orders of magnitude slower than you’d need for movement between planets in a system. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/106 "2016-11-04T01:08:19Z")
No, no. _Kaleths_ per hour. Different system of measurement entirely. Means it’s as fast as the plot needs it to be. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/107 "2016-11-04T01:59:53Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > In the SW game I ran for years, my fanwank was that they can easily speak Basic with a software patch, but Artoo doesn’t because he’s the droid equivalent of a Black Panther. > > Or that culturally the society thinks that only specific models are worth communicating with, like 3P0. They just don’t see an astromech as worth having a conversation with. Ok so nobody wants to see an astromech droid with an eHarmony account. They clearly have the ability to understand human speech, and since c-3po can translate is boops and beeps it is clearly communicating in some form of complex language. Why not include the text to speech program that I had on my 286 computer running MS-DOS? Seriously having it speak is trivial in comparison to having it understand human speech. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/108 "2016-11-04T02:20:28Z")
Nobody wants to argue with an astromech. They don’t really need to be able to speak. A protocol droid like C-3P0 needs to be interacted with, that is pretty much why it exists. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/109 "2016-11-04T02:24:19Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > Ok so nobody wants to see an astromech droid with an eHarmony account. They clearly have the ability to understand human speech, and since c-3po can translate is boops and beeps it is clearly communicating in some form of complex language. Why not include the text to speech program that I had on my 286 computer running MS-DOS? Seriously having it speak is trivial in comparison to having it understand human speech. I feel compelled to point out that you just argued that R2-D2 should have been able to speak in the movies, by pointing out instances of him speaking in the movies. C3PO speaks six million languages, because he was built to speak to a huge variety of different aliens. R2-D2 speaks one language, because he was built to only speak to other machines. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/110 "2016-11-04T09:59:11Z")
EU note, but the note earlier about TIE fighters not entering the atmosphere and them doing it anyway in SW:TFU is a bit misunderstood. In the EU they do feature extensively in atmospheric conditions, but as raiders and ground support only. They are not air-superiority fighters because the drag on their wings makes dogfighting maneuvers risky. So, can enter atmosphere, yes. Just a bad idea if the skies are contested. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/111 "2016-11-04T10:20:22Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Aside: When I was a kid, I somehow had the impression that TIE stood for “Thermal Induction Engine”. I’m almost certain I didn’t come up with that myself (I’ve always been lousy at technobabble, and I didn’t know enough real tech at the time). My best guess is that I got it off of a toy package. Does anyone else have the same memory? Always possible that it was just a fan abbreviation expansion, the same way TARDIS started out. I don’t know how many things I believed because some friend told me, or how many times I got people to believe things I didn’t really know. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/112 "2016-11-04T15:54:32Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Nobody wants to argue with an astromech. They don’t really need to be able to speak. Are you nuts ? That’s like saying nobody wants to argue with their GPS. But when that stupid fucking thing is WRONG, it demands to be told ! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/113 "2016-11-04T15:56:44Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Are you nuts ? That’s like saying nobody wants to argue with their GPS. But when that stupid fucking thing is WRONG, it demands to be told ! 😃 Yes, and the good part is that it can’t argue back in english! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/114 "2016-11-04T17:36:49Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Always possible that it was just a fan abbreviation expansion, the same way TARDIS started out. Must have been some really forward-looking fans, considering the acronym was given in the first episode. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/115 "2016-11-04T17:53:40Z")
R2-D2 can communicate.–Via text screen. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/116 "2016-11-04T18:33:28Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Must have been some really forward-looking fans, considering the acronym was given in the first episode. … And the meaning (Time and Relative Dimensions in Space) had been decided on well before that. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/117 "2016-11-04T18:51:52Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > In a recent episode of Rebels, the Mining Guild seems to be using a variant of the TIE as patrol ships. > > Ah yes, came up on google > > [http://starwarsrebels.wikia.com/wiki/Mining\_Guild\_TIE\_Fighter](http://starwarsrebels.wikia.com/wiki/Mining_Guild_TIE_Fighter) Cool. I didn’t know that. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/118 "2016-11-04T23:00:50Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > R2-D2 can communicate.–Via text screen. although it’s unclear how much of the translation ability is R2’s, and how much is the X-wing’s flight computer. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/119 "2016-11-07T00:55:35Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Are you nuts ? That’s like saying nobody wants to argue with their GPS. But when that stupid fucking thing is WRONG, it demands to be told ! 😃 When you argue with GPS, it don’t change your flight plan to directly throw you into the nearest star, black hole, or other astonomical no no. Let the astromech win. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789/120 "2016-11-07T14:42:56Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **BigT** : > > Always possible that it was just a fan abbreviation expansion, the same way TARDIS started out. Perhaps, but I’m not sure how I would have heard of it, since I didn’t read any fanzines or anything like that. I guess it just made its way through the Fan Grapevine, that someone I knew knew someone else who knew someone else who actually did read the fanzines. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-tie-fighters/769789.md?page=7)