The History Behind Andor Season 2’s New TIE Fighter

This greeting Lucasfilm yet gave america our first, little look astatine the long-awaited 2nd play of Andor. As good arsenic hinting astatine the conflicts to come, some internally and against the Empire alike, successful doing truthful it besides softly teased different teeny spot of the aged Star Wars Expanded Universe making its mode backmost onto screens.

That teeny spot is really not-so teeny, physically speaking. It’s the vessel that Cassian is seen stealing during the snippet: a TIE Fighter with a acquainted plan that volition instantly beryllium recognizable by immoderate aged schoolhouse fans of classic PC formation sims successful the signifier of TIE Fighter‘s TIE Avenger. And if the vessel is thing similar it utilized to beryllium successful the EU, past Cassian is pilfering rather the mean small starfighter.

What Is the TIE Avenger?

First introduced successful the 1994 classic TIE Fighter, the Avenger was 1 of respective palmy accumulation descendants of the TIE Advanced prototype flown by Darth Vader in A New Hope. That includes the TIE Defender, canonized successful existent continuity during the events of Star Wars Rebels. In-game, the Avenger enters deployment aft the events of the Battle of Hoth instrumentality spot in Empire Strikes Back, arsenic the Empire began moving combatant plan distant from the sheer overwhelming standard of mass-produced modular TIEs—trading defence for maneuverability and numbers—to a bid of much circumstantial lines of combatant ships that could antagonistic the Rebel fleet’s likewise designed onslaught wings, arsenic good arsenic the Alliance’s hit-and-run guerrilla tactics.

The Avenger played a large relation successful the communicative of TIE Fighter‘s communicative campaign, earlier making appearances successful its successor games X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter and X-Wing Alliance arsenic a playable ship. But while Andor play 2 volition people the archetypal clip we’ve seen a TIE Avenger successful the contemporary Star Wars continuity, it’s not the archetypal clip the vessel has been acknowledged successful the rebooted canon, having been antecedently mentioned successful notation books.

What Made the TIE Avenger So Dangerous?

© Lucasfilm Games

Development of the Avenger and Defender leaned upon what was seen by the Imperial Navy arsenic an expanding request to displacement to prime implicit quantity successful its Starfighter corps. Both the TIE Fighter and TIE Interceptor excelled successful established Imperial tactics of sending ample amounts of ships to overwhelm the technically superior combatant trade utilized by the Rebel Alliance, but expanding Imperial defeats successful the aftermath of the demolition of the Death Star, arsenic good arsenic the instauration of further Alliance ships similar the A and B-Wing, saw respective Imperial leaders propulsion for improvement connected higher prime trade that could execute akin levels of violative and antiaircraft capableness arsenic their enemies.

The TIE Avenger was intended to beryllium the Navy’s go-to abstraction superiority fighter, championing this pivot. The Avenger featured an accrued level of armament, with 4 blaster cannons astatine the tips of its star arrays; multi-purpose warhead launchers that allowed the vessel to transportation accrued payloads of missiles, torpedoes, oregon adjacent dense bombs that allowed it to supplant the TIE Bomber arsenic an battle vessel successful immoderate capacities; and adjacent a short-ranged, constricted tractor beam that the Avenger could usage to momentarily disable force fighters and enactment up a killshot. While the Avenger had likewise marginal carnal armor plating to the TIE Fighter and Interceptor, alongside that further violative capableness was the inclusion of deflector shields, a archetypal for the TIE line.

But what made the TIE Avenger specified a potent starfighter was that it incorporated each of these advancements into a akin size illustration arsenic anterior TIEs, connected apical of having precocious engines that fto it scope speeds that could adjacent outmatch the A-Wing. Pairing those engines with the inclusion of a dedicated hyperdrive besides allowed the Avenger to beryllium utilized successful hit-and-run missions, capable to leap into a system, attack, and gaffe distant again astatine lightspeed—a cardinal maneuver of the Rebellion, but 1 that had mostly been eschewed by the Empire.

What Happened to the TIE Avenger successful the Star Wars Expanded Universe?

© Lucasfilm Games

The thought of a caller TIE Fighter being introduced post-Hoth that fundamentally outgunned, out-moved, and out-defended everything other being utilized successful Galactic Civil War up to that constituent makes it look similar each the likelihood were stacked successful the Empire’s favor, but arsenic ever, Imperial bureaucracy and corruption stymied its interaction connected the warring until it was excessively late.

Of course, a vessel with specified precocious capabilities outgo a batch much to nutrient than the TIE Fighter—even if the constituent was the request to deploy little of them successful engagements—angering Imperial Command, which would funnel immoderate of the innovations from the Advanced’s prototyping enactment into cheaper ships similar the Interceptor and Bomber instead, starring to a reduced accumulation request for the Avenger. As a niche elite starfighter, the Avenger was besides rapidly supplanted by the improvement of its sister vessel from the Advanced line, the TIE Defender, which had akin violative and antiaircraft capabilities, amended maneuverability, and a larger plan illustration that afforded it the accidental to beryllium a multi-role vas alternatively of strictly focused connected combatant interception similar the Avenger did. The Defender was a likewise costly project, but its expanded tract capableness made it a much viable concern adjacent beyond its insignificant gains implicit the Avenger connected a method level.

Eventually what capableness the Empire had to nutrient the Avenger was heavy damaged by the betrayal of Grand Admiral Demetrius Zaarin. Zaarin was 1 of the pb architects connected improvement of some the Avenger and Defender portion helium worked for the Empire, but a increasing disillusionment with Palpatine saw him motorboat an attempted coup successful 3ABY. One of Zaarin’s archetypal moves was to statesman assaulting Avenger accumulation facilities, wiping retired overmuch of the Empire’s already constricted capableness to nutrient the vessel astatine a ample scale. By the clip Zaarin was defeated, the Empire itself was connected the verge of its splintering with the decease of the Emperor and Darth Vader astatine the Battle of Endor, truthful determination was nary clip astatine each for Avenger accumulation to ramp up again, consigning it to past arsenic 1 of the Imperial Navy’s awkward mediate children of combatant design.

What Does the TIE Avenger Mean for Andor Season 2?

© Lucasfilm

As with beauteous overmuch each wink to the heavy cuts of Star Wars continuity successful the amusement truthful far, astir apt precise little. Andor‘s absorption has ne'er been connected the Easter ovum nods to wider Star Wars canon it gives to diehards consenting to announcement (like the notation of the Rakata successful play one). To the assemblage that knows, it’s a chill motion to a beloved game. To the assemblage that doesn’t—and astir apt possibly a Cassian that doesn’t, either—a TIE Fighter is simply a TIE Fighter nary substance the signifier of its wings oregon its weapons loadout. After all, arsenic Luthen tells him arsenic portion of the little montage of clips we got to see, Cassian is inactive reasoning similar a thief, alternatively than arsenic a large fig successful a burgeoning insurgency.

But fixed that the 2nd play volition beryllium acceptable jumping twelvemonth by twelvemonth person to the clip of Rogue One and A New Hope, it is absorbing if this is the on-screen debut of the Avenger. Considering its past successful the EU arsenic an improvement of the TIE Advanced prototype, the thought of seeing it successful a modern play to that vessel (which we already cognize was uncommon and unsocial successful A New Hope arsenic Vader’s idiosyncratic vessel) raises immoderate amusive questions. It besides wouldn’t beryllium the archetypal clip a TIE Advanced offshoot got introduced into the timeline before A New Hope either: Rebels, which is chronologically modern to Andor, did overmuch the aforesaid with the instauration of the TIE Defender arsenic 1 of Thrawn’s idiosyncratic projects—which itself faced a akin fate of Imperial bureaucracy and incompetence stopping its wide accumulation earlier it could go a large threat.

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