[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by blankall

Spoiler!

Looks pretty similar to the Tie Advanced Fighter that Vader was using and also the Tie Interceptors from RotJ. It makes sense that if Vader is already flying an advanced tie fighter by the battle of Yavin, they'd have other development pathways already on the go.

Apparently it might also be the Tie Advanced from the Star Wars Tie Fighter game. There's a plot line in that game, where tie fighters get hyperdrive.

I could 100% see the empire exploring ideas like this. Then deciding that it's too expensive and going back to the model of more disposable ships and pilots. Also, something in the plot of Andor could convince the empire that spending this much on ships isn't a good idea. The Empire seems like an organization that would throw money at a problem but then also strangle out any R&D gains with bureaucracy and in fighting, and then abandon a bunch of fruitful projects for no good reason.

Spoiler!

The empire was all about cheap and intimidate by numbers.


That's why their fighters didn't have life support, shields, or hyperdrives.
And in a galaxy with probably 10's of trillions, there are lots of pilots. And if you can survive in a Tie Fighter, you become an elite pilot. One of the story lines in Legends were that rebel pilots for the most part were just not that good compared to Imperial Pilots.


So yeah getting the Emperor to green light a bunch of hyperdrive capable shielded fighters wasn't going to happen.


We saw that in Rebels with Thrawn's defender program. For a Empire with the size and wealth, Palpatine was pretty focused on the per unit cost, and when your a Sith that doesn't care about the individual soldier these super fighters weren't going to get built.