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Captain Seafort wrote:And yet, what's the standard NR fighter during the Vong War? The X-Wing. Upgraded to the various XJ models, but the best pilots in the galaxy fly X-Wings.

Thats mostly because of the 'Did not do the research' of the NJO authors.

In universe, however, it's a fact that the E-Wing was rarely used.

Indeed the E-Wing was a rarely used craft that was dropped in favor of the upgraded X-Wing models.

So canonicly there's obviously something about the E-Wing that makes it less attractive to use than the upgraded X-Wing models.

Well, cost seemed to be a big thing. Also production might have been an issue. Since the systems were all SotA, much like the F-22 was ahead of its time.

Early on they had some serious problems with the lasers - because of the type of gas they were using they had to force the weapons to accept twice the power they were designed for to get any decent range out of them. That can't have endeared the things to pilots.

Neither can having that one laser projecting right out over the cockpit when you need to get out of it in a hurry.

Tyyr wrote:Neither can having that one laser projecting right out over the cockpit when you need to get out of it in a hurry.

Given the way fighters tend to disintegrate in a large fireball when hit, and that space isn't exactly the most forgiving of environments, getting out wouldn't really be an issue - either both you and the ship survive, or or neither does. I'm aware that the EU tends to make something of a fuss about the ability of NR pilots to eject, but it's something that's been seen precisely once in the films, from a TIE, and not in combat.

Captain Seafort wrote:

Tyyr wrote:Neither can having that one laser projecting right out over the cockpit when you need to get out of it in a hurry.

Given the way fighters tend to disintegrate in a large fireball when hit, and that space isn't exactly the most forgiving of environments, getting out wouldn't really be an issue - either both you and the ship survive, or or neither does. I'm aware that the EU tends to make something of a fuss about the ability of NR pilots to eject, but it's something that's been seen precisely once in the films, from a TIE, and not in combat.

Oh I don't know if done early enough I think the ship can move far enough away that the inertia would carry the debris from the explosion away. We're talking about some pretty fast speeds here.

Monroe wrote:Oh I don't know if done early enough I think the ship can move far enough away that the inertia would carry the debris from the explosion away. We're talking about some pretty fast speeds here.

The problem is that when a fighter is hit, one of two things happens. Either the shields hold, and it and its pilot are fine, if a bit shaken and with a few extra scorch marks, or the shields fail and fighter and pilot turn into a cloud of plasma. Either way, by the time you've figured out which it is you're either safe or dead.

Most of the pilots that "ejected" suffered damage that wasn't right away fatal.

In the EU - in the films we saw precisely one pilot eject, and that was a TIE that hit an asteroid and broke up. Every single fighter destroyed by weapons fire was a ball of plasma within a second.

Captain Seafort wrote:

Monroe wrote:Oh I don't know if done early enough I think the ship can move far enough away that the inertia would carry the debris from the explosion away. We're talking about some pretty fast speeds here.

The problem is that when a fighter is hit, one of two things happens. Either the shields hold, and it and its pilot are fine, if a bit shaken and with a few extra scorch marks, or the shields fail and fighter and pilot turn into a cloud of plasma. Either way, by the time you've figured out which it is you're either safe or dead.

Not always. Remember in Ep IV when they tell that pilot on the Death Star trench run to eject. Now... when the battle station went up I don't know what that pilot was planning on doing.. but in a similar situation some place else when someone has their shields knocked out but aren't completely destroyed they might be able to eject. The B-Wing eject leaves the pilot in the cockpit as I recall. Which is even more useful.

The guy hadn't been hit during the trench run. He was just about to run into a virtual wall of enemy fire. Even if he had ejected, inertia would have carried him into the middle of it anyway.

Monroe wrote:Not always. Remember in Ep IV when they tell that pilot on the Death Star trench run to eject. Now... when the battle station went up I don't know what that pilot was planning on doing.. but in a similar situation some place else when someone has their shields knocked out but aren't completely destroyed they might be able to eject. The B-Wing eject leaves the pilot in the cockpit as I recall. Which is even more useful.

Cockpit separation is the only version that makes sense - NR pilots simply don't wear the sort of high-quality gear needed to survive ejection into space the way TIE pilots do.