Ships and Weapons

Thresh's comments in BLACK

Choices, choices

Thresh:
There are tons of ships in the game, and many of them are playable from the mission editor. You'll get a chance to try out everything imaginable in the Star Wars universe, and some stuff you've never heard of. The Millenium Falcon is in the game of course, as are the more pedestrian X-Wings, B-Wings, Y Wings, Tie Fighters, etc. You'll also get a chance to fly some snazzy stuff like Tie Interceptors, Corellian Transports, Tie Bombers, and upgraded Tie Fighters (Darth Vader's rig). Counting all the fighters, starships, space stations, and gun emplacements, there are dozens of objects you can throw into a mission.

Taking apart a Tie Bomber

Point values

Another thing that's neat is that in multiplayer, a kill is not a kill. You get differing points depending on how good your ship is. So if you're taking Tie Fighters against X-Wings you don't have to fret that your Tie Fighter has no shields. Your friend in the X-Wing has to shoot you down several times to equal you killing him/her once. We should also mention that there aren't just small craft to choose from. Make your custom missions jazzier by adding in Imperial Star Destroyers, other capital ships, and even space stations. Some "realism" has been been compromised for playability of course. I played a game over the Zone with another guy. My X-Wing and his A-Wing were able to take out a star destroyer and a space station without missiles or torpedoes which seems kinda bunk. We died a couple of times trying of course, but you'd think that two fighters should get owned by those huge entities. However, I can understand why realism sometimes has to take a backseat to

Snazzy Backdrops

Weapons

Speaking of missiles and torpedoes, there aren't that many weapon types compared to say, a Wing Commander game. Lasers, Ion Cannons, and turbo lasers (capital ships) pretty much sum up the situation as far as guns go. And really, the gun fights you have with lasers are the best part of the game, so no need to muck up that aspect with multiple cannon types right?

Contrasting with the gun selection there's a fairly wide assortment of missiles, or "Warheads." You've got your standard concussion and advanced concussion missiles for fighters. Proton torpedoes can be used against the larger capital ships, as well as heavy rockets for extra damage. Space Bombs (like the ones you see Tie Bombers using in the asteroid field in The Empire Strikes Back) are great for pounding stationary or slow moving targets. Then there are the big boys - the Mag Pulse Warheads that disable ship weapons, and the Ion Pulse Warheads that disable ships outright.