TIE Fighter - Players Guide

This guide is split into two main sections. The first deals with general hints, tips 
and techniques that apply to any situation youll find yourself in. The second, on 
the other hand, takes a detailed look at the strengths and weaknesses of each of 
the six craft you get to fly and what youll be flying against.


In The Beginning

Although TIE Fighter enables you to jump straight into a battle and start crushing 
the rebellion immediately, its well worth taking time out to train and qualify on 
each craft beforehand. Not only do you get a promotion and some nice certificates 
and medals, but you also learn a lot thats useful later on.

The Training Simulator
This relatively simple obstacle course is good for sussing out TIE Fighters basic 
controls, and demonstrates the main differences between the various craft - their 
speed and weaponry.
To qualify on a ship you must finish level 8. Bear in mind that the course is 
essentially passive - nothing shoots at you, and hitting things doesnt damage your 
ship - so when flying a fighter with shields, turn the recharge rate down to 
minimum to gain speed. Likewise, keep the laser recharge rate at normal until 
your lasers are running low, and then increase it for a while.
The TIE Advanced and Defender pose a unique problem in the Training 
Simulator - theyre both too fast! If you turn the shield recharge to minimum 
youll find yourself smacking into things all the time on the later levels, so put the 
laser recharge up to maximum to compensate, and be prepared to lower your 
speed even further if necessary.

The Combat Chamber
Whereas the Training Simulator gives you a good idea of how the ships fly, the 
Combat Chamber introduces you to the kind of situations youll find in actual 
battles. For each craft there are four progressively more difficult and more 
realistic (i.e. more like actual events) missions. Even if you skip the Training 
Simulator, you really should fly all these missions because they enable you to 
experiment and gain experience without putting your pilot at risk, as well as 
introduce most of the objectives youll face later on - from identifying neutral 
craft to taking out minefields or attacking capital ships. Other than the instructions 
given on-screen in the earlier missions, there is little that refers specifically to 
these missions - treat them as battles and use the rest of this guide to help you out.

The Battles
TIE Fighters campaign is split into seven battles, each consisting of five or six 
linked missions. Although you are free to skip between the first four whenever 
you want, its best to complete them in numerical order - not only do they get 
more difficult, but it helps maintain the games storyline. The rest of this guide is 
aimed at these missions.


Take Control

It might sound obvious, but its important to learn and understand the controls if 
youre going to do well. Outside of the basic movement, firing and targeting 
controls, the majority of TIE Fighters key commands are designed to make life 
easier for you. Read the manual and play around in the Combat Chamber until 
youve mastered them. Youll not only be better at playing, youll have more fun 
too.


Situational Awareness

A flash way of saying knowing whats going on, situational awareness is the key 
to success in TIE Fighter. You might be the best pilot in the Empires history and 
a master of your starfighters controls, but if youre not in the right place, 
attacking the right thing at the right time, youll fail miserably. Luckily, TIE 
Fighter contains a whole range of features designed to help you keep track of 
whats going on, estimate whats going to happen in the near future and then do 
something about it.
The first is the Mission Briefing itself. As well as telling you your main 
objectives, this gives you an idea of the starting positions of craft - and, by talking 
to your briefing officer, what youll be fighting too. Remember to speak to the 
shadowy figure if hes there and get your secondary objectives.
As soon as the mission starts, go to the Goals screen. This gives you the specific 
mission objectives, and often a hint as to what ships may be appearing later on. 
Exit the Goals screen and go to the Map, taking a close look at whats about and 
where they are. Now decide on your first target - and go for it.
Throughout the mission, keep an eye on the Goals, Map and Log screens. The 
best way to do this is to check them immediately after each combat engagement 
(i.e. after blowing up or disabling a ship). By doing this, youll know whats going 
on, be able to spot dangers and problems early on and have time to deal with 
them. This is of great importance in missions which involve defence - spotting 
attacking groups before they can do you harm is vital.


ELS Settings

However, awareness of your starfighters condition and current performance is 
just as important as an awareness of the overall situation. What this really comes 
down to is ensuring that you use the ELS (Engine, Laser, Shield) settings 
effectively and to your advantage. 
What makes this more complicated, though, is the fact that each fighter you fly 
behaves slightly differently. The TIE Interceptors maximum laser recharge rate, 
for example, is phenomenal -it can actually charge up while firing at maximum 
rate. Nevertheless, there are some general points that apply across the board.

Lasers always recharge faster than shields. This means its more efficient to 
transfer energy away from shields than to up the shield recharge rate.
ELS management in unshielded ships is remarkably easy. In normal conditions 
just leave the laser recharge at normal. For extra speed drop it down - and when in 
combat put it up. Its that simple.
Your first priority on starting a mission should be to fully charge the shields (if 
youve got them). Immediately transfer all laser energy to your shields, put shield 
and laser recharge rates up to maximum, and keep transfering energy across from 
lasers until theyre fully charged. At this point, drop the recharge rates down to 
normal until combat starts.
To get the most speed - and yet still be able to fight effectively - drop shield 
recharge down to minimum and put the laser recharge up to increased or 
maximum, then keep transferring energy across to the shields, a little at a time.

Always keep an eye on your laser and shield levels during a mission, and get used 
to playing around with the recharge rates and transferring energy around until it 
becomes second nature. Also get into the habit of spreading your shield evenly 
between fore and aft by hitting the shield key (S) three times whenever youve 
taken some damage.


Weapons

Weapons in TIE Fighter are basically divided into warheads and beams. While all 
craft have lasers, the other types of weapon are only available on certain fighters 
or in certain missions.

Warheads
There are six types of warhead in TIE Fighter, each with different characteristics. 
The common link between them is that all require a lock-on if theyre to hit the 
target with any degree of accuracy - which means flying straight towards the 
object for some time. The most important thing to remember is to pull away once 
youve fired, otherwise the target will fire once you get in range. However, by 
moving away from the warhead you can easily divert the targets attention - and 
the weapon is then unlikely to get hit by any stray laser blasts. Also remember that 
your speed is added to the weapons when you launch it.
Concussion Missiles: Only effective against enemy fighters and small craft, and 
best used while at a distance of about two kilometres. Its a good idea to save 
these for A-Wings and similar nasties - most of which need a couple of hits, so 
launch in pairs.
Proton Torpedoes: A good multipurpose weapon, effective against the slower 
fighters as well as moderate sized ships. Not so good against the real capital ships 
- they lack the required punch - but better than nothing.
Heavy Rockets: The best weapon for dealing with large ships, combining a 
significant bang with a good range.
Space Bombs: Unpowered and thus very short ranged, but the most powerful 
weapon available. Its best to release these as close as possible to the target and 
pull away quickly.
Advanced Missiles and Torpedoes: Improved versions of the basic missile and 
torpedo - always use them when the opportunity arises.

Beams Lasers
The most versatile weapon in the game, your trusty lasers will never let you down, 
provided you keep them nicely charged up. For more on the best configurations to 
use, see the run-down on the individual fighters over the page.
Ion Cannons: Ion cannons dont damage craft as such but scramble a ships 
controls and electronics, effectively disabling the craft and putting it into a 
helpless, immobile state. Only use ion cannons when the situation specifically 
demands it.

The Tractor Beam
This weapon system, only available in the final stage of the game, slows down 
enemy craft and makes them easier to hit. To be honest, for the amount of energy 
it requires its not that effective, so youre probably better off reducing its 
recharge rate to minimum and making use of the extra speed it provides instead.


Know Your Enemy

During the course of TIE Fighter, youll come up against a whole host of different 
ships, some more dangerous than others. While its worth spending a few minutes 
comparing their statistics in the Tech Room, the numbers alone dont tell the 
whole story...

Rebel Craft Z95 Headhunter: This obsolete fighter is dead common, especially in 
the earlier battles, with its pathetic shields and unimpressive speed and 
manoeuvrability. Dangerous only in large numbers.
Y-Wing: Although its shielding and armour are quite strong, the Y-Wing suffers 
from lack of speed. They pose the biggest threat during dogfighting when theres 
a risk youll run into the back of them. Their ion cannons and torpedoes can also 
threaten large ships.
X-Wing: A good all-rounder, the X-Wing is well armed, fairly well protected and 
capable of decent speed. In the hands of a skilled pilot they can be very dangerous 
in a dogfight, and the torpedoes pose a moderate threat to larger ships.
A-Wing: Not particularly tough and quite lightly armed, the A-Wing is 
nevertheless one of the hardest ships to deal with because its so amazingly fast. 
Theyre best dealt with by concussion missiles from a distance, but beware - the 
A-Wing may have the same idea. Once you get up close, your best bet is to 
maximise your speed and hope to get in a couple of good shots - A-Wings slow 
down noticeably once damaged.
B-Wing: Something of a super-charged Y-Wing, the B-Wing is heavily armed, 
incredibly tough, but only moderately agile. The biggest problem is that it can 
soak up such a vast amount of damage and still be very dangerous to large ships.

General Craft
Shuttle: These are slow, unwieldy and make nice big targets. Beware of flying 
head-on into them, though, because their lasers can do a lot of damage given the 
chance. And be careful when matching speeds - flying along slowly behind an 
unmanoeuvrable shuttle makes you an excellent target for enemy fighters.
Transport: Virtually identical to shuttles (see above), except theyre a slightly 
smaller target and, when armed with torpedoes, can pose a threat to large craft.
Escort Shuttle: Unless youve got a lot of missiles or torpedoes, youd be taking a 
big risk attacking these in an unshielded ship. Theyve got some serious guns up 
front and the rear turret (which can also fire sideways) is a nightmare. In a 
shielded craft, divert all energy to forward shields and make repeated attack runs, 
equalising shields as you go past - dont match speeds and sit behind an Escort 
Shuttle under any circumstances.

Miscellaneous Craft
This covers all the various freighters, transporters, cargo craft and containers. As 
a rule, these are big, slow or non-moving targets that pose little or no threat and 
take a lot of pounding to destroy. However, occasionally some of the larger craft 
are armed with the odd turbolaser turret or two, so dont go blazing in 
immediately. Make a fast fly-by and see what happens to prevent any nasty 
surprises.

Capital Ships These are the big ships - Frigates, Calamari Cruisers, Star 
Destroyers and so on (including Space Platforms - which dont move). The first 
thing to remember is that attacking these ships in a TIE Fighter or Interceptor is 
suicide. A TIE Bombers only chance depends on launching a large supply of 
torpedoes, rockets or bombs from outside laser range. Capital ships, with their 
profusion of turrets and lasers, nearly always do some damage to an attacking 
fighter, so shielded craft are a must.
The second thing to bear in mind is that you can attack and destroy various parts 
of the larger ships separately. By experimenting in the Combat Chamber with 
invulnerability turned on or by recording a mission and using the camera controls 
you should easily be able to pinpoint any weakly defended areas - the Calamari 
Light Cruisers underside, for example. Once youve destroyed all the weapons in 
that area youll be able to pummel the ship mercilessly without fear of retribution. 
So, to take out a large craft...

Destroy any fighters protecting the ship (some will continue to launch fighters as 
you attack - its best to deal with these as theyre released, rather than let them 
build up to dangerous numbers).
Make sure your lasers and shields are fully charged.
Get into a position from where you can attack a weakly defended area.
Soften up the target with any heavy weapons you have, while outside laser range 
if possible. Remember you can target specific locations with torpedoes and 
rockets, so try taking out as many weapons as you can at this point.
Get in close enough to use your lasers and make repeated strafing attacks against 
any remaining defences, taking time to fully recharge your shields between runs.
Blast away to your hearts content and blow the target to bits (this might take 
some time with the real biggies, so be patient).

Although not technically capital ships, Assault Transports and Corvettes should 
be treated in much the same way. A skilful pilot should still be able to deal with 
them in a TIE Interceptor or even a basic Fighter though.

TIE  Fighter
The TIE Fighter is the most basic ship you can fly - and, in many respects, the 
weakest. It can only take two laser hits before its destroyed, and even one is 
normally enough to blow its sensors and make it virtually useless. This means its 
vital you keep a careful eye on the three threat indicators above the laser sight, 
and pull away sharply if one lights up.
On the plus side, the TIE Fighter is moderately fast and very manoeuvrable. In 
addition, you only fly this ship at the start of your career, where you normally 
only encounter the older and less dangerous enemy ships and have a strong 
numerical superiority. Make sure you use you wingmen well - strength in numbers 
is the TIE Fighters main advantage.
As its lasers are right next to each other, always use dual fire - if one beam hits, 
the other will too.


TIE Interceptor
A souped-up TIE Fighter, the Interceptor is faster, better armed and can take three 
or four hits. Despite this, its still a fragile craft and you should be just as careful 
with it. The crafts main feature is the speed of its laser recharge - at maximum 
rate you can fire continuously and still build up charge! This means youll 
normally only have to put it up to increased rate to maintain a full charge, which 
frees up more energy for your engines. Although not quite as critical as for the 
TIE Fighter, wingmen are still important and you should take care to assign them 
specific targets.
Due to the distance between its four lasers, configuring your weapons is more 
difficult. Dual fire is a good compromise for most situations, combining a good 
rate of fire with a higher chance of hitting, but single fire is best against 
defenceless targets such as containers.


TIE Bomber
The Bomber is the slowest of the unshielded craft, but also the toughest and most 
heavily armed. You can afford to soak up a good two or three hits before youre 
in any danger, and it can take up to six to destroy. Its just as well, though, 
because the sluggish responses combined with the need to fly straight at enemies 
acquiring locks makes the Bomber a prime target.
Luckily, Bomber missions are normally supported by Fighter and/or Interceptor 
squadrons and a significant number of wingmen who you should use to make 
group attacks on your objectives.
In a couple of missions youll be required to dogfight in this craft. You should 
selectively use missiles against the fastest enemies- but beyond that its just a 
matter of keeping your laser recharge rate down to normal for as long as possible 
in order to maintain speed while fighting. Dual fire is normally best in these 
situations, with single fire against non-threatening targets.


Assault Gunboat
The slowest and most unwieldy of the shielded craft, the Gunboat is also the one 
youll be flying most of the time. Because of its hyperdive, the Gunboat is ideal 
for surprise raids, and with its ion cannons its perfect for when something needs 
capturing.
To get the most out of the Gunboat, make maximum use of its shields and play 
around with the ELS settings as necessary. For dogfighting, its best to drop the 
shield recharge to minimum and put the laser recharge up to maximum, then 
transfer energy across when the shields start to disperse. Luckily, the Gunboat can 
carry a very heavy warhead load - 12 missiles in total - which you should use to 
take out A-Wings and the like while you finish off Y-Wings and so on with your 
lasers. Like the TIE Fighter, these are right next to each other in the nose, so set 
them to dual fire at all times. 


TIE Advanced
The TIE Advanced is a joy to fly and suitable for almost any type of mission. 
Even A-Wings pose little problem for its high speed and agility, strong shields 
and four laser cannons. It really is very impressive indeed. Unfortunately, you 
only gain access to it later on in the game, and its only used in the toughest of 
missions (in some youre flying against Imperial traitors). Its when you have to 
fight enemy TIE Advanceds that you really begin to appreciate what a tough ship 
it is. As well as being a great fighter, the TIE Advanced is also ideal for attacking 
large ships. Its high speed means you can put shield and laser recharge rates up to 
maximum and still be going more than fast enough to attack other craft. Its 
normally best to use dual fire against fighters and single fire against large targets.

TIE Defender
The TIE Defender is, quite simply, the most ridiculously powerful ship of them 
all. Its insanely fast, loaded down with guns and has shields that are twice the 
strength of any other fighter. Even TIE Advanceds pale into insignificance next to 
this baby. As such, its actually quite hard to give any useful advice about flying it 
- if youre good enough to have reached the last few missions (where this ship 
appears), then you shouldnt have many problems. To be honest, theres very little 
you can do wrong with a ship like this.
Its best to keep the lasers set to dual fire when dogfighting, and turn the tractor 
beam down to minimum recharge, unless you find it more useful than we did.
For a real challenge, try completing the first Combat Chamber mission after 
youve shot every container (thus triggering all the enemy ships to arrive at once). 
Have fun.

