TIE Avenger
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In the Star Wars Expanded Universe, the TIE Avenger was the production model based on Darth Vader's TIE Advanced x1 protoype. The TIE Avenger resembled a TIE interceptor with a wider body. The finished TIE Avenger featured Novaldex shields and an extended twin ion engine propulsion system. A SFS I-s3a solar ionization reactor powered the fighter, and twin P-sx7.4 ion engines propelled it through space. It featured a pair of L-s9.3 laser cannons, and could be outfitted with a pair of warhead launchers.
The TIE Avenger was a very competent starfighter, capable of meeting most any opponent on even ground and providing an overmatch for the majority of enemy starfighters in service. The most notable use of the Avenger was during the computer game TIE Fighter, when loyalist Imperial forces made heavy use of the Avengers against the traitorous Grand Admiral Zaarin's TIE Defender-equipped forces. Even though the TIE Defender was (slightly) superior in performance and had more weapons, the loyalist Imperial forces were better led.
In the game TIE Fighter, the TIE Avenger was always called the TIE Advanced. Some fans advocated changing the name to Avenger to avoid confusion with Darth Vader's personal craft, also known as the TIE Advanced. In Defender of the Empire, Tour of Duty Eight, the TIE Avenger production facilities were destroyed by Admiral Zaarin, despite the best efforts of the loyal Admiral Thrawn and the player pilot. This is one reason perhaps why the TIE Avenger deployment was not widespread. (It was also very costly, only exceeded by its successor, the TIE Defender.)
Most notable among the pilots that flew the Avenger was General Maarek Steele, one of the Empire's legendary top aces. The TIE Avenger was Steele's fighter of choice, even while flying against the superior performance of the TIE Defenders. Steele was eventually transferred to the elite 181st Imperial Fighter Group, and was last reported to have been patrolling the borders of Imperial space just prior to the war with the Yuuzhan Vong. While the Imperial 181st was equipped with TIE Defenders, it seems that General Steele was able to retain his TIE Avenger.
The Avenger was initially developed by Sienar Fleet Systems as an intended replacement for the rapidly aging TIE/ln starfighter, but the Avenger's cost did not endear it to the Empire's massive bureacracy. When a rival SFS design team unveiled the TIE/in interceptor, the Navy was quick to take note of the interceptor's similar performance and greatly decreased pricetag. As a result, the TIE Avenger never saw widespread deployment. Where the TIE interceptor was more numerous than the Avenger, so to was the TIE Defender more capable. Consequently, the TIE Avenger became the middle child of Imperial starfighter development, never achieving the notoriety of either of its closest relatives. This viewpoint implies that the TIE Avenger was a prototype in the development of the similar but even more lethal TIE Defender.