Lodestar-class Star Dreadnought

[Sutehp]

[Whill]

I was throwing out many possibilities, not stating they are all necessarily true.

You may be right about not being able to tell if a ship as hyperdrive or not by looking at it externally, but I personally wouldn't put a lot of stock in an EU kid's novel from 22 years ago written by the guy who invented the Sun Crusher and a lot of other ridiculous continuity. I actually read that book and went no further in that series.

And I offered possibilities that Obi-Wan had seen TIEs before: He may have left Tatooine and returned (that did occur in the EU), or TIEs may have come to Tatooine. In the EU book Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader, Obi-Wan went to a bar in a town that had a holonet program. That's where he learned about 'Darth Vader, the mysterious new enforcer of the Emperor', and realized Anakin lived. (He immediately wanted to take Luke and leave Tatooine, but the ghost of Qui-Gon chimed in and talked him out of it, stating that Anakin hated Tatooine so much because of his mother trauma that he would never set foot on it again, or something to that effect.) Obi-Wan could have learned about TIEs in a similar way, or maybe he heard about the freighter pilots talking about them. So many possibilities for how Obi-Wan could know TIEs didn't have hyperdrives. Yes, another possibility would be that TIEs pre-existed the Empire, but that is decidedly not the case according to the current canon. But hey, you can have any reason for your SWU or not even have ANH in your personal canon if you want.

Good point about Geonosis. In canon the first Death Star was actually constructed there from during the Clone Wars until about 10 BBY when it moved to Scarif (presumably after its hyperdrive was operational), so the Empire wouldn't just ignore Tatooine being so close. However I said nominal Imperial control because of Jabba the Hutt, who I've always seen as the de facto ruler of the planet. Jabba is usually described as the most powerful Hutt in the galaxy and he doesn't even live in Hutt Space. But I love the character so much so perhaps I do inflate his importance. I see it as Jabba intentionally having his base of operations outside of Hutt Space to avoid a lot of the machinations of his Hutt rivals, and I see Jabba and the Empire having an arrangement with respect to Tatooine.
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[Sutehp]

[ForbinProject]

Tatooine had a Hutt crimelord and lot's of smugglers. So Imperial ships with fighters would be seen from time to time. I wouldn't be surprised if the Imperial Garrison had at least two TIE's as a token force.

[Error]

My first thought was always this, even as a kid: Kenobi had enough knowledge about fighters that he could tell it was too small for a hyperdrive. He may have even used the Force to reach out and tussle the craft for a second to see what was going on with it.

But seeing TIE/ln's in the skies above Tatooine seems unlikely, even in populated areas. As far as I know, the Empire had no installations on Tatooine in canon or anywhere else. Or they would have just called the local garrison instead of landing a tracking force. A local garrison would have had personnel who knew the terrain better and had better vehicles than Imperial dewbacks. Specifically regarding why dewbacks would have been seen at the droids' crashed pod and why the Empire found itself in the strange position of deploying them (with Sandtroopers) to their native planet, I found this quote:

"Dewbacks were sold by Rothana Heavy Engineering to be used as mounts by Imperial troops. They were bundled in a herd of six animals and cost 16000 credits."
— Star Wars: Imperial Handbook: A Commander's Guide

So basically, that means the dewbacks came from Darth Vader's Star Destroyer or were rented locally, both indicating that there is somewhere between very little and zero Imperial presence on Tatooine.

As far as a governor of Tatooine goes, I doubt there was one (at the time of ANH) in any capacity except name. No governor interested in his own skin or doing real politicking would even bother to land on Tatooine. It's a barren wasteland with a population of less than a billion which is quite lawless in many parts. I would agree that that makes Jabba the "de facto" governor of the planet, though obviously Imperial laws are in place. (Everyone behaves when the Stormtroopers come around.)

Either way Tatooine was obviously never used as a staging point or any kind of strategic location for the Empire. The planet was nearly devoid of infrastructure and would probably have only enough imported goods for the residents of the planet, not for some tens of thousands of Imperials. Despite the proximity to Geonosis, I just find TIE fighters of any species in the skies over Tatooine to be exceedingly unlikely.
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The only words of explanation you need for any concept in the entire Star Wars universe are the words Science Fiction and Space Opera.

[Whill]

I'm inclined to agree with everything Error said above for Tatooine in my SWU.

[ForbinProject]

[MrNexx]

After all, we see Tie Fighters in Troops...
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[Error]

Has anyone had time to think of whether this ship could be considered well-armed? I have changed the guns around a little bit so it would be good to go here to view the changes. I would like it to be considered well-armed and well-complemented since it is ultimately a fleet carrier/support ship. And I would like it to reliably carry and launch many other craft. As you can see, it is a thick, stocky ship compared to Executor.

Also, I want to say that only 39 were ever commissioned. That number is nothing when considering the numbers made of other ships of similar scale and the hundreds or thousands of sectors the Empire eventually subjugated. All of these required at least an ISD (probably three or more or some larger craft, I would estimate) to watch over and redouble certain local garrisons, and inevitably the need for small fleets of related craft in certain sectors necessitated larger classes. 39 is also a very small number over 15 years, indicating that its versatility or continued presence for coordinated fleet-strikes was only needed at the edge of the Empire, or rarely, where a strong, long-range strike force was needed.

Late in its run, Imperial combat engineers had the idea that if the Lodestar-class craft could be cleared of most of its consumables, walkers, parts/tools, and unneeded craft such as cargo haulers or shuttles, and filled with starfighters and ordnance only instead, it could become a completely self-contained hit-and-run unit. Each could jump in, pour its starfighters and warheads into a target, and once all ordnance was loosed, the fighters which could jump out would, while Command on the Lodestar would be allocating tractor beams to bring in the rest and jump out itself maybe thirty seconds later. The whole operation would take less than fifteen minutes and would leave most targets completely incapacitated. Command would generally leave probes behind to ascertain the true depth of the damage, and if a second strike was needed, the same Lodestar could meet up with its fighters and be completely armed and ready for another sortie in less than one hour.

These strikes were particularly deadly when the Lodestar-class craft was joined by another class of Star Destroyer, particularly Victory I and Victory II on up. There were specially-sanctioned strike forces comprised of one Lodestar, three or more Imperial I/II Star Destroyers, one or two interdictors (Immobilizer 418 cruisers, CC-7700 frigates, or Detainer CC-2200 cruisers, depending on the era), and 3-10 other cruisers, frigates and/or corvettes. Some of these specialized strike forces went on to make names for themselves as having never lost a ship during a confrontation. However, most of these fleets were together for less than three years, as no Imperial capital ship was ever safe from being shuffled around by Imperial Star Fleet Command, which was infamous among Imperial captains for doing just that on an ad hoc basis.

Eventually the class was not as impressive as it had been, as much larger ships had been built, so the decision was made in 6 BBY by Imperial Star Fleet Command to mothball all ships of the Lodestar class and recycle the materials contained therein to lay down keels and provide armor for the much more headline-making Executor class ships. This was completed in late 5 BBY and all personnel had been transferred to new assignments, many of them onto the gradually-growing assignment of the first Death Star or to the Executor-class ships as they slowly took shape in the Imperial shipyards.
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The only words of explanation you need for any concept in the entire Star Wars universe are the words Science Fiction and Space Opera.

[CRMcNeill]

If you are looking for a Fleet Carrier design, fractalsponge's Impellor-Class Fleet Carrier is just that. It's in the same size range as the previously posted Bellator, but somewhat shorter because of the truncated bow.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Sutehp]

[Error]

[denderan marajain]

[CRMcNeill]

Impellor: One who drives, forces or urges others to do something.

A much more "Imperial" take on the command ship role...
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[CRMcNeill]