History VideoGame / TIEFighter

* ChewingTheScenery: "For the greater glory of the Empire, '''destroy everything!'''

* SciFiWritershave/NoSenseOfUnits: Given the manpower needed to field even a skeleton crew for a Star Destroyer, Harkov is leading at least a few thousand Imperials in defecting. Meanwhile, Zaarin has millions under his command as a Grand Admiral. Even if only a fraction of his forces followed him into treason,[[note]]and given (1) the virtually complete secrecy he was able to maintain leading up to his coup attempt, (2) the priority given to defeating him by the Empire, and (3) the scale of damage his forces were able to inflict, it seems likely the bulk of his command remained loyal to him[[/note]] he would still be leading a coup of upwards of 100,000 disaffected Imperials. "Vast conspiracy of traitors" is an understatement.

* BigBad: It takes a while for the real villain, namely [[spoiler: Admiral Zaarin]], to be revealed, and even then the Rebellion remains the GreaterScopeVillain in the background. The latter is actually a somewhat odd choice, and surprisingly little time is spent fighting the Rebellion proper (only two of the thirteen Tours of Duty features them as the main adversary, four if you count [[spoiler: Harkov's defection]]). Much more effort is spent in conflict with tearaway Imperial factions and neutral third parties than chasing the actual rebels the Empire fights in the movies. This presumably builds on the Emperor's line in ''Return of the Jedi'' that the rebellion is tiny and even "insignificant" (as well as other franchise materials to the same effect), with the greater part of the Imperial Navy devoted to other things.

* ChekhovsBoomerang: Admiral Harkov.

* {{Feelies}}: "The Stele Chronicles", a sort of combined mini-guide and novella giving some backstory for the otherwise anonymous Imperial pilot protagonist.

* NitroBoost: The Missile Boat's "SLAM" drive, which makes it ''temporarily'' the fastest ship in the game... at the expense of your laser cannon's ammunition. As the Missile Boat has only a single laser cannon and usually carries 100+ missiles, this isn't really a problem. The TIE Defender on the other hand is the fastest without such.

* ArtifactTitle: TIE Fighter is a household name, but the craft itself has nowhere near the protagonism of its X-Wing counterpart and plays a minor role. Right at the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puvD_FDS_jE intro]], most of the work is done by a single TIE Bomber and several TIE Interceptors. Despite forming the bulk of the fleet, TIE Fighter's in-game missions are a small fraction of the total.

* SciFiWritershave/NoSenseOfUnits: Given the manpower needed to field even a skeleton crew for a Star Destroyer, Harkov is leading at least a few thousand Imperials in defecting. Meanwhile, Zaarin, as a Grand Admiral, has millions under his command. Even if only a fraction of his forces followed him into treason,[[note]]and given (1) the virtually complete secrecy he was able to maintain leading up to his coup attempt, (2) the priority given to defeating him by the Empire, and (3) the scale of damage his forces were able to inflict, it seems likely the bulk of his command remained loyal to him[[/note]] he would still be leading a coup of upwards of 100,000 disaffected Imperials. "Vast conspiracy of traitors" is an understatement.

* {{Mook}}: An unusual variation, in that ''the player'' takes on the role of one of the Empire's random Mooks, at least early on in the game. The player even gets stuck in the ultimate MookMobile, the bog-standard TIE Fighter. Then increasingly subverted, as the PC is promoted and gets to fly rarer and more impressive fighters.

* MightyGlacier: Assault Gunboats have powerful weapons in the fore and [[{{Pun}} out the rear]], but are slow to accelerate and turn like molasses.

* PlayingBothSides: [[spoiler:Admiral Harkov has been secretly selling Imperial military supplies to the Dimok and Ripoblus who are at war with each others for generations.]]

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The player character is Maarek '''Stele'''. His last name is subject to several misspellings amongst the fans (Steele being the most common). And sometimes in the official materials, as well.

Despite its age, you'll ''still'' see this game often in top 5 lists of best ''Franchise/StarWars'' games ever, and often across other related "best of" lists too. It is available to buy on Website/GOGDotCom and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}.

* LensmanArmsRace: A variation of this occurs towards the end of the game. The Empire has just built the more durable TIE Defender to deal with Rebel starfighters. Then Grand Admiral Zaarin steals a few dozen TIE Defenders and stages a coup. Thus the Empire is, from a certain point of view, in an arms race with itself. They counter the TIE Defender with the Missile Boat, a starfighter loaded with as many warheads as it can carry.

!This game provides examples of:

* InterfaceSpoiler: Objectives never change during a mission, meaning that any "surprise twists" that happen partway through a mission have to be accounted for in the objective list. Worse, players almost immediately get in the habit of checking the objective list as soon as a mission starts in order to figure out what they need to do to pass the mission. Accordingly, [[spoiler: Zaarin's]] betrayal/ambush in [[spoiler: the seventh tour of duty]] loses a bit of its punch, as attentive players will notice that their objectives include destroying the ships that are supposed to be reinforcing them.

* IrrelevantImportance: A particularly annoying example where a pirate fighter can enter the hangar of a pirate cruiser and fail the mission because it's considered "escaped" even if the cruiser is destroyed afterwards.

* ThemeNaming: Zahn started it with the [[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Emperor's Hand]]. In addition to a Hand, you become an Emperor's Reach and an Emperor's Voice (all of these being ranks within the Secret Order). You also become part of the Emperor's Sword fighter wing.