Star Wars : TIE Fighter Star Wars : TIE Fighter is the sequel to " " and the first " Star Wars " video game set on the side of the Galactic Empire . A notable improvement was the 3 - D rendering engine , which supported Gouraud shading , an effect that makes curves of low polygon objects look much more realistic . There were many improvements and flight options added , and the briefings were richer ; apart from the standard schematic map , the player had the ability to " talk " to an Imperial briefing officer and a Lesser Prophet in a dialogue menu . In addition to the pilot ' s manual , the initial release of the game offered a novella called " The Stele Chronicles " , similar to " The Farlander Papers " that shipped with " X - Wing " . Overview . The game begins soon after the Battle of Hoth , and the expansions lead up to the Battle of Endor . The player assumes the role of a rookie TIE pilot , whose name in the player ' s guide is given as Maarek Stele . Since this is the first game ever on the side of the Galactic Empire , the position of an Imperial main character could estrange some players ; however the pilot ' s role becomes a bit sympathetic since he lives in fear of the punishment of Darth Vader and other superiors , and later the player is directed against other odds . Here the Empire is portrayed as a force for peace and order , while the Rebel Alliance is portrayed as a cause of anarchy and chaos . While the Rebels are one of the biggest threats in the initial stages of the game , many missions also deal with the elimination of pirates and other criminals , civil wars , traitor Imperials , and others , in order to maintain peace in the galaxy . Similar to " X - Wing " , there is a concourse which gives the player several options . They can examine craft in the tech room , go to the combat simulation chamber to practice training missions or replay successful missions , view gun camera footage in the film room ( with the option of " entering " the mission at any point ) , transfer to another sector ( campaign ) or review successful campaign cutscenes , switch pilots , and fly the next upcoming mission . Though an Imperial Star Destroyer is frequently depicted as the headquarters of a sector or star system , the concourse which is a circular atrium likely represents the interior of an XQ Platform . According to The Stele Chronicles , the concourse is located aboard the Star Destroyer " Vengeance " . As mentioned , it was the first Star Wars game ever on the side of the Galactic Empire ; interestingly , it is also so far the only game that progresses wholly from the Empire ' s perspective , while all other subsequent games that offer control of the Empire , give it only as an optional choice . Also , it is the only game whose opening crawl does not feature the Star Wars Main Title , but instead it features a modified version of the Imperial March . Improvements over " X - Wing " . An obvious improvement was the rendering engine , which supported Gouraud shading , an effect that makes curves of low polygon objects appear more realistic . The game engine was significantly improved to support greater numbers of craft , and those of higher detail than in " X - Wing . " The AI and scripting were considerably enhanced to create more complex mission scenarios as well as more challenging and capable opponents and allies . Among the many gameplay improvements were difficulty settings and options such as unlimited ammo and indestructibility ( though using these cheats drastically reduced the player ' s score . ) There were many flight options added , like flight dialogue and messages , a message log , a list of objectives , ships ' status and behavior , three - dimensional map , and HUD , a sub - target system and other additions such as an option to choose armaments before flying . The HUD or targeting computer , ( showing a 3 - D rendering of the targeted vessel ) , was well received by players since it allows the player to see the target ' s relative orientation in real time . This allowed players to avoid dangerous head - on confrontations , and to specifically target individual components such as weapons batteries . Numerous new hot keys afforded players myriad targeting options . The ability to match speed with a target lets the player tail an enemy with less risk of collision . New Craft . Another significant improvement is the expanded roster of craft like variants of capital ships , utility craft , and others . There are also space stations , including the XQ Platform series and X7 Factory Station ( replacing " X - Wing " makeshift use of containers and bulk freighters to represent " bases " ) . Some were never further adopted in the Expanded Universe like the Mon Calamari Light Cruiser ( the regular MC80 Mon Calamari Star Cruiser is found in the combat simulation chamber but not the storyline missions ) , R - 41 Starchaser s , and T - wings . Darth Vader ' s TIE Fighter ( TIE Advanced x1 ) is not included ; in its place is the much faster and more powerful TIE Avenger . Available craft to fly are seven starfighters . Like the films , the player initially pilots craft such as the TIE Fighter , TIE / sa bomber , and TIE / IN interceptor , all of which lack shields and a hyperdrive . However , there are few missions where the player is part of swarms of fragile craft conducting near suicidal assaults ( as what the canonical Imperial Navy would do ) . Later missions become very customized , becoming similar to the preceding " X - Wing " , depart from the mass attacks with suicidal TIEs and mirror the main character ' s advancement in importance and significance through the ranks . Especially in the " Defender of the Empire " and " Enemies of the Empire " expansions , most of the missions feature the player against overwhelming odds , often without wingmen because this would make the player a catalyst in how the battle unfolds . . There are several original craft like the Assault Gunboat , TIE Advanced or " Avenger " , TIE Defender ( later added to " The Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels " ) and Missile Boat ( in the expansions only ) . As the TIE Avenger , TIE Defender , and Missile Boat far exceeded the capabilities of existing starfighters , later iterations of the " X - Wing " series either toned them down or made them unavailable . Like the rest of the " X - Wing " series games , " TIE Fighter " is known to use alternate models and statistics for a number of ships . New Weapons . " TIE Fighter " featured new weapons such as proton rockets , proton bombs , magnetic pulse warheads , tractor beam , and the jamming beam . In addition , there were also advanced concussion missiles and advanced proton torpedoes , which were better tracking and more powerful versions of the original warheads . As a result , the potency of the standard concussion missile and proton torpedo were toned down , as per game mechanics though this was not in accordance with canon . The images of the concussion missile and proton torpedo also differ from other official sources . As in " X - Wing " , in " TIE Fighter " , ions will gradually bring down shields like laser cannons , however on unshielded craft a few shots will permanently disable it for the duration of the mission unless there is a repair vessel ( according to canon , ion cannons can punch through shields but will only disable temporarily ) . Capital ship and space station shields will not regenerate once depleted . As well , capital ships such as Star Destroyers and Mon Calamari cruisers feature far less weaponry than their official canon statistics . Consequently , they are not as much of a threat , though it still requires much ordnance to destroy them . This was a design compromise reflecting the limitations of the game engine at the time - since the targeting and combat AI of each turret on a starship used almost as many resources as a single starfighter , the presence of a single Star Destroyer would count almost as much as an entire squadron of fighters . Optional Goals . The briefing includes a dialogue - like interface with questions to an Imperial briefing officer , reminiscent of the LucasArts ' concurrent adventure games . Apart from the standard briefing , there is a secondary briefing in some missions , given from a Sith - like Cloaked Figure . This person briefs the pilot on the " Secondary " and " Bonus objectives " ( see below for detail ) . Success of secondary and bonus objectives ( also referred in - game as " secret mission objectives " ) doesn ' t alter the scenario or the outcome . However , these optional objectives increase the pilot ' s score and prestige : as after completing a tour of duty , the medal will contain green and red pins based on perfect completion of secondary and bonus objectives per mission , respectively . Scenarios . The story evolves in seven different systems , separated in seven Tours of Duty , of four to six missions each . " Tour of Duty I : Aftermath of Hoth " . Hoth system : Pursue Rebels fleeing from Hoth . " Tour of Duty II : The Sepan Civil War " . Sepan system : End a prolonged civil war . " Tour of Duty III : Battle on the Frontier " . Newland system : Establish a new Imperial base . " Tour of Duty IV : Conflict at Mylok IV " . Mylok system : Battle pirates in the Outer Rim . " Tour of Duty V : Battle for Honor " . Parmel system : Capture a defecting officer . " Tour of Duty VI : Arms race " . Parmic system : Demetrius Zaarin builds new technology . " Tour of Duty VII : Treachery at Ottega " . Parmel system : Stop a revolt by rogue Imperials . Expansion pack . One additional campaign disk was sold separately , Defender of the Empire which added 3 new Tours of Duty : " Tour of Duty VIII : Strategic Warfare " . Omar system : Zaarin attempts sabotage . " Tour of Duty IX : T / D Technology " . Parmel system : Secure TIE Defender technology . " Tour of Duty X : New Threats " . Eva - T system : Counter - Attack ! " Enemies of the Empire " . The scenario ends with Thrawn ' s promotion to Grand Admiral , and Emperor Palpatine tasking him to hunt down Zaarin . An additional campaign disk , " Enemies of the Empire " concluded the plot , but was never sold separately . Instead , it was included in the Collector ' s CD - ROM . " Tour of Duty XI : Hunt for Zaarin " . Semag system : Thrawn seeks the traitor Zaarin . " Tour of Duty XII : Prelude to Endor " . Yllotat system : Investigate Bothan connection . " Tour of Duty XIII : The Emperor ' s Will " . Iast system : Final triumph . . . ? Collector ' s CD - ROM Edition . Like " X - Wing " , " TIE Fighter " was also re - released a year later ( 1995 ) in an enhanced version including the original release plus two expansions . The game engine was also rebuilt to run under Windows 95 . Like the previous " X - Wing Collector ' s CD - ROM " , it offered full voice - over soundtrack , and an improved rendering engine which supported 640x480 resolution . The Collector ' s Edition featured a completely redone introduction cutscene , all of it was fully rendered . There is now a Super Star Destroyer and a Nebulon - B frigate alongside the many Imperial Star Destroyers . During the assault on the Rebel platform , the Imperials are attacking with TIE Bombers instead of just TIE Interceptors , making the assault more realistic as starfighters ' laser cannons would have been unable to do significant damage to a large space station . However the kind of bombs they use to bombard the facility , do not appear in - game . The CD - ROM Edition also added a new campaign Enemies of the Empire with 3 brand new Tours of Duty that conclude the scenario . " TIE Fighter " had a major retouch for its release along with the collections " X - Wing Collector Series " ( 1998 ) and " X - Wing Trilogy " ( 1999 ) . The game was retrofitted with the " " graphics engine , which uses texture mapping instead of Gouraud shading . Concourse graphics and some cutscenes were also retouched . This version is the one which will work with MS Windows XP , though the iMuse music system was removed . . However , the original DOS - based Collector ' s CD version , which includes iMuse , can be emulated using Dosbox . Re - release on GOG . com . On October 28 , 2014 , Disney Interactive announced a new partnership with GOG . com , a DRM - free digital distributor , that would allow for more than twenty classic Lucasfilm video game titles to be re - released digitally for modern computers . Along with " " and " " , " Star Wars : TIE Fighter " became available for digital download for a price of $ 9 . 99 . Demo . LucasArts released a demo of TIE Fighter in early 1994 . This demo was based on an unfinished build of the game and has some unique features as a result . It consists of just one long mission in a TIE Fighter against various Rebellion forces . The cockpit is not the same as that in the final game , sound effects are different , and the soundtrack is from " " . The demo was sponsored by Dodge and displayed a Neon car advertisement before the gameplay began . It came on two 3 . 5 " 1 . 44 MiB floppy disks . The demo announced the game ' s release date as " Spring 1994 " but it wasn ' t released until July .