Star Wars Rebel X-Wing Fighter - Motorpsycho Realms

Hyperspace capable and with a top speed of 1050 km/h in atmosphere, X-wings have pairs of wing-like stabiliser foils, or S-foils, mounted at the rear of the craft; normally the foils on each side are locked flush against each other allowing for greater speed but less maneuverability, but during combat the foils are folded out to increase the spread coverage of the laser cannons mounted at the tips of the foils, to improve maneuverability, and to better dissipate waste heat, at the cost of some speed. This gives the craft its distinctive "X"-like profile when viewed from the front or rear. The cannons on some earlier models cannot be fired with the S-foils in locked position, a safety mechanism that helps to avoid S-foil damage from the laser cannons' intense heat. An attempted jump into hyperspace with the S-foils open will also likely cause extreme damage to the ship. This was also the X-wing's greatest weakness. For a pilot wanting to escape from an intense battle, he or she would have to close the S-foils first before going into hyperspace. This would leave a short period of time of leaving the X-wing defenseless against attacks. Many X-wing pilots lost their lives this way when their craft was shot to pieces after closing their S-foils. Wedge Antilles, from the Rogue Squadron Novels, mentions this in volumes one and two of the novels, mentioning about how one of his friends died this way. The B-Wing also suffered from this weakness, but due to stronger shields it was more than likely able to take a few hits and survive before going into hyperspace.

Though it is very maneuverable, the X-wing is best known for carrying four powerful laser cannons, along with launcher tubes for proton torpedoes. The lasers are so powerful that crescent shaped shields had to be fitted behind the barrel tip to reflect energy and thus prevent the weapon from damaging itself. Other warheads such as concussion missiles can be fired from the launchers, but this requires a considerable amount of time and effort on the part of the technical crews, and the overall versatility of the proton torpedo is ideally suited to the X-wing's varied mission profile. On certain occasions the X Wing can also be loaded with dye markers to mark certain areas or things with colored dye as seen in Chapter 4 of the Rogue Squadron Comic "The Rebel Opposition." And on rarer occasions the X-Wing can be fitted with an ion cannon. These were only seen in the videogame Rogue Squadron when Rogue Squadron freed Wedge Antilles from the Kessel Spice mine prison train. The X-wing's fire control systems provide various settings:

Single fire, where each laser cannon fires individually but in a constant sequence. This setting provides the pilot with the highest rate of fire but generally will lack the high impact of having all the X-wing's lasers strike at once. This mode was most likely the best for Rebel pilots when dealing with the agile Imperial TIE fighter, considering the TIE's well-documented fragility and complete lack of shielding, or with ground forces, in which quantity of fire superseded quality of fire.

Dual fire, (or dual-offset fire as it is known by pilots) where two laser cannons, one on each side, pair up and fire in an alternating sequence. While decreasing the overall rate of fire, dual fire mode naturally increases the damage potential of each attack due to a damage intensifying effect all projectiles have when they impact at roughly the same location.

Quad fire, where all four laser cannons (one at each foil-tip) fire together. This fire mode greatly reduces the rate of fire but gives the X-wing's lasers their greatest punch. While the X-wing's laser cannons adjust for distance on every setting, it is most visible in this mode.

Stutter fire, where many underpowered bolts are fired. This modification was incorporated during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, to overwhelm their singularity defenses. Presumably also useful for anti-personnel purposes.

The fighter has cockpit space for one pilot, assisted by an astromech droid (such as an R2 unit) in an external socket. The astromech monitors the status of the craft, can make limited emergency repairs and handles hyperspace calculations.