I've always thought that the weapons on the advanced tie fighter were too wussified for the type of advanced ship it was. So I modified the one I just finished with BIGGER cannons packing MORE fire power. Here is the background info:

Following the collapse of the empire, many of it's members i.e.; storm troopers, pilots, techs, etc., who didn't align themselves with one of the several factions that the former empire had splintered into, decided to seek employment of various means. Illegal, legal didn't really matter in the semi-chaotic often lawlessness that was prevalent in the frontier worlds of the galaxy.

One former TIE fighter pilot managed to get hold of an experimental version of Lord Vader's TIE fighter. It was fitted with anaphasic shielding which when activated the fighter would exist slightly out of phase from the fabric of space-time. This would mean it would appear as a kind of "ghost ship". An enemy could both get visual and sensor contact as well as a weapons lock, but when fired upon the weapon would literally pass through the fighter with no damage being done. In order to compensate for the power drain caused by the shielding, the fighter was upgraded with the more powerful micro anti-matter quantum fusion reactor. The fighter was also fitted with a new HUD that would project a virtual image directly in front of the pilot, making it easier to concentrate in battle without having to shift attention from individual sensor screens.

Gone were the wimpy turbo lasers under the cockpit bubble. In their place were heavy plasma pulse cannons. Also added to the fighter were two hellebore accelerator cannons. Each cannon fires a sliver of mag-stabalized anti-matter held inside a thin shell of crystalline layered uranium. When fired, the projectiles are accelerated with in a high-energy plasma bubble traveling at relativistic speeds. Upon impact the high-energy plasma dissolves the crystalline/uranium and reacts with the anti-matter sliver. This results in a reaction similar to the kind that takes place with the core of a star when it goes super nova, but obviously on a smaller scale. The drawback to such a powerful weapon is its longer recharge time, and limited supply of mag-stabalized anti-matter of just 30 rounds per weapon.

Of course this enterprising pilot hired himself out as a mercenary fighter pilot to the highest bidder and can afford the logistical cost of maintaining such a powerful fighter. The biggest problem he faces is keeping it from being discovered and taken by the Alliance military.

Image: Belly view

Image: New weapons

Image: Cockpit