TIE Boarder

The TIE Boarder is a direct design variant of the TIE Bomber. The weapons
pod was replaced by a very cramped passenger compartment that extends out a
full meter more in length than the standard pod with a small airlock and
plasma torch on the front.

During a boarding operation, the TIE Boarder will move toward a target ship
at top speed, slowing down only at the last moments (this helps prevent it
from being picked off by enemy gunners or starfighters). Once it closes to
within fifteen meters of the target vessel, the pilot cuts off the ion
engines and, more or less, drifts toward the target vessel using maneuvering
thrusters to control attitude. Once the TIE Boarder reaches a distance of
less than four meters, one of the boarders takes the controls of the plasma
torch and cuts through the hull. Once the cut is complete, the boarding pod
extends a boarding tube that attaches around the hole and forms an air tight
seal in thirty seconds.

Due to its limited passenger capacity, the TIE Boarder saw little use except
for boarding small vessels with only a few crew members. Only a handful of
cruisers carried TIE Boarders, usually only one per Imperial-class Star
Destroyer, if the captain requested one. By the time of Grand Admiral
Thrawn's campaign against the New Republic, all TIE Boarders had been
scrapped or converted back into bombers.

Craft: Sienar Fleet Systems' TIE Boarding Shuttle
Era Introduced: Shortly before the Battle of Yavin
Type: Light boarding transport
Scale: Starfighter
Length: 8.8 meters
Skill: Starfighter piloting: TIE Boarder
Crew: 1
Crew Skill: Starfighter piloting 4D, starship gunnery 5D
Passengers: 4 (troops)
Cargo Capacity: 90 kilograms
Consumables: 1 day
Cost: 160,000 (new), 75,800 (used)
Space: 6
Atmosphere: 295; 850 kmh
Hull: 4D+2
Sensors:
        Passive: 20/0D
        Scan: 35/1D
        Search: 50/2D
        Focus: 3/2D+2
Weapons:
2 Laser Cannons (fire-linked)
        Fire Arc: Front
        Skill: Starship gunnery
        Fire Control: 2D
        Space Range: 1-3/12/25
        Atmosphere Range: 100-300/1.2/2.5 km
        Damage: 3D
Plasma Torch Bording Device
        Fire Arc: Front
        Skill: Starship gunnery
        Crew: 2
        Fire Control: 0D
        Range: 4 meters
        Damage: 8D
        Note: The plasma torch boarding device is mounted on the ship's
        airlock system. The controls are just inside the main airlock. Roll
        the target ship's hull -2D; if the torch scores a lightly damaged
        result, it has breached the hull. Once the hull is breached, the
        torch requires a full minute to cut a one-meter-wide by one-meter-
        high hole. The extendable boarding tube attaches to the hull and
        forms an air-tight seal in 30 seconds.