The Imperial Capital Ships NOT designed by morons 

Try Vite Ramen with 10% off by using code ECKHARTS at viteramen.com/eckhartsladder many of the renders in this video were sourced from Fractalsponge. All ships used, including the Kontos in the thumbnail, linked in the description. his site: fractalsponge.net

If the Galactic Empire was run by competent people, they would’ve won the war, and *just maybe* overthrow the Sith

Honestly, _most_ Imperial vessels look competently designed when you go by the FractalSponge specifications.

I think the original Star Destroyer designs are picked on a bit too much lol. They're slightly silly, but they're cool and work for the universe they're in, and that's good enough for me. Also, I hope they continue the sunken bridge design from the fan ships and the First Order star destroyer, it's sleeker, more practical (I know I just said it didn't matter, but come on lol), and creepy in its own way.

5:18 The Carrack class has a huge advantage in that the CGI model of it can be scaled down from a 350 metre long Light Cruiser with a giant front bridge window to become a small shuttle sized ship or even a longish snubfighter van with just a cockpit window on the front. That's something that even the ISD couldn't do, without getting freakishly large windows all over it's Xyston variant.

Honestly surprised you didn't include the Arquitens light cruiser. I know the design pre-dates the Empire, but it's a robust design that saw a look of good use under Imperial command.

There’s just something about the nebulon-B, it’s cost effective, fast, has good firepower, and even though it looks stripped down it’s still a beautiful ship.

I always loved Strike cruisers and I absolutely fell in love with the Kontos the moment I saw it.

I have the theory that Palpatine was more concerned with an internal takeover than with the Rebel Alliance, so he wanted the Empire to be not very competent, just efficient enough to ensure control of the systems. It wasn't until his wet dream, the Death Star, was destroyed that he took the Rebel Alliance seriously, but even so he would rather plan to ambush them at Endor than optimize the Empire.

Time-marks 2:17 - Lancer Frigate 2:59 - Nebulon-B 4:38 - IPV-1 5:15 - Carrack class 5:40 - Strike Cruiser 6:22 - Victory Star Destroyer 6:37 - Imperial Escort Carrier

It makes me so happy when a ship isn't called a "Star Destroyer". The term has been so overused it causes me physical discomfort when a new "star destroyer" or "super star destroyer" is introduced to the franchise. Designs like the strike cruiser, lancer-class, or EC Henry's Incursor-class are really refreshing as it offers a more believable role for a ship rather than the role: "perform the roles of all ships".

I would expect the Interdictor Class Destroyer after facing it couple of times in Star Wars X-Wing Alliance, it became my 2nd favorite Imperial Ship after the Executor Class Destroyer

The Empire was just too busy putting resources into counter-plot armor weapons, so they couldn’t mass produce actual good ships

To be fair, most star wars ships have some terrible design flaws and weapon firing arcs. That's not just an Imperial thing. But regardless they weren't made with logic in first place and that doesn't stop them from being perfect imo. Dumb bridges and WW2 style space dogfights are what makes star wars what it is :D

It's a good reminder of the huge scale of Star Wars ships when you consider that at 250m the Lancer is a relatively tiny, but it's almost as long as the real life Yamato (~260m) which is one of the biggest warships we've ever made. And it's more than twice as long as the ISS, our biggest spacecraft.

The Raider is my favorite ship to come out of all ships since maybe the Royal Naboo Starship in The Phantom Menace.

Escort carriers IRL were never designed or intended to escort capital ships. They weren't fast enough to keep up with them on top of other characteristics that made them unsuitable for the task. They would escort slower things like cargo convoys or take on duties that involved sitting in one place like amphibious assault support. That freed up the capital ships and fleet carriers to do fleet carrier stuff.

I know it didn't show up much, but I loved the Tartan Class Patrol Cruiser.

Let’s be honest, Tarkin designed the ships, and he was clearly compensating

Nebulon-B2 frigate, a later iteration of the rightfully infamous B2, will be my favorite. Came to know her trough TIE fighter and TIE fighter vs X-wing, man, she was far more difficult to solo take down than an impy star destroyer.

The enforcer class, Pickett ship, the perfect mid/small sized frigate with good fire power and a compliment of fighters my other favorite is the strike cruiser because it has such a great armament for its size and it Carrie’s fighters

I love when he bullies ships

The problem with the TonFalk class compared with the Quasar Fire is that the former only holds 72 TIE fighters to the laters 48, and yet it is something like 7 times larger in volume. TonFalk basically has the volume and crew requirements on par with a modern Aircraft Carrier and is about the same size as an Aclimator. If all that gives you is 24 additional TIE's vs the QuasarFire and a class 1 hyperdrive then something is very wrong with it's design. I've always felt that TonFalk only really makes sense if it is also carrying a Regiment of troops and their landingcraft. Then it becomes a much more capable craft that more like a Marine Amphbious assault carrier and is able to conduct small planetary invasions all on it's own.

Love ur starwars vids dude

The ship I wish we saw more often is the vigil class star destroyer, I find it to be a beautiful little ship, the idea of having a mini baby ISD drop in is adorable. And I can imagine a dozen of those coming out of hyperspace would be just as intimidating as Ian ISD

The Ton-Falk looks like it might be more durable than the Quasar with all its structure around the hangar, but maybe not able to deploy it's fighters as quickly due to a smaller hanger opening

Sir, your taste in ships and ramen bases are equally flawless.

To be honest I have a fondness for the Imperial Escort Carriers that the Storm Commandos operate, they seem like they'd be perfect for harassing enemy fleets with their TIE Hunters, given that the Hunter has its own Hyperdrive a few of Escort Carriers loaded with Hunters and maybe a few more loaded with TIE Defenders would be excellent for causing chaos behind enemy lines. I mean, what would YOU expect an Imperial to do besides show up in a fleet of the biggest ships available? I wouldn't expect a bunch of small carriers with Hyperspace capable fighters to go rampaging through my territory while another Imperial attacks head on, would you? Sure, they don't have the ridiculous fire power of the Imperial-II class and its Octuple Barbette mounts for both Ion Cannons and Turbolasers but does it really need ridiculous firepower to be a good ship?

The Gladiator Star destroyer just does it for me, I think it’s really nicely designed - I love the particular configuration that the wookiepedia page uses as it’s thumbnail, the 2D one in warm colors and stylized. Honestly, I’d love to see the Gladiator in 3D.

The Carrack has a special place in my heart for all the times it showed up as basically a "supporting character" in many an Imperial fleet, as well as the Victory for being the "not an ImpStar" star destroyer in SW fiction for the longest time.

Great vid Eck! Good research on your part.

The Nebulon-B was very good budget combo vessel. Anything that could kill the Neb, it really had no business picking a fight with anyway. One of the Empire's biggest problems, in my opinion, was overly-relying on the ISD, when they should've spent 90% of their ISD budget on an equivalent number of medium-to-small ships to cover the medium-to-small systems and reserve the ISDs for Major systems. Alternatively, they could maintain system control with medium-to-small ships and have an ISD squadron on call to respond to anything the local forces couldn't handle.

The Escort carrier was always my favourite of the ships you've pointed out. A nice look and practical for it's role.

You hit my nostalgia button so hard with page from the "Star Wars Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels", like I specifically remember that image from 25 years ago Lolz well done

Glad I correctly guessed the first ship Eckharts was gonna say, love the Lancer and really wish we saw more of them.

The guy calling the field goal at 7:43-7:48, always loved it!

My Neb B theory: Look at real spacecraft from the time of Star Wars like Voyager 1 & 2 Launched in 1977, they have a lot of awkward long skinny parts that look terribly fragile It's possible Star Wars took inspiration from these while designing the Nebulon B, although doesn't really make sense IRL since space probes aren't war ships

I'm a big fan of the Raider. Sure, it's only a corvette, but it fills a hole in the star destroyer-focused roster of the Imperial fleet and it looks great. Generally I'm a fan of specialist ships that do one function well rather than trying to be a fleet-in-a-ship. A dedicated carrier is better than a hybrid. A dedicated battleship is better than a hybrid. A dedicated escort is better than a hybrid. Give me a couple SDs that have good point defense and lots of fighter capacity, a couple SDs that are stacked with Turbolasers and Ion Cannons, and a couple light SDs with good point defense and high mobility. I'll take that over an equal mass in Imperials or other traditional SDs.

One ship id love to see on the big screen is the Gladiator Star Destroyer, its described by Wookipedia as a independent, "long-range patrol vessel. Due to its firepower, it also served in anti-ship, escort, and orbital bombardment capacities.[1] The Gladiator-class could also serve as a blockade vessel and as the flagship of a small battle group." Not sure if that makes it a destroyer or cruiser but its compact nature, its capable of bringing multiple squadrons of fighters into any fight, and if I was designing a petrol fleet I would have it be the flagship with Arquitens as escorts, how cool would that have been to seen in rebels

So many times after listening to your videos, I feel inspired to play Star Wars Rebellion but I usually listen to RU-vid while at work so I'll have to wait until this evening.

I don't know if it was mentioned below, but the _Ton-Falk_ first appeared - AFAIK - in the now-ancient _WEG SW Imperial Sourcebook,_ on Page 54 (I remember this design well, and dug out my dead-tree edition). In addition to the TIE wing, it also has six shuttles, carries 800 troops, and has a crew of 3,505...Like most carriers in SW, however, I think it is _badly_ lacking in fighters carried; carrying double the complement would be the better option. The best example of what a ship like that - in my opinion - should carry is seen in _Rogue One,_ when the Scarif station launches its TIE compliment of 12 squadrons....THAT is what most capital ships should be carrying.

The Vigil Class Corvette is one of my favorite Imperial ship designs. It’s a micro Star Destroyer with a vastly less exposed bridge and more than enough weapons for its purposes. I believe a picket vessel or escort for larger ships. Potentially useful in managing blockades or shipyards. All in all a tiny battle boi.

I thought you were going to mention the Praetor Mark II Battlecruiser, I adore that thing.

The amount of sarcasm oozing during the ton falk is insane.

That ending with the doge plushies is so cute! Kudos!

Loved the rogue squadron gameplay

I would like a video on what you consider the best looking ships. Simple because... Throw practicality out the window, just pure ship appeal. Thanks

6:38 is really cool, though boxy. I could see two or three of them escorting large convoys of supply ships or even doing things like survey duty.

*Yep, some excellent ships in here. The Victory Class Star Destroyer is also my favorite; I actually learned about the ship through the STAR WARS ARMADA tabletop game. Another phenomenal video. Thanks lots!*

Love these types of videos mate.

You missed one. The X1 Super Transport. The big brother of the Ton Falk. Love that ship. It the in between of the CIS supply ship/ Baleen Class Heavy Freighter and the Ton Falk. Play SW old school table top RPG and I have a Smuggler that lived for too long and was able to reture owning a rebuilt X1 Super Transfort escorted by a Nebulon B and 2x DP20 gunships. The X1 is amazing and can hold 3 wing squadrons of uglies based on rebuilt tie fighters. Enhanced it with 2 V1 SDF shields. Better yet hold 60x as much cargo as GR75 Transports. I started with a Mobquet Medium Freighter which is way better than CR90 cost wise and more anonymous than VY series light freighter as a Farm Freighter with 2 Z95 headhunters.for protection. Made ways and survived lots of adventures and finally acquired a contract to the mid rim to outer rims for legal freight hauls for farm supplies. The X1 was a spoils from a battle between pirates and empire and when it was shot down on an asteroid field the empire thought it expendable and pirates thought it too slow and costly for them to rebuild but perfect for a retiring smuggler. Named it the Krayt Pepper and it still holds my battle worn Mobquet. BTW Mon Mothma pays a lot to smuggle rebel tech. Made sense since it easier to hide smaller important tech to super large freighters with more places to hide than smaller lightfreighters. I mean imperial checkpoints dont bother a full inspection for super large freights. Easy to hide classified house sized cargo disguised as food animal containers. They wont conduct a thorough inspection as soon as they see a full compartment of dirty, smelly farm animal cells. Instead just offering simple comfortable cargo manifest check with food and not get their uniforms dirty.

Man, that footage from X-Wing Alliance brought back memories. Only Star Wars flight sim I ever played but I played that for hours and hours.

Hi, just a question, what do you think about the Raider-class corvette? I like the design and I think it was a fairly effective corvette, especially if you include the hangers like on the Corvus. Could you maybe incorporate it in another video like this as I really think it deserves a spot in this list!

"Slopped Armor?" "HAH, FUCK THAT, WE"RE GOING CUBIC!" *proceeds to be obliterated*

That flying carrier sounds awesome!

Whenever you hear the words 'good design' and 'Imperial capital ship' in any Ecks video, always expect the Lancer to be shown

I really like the strike cruiser as an individual ship because it reminds me of the Halcyon class from Halo but it doesn’t have a stupid forward bridge

Ton-Falk's were featured in the early Lucasarts starfighter titles. Nebulon-B Frigates were used in hit and run strikes in a couple of scenarios. One of the advantages of the Imperial-class Star Destroyers is that you were usually biggest thing there. not so good when you're disabled and pushed into another star destroyer, but great for hyperspacing into the battle, literally.

For people who want to experience more of these ships: all or almost all of these ships are great in Thrawn's Revenge mod for Empire at War. And they work pretty much like Eck said here. Lancer is the best anti-starfighter unit in the game. It's only weak part is low speed, but it tears through starfighters while it's point defense protects your bigger ships from missiles and bombs. Nebulon B is that smol ship that does so much more than it's size in the game would suggest- it's light turbolasers provide nice and accurate fire against bigger units, it's also a great point defense ship and does well against fighters, while fighters and bombers struggle to damage it. It also spawns half of a squadron of fighters and bombers itself. Like most of the ships it's size it struggles with shield and hull strength, but in general is a great and welcome addition to any fleet. IPV is less useful than above vessels but it operates as a cheaper, fast anti-starfighter platform. Does great in hit and runs against separated fighter&bomber groups and is a nice distraction overall. Carrack is more on the useful side again, being basically a small artillery unit. Maybe not as accurate as Nebulon B but having a few of these around your bigger ships provides a lot of additional heavy firepower. Strike cruiser works in a similar fashion, but since it's a larger unit it often is compared to Assault Frigate Mark 1 and it pretty much always falls flat in that comparison. Still not an unit you want to underestimate on a battlefield, it can very quickly finish off your damaged, shieldless units. As for Ton Falk carrier, well, since it carries tie fighters it falls flat to rebel carriers. But is still useful in larger numbers. Although most players focused on playing Empire should probably focus more on managing lancers and kill enemy capital ships with their own capital ships, not rely heavily on bombers.

"Shot down?" More like shot and then moving uncontrollably into interplanetary space

Really like the Neb, and I created my own take on the imperial version (I actually linked my DA renders on your discord server some time ago).

I’m hoping for the Tartan Patrol Cruiser. Might not be great against ships but it is an excellent screen vessel and perfect for catching smugglers.

honestly, really like the gladiator class, nice lil all rounder that was perfect for use in more remote locations where you cant just call on some troop transports or extra fighters at a moments notice, good enough to fight most ships at the same or smaller scales too

The stats for the TIE Escort Carrier come from one of two places. The Imperial Sourcebook - West End Games or Star Wars: Rebellion. The guide for that game talked a lot about the ships that were showcased in it, plus being fleshed out in game.

I know I’m a bit late but at 6:01 the shop being shown is actually a vigil class corvette. My favorite imperial ship design and the smallest ship in the star destroyer line!

One of the most underused ships not mentioned was the Imperial II Class Frigate. Basically, a small cruiser-sized Star Destroyer that was geared as a carrier but was moderately armed with a combination of Lasers and Turbolasers. This ship could have easily been the center of an Imperial task force. Having nearly the firepower of a Carrack Cruiser and the carrying capacity of a Ton-Falk carrier. The only example that I know of this ship is the story of the Rand Ecliptic Where Biggs Darklighter and Hobbie Klivian join the Rebelion.

Can we get a video just covering the Quazar? Idk if you made one already, but it is just a cool looking ship.

ngl i love small ships would be nice to see stuff like imperial destroyers in the naval sense of the term or maybe even something similar to a whatchamacallit rebel gunship

Got a soft spot for the Gozanti class cruiser, it was big enough to give possible assailants pause but small enough to be produced in numbers, not to mention versatile

Fractalsponge's version of the Imperial Nebulon B, Lancer and Carrack are so good

08:26 i really like this animation really really good job on it

id like a task force cruiser! those medium quad turbolasers and quad lasers seam like a devilish combo of useful vs star fighters corvettes all the way up to cruisers. the heavy concussion missiles and proton torpedos allow it to get the knockdown blow to even cap ships. the stronger 360 fire points recessed shield and ability to have a couple squadrons of small fast starfighters like a-wings that id use coming from port and starboard hangers is all so smart and practical!

fractal sponges take on the strike cruiser is just beautiful

Expectations: Arquitens, Raider, and the one from the X-wing books with a million point defence canons (Lancer or Carrak, can’t remember which one is from where). Also victory 1, they scary.

were did u get that video of the dog in the end i always laugh at how it looks like he knows whats about to hjappen and yet get's angry when ite happens XD

The size and external tie rack of the carrack was definitely the inspiration for the Gozanti. You can see it a bit in their form and function as well as classification and the Gozanti is just a much better looking ship.

Loving the X-wing alliance cinematic clips added in. What a blast of nostalgia, that game was an absolute treasure. Even the cinematography of the cutscenes, it felt like a genuine immersion into the star wards universe. Moreso than a BUNCH of movies that followed it.

Watching this helped relive my daily stomach ache, Thanks man :)

So pretty much, all of the smaller ships from the Imperial Source book. Cool renderings.

I paused right when you said but I expect the Lancer to be on this list. An almost perfect ship to counter the rebellion. Put a few of those in a fleet with an interdictor and a few ISDs for heavy support and you have a rebel killer of a fleet.

For a long time the lancer was my favorite ship

I will always have a spot in my heart for the Gladiator-class Star Destroyer.

My favorite is the imperial Raider class corvette cause it looked like a smaller version of Darth Nihilus's Ravager dreadnought. Another ship I'm quite fond of is the VT-49 decimator just had the imperial version millenium Falcon vibe in my opinion.

I'm very interested in the mining side of the amount materials that needed where did they get it from

Definitely expect to see the Vigil-class corvette on here. I also believe the Tartan patrol cruiser deserved a mention alongside the IPV.

I'm actually a fan of the Gozanti its got a great aesthetic, modularity and can carry a small fighter escort. if i lived in the SW i would want one though id probably modify it a bit. though it was republic made i think. but still its one of my favorite ships used by the empire.

I first saw the Escort Carrier with reference to the 72 TIE fighter capacity in the West End Games Star Wars Roleplaying Game backing the late Eighties.

One of my favourite imperial designs is the gladiator star destroyer. It provides decent firepower with decent Starfighter capacity and on a small size ( smaller than an isd or a venator ) thus being being able to be mast produced and maintained. Its a jack of all trades and a master of none but better than a master of one

Always been a fan of the Gladiator. Wish it could’ve made it into the video, a very practical approach to a more balanced star destroyer.

The IPV-1 Patrol ships were hard to fight head-on in X-Wing Alliance, looks like a giant beak with the low res poly models.

Request: 2 "what if" ships that were never actually built: the Eidolon and the Pulsar Station.

I hope that dog is never removed from the ending of all your videos~

"Quasar-Class Fire Carrier"? Think that line needed a second pass there, Eck.

Hope to see the Lancer-Class Frigate, definitely my favorite

Day 20 of asking for Titanfall vs halo versus matchup

There is also the new Cantwell class cruiser but that was after this video was released

Love the X-Wing Alliance shots. My favorite Star Wars flight sim.

Man those 3d models by FractalSponge shown are very well done.

In the WEG Star Wars RPG, the Nebulon B was the ship that Rebel Privateers dreamed of getting their hands on. It had the perfect combination of speed and hard hitting firepower. Its cargo capacity was limited, but mostly Rebel Privateers were more interested in taking ships and cargo that was either essential to the Alliance's needs or would hurt the Imperials if captured or destroyed.

The Star Destroyer is somewhat decent, if a bit maintenance and crew-heavy. It is often lacking in point defense, but FractalSponge specifications largely fix that problem (and look really good!). A number of FractalSponge's smaller ship designs are excellent as well, especially the Proclamator, Fulgor, Kontos, Velox, and Vigil classes, as well as the Contentor fleet replenishment ship (I do have a thing for logistics). The Allegiance and Bellator look great, too (and much more useful in normal actions than a significantly larger superweapon ship).