Jonno said:

This reminds me of that discussion between Lucas and Marquand regarding the rebel briefing room in RotJ - the one in which Lucas declared that the rebels were winning because they had the best equipment (can't remember which thread that was cited in - perhaps this one?)

There's no logical reason why the Empire, with their unlimited reach and resources, would purposely field an inferior fighter as an absolute standard - even taking the argument that the first-line flyers are disposable, how come we never see the big guns?

Worse, the idea that X-Wings are just better ships serves to further undermine the whole ethos of the rebellion. As far as the films present the situation (and that's where I personally draw the line), the X-Wing vs. TIE match is at the very least equal, and the outcome of a dogfight entirely depends on pilot skill and courage... and that's the whole point. Or at least it used to be.

I think he meant that the Rebel fighters were essentially hand crafted at that point. All the spares were no longer available so they had to make do and mend, which added unpredictable elements to each ships performance. Each fighter was valued and so was the pilot so they were shielded and the pilots were encouraged to think as skilled individuals.

The Empire is a production line churning out wave after wave of identical fighters and pilots all trained to be efficient and follow the rule book. They don't need to be protected because there is an endless supply of craft and pilots. Rebelliousness would be ironed out and any deviation would be seen as treason.

This is their weakness. Hit enough of the production line for either pilots or craft or both and you have cracks down their own philosophical fault-lines.

This is also not the general discussion board so I won't go any further :-D