Outstanding chapter, though for your refference, there are two CRITICAL differences between Imperial and Rebel fighters, Rebel fighters have Hyperdrives and Shields, Imperial fighters don't. The Y-Wing was a fighter that was just coming into production at the end of the Clone wars. It has 2 forward firing laser canons, and 2 warhead launchers capable of holding a total of 8 proton torpedoes (other warheads can be substituted). It also had a twin ion canon turret mounted on top of the cockpit that could be used to disable craft. There are two basic models of Y-wing, the straight, or original, that was a two seater, with a pilot and a gunner to operate the ion turret. The more common model seen at the battle of Yavin was the "Longprobe" mod that replaces the gunner seat with a supplementary navicomp and has the ion turret fixe to fire either straight forward, or straight back. The astromech can store up to 10 jump courses in it for hyperspace. This used to be a top of the line fighter, but by the time of the Rebellion it was old and slow, and was only suitable for use as a bomber, and needed a fighter escort to be effective.
The X-wing was designed towards the begining of the Rebellion by INCON, however due to the cost of each fighter, and the fact that standard Imperial doctrine tended to focus on an overwhelming number of cheap disposable fighters, it wasn't going to see the light of day. The Empire decided to nationlize INOCON at that point, which led the ENTIRE design team of the X-Wing to defect to the rebellion. The X-wing has 4 wingtip lasers, and 2 warhead launchers capable of holding a load of 6 Proton torpedoes. Again, the astromech can store 10 hyperspace courses in it. This fighter is approximatly as fast as a straight TIE fighter, however, some engine power is usually diverted to the shield generators, so it effectively tends to be 10-20% slower than a TIE, however, between the fact that Rebellion pilots tend to be better trained, the X-wing has 4 laser cannons, which, with one good solid shot, can usually shred a TIE fighter, and the shields, the X-wing's tend to be able to overcome 5:1 ratios.
The A-Wind fighter was designed by General Jan Dodona (leader of the Rebellion forces at the battle of Yavin) after analysis of the Death Star trench run showed one thing the Imperial fighters had over the Rebellion, flat out speed. Basically, they designed a small space frame, and strapped the biggest engines they could find on them. Due to the nature of the Rebellion, and the lack of standardized production facilities, there tends to be a bit of "customization" depending on where the fighter was manufactured, usually in the material to manufacture it. The A-wing has two laser cannons on the wingtips, that can be elevated or depressed to give it a wider firing arc then straight forward, howver, they have NO horizontal traverse. Th A-wing also has 2 warhead launchers that usually hold 8 concussion missles, however, they can also hold 4 proton torpedoes. This IS the fastest fighter in the known universe, faster than even the TIE fighter. Rather than having an expensive, and somewhat hard to come by astromech, it has a low powered navicomp, usually able to hold 10 jumps on it.
The B-wing fighter has such a fearsome reputation, that the first time a wing of TIE fighters encountered some, they all cut and ran. The fighter was one of the first major projects that then Commander Ackbar worked on after being liberated from his enslavement to Grand Moff Tarkin. Designed to help the Rebellion overcome the threat of the Empire's new Nebulon B frigates. Armed with 3 wing tip lasers, 3 chin mounted ion cannons, and 2 warhead Launchers that can hold up to 12 Proton torpedoes, and shields that could shrug off a hit from a turbo laser, this fighter can give just about any convoy escort short of a star destroyer a REALLY bad day. This fighter is a heavy bomber, and while it is nearly as fast as an X-wing, by the time it is done powering it's impressive weapons and shield arrays, the craft tends to be a good 20% slower. Another interesting feature of this fighter stems from the fact that it was designed by the insectoid race known as the Verpine that inhabite the Roche astroid field. Due to the radical manuever required to navigate the asteroid field, the cockpits tend to "rotate" to help the pilot maintain stability while manuvering. As such, the B-wing tends to appear to rotate around the cockpit. Again, it uses a low powered navicomp, allowing it to store 10 hyperspace jumps.
I hope the above helps in regards to the fighters. Outstanding opening, I recognized a few bits from Shadow of the Empire, and I
m curious to see how you take things from here. Good job,