Introduced originally as an even deadlier upgrade to the Assault Gunboat, the Imperial Missile Boat is the elite long-distance weapons fighting platform (primarily for the purpose of having a ship to compete with the Traitor Zaarin's Tie Defender's). Designed by Cygnus Spaceworks, under comission from then Vice Admiral Thrawn, the missile boat quickly made a name for itself, becoming an object of extreme terror to convoys, starfighter pilots, and capital ship crews alike. A sinlge missile boat can hold up to 80 concussion missiles, which is an ammount unprecidented for a ship of its size.
Though it is deadly from long range, most Imperial pilots dislike the Missile Boat once they get into the thick of combat, as its primary armament of a single laser cannon, make the craft rather vulnerable in dogfights, even though it was designed to be able to best Tie Defenders. The craft can be extremely fast and maneuverable in the hands of a skilled pilot, and its speeds can be increased by upto 100% through the use of its revolutionary S.L.A.M. systems.
Simply put, this revolutionary system operates by drawing immense amounts of energy from its laser cannon, and reroutes it to the propulsion systems, and since the 'Boat has only a single laser cannon, the system cannot work for long, but it does allow the fighter to reach speeds of around 244 MGLT (roughly 2930 km/h).
Truly, the most impressive, and devastating aspect of the Missile Boat is its tremendous firepower. The 'Boat has two dedicated Advanced Concussion Missile Launchers, each of which can hold upto 20 missiles, as well as two general purpose warhead launchers, which can carry an equal capacity of concussion missiles, or 30 proton torpedoes/ 20 heavy rockets, or 10 heavy/ space bombs.