The Millennium Falcon's Modifications Are Crazy...

The Millennium Falcon is one of the most famous ships in the star wars universe. Today we take a look at all the crazy modifications and upgrades that Lando Calrissian and Han Solo has made to this old yt 1300F freighter.

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[High_Key]

Because of Starfield’s ship builder, I’ve been in this ship deep dive phase and I’ve gone through your library rewatching a TON of your ship videos, Allen. An unhealthy amount lol

[Carstuff]

The Millennium Falcon is one of the reasons I love sleeper vehicles so much. What is a sleeper? A vehicle that looks like nothing special, may even look like garbage, and yet crushes your mind with performance WELL above anything else around it. And when it works, the Millennium Falcon is the perfect example of a sleeper.

[FastTquick]

I would like another video about this for the Slave I. Remember, it was once a prototype Firespray-class police ship before Jango and Boba Fett modified it to have all those exotic weapon systems and prison compartments to support their bounty hunting careers.

[TomatoFettuccini]

15:14 "Bolt large things onto your small ship."

I mean, that's Hot-rodding in a nutshell.

Ever heard of the Shelby Cobra? Take a car the size of a Miata and cram a 7.2L truck engine under the hood.

The Millennium Falcon was Lucas' vision of a hot-rod spaceship.

[Flippokid]

I bet Chewie came up with the brilliant idea to coat the Falcon with stardestroyer plating. It's not just to be able to tank more damage; he knows how effective camouflage is for prey.

[arthurbriand]

The pre Kessel run Millenium Falcon is so beautiful though.

[solidmoon]

So the long and short of the Millennium Falcon is that he slapped as much powerful tech and weaponry he could fit, then suped up the computers to make the Frankenstein of cobbled tech all work with minimal involvement of the crew.


Ya the Millennium Falcon is a god damn cheat code of a ship.

[davidparmly]

Whenever I get into a discussion of favorite characters in Star Wars, I generally say "The Millennium Falcon." She has been a constant through everything after Epi IV. She has a personality, explained by her nav system (after Solo), and earns the love of her drivers, no matter the opponent.

[Jackelmandingo]

Han didn't fire the AX-108. He wasn't even in his seat and it was still going off on the Snow troopers. The Millennium Falcon was let off it's leash and shoot up the Imps.

[QuilavaMan]

I think it should be added that, though not a ship upgrade per se, Han had a secret compartment in his quarters with enough varied weapons, grenades, and explosives to equip a 10-man squad of soldiers.

[stephendarroch]

In SW legends, (Truce at Bakura I think) C3PO actually points out that the Falcon was better at running from the enemy than actually engaging against fighters, or larger craft. Even Wedge and the fabled Rogue Squadron pilots thought Han was one of the few skilled pilots in the galaxy, crazy enough to fly the Falcon as if it were a starfighter.

[officialswordmaster]

A few other notes from legends (at least from the books I've read):

One of the droid brains that helped control the ship's systems was sourced from a CIS tri-fighter control ship

Part of the hull was rebuilt from a YT-1300P, the passenger variant of the YT-1300 after the falcon (then called the Stellar Envoy) smashed into a larger freighter in orbit above Nar Shada

At one point the ship's digital control relays were ripped out and replaced with fluidics, then the fluidics were ripped out and replaced again

The holo chess table and smuggling compartments were installed by a crime boss who once owned the ship

A Jedi during the clone wars made modifications to the navigation system to track down a secret treasure which was supposed to help restore the Republic should it fall

At one point before Han's ownership the falcon was decorated with war paint and used by a missionary healer to help a primitive tribe fight back against an oppressive force

The landing struts have been repaired and replaced several times

I recommend reading Brian Daily's Han Solo trilogy and Millennium Falcon, which are the sources of this bit of falcon lore

[alexisg]

Don't forget the placement of the turrets that always has a role in a battle because the millennium falcon can hit you from everywhere because the turrets have a 360° view and rotation (if you put the sencor that lando had it would be even better) and can almost rotate at 90° so the only thing that you can do is having a very short ship and go in between of those turrets and dangerously close to not get hit and that is if the ship isn't moving
Unlike the venator let's say that his armament is on it's sides and the upper part only the belly is undefended and if you say that it has missiles i agree but they aren't for ever
And this is something that everyone ignores, the placement of the armament

[matthewjay]

I read in one of the books that the Falcon is over 1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ years old. I REALLY liked this exposé on the Falcon. Bravo! 🎊👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[VestedUTuber]

If you include Legends in the mix, the history of this ship goes SO much further, and actually explains a lot of the weirdness of the Millennium Falcon and how it actually should NOT be considered a good example of a production YT-1300.

The ship started off as YT-1300 designation YT 492727ZED, and was operated by the Corell Industries Limited Shipping Company under various names. Under this owner the ship that would eventually become the Millennium Falcon was kept stock, apart from minor modifications to try and wrangle this "hot-blooded", temperamental ship. Yes, the Falcon was a lemon from the start, and future modifications would only further hurt its reliability. This was actually due to an incident when the ship was fresh off the line, a refueling droid failed to stop filling the tanks when it was supposed to, resulting in a fuel overflow the VERY first time it was ever fueled up. And yes, it is possible that the ship was used to push cargo containers. Again, I do not believe that was the original design intent but it's more than likely an "ascended" repurposing, with CEC adding it to the list of many roles this versatile ship class can handle.

After Corell Industries went bankrupt, YT 492727ZED ended up in the hands of various independent pilots. Some had great success with this ship, setting record times and winning races, while others... got marooned on a desert planet with a load of frozen fish. These pilots of course would make their own small modifications here and there. Nothing too big, but they added up over time.

Kal and Dova were the first named owners of the ship, the first to use it for smuggling, and the first to upgrade the hyperdrive in any significant fashion, during which the ship flew under the names _Jackpot, _ _Hardwired_ and _Wayward Son_ before Kal's death in 44BBY

In 29BBY the ship came under the ownership of the Republic Group, under the name _Stellar Envoy._ In Legends the ship is in fact confirmed to have made a background appearance in Revenge of the Sith, but I won't really go into detail as that's a bit of a point of contention and it's not really a relevant moment. As the Stellar Envoy the hyperdrive was upgraded further.

Then came the infamous crash. Offscreen but near the end of the events of Revenge of the Sith, the ship was sent to Nar Shaddaa on a secret mission where, upon leaving hyperspace, it impacted against the hull of the bulk freighter _Jenridian Valley III._ This left the ship a wreck with only the rear end salvageable. And THIS is where the shear craziness of how heavily modified the Falcon became started.

The _Stellar Envoy_ was purchased as scrap by Bammy Decree, a starship technician working for a crime lord. The ship was rebuilt using components from another wrecked YT-1300, specifically a YT-1300P, and once again used for smuggling - this is most likely when many of the changes to the ship's interior layout took place, giving it an interior that's far less efficient for cargo hauling than a stock YT-1300F, but better for passenger transport and high-value low-volume goods transport. However, the ship was captured in its first mission as the _Second Chance_ and impounded by the Empire. And the the Rebel Alliance got their hands on it.

Stealing it from the impound yard, the ship was once again renamed, this time to the _Gone to Pieces._ The Alliance is also the owners that gave it its final, iconic name, the _Millennium Falcon._ That wasn't the end of the story, though, because obviously it was not in the hands of the Alliance when Lando got his hands on it.

Quip Fargil was assigned to fly the _Millennium Falcon, _ but he got cold feet during an operation and deserted, taking the _Falcon_ with him. In guilt, he gave the ship to Dr. Parlay Thorpe, who used it as a frontier hospital ship. Thorpe was the one who equipped the ship with its bacta tank and extensive medical facilities.

Thorpe eventually sold it to Molpol's Traveling Circus, where it was used as the pleasure yacht of the circus owner. However, during a Sabbac tournament, he lost the ship to another player as collateral, who in turn lost it to ANOTHER player, who in turn lost it to Lando. Lando continued to use it as a pleasure yacht, and under his ownership the ship was fitted with many of its current upgrades, until it became the ship seen in Solo... or something similar at least.

And then we all know how Han got it and what he did to it.

And that's the "Star Fax". I guess that means you can call me the "Star Fox"? Get it?

...I'll see my way out...

[Sumguyinavan_]

I've often seen people liken the Millenium Falcon to a souped up big rig. But I would really like to see exactly what that rig would look like. Since it usually isn't actually carrying cargo, it would just be the main cab/motor. HEAVILY armored plating, and turret guns capable of taking out cars in a few shots. An engine capable of outspeeding most police interceptor vehicles despite its size, and enough fuel stock for long journeys at higher speeds. And add in some kind of super computer for running its systems such that its 'expert driver' could basically just turn the wheel in donuts and it would still self navigate to its destination.

[AdamTehranchiYT]

There's a lot of different directions to go off on with modifying CEC ships (mostly due to their lego like nature) but the one I'd most like to try is starting with a YT 1300 and however many YT-XC "minifighters" I can house on board and automate to make a droid fighter squad.

[Gentleman_Jester]

One of the Star Wars novels that I read went into detail about Han replacing the wiring of the ship with something called a Fluidics system if I’m remembering right. Something about power travelling faster through the fluid lines than it would through conventional wiring. The faster power moved the more responsive the ship became. I could be misremembering slightly. But that was the gist of it.

[SLDFSpectreSix]

There's a quote from the Firefly universe, specifically the Serenity movie, that really speaks to me when thinking about the Millennium Falcon.

"Ain't all buttons and charts, little albatross. Know what the first rule of flying is? [....] Love. Can know all the math in the 'verse but take a boat in the air that you don't love? She'll shake you off just as sure as a turn in the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down... tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens... makes her a home.”

[Spartan]

Seeing this makes me wish for a modern ship-based Star Wars MMO. Imagine starting with a humble OEM freighter and steadily modding it throughout your career until you have a beast like the YV-929 that makes any port official's eyes start bulging out. It'd be like your own cozy heavy hauler home that just so happens to have a bolted-on naval cannon. Scale that up to guilds & even player-led corps that can collectively field their own fleets and the possibilities are endless.



Then again, maybe I just want Star Wars with EVE shenanigans like a player corp hijacking an ISD, painting it with sand camouflage, and naming it Vader's Mild Discomfort. Or Death Squadron suddenly getting jumped by a player-led fleet the size of the B-R5RB Bloodbath.