As far as technical accuracy goes, the purpose of the s-foils is to increase the maneuverability of the craft through vectral thrust nozzles on the trailing edges of the wings as well as the firing arc of the weapon systems. Closing the s-foils does not increase the maximum speed of the craft either, as the pilot has to manually transfer power from other subsystems to the engines to increase the maximum potential speed. This was a gameplay mechanic that was implemented into the Rogue Squadron games and does not accurately reflect what really happens in Star Wars, albeit it is a really sweet gameplay mechanic, lol.

As for ships not being able to fire their weapon systems while s-foils are closed… there hasn’t been any real official material that confirms this. It’s illogical that this would truly be the case as the weapon systems would have to be armed first and opening the s-foils only increases the firing radius for the cannons. Even if it’s true, the craft could be modified to fire when s-foils are closed.

I had always wanted manual control over the s-foil systems as well as the landing skids. Just for authenticity, and I LOOOOVVVE authenticity.

Another thing that I had talked about back in February was implementing a fully functional gyroscopic stabilization system for the B-wing. For whatever bizarre reason, LucasArts has never implemented this crucial feature into any Star Wars game that features the B-wing.