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I have a few questions on SW tech

Posted: 2009-09-17 10:57am
by Dark Primus
Now I'm caught in a debate that requires some information.
I need to know turbolaser weapons range for Imperial capital ships. Is it in low 100,000 kilometers, light seconds or even light minutes?

How fast can SW ships accelerate and how fast can they go in sublight speeds?

Re: I have a few questions on SW tech

Posted: 2009-09-17 12:12pm
by Vehrec
Turbolaser range in the NJO books was demonstrated to be great enough to permit planetary bombardment from the far orbits of the Coruscant system-definitely multi light minute range, maybe light hour. Effective combat range is limited by target prediction and the durability of the target.

Sublight speed is limited only by endurance and acceleration, and acceleration for ships like ISDs is minimilistically 1000 gs based on Curtis Saxon's old work. To quote Mike on count Dooku's ship...
Mike Wong wrote:How long could Amidala have been expected to stand on the platform staring at Dooku's wake before running inside to check on Anakin and Obi-Wan? She was obviously not in a leisurely mood; she ran into the hangar looking for Anakin! And how long could Yoda have been expected to stand there, frozen in place, before picking up his cane? Frankly, anything more than 10 or 20 seconds is grossly unrealistic. This means that Dooku's ship had to cover 10,000 km in 10 to 20 seconds, which requires constant acceleration between 5,000 and 20,000 G.

Re: I have a few questions on SW tech

Posted: 2009-09-17 01:49pm
by Darth Hoth
Dark Primus wrote:Now I'm caught in a debate that requires some information.
I need to know turbolaser weapons range for Imperial capital ships. Is it in low 100,000 kilometers, light seconds or even light minutes?
[i]Star Wars[/i]: Complete Cross-Sections, p. 75, wrote:HEAVY-DUTY FIREPOWER
A Venator-class Star Destroyer's eight DBY-827 heavy turbolaser turrets are the standard requirement in naval gunnery for intense inter-ship combat and planetary bombardment. The DBY-827's precise, long-range tracking mode enables it to hit a target vessel at distances of over ten light-minutes, while the turret can rotate in three seconds in its close-fighting, fast-tracking mode.
How fast can SW ships accelerate and how fast can they go in sublight speeds?
For the same ship:
[i]Star Wars[/i]: Complete Cross-Sections, p. 74, wrote:Max. acceleration (linear, in open space): 3,000G

Re: I have a few questions on SW tech

Posted: 2009-09-17 02:19pm
by FOG3
What about Darth Vader's ISD having practically run over Leia's Corellian Blockade Runner before it finally disabled it? The relative velocities before the main reactor got knocked out wasn't that big a difference. The opening distance on that couldn't have been that open unless they'd been chasing each other all over space for practically forever.

Then at Hoth where they waited until they could see the Walkers through magnified optics before they actually opened fire.

Doctrinally they don't seem to favor that long of range.

Re: I have a few questions on SW tech

Posted: 2009-09-17 02:30pm
by Darksider
Heavy jamming may render such ranges useless against anything other than a static target.

Re: I have a few questions on SW tech

Posted: 2009-09-17 02:31pm
by Serafina
FOG3 wrote:
Then at Hoth where they waited until they could see the Walkers through magnified optics before they actually opened fire.

Doctrinally they don't seem to favor that long of range.
You know, that was on a planet - at some point (about 5km, IIRC) the planet will get in the way with LOS-weapons.

Heavy jamming may render such ranges useless against anything other than a static target.
Heavy jamming is canonic in SW.

Re: I have a few questions on SW tech

Posted: 2009-09-17 03:21pm
by PhilosopherOfSorts
FOG3 wrote:What about Darth Vader's ISD having practically run over Leia's Corellian Blockade Runner before it finally disabled it? The relative velocities before the main reactor got knocked out wasn't that big a difference. The opening distance on that couldn't have been that open unless they'd been chasing each other all over space for practically forever.

Doctrinally they don't seem to favor that long of range.

Vader's ISD (Devestator?) was using light weapons, possibly even point-defense weapons, to try to hit a precise target on a ship that Vader wanted disabled, not destroyed. If Devestator was shooting to kill I doubt it would have had to get so close.

Re: I have a few questions on SW tech

Posted: 2009-09-17 04:06pm
by Captain Seafort
Serafina wrote:You know, that was on a planet - at some point (about 5km, IIRC) the planet will get in the way with LOS-weapons.
It (obviously) depends on the height of the observer, and in fact going by the main site if Hoth had been a perfect sphere the AT-AT would still have been over the horizon (about 15km) from the generators when it opened fire.

Re: I have a few questions on SW tech

Posted: 2009-09-17 04:09pm
by Serafina
The shield generator/reactor was way behind the rebel lines.
Which means that the AT-ATs and rebels could have opened fire on each other way before the generator was in LOS of the AT-ATs.

Re: I have a few questions on SW tech

Posted: 2009-09-17 04:16pm
by Captain Seafort
Serafina wrote:The shield generator/reactor was way behind the rebel lines.
Which means that the AT-ATs and rebels could have opened fire on each other way before the generator was in LOS of the AT-ATs.
I think you misunderstood - I was talking about when the AT-AT opened fire on the generators themselves. The solution Mike offers is a geological feature (the north ridge) that the AT-AT's were stated to be attacking across. My intention was to reinforce your point that operations on planets are severely limited by physical factors to a much greater degree than space operations.

Re: I have a few questions on SW tech

Posted: 2009-09-17 04:20pm
by Serafina
Ah, ok - yes, i misunderstood you. Sorry for that.

Re: I have a few questions on SW tech

Posted: 2009-09-17 04:32pm
by Batman
I doesn't take heavy jamming to make lightminute ranges impractical in combat. You think a mobile target is going to sit still for the minutes it takes the TL bolt to actually REACH them?
As for Hoth, as pointed out, that's on a planet. Terrain and eventually the planet itself getting in the way of LOS.

Re: I have a few questions on SW tech

Posted: 2009-09-18 01:21am
by Connor MacLeod
This wouldn't have anything to do with that abortion of a 40K vs SW debate on Spacebattles, would it?

Re: I have a few questions on SW tech

Posted: 2009-09-18 04:57am
by Serafina
Connor MacLeod wrote:This wouldn't have anything to do with that abortion of a 40K vs SW debate on Spacebattles, would it?
Wait - what side was he on?

Because, frankly, SW-side is way easier to argue for. Even if they had only ranges of dozen of kilometers, they would propably still win.

Re: I have a few questions on SW tech

Posted: 2009-09-18 08:18am
by Ritterin Sophia
Jesus Christ, I can't believe no one has jumped Mith's shit yet.

Re: I have a few questions on SW tech

Posted: 2009-09-18 08:20am
by Thanas
Can I get a link?

Re: I have a few questions on SW tech

Posted: 2009-09-18 08:40am
by Chris OFarrell
Dark Primus wrote:Now I'm caught in a debate that requires some information.
I need to know turbolaser weapons range for Imperial capital ships. Is it in low 100,000 kilometers, light seconds or even light minutes?

How fast can SW ships accelerate and how fast can they go in sublight speeds?
Seriously dude, don't bother trying to debate with some of those 40K nutters on SB.

Most of them are okay, but a few of them just scream and shout so loud, they drown everyone out with their wall of ignorance stupidity and generally devolve every thread into useless flame wars as they jerk off in the darkness of night to images of Imperial Battleships blasting ISD's into scrap...

Re: I have a few questions on SW tech

Posted: 2009-09-18 09:14am
by Ritterin Sophia

Re: I have a few questions on SW tech

Posted: 2009-09-18 11:06am
by Thanas
This Inquisitor Ryan guy has all the hallmarks of being a troll.

Re: I have a few questions on SW tech

Posted: 2009-09-20 04:17am
by Dark Hellion
Man, trying to read that thread makes me so glad I don't read Sb.com anymore.

Re: I have a few questions on SW tech

Posted: 2009-09-20 04:26am
by Ryushikaze
Question on Holonet v Shields- the people over at SB seem to treat the idea as shields on = Holonet off, period, yet the times when holonet has been used and shields were up were actually shortrange- relatively speaking- broadcasts, or close to a relay, yes? And the Hoth asteroid belt is in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, so wouldn't the sane explanation be that in order to get enough signal to connect to a relay, the shields had to be down to reach the relay from where they were so as to be able to contact Palipatine? In other words, that Shields don't magically stop transmissions, they just degrade the quality to the point of uselessness over any long distance.

Or were the shields down for their ship to ship holocommunications as well?

Re: I have a few questions on SW tech

Posted: 2009-09-20 05:28am
by Thanas
^Hmmm. That is an interesting question. But you don't really need full-fledged holonet for battle direction anyway. Thrawn made due with a holomap and standard communication.

Re: I have a few questions on SW tech

Posted: 2009-09-20 10:34am
by Ritterin Sophia
Thanas wrote:^Hmmm. That is an interesting question. But you don't really need full-fledged holonet for battle direction anyway. Thrawn made due with a holomap and standard communication.
Don't forget about incompetence, lots and lots of weapons grade New Republic incompetence.

Re: I have a few questions on SW tech

Posted: 2009-09-20 10:36am
by Thanas
General Schatten wrote:
Thanas wrote:^Hmmm. That is an interesting question. But you don't really need full-fledged holonet for battle direction anyway. Thrawn made due with a holomap and standard communication.
Don't forget about incompetence, lots and lots of weapons grade New Republic incompetence.
Which has what to do with communications, pray tell?

Re: I have a few questions on SW tech

Posted: 2009-10-01 09:58pm
by FOG3
Ryushikaze wrote:Question on Holonet v Shields- the people over at SB seem to treat the idea as shields on = Holonet off, period, yet the times when holonet has been used and shields were up were actually shortrange- relatively speaking- broadcasts, or close to a relay, yes? And the Hoth asteroid belt is in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, so wouldn't the sane explanation be that in order to get enough signal to connect to a relay, the shields had to be down to reach the relay from where they were so as to be able to contact Palipatine? In other words, that Shields don't magically stop transmissions, they just degrade the quality to the point of uselessness over any long distance.

Or were the shields down for their ship to ship holocommunications as well?
VADER: Move us out of the asteroid field, so that we can send a clear transmission.

Certainly doesn't imply they couldn't do it in the asteroid field where shields down was bad mojo, just Vader wanted a clear transmission when talking to Palpatine. :) I suspect that might have to do more with the analysis when Vader is conferencing and one of the bridge towers gets nailed.