Blaster Bolt Speed & Distance : as ratio + sum question

PSW: discuss Star Wars without "versus" arguments.

Moderator: Vympel

Post Reply
Vance
Youngling
Posts: 113
Joined: 2013-08-13 06:58am

Blaster Bolt Speed & Distance : as ratio + sum question

Post by Vance »

:kill:
It's observed that blaster bolt speed is inconsistent even while observing the same blasters in use. Generally, blaster bolts achieve a faster average velocity to hit targets over much further ranges. At close range, blaster bolts hit in ~0.1 seconds, but at long range this increases to up to ~1 second. To this end, I created a spreadsheet which calculates hypothetical "max bolt speed" based on "maximum effective range" for different weapons. Because pistols do not achieve the same long range as long blasters, they may not have to achieve the same kind of upper limits in terms of bolt speed.

Lets say, based on a range of estimates, that every time the distance to the target is increased by Seven, the speed of the blaster bolt is increased by Four, and we start of with bolt speed of 60 m/s at 12 meters.
Does anybody know how to turn this into a sum that would predict blaster bolt speed at a specific distance?

<2 meters = 15 m/s
(lowest bolt speed/muzzle velocities, re Wired blaster analysis)

something between <2 meters and 12 meters = 30 m/s

12 meters = 60 m/s
(re mythbusters average speed for bolts fired over ~12 meters)

84 meters = 240 m/s
(from Mandalorian with the MK modified sniper; a perpendicular shot shows the distance between Mandalorian and the snipers ridge, which I scaled according to the speeder bike between Mando and the ridge. Note this is for the very last shots fired at Mando, when he was closest to the ridge, and that shots fired from much further away did not taker much longer to hit).

588 meters = 960 m/s
(extrapolated from trend)
Last edited by Vance on 2020-09-08 10:16am, edited 1 time in total.
BlasTech.info
Vance
Youngling
Posts: 113
Joined: 2013-08-13 06:58am

Re: Blaster Bolt Speed & Distance : as ratio + sum question

Post by Vance »

For anybody interested, here is the perpendicular shot I used to estimate distance between the snipers ridge and the Mandalorian, which would imply a bolt velocity >200 m/s at a distance of more than 80 meters. Delay to impact didn't seem significantly increased when shots were previously fired from several times further away, both during the initial encounter and while Mandalorian made his approach on the speeder bike.

Scale shot
https://photos.app.goo.gl/xbUyhkc66J5MwdsZ8

The MK modified rifle also retained greater yield at longer range (hundreds of meters?), to generate impressive pyrotechnic effects
https://photos.app.goo.gl/SKnrgtkRgezJZ7Lo8
BlasTech.info
User avatar
Gunhead
Jedi Council Member
Posts: 1715
Joined: 2004-11-15 08:08am

Re: Blaster Bolt Speed & Distance : as ratio + sum question

Post by Gunhead »

I don't really see where you're going with this. Since all of the analysis is, as you noted, based on looking at special effects the speed of a blaster of a blaster bolt is highly varied.
So even if one would do an in depth analysis of a scene where you could determine to some degree the speed of a blaster bolt, it would really only be applicable to the weapon used in that instance while only serving as a ballpark figure when talking about blaster weapons in general.

-Gunhead
"In the absence of orders, go find something and kill it."
-Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel

"And if you don't wanna feel like a putz
Collect the clues and connect the dots
You'll see the pattern that is bursting your bubble, and it's Bad" -The Hives
Post Reply