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cynanbloodbane
Commander
Joined: 05 Dec 2014
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Location: Cleveland, Go Tribe!
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 Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 12:09 am Post subject: |
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| crmcneill wrote: | | cynanbloodbane wrote: | Either the Imps forgot about all those Ion cannons when they made the "Any bombardment" statement or there is some other reason the Ion cannons cant take out a planetary shield. (In which case the imps got boned by their contractor on the Death Star shields.)  |
Or you'll just have to accept that planetary shields can actually be more powerful than the ones on the Death Star. I fail to see why the Death Star shields impose some hard upper limit on the capabilities of shield technology. |
That statement implies that the shield generator used on Hoth was not only superior to the shields on the Death Star, but also that some of the Death Star's "Over one million kilotons of cargo capacity couldn't support one planetary class shield and reactor.
Also considering that the Superlaser converted to Capital scale of 28D, can blow a planet to bits, that 28D needs to cover not only the soak of the planet but also it's defensive shield.
I'm not saying that parts of the system are not flawed, I'm just asking questions.
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Thx1138
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 03 Feb 2015
Posts: 182
Location: Where ever the Force takes me
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| Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 12:46 am Post subject: |
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| Unlike on a ship, a planetary shield covers a area in a dome. On a warship, if an ion cannon hits it, it cuts through the shield and then interfaces with the numerous electrical equipment all along the craft. Since if you fire an ion cannon at a planet, you would have to be able to hit the shield generator which would also most likely have extra insulation to protect from ion blast. If you hit the planet with the ion cannon, it does nothing. |
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Thx1138
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 03 Feb 2015
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Location: Where ever the Force takes me
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| Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 12:52 am Post subject: |
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| You also have to remember that when the echo base V-150 was firing, they had to lower the shield for the escaping transports but it also implies that even a Kuat Drive Yards planet defender couldn't fire through the hoth shield. If you watch in empire when they are monitoring the first transports escape, they had to time the firing of the ion cannon which also implies it couldn't fire through it. |
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cynanbloodbane
Commander
Joined: 05 Dec 2014
Posts: 410
Location: Cleveland, Go Tribe!
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| Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 1:27 am Post subject: |
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| Thx1138 wrote: | | Unlike on a ship, a planetary shield covers a area in a dome. On a warship, if an ion cannon hits it, it cuts through the shield and then interfaces with the numerous electrical equipment all along the craft. Since if you fire an ion cannon at a planet, you would have to be able to hit the shield generator which would also most likely have extra insulation to protect from ion blast. If you hit the planet with the ion cannon, it does nothing. |
I'm still unclear on how a planetary shield is anything but a Death Star scale shield.
- a planetary shield covers a area in a dome
Check
-Since if you fire an ion cannon at a planet, you would have to be able to hit the shield generator which would also most likely have extra insulation to protect from ion blast.
Really flawed design if not.
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cynanbloodbane
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Location: Cleveland, Go Tribe!
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| Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 1:29 am Post subject: |
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| Thx1138 wrote: | | You also have to remember that when the echo base V-150 was firing, they had to lower the shield for the escaping transports but it also implies that even a Kuat Drive Yards planet defender couldn't fire through the hoth shield. If you watch in empire when they are monitoring the first transports escape, they had to time the firing of the ion cannon which also implies it couldn't fire through it. |
I am actually completely OK with that premise. It makes sense.
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Jedi Skyler
Moff
Joined: 07 Sep 2005
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| Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 2:02 am Post subject: |
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| But did they have to drop the shields for the ion cannons to fire, or did they have to drop the shields for the transports to go through? |
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Savar
Captain
Joined: 14 Feb 2015
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| Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 8:08 am Post subject: |
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| Jedi Skyler wrote: | | But did they have to drop the shields for the ion cannons to fire, or did they have to drop the shields for the transports to go through? |
Or both |
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
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Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 9:20 am Post subject: |
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The third possibility is a shield projector synced with the ion cannon's fire control to open temporary "gun ports" that the ion cannon can fire through.
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cheshire
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| Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 12:07 pm Post subject: |
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I'd assumed that most shields in Star Wars were "one way" fields that allowed energy and objects to pass one way, and not the other. That is to say, shielded ships fire all the time. I'm assuming there's some mechanism to explain why a ray shielded ship can fire rays but not get hit by them.
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
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| Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 12:55 pm Post subject: |
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| cheshire wrote: | | I'd assumed that most shields in Star Wars were "one way" fields that allowed energy and objects to pass one way, and not the other. That is to say, shielded ships fire all the time. I'm assuming there's some mechanism to explain why a ray shielded ship can fire rays but not get hit by them. |
I hadn't considered this, but it would be the simplest solution in a Star Wars setting. Why? Because Star Wars, that's why.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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Savar
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| Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 5:07 pm Post subject: |
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| crmcneill wrote: | | cheshire wrote: | | I'd assumed that most shields in Star Wars were "one way" fields that allowed energy and objects to pass one way, and not the other. That is to say, shielded ships fire all the time. I'm assuming there's some mechanism to explain why a ray shielded ship can fire rays but not get hit by them. |
I hadn't considered this, but it would be the simplest solution in a Star Wars setting. Why? Because Star Wars, that's why. |
ROFL |
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garhkal
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| Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 5:54 pm Post subject: |
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| Savar wrote: | | Jedi Skyler wrote: | | But did they have to drop the shields for the ion cannons to fire, or did they have to drop the shields for the transports to go through? |
Or both |
IIRC from the novelization of ESB it was both.
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CRMcNeill
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| Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2015 9:59 am Post subject: |
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| Jedi Skyler wrote: | | It could also possibly be because, from orbit, it seems to be very difficult, if not impossible, to detect the actual generators. On Hoth, it was the ground forces that detected and eventually destroyed the shield generator. |
That raises an interesting question about shields in general. Do they also block sensors?
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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CRMcNeill
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Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2015 10:14 am Post subject: |
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| cynanbloodbane wrote: | | I can't wrap my head around the idea that a planetary shield could ever be more powerful than the shields on the Death Star, so that caps them out at 14D converted to capital scale. |
Another important factor is Imperial overconfidence. The Empire was convinced that the Death Star was essentially invulnerable, so they may not have included the absolute best shields, just as they didn't include the absolute best anti-starfighter defenses. A government purchasing a planetary shield generator would likely not be so confident as to settle for "good enough."
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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cheshire
Arbiter-General (Moderator)
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| Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2015 10:30 am Post subject: |
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Backing up what CRM said, the Empire likely considered their best defense to be a captial-scale killing, planet obliterating offense. If a planet were under siege, it may have to hold its defenses for weeks, months, maybe even years if things went poorly. By contrast the Death Star could drop in from hyperspace, do its business, and be on its way. If things were to be too dangerous, it could always hyperspace out.
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