SW shield question

[dragon]

Ok stupid question but in Hoth and in TPM they walk through shields. So are these shieds just stopping energy attacks. So could have they used terran hugging guided munitions or am I missing something.

[Firefox]

The shields in TPM were likely only ray shields, since matter was able to pass through them. It's possible that particle shields, like in Dune, require a physical object to pass through at a slow pace.

[dragon]

How slow do you think, would a helicopter be slow enough?

[Firefox]

Not its rotor blades.

[Batman]

Not that we ever saw imperial forces walk through the Hoth shield in the first place. For all we know, that was a planar shield that never touched ground.

[Elheru Aran]

Not that we ever saw imperial forces walk through the Hoth shield in the first place. For all we know, that was a planar shield that never touched ground.

Which begs the question of why they didn't just use effin' transports and TIE fighters/bombers instead of walkers...

[Knife]

Not that we ever saw imperial forces walk through the Hoth shield in the first place. For all we know, that was a planar shield that never touched ground.

Which begs the question of why they didn't just use effin' transports and TIE fighters/bombers instead of walkers...

*shrug* anything from a lack of a good combat celling (due to the sheild) to terrain problems. Avenues of approach and all.

[Batman]

Not that we ever saw imperial forces walk through the Hoth shield in the first place. For all we know, that was a planar shield that never touched ground.

Which begs the question of why they didn't just use effin' transports and TIE fighters/bombers instead of walkers...

Oh, I agree it makes no sense. I was merely arguing that we never SEE the imperials penetrate the Hoth shield.
IIRC, the least controversial explanation for the no flyers on the imperial's part issue was that repulsorlift vehicles take badly to penetrating shields.

[Praxis]

Ok stupid question but in Hoth and in TPM they walk through shields. So are these shieds just stopping energy attacks. So could have they used terran hugging guided munitions or am I missing something.

On Hoth, the shield was like an umbrella. It prevented orbital bombardment, but did nothing to stop people from landing on the planet elsewhere and walking UNDER it.

In TPM, the gungan shields were ray shields.

Yeah, you were missing something

[vakundok]

The TPM novelisation sais that the gungan shield was designed to stop large things (like a tank) and small, fast objects that generate heat, IIRC.

[Connor MacLeod]

Not that we ever saw imperial forces walk through the Hoth shield in the first place. For all we know, that was a planar shield that never touched ground.

Unlikely, since we see ground-based shield interactions (blaster/laser cannon fire hitting the ground on hoth and creating bright flashes rather than vaporizing large sections of it.)

And this doesn't really work with the gungan shield example (which also involved ground-level shield interactions) or Anakin's fighter.

The obvious idea seems that shields are somehow velocity/momentum dependent (sorta like Dune shields). One possible reason for this is that because shields are self-monitoring/self-adapting (see the description of the Falcon's shields in the ANH novelization) they might be "programmed" to allow objects of a certian mass or speed through.

EDIT: That last sentence needs added clarification. We know deflector shields have a double-blind effect (they stop things from getting out as much as from getting in), and so must open "windows" to allow say, a fighter or weapons fire, to pass through.) Shields could be "programmed" to selectively weaken or "drop" enough to allow safe passage of certain objects or things if they meet certian criteria (mass, velocity, kinetic energgy, etc.)


It should be noted that there are limitations even to this - an unarmored human (or even a human wearing armor of lesser quality than a clonetrooper) would be destroyed/vaporized even if its speed/momentum was low enough to otherwise let it pass through. (Starfighters and other ships crashing into the DS2's shields are another good example.)


Edit: such a feature would not neccesarily be a "weakness" though it might seem that way. An object slowing down to "pass" through a shield, for example, could easily be moving slow enough to be shot down by active point defense. Its also possible that objects moving slowly enough to "pass" through shields would not represent a threat to hull armor.

[Connor MacLeod]

Not that we ever saw imperial forces walk through the Hoth shield in the first place. For all we know, that was a planar shield that never touched ground.

Which begs the question of why they didn't just use effin' transports and TIE fighters/bombers instead of walkers...

Shields presumably can deflect/interfere with ion engine thrust and repulsorlift fields (they can stop ion cannon blasts and tractor beams, after all.)

[Connor MacLeod]

The TPM novelisation sais that the gungan shield was designed to stop large things (like a tank) and small, fast objects that generate heat, IIRC.

Yup. But it didn't protect against small, slow moving objects (IE battle droids.)

[Techno_Union]

Gungan shields:

Multiple fambaa shields unite to form an enormous defensive bubble. However, the shields is not impervious to slow-moving enemy troops and the Trade Federation battle droids soon break through.

Hoth Shield:

Only slow-moving ground-contact vehicles, like Imperial walkers, can traverse the outer surface.

[The Original Nex]

The AOTC:ICS also makes note that the main use for combat walkers is to penetrate shields, something they can accomplish because they are grounded. Repulsorlift vehicles cannot penetrate shields, no matter how slow they go.