Star wars planetary defense idea

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2004-01-21 09:52pm

Inspired by the SG1 episode where Tollana blow the hell out of a couple of Goa'uld motherships, here's a thought:

The Death Star's superlaser is designed to pierce planetary shields and destroy the planet entirely. Now, provided that the reactor designed to give such power can be used instead to create a shield, and given the planet's much much larger availability of space,

Could, theoretically, a bunch of hypermatter reactors on the planet power a planetary shield capable of withstanding a superlaser shot or several, and field a number of planetary defense superlasers as well?

Darth Raptor · Post by **Darth Raptor** » 2004-01-21 09:56pm

There's a planetary defense superlaser on Dubrillion in Rogue Squadron III.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2004-01-21 09:58pm

Lazy Raptor wrote:There's a planetary defense superlaser on Dubrillion in Rogue Squadron III.

No, he's clearly asking if multiple hypermatter reactors of the same scale as those used in the Death Star could be used to power a planetary shield with a great enough peak to repel a superlaser shot completely.

Sure, if you have enough, I guess it might be possible.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2004-01-21 10:48pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:No, he's clearly asking if multiple hypermatter reactors of the same scale as those used in the Death Star could be used to power a planetary shield with a great enough peak to repel a superlaser shot completely.

Sure, if you have enough, I guess it might be possible.

That and also if the same planet with that shield could also field superlasers (maybe of lesser calibre, since the planet would be facing ships) for aggressive defense.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2004-01-21 10:50pm

Well, it's a pretty obvious Q+A, truthfully.

Basically, if you have enough of anything, you can achieve it.

The Prime Necromancer · Post by **The Prime Necromancer** » 2004-01-21 11:15pm

I would think that to create a shield that fully protects an entire planet from a superlaser strike would require *far* more power than said superlaser strike would. A superlaser is focused on a single point, while a shield has to protect hundreds of thousands of square kilometers. After all, it is possible for torpedo spheres to concentrate their fire on small shield fluctuations to bring them down; if the power wasn't applied uniformly to the entire planet similar "chinks in the armor" could be exploited. Besides, there may be more required to create a better shield than merely throwing more energy at it; perhaps there are limits to the amount of energy the emitters can put out, which would mean that more or bigger reactors would only increase it's ability to recharge, rather than its overall threshold. Really, there's just too many unknowns.

As for planetary superlasers, I'm not sure you'd really need them. Even the rebellion was able to field a planetary ion cannon emplacement that could disable a star destroyer in only a few shots, and planetary turbolasers are supposed to be even more powerful. A superlaser would be overkill, I think.

Cal Wright · Post by **Cal Wright** » 2004-01-22 01:00am

Ah, but a planetary superlaser would disintegrate a Death Star though. Not to mention any SSD that wanders by.

I guess depending on how you did it. It should be possible to make a shield to withstand such a shot. I'm trying to reason out by the fact that sheilds do exist and are in heavy use that you would be able to do so. In so much that if you couldn't make a shield to withstand a shot from a weapon, eventually, the power would be scaled down or put to much wider use, then the resources needed for shields would then become pointless and wasteful. Whereas a shield would prevent a bombardment, you would essentially just be begging for something bigger to come kick your ass.

Sharp-kun · Post by **Sharp-kun** » 2004-01-22 01:22am

I would say yes. You wouldn't need to shield the entire planet at oncem just the side facing the Death Star. That cut backs the energy required by about half.

As for planetary superlasers, it would work, but you'd need quite a few to be really viable. Otherwise the enemy just stays out of its firing arc.

PainRack · Post by **PainRack** » 2004-01-22 01:24am

This isn't the song No limits.

There must be some upper limit to the shield defensive power.

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2004-01-22 01:32am

It would better to use a planetary superlaser to take out a Death Star before it could fire in the first place.

Galvatron · Post by **Galvatron** » 2004-01-22 02:44am

I brought this up ages ago...

Link

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2004-01-22 02:51am

Galvatron wrote:I brought this up ages ago...

Link

Indeed.

In fact the whole problem was brought up quite well. You need enourmous firing arcs, when instead having a mobile platform is by far the better and easier solution.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2004-01-22 09:10pm

Shinova wrote:Inspired by the SG1 episode where Tollana blow the hell out of a couple of Goa'uld motherships, here's a thought:

The Death Star's superlaser is designed to pierce planetary shields and destroy the planet entirely. Now, provided that the reactor designed to give such power can be used instead to create a shield, and given the planet's much much larger availability of space,

Could, theoretically, a bunch of hypermatter reactors on the planet power a planetary shield capable of withstanding a superlaser shot or several, and field a number of planetary defense superlasers as well?

Intensity and surface area says such a possibility is very unlikely. Even if you put the same amount of energy into a shield as put into a super laser, the surface area will dillute the power. This means an equaly powerful SL shot against a small part of the shield can breach it.

Galvatron · Post by **Galvatron** » 2004-01-23 08:18pm

Does the superlaser have to be as powerful as the Death Star's? The Eclipse-class Super Star Destroyer is much smaller and mounts an a axial superlaser capable of shattering a planet's crust (in other words, a shield-piercing, single-shot BDZ). A planetary superlaser could be more on par with an Eclipse's, negating the size and power problems of fielding a DS-level SL.

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Star wars planetary defense idea

Star wars planetary defense idea

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