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Looking at the cover (which can be seen here and on this page in another's hands, I'm noticing what's very obviously a dressed-up FN P90... the heck??

Also, why is a Nosaurian* wielding a belt-fed machine gun/automatic rifle, complete with ejecting brass?

* Speaking of which -- looking at them, why does the name seem less than coincidental?

Yeah, Doug Wheatley said he based the cover gun of a P90. When told it reminded many of a TV show-- Stargate, I believe-- he said he'd avoid using the gun anymore.

As to the machine gun-- why not? These guys are an irregular army, after all.

There's nothing wrong with using a P90 variant as a blaster, I'm unhappy that he won't use it anymore. All the guns in the Original Trilogy are vismodded real guns anyway.

Dark Empire had the right idea when they had Han using a vismodded Walther P-38.

Attention to detail is what makes good comic art.

There are references to kinetic energy weapons like slugthrowers all over the EU as far back as the first RPG. It also sounded like the sandpeople in TPM were using slugthrowing rifles during the pod race, from the sound of the shot and the bullet richochet. So, it's not much of a stretch for chain-fed gatling guns to exist elsewhere in the galaxy.

Vympel wrote:There's nothing wrong with using a P90 variant as a blaster, I'm unhappy that he won't use it anymore. All the guns in the Original Trilogy are vismodded real guns anyway.

Dark Empire had the right idea when they had Han using a vismodded Walther P-38.

Attention to detail is what makes good comic art.

I think Wheatley still plans to base new blasters off real world weapons (which I, also, approve of), he just decided to avoid the P90 due to its usage in Stargate, or some other popular Sci-fi show. To avoid suggestions of copycat-ism.

Same reason he gave Das Jennir (the blonde guy on the cover) new clothes and a new hairstyle after the unintentional similarity between him and a Lord of the Rings character was pointed out.

bullets are more flexible than whatever the smeg blasters shoot.

also they look cool and make you bleed.

edit; I just noticed something;

Not really, blasters have an advantage over slugthrowers since the armies that use them don't have to design their weapons around a specific kind of round, using power packs, instead each and every weapon can be tuned for optimum efficiency with the projectile it fires rather than worrying about ammo compatibility.

General Schatten wrote:Not really, blasters have an advantage over slugthrowers since the armies that use them don't have to design their weapons around a specific kind of round, using power packs, instead each and every weapon can be tuned for optimum efficiency with the projectile it fires rather than worrying about ammo compatibility.

That's assuming that all powerpacks come in the same size and type. What if one powerpack connector is unsuitable for the rifle?

Well... that's certainly a problem, but I've only seen a couple blaster cartridges, and the only difference is the size, Blaster pistols are too small to use a rifle or carbine pack, which is too small to power anything bigger than a heavy repeating blaster, such as a Blaster Cannon or E-Web, and the E-Web can only use it for a very short time.

PainRack wrote:

General Schatten wrote:Not really, blasters have an advantage over slugthrowers since the armies that use them don't have to design their weapons around a specific kind of round, using power packs, instead each and every weapon can be tuned for optimum efficiency with the projectile it fires rather than worrying about ammo compatibility.

That's assuming that all powerpacks come in the same size and type. What if one powerpack connector is unsuitable for the rifle?

I would guess that different manufacturers would allow thier weapons designs to use the same power pack and coupling design. From manufacturer to manufacturer, probably not. Competition and all.

I'd assume the chief advantage for slugthrowers would be that they're easier to mantain than blasters and cause bleeding instead of cauterization.

Then you'd have to consider the environment. Slugthrowers were predominantly used in Shatterpoint because (IIRC) the environment corroded the insides of blasters.

The main advantages of a blaster over a slughthrower are power, greater ammo capacity, and greater accuracy (some blasters at least have much less recoil for the most part than a slughthrower, fire a somewhat faster projectile, and maintain an essentially flat trajectory regardless of range.)

When you couple that with the fact that most body armor is not designed to be invulnerable to heavier blaster fire, you see why blasters are used more often.

Note, however that the belt fed machine gun actually seems to be spitting out something resembling blaster bolts, so I am guessing its some sort of cartridge or "projectile" style blaster (mentioned in the AOTC novel, VD, etc a few times.) We know they exist (there was the goofy chaingun in the Clone Wars cartoon carried by the commando/ARCs, and a few of the OT scenes like when Han fired on Vader on Bespin in TESB featured obvious casings being ejected.) So its probably not a slugthrower in the conventional sense.

Might they be shells covered in a mini-energy field, like most proton torpedoes/grenades and concussion missiles?

They might, since Bowcasters, Zam's projectile rifle/blaster, ATTE railguns, separatist mass drivers are essentially the same thing. Although that probably doesnt really make them any different from the "projectile" blaster I described above anyhow, since you're dealing with a mini warhead rather than a chunk of metal doing damage through mass and velocity.

Major Maxillary wrote:bullets are more flexible than whatever the smeg blasters shoot.

also they look cool and make you bleed.

edit; I just noticed something;

kinetic impact may have twisted him around.

But what is really buggin me is the WWIesque attack - just massive waves of troopers.

Although that probably doesnt really make them any different from the "projectile" blaster I described above anyhow

That's true.

But what is really buggin me is the WWIesque attack - just massive waves of troopers.

It was the last holdout on the planet, I guess the troopers thought they had it in the bag. They bring in TX-130T tanks right after this scene though, and that finishes the battle quite quickly.

I just read it. It's actually good, much better than I expected. Dark Times looks to be my second favorite of the new ongoings, after Knights of the Old Republic.

Connor MacLeod wrote:Note, however that the belt fed machine gun actually seems to be spitting out something resembling blaster bolts, so I am guessing its some sort of cartridge or "projectile" style blaster (mentioned in the AOTC novel, VD, etc a few times.) We know they exist (there was the goofy chaingun in the Clone Wars cartoon carried by the commando/ARCs, and a few of the OT scenes like when Han fired on Vader on Bespin in TESB featured obvious casings being ejected.) So its probably not a slugthrower in the conventional sense.

The "gatling blaster" has been given a name.. the Mer-Sonn Z6. Its description pegs it as a regular blaster, firing whatever the smeg it is most blasters fire.. no solid projectiles.

VT-16 wrote:It was the last holdout on the planet, I guess the troopers thought they had it in the bag. They bring in TX-130T tanks right after this scene though, and that finishes the battle quite quickly.

Still, attacking in so large numbers without cover, essentially just throwing bodies at the enemy and depriving them of room to maneuver....not what one would expect from Stormtroopers.

Thanas wrote:

VT-16 wrote:It was the last holdout on the planet, I guess the troopers thought they had it in the bag. They bring in TX-130T tanks right after this scene though, and that finishes the battle quite quickly.

Still, attacking in so large numbers without cover, essentially just throwing bodies at the enemy and depriving them of room to maneuver....not what one would expect from Stormtroopers.

Yah, it's totally inconsistent with the skillful way they fought at the Battle of Endor.

Remember, too, that these are not yet Stormtroopers proper.

The Nosarians were covering for their families who were being evacuated, and the amount of stormtrooper bodies wasn't that big. The resistance fighters had gathered that the tanks were on the way, the clone charge could have just been a diversion, making the Nosarians think they stood a chance. Their sacrifice was in wain, though, as their families get caught right afterwards on their way to a spaceport.

Edward Yee wrote:Looking at the cover (which can be seen here and on this page in another's hands, I'm noticing what's very obviously a dressed-up FN P90... the heck??

Also, why is a Nosaurian* wielding a belt-fed machine gun/automatic rifle, complete with ejecting brass?

The guy must've been going for the 'grittier', more realistic scifi ground combat that's become more common (Halo/BF1942/etc). As an outside observer regarding these comics, it seems a bit pathetic, like turning Mandalorians into SW-Klingons.

Connor MacLeod wrote:But what is really buggin me is the WWIesque attack - just massive waves of troopers.

Out-of-universe, it's 'Siege of AR-558' Syndrome. People would rather see and show the type of war scenes they're already familiar with, regardless of easily available information contradicting the cliches. This sort of thing is why science fiction gets a bad reputation, it's all about the superficial scifi 'style' rather than any consistent worldbuilding.

Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba wrote:

Thanas wrote:Still, attacking in so large numbers without cover, essentially just throwing bodies at the enemy and depriving them of room to maneuver....not what one would expect from Stormtroopers.

Yah, it's totally inconsistent with the skillful way they fought at the Battle of Endor.

Where were the human-wave attacks at Endor?

Winston Blake wrote: The guy must've been going for the 'grittier', more realistic scifi ground combat that's become more common (Halo/BF1942/etc). As an outside observer regarding these comics, it seems a bit pathetic, like turning Mandalorians into SW-Klingons.

Pathetic to have projectile weaponry? I consider it pathetic to have energy weapons only. Even the OT didn't fall into that mistake and that's decades prior to any of those stories you mentioned.

This sort of thing is why science fiction gets a bad reputation, it's all about the superficial scifi 'style' rather than any consistent worldbuilding.

Actually, you could argue that it shows clones were abundant and expendable and not a small, elite force. We've seen other types of warfare in the films and the comics, so it's not some sort of standard attack they use constantly. Barring that, from the dialogue, the Nosarians were losing badly even before the tanks arrived.

Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba wrote:Yah, it's totally inconsistent with the skillful way they fought at the Battle of Endor. :roll: :lol:

They were winning that battle as well, the ewoks were nothing in an all-out fight, they even point it out on the commentary.

VT-16 wrote:

Winston Blake wrote: The guy must've been going for the 'grittier', more realistic scifi ground combat that's become more common (Halo/BF1942/etc). As an outside observer regarding these comics, it seems a bit pathetic, like turning Mandalorians into SW-Klingons.

Pathetic to have projectile weaponry? I consider it pathetic to have energy weapons only. Even the OT didn't fall into that mistake and that's decades prior to any of those stories you mentioned.

I was talking out-of-universe. Projectile weapons are great, but drawing a P90 with blaster bolts coming out of it is just plain lazy.

This sort of thing is why science fiction gets a bad reputation, it's all about the superficial scifi 'style' rather than any consistent worldbuilding.

Actually, you could argue that it shows clones were abundant and expendable and not a small, elite force. We've seen other types of warfare in the films and the comics, so it's not some sort of standard attack they use constantly. Barring that, from the dialogue, the Nosarians were losing badly even before the tanks arrived.

It's completely unnecessary for this guy to introduce a human-wave attack vs dozens of machineguns purely for style, even if it can be rationalised later as an outlier. Not even the most abundant, worthless troops of any real first-world military would be used in such a pointless tactic.