Superlaser Info from Dark Empire Sourcebook......

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2002-09-05 12:42pm

I have to do minor level formatting of Ch 9 of the DE sourcebook....

Planetary Shields
Planetary shields have long been a staple of warfare. Powered by reactors or giant solar arrays, the most powerful shields can stop nearly any type of assault, from an artificial asteroid shower to outright bombardment by military fleets. Most planetary shields are powerful enough to stop any ship from passing through them.

Planetary shields are collections of individual shield projectors. The final form is a series of overlapping individual shields. The actual defensive value of shields can vary immensely, depending upon available energy, quality of technology and a number of other factors. Additionally, few planetary governments can afford to wrap an entire planet in energy shields; instead, shields are established over vital targets so that they escape direct bombardment. As a result, air and ground forces must often drop beyond the range of the shield and then attack the target.

Of course, as shields developed, more powerful weapons were developed to try to overcome these shields. Examples of this are the Empire's awesome torpedo spheres, whose sole purpose is to seek out weaknesses in planetary shields and destroy them. The torpedo spheres and similar dedicated siege platforms use extensive sensorwebs to probe the whole fabric of a shield, sometimes for hours at a time. When a weakness is found, tractor beams can be tuned to resonate on the weak frequency. The spheres launch several waves of proton torpedoes to crumble the shield and leave the planet at the mercy of the Empire.

The superlaser, main weapon of the Death Star and the Imperial flagship Eclipse, takes another tack. Instead of weakening a shield, the superlaser is able to pierce through it by using a coupled neutrino charge. This neutrino charge not only plunges through the shield, but it penetrates the mantle and lower levels of the planet. Great chunks of the crust can be vaporized, sometimes sending the surface exploding out- ward with enough force to shatter the world.

...

Notes On Planets: A typical habitable planet has a structural rating of 10D-20D (Death Star scale). Alderaan had no shields of any kind, so it was utterly vaporized. A shielded planet that is overcome by a superlaser may "merely" have its entire surface burned off or split into several pieces. Note that planets don't have to be destroyed to be rendered uninhabitable.

CorSec · Post by **CorSec** » 2002-09-05 02:39pm

On no. No no no! Nooooooooooo!

Resonance at weak frequencies? Coupled neutrino charges? Are you sure this is a Star Wars source book?

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2002-09-05 02:41pm

Doesn't matter much, since the WEG source books are very, very low on the official scale.

That and most of their research was for shit.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2002-09-05 03:04pm

This is contradicted by almost every other discussion of the Superlaser mecahanism. I banish it to the dung heap.

Evil Jerk · Post by **Evil Jerk** » 2002-09-05 03:43pm

The heretic text should be burned.
BURNED I tell ye!!

AL · Post by AL » 2002-09-05 04:58pm

hey that sounds great............................for Star Trek

Yuck!!!!

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2002-09-05 09:42pm

Great, now all the Trekkies will bring this up.

Still, it is contradicted many times.

SPOOFE · Post by **SPOOFE** » 2002-09-06 02:18am

Still, it is contradicted many times.

It needs to only be contradicted once. In the ANH novelisation, reference is made to Alderaan's defenses. We can rule out the likelihood of weaponry, since Alderaan was a pacifist government. Ergo, canon materials declare that Alderaan did, in fact, possess planetary shields.

Unless one believes that Alderaan's defense consisted of lifting its tail and spraying smelly liquid on orbiting enemy starships...

Morte · Post by **Morte** » 2002-09-06 03:40am

You can see Alderaans planetary shield for yourself. Watch the Death Star beam hitting the planet fram by frame and you can see it slow down for a moment as it hits the shield.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2002-09-06 03:52am

Alderaan had no shields of any kind, so it was utterly vaporized.

This line alone discredits the whole things. Though I think I'd trade Alderaan's shield for the Death Star being able to Vaporize planets. That also would boost the firepower of the combine Imperial fleet up quite a few levels.