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Torpedo Spheres

Posted: 2004-01-16 08:39am
by Techno_Union
How big are they exactly? The essential guides say that they were bigger then the Executor but Starships of the Galaxy says they are 1900m. If they were attacking a planet without shields, how much damage would they cause to the surface with all of their missle tubes?

Posted: 2004-01-16 10:55am
by K. A. Pital
Techno_Union,
speaking of damage, presumably not much - their torpedo tubes are point-targeted to do a lot of damage on a small area, but on large areas (unprotected planet cities, military bases, etc.) simple bombardment by an ISD would do more good.
The TPs are to strike precisely the shield generator in a small "window" opened in the shield for a split-second. So not much damage presumably.
As for size... 1900m? Strange. That really dwarfs the TP. I don't know. And what about the NEGVV, is it still consistent with the huge TP size (sorry, didn't get the NEGVV yet)?

Posted: 2004-01-16 05:07pm
by Techno_Union
The NEGVV does not mention the TPs. IN the original all it said about them was under the Executor and how the TP was bigger. For example, would the TP attacking Earth(present day) do good damage to our major cities? The TPs have 500 proton tops and if you take 50 of them then you could fire-link them to shoot one target.

Posted: 2004-01-16 05:17pm
by Ender
Techno_Union wrote:The NEGVV does not mention the TPs. IN the original all it said about them was under the Executor and how the TP was bigger. For example, would the TP attacking Earth(present day) do good damage to our major cities? The TPs have 500 proton tops and if you take 50 of them then you could fire-link them to shoot one target.
Well, considering that Fighters can carry GT level warheads, and those torpedos are far, far larger, I'd say it's safe to say they could kill every last one of us.

Posted: 2004-01-16 06:11pm
by Illuminatus Primus
They're 1900 metres by Starships of the Galaxy and by the original source, the WEG ISB.

I don't know where they got that bullshit about being larger than the Executor. Even with the wrong five-mile length its not right.

Chalk it up as just an outright error, I suppose.

Posted: 2004-01-16 06:26pm
by Darwin
Though being roughly spheroid, the torpedo sphere could possibly have more VOLUME than the Executor...

Posted: 2004-01-16 08:25pm
by Alyeska
A torpedo sphere could in theory be larger then the 8km Executor, but thats it.

Posted: 2004-01-16 08:36pm
by Techno_Union
I have been watching Independance Day and I wonerded how good one torpedo sphere would be against our planet right now, or even as many ID4 alien ships and then replace them with the torpedo spheres.

Posted: 2004-01-16 08:56pm
by YT300000
Techno_Union wrote:I have been watching Independance Day and I wonerded how good one torpedo sphere would be against our planet right now, or even as many ID4 alien ships and then replace them with the torpedo spheres.
We would be fucked. The barrage of megaton (minimum) range torps would slaughter us. The gigaton range turbolasers that blow up the shield generators wouldn't even need to be used against earth.

Posted: 2004-01-16 09:20pm
by Techno_Union
How much damage would 50 proton torpedos do against a major city such as New York, LA, Chicago, London, Paris, Hong Kong, and so forth?

Posted: 2004-01-16 09:45pm
by YT300000
Techno_Union wrote:How much damage would 50 proton torpedos do against a major city such as New York, LA, Chicago, London, Paris, Hong Kong, and so forth?
Imagine a glassed Death Valley.

EDIT: Actually, it depends on what sort of torpedo. The low MT MG7 would be a little less effective, imagine the future war scenes in the Terminator films. That's what it would look like.

But if you used what the Torpedo Spheres are almost undoubtably loaded with (GT level ones), then my previous comments still holds.

Posted: 2004-01-16 09:50pm
by Techno_Union
I know that concussion missles can be detonated over cities which cause sonic booms tearing the ground, building, ect to shreads; could proton torpedos do the same? Use New York as an example, with how spread out it is, would it work?

Posted: 2004-01-16 09:57pm
by YT300000
Techno_Union wrote:I know that concussion missles can be detonated over cities which cause sonic booms tearing the ground, building, ect to shreads; could proton torpedos do the same? Use New York as an example, with how spread out it is, would it work?
Concussion Missiles work differently. They don't do very much damage in the explosion, but send out big shockwaves. Proton Tropedoes explode in a cascade of protons or something like that. It would be more effective to just ram them into the ground (or buildings) one per every 2 km^2 or so. If it's the gigaton variant, just fire one at the middle of the city, and your done.

In NY, exploding Protons in the air would damage roofs of buildings, and very tall ones, causing collapses, but some of the city, near ground level would be intact. Use concs, and pretty much everything is leveled. Hit the ground every 2 km^2 with either, and everythings leveled.

Posted: 2004-01-16 10:19pm
by Techno_Union
Is it possible to switch the protons out with another torpedo? It may lower the amount of tubes but is it possible?

Posted: 2004-01-16 10:25pm
by Darth Raptor
Techno_Union wrote:Is it possible to switch the protons out with another torpedo? It may lower the amount of tubes but is it possible?
It's primarily a vidoegame gimick, but IIRC you can change the loadout on any warhead equiped starfighter. The launch tubes wouldn't be any different, only the magazines.

Posted: 2004-01-16 10:40pm
by YT300000
Techno_Union wrote:Is it possible to switch the protons out with another torpedo? It may lower the amount of tubes but is it possible?
Some launchers can take multiple types, but most, like the MG7-A (yes, it is a launcher) can only fire the one they are designed for.

Posted: 2004-01-16 10:44pm
by Darth Raptor
Um, YT300000? I think we get the point. :wink:

Posted: 2004-01-16 10:51pm
by Techno_Union
ya, did you mean to do that?

Posted: 2004-01-17 01:35pm
by YT300000
Lazy Raptor wrote:Um, YT300000? I think we get the point. :wink:
What? *scrolls up*

Oh. I blame it on board errors. I had to hit refresh a couple times to post. If this forum had a delete post function, I'd clean it up. But it doesn't, so I can't.

Posted: 2004-01-17 05:16pm
by Stormbringer
Taken care of.

Posted: 2004-01-17 05:35pm
by YT300000
Stormbringer wrote:Taken care of.
Thanks.

Posted: 2004-01-17 05:36pm
by Techno_Union
In your guy's opinion, how many of any kind of ships would you need to take one of these things out?(nothing bigger then a ISD please)

Posted: 2004-01-17 06:00pm
by Illuminatus Primus
Probably several Imperial-class Star Destroyers would suffice.

Posted: 2004-01-17 08:34pm
by Andras
Spheres are actually pretty pathetic against other starships, which is why they are protected by a substantial escort fleet. 392 combat starships to protect 24 Spheres.

The best defense a Sphere has is it's armored hull, 9d in WEG, and moderate sheilds (2d). It's torpedos are specifically calibrated to effect shields, and do less damage to ships. All of its weapons are in the front, it's space speed is a 2, or about as fast as a bulk freighter. It also has zero maneuverability.

Given the strength of its hull, and it's slow speed, a Victory is the only shipsmaller then an ISD that can really hurt a sphere with its (9d) concussion missiles and it would still need a lucky hit (9d vs 11d).

Ignoring the HTL mounts on the sides of the ISD, which aren't detailed in WEG for gameplay reasons, an ISD-2 with it's 10d TL batteries would be able to do it also.

In WOTC, since hull and shield are ablative, a sufficient number of smaller craft could do it. 200 shield points and 1000 hull points, DR of 30. 1 hit from a 7d TLC drops the shields, and 6-7 more will reduce the hull to zero. Did I ever say how much I hate the WOTC system?

Posted: 2004-01-18 12:18am
by Illuminatus Primus
Why should we give two shits about the RPG mechanics?