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SSD vs its cost in ISD's

Posted: 2004-11-29 06:51am
by wautd
- How much ISD's can you build for the same cost as one SSD?

- Which side would win in a spacebattle? I think the ISD's but i'm not sure. By what margin?

- Which side carries the most ground troops?

Posted: 2004-11-29 07:12am
by Spanky The Dolphin
I don't believe any of those questions can be answered, mainly because (IIRC) we don't know how much either actually costs.

Posted: 2004-11-29 07:26am
by wautd
I hoped it could be somehow guessed, or maybe stated in a EU scource

Posted: 2004-11-29 07:28am
by Ghost Rider
The best one could do is go by volume of the two and figure from there.

Posted: 2004-11-29 08:35am
by Sarevok
I recall reading somewhere (maybe it was SWTC) that SSDs have 100 times the volume of ISDs.

Posted: 2004-11-29 11:38am
by JME2
wautd wrote:I hoped it could be somehow guessed, or maybe stated in a EU scource
Pellaeon in Darksaber states the cost of building the Executor nearly bankrupted the Empire, if memory serves me correctly.

Posted: 2004-11-29 11:55am
by wautd
JME2 wrote:
wautd wrote:I hoped it could be somehow guessed, or maybe stated in a EU scource
Pellaeon in Darksaber states the cost of building the Executor nearly bankrupted the Empire, if memory serves me correctly.
Thats sounds very contradicting if the empire is supposed to have many SSD's and that it was building a second deathstar :?

Posted: 2004-11-29 12:06pm
by JME2
wautd wrote:
JME2 wrote:
wautd wrote:I hoped it could be somehow guessed, or maybe stated in a EU scource
Pellaeon in Darksaber states the cost of building the Executor nearly bankrupted the Empire, if memory serves me correctly.
Thats sounds very contradicting if the empire is supposed to have many SSD's and that it was building a second deathstar :?
Considering that the writer in question is KJA, it makes perfect sense... :wink: :lol:

Posted: 2004-11-29 02:15pm
by Enforcer Talen
pelleaon was obviously too used to rebel propaganda (tm). that a deathstar could be built in secret discounts his argument.

Posted: 2004-11-29 02:22pm
by Stormbringer
Ghost Rider wrote:The best one could do is go by volume of the two and figure from there.
Not an entirely accurate. Modern ships don't scale anything close to linearly. A lot of the cost is in specialized electronics and other such things that aren't necessarily repeated as tonnage goes up.

Posted: 2004-11-29 02:23pm
by Ghost Rider
Stormbringer wrote:
Ghost Rider wrote:The best one could do is go by volume of the two and figure from there.
Not an entirely accurate. Modern ships don't scale anything close to linearly.
I understand that point...but we have really no idea of the monetary costs of the ISD vs SSD unless some source has come out with some if any monetary value for both vessels.

Posted: 2004-11-29 02:24pm
by Stormbringer
Ghost Rider wrote:
Stormbringer wrote:
Ghost Rider wrote:The best one could do is go by volume of the two and figure from there.
Not an entirely accurate. Modern ships don't scale anything close to linearly.
I understand that point...but we have really no idea of the monetary costs of the ISD vs SSD unless some source has come out with some if any monetary value for both vessels.
There isn't so far as I know. But the problem is that we know it's going to be flawed.

Posted: 2004-11-29 02:25pm
by Ghost Rider
Stormbringer wrote:
Ghost Rider wrote:
Stormbringer wrote: Not an entirely accurate. Modern ships don't scale anything close to linearly.
I understand that point...but we have really no idea of the monetary costs of the ISD vs SSD unless some source has come out with some if any monetary value for both vessels.
There isn't so far as I know. But the problem is that we know it's going to be flawed.
I know...believe me I know. The instant we get one it'll probably be only something of maybe a 100 million credits and then the brain will try to wonder how can an SSD be so damned cheap.

Posted: 2004-11-29 02:44pm
by Enforcer Talen
-shrugs- if cars costing 10,000 can be scaled up to the millenium falcon, then an aircraft carrier could be scaled similar, for all its millions.

of course, it means your average crimelord could have a few dozen :D

Posted: 2004-11-29 02:56pm
by Ace Pace
I remember somewhere a price mentioned for a fleet of ISD's, in the Boba Fett trilogy, anyone have that book on hand?

Posted: 2004-11-29 03:41pm
by Imperial Overlord
I reread it a few months ago and I don't think an actual number was mentioned.

Posted: 2004-11-29 03:45pm
by Darth Sephiroth
Actually, according to the Starships of the Galaxy book, an Imp Star Deuce and an SSD take roughly the same time period to construct, mainly because of the amount of workers maximum and the way it works, the Impstar Deuce would take about 18 months while the SSD would be 21 months.

SSD cost 1,143,350,000
ISDII cost 145,670,000 (75,500,000 to upgrade an ISD[guessed cost])

Re: SSD vs its cost in ISD's

Posted: 2004-11-29 04:01pm
by Illuminatus Primus
wautd wrote:- How much ISD's can you build for the same cost as one SSD?
One Executor-class vessel is worth twenty typical star destroyers. (ref: Darksaber) HIMS Executor herself took only a month or two to construct. (ref: Marvel STAR WARS)
wautd wrote:- Which side would win in a spacebattle? I think the ISD's but i'm not sure. By what margin?
Dr. Saxton noted that it appears that the Executor-class has 118 times the heavy weapons emplacements of the ISD. The Executor would be victorious.
wautd wrote:- Which side carries the most ground troops?
The Imperial Sourcebook claims 38,000 troops to the ISD's 9,700, but this is dubious: we know the ISB in fact depicts a smaller "Super Star Destroyer" - the 8,000 meter variant. Darksaber directly indicated that an Executor-class contains thousands of starfighters, not the unrealistic one hundred-and-forty-four listed by the ISB.

Posted: 2004-11-29 04:19pm
by Publius
The figures quoted by Starships of the Galaxy are implausibly low. Strike Force: Shantipole stated that the Nebulon-B frigate (194 million credits) cost less than one-twentieth as much as an Imperial Star Destroyer (more than 3.88 billion credits). According to Starships of the Galaxy, a Nebulon-B frigate would in fact cost some 48.33 million credits more than an Imperial Star Destroyer. As mentioned in "A Billion Here, a Billion There...," a single one of the 37 voting sponsors of the Corporate Sector Authority was required to invest some 50 quadrillion credits, which under the Wizards of the Coast figure would be equivalent to purchase of 343 million Imperial Star Destroyers (the figure is reduced to 13 million Imperial Star Destroyers using the West End Games price).

Simple conversion from the 145.67 million credit price to the 3.88 billion credit price yields a cost of approximately 494.3 billion credits for a Super Star Destroyer (WEG). The WEG figures (3.88 billion and 494.3 billion credits) yields a cost ratio of approximately 127/1 for the Imperial Star Destroyer and Super Star Destroyer, while the WotC figures (145.67 million and 1,143.35 million) yield a ratio of approximately 8/1. Using WEG figures, a voting sponsor could afford to purchase 101,153 Super Star Destroyers, whereas using the WotC figures would allow the same voting sponsor to purchase 43,731,141 Super Star Destroyers.

Re: SSD vs its cost in ISD's

Posted: 2004-11-29 04:24pm
by SiN
Ah, i was just about to mention your article Publius but you posted right before me. :D
Dr. Saxton noted that it appears that the Executor-class has 118 times the heavy weapons emplacements of the ISD. The Executor would be victorious.
I think what he meant was instead of the Executor going head to head with a single ISD, that it would fight it's monetary value in ISD's. Although i could've misinterpreted your post.

Posted: 2004-11-29 04:30pm
by Illuminatus Primus
If Darksabre and Dr. Saxton are both correct and accurate, than the Executor-class battlecruiser would carry the day. Twenty common Imperial Star Destroyers are no match for a mammoth warship carrying 118 times the gun emplacements and shielding thresholds comparable to the output of a main-sequence star.

Posted: 2004-11-29 05:09pm
by drachefly
... though main sequence stars vary by several orders of magnitude in power output...

Posted: 2004-11-29 05:11pm
by Illuminatus Primus
I imagine its a weaker one. Someone guessestimated what this meant in a ITW thread when it came out.

Anyway, here's another reason we must lobby and lobby hard for more ICS.

Posted: 2004-11-29 09:38pm
by Praxis
JME2 wrote:
wautd wrote:I hoped it could be somehow guessed, or maybe stated in a EU scource
Pellaeon in Darksaber states the cost of building the Executor nearly bankrupted the Empire, if memory serves me correctly.
It was not so much the cost of building it, but the cost of losing it (which allowed the Rebels to win the battle of Endor) that nearly bankrupted the Empire.

Posted: 2004-11-29 10:15pm
by SCVN 2812
The OT: ITW states 5,000 turbolasers and ion cannons, around 19 times the two estimates of the armament of an ISD II that I've seen on this board.

(Authors and links to original posts unavailable due to laziness, just copied and pasted them into text docs while doing research for a Star Wars rpg)

Estimate #1:

ISDII
8 octuple heavy turbos
2 quad heavy turbos
3 triple med turbos
4 double med turbos
50 triple light turbos
20 light ions

(Total weapons: 259)

Estimate #2:

ISD-II
64 HTLs in 8 octacle turrets
9 MTLs in 3 triple turrets
8 MTLs in 4 double turrets
60 Light Ion Cannons
120 Light Turbolasers

(Total weapons: 261)

So if we assume the Executor keeps the same proportions of weapons (would make sense since doing so would let it be effective against the greatest range of targets)

The Executor would mount:
1216 - 1368 HTLs*
323 MTLS
2280 - 2850 LTLS
380 - 1140 Light Ion Cannons

Tally: 4199 - 5681 turbolasers and ion cannons

Average of the two would be 4940 weapons which would be under the ITW statement of "more than 5,000 turbolasers and ion cannons" so the actual tally would probably be closer to 5681. Also it would be feasible to add 76 Heavy Ion Cannons (19 times the four on the ISD I) just to take care of a few of those extra 10 meter blobs on the hull and because it seems appropriate to me that the Executor would mount them for greater weapon diversity. Its worth noting that adding 76 Heavy Ions would push the average to 5016 or "more than 5,000 turbolasers and ion cannons."


*(some of which feasibly could be the even heavier batteries on the ISD I to give it even more raw power against other massive starships or stationary targets)

That is though considerably less than the 7,552 heavy guns ALONE that assuming each and every 10 meter bump on the Executor's hull is a heavy turret would bring. At the scale to which the model was built, heavy turrets would be virtually indistinguishable from anything else of a similar shape and size. Something that Mr Saxton was careful to put up as a disclaimer when suggesting the use of the bumps as a way to determine armament.

That said, we could tell how many ISDs an Executor is roughly worth in terms of combat value.

At 5,000+ weapon mounts it has 19x the armament of an ISD and with 100x the mass, it presumably has 100x the shielding if its reactor and shielding have the same proportions as the ISD (which admittedly it may not and probably doesn't but for the sake of argument lets say it does)

So averaging firepower and endurance we get 59.5 ISDs to 1 SSD.

Other factors worth considering:

- Fighter compliments

- Concussion missile launchers, in the EU novels Executors have 'em, 250 of them to be precise but then its also only supposed to have 500 turbolaser cannons and batteries and 250 ion cannons too. Those launchers would probably raise the Executor's firepower multiplier considerably.

In conclusion: I honestly had nothing better to do in the 20 minutes it took to write that post. As for the technical stuff, condemn, praise, modify to your heart's content, I'll probably forget to check the thread again at least for a week :P