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Some of my friends are trying to set a story based in the Old Republic era (say ~ 5000 years pre ANH). Now, becasue they're always nice for the villain to have around, what kind of superweapons would be available?

I think Centrepoint Station's out, but the fact that the Death Star was just the 'largest superlaser devised' means that we could have something like Eclipse-grade weapons perhaps? Albeit on a larger hull, of course. Any other ideas?

Keep in mind this IS the Old Republic, years before plantary shielding was handy on all the vauable planets.(One of the reasons the Death-Star was built is because of this).
This means your superweapons can be alot more low-ball because they don't need to shoot through a plantary shield that can takes untold teratons worth of punisment and shurg it off, your big bad weapon could just be a big old fasion ship with a large enough shielding array and weapon suite to make it dangerous to the avarage core-world

Just give the villain a flagship with Executor-level firepower, albeit on a larger and less efficient hull. (Bigger is cooler anyway, right?) That ought to be enough.

LordShaithis wrote:Just give the villain a flagship with Executor-level firepower, albeit on a larger and less efficient hull. (Bigger is cooler anyway, right?) That ought to be enough.

This would work. I mean in KOTOR 2, the Telosians were terrified at Darth Nihilus' flagship, which was likely around the size and power of an ISD.

Or just give him a normal ship which he enhances with wankatine-style Sith powers.

Vanas wrote:Some of my friends are trying to set a story based in the Old Republic era (say ~ 5000 years pre ANH). Now, becasue they're always nice for the villain to have around, what kind of superweapons would be available?

I think Centrepoint Station's out, but the fact that the Death Star was just the 'largest superlaser devised' means that we could have something like Eclipse-grade weapons perhaps? Albeit on a larger hull, of course. Any other ideas?

The Starforge was present (though not superweapon in conventional sense) at that time (as was built some 20,000 years earlier and was still present during KOTOR (4,000 pre ANH))

Use a super-sized Cal-Class-warship. Those things had huge mass-drivers on their dorsal side, which they use to launch huge asteroids at their targets.

Mr Bean wrote:Keep in mind this IS the Old Republic, years before plantary shielding was handy on all the vauable planets.(One of the reasons the Death-Star was built is because of this).
This means your superweapons can be alot more low-ball because they don't need to shoot through a plantary shield that can takes untold teratons worth of punisment and shurg it off, your big bad weapon could just be a big old fasion ship with a large enough shielding array and weapon suite to make it dangerous to the avarage core-world

Why would movie-era deflector shields be in any way innovative? Maybe more prevelent due to the recent Clone Wars, but the technology and the implementation should've been there throughout the Republic.

Don't really bother to make technology noticably more "primitive": the galaxy should be roughly in technological and developmental stasis since its inception.

Illuminatus Primus wrote: Why would movie-era deflector shields be in any way innovative? Maybe more prevelent due to the recent Clone Wars, but the technology and the implementation should've been there throughout the Republic.

Their not, but few worlds want to pay for the hundred or so shield generating staions, power, upkeep and personnel costs.

When so many worlds were burned in the Clone Wars, people smarted up and the Empire helped underwite the costs.

Mr Bean wrote:

Illuminatus Primus wrote: Why would movie-era deflector shields be in any way innovative? Maybe more prevelent due to the recent Clone Wars, but the technology and the implementation should've been there throughout the Republic.

Their not, but few worlds want to pay for the hundred or so shield generating staions, power, upkeep and personnel costs.

When so many worlds were burned in the Clone Wars, people smarted up and the Empire helped underwite the costs.

Maybe, maybe not. A good number of those shields are designed to assure a level of independence and autonomy from the Imperial State. Hence why the Death Star was necessary.

I dont have the book handy but in MedStar II I beleive the Old Republic was testing some sort of superlaser prototype weapon on the sun of an inhabited system.

spideycw wrote:I dont have the book handy but in MedStar II I beleive the Old Republic was testing some sort of superlaser prototype weapon on the sun of an inhabited system.

during about 40-30 years pre-ANH so it won't do.

I think one of the more unique ideas I've seen involved a Moon, a fleet, and some tractor beams. Feasability study, anyone?

The Force Storm weilding ISD alike looks fun though.

Have the villain pillage the ruins of some ancient, now extinct civilization and get his hands on some phase-cloak like weapons that lets his ship become intangible and his missiles go right into a ship before detonating. And call it the Wraith.

Or, a Death Star minus the superlaser, but with millions of standard HTLs--enough firepower to single handedly BDZ a planet twenty times over or to fight and win against any fleet in space in a pitched battle. Or shrink it down to an Eclipse minus the superlaser, with more HTLs and better shields, maybe so good the only way to stop it is to get someone inside to shut them down and then have a fleet assualt it.

Vanas wrote:what kind of superweapons would be available?

Why would you want super weapons at all? A villain is much cooler if he/she can get the good guys in trouble with nothing but his/her own intelligence. Super weapons are just an easy way to make someone feared, but it is much better if your character is feared for what he/she is. Grand Admiral Trawn for exaple, he didn't need no super weapons.

Illuminatus Primus wrote:

Mr Bean wrote:

Illuminatus Primus wrote: Why would movie-era deflector shields be in any way innovative? Maybe more prevelent due to the recent Clone Wars, but the technology and the implementation should've been there throughout the Republic.

Their not, but few worlds want to pay for the hundred or so shield generating staions, power, upkeep and personnel costs.

When so many worlds were burned in the Clone Wars, people smarted up and the Empire helped underwite the costs.

Maybe, maybe not. A good number of those shields are designed to assure a level of independence and autonomy from the Imperial State. Hence why the Death Star was necessary.

EU mentions as much the fact that people woke up to the fact that there were nasty people out there with ships that could melt worlds in hours and hey wound't be nice if they had some defense aginst that?

ANGELUS wrote: Why would you want super weapons at all? A villain is much cooler if he/she can get the good guys in trouble with nothing but his/her own intelligence. Super weapons are just an easy way to make someone feared, but it is much better if your character is feared for what he/she is. Grand Admiral Trawn for exaple, he didn't need no super weapons.

Well, thus far, it's only an option. We're looking at various ideas, but if we were to pick a super-weapon, we'd at least like to see whats around.

Personally, I like the idea of a bigass platform that BDZs a planet with a shitload of long ranged smart missiles. Missiles with short-range hyperdrives (or none) that allow it to shoot from beyond the system - but not too far away.

Of course, this platform would be armed with HTLs and other forms of nasty stuff and stuff. Basically a poor man's uber battlestation of doom.

18-Till-I-Die wrote:Or, a Death Star minus the superlaser, but with millions of standard HTLs--enough firepower to single handedly BDZ a planet twenty times over or to fight and win against any fleet in space in a pitched battle.

They already have those in canon -- that's what battlemoons are. The Death Star is just an exceptionally big battlemoon with a honkin' huge superlaser on it.

What about non traditional weaponry, some thing that isn't huge. Somthing that lurks behind you. Somthing like nogri only a little less wank, like that use extremly powerful powersuits, but the people inside are pathetically weak. What ever you do, DON'T USE BIOTECH!

Striderteen wrote:

18-Till-I-Die wrote:Or, a Death Star minus the superlaser, but with millions of standard HTLs--enough firepower to single handedly BDZ a planet twenty times over or to fight and win against any fleet in space in a pitched battle.

They already have those in canon -- that's what battlemoons are. The Death Star is just an exceptionally big battlemoon with a honkin' huge superlaser on it.

Yes but i propose an exceptionally large Death Star, with every drop of the reactor output not going into the drives going into powering as many HTLs as possible. Basically a giant BDZ machine, capable of hitting targets at extreme long range, and knocking down planetary shields through sheer brute force.

Vanas wrote:Some of my friends are trying to set a story based in the Old Republic era (say ~ 5000 years pre ANH). Now, becasue they're always nice for the villain to have around, what kind of superweapons would be available?

I think Centrepoint Station's out, but the fact that the Death Star was just the 'largest superlaser devised' means that we could have something like Eclipse-grade weapons perhaps? Albeit on a larger hull, of course. Any other ideas?

A thousand years prior to KOTOR? How about a competent army. Introduce the Mandalorians (again). IIRC, they were still having people 'explore' new hyperspace routes, have your badguys know new routes that gets them around quicker in the core or some such. In NJO, the Imperials had routes through the deep core that no one knew about, you can echo it.

Cloaking devices. Period. I don't know their availability in pre-OT EU, but they seem like they can be used as darn super weapons even with a standard cruiser or two as the ships they're used on. Plus, that adds quite a bit to the looming evilness of these ugys.

Nephtys wrote:Cloaking devices. Period. I don't know their availability in pre-OT EU, but they seem like they can be used as darn super weapons even with a standard cruiser or two as the ships they're used on. Plus, that adds quite a bit to the looming evilness of these ugys.

In the PT, both Maul's Sith Infiltrator and Palpatine's Theta Class shuttle had cloaking devices. The sith seem to have a collection of 'em. Perhaps your flegdling warlord should take a trip to Korriban.

Naga Sadows Sith battle ship could blow up systems through use of the force with the ships systems (he Made the Maw cluster that way),
the ship could even survive the supernovas if it was used from a sufficient distance.

Why not build a bigger version with shields that would let a weaker force user hold entire systems for ransom.