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Um, theater shield.The Jazz Intern wrote:Why don't they use repulsor lifts as much in the years after the clone wars? Imagine- AT-ATs zooming towards the rebel sheild generators at 70 Mph, with snowspeeders zooming around like flies looking for a weak spot.
Yes that and, no power=pancakeNoble Ire wrote:Um, theater shield.The Jazz Intern wrote:Why don't they use repulsor lifts as much in the years after the clone wars? Imagine- AT-ATs zooming towards the rebel sheild generators at 70 Mph, with snowspeeders zooming around like flies looking for a weak spot.
Repulsor lift vehicles can't penetrate shielding, walkers can. The Empire has repulsor vehicles, they just didnt use them there.
Out of curiousity, why is that?Noble Ire wrote: Repulsor lift vehicles can't penetrate shielding, walkers can..
I don't know, it probably has to do with something about how the theatre shields don't burn into the ground either. Maybe having legs allows a vehicle or droid to get through because it's in contact with the ground. 'Grounded', so to speak.Dangermouse wrote:Out of curiousity, why is that?Noble Ire wrote: Repulsor lift vehicles can't penetrate shielding, walkers can..
I suppose Repulsorcraft could drag a physical object that touches the ground while moving slowly through the shield.Main Site wrote:However, the theatre shield is not identical to a planetary shield. While a planetary shield exists mostly in space, a theatre shield must interact with the ground. Its design must therefore be altered accordingly. According to the SWEGWT, any object which touches a planetary shield receives a tremendous blast of energy and is instantly vapourized. That effect was demonstrated in ROTJ, when Rebel starships exploded on contact with the Death Star's defense shield. However, this would be counter-productive (to say the least) for a theatre shield, where it would vapourize the ground at the point of contact and quickly overload its generator. Therefore, theatre shields must employ some form of contact discrimination, so that they don't burn themselves out by vapourizing huge quantities of dirt and rock, but they still perform their primary function. If the Gungan theatre shield is any indication of standard Star Wars theatre shield technology, this discrimination is performed through ground contact. Since the shield applies only mild force at its point of ground contact (as demonstrated by the audible "thump" when it struck the ground in TPM), it is possible for an object to slip through if it moves slowly through the barrier while maintaining contact with the ground. Repulsorcraft, missiles, bomb, energy beams, and starfighters cannot enter through such a shield, but foot soldiers, wheeled or tracked vehicles, and walkers can.
superior leverage. Also, vehicles not in direct contact with the ground are known, from time to time, to be completely destroyed, or at least damaged, by contact with planetary type shielding.Dangermouse wrote:Out of curiousity, why is that?Noble Ire wrote: Repulsor lift vehicles can't penetrate shielding, walkers can..
They had an HAVr Flying Fortress on Tatooine.The Jazz Intern wrote:Then why not some Flash speeder like things for tattooine? Surely that has usefulness far greater than dewbacks, not to mention greater speed. also the empire could put the speeders there withought to much difficulty.
Snowspeeders stay aloft with their repulsors, but at no point do they have to go THROUGH the shield. The Imperial forces didn't have that luxury.gladius wrote:They had an HAVr Flying Fortress on Tatooine.The Jazz Intern wrote:Then why not some Flash speeder like things for tattooine? Surely that has usefulness far greater than dewbacks, not to mention greater speed. also the empire could put the speeders there withought to much difficulty.
Snowspeeders do use repulsors, by the way. How else do you think they stay aloft?
A dewback is easier to maintain away from supply bases then a speeder ( I belive they are a transplanted species that adapted to the enviorment on tatoonie) And what we saw on them were regular stormtroopers not specially trained and equiped sandtroopers so maybe the forces deployed for that search didnt have many vehicles equiped to operate in a desert enviormentThe Jazz Intern wrote:Then why not some Flash speeder like things for tattooine? Surely that has usefulness far greater than dewbacks, not to mention greater speed. also the empire could put the speeders there withought to much difficulty.
They do use a lot of repulsorlift vehicles. It's just that a lot of SW books and games focus on the few vehicles and ships seen in the movies. The more obscure RPG describes a lot of vehicles that don't appear in other sources. The Empire has a repulsorlift heavy assault vehicle (the already mentioned Floating Fortress) that is said to rival AT-ATs, and their main battle tanks use repulsors as well.The Jazz Intern wrote:Why don't they use repulsor lifts as much in the years after the clone wars? Imagine- AT-ATs zooming towards the rebel sheild generators at 70 Mph, with snowspeeders zooming around like flies looking for a weak spot.
Actually, those were Sandtroopers and they are trained to ride animals as well as vehicles. It´s sometimes a benefit in desert environments, where engines could get clogged up with sand.And what we saw on them were regular stormtroopers not specially trained and equiped sandtroopers so maybe the forces deployed for that search didnt have many vehicles equiped to operate in a desert enviorment
According to ATOC: ICS particle shields carry alot of juice and when a flying object tries to penetrate the shield it grounds out. Imagine a supersized lightning bolt.Out of curiousity, why is that?
Also the sheild would block the thrusters on the craft, so your engines flame out and you pancake.Now, using ground contact to get through a theatre shield begs the question of why they don't:AOTC:ICS (AT-TE) wrote:AT-TE's are effective at penetrating powerful energy shields. Walker movement uses simple surface traction, whereas the high-velocity exhausts that drive a speeder or starship are stifled by particle shields. furthermore, flying craft can be damaged by energy discharges leaping from the ground at shield interfaces, but a walker's natural grounding provides invulnerability against this effect. AT-TEs are also well shielded against electromagnetic pulse weapons and ion cannon fire.
They probably don't do those for the sake of simplicity. Which is easier,Winston Blake wrote:Now, using ground contact to get through a theatre shield begs the question of why they don't:
- stick some tracks or a few wheels on the bottom of a repulsorcraft for it to use temporarily while crossing the dangerous boundary (useful if the repulsor screws up too), or
- use wheeled or tracked transport 'sleds' to carry them through, or
- as Dangermouse mentioned, trail/drop a grounding strip/wheel etc.
It's possible that requires more grounding than that, prehaps perportional to the vehicles mass. This is pure speculation.Hawkwings wrote:you know, c) could just be a metal chain that drags on the ground...
I admit i have no idea how much the weight or subsequent penalty would be but: why should they be retractable? It doesn't need to maintain a certain height above the ground all the time, it can just lower itself onto fixed wheels/tracks (legs would be rather silly).Civil War Man wrote:They probably don't do those for the sake of simplicity. Which is easier,Winston Blake wrote:Now, using ground contact to get through a theatre shield begs the question of why they don't:
- stick some tracks or a few wheels on the bottom of a repulsorcraft for it to use temporarily while crossing the dangerous boundary (useful if the repulsor screws up too), or
- use wheeled or tracked transport 'sleds' to carry them through, or
- as Dangermouse mentioned, trail/drop a grounding strip/wheel etc.
a) build a repulsor vehicle with retractable drives or legs (which adds a lot of weight and leaves less room for armaments/troop carrying),
They had to create a whole new range of combat vehicles to be all-terrain yet shield-penetrating anyway: walkers. And why shouldn't such a 'breaching sled' be armoured too?b) create a whole new support unit whose sole job is to ferry repulsor vehicles through theatre shields (which will probably be open to attack from advance enemy units),
I wasn't thinking of an exposed add-on, this component would make sense to be retractable. It only needs to be out for a few seconds while the boundary is being passed. Anything's benefits can be negated by it being damaged, and losing legs is worse than not being able to get back out past the shield.c) develop an add-on that grounds a vehicle for the purpose of moving through shields (which could possibly be improperly attached or damaged, thereby negating the benefits),
Since the idea with legs is that they're all-terrain, if it was fine for wheels then using repulsorcraft isn't an issue. But then repulsors are far better at 'all-terrain-ness' than legs, and apparently less complicated/vulnerable/etc.or d) make a vehicle that just uses legs or wheels for motion (therefore not having to worry about being disrupted by shielding)?