Dual Turbolaser bolts

pellaeons_scion · Post by **pellaeons_scion** » 2002-12-12 02:40am

Just a short question. How is it the only turbolasers we see operating are the dual barrelled batterys on the death star. Now according to some of the stats on ISD's there are this type of battery on the vessels. My only problem is, why do we only see single bolts fired from the capital ships when they more than likely have multi barrelled turrets.

maybe Im just being picky...

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2002-12-12 02:43am

I believe only the HTLs are dual barreled. It's most likely the MTLs, LTLs and PDLs are single barreled turrets.

MirrorUniverseSpy1 · Post by **MirrorUniverseSpy1** » 2002-12-12 02:51am

Spanky probably got it right, I agree.

omegaLancer · Post by **omegaLancer** » 2002-12-12 03:00am

Well ISD have dual HTL, but there is also the 2 quad in the Trench notches. There is also triple barrel Axial defense guns show on the ICS .

ISD II's HTL have 8 barrels per turret..

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2002-12-12 03:47am

It's possible that the bolts are so close together that the glare appears to be one bolt rather than multiples.

pellaeons_scion · Post by **pellaeons_scion** » 2002-12-12 04:10am

I guess that could be the case. But if that were so then wouldnt the bolts look thicker? I find it a little odd to believe that an ISD would have only single barrel guns as secondary weapons. My reference to this relys on ww2/ww1 style warships, which even the secondary batterys had twin or more barrels. Seeing as SW warships seem to be based on the battleships of this period it doesnt make sense to me.

BenRG · Post by **BenRG** » 2002-12-12 05:07am

Maybe they cycle the fire so that only one barrel in any battery is firing at any one time to increase the fire rate. Remember that, almost without exception, when we see an ISD firing, it is engaging a target that is smaller and more agile than itself (like a fighter or a Blockade Runner). So rate of fire would be more important than weight of fire. It would increase the probability of a hit.

I'm sure that if we ever saw the big quad trench guns on the ISD's flank firing against a capship, we'd see all four barrels firing at once, or opposing pairs firing in sequence.

Boba Fett · Post by **Boba Fett** » 2002-12-12 05:34am

I think BenRG is right.

Beside that I think in a heavy battle the cryo system would have difficulty with taking the heat away if all the barrels would be fired at the same time.

Also the power generators needs time to recharge after a shot.
(I think in a double barreled turret both barrel uses the same generator and cooling system)

nightmare · Post by **nightmare** » 2002-12-12 05:52am

I'm with BenRG on this one. Cycling your shots make sense - otherwise, why have multiple barrels at all.

pellaeons_scion · Post by **pellaeons_scion** » 2002-12-12 06:09am

The only problem with that theory Ben, is that I dont believe we see any shots fired one after the other from the same point in the style you mention. Also wouldnt it be more effiecent to place a pair of bolts into a single target to maximise chance of shield failure and concussion, rather than fire two staggered bolts which would give the shield a little time to recharge after the first shot hit? The only reason I can see for staggered shots is to engage smaller and faster targets by putting mutiple smaller bolts in the target area maximising chances to hit a target

Any evidence to the contrary is appreciated

BenRG · Post by **BenRG** » 2002-12-12 06:17am

pellaeons_scion wrote:The only reason I can see for staggered shots is to engage smaller and faster targets by putting mutiple smaller bolts in the target area maximising chances to hit a target

Any evidence to the contrary is appreciated

This is the reason that I give for my 'staggered shots' theory.

It all falls down when you watch the Executor slugging it out with a Nebulon-B in RotJ and you see random green bolts and red bolts flying all over without any single firing spot for any of them. It is just a case of shoddy effects work... Or mabye the guys at ILM didn't think that anyone would care.

A good example of multiple fire from the same spot is in ANH, when you see two (heavy?) turbolasers either side of the main landing bay on an ISD1 firing repeatedly at the Blockade Runner. Indeed, I think that this is the only time when we see shots all coming from the same spot in the OT.

They get a bit more careful in TPM when the blasts from the Trade Federation bockade ship are clearly coming from the same gun platform area either side of the command sphere.

Another theory: Maybe Imperial captains don't like any one gun crew to get cocky and divide their fire plans in between multiple turrets. "First one shot from turret green 5, then one from red 2, then one from green 15..."

pellaeons_scion · Post by **pellaeons_scion** » 2002-12-12 06:37am

The exchange of fire between Executor and the Neb-b was limited to 1 shot each...possibly coz the vessels were too close to use standard firing protocols ( perhaps a HTL blast would have damaged the firing ships).

True

ILM possibly would not have put that much thought behind this...its only people like us who maybe think too hard about it

As for dividing up the fire plans per battery....i agree , that would be inefficent and a nightmare for the chief gunnery officer. Also I believe it has been theorised that the weapons fire from Avenger in the OT was possibly only LTL or anti-starfighter cannon, that the aim was to herd the ship towards a gravity well so it couldnt jump to hyperspace and possibly to force the Tantive to send the plans to the Rebel base, giving away its location. Else wouldnt it have just crippled the vessel with Ion cannon fire? Would have been much easier...either that or Imperial targeting is crud...which I doubt.

OH please Mr Lucas, all I want for Christmas is one definative capital ship battle where these questions can be answered!

Boba Fett · Post by **Boba Fett** » 2002-12-12 07:04am

pellaeons_scion wrote: OH please Mr Lucas, all I want for Christmas is one definative capital ship battle where these questions can be answered!

Never ask for that again!!!

Lucas has a bad habit...He never create those things that fans want!

pellaeons_scion · Post by **pellaeons_scion** » 2002-12-12 07:15am

Doh!

Time for a 3 year old moment

WAAAAAAA!!!

pellaeons_scion · Post by **pellaeons_scion** » 2002-12-18 08:27pm

The three year old moment passed, I had a thought on the bolts. Perhaps the single bolts we see are like 'tracer' rounds which were posed in the Turbolaser commentaries. Maybe the rest of the actual TL fire is invisible, and only the tracer shots are the ones we see. I.E. if the turret has twin barrels, they both fire, but only one of them fires a visible bolt.

Hmm, wouldnt make for very spectacular battles though..

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2002-12-18 08:31pm

Are you saying that there's one "tracer" bolt for every 2-4 "fire" bolts?

That's stupid.

pellaeons_scion · Post by **pellaeons_scion** » 2002-12-18 08:35pm

Perhaps. On reflection that didnt make much sense.

Still leaves me unclear about why an ISD appears to only fire single bolts, rather than dual or quad shots.

IRG CommandoJoe · Post by **IRG CommandoJoe** » 2002-12-18 11:40pm

Does this answer your question?

Notice it is only a single barrel. It is possible this is what the LTLs and MTLs look like on Star Destroyers.

Boba Fett · Post by **Boba Fett** » 2002-12-19 07:04am

IRG CommandoJoe wrote:Does this answer your question?

Notice it is only a single barrel. It is possible this is what the LTLs and MTLs look like on Star Destroyers.

Maybe...

The same cannon was on Jabba's Sail Barge. In some of the technology guides it was labelled as an LTL.

So I think these were on Star Destroyers as well.
This theory would explain those scenes when we saw blasts coming from an SD, from an area where there's no turret.

Like the duel of the SD and a Nebulon-B in RoTJ.

Post by **Vympel** » 2002-12-19 09:26am

Well, from that picture we can see that the barrels don't protrude out of the windows. There are hundreds of small holes along both ISD1 and ISD2 brim trenches. Assign one of these to them each.

Boba Fett · Post by **Boba Fett** » 2002-12-19 09:33am

Exactly what I was talking about!

Andras · Post by **Andras** » 2002-12-19 10:44am

Don't forget that even the Blockade runner at the beginning of ANH fired single shots, actually bursts of single shots. Potentially, at full power, the ISDs can also fire bursts of shots from their multigun emplacements, but were only firing single shots at a time so as to capture the the Corvette or the Falcon( in ESB). (If you are trying to shoot to wound, do you fire full auto, or single shots?)

Cpt_Frank · Post by **Cpt_Frank** » 2002-12-19 10:55am

Boba Fett wrote:
IRG CommandoJoe wrote:Does this answer your question?

Notice it is only a single barrel. It is possible this is what the LTLs and MTLs look like on Star Destroyers.
Maybe...

The same cannon was on Jabba's Sail Barge. In some of the technology guides it was labelled as an LTL.

So I think these were on Star Destroyers as well.
This theory would explain those scenes when we saw blasts coming from an SD, from an area where there's no turret.

Like the duel of the SD and a Nebulon-B in RoTJ.

These are point defense canons.

IRG CommandoJoe · Post by **IRG CommandoJoe** » 2002-12-19 10:23pm

Boba Fett wrote:
IRG CommandoJoe wrote:Does this answer your question?

Notice it is only a single barrel. It is possible this is what the LTLs and MTLs look like on Star Destroyers.
Maybe...

The same cannon was on Jabba's Sail Barge. In some of the technology guides it was labelled as an LTL.

So I think these were on Star Destroyers as well.
This theory would explain those scenes when we saw blasts coming from an SD, from an area where there's no turret.

Like the duel of the SD and a Nebulon-B in RoTJ.

Jabba had the same gun on the sail barge? That would imply it's a LTL...so that's why it took out the entire sail barge in one blast...it all make sense now...lol.

pellaeons_scion · Post by **pellaeons_scion** » 2002-12-19 10:37pm

I always thought that those guns were Blaster artillery, orAnti-Starfighter quick firing laser cannon

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Dual Turbolaser bolts

Dual Turbolaser bolts

ISD HTL

Maybe they only fire one at a time...