StarDestroyer.Net BBS

You can see it in the main hangar in this picture:

http://www.theforce.net/swtc/Pix/given/rb/isdbay3.jpg

I had always thought it was for grappling another ship to allow boarding, but the ICS says that was done with special TIE Bombers (which strikes me as silly). If it's not a giant gangplank, what is it for?

Perhaps for loading and unloading.

No, the TIE boarding craft doesn't keep the captured craft in position, that claw is supposed to be doing that. Then boarding craft latch on and burn their way through.

It may simply be a set of umbilicals for 'small' craft, intended to hold them in place while providing external power, life support, crew access, refuelling/reprovisioning lines and so forth.
And frankly waiting to board a hostile ship until they're already inside yours seems like a Bad Idea (TM). Even if they don't have any active weapons left what if they decide to suicide and take you along with them?

It might well be a docking clamp for holding in place larger ships docking with the ISD or in tow.

Alternatively, I imagine it could be useful for retrieving giant stuffed animals and other prizes from various planetary situations.

The ICS says the pincer thing is a "Electromagnetic Paralyzing Pincer Crane". Apparently, it paralyzes ships.

StarWarsJunkie89 wrote:The ICS says the pincer thing is a "Electromagnetic Paralyzing Pincer Crane". Apparently, it paralyzes ships.

...
Tell me you're kidding.

Batman wrote:

StarWarsJunkie89 wrote:The ICS says the pincer thing is a "Electromagnetic Paralyzing Pincer Crane". Apparently, it paralyzes ships.

...
Tell me you're kidding.

I only wish I was.

It actually makes perfect sense if you two morons would use your fucking brains and an once of common sense and reason.

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:It actually makes perfect sense if you two morons would use your fucking brains and an once of common sense and reason.

Ha-ha Spanky can't spell.

But you are right, we know SW ships get fucked up something fierce by ionizing radiation (ie, intense electrical disruption), so I'd assume the crane acts like an ion cannon, sort of like how you can hit a guy at range with tazer barbs or just smack him with the damn thing and watch him twitch.

It's for when the Captain wants to go fishing for whales. No one ever uses it though, as when they get the whales half way out of the water, it seems to invariably drop them, like one of those arcade machines..

Gil Hamilton wrote:It might well be a docking clamp for holding in place larger ships docking with the ISD or in tow.

Alternatively, I imagine it could be useful for retrieving giant stuffed animals and other prizes from various planetary situations.

....

You know, I can just hear the Imperial March playing as an ISD drops out of hyperspace over ToyPlanet for a game of Starship sized Skilltester...

I hate fucking Skilltester. Fire turbolasers!

Maybe the model makers added the claw to make the ISD look more "cool" and industrialised.

Gil Hamilton wrote:Alternatively, I imagine it could be useful for retrieving giant stuffed animals and other prizes from various planetary situations.

Damnit. I missed that post. Didn't realise I'd been beaten to it.

In that case, I would have to say the claws are involved in mating somehow.

Big Orange wrote:Maybe the model makers added the claw to make the ISD look more "cool" and industrialised.

Great in-universe explination captain marvelous. Dickhead.

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:It actually makes perfect sense if you two morons would use your fucking brains and an once of common sense and reason.

It doesn't make that much sense. A ship you intend on capturing should be pretty damn disabled already before you let it inside your shields and hangar, particularly when those ships have the firepower and acceleration capacity of StarWars ships. That ISD is in a world of pain if the ship it is trying to capture isn't both declawed and with its legs broken, because the last thing you want is a ship deciding to take the ISD with them by gunning their engines or point blanking the inside of their hangar with their guns.

Maybe it moves large ships around in the hangar? Seems like it can move to the side:
http://www.theforce.net/swtc/Pix/given/rb/isdbay1.jpg

Gil already suggested a good explanation. The claws could simply be a huge magnet that keeps the ship in place. A ship should be held stationary and not bumbling around in the docking bay after all.

I think Batman was only galled at the name in which Spanky mistook what he meant; Electromagnetic Paralyzing Pincer Crane.

Logically, since we see the Tantive IV positioned directly undernearth that armature, it's very likely it has something to do with keeping a ship in position. It doesn't make physical contact with the Tantive, but the fact that the "claw" slides to the middle and is lined up perfectly with the Corellian ship implies it's related in some way (check the shot of R2D2 and C3PO's escape pod blasting free).

Perhaps it has something to do with projecting tractor beams that draw a ship in, or at least hold it in place once it's within the hangar enclosure?

Gil Hamilton wrote:

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:It actually makes perfect sense if you two morons would use your fucking brains and an once of common sense and reason.

It doesn't make that much sense. A ship you intend on capturing should be pretty damn disabled already before you let it inside your shields and hangar, particularly when those ships have the firepower and acceleration capacity of StarWars ships. That ISD is in a world of pain if the ship it is trying to capture isn't both declawed and with its legs broken, because the last thing you want is a ship deciding to take the ISD with them by gunning their engines or point blanking the inside of their hangar with their guns.

There are numerouse EU examples of disabled ships being able to restart. Therefore, you would want to keep the captured ship incapacitated while its inside.

Batman wrote:It may simply be a set of umbilicals for 'small' craft, intended to hold them in place while providing external power, life support, crew access, refuelling/reprovisioning lines and so forth.
And frankly waiting to board a hostile ship until they're already inside yours seems like a Bad Idea (TM). Even if they don't have any active weapons left what if they decide to suicide and take you along with them?

That happened when friends of mine were playing the WEG RPG. Their freighter was docked on the underside of a transport that was loaded with explosives. They got the transport to drop all cargo pods and their freighter with them while the SD's shields were down, then used a remote detonator to blow up the ship.

On a more sensible note, I doubt a large ship commanded by someone who isn't an imbecile is going to reel a smaller ship into its hangar unless that ship has been powered down.

In a recent thread here on this forum, someone stipulated that it's only logical for the inside of a Star Destroyer's hangar(s) to be plated with passive defenses (armor, shielding, or shielded armor) that separate it from the rest of the ship's internal structure. It's a rather large opening, and it would be excessively vulnerable to attack otherwise.
That way, a turbolaser or missile attack that manages to enter the ventral bay would destroy only the hangar system (or an individual part of the hangar system), rather than the entire ship.

Logically, this is the only way that the procedure of drawing captured ships into the docking bay can possibly have manageable risk.

AK_Jedi wrote:There are numerouse EU examples of disabled ships being able to restart. Therefore, you would want to keep the captured ship incapacitated while its inside.

It doesn't sound particularly disabled if it can be readily restarted, does it? As far as I know, engines being damaged enough that they no longer work at all cannot be fixed by rebooting the system, nor weapons being restarted after they've been blown up.

However, until the enemy ship actually gets to the point where it is so banged up it can't fight or flee, there is no point in bringing it within your defensive shields. It would be extremely dangerous to do that. If you've got a pressing need to board a ship that isn't so damaged that it is helpless, you've got tractor beams and boarding craft, which you can utilize while the ship is safely outside your defenses.

However, until the enemy ship actually gets to the point where it is so banged up it can't fight or flee, there is no point in bringing it within your defensive shields. It would be extremely dangerous to do that. If you've got a pressing need to board a ship that isn't so damaged that it is helpless, you've got tractor beams and boarding craft, which you can utilize while the ship is safely outside your defenses.

Even with its engines and weaponry completely disabled, a starship can still be dangerous. Think of what might happen if an inflitrator was able to board a captured ship and detonate its core, or do something similarly devious with just its base operating systems. Theoretically, this "paralyzing" claw could prevent that, while still allowing for the ship to be brought aboard while still within a reasonable state of functionality.