How much damage can a planetary sheild soak up?

NeoGoomba · Post by **NeoGoomba** » 2004-10-07 12:31pm

I was wondering if there are any instances (besides the whole Alderaan shield) of a planetary shield falling from a concentrated attack, and thus get an idea of the amount of energy needed to do so.

Gustav32Vasa · Post by **Gustav32Vasa** » 2004-10-07 12:40pm

One of Coruscants shield fell after a powerful storm in the X-wing books.

Ender · Post by **Ender** » 2004-10-07 12:45pm

Gustav32Vasa wrote:One of Coruscants shield fell after a powerful storm in the X-wing books.

Not quite accurate, they used a storm to take down the power grid supplyiung power to the shields. They didn't overwhelm the shields themselves.

To answer the question: we aren't sure. According to OTITW planetary shields dump some of the energy into the planet's core, so how much can be applied there is a factor. Then there is surface area and such. But taking out the whole planetary shield is unnecessary, you just need a portion of it, open a gap and then a long drawn out battle to take control.

IF it helps, in the Alderaan scene the Death Star took something like 1E32 joules of KE from the debris.

JME2 · Post by **JME2** » 2004-10-07 03:08pm

Coruscant's shield was able to withstand hundreds, if not, thousands of refugee ships slamming into it before collapsing in Star by Star.

Ender · Post by **Ender** » 2004-10-07 03:12pm

JME2 wrote:Coruscant's shield was able to withstand hundreds, if not, thousands of refugee ships slamming into it before collapsing in Star by Star.

It was also getting pounded by the Vong ships, which increases the energy by a shit ton

JME2 · Post by **JME2** » 2004-10-07 03:17pm

Ender wrote:
JME2 wrote:Coruscant's shield was able to withstand hundreds, if not, thousands of refugee ships slamming into it before collapsing in Star by Star.
It was also getting pounded by the Vong ships, which increases the energy by a shit ton

My bad.

But you're correct. The Vong attack forced numbered 2,000, which was the largest assembly of Vong ships at that stage of the Invasion, though the Battles of Ebaq 9 and the Vong's attack on Mon Calamari would drawf it.

True, the first two waves were wiped out by mines and the Republic fleet, but that's still a shit ton of energy hitting the shield.

Ender · Post by **Ender** » 2004-10-07 03:21pm

JME2 wrote:
Ender wrote:
JME2 wrote:Coruscant's shield was able to withstand hundreds, if not, thousands of refugee ships slamming into it before collapsing in Star by Star.
It was also getting pounded by the Vong ships, which increases the energy by a shit ton
My bad.

But you're correct.

Um, I was supporting you, not correcting you.

The Vong attack forced numbered 2,000, which was the largest assembly of Vong ships at that stage of the Invasion, though the Battles of Ebaq 9 and the Vong's attack on Mon Calamari would drawf it.

That little? Where was the source for that? I remember that a minor fleet at Black Bantha had 1,000 ships, and the scrapped together fleet the NR had numbered 900 (which was a beautiful thing, it showed a sense of scale so appropriate it was phenomanal)

JME2 · Post by **JME2** » 2004-10-07 03:26pm

Argh, my bad once again.

There was 1,000 at the Black Bantha, yes (2,000 was the number I used for my crossover; my bad). Ebaq 9 was slightly larger, I believe, and the Mon Calimari force was 5,000.

(and about earlier, I meant that I had forgotten about the Vong firing on the shield as well)

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2004-10-07 05:43pm

Gustav32Vasa wrote:One of Coruscants shield fell after a powerful storm in the X-wing books.

After a storm took out the unshielded bits of the power grid and Rogue Squadron torpedoed the rest of it. The shield itself was never scratched.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2004-10-07 05:44pm

Ender wrote:
JME2 wrote:Coruscant's shield was able to withstand hundreds, if not, thousands of refugee ships slamming into it before collapsing in Star by Star.
It was also getting pounded by the Vong ships, which increases the energy by a shit ton

Not only did the Vong pound it, damaged Vong ships (about half the fleet) also rammed into it. And it STILL took them an hour.

Solauren · Post by **Solauren** » 2004-10-07 10:42pm

To drop a small area of a planetary shield for a split second with a wide enough area for a quick Turbolaser shot, it takes 250 precisiously aimed Proton Torpedoes, if that give you any indication.

250 Protons to open a 10 meter whole for roughly 1 second....

nightmare · Post by **nightmare** » 2004-10-07 10:50pm

There's the BFC fleet which was considered a threat to shielded planets. 44 Imperial ships, VSD and up (although the EX-F puts that statement in some question), three "super" class, one of them the Intimidator.

That seems pretty low, so although it seems like they weren't including the Yevetha's thrustships with this, logically they should have. Of which there was an unspecified number.

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2004-10-07 11:00pm

No, the Black Fleet contained enough ships to overwhelm Coruscant's defenses (which means little in the era; the NR defenses are paltry and its easier to rip down the shields when you can sit there at leisure). The Black Fleet contained 44 VSD-and-bigger ships, the EX-F, and the Intimidator; it was the missing set of ships from BLACKSWORDCOM, which included the three Executors.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2004-10-08 01:14am

Illuminatus Primus wrote:No, the Black Fleet contained enough ships to overwhelm Coruscant's defenses (which means little in the era; the NR defenses are paltry and its easier to rip down the shields when you can sit there at leisure). The Black Fleet contained 44 VSD-and-bigger ships, the EX-F, and the Intimidator; it was the missing set of ships from BLACKSWORDCOM, which included the three Executors.

And over 200 Yevethan frigates.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2004-10-08 01:19am

Solauren wrote:To drop a small area of a planetary shield for a split second with a wide enough area for a quick Turbolaser shot, it takes 250 precisiously aimed Proton Torpedoes, if that give you any indication.

250 Protons to open a 10 meter whole for roughly 1 second....

Where'd you get these numbers?

Gustav32Vasa · Post by **Gustav32Vasa** » 2004-10-08 09:21am

Ender wrote:
Gustav32Vasa wrote:One of Coruscants shield fell after a powerful storm in the X-wing books.
Not quite accurate, they used a storm to take down the power grid supplyiung power to the shields. They didn't overwhelm the shields themselves.

Oops,

your correct.

consequences · Post by **consequences** » 2004-10-08 01:56pm

Praxis wrote:
Solauren wrote:To drop a small area of a planetary shield for a split second with a wide enough area for a quick Turbolaser shot, it takes 250 precisiously aimed Proton Torpedoes, if that give you any indication.

250 Protons to open a 10 meter whole for roughly 1 second....
Where'd you get these numbers?

He's using the Torpedo Sphere, which I believe was a WEG creation. Except I remember it having five hundred tubes rigged for simultaneous fire and optimized for use against planetary shields.

white_rabbit · Post by **white_rabbit** » 2004-10-08 02:29pm

Lusenkya blew its way out from the inside, probably not particularly helpful though,

I wonder whether hitting a shield from the other side means its weaker ?

consequences · Post by **consequences** » 2004-10-08 02:43pm

white_rabbit wrote:Lusenkya blew its way out from the inside, probably not particularly helpful though,

I wonder whether hitting a shield from the other side means its weaker ?

Remembe that this was soon after the primary projector for the shield's had been taken out in the course of the NR conquest of Coruscant, and that the NR had been very distracted by the Krytos virus and the terrorist cells operating on Coruscant, so they probably didn't put as high a priority on getting the shield fully operational as they could have.

Other possibilities include the local generators for that are having been destroyed when Lusankya uprooted itself, or that the NR deliberately let them go rather than have an Endor Holocaust style event on their capital(11 miles of ship vaporising inside your planetary shield = everybody within LOS dead)

The Cleric · Post by **The Cleric** » 2004-10-08 06:25pm

The Lusankya blasted out from the inside. If I really have to, I'll pull out the book and quote the section.

President Sharky · Post by **President Sharky** » 2004-10-09 12:18am

JME2 wrote:Argh, my bad once again.

There was 1,000 at the Black Bantha, yes (2,000 was the number I used for my crossover; my bad). Ebaq 9 was slightly larger, I believe, and the Mon Calimari force was 5,000.

(and about earlier, I meant that I had forgotten about the Vong firing on the shield as well)

Star by Star actually describes the Vong fleet as numbering in the tens of thousands.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2004-10-09 01:46am

white_rabbit wrote:Lusenkya blew its way out from the inside, probably not particularly helpful though,

I wonder whether hitting a shield from the other side means its weaker ?

No, they turned the shield off. Better to let the SSD out of the shield than keep it IN the shield where it can raze the planet.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2004-10-09 01:46am

President Sharky wrote:
JME2 wrote:Argh, my bad once again.

There was 1,000 at the Black Bantha, yes (2,000 was the number I used for my crossover; my bad). Ebaq 9 was slightly larger, I believe, and the Mon Calimari force was 5,000.

(and about earlier, I meant that I had forgotten about the Vong firing on the shield as well)
Star by Star actually describes the Vong fleet as numbering in the tens of thousands.

I've heard this, but could never find any numbers. What's the quote?

SPOOFE · Post by **SPOOFE** » 2004-10-09 05:17am

And over 200 Yevethan frigates.

The quote about Black Sword Command being enough to overwhelm Coruscant's defenses was made before the New Republic knew anything about the Yevethan fleet. They hadn't even SEEN a thrustship until Nil Spaar landed on Coruscant for the first time.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2004-10-09 09:37am

JME2 wrote:But you're correct. The Vong attack forced numbered 2,000, which was the largest assembly of Vong ships at that stage of the Invasion, though the Battles of Ebaq 9 and the Vong's attack on Mon Calamari would drawf it.

Where the hell did you pull that number from? 30,000 more like it.
The 2000 number was just the number of ships at the staging point and more and more ships where arriving all the time.