The Official Episode III spoiler thread

Clone Sergeant · Post by **Clone Sergeant** » 2005-03-19 02:44pm

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet but VD shows that the Separatist mass driver deck gun also has an ion cannon coaxially mounted. It may be that the ion cannon weakens or disables a ship's shielding in an area before the mass driver sends a round toward the target.

The Original Nex · Post by **The Original Nex** » 2005-03-19 02:56pm

Yes I noticed that also. That's a likely conclusion.

Post by **Vympel** » 2005-03-20 05:33am

Confirmed: it's Anakin that tells Mace that Palpatine and Darth Sidious are one and the same person- Mace had previously suspected only that Palpatine was in league with Sidious. This is in the Mace Windu section of the VD.

Post by **Gandalf** » 2005-03-20 07:00am

I know this isn't a spoiler like the rest of these, but GL said in an interview that Mustafar is supposed to be hell. Where a deal is done with the devil.

VT-16 · Post by **VT-16** » 2005-03-20 07:48am

The "Devil" is Palpatine, "Hell" is where Anakin/Vader goes after killing his fellow Jedi.

I wouldn´t look further into it than that.

Post by **Gandalf** » 2005-03-20 07:50am

VT-16 wrote:The "Devil" is Palpatine, "Hell" is where Anakin/Vader goes after killing his fellow Jedi.

I wouldn´t look further into it than that.

Probably, but I found it interesting nonetheless.

VT-16 · Post by **VT-16** » 2005-03-20 09:06pm

Scans of the Visionaries comic can be found on the MF.com board. In the Grievous story, it seems they performed a blood transfusion from Sifo-Dyas´ frozen corpse to Grievous and "conditioned" him so as to remove all forms of emotion he might have had as a Kaleesh, only retaining his anger and hatred.

I believe it is implied that their experiment has yielded an "artificial" Sith, augmented by a high midichlorian level. Though he is nowhere near the same level as Dooku or Sidious, only an agent of the Sith. (Like a low-end Maul?)

Since the experiment has taken so long, it´s no wonder it isn´t attempted more often. Seems midichlorian-transfer in and of itself isn´t enough, you need proper "conditioning" and manipulation. (Possibly some Sith magic as well...)

Post by **Vympel** » 2005-03-20 09:12pm

Darth Maul was a fully fledged Sith Lord, he wasn't a second-rate agent. Second-rate agents include Asajj Ventress and the two Jedi mentioned in the ROTS novelization. Obi-Wan killing him put a serious crimp in Palpatine's plans and directed his attention to young Anakin.

VT-16 · Post by **VT-16** » 2005-03-20 09:39pm

I did say "low-end Maul".

Post by **Vympel** » 2005-03-20 10:07pm

Darth Vader (pre-suit) quote, from the game cards:

"Don't lecture me, Obi-Wan. I see through the lies of the Jedi. I do not fear the dark side, as you do. I have brought peace to my new Empire ..."

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2005-03-21 01:01am

I only looked at the first few pages of that Grievous comic, since it was a little too hard to read and its art style reminded me too much of a bunch of European porn comics...

Post by **Vympel** » 2005-03-21 09:52am

In case anymore confirmation was required, Darth Vader does lose his legs in his battle with Obi-Wan Kenobi. There's a toy of Vader in the operating tabe, in most of his suit except for the helmet (we see the familiar burnt visage) and cybernetic leg "stumps" waiting to accept the appropriate boot addition. Which of course explains the Anakin/Darth Vader post-suit height discrepancy.

So basically, Obi-Wan reduced him to a Black Knight joke from Monty Python, with the exception of his already artificial right arm.

Oh yeah ... I'm so glad Vader got his vengeance. Obi-Wan has always irked me.

Firefox · Post by **Firefox** » 2005-03-21 10:34am

Here's some new photos of the Revell RotS kits. I'm already disappointed with the Venator. It looks way too cartoonish with the lack of detail.

Meest · Post by **Meest** » 2005-03-21 02:15pm

Vympel wrote:In case anymore confirmation was required, Darth Vader does lose his legs in his battle with Obi-Wan Kenobi. There's a toy of Vader in the operating tabe, in most of his suit except for the helmet (we see the familiar burnt visage) and cybernetic leg "stumps" waiting to accept the appropriate boot addition. Which of course explains the Anakin/Darth Vader post-suit height discrepancy.

So basically, Obi-Wan reduced him to a Black Knight joke from Monty Python, with the exception of his already artificial right arm.

Oh yeah ... I'm so glad Vader got his vengeance. Obi-Wan has always irked me.

I still don't like how he can lose both legs and another arm (all in one swipe supposedly), and still be hanging on and even trading words with Obi, there's alot of fine details I'm starting to get seconds thoughts about, overall though sounds good.

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2005-03-21 03:10pm

It's possible that all he loses is the arm-- the legs could have been shattered so badly in the fall that they couldn't be repaired, even with bacta and/or surgery. However, even without his arm, it's quite possible that full of the Dark Side, Anakin continues fighting one-handed, and Obi has to take him down drastically. *shrugs* that's just my thoughts though...

Dillon · Post by **Dillon** » 2005-03-21 03:28pm

Meest wrote:I still don't like how he can lose both legs and another arm (all in one swipe supposedly), and still be hanging on and even trading words with Obi, there's alot of fine details I'm starting to get seconds thoughts about, overall though sounds good.

Well it is his robotic arm, which was demonstrated to be fairly strong in the CW cartoons.

Connor MacLeod · Post by **Connor MacLeod** » 2005-03-21 04:08pm

President Sharky wrote:ARRRRRRRRGGGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was stated long ago in the ANH novelization that the Death Star took many years to build.. in secret in fact.

Edit: forgot to remove image

The Original Nex · Post by **The Original Nex** » 2005-03-21 08:58pm

Exerpts from "The Art of Revenge" on Hyperspace details that the "AT-AP" 3-legged walker can indeed fold its front leg up and travel bipedally.

President Sharky · Post by **President Sharky** » 2005-03-21 11:26pm

Someone at TF.N has the ICS. Here's some info I've been able to gather:

Table of Contents
Star Destroyer - Venator Class
ARC-170 Fighter
V-Wing Fighter
Jedi Interceptor AKA Anakin's Starfighter
Tri-Fighter
Buzz Droid
Droid Gunship
Invisible Hand (fold out) - with blurbs on the Banking Clan Frigate and Commerce Guild Destroyer
Juggernaut
AT-RT Walker
Utapaun P-38 Fighter
Techno Union Starfighter
Grievous' Wheelbike
Wookiee Catamaran
Palpatine's Shuttle, as seen in the beginning of the trailer
Yoda's Escape Pods

Venator-class Star Destroyer

The Galatic Republic's new Venator-class Star Destroyer is fast enough to chase down blockade runners and big enough to lead independent missions such as the liberation of Utapau. A floatila of these medium-weight, versatile multi-role warships can blast through the shields of a Trade Federation battleship with ease. The hangars of the Venator-class are much larger than older Star Destroyers like the Victory-class, and can support hundreds of fightercraft. The ship is also capable of planetary landings as a military transport and can be an escort for battleships in the Republic's armada. However, the primary function of the Venator-class is its role as a fighting ship and starfighter carrier, making it a firm favorite with Jedi fighter aces.

Stats:
1,137 meters long, 548 m wingspan
max acceleration: 3000 G
hyperdrive class: 1.0
crew: 7400
armament: 8 heavy turbolaser turrets, 2 medium dual turbolaser cannons, 52 point-defense laser cannons, 4 proton torpedo tubes, 6 tractor beam projectors.

Complement: 192 V-Wing fighters, 192 Eta-2 Actis Interceptors, 36 ARC-170 Fighters, 24 military walkers, 40 LAAT/i gunships and misc. shuttles.

Droid Gunship

Ominous in appearance and relentless in battle, the droid gunship is a powerful, well-shielded millile platform. Designed for air strikes within planet atmospheres, it moves at relatively slow speeds and displays average maneuverability, but this is compensated for by its awesome firepower. Two laser cannon turrets can track targets independently, while torpedoes and missiles prove devastating against ground-based installations, attack vehicles and faster short-range targets. The wing modules can carry extra laser cannons, concussion bombs and upgraded targeting scanners. The droid gunship is truly a symbol of Separatist military might.

Stats:
12.3 meters long, 11 meters wide
max acceleration: 100G
max air speed: 14,200 KPH
armament: 14 missiles, 2 laser cannon turrets, 1 medium laser cannon, 2 light laser cannons.

General Grievous' Wheel bike

General Grievous' fearsome reputation as a merciless military leader is reinforced by a personal fleet of specialized killing machines and vehicles. On cavernous Utapau, the cyborg general; drives a wheel bike - a tumbling twin-wheel that surrounds a central motor. Grievous' military vehicle is an offshoot of the Banking Clan's hoop-wheeled Hailfire droids, designed to roll at initmidating speed on hard surfaces. It can also raise itself up on two pairs of legs to walk over the top of battle wrecks and other obstacles. A double laser cannon replaces one side seat and Grievous can wield either a convieniently placed electrostaff, a blaster, or one of his Jedi lightsaber trophies when he rolls into a battle. Flexing claws skirt the wheels to provide a smoother ride, or clutch the ground as climbing teeth. The bike's strong grip allows amazing acrobatics, an ability displayed when Grievous is pursued by Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Grievous' fighter

Although he prefers hand-to-hand combat, General Grievious often flies a battle-worn Belbullab-22 fighter designed by Feethan Ottraw Scalable Assemblies, specialists in self-constructing armaments factories. Made for a living pilot, the hyperdrive-equipped craft is bulkier and hardier than disposable droid fighters. Two main ion drives enable the Belbullab to keep pace with an Utapauan P-38. A rear-mounted thrust-vectoring fin and auxiliary thrusters built into the wings assist with yaw and roll maneuvers. Raoid-firing triple leaser cannons sustain firepower of equivalent destructive force to that of the V-Wing starfighters.

Invisible Hand Stats

length: 1,088 meters
propulsion: 4 Nubian Creveld-4 radial ion drives
max acceleration: 2,500 G
max speed: 2000 KPH
hyperdrive class 1.5
crew: 600 and up to 1.5 million battle droids
armament: 14 quad turbolaser turrets, 34 dual laser cannons, 2 ion cannons, 12 point-defense ion cannons, 102 proton torpedo tubes.
complement: 120 droid tri-fighters, 120 vulture fighters, 160 MTTs, 280 assorted droid armored vehicles.

Commerce Guild Support Destroyer:

Recusant-class light destroyers are mass-produced by zealous workers led by Techno Union foremen, using materials from many Commerce Guild worlds. Since the beginning of the Clone Wars, countless numbers of these support vessels have been built, destroyerd in battle, and replaced. Lone Recusant-class ships often carry out attacks on Loyalist commercial shipping, but their real effectiveness becomes apparent when deployed in large numbers. Four to six can outgun a Venator-class or Victory-class Star Destroyer, but it would take 1,000 Recusant-class ships to take on Kuat Drive Yard's Mandator II Star Dreadnaught.

Stats:
1,187 meters long, 157 meters wide, 163 meters tall
Acceleration: 2,800G
hyperdrive class: 2.0; 30,000 light year effective range
300 crew, up to 40,000 deactivated battle droids
Weapons: 1 prow heavy turbolaser cannon, 4 heavy turbolaser cannons, 6 heavy turbolaser turrets, 5 turbolaser cannons, 30 dual laser cannons, 12 dual light laser cannons, 60 point-defense laser cannons.

generator_g1 · Post by **generator_g1** » 2005-03-21 11:39pm

So according to the ICS, Victory star destroyers are actually older than the Venators, so the sequence of SD models should be:

Acclamators ---> Victory ---> Venator ---> Imperial I ---> Imperial II

Firefox · Post by **Firefox** » 2005-03-22 12:05am

So there's no mention of the Mandator aside from the one statement? I was hoping to get some information on that dreadnought.

Cool to finally see the Venator stats, though. So she's about 2/3 the size of an Imperator.

Post by **Vympel** » 2005-03-22 12:19am

Well, it says Mandator II, so presumably its not the same ship as the original.

Connor MacLeod · Post by **Connor MacLeod** » 2005-03-22 02:04am

Clone Sergeant wrote:I don't know if this has been mentioned yet but VD shows that the Separatist mass driver deck gun also has an ion cannon coaxially mounted. It may be that the ion cannon weakens or disables a ship's shielding in an area before the mass driver sends a round toward the target.

Wouldn't work with an ion cannon that size. Ion cannons don't have any magic shield-penetrating capability (despite what WEG implied) so the ion cannon bolt would have to overwhelm the same heat sink/dissipation capacities a TL bolt would have to.

I'd say it would work in reverse. The projectile is meant to knock out the shields in a section (possibly the projectile has shield-penetrating capabilities) and then the ion bolt fires through the gap.

Gorefiend · Post by **Gorefiend** » 2005-03-22 02:29am

Complement: 192 V-Wing fighters, 192 Eta-2 Actis Interceptors, 36 ARC-170 Fighters, 24 military walkers, 40 LAAT/i gunships and misc. shuttles.

no way o.O
That thing holds 35 fighter squadron that is ~ 3 times as much as a kuati star dreadnaught, and ~6 times as much as an imperial class star destroyer

Connor MacLeod · Post by **Connor MacLeod** » 2005-03-22 04:01am

Gorefiend wrote:
Complement: 192 V-Wing fighters, 192 Eta-2 Actis Interceptors, 36 ARC-170 Fighters, 24 military walkers, 40 LAAT/i gunships and misc. shuttles.
no way o.O
That thing holds 35 fighter squadron that is ~ 3 times as much as a kuati star dreadnaught, and ~6 times as much as an imperial class star destroyer

You're thinking of the 5 mile "Super Star Destroyer that isn't the Executor despite what WEG says." The Knight Hammer (an Executor-style SSD) carried thousands of TIEs for example.