How Did Executor's Sheilds Go Down?

[Aaron]

So what exactly where the Gallorfree's doing at Endor anyways? Fireships? Fighter tankers?

[Alexus]

I was told they were used as ramming ships, but that seems a bit... inconsistent. They are armed though. This arsenal consists of a laser cannon.

[Thirdfain]

There is a rather far out EU explanation that the rebels used some unique power crystals taken from a pirate gang, and that was what downed the Executor's shields. Can't say I like that one though..

That took place after ANH, during the rebel evacuation of Yavin through a blockade headed by the newly-christened HIMS Executor. They managed to kill the ship's shields with this one-time use crystal weapon originally designed by a pirate clan the Jedi had wiped out, and then damage the DN's engines, buying the rebels enough time to escape.

[Aaron]

I was told they were used as ramming ships, but that seems a bit... inconsistent. They are armed though. This arsenal consists of a laser cannon.

Well I guess when you need every weapon you can field that laser cannon will be helpful. But I have a hard time seeing those transports not being blasted in a couple of shots by the Executor's escorts. At least if they were used as firships and packed with explosives they would be able to do some damage. That laser canon would be like a mosquito attaking a whale.

*Cpl Kendall Edit: edited for spelling.*

[Alexus]

Well, I bet a thousand could take out an ISD. Or... ten thousand. Or a million.

[Aaron]

Well, I bet a thousand could take out an ISD. Or... ten thousand. Or a million.

If the ISD was magically unable to fire back.

[Alexus]

It could take out maybe sixty in a single second so... yeah. The transports are screwed. But every two TL bolts hitting a droid controlled Transport are not hitting a Mon Cal Cruiser.

[Aaron]

Provided that the transports aren't being used as fireships the ISDs could effectively ignore those transports for a long time before they became a threat with their single laser cannon.

[Alexus]

Good point. I think Endor was the Rebel putting all their eggs in one basket. Every single ship assembled. So they would have every laser to use against the defences. They expected a defence of at least 2 SDs and 1 SSD (Saxton)

[Aaron]

Good point. I think Endor was the Rebel putting all their eggs in one basket. Every single ship assembled. So they would have every laser to use against the defences. They expected a defence of at least 2 SDs and 1 SSD (Saxton)

Defiently, if not for a heathly dose of luck (or the Force) they would have been fucked and hard.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Good point. I think Endor was the Rebel putting all their eggs in one basket. Every single ship assembled. So they would have every laser to use against the defences. They expected a defence of at least 2 SDs and 1 SSD (Saxton)

Defiently, if not for a heathly dose of luck (or the Force) they would have been fucked and hard.

Wha-HOO! Lets here it for Plot Devices aka Luck Aka The Force ((Stravo just did a lovely Essay on this whole issue))

My take on all of this is the the combined fire power of several MonCal ships took down basically 1/100th of a massive ships shields, and the Rebles got lucky. ((or The Force helped him, take your pick))

[Wicked Pilot]

The transports and corvettes were good models, already paid for during previous films. The two Calamari cruisers because of their nature probably cost a fortune to build, so there may have not been enough time and/or money to produce any more foreground quality models.


As to in universe explainations I like the fireship theory, but it's a post movie explaination that I don't buy. We never see the ships involved with any kind of offensive actions, and the fact that a good number of them survive makes me wonder why they weren't all used.

[Aaron]

The transports and corvettes were good models, already paid for during previous films. The two Calamari cruisers because of their nature probably cost a fortune to build, so there may have not been enough time and/or money to produce any more foreground quality models.


As to in universe explainations I like the fireship theory, but it's a post movie explaination that I don't buy. We never see the ships involved with any kind of offensive actions, and the fact that a good number of them survive makes me wonder why they weren't all used.

My pet theory is that they were used as tankers for the fighters. If they were used as fireships most of them should have been destroyed. Same as if they had been engaged in actual combat, unless the Imps ingnored them because they were ineffective.

[Grandmaster Jogurt]

Since the Rebel fleet stretched out farther than one could see, according to the novelisation, there could have been a very large number of transports at the beginning of the battle. The fact that some survived to the end doesn't mean that the fireship tactic wasn't used, just that it wasn't used by all of them. Someone here suggested that some or all of the transports may have had their cargo space filled with missiles or turbolaser batteries.

Would it make sense to have the suicide ships ram ISDs or the Executor early on, to prevent them from beind destroyed, while several other transports acted as jury-rigged frigates and fought out the rest of the battle?

[Aaron]

Would it make sense to have the suicide ships ram ISDs or the Executor early on, to prevent them from beind destroyed, while several other transports acted as jury-rigged frigates and fought out the rest of the battle?

Ramming early on = yes

Battleing as frigates = no. For the following reasons. You can slap turbolasers on a transport but it doesn't make it a warship. You still need reactors to power it and better shields to protect it. The Gallorfree Transport is free space filled with cargo containers sealed with a magenetic shield. So in order for it to be converted to a warship you'd either have to rig something up in containers or weld plate metal over the empty space and the ship is only 90 meters long, that doesn't leave much space for effective warfighting equipment beyond laser cannons or light turbolasers.

These ships wouldn't last long with the firpower being tossed around by the ships at Endor which enclude a Dreadnought and 2 Super Cruisers. If I was an Imp gunner I'd waste one for the thrill of a cheap kill. I'm suprised an survived the engagement at all. Just like I'm suprised the corvettes and frigates did.

[Illuminatus Primus]

There is a rather far out EU explanation that the rebels used some unique power crystals taken from a pirate gang, and that was what downed the Executor's shields. Can't say I like that one though..

No, that's what they wanted to do before the Yavin base got annhiliated. That's not actually what happened.

[Grandmaster Jogurt]

You can slap turbolasers on a transport but it doesn't make it a warship. You still need reactors to power it and better shields to protect it.

I was considering that they would use the cargo space for the reactors. But I was unaware that the ships were that small. Looking at it in this light, even if they were able to somehow work up an effective weapons system, it wouldn't even be as powerful as a corvette.

I concede on the jury-rigged warship suggestion.

[nightmare]

There is a rather far out EU explanation that the rebels used some unique power crystals taken from a pirate gang, and that was what downed the Executor's shields. Can't say I like that one though..

No, that's what they wanted to do before the Yavin base got annhiliated. That's not actually what happened.

Not what I read. Got any details?

[Chris OFarrell]

The rebels blew the bridge shields down with a heavy salvo. This let the A-Wings get a shot in at the shield projectors in the domes on the bridge, killing the Exeuctors ability to simply recharge the shields in a second or two with other power. If they could have reconfigured the other shield generators to extend the cover back across, I don't know.

[Lord Pounder]

A great deal of the Rebel Fleet was indeed normal freighters with guns strapped on. They where the original Assault Frigates according to one of the X-Wing books.

[Elfdart]

I always thought the blockade runners and transports were at Endor for three reasons:

1) Their guns might not do much to the ISDs, but they could blow away fighters.

2) For ramming and/ or boarding Imperial ships -though I doubt the same ships would be used for both .

3) If the Death Star's shields were knocked out as easily as planned, Han Solo's team was still stuck on Endor and surrounded by Imperial troops. The smaller ships might have been there to support the commando team on the ground and were pressed into fighting the Imperial fleet.

[Crossroads Inc.]

I Agree fully Elfdart, personally I always thought a lot of the smaller ships were there at Endor for two reasons. The rebles thought:

1: The shields would be down and they could assualt Endors Moon and rescue the assualt team.
2: As far as they knew, there may have been at most 5 Star Destroyers and the Executor defending the DSII

[Aaron]

A great deal of the Rebel Fleet was indeed normal freighters with guns strapped on. They where the original Assault Frigates according to one of the X-Wing books.

Fuck they must have gotten hammered.

[Elfdart]

A great deal of the Rebel Fleet was indeed normal freighters with guns strapped on. They where the original Assault Frigates according to one of the X-Wing books.

Fuck they must have gotten hammered.

When Ackbar orders the fleet to move away from the Death Star, there are more transports and blockade runners left (at least in that one shot) than cruisers and frigates.

The ISDs did nothing but launch fighters until the Rebel fleet closed with them. At that point, I'd imagine they focused on the larger ships, although aside from the Death Star's two kills, the only mid-to-large Rebel ship destroyed was a corvette. Unless that one frigate that engaged the Executor at point blank range was in some sort of blind spot, I doubt it survived the battle, though.

[Darth Yoshi]

The aft of capships are usually considered blind spots, other than the engine wash. Of course, this comes from the X-wing series game mechanics, so take that as you will.

Unless the frigate didn't move to the aft of the Executor, in which case I'll shut up now.