Docking Bay Shield Generators on the Invisible Hand

[Jack Bauer]

After watching RotS again, something is bugging me. When Anakin and Obi-Wan both approach Grievous' flagship, they find that the shields protecting the docking bay is still up. This prompts Obi-Wan into saying to Anakin, "Well have you noticed the shields are still up?"

After a hurried comment of "Sorry master", the Chosen One then shoots to the side of the shield (presumably a power coupling of some sort) and destroys it. As a result, the shield is brought down and our two Jedi heroes can continue on with their mission.

The fact that a VERY small interceptor (the Eta-2 is the size of an airspeeder) can fire a few shots at a stupidly exposed target and manage to bring down the entire docking bay shields of a frontline warship is ridiculous. The designers of the Grievous' flagship are either incompetent, complete idiots, or both.

One wonders why the Venators or the squadrons of ARC-170s just didn't launch precision attacks against those same spots on other ships. Once the shields were down, a huge unprotected section of the interior is exposed. Then you can just fire torpedoes very quickly into the interior before the blast doors close.

So what's the in-universe explanation for such an obvious and fatally stupid design flaw? (The real world explanation was that GL needed a way for Anakin and Obi-Wan to get inside the ship and this was a flashy and quick, but completely unrealistic way to do it.)

[Darth Wong]

Obviously the whole ship is normally protected against attack by the ship's main shields, and those shields were at least briefly taken down during the fighting, so the docking bay's shield was the only thing keeping them out. It's not as if Anakin's starfighter represented the entirety of Republic forces attacking Invisible Hand.

[Jack Bauer]

Obviously the whole ship is normally protected against attack by the ship's main shields, and those shields were at least briefly taken down during the fighting, so the docking bay's shield was the only thing keeping them out. It's not as if Anakin's starfighter represented the entirety of Republic forces attacking Invisible Hand.

That's a fair assessment, but that still doesn't explain or justify why there is an exposed target on the outer hull. On top of that, the firepower from a small fighter-interceptor, like the Eta-2, shouldn't be able to so quickly destroy it.

Which brings to mind the A-Wing that destroyed the bridge deflector shield on the Executor.

[AdmiralKanos]

Obviously the whole ship is normally protected against attack by the ship's main shields, and those shields were at least briefly taken down during the fighting, so the docking bay's shield was the only thing keeping them out. It's not as if Anakin's starfighter represented the entirety of Republic forces attacking Invisible Hand.

That's a fair assessment, but that still doesn't explain or justify why there is an exposed target on the outer hull. On top of that, the firepower from a small fighter-interceptor, like the Eta-2, shouldn't be able to so quickly destroy it.

You're missing the point; it would not be exposed if the shields were up. And if the main shields are fluctuating, the ship is on the verge of defeat anyway, so what difference does it make if they can get into a docking bay?

Which brings to mind the A-Wing that destroyed the bridge deflector shield on the Executor.

Same situation; the main shields had to be brought down first.

[Noble Ire]

Which brings to mind the A-Wing that destroyed the bridge deflector shield on the Executor.

Again, there was already a fleet bombardment underway that was severly taxing the Executor's shields (Admiral Ackbar's statement "Focus on that Super Star Destroyer.") The fighters that destroyed the bridge balls were merely weakening the bridge shields sufficently to allow a attack to get through (and those globes arnt shield generators, just parts of the system.)

....when Mike's around, one cant get a word in edgewise.

[Vympel]

The A-Wings didn't bring down Executor's bridge deflector shield. That was a symptom of the shield being down, not a cause.

There is no visible resistance to Anakin's laserfire in RotS, it's quite obvious the shields are down, as already stated- you can compare this to some quite obvious bolt/shield interactions seen earlier in the battle (in particular, a turbolaser blast that impacts a TF Battleship in the scene where the Venator hangar gun blows a ship in half).

As to it being vulnerable even when the shields are down, it is obviously not a well armored structure- SW capital ships are vulnerable to fighter attack once they lose their shields in general. We've known this since the RotJ novelization (Ackbar's comment that Rebel fighters "might stand a chance" against Imperial capital ships if the Rebel capital ships can knock their shields down) and it was reaffirmed in TPM (Naboo N1 fighters stood no chance of damaging the TF Battleship).

Besides, the Invisible Hand is a case-study in bad ship design- it was sheer luck that an intrepid ARC-170 or V-Wing pilot didn't manage a strafing run on the ridiculously exposed bridge when the shields were lost. I think it's easily the most poorly designed ship we've ever seen in Star Wars.

[Molyneux]

Besides, the Invisible Hand is a case-study in bad ship design- it was sheer luck that an intrepid ARC-170 or V-Wing pilot didn't manage a strafing run on the ridiculously exposed bridge when the shields were lost. I think it's easily the most poorly designed ship we've ever seen in Star Wars.

I'd say that odds are it's a recommissioned yacht or something bizarre like that...the Separatists never were THAT good with ship design, and a good warship is a hard thing to build when you don't know the first thing about it.

[Connor MacLeod]

Obviously the whole ship is normally protected against attack by the ship's main shields, and those shields were at least briefly taken down during the fighting, so the docking bay's shield was the only thing keeping them out. It's not as if Anakin's starfighter represented the entirety of Republic forces attacking Invisible Hand.

Its worth noting that I do seem to notice "shield interactions" when Anakin's bolts strike that segment, suggesting at least some form of shielding was up around that area.

[Ford Prefect]

The Hand was badly designed, but it did happen to be rather nice looking. Any idea whether it used to be a non-combat craft design before hand?

[Jim Raynor]

The Invisible Hand and other ships of its class didn't start out as civilian ships like the Lucrehulk-class "Battleships" (Trade Federation doughnuts), but I still doubt they're anywhere close to the peak of SW warship design. They're described as Providence-class carrier/destroyers, and I would guess that the emphasis was on the carrier part. According to the SW.com databank, Grievous further modified the Invisible Hand by rearranging its reactor to accomadate more starfighters and invasion craft, and turning the sensor/communications pod into a private sanctum and propaganda base for Dooku. These modifications sound like they reduced the ship's combat ability even more.

[Glimmervoid]

With the power of starwars cap weapons (multi giga tons min) if you loose your main shields and don’t have a hostage on board, so you are not shot at, you are dead almost at once. So I don’t see why there is a problem with the docking bay shields being on the out side. Having it on the out side would mean that there was more space for fighters in side which can only be a good thing.

[Darth Servo]

On top of that, the firepower from a small fighter-interceptor, like the Eta-2, shouldn't be able to so quickly destroy it.

Since Palpatine was dictating both sides of this fight, you really think he would have let the Separtists have a ship where it was impossible for Anakin to rescue him? Palpy probably appointed the guys who designed the Invisible Hand in the first place.