SWIII questions

[Guardsman Bass]

11. Not so much in the movie but Jedi are not supposed to have famillies. It seems like they would incourage famillies as it would provide an extra anchor holding them to the light side. Also since the force is partly herdity it would allow them to increase their numbers. Plus if you forbide attachements they will usally form anyways and then the they will try to hide and put them even closer to the dark side.

Anakin seemed a bit like a weird case, considering that there are records of Jedi families from the Sith war with Exar Kun. What led him to the dark side seemed more like his possessiveness of Padme. Sort of what you see him acting like once he's made the jump to Sith Lord in the novelization, where it mentions that Padme's tears are precious to him because they are his, and he bought them with innocent blood.

[Kurgan]

So those fighter sized ships were using their tractor beams on the hulk of the invisible hand in that scene?

Sounds good.

Again, this just seems like something within their technology that they shouldn't be unprepared for. They should be prepared for small and large ships alike to crash in the middle of metropolitan areas.

Were they simply overwhelmed by all the crashing ships all over the planet during this battle and this explains the meager help they gave to this ship? Perhaps.

[Noble Ire]

Again, this just seems like something within their technology that they shouldn't be unprepared for. They should be prepared for small and large ships alike to crash in the middle of metropolitan areas.

Were they simply overwhelmed by all the crashing ships all over the planet during this battle and this explains the meager help they gave to this ship? Perhaps.

Think about it this way. The Secret Service and the White House's defensive perimeter is pretty good at stopping the random nutbar or protestor, no? Does that mean that it could stop an armored brigade from rolling up and turning the mansion into ash? No. Defenses, be they military or civil, are not designed to stop threats that would almost always be waylaid long before reaching them. The hostile armored brigade would have a hard time getting into the country at all, much less making it to Washington, and Coruscant's shield and defense fleet would destroy or stall any attacking force, save one that could bypass thoughs defenses altogether, as GG's did.

On further review, that analogy would probably be better suited to the battle itself. Think about costal breakwaters. Good at stopping natural waves? Mostly. Good at stopping a super tsunami caused by an asteroid impact? No. You get the point.

[Kurgan]

Think about it this way. The Secret Service and the White House's defensive perimeter is pretty good at stopping the random nutbar or protestor, no? Does that mean that it could stop an armored brigade from rolling up and turning the mansion into ash? No. Defenses, be they military or civil, are not designed to stop threats that would almost always be waylaid long before reaching them. The hostile armored brigade would have a hard time getting into the country at all, much less making it to Washington, and Coruscant's shield and defense fleet would destroy or stall any attacking force, save one that could bypass thoughs defenses altogether, as GG's did.

The difference is in the real world we don't have the widespread and "cheap" technology that Star Wars does (I call it cheap because the Rebel Alliance on the run can possess it), like theater shields (even "primitives" like the Gungans use them), planetary shields, tractor beams, planetary turbo lasers/ion cannons, repulsor lifts, hyperdrive, etc. SW has had this stuff supposedly for centuries or millennia. They should understand their own technology by now I would think... obviously the dramatic needs of the story required this and that to happen, but I'm just saying.

I'm not talking about a hostile attack, I'm talking merely about accidents. A big ship could crash, that could cause a lot of harm. If you don't have Anakin Skywalker to crash it in a controlled manner and only kill a billion people when it knocks over a big tower, you've got even worse problems on your hands.

On further review, that analogy would probably be better suited to the battle itself. Think about costal breakwaters. Good at stopping natural waves? Mostly. Good at stopping a super tsunami caused by an asteroid impact? No. You get the point.

Star Wars technology shouldn't run up against the same limitations that 21st century earth tech has, not by a long-shot. At least not in these cases!

[Noble Ire]

Star Wars technology shouldn't run up against the same limitations that 21st century earth tech has, not by a long-shot. At least not in these cases!

The point is need. They don't need tens of thousands of emergency tractor beam projectors across the planets because they would almost never be needed in that quantity. Space is at a premium on the world, anyways. We don't see emergency telephone booths along the highway every four feet, or twelve fire supressors in a single office. We also don't see giant metal shells around planets in the SW galaxy. Might they be constructable? Yes, but they aren't cost effecient to any realistic service they might provide.

[Kurgan]

The point is need. They don't need tens of thousands of emergency tractor beam projectors across the planets because they would almost never be needed in that quantity. Space is at a premium on the world, anyways. We don't see emergency telephone booths along the highway every four feet, or twelve fire supressors in a single office. We also don't see giant metal shells around planets in the SW galaxy. Might they be constructable? Yes, but they aren't cost effecient to any realistic service they might provide.

So they'd never need to prepare for a large ship to crash or a lot of smaller ships? They'd rather blow those ships up with turbolasers than try to rescue any survivors? And there's a difference between some and none. Again, this is not our world, this is the technologically advanced Star Wars galaxy. And this is coruscant, the center of the Republic/Empire, not some backwards primitive world that can't afford such things. Aren't the Senators that live and work there the least bit worried about stuff raining down on their unprotected heads? Wouldn't they be blamed for not having greater protective measures than an emergency theater shield around the Senate building if some ship even half the size of the Invisible hand crashed into a residential area and it could have been prevented?

Maybe, as some have speculated, this goes along with the territory for Star Wars. They don't put up safety railings either, because if people die, they just don't care. Maybe the press is highly corrupt or regulated, preventing the equivalent of Ralph Nader in their world...

[Noble Ire]

So they'd never need to prepare for a large ship to crash or a lot of smaller ships? They'd rather blow those ships up with turbolasers than try to rescue any survivors? And there's a difference between some and none. Again, this is not our world, this is the technologically advanced Star Wars galaxy. And this is coruscant, the center of the Republic/Empire, not some backwards primitive world that can't afford such things. Aren't the Senators that live and work there the least bit worried about stuff raining down on their unprotected heads? Wouldn't they be blamed for not having greater protective measures than an emergency theater shield around the Senate building if some ship even half the size of the Invisible hand crashed into a residential area and it could have been prevented?

The point is that even on the worst traffic day, there would never be need for the number of tractor implacements that would have been required to to repel the volume of wreckage that fell on that day. As for the possiblity of battle clean up, almost any anticipated conflict would take place above the shield, in which case local starships could clean up and rescue before the shield went down again. If the shield was ever breached, most people would probably figure Coruscant was lost anyways, and wouldn't waste space on tractors to catch the debris. They can't catch turbolaser bolts.

[Kurgan]

The point is that even on the worst traffic day, there would never be need for the number of tractor implacements that would have been required to to repel the volume of wreckage that fell on that day. As for the possiblity of battle clean up, almost any anticipated conflict would take place above the shield, in which case local starships could clean up and rescue before the shield went down again. If the shield was ever breached, most people would probably figure Coruscant was lost anyways, and wouldn't waste space on tractors to catch the debris. They can't catch turbolaser bolts.

Okay so they wouldn't have been prepared to catch every single bit of debris that fell on that day. But they are incapable of catching one ship the size of the hunk of the Invisible Hand that Anakin "landed"? You're saying the millions of tractor beams were occupied elsewhere lowering ships while this was going on... so why didn't we see any of them busy? Even a throw away line like "they're all occupied we'll have to land this on our own" or something would have explained that away easily enough. Instead we're left to wonder...

Or is there some silly fix like "they were all destroyed before the battle" (to explain why they didn't just tractor lock onto Grievious's ship).

They can't catch turbolaser bolts, but shields can stop them.

Why wouldn't they waste time catching debris? "Lost" militarily or not (did anyone think the Seperatist plan was to destroy the planet? Or conquer it? Their only goal was to kidnap the Chancellor!), there are trillions of people down there who's lives depend on them. Do hospitals and rescue workers just give up once the other side is declared the winner?

Anyway, I can see reasons to have tractorbeams all over the place for other reasons besides saving crashing ships (or freak asteroids), like security, or industrial moving capabilities.

Are there any sensitive military or government installations on Coruscant? You'd think those would need tractor beams for sure. If the Death Star and Star Destroyers can be covered with them, and they have a much smaller fraction of the surface area of these installations and cityscapes, it doesn't seem so crazy to have them. After all, space is an even greater premium on starships than on a planet, I would think.

You imply that they rely completely on the shield for defense, safety and cleanup. So you're arguing incompetence, basically.

[Cykeisme]

We don't see emergency telephone booths along the highway every four feet, or twelve fire supressors in a single office.

But they CAN! So they SHOULD, dammit!

[Noble Ire]

Okay so they wouldn't have been prepared to catch every single bit of debris that fell on that day. But they are incapable of catching one ship the size of the hunk of the Invisible Hand that Anakin "landed"? You're saying the millions of tractor beams were occupied elsewhere lowering ships while this was going on... so why didn't we see any of them busy? Even a throw away line like "they're all occupied we'll have to land this on our own" or something would have explained that away easily enough. Instead we're left to wonder...

I suppose its possible that theres a limit to how large an object even a planet-based projector can hold. The Invisible hand was a heck of a lot bigger than the Tantive or MF. Besides, the fire ships had it pretty much under control when they got close enough.

Or is there some silly fix like "they were all destroyed before the battle" (to explain why they didn't just tractor lock onto Grievious's ship).

No. As far as I know, no Seperatist cap ship fired intentionally on the planet other than to knock down the district shields around Palpatine to facilitate the kidnapping.

Why wouldn't they waste time catching debris? "Lost" militarily or not (did anyone think the Seperatist plan was to destroy the planet? Or conquer it? Their only goal was to kidnap the Chancellor!), there are trillions of people down there who's lives depend on them. Do hospitals and rescue workers just give up once the other side is declared the winner?

If the conquering fleet wanted Coruscan tas a prize, their own tractor beams could manage the overflow from Coruscant's emergency generators.

Anyway, I can see reasons to have tractorbeams all over the place for other reasons besides saving crashing ships (or freak asteroids), like security, or industrial moving capabilities.

Yes, ones designed to capture starfighter-corvette objects traveling a relatively slow speeds. The flaming aft section of a Venator is a bit hard to cope with, and there would be any comparable use for that kind of power in every day activity.

Are there any sensitive military or government installations on Coruscant? You'd think those would need tractor beams for sure. If the Death Star and Star Destroyers can be covered with them, and they have a much smaller fraction of the surface area of these installations and cityscapes, it doesn't seem so crazy to have them. After all, space is an even greater premium on starships than on a planet, I would think.

Again, these installations would not have capship-grabing tractor beams, even if such things existed, which I'm not sure they do outside of Vong Dovin Bassals.

You imply that they rely completely on the shield for defense, safety and cleanup. So you're arguing incompetence, basically.

I don't see how you could have skimmed over my posts so badly to get that impression. Yes, the planetary shield is the main line of defense. But Coruscant also has a local fleet, or several, to aide in defense and cleanup afterwards. On the planet's surface, there are secondary lines of shields, as well as surface to space guns and tractor beam projectors. HOwever, I do not believe that most of the projectors could handle catching an asteroid that was hurtling through atmosphere.