Fighters switching shields for diamond-boron-armour.

[nightmare]

There were shields on the DBM? You're sure you don't confuse them with the missiles of the galaxy-gun?

No, I'm not saying that DB missiles have shields. I'm saying that they could have shields just as much as a non DB-armored missile. So the question whether shields are better than DB armor is rather moot.

As for "the empire stopped using them":

Since the DBM was only deployed shortly before ROTJ, i would have blamed the fall-out of the battle of Endor and not necessarily the costs for the DBM not seeing wide-spread use (similar to what happened to TIE-Avenger and TIE-Defender).

Note that the TIE Defender was considered too expensive for widespread use already at its conception, just like the other advanced TIE models. This has to be viewed in light of Imperial fighter policy (lots of cheap disposable fighters without hyperdrives) to make sense, because Defenders really aren't that more costly than X-Wings. If anything, the development after Endor increased the use of Defenders due to the different policies introduced by Thrawn, even though the Imperial economy was in the scrapper.

Seriously, how often do we see capital-missile-use by the empire in the post-ROTJ-era to be able to claim, that the empire stopped using them?

How about the quote from the Broadside-class which proves DBMs were phased out, as well as the fact it's 300 times more expensive than regular CMs? Plus Shadows of the Empire, in which it was first described and already then it was made clear it never came beyond a special case weapon only. I'm not saying the Empire ceased to use DBMs 100% - I'm saying whatever they had must have been an extremely tiny quantity compared to the number of regular missiles, especially after Endor.

As for capital missile use... we don't see it explicitly mentioned, but everytime a VSD is in combat in the EU, which is a lot, you can expect missiles flying. Teradoc's and later Cronus/Daala's 112 VSDs for example.

[chitoryu12]

Quick statement: According the to The Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology, Diamond Boron missles are extremely expensive. That's probably why ships don't use the armor.

[Darth Wong]

I know there are diamond-boron-diamond matrices, as well as diamond-boron carbides, and also boron doped diamonds for use in LEDs, but I don't know much about the physical properties of any of these.

I'm looking at the Periodic Table of the Elements and wondering how carbon and boron can form an isotope together. It looks like they both need to acquire electrons in order to form a stable bond together.

Perhaps they threw in additional elements to stabalize the compound? Any information would be great.

Most industrial uses of diamonds involve putting them in some sort of matrix made of a more ductile material. Real chemical bonding is not really necessary; the diamond is part of a composite material. But that kind of arrangement is only appropriate for cutting tools, not armour. There's no reason why someone would use something like that for armour, so this "diamond boron" is probably something else entirely (well of course, out of context, we know that it's just a writer throwing terms together without thinking, as they often do).

[HARM]

I know this is off the topic a tad, but the diamond-boron armor on Imperial missiles that you are referring to is the same thing as the Diamond-borons fired by the Broadside and Marauder cruisers in Empire at War?

[Batman]

I know this is off the topic a tad, but the diamond-boron armor on Imperial missiles that you are referring to is the same thing as the Diamond-borons fired by the Broadside and Marauder cruisers in Empire at War?

Thank you for not bothering to read the thread. I rather like the location but three points off for bad behaviour.