Would Stormtrooper armour stop a handphaser beam?

[Drooling Iguana]

Not much more to say here. Could the armour worn by Imperial stormtroopers protect its wearer from the effects of a 24th century Federation phaser beam for any significant amount of time? It doesn't seem to be particularily effective against direct hits from blasters, but Republic/Imperial/Alliance blasters seem to be significantly more powerful than Federation phasers.

[Striderteen]

Given that they were unable to penetrate Borg drone shielding once it had optimized, standard antipersonnell phaser settings would definitely not penetrate Stormie armor. Maxed-out settings might (do we have any calculations for maxed phaser shots?), but the Trekkies are still gonna be in deep trouble even if they can -- they're lousy shots even at close range, and they're gonna have *very* limited ammunition capacity at elevated power settings.

Stormies, on the other hand, are lethally accurate and can reload their E-11 blasters in a matter of seconds with a side-feeding 100-round power pack.

[Ted C]

The answer to this question really depends on the composition of the "plastoid" armor that Stormtroopers wear.

Phasers have shown themselves to be more effective against organic materials than inorganic materials. If "plastoid" armor really is some kind of plastic (meaning it's composed of organic compounds), then phasers should be pretty effective against it. If Stormtrooper armor is actually composed of ceramics, metals, or other inorganic materials, it will be relatively resistant to phasers.

If the armor is inorganic, then low-power phaser shots (set to stun or to kill without disintegrating the target) probably won't penetrate it. Higher settings (enough to shatter stone) will probably still be enough.

[Admiral Johnason]

I would say no. Phasers are known to destroy most thin armors and disintrigrate the wearer of the armor.

[SPOOFE]

I imagine a "stun" shot won't penetrate the stormie armor, nor a low-powered "kill" shot. Mid-power shots, though, might get through, and the highest-power shots, I'd say, yeah.

Remember, standard stormie armor is LIGHT protection, just a few steps above a uniform. It's designed to make a non-lethal hit into a mere nuisance, and a grazing lethal hit into a non-lethal hit.

[Darth Garden Gnome]

According to the SW: Encyclopedia plastoid is: "Any type of thermoformed substance, such as many varieties of shaped battle armor."

That means it isn't neccesarily exclusively plastic, AFAIK.

More on-topic, normal phaser blasts - the kind used to normally repel intruders - would be suspect to damage their armor, but a high-powered blast would most likely kill the soldier, if not by the blast itself, then the concussive force of being hurled against a nearby wall (IIRC, phasers have been known to do that at high settings).

[Alyeska]

Phasers would indeed be able to kill Stormtroopers. The effectiveness in the armor is that it requires the enemy to crank up the firepower. This in effect gives them fewer shots before they have to reload or go for a new weapon. In prolonged fire fighters Stormtrooper armor advantages will be more easily seen.

[Marc Xavier]

Stormies, on the other hand, are lethally accurate

All sci fi minions, troopers, red shirts, random-rebels, jem-hadar, I don’t care are *lousy* shots. It's the nature of being cannon fodder. This is a completely tangential point, but come on. Minions are portrayed as bumbling and stupid to make the heroes (the important people) look all the more awesome.

Just about any sci fi minion is about as lethally accurate as a one armed near-sighted bothan suffering from epileptic seizures.

[thecreech]

** NEWBIE HELLSPAWN HEAD SMASH POKE**

[Marc Xavier]

That looks rather painful, where's it from?

[thecreech]

That looks rather painful, where's it from?

It is the cover of a spawn comic book.

[Darth Garden Gnome]

*snip*

And where have stormies had inadequate accuracy, exactly?

Lets clear up the first few most will mention:
1.) Luke and Co.'s romp through the Death Star. Yup, stormies had piss-poor accuracy. Why? Because Vader had a tracking device planted on the Falcon, and naturally, needed the crewmembers alive to pilot it to the Rebel base.

2.) Leia and Co.'s romp through Cloud City. Not too good there either. But as you may remember, Vader had the Falcon's hyperdrive deactivated so he could capture them with the Executor. Again, Vader wanted them to escape.

Did I miss anything? Stormies do fine in the OT, in fact it shows INCREDIBLE dicipline. They readily charge into the enemy's guns, KNOWING they can't kill them.

[Marc Xavier]

That's some suprimely artistic pain there *nods* Rock on.

[Marc Xavier]

Darth Garden Gnome:

*shrugs* if you say so, dude. Don't be so quick on the trigger finger.

[SPOOFE]

[hijack]

Someday, people will grow out of the "poke the noob" phase. Unfortunately for the maturity of the boards, however, that day is not today.

[/hijack]

[JodoForce]

*snip*

And where have stormies had inadequate accuracy, exactly?

Lets clear up the first few most will mention:
1.) Luke and Co.'s romp through the Death Star. Yup, stormies had piss-poor accuracy. Why? Because Vader had a tracking device planted on the Falcon, and naturally, needed the crewmembers alive to pilot it to the Rebel base.

2.) Leia and Co.'s romp through Cloud City. Not too good there either. But as you may remember, Vader had the Falcon's hyperdrive deactivated so he could capture them with the Executor. Again, Vader wanted them to escape.

Did I miss anything? Stormies do fine in the OT, in fact it shows INCREDIBLE dicipline. They readily charge into the enemy's guns, KNOWING they can't kill them.

Then why did the stormtroopers need to appear at all? Why not just ignore them / deliberately miss patrolling the area and let them slip away?

P.S. I sent a pm because I thought the thread would long since have moved away from this point--apparently not yet

[seanrobertson]

[hijack]

Someday, people will grow out of the "poke the noob" phase. Unfortunately for the maturity of the boards, however, that day is not today.

[/hijack]

True. That's a pretty neat "poke" image, I have to confess, but someday, hopefully soon, the whole practice will get old.

As far as the subject:

I have to agree with everyone else. I don't see stun settings doing much. A max-powered shot should have the energy to kill a trooper, but his armor could likely prevent him from the lingering "vaporization" effect.

[Striderteen]

*snip*

And where have stormies had inadequate accuracy, exactly?

Lets clear up the first few most will mention:
1.) Luke and Co.'s romp through the Death Star. Yup, stormies had piss-poor accuracy. Why? Because Vader had a tracking device planted on the Falcon, and naturally, needed the crewmembers alive to pilot it to the Rebel base.

2.) Leia and Co.'s romp through Cloud City. Not too good there either. But as you may remember, Vader had the Falcon's hyperdrive deactivated so he could capture them with the Executor. Again, Vader wanted them to escape.

Did I miss anything? Stormies do fine in the OT, in fact it shows INCREDIBLE dicipline. They readily charge into the enemy's guns, KNOWING they can't kill them.

Then why did the stormtroopers need to appear at all? Why not just ignore them / deliberately miss patrolling the area and let them slip away?

P.S. I sent a pm because I thought the thread would long since have moved away from this point--apparently not yet

Because then it would be totally obvious that it was a trick.

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

I have a dream, that my four little children will one day surf a intenet where they will not be judged by the date of their registry, but by the content of their posts.

[Beowulf]

I have a dream, that my four little children will one day surf a intenet where they will not be judged by the date of their registry, but by the content of their posts.

It's doubtful that that dream will ever to pass.

[Darksider]

*snip*

And where have stormies had inadequate accuracy, exactly?

Lets clear up the first few most will mention:
1.) Luke and Co.'s romp through the Death Star. Yup, stormies had piss-poor accuracy. Why? Because Vader had a tracking device planted on the Falcon, and naturally, needed the crewmembers alive to pilot it to the Rebel base.

2.) Leia and Co.'s romp through Cloud City. Not too good there either. But as you may remember, Vader had the Falcon's hyperdrive deactivated so he could capture them with the Executor. Again, Vader wanted them to escape.

Did I miss anything? Stormies do fine in the OT, in fact it shows INCREDIBLE dicipline. They readily charge into the enemy's guns, KNOWING they can't kill them.

In SW ep IV. Stormies board the Tantive IV and they are not ordered to take prisoners, they come in shooting against entrenched defenders with a narrow point of entry (How many stormies at a time could fit through the door??) and secure the corridor with only TWO count 'em TWO casualties

[thecreech]

Sorry about the poke image. I thought it was pretty good one. Figures that once i get a cool poke image no one is doing it any more. O well

[Darth Servo]

*snip*

And where have stormies had inadequate accuracy, exactly?

Lets clear up the first few most will mention:
1.) Luke and Co.'s romp through the Death Star. Yup, stormies had piss-poor accuracy. Why? Because Vader had a tracking device planted on the Falcon, and naturally, needed the crewmembers alive to pilot it to the Rebel base.

2.) Leia and Co.'s romp through Cloud City. Not too good there either. But as you may remember, Vader had the Falcon's hyperdrive deactivated so he could capture them with the Executor. Again, Vader wanted them to escape.

Did I miss anything?

Battle of Endor. Stormies under orders from Vader to take prisoners alive handicaps them.

[Drooling Iguana]

I have a dream, that my four little children will one day surf a intenet where they will not be judged by the date of their registry, but by the content of their posts.

It's doubtful that that dream will ever to pass.

Well, on a board that I moderate my fellow mods and I started cracking down on noob hazing rituals a few months ago, and they've pretty much completely died out now.

[Lord of the Farce]

Hmmm... What if the NDF effect bahaves badly? Ie. Full powered blast hits Stormie in the chest, and while the plate vanish, the Stormie inside is unharmed and proceeds to immediately blow the Fed away?