New SWI HolonetNews

[Robert Treder]

In the HolonetNews section of the latest SWI, we learn some more cool stuff:

AT-XTs (previously from the Clone Wars game) are used extensively in the battle of Jabiim. So are, according to the text, AT-ATs. The accompanying picture showed a walker of large stature and similar form to an AT-AT, but it most certainly was not the AT-AT from ESB. Perhaps over the years considerable design changes to that product line occured, but the same designation was kept. In fact, it's possible that "AT-AT", being pretty ambiguous, isn't actually the technical name that KDY gives the walker, but rather a general term for walkers of that mission profile and/or firepower level.

Jabiim is a stormy world, receiving less than five days/year without precipitation (across the whole surface, presumably). These storms are predicted to hamper infantry visibility.
Oddly enough, though the surface is described as muddy, "unstable and constantly shifting", they are deploying "hundreds of AT-XTs, AT-TEs, and AT-AT walkers". Somebody smarter than me should figure out if this makes sense. To me, it sounds fishy...wouldn't an AT-AT be a little unwieldy on an exceptionally muddy and unstable surface?

Also, the Republic force for taking Jabiim has been assembled at a nearby staging world called Handooine. This force includes the troops of a vessel called the Dominance, but the make and model of this ship is unrevealed. I assume it's an Acclamator-class. These forces have been assembled, and their mission is well-known enough for it to be disseminated to the public, yet the Jedi who will lead the operation are not chosen yet. That's an interesting note on the way their operations work.

The Neimoidians control Balmorra. Balmorra is in between Kuat and Neimodia. There are less than six parsecs between Neimoidia and Kuat. Neimoidia has vast shipyards in its starsystem, but it is unclear if these are the Hoersch-Kessel shipyards or not (Hoersch-Kessel produced the freighters from which the standard TF battleships were converted, as well as, presumably, the later, more battle-oriented TF ships hinted at in the AOTCICS).
Neimoidia and Kuat are in a naval arms race, and an immense battle between the two systems is predicted. The CIS placed 12 TF battleships at Balmorra, and the Republic placed 24 Acclamators at Kuat in response.
The area in between Balmorra and Kuat has been turned into a vast minefield, with exploding and laser-firing mines. This has shut down a portion of the Hydian Way, and traffic must use the Corellian Run instead.

Also, the Republic has put a ban on cloning except for military purposes. This is done not as an ethical choice, but one of national security. Economists are upset by the choice, because many planets rely largely on the cloning industry for their subsistance. The Khommites (Dorsk 81's species) rely on cloning for reproduction. Many places which offer "therapeutic cloning" are being forced to stop.

Other interesting things include these headlines without articles attached:

"Freedom's Sons liberate Berchest"
"Carida facilities deemed fit for clone training"
"Ronyards designated war-refuse world"

[Tychu]

I just have a question for the Star Wars Insider, i was a little late in my resubscription did SWI # 68 come out

the last one i have has Luke and Leia on the cover

[Robert Treder]

This is in issue 68. It also has a cool article on the Incredible Cross Sections.

[His Divine Shadow]

This is in issue 68. It also has a cool article on the Incredible Cross Sections.

Really? What does it say?

[Illuminatus Primus]

Oddly enough, though the surface is described as muddy, "unstable and constantly shifting", they are deploying "hundreds of AT-XTs, AT-TEs, and AT-AT walkers". Somebody smarter than me should figure out if this makes sense. To me, it sounds fishy...wouldn't an AT-AT be a little unwieldy on an exceptionally muddy and unstable surface?

Republic propoganda. "Our troops fought gallantly on impossible terrain." or some shit.

(Hoersch-Kessel produced the freighters from which the standard TF battleships were converted, as well as, presumably, the later, more battle-oriented TF ships hinted at in the AOTCICS).

Unlikely; Hoersch-Kessel built ordinary frieghters which were later modified and refitted as light carriers by the Trade Federation--there's no evidence I've heard to suggest Hoersch-Kessel made warships for the TF or anyone, and the fact that the new TF warships mentioned in the ICS are built for war suggests its unlikely Hoersch-Kessel constructed the new ships.

Neimoidia and Kuat are in a naval arms race, and an immense battle between the two systems is predicted. The CIS placed 12 TF battleships at Balmorra, and the Republic placed 24 Acclamators at Kuat in response.

EU authors pick one ship from canon and pretend that's all the fleet has. The Acclamator is a smallish troopship, and the TFB is a freighter-come-light carrier.

Katana Dreadnoughts and ICS and Marvel open up for plenty of other ships--this EU minimalization and inability to comprehend combined arms/diverse fleets is annoying.

The area in between Balmorra and Kuat has been turned into a vast minefield, with exploding and laser-firing mines. This has shut down a portion of the Hydian Way, and traffic must use the Corellian Run instead.

EU authors think that light-year wide areas can be blocked by floating bombs.

[Robert Treder]

Oddly enough, though the surface is described as muddy, "unstable and constantly shifting", they are deploying "hundreds of AT-XTs, AT-TEs, and AT-AT walkers". Somebody smarter than me should figure out if this makes sense. To me, it sounds fishy...wouldn't an AT-AT be a little unwieldy on an exceptionally muddy and unstable surface?

Republic propoganda. "Our troops fought gallantly on impossible terrain." or some shit.

(Hoersch-Kessel produced the freighters from which the standard TF battleships were converted, as well as, presumably, the later, more battle-oriented TF ships hinted at in the AOTCICS).

Unlikely; Hoersch-Kessel built ordinary frieghters which were later modified and refitted as light carriers by the Trade Federation--there's no evidence I've heard to suggest Hoersch-Kessel made warships for the TF or anyone, and the fact that the new TF warships mentioned in the ICS are built for war suggests its unlikely Hoersch-Kessel constructed the new ships.

Maybe. The Hoersch-Kessel Lucrehulk-class Core Ship does fit in the new warships, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they make those warships.
Regardless, I'm curious as to what ships the Neimoidians are making in their reportedly large shipyards. You'd think this would be the perfect time for the authors to invent some new kickass ships, but no such luck.

Neimoidia and Kuat are in a naval arms race, and an immense battle between the two systems is predicted. The CIS placed 12 TF battleships at Balmorra, and the Republic placed 24 Acclamators at Kuat in response.

EU authors pick one ship from canon and pretend that's all the fleet has. The Acclamator is a smallish troopship, and the TFB is a freighter-come-light carrier.

Katana Dreadnoughts and ICS and Marvel open up for plenty of other ships--this EU minimalization and inability to comprehend combined arms/diverse fleets is annoying.

Precisely. This hella pissed me off. The fact that the ICS explicitly stated that the Kuati defense force was comprised of huge warships, and then this article claims that Kuat is making a major upgrade to their defense by the addition of 24 Acclamators.
It's not unsalvageable, however. That particular article was part of the "CIS Shadowfeed", so it can be taken as Confederate propoganda, trying to make it look like the CIS has a better chance than it does.

The area in between Balmorra and Kuat has been turned into a vast minefield, with exploding and laser-firing mines. This has shut down a portion of the Hydian Way, and traffic must use the Corellian Run instead.

EU authors think that light-year wide areas can be blocked by floating bombs.

Yup. See, in the TIE fighter games, the mines made sense, since they were used to protect small areas of space, and their laser and missile armaments were deadly to attacking fighters.
But this is pretty crazy. Perhaps the mines are accompanied by gravwell-projector stations. That would have a better chance of hampering traffic on the hyperroute.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Maybe. The Hoersch-Kessel Lucrehulk-class Core Ship does fit in the new warships, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they make those warships.

Regardless, I'm curious as to what ships the Neimoidians are making in their reportedly large shipyards. You'd think this would be the perfect time for the authors to invent some new kickass ships, but no such luck.

The Core Ship bit just means that the new TF warships were built to work with their original Core Ships--which is hardly suprising. It doesn't implicate Hoersch-Kessel involvement in new shipmaking.

Precisely. This hella pissed me off. The fact that the ICS explicitly stated that the Kuati defense force was comprised of huge warships, and then this article claims that Kuat is making a major upgrade to their defense by the addition of 24 Acclamators.
It's not unsalvageable, however. That particular article was part of the "CIS Shadowfeed", so it can be taken as Confederate propoganda, trying to make it look like the CIS has a better chance than it does.

Its sad--Saxton can spoon-feed them and they're still blind leading the blind.

Yup. See, in the TIE fighter games, the mines made sense, since they were used to protect small areas of space, and their laser and missile armaments were deadly to attacking fighters.
But this is pretty crazy. Perhaps the mines are accompanied by gravwell-projector stations. That would have a better chance of hampering traffic on the hyperroute.

Precisely. X-Wing games mines were used to protect docks/platforms and remote sensor stations and the like.

The only reasonable wide-scale mine system that makes sense is a mine that can track ships in hyperspace within a 50 light-years or something and launch superluminal projectiles to intercept the ships--and that's really a battlestation, not a mine, anyway.

[Ender]

The only reasonable wide-scale mine system that makes sense is a mine that can track ships in hyperspace within a 50 light-years or something and launch superluminal projectiles to intercept the ships--and that's really a battlestation, not a mine, anyway.

Or it could just be a system of a grav well generator, FTL sensors, ion cannon or other weapon system of choice, and then scatter an assload of them around the system; or mine the areas where ships make stop offs to turn around.

All have previously been seen in the novels, your suggestion has not. Closest is the pulse mass generator which created destructive bubbles in hyperspace, but those came later.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Or it could just be a system of a grav well generator, FTL sensors, ion cannon or other weapon system of choice, and then scatter an assload of them around the system; or mine the areas where ships make stop offs to turn around.

You'd still need billions because the weapon would only have an affective range of a few light-minutes at best...we're talking about lanes at least dozens of cubic light-years in size and you'd need one of your mines every dozen AU or so. Its not practical to block hyperlanes with mines with subluminally-propogating weapons.

I'm talking about practical mines, which would require heavy superluminal missiles, and long-range FTL sensors, in all practicality.

And to stop galactic traffic when you have freighters the size of the TF Battleship, you must be mounting some quite heavy weaponry. By this point its more like an automated battlestation than a mine anyway.

And--mining the stop-off-points? The ships are departing hyperspace at enemy ports and entering hyperspace at enemy ports--you can't place mines at the enemy's doorstep without combat--and if you're knocking out the recieving ports what point is there of mines.

Around the system? He seems pretty specific that the hyperlane traffic itself is cut-off or several restricted because of mines in the pathway. This gets eye-rollage from me because of the unrealistic amount of volume that'd need to be covered for that to be true.

All have previously been seen in the novels, your suggestion has not. Closest is the pulse mass generator which created destructive bubbles in hyperspace, but those came later.

I don't recall any mines on the scale you're talking about--the X-Wing novel type mines certainly are not.

The Pulse Mass Mines used by the Hapans simply generate mass-shadows to drag enemy ships out of hyperspace--at least this is what is implied in the EGtVV.