How many proton torpedoes...

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Post by Illuminatus Primus »

Mad wrote:
Illuminatus Primus wrote:Can you show me where the B-Wing has room for warhead much in excess of the size of those carried by the X-Wing, which often have low-kiloton-range yields?
So a bomber designed to go up against capital ships is going to have kiloton-level torpedoes as its standard anti-ship weapon? It's generally accepted here that B-wings carry stronger torpedoes than X-wings, and it doesn't make sense for them to have anything less than mid-megaton ranged weapons. I'll try to respond to this point in more detail later if I can find more solid evidence.
They were specifically designed to take on the Nebulon-B Escort Frigate. Expanding this to imply they can act with impunity against the vague "capital ships" is illogical.

Point is simple: a relation exists between warhead size and yield. The torpedoes used by the Rogues in the atmosphere and the torps from ANH were rather low-yield. I don't see how weapons orders of magnitude greater in yield are not going to be significantly larger than the ANH-size torpedoes, and I don't see room for much more on the B-Wing spaceframe.
Mad wrote:I find it unlikely that kiloton-ranged torpedoes are standard on X-wings, either. Sure, Luke's was that weak, but the Rebels needed to use fast, maneuverable torpedoes agaisnt the main reactor, and not slow, powerful torpedoes. I'd like to know where these "low-kiloton-range yields" occur, and why "often" should be taken to mean standard.
The ANH torpedoes were low-yield. The torpedoes used by the X-Wings in the atmosphere appear to have even lower yields. Anti-starfighter torpedoes, etc.
Mad wrote:There's no real indication that it was different, either. Otherwise, there'd be some eyebrow raising about an underarmed commandship being built for Darth Vader. Nothing of modifcations were made in the briefing, either, so the Rogues planned their attack as if it were on an Executor-class.
Why would it raise an eyebrow? The Kuati vessel was registered Lusankya simply to prevent "HIMS Lusankya" from appearing on the Rebel Intel's list of ships being constructed--we know from Marvel that the Rebels were aware that the Fondor Executor was Vader's ship.
Mad wrote:"Appears"? That's not good enough. We don't know how much firepower the Lusankya was pumping out.


We have instances of HTL batteries punching clean through ISDs; the Lusankya took several salvos to dispatch the Imperator-class vessels.
Mad wrote:We don't know how much they were holding back for various reasons.
Why would they do this? Purposely power down or limit HTLs?
Mad wrote:The overconfidence of Drysso and need to avoid wasting supplies (especially since the Rogues had been targetting their supplies in the build up to the Battle of Theyferra) may have let him use less than full strength.
What does HTL fire have to do with supplies?
Mad wrote:He wanted to capture the Freedom, so he ordered ion fire to it.
Point taken.
Mad wrote:Also, the Freedom may have positioned itself in ways to prevent full firepower from being directed to it. The Freedom did try to stay above the Lusankya, which reduced the SSD's ability to hit the smaller ship.
That's extemely odd. The Executor's weapons appear to be of similar size to HTL ISDII batteries, which can swivel straight up; not to mention the Executor was designed after the ISDII when more flexible weapons systems (than those of the ISD I) had come into popularity. Not to mention the historical absence of heavy weaponry has been ventral side on Imperial warships, not dorsal.
Mad wrote:Even so, the first attempt to knock out the Freedom with ions was partially successful. Tactics such as getting inbetween Thyferra and the Lusankya were likely employed, making missing the target an unattractive option for the SSD.


Point taken; but with a wattage threshold that had to be reached before shield damage, it is hard to imagine a War Cruiser and ISDII providing much power considerably when one considers it took the entire Rebel fleet at Endor to cause even partial shield loss at Endor.
Mad wrote:Further, those are unconfirmed guns: http://www.theforce.net/swtc/ssd.html#weaponry "They may be a similar kind of gun, but this identification is unconfirmed. There are at least several hundred of these likely turrets. Images of the Executor's plunge into the surface of the second Death Star provide a conveniently lit top view of the ship that shows at least 126 bumps on part of the starboard side. Extrapolating this density over the entire dorsal hull suggests over 400 emplacements in total" You're making an assumption, not using solid evidence.
Do you think a 17.6 km warship mounts tiny weapons only? Only worth a few SDs in firepower? The 400 destroyer-scale weapons is highly conservative in my mind for a ship with mass of the Lusankya.
Mad wrote:You can't say the Lusankya had less firepower than the Executor when we don't even know for sure how much firepower the Executor had!
We don't know for sure, no, but it seems likely the Executor has HTL firepower worth at least a dozen Imperator-class vessels. Judging by the much larger increase in mass and volume and surface area vs. the Imperator, I think that's rather conservative. The Lusankya, IMHO, exhibited less firepower than that.
Mad wrote:As for shielding... how can you say that it had weaker shielding when you don't even know the yields of the torpedoes being used!?! That's circular logic. Instead, we can assume that the ships were the same (with no solid evidence to the contrary) and that the torpedoes were of high yield.
I suspect the nature of Star Wars capital ships combat would be different if high-yield torpedoes were so tactically effective against comparitively enormous and powerful Imperial leviathans. I think the Bacta War was an aberration.
Mad wrote:You have no solid basis for either weaker weaponry or shielding.
Conceeded.
Mad wrote:It took out the shields to the Freedom with one volley of ion fire at a bad angle, and knocked the ship out of action for at least a short period of time.
Conceeded.
Mad wrote:Except that it was under a barrage of heavy torpedoes of unknown yield, whereas the Executor didn't have those heavy torpedes. Without knowing a yield, there's no reason to assume the Lusankya was weaker. You're using gut feeling over real evidence, and it's not good enough.
Thinking that eighty black-market proton torpedoes mounted aboard a bunch of frieghters probably packs less firepower than the entire Rebel Alliance fleet is unreasonable, given the TL bias in heavy anti-capital ship work and fleet tactics?
Mad wrote:Isard was having resource difficulties at the time.
What's this have to do with anything? The Lusankya had TIEs when she took off. The complement of the Lusankya was already vastly underpar when she was buried.
Mad wrote:The shields had just come back online after being downed, they may not have been in the best working order. They may also have been sabatoged so as to be brought down more easily. Nobody made any comment that the shields were lowered intentionally... the characters knew that if the Lusankya made it, it could cause all kinds of trouble all over the galaxy.
Oh, so they'd let it blow up billions of people trying to knock out the shields or crash and kill billions of people. Yeah, that's what the New Republic thinks is better than letting it escape. Especially since they wrote-off Isard because of politics and went after Zsinj immediately thereafter.
Mad wrote:Torpedoes overload shields due to their insane wattage, but only if timed just right (by the best pilots). Without a properly cooridinated attack, torpedoes are useless for bringing down shields. Typical combat situations against large ships and their escorts make it incredibly difficult to get a proper volley off.
Point taken, but HDS has information that there is probably (in addition to) the wattage threshold, a minimum energy input to stress the shields. This would also explain the TL-bias with anti-capital ship work.
Mad wrote:I don't trust the hypothesis... it'd have to apply to torpedoes in general if it were true, but such a mechanism is never referred to in regards to typical torpedoes being used against capital ships. There's not enough evidence for it.
For what it is worth, HDS has suggested that torpedoes may often have a low pure energy release, but have shield disruptors and matter desintegrator secondary charges for use against capital ships, explaining why they have lack luster use against fighters and ground targets but wreck up small capships (sometimes in the same mission, like the Y-Wings and the Lancer-class in Rogue Squadron). Just a suggestion though. I've hypothesized this might be the secret behind the power of T-33 Plasma Torpedoes.
Mad wrote:Starfighters aren't so excellent at it. The situation has to be just right, and the pilots have to be the best. Even in TBW, against the best, the Corruptor would've survived if the Alderaanian War Cruiser hadn't showed up. (It rolled to protect the downed shields, which would be up by the time the third volley hit.. the second volley would have to hit the fresh shields. Then the Rogues would be out of torpedoes.)
Point taken.
Mad wrote:I see, so "I don't like it, so I'll ignore it." BTW, B-wings took out an ISD in the script to RotJ.
It's not that, I just feel a slightly different paradigm for combat is presented by canon and it is not quite in line with Stackpole and the X-Wing series, most notably.

I respect your point of view though.
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Post by Vympel »

B-Wings may have destroyed a Star Destroyer in the script of ROTJ, and such a sequence was filmed, but it's not canon (the B-Wing did not suit the film very well- hard to see), and furthermore, we don't know in what circumstances that picture (the B-Wings flying away from an exploding Star Destroyer) was taken. The best cabib evidence we have is that fighters are of little if no effectiveness against capital ships unless another capital ship brings it's shields down first.
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Post by Mad »

Illuminatus Primus wrote:They were specifically designed to take on the Nebulon-B Escort Frigate. Expanding this to imply they can act with impunity against the vague "capital ships" is illogical.
Well, I never said "impunity." The capship's point defenses, escorts, and fighters should all be causing trouble for the B-wings.
Point is simple: a relation exists between warhead size and yield. The torpedoes used by the Rogues in the atmosphere and the torps from ANH were rather low-yield. I don't see how weapons orders of magnitude greater in yield are not going to be significantly larger than the ANH-size torpedoes, and I don't see room for much more on the B-Wing spaceframe.
There could be a minimum size for torpedoes. Saxton suggested that anything less than 100 kT should require "a deliberate effort of profoundly high technology" (http://www.theforce.net/swtc/isd.html#shields), which would suggest that that 1 kiloton warhead used in ANH wasn't such a low yield because of its size, but because of some other reason.

We know X-wings can carry torpedoes heavy enough to down an Interdictor or VSD's shields in one volley of 20-24 torpedoes (and they apparently have roughly the same shielding), and I highly doubt that it only takes 24 kT to down their shields. So a B-wing should at least be able to carry torpedoes of that size.

But, then again, I'm arguing that a B-wing should carry torpedoes more powerful than even those... that would be the problem with accepting status quo without having actual references to back it up.
The ANH torpedoes were low-yield. The torpedoes used by the X-Wings in the atmosphere appear to have even lower yields. Anti-starfighter torpedoes, etc.
X-wings also carry torpedoes powerful enough to drive away an Interdictor if fired in unison by a squadron.
Why would it raise an eyebrow? The Kuati vessel was registered Lusankya simply to prevent "HIMS Lusankya" from appearing on the Rebel Intel's list of ships being constructed--we know from Marvel that the Rebels were aware that the Fondor Executor was Vader's ship.
And the Kuati Executor? "Wow, this new Executor class... it's weak..." Right...
We have instances of HTL batteries punching clean through ISDs; the Lusankya took several salvos to dispatch the Imperator-class vessels.
After the Lusankya had taken significant surface damage, I might add. Even before it fired the ion broadside, it had lost 15% of firepower on the starboard side, I think it was.
Why would they do this? Purposely power down or limit HTLs?

What does HTL fire have to do with supplies?
To avoid wasting ammo. Even turbolasers need ammunition.
That's extemely odd. The Executor's weapons appear to be of similar size to HTL ISDII batteries, which can swivel straight up; not to mention the Executor was designed after the ISDII when more flexible weapons systems (than those of the ISD I) had come into popularity. Not to mention the historical absence of heavy weaponry has been ventral side on Imperial warships, not dorsal.
We've never gotten a close look at the Executor's heavy weapons, so we can't tell much about them. Just because they're roughly the same size doesn't mean they're the same type as an ISD-II's turrets.
Point taken; but with a wattage threshold that had to be reached before shield damage, it is hard to imagine a War Cruiser and ISDII providing much power considerably when one considers it took the entire Rebel fleet at Endor to cause even partial shield loss at Endor.
The heavy torpedoes hit the threshold. The War Cruiser and ISD-II wouldn't have been able to do anything if not for the torpedoes overloading the shields at the start of the fight.
Do you think a 17.6 km warship mounts tiny weapons only? Only worth a few SDs in firepower? The 400 destroyer-scale weapons is highly conservative in my mind for a ship with mass of the Lusankya.
I've seen many complaints that the Executor is under-gunned. As a commandship, it is expected to always have its escort fleet with it. The designers may have decided to have a lower gun density to lower the crew requirements of the massive ship.
We don't know for sure, no, but it seems likely the Executor has HTL firepower worth at least a dozen Imperator-class vessels. Judging by the much larger increase in mass and volume and surface area vs. the Imperator, I think that's rather conservative. The Lusankya, IMHO, exhibited less firepower than that.
If the Executor and Lusankya did have all those weapons, the Lusankya may not have been able to use them for various reasons. Supply reasons, lack of crew. Lack of maintenance on a ship that's been buried for years. There's plenty we can't be sure of, and not enough evidence to assume two separate ship classes.
I suspect the nature of Star Wars capital ships combat would be different if high-yield torpedoes were so tactically effective against comparitively enormous and powerful Imperial leviathans. I think the Bacta War was an aberration.
I don't see why that would have to be the case, considering the limitations of torpedo weapons. We are talking about the high-yield torps synchronized to all hit at the same time. In typical combat, the ships firing those weapons would be under attack by escort vessels, and a coordinated strike would be near-impossible to get off.

Also, saying it would be "different" is pretty vague. What specifically should change, in your view?
Thinking that eighty black-market proton torpedoes mounted aboard a bunch of frieghters probably packs less firepower than the entire Rebel Alliance fleet is unreasonable, given the TL bias in heavy anti-capital ship work and fleet tactics?
Who said anything about even matching the raw firepower? We're talking overload through wattage (as far as the theory goes). Insanely high wattage, but less overall firepower. The attack comes more quickly than the shields can handle. If the torpedo barrage were spread out over a few seconds, it wouldn't get through because the wattage would be drastically lowered.
What's this have to do with anything? The Lusankya had TIEs when she took off. The complement of the Lusankya was already vastly underpar when she was buried.
Because TIEs are so badly needed in underground installations, right?
Oh, so they'd let it blow up billions of people trying to knock out the shields or crash and kill billions of people. Yeah, that's what the New Republic thinks is better than letting it escape. Especially since they wrote-off Isard because of politics and went after Zsinj immediately thereafter.
Maybe, maybe not. I guess it's speculation either way, since neither was explicitly mentioned.
Point taken, but HDS has information that there is probably (in addition to) the wattage threshold, a minimum energy input to stress the shields. This would also explain the TL-bias with anti-capital ship work.
Any details on that? Any idea what the minimum energy is?
For what it is worth, HDS has suggested that torpedoes may often have a low pure energy release, but have shield disruptors and matter desintegrator secondary charges for use against capital ships, explaining why they have lack luster use against fighters and ground targets but wreck up small capships (sometimes in the same mission, like the Y-Wings and the Lancer-class in Rogue Squadron). Just a suggestion though. I've hypothesized this might be the secret behind the power of T-33 Plasma Torpedoes.
Or it could be possible to alter the yield of torpedoes before their launch, depending on the circumstances required. A single Y-wing squadron should've been able to completely slag Grand Isle, if it wanted to, suggesting at least a low-megaton yield.
It's not that, I just feel a slightly different paradigm for combat is presented by canon and it is not quite in line with Stackpole and the X-Wing series, most notably.

I respect your point of view though.
But that series deals with the best pilots around. They can do a couple things that normal squadrons simply don't have the skill to do... and that's get off a perfectly-timed coordinated torpedo barrage. Even then, they have limits... a single squadron of X-wings shouldn't be able to take out the shields to an ISD, for instance.
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Post by MKSheppard »

Mad wrote: But, then again, I'm arguing that a B-wing should carry torpedoes more powerful than even those... that would be the problem with accepting status quo without having actual references to back it up.
Problem - Torpedoes get shot down by point defenses. Do you really
want to waste your entire warload on 5 torps that get shot down easily
or do you want to flood the enemy's defenses with 12 weaker torpedoes
instead?
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Post by Mad »

MKSheppard wrote:Problem - Torpedoes get shot down by point defenses. Do you really
want to waste your entire warload on 5 torps that get shot down easily
or do you want to flood the enemy's defenses with 12 weaker torpedoes
instead?
The assumptions was that each of the 12 torpedoes carried by B-wings are more powerful than each of the 6 carried by X-wings.
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Post by Executor »

The lumps mentioned that maybe ISD-II type guns on the surface armour plating of the executor are not guns at all they are to small, The gun density is probably lower overall for the big guns, but there are several larger guns mounted on the superstructure, at least 2 twin guns with 80 metre barrels, and at least 6 twin guns with 40ish metres barrels, there are around 12-16 triple guns with 30 metres barrels. I'll send the pictures of the model to anyone who wants it, but your have to give me a day or 2.

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Post by Kazuaki Shimazaki »

Executor wrote:The lumps mentioned that maybe ISD-II type guns on the surface armour plating of the executor are not guns at all they are to small, The gun density is probably lower overall for the big guns, but there are several larger guns mounted on the superstructure, at least 2 twin guns with 80 metre barrels, and at least 6 twin guns with 40ish metres barrels, there are around 12-16 triple guns with 30 metres barrels. I'll send the pictures of the model to anyone who wants it, but your have to give me a day or 2.

Lee
I want the pictures and any other supporting information you have please.

The ISD-II's guns are about 14m long octuples (according to Saxton,) sixty four in all.

We have 4 80m guns, 12 40m guns and 48 30m guns. We still have up to 64 heavies, but they are bigger. Sounds good to me.
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Post by Mad »

I said I wanted to gather more evidence on whether or not B-wings carried more powerful torpedoes than X-wings. Well, I've obtained the evidence...
Galaxy Guide 5, page 39 wrote:Though less manuverable than its A-wing and X-wing counterparts, the B-wing packs an arsenal of heavy weapons as yet unseen on any fighter of its size.
Star Wars Technical Journal, page 152 wrote:The B-wing is the newest and most heavily-armed starfighter in the Rebel Arsenal, providing the small Rebel fleet with much-needed escort firepower.

"Oh," you may say, "they just carry more torpedoes than X-wings. That's why B-wings more powerful." If you did say that, you'd be completely within your bounds. You'd also be completely wrong. B-wings can take on more heavily shielded ships than X-wings can, but they can only fire two torpedoes at a time, like X-wings. Since shields are wattage-based, so to speak, then if a B-wing had the same yield torpedoes as X-wing torpedoes, then B-wings would only be able to take out the shields to the same craft that X-wings could. However, since B-wings can punch through more powerful shielding, B-wings must be capable of putting more power to the target per volley. In other words, they have more powerful torpedoes.

I can't quite quantify how much more powerful yet, though.

According to The Bacta War, it'd take 12 or more squadrons of X-wings to take on the Lusankya. If B-wing torpedoes are twice as powerful, then that's 72 B-wings, or one wing. Granted, that's simply raw firepower, and not taking into account all the factors in battle. (How many would get shot down by escorts or fighters before they can launch torps, for example... how likely are 72 B-wings to coordinate a properly timed strike... etc.)
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Post by Illuminatus Primus »

Executor wrote:The lumps mentioned that maybe ISD-II type guns on the surface armour plating of the executor are not guns at all they are to small, The gun density is probably lower overall for the big guns, but there are several larger guns mounted on the superstructure, at least 2 twin guns with 80 metre barrels, and at least 6 twin guns with 40ish metres barrels, there are around 12-16 triple guns with 30 metres barrels. I'll send the pictures of the model to anyone who wants it, but your have to give me a day or 2.

Lee
I want some picture examples sent from each of the major types, and any of the text write up work you claim you've done.

IlluminatusPrimus@hotmail.com

and why would the lumps be "too small" to be guns? They might not neccessarily be ISD HTL-size guns, could they be smaller medium weapons?
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Post by Executor »

Sorry I meant they were to small to be ISD-II heavy guns, on further review the are big enough to be ISD-II guns but they are just square bits of raised armour.

Ive having trouble sending the pics there 2.2 megabytes each, even zipped there 1.5 megabytes, its taking to long to send ill try putting them on a free site.
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Post by Illuminatus Primus »

Once you get it available could you also show us a pic of the pieces of "raised armor"?

Cluster bombs perhaps?
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Post by Executor »

Illuminatus Primus wrote:Once you get it available could you also show us a pic of the pieces of "raised armor"?

Cluster bombs perhaps?
Sure no problem I would put all 500+ pictures but i dont think i will have enough space
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Post by Mad »

Executor wrote:Ive having trouble sending the pics there 2.2 megabytes each, even zipped there 1.5 megabytes, its taking to long to send ill try putting them on a free site.
What resolution are they? What format are you saving as? Can you try saving in or converting to PNG, JPG, or GIF format?
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Post by His Divine Shadow »

Admiral Johnason wrote:Well, 80 was enough to take down an SSDs sheilds and start ripping into the hull.
20 starfighter, the rest CAPITAL.

Big mothafuckas!
========================
Pg. 306: 80 torpedoes, 20 fighter-class, the rest capital class collapse bow shields on Lusankya, shattering armor plates and triggering dozens of secondary and tertiary explosions.
========================
-The Bacta War
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Post by Mad »

His Divine Shadow wrote:20 starfighter, the rest CAPITAL.

Big mothafuckas!
========================
Pg. 306: 80 torpedoes, 20 fighter-class, the rest capital class collapse bow shields on Lusankya, shattering armor plates and triggering dozens of secondary and tertiary explosions.
========================
-The Bacta War
Um, that's misleading. It's a mostly accurate paraphrase in light of all the evidence, but it's not the actual quote:
The Bacta War, page 306 wrote:Drysso stared down at his aide. "How many incoming torpedoe tracks, Lieutenant Waroen?"

"Twenty, sir."

Two per X-wing. Survivable. "You see, only twenty."

"Wait, sir. I have twenty-four."

"No matter."

"No I have forty, no, eighty. Eight zero."

Drysso's jaw dropped as he saw a nova flare blossom up over the horizon of his starboard bow. The shields held for a second or two, then collapsed. Warning sirens started shrieking ont he bridge as multiple torpedo and missile hits exploded six kilometers away on the ship's bow. The brilliant fire gnawed at the clean lines of his ship, shattering armor plates and triggering dozens of secondary and tertiary explosions.
Twenty were from X-wings, the rest were from the freighters. The freighters:
The Bacta War, page 181 wrote:Booster leaned back in his seat. "Three hundred launchers and sensor packages: fifty should be snubfighter systems, the rest can be capital ship systems. Right now I want two thousand proton torpedoes and a thousand concussion missiles, though I expect those numbers to change."
250 capital-class launchers. Naturally, the weapons to go with them should be on a similar scale.
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Post by Lord Pounder »

We can make this real short real quick. It's been stated that a B-Wing Squadron is the fire power equivilant of a Nebulon B Escort Frigate. Surely the stats of a Nebulon B are easier to agree on? How man Neb B's would it take to beat an ISD. I'll leave the calculations to my betters as i'm only a humble unemployed man this week.
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Post by Illuminatus Primus »

Mad wrote:
Point taken, but HDS has information that there is probably (in addition to) the wattage threshold, a minimum energy input to stress the shields. This would also explain the TL-bias with anti-capital ship work.
Any details on that? Any idea what the minimum energy is?
No idea. But HDS (EDIT: *smacks forehead, HDS!, not Stravo) points out that Capships shrug off thermonuclear detonations easily; a modest nuke could reach the wattage of the Acclamator, according to HDS. You might want to ask him yourself now.
Last edited by Illuminatus Primus on 2003-07-24 11:50pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by His Divine Shadow »

Mad wrote:250 capital-class launchers. Naturally, the weapons to go with them should be on a similar scale.
I don't see whats misleading here?
You stipulate that because they where not large capital ships but freighters(freighters can be well over a 100meters BTW) that they aren't big?
I don't see why freighters cannot load capital ship class launchers? I don't remember anything about them having to be a certain size.

EDIT;
Oh wait, you mean it's a paraphrase?
Oh dear.
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Post by Mad »

His Divine Shadow wrote:EDIT;
Oh wait, you mean it's a paraphrase?
Oh dear.
Yeah. You treated it like it was a quote, but I gave the actual quote from the page. It turns out that the kinds of warheads being used aren't specified so clearly. In order to tell the difference, one has to look earlier in the book and see what it was that Booster was buying from Karrde and apply logic to the scenario. It's not given to us in as straightforward a manner as your paraphrase implies.
Later...
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Post by Lord Pounder »

There is the possability that the missiles used against Isards SSD where larger than fighter scale torps and missiles. They where bought under the pretence of arming the the station, they where installed on to the freighters instead. Either structure, the station or the Freighter was a lot larger and had more capacity than a fighter. I draw your attention to the fact that while Wedge couldn't blow the power core of the DS2 the Falcon's payload could.
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Re: How many proton torpedoes...

Post by Darth Wong »

Dark Primus wrote:...does it take to overcome the shields of one ISD?
Would a B-Wing squadron fully loaded by proton torpedoes represent a threat to one ISD if their fighter escort was gone?
Please do not assume that all proton torpedoes have the same yield. We know there are compact SW warheads which reach up into the gigaton range, but it would be silly to assume that they do not also have low-powered explosives for conventional warfare against ground targets (you can't be a competent military and have nothing less powerful than WMD), as well as all manner of yields in between those extremes.
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Re: How many proton torpedoes...

Post by Connor MacLeod »

Darth Wong wrote: Please do not assume that all proton torpedoes have the same yield. We know there are compact SW warheads which reach up into the gigaton range, but it would be silly to assume that they do not also have low-powered explosives for conventional warfare against ground targets (you can't be a competent military and have nothing less powerful than WMD), as well as all manner of yields in between those extremes.
They might go over gigaton range (at least for B-wings) since the gigaton-range bombs still employ propulsion and targeting systems. I figure a dumb-fired "bomb" warhead from a B-wing (all warhead, basically) would be substantially more destructive :)
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Post by FTeik »

Could hypermatter (what ever it is) be used for the explosives in the warheads?

I mean for the mega- or gigaton-bummers carried by fighters.

A different kind of explosives would explain the differences in destructive power even if the size of the torpedo stays the same.
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Re: How many proton torpedoes...

Post by Illuminatus Primus »

Connor MacLeod wrote:They might go over gigaton range (at least for B-wings) since the gigaton-range bombs still employ propulsion and targeting systems. I figure a dumb-fired "bomb" warhead from a B-wing (all warhead, basically) would be substantially more destructive :)
I suppose if you took the seismic charge and focused it's explosion into a straight arc, you'd have a low-ball canon estimate of how big a multi-GT warhead must be, w/out propulsion or complex triggering mechanisms (the charges appeared merely time-set, IIRC).

I'm not sure that those would fit in the B-Wing's magazine cavities. This perhaps supports the idea that strike spacecraft can have modular warhead bays.
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Re: How many proton torpedoes...

Post by Connor MacLeod »

Illuminatus Primus wrote: I suppose if you took the seismic charge and focused it's explosion into a straight arc, you'd have a low-ball canon estimate of how big a multi-GT warhead must be, w/out propulsion or complex triggering mechanisms (the charges appeared merely time-set, IIRC).
Seismic charges aren't pure "energy release" type of warheads though. They appear to be a more unusual application of forcefield technology or some such. Mike made note of this way back when AOTC came out.

Lets not forget that SW ships run on ultra-dense (orders of magnitude denser than the ships themselves - and Mike calcualted that durasteel is roughly 20,000 kg*m^3 in density minimum, IIRC.) annihilation reactions.
I'm not sure that those would fit in the B-Wing's magazine cavities. This perhaps supports the idea that strike spacecraft can have modular warhead bays.
Of course they do. We already knew that from the games (and we knew craft were modifiable anyhow.)
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