Question of Planetary Shields

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Grand Moff Yenchin
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Question of Planetary Shields

Post by Grand Moff Yenchin »

The Last Command, Page 4 wrote: With planetary shields able to hold off all but the most massive turbolaser and proton torpedo bombardment, conventional wisdom held that the only way to subdue a modern world was to put a fast-moving ground force down at the edges and send them overland to destroy the shield generators.
What does it mean by "edges" of a planetary shield? I thought planetary shields were, well, planetary?

My thoughts is that perhaps some planets use multiple generators thus there might be some slight "edges"?
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Post by Darth Raptor »

It's talking about base defense shields, like on Hoth. Global shields like the one on Coruscant take a network of generators acting in tandem all over the planet.
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Re: Question of Planetary Shields

Post by PainRack »

Grand Moff Yenchin wrote:
The Last Command, Page 4 wrote: With planetary shields able to hold off all but the most massive turbolaser and proton torpedo bombardment, conventional wisdom held that the only way to subdue a modern world was to put a fast-moving ground force down at the edges and send them overland to destroy the shield generators.
What does it mean by "edges" of a planetary shield? I thought planetary shields were, well, planetary?

My thoughts is that perhaps some planets use multiple generators thus there might be some slight "edges"?
Aren't you missing out some of the paragraphs? I seem to recall Paelloen saying slightly before that they have to search for weak spots, created by anything from atmospheric disturbances to what not in order to exploit the attack.
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Post by Alan Bolte »

I haven't any idea where to look for the data, but I assure you that most planetary shields involve multiple generators, probably quite a few. Shields for almost anything involve multiple projectors, anyway. Decent shielding systems have overlapping and carefully regulated outer edges. The shields on the Death Star I were rather crude in this regard, that is the only reason the fighters could penetrate them, through gaps. Edges of planetary shields in the quote probably refer to theatre shielding like on Hoth, as Lazy Raptor noted. In some cases, full planetary shields may also offer Death Star style gaps by which small craft can pentrate. IIRC, Paelleon was referring to weaknesses in the shield that can be exploited by turbolaser attack, not landing craft. Although it might be possible for turbolaser fire to open a big enough gap for landing craft to penetrate, I don't remember.
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Grand Moff Yenchin
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Re: Question of Planetary Shields

Post by Grand Moff Yenchin »

Thanks guys.

Painrack: Before or after? The three pages before are full of Thrawn checking with his captains on the whole plan, and so far to page 8 Palleon is almost doing nothing.
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Re: Question of Planetary Shields

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Grand Moff Yenchin wrote:Thanks guys.

Painrack: Before or after? The three pages before are full of Thrawn checking with his captains on the whole plan, and so far to page 8 Palleon is almost doing nothing.
This is the attack of the farming planet right, the one where they utilised the carrack cruisers to stimulate shield-piercing turbolasers?
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Post by Illuminatus Primus »

I'm quite sure they mean gaps for turbolaser fire to destroy the generators themselves: I doubt they'd risk landing craft on such a dicey proposition.

Keep in mind, the Loronar Torpedo Sphere was constructed to fill this role. High-yield specialized shield-disruptive torpedoes are fired in superbly timed concert at gaps or weak spots or irregularities in the shield. A turbolaser is fired through the opened gap resulting in order to destroy the shield generator.
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Grand Moff Yenchin
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Re: Question of Planetary Shields

Post by Grand Moff Yenchin »

PainRack wrote:
Grand Moff Yenchin wrote:Thanks guys.

Painrack: Before or after? The three pages before are full of Thrawn checking with his captains on the whole plan, and so far to page 8 Palleon is almost doing nothing.
This is the attack of the farming planet right, the one where they utilised the carrack cruisers to stimulate shield-piercing turbolasers?
Yes.

Was it mentioned in some other chapter?
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