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Illuminatus Primus wrote:It is also possible that such technology was successfully restricted due to bottlenecks in certain components or resources, engineering specialists, or otherwise - similar to cloning - such that by the film era it effectively did not exist beyond high-security-clearance Imperial projects.

If memory serves, the crystals used in the V-38 and the Scimitar were extremely rare by the time of ESB. So much so, that the crystals for the V-38 was because the planet with the crystals was pulverised just to get access to them.

So in a way, Needa was correct; but the V-38 project was very classified and few new about it.

Oh yes, the "we just need magic crystals!!!" explanation. Ugh, Dr. Reynolds' worst work right there. Somehow they only occur on one planet and they couldn't get anymore after the mines were extinguished, and for some reason in this one case SW can't strip mine a planet so they had to tow a superlaser test bed to open it up. Don't ask me what kind of minerals crystallize and persist at sub-mantle levels. Ugh, none of it makes any scientific sense. I just ignore that bullshit as disinformation.

Illuminatus Primus wrote:Oh yes, the "we just need magic crystals!!!" explanation. Ugh, Dr. Reynolds' worst work right there. Somehow they only occur on one planet and they couldn't get anymore after the mines were extinguished, and for some reason in this one case SW can't strip mine a planet so they had to tow a superlaser test bed to open it up. Don't ask me what kind of minerals crystallize and persist at sub-mantle levels. Ugh, none of it makes any scientific sense. I just ignore that bullshit as disinformation.

As to the "blowing it up" bit, it could be that the planet was some kind of super-massive giant, and it was more cost effective to tow a platform there, blow it up, and mine asteroids then it would have been to design, commission, and operate a mining facility on the surface and then lift the crystals to space.

As to the rest, no justification.

The more cost-effective than traditional (World Devestator-esque) strip mining is at least a passable fix, thanks Ender.

Illuminatus Primus wrote:The more cost-effective than traditional (World Devestator-esque) strip mining is at least a passable fix, thanks Ender.

It's possible the planet in question has an inert core. Our core is till fairly active, but they estimate the radioactivity will die down over a course of several thousands of years (or millions).

Still could be hocus pocus though.

Imperial Sourcebook wrote:Cloaking fields, as they are developing now, cannot protect against CGTs (crystal gravitational traps) since the mass of the protected vessel is not affected by the field. As most of these expensive sensors are Imperial property, the need for mass baffling seems unnecessary.

Food for thought.

Another thought on Needa's quote: He might've engaged in deep technical discussion with his engineering staff off screen when they were trying to figure out a search tactic. It's pretty unreasonable to expect a random crewman or bridge officer to go on a tirade about technical limitations of cloaking devices just to correct the captain, and of course people who actually know anything about the field are probably in short supply on a typical ISD, just like nuke techs would probably be difficult to find on a diesel submarine.