Could the Empire build a Dyson Sphere?

[LaserRifleofDoom]

Halo does happen to be one of most people's top exposures to sci-fi. So there's a point in that. but I always got the feeling that its ring was very small, perhaps only planet-encircling. but that's another topic.

I wouldn't be suprised if there are already Dyson spheres floating around out there in SW. But they'd probably just be big phallic symbols, no real purpoe except to show how great some planet/corporatoin/dictator was at some point.

I can see giant space-rings being very common, at least at some point in time. They'd be efficient for bombarding or defending a planet, and would have all sorts of additional uses. Plus they'd be portable and capable of acting as a command center for planetary invasions. In fact, a ring would be a very effective seige platform. It's too big to be harmed by plaetary defences, and can stay in place wth no effort. It could move into position, and then transfer all power to weapons. With its guns and fighter compliment, it could sht down trade, plus it could carry enough troops to occupy the planet once its sheilds are down.

[Noble Ire]

Halo does happen to be one of most people's top exposures to sci-fi. So there's a point in that. but I always got the feeling that its ring was very small, perhaps only planet-encircling. but that's another topic.

Halo Installation Four (its siblings may or may not be of the same dimensions; the hologram at the end of Halo 2 suggests they are different) is indeed a mere 10,000 kilometers in diameter, and isn't designed to be a "Ringworld" in the convetional sense, but rather a weapons system that for one reason or another takes a similar shape.

I wouldn't be suprised if there are already Dyson spheres floating around out there in SW. But they'd probably just be big phallic symbols, no real purpoe except to show how great some planet/corporatoin/dictator was at some point.

There are artifical planets mentioned in Crystal Star, presumably constructed during the Republic period, perhaps by private interests. A Dyson Sphere, while a more considerable undertaking, may be equally as feasible.

[NecronLord]

And you base this hypothesis on what?

The fact that in not one shot of the film is there any evidence that the Death Star even possesses conventional reaction drives. The reactionless drives suggested by the apocrytha have apetures nowhere near to scale with the station's immense mass. Hell, the original source for these engines stated their maximum output as '0.0001' gravities. Hardly consistant with the rate of change we see in the movie. What's more, the Death Star's movement, if we assume these tiny drives, requires materials technology over an order of magnitude greater than everything else we've seen.

I hashed this out on spacebattles. The Yavin scene is done outside the repulsor range.

Link? Because I'm pretty certain that the novel is rather explicit on the Death Star switching to repulsors when within six diameters of a planet. And it is most certainly within six diameters of Yavin.

repulsors are not an inertialess drive.

Indeed they are not. I should have said 'reactionless.' I was thinking, rather, that it should be possible for the vessel's (presumably, repulsor apparatus has always seemed to cover a significant part of a vessel's surface area) gravitational systems to pull it along relative to the gas giant. Of course, using that as a method of propulsion would be rather unwise, given that it's function is to blow up planets - something which would leave the ship helpless (barring the above, tiny engines) after the hurly burly's done. But nevertheless, repulsors seem to be what propels it.

Another alternative (and the one I'd aim for if building the Death Star) is to artificially generate a gravitational field in proximity to the vessel, and use it to accellerate the vessel towards a target. This would generate stresses only due to the sheer size of the vessel, and differing rates of accelleration, but it would remove the necessity of inertial compensators and similar devices, as all objects within the station would be accellerated at the same rate. However, while this appears to be the Vong method of propulsion, amd thus, certainly possible in the Star Wars universe, it seems Imperial Technology is not sophisticated enough to achieve this. However, I wouldn't necesserily bet against it.

[NRS Guardian]

The Coruscant and the Core Worlds sourcebook is the first to show a space station ring surrounding Kuat. Some books such as the EGtMoons & Planets and the NJO books featuring Fondor imply that some shipyards could surround the entire inner system.

[Anguirus]

What I don't understand is, in the same EU, how shipyards can occupy an entire star system and yet, a dozen Star Destroyers is some kind of galactic force.

In summary (or at least whiny digression), WHY ARE THE GOOD AUTHORS MINIMALIST?

[Stark]

The authors must simply be morons. To use 'planetary ring shipyard' and 'Executor bankrupts Empire' in the same universe is just stupid.

[Lazarus]

I suppose its just difficult for people to grasp the galactic scale of it all, even with the Empire clearly being able to construct battlestations the size of moons. In the Battle of Fondor from the NJO, thirty Star Destroyers are under construction in the yards, and they are referred to as being something like the NR best hope for victory. Needless to say most of them get fragged
The only universe I know of which represents scale well is Warhammer 40,000, most others treat it like RL in space with bigger guns.