Battle of Naboo Refight Question

[Green Knight]

Been reading the Star Trek essays and getting a good laugh from them, especially the Federation being Communist one. I'll never look at Star Trek the same way again after reading that. I was also pretty shocked to learn just how vastly Empire ships overpowered Star Trek ships (I practically never buy novels, and have never bought a tech manual, so I had no clue). There really is no arguing that the Federation can't possibly win in a war between the two. Also loved the Refight scenarios. Especially the one where 2 Empire ships attack DS9 in place of the Klingons, and they just threaten to start decimating Bajor with one of the ships until Sisko surrenders. Also loved the bit about the Empire's "casual attitude" towards chemical weapons (I.E. Why they would've win the Siege of AR-55whatever in place of the Dominion). LOL!

However, I was reading the Battle for Naboo one and this part stuck out at me.

It goes without saying that Darth Maul would easily slaughter any two (or twenty) commandoes in the Federation, regardless of who they are.

Does it? Here's why I'm finding it a bit hard to just accept this on face value.

Jedi/Sith with lightsabers can parry energy blasts. No problem. However, Federation weapons fire continuous beams of energy, rather than individual balls of energy, like Star Wars guns. Darth Maul can parry them, yes, but the question is, can he parry more than one (Or rather, more than two, what with his double-bladed lightsaber)?

Picture this: Fed trooper #1 fires his phase rifle at Maul. Maul parries the blast. The Fed trooper, however, continues to hold down the trigger, maintaining the blast. So Maul has to keep parrying that energy blast, or release it and try to jump out of the way before the beam hits him. Then Fed trooper #2 blasts Maul. He's also able to parry it, due to his double-bladed lightsaber. Then Fed troopers #3, 4, and 5 open fire with their phase rifles. Is there anything Maul can do to keep them from hitting him, while he's parrying the two other blasts?

So am I missing something, here? Obviously, Maul's Force abilities are an x-factor in this, but he hardly used them in TPM. And from what he did do, he didn't seem to have very impressive Force abilities. Appreciate any and all answers.

[neoolong]

Force users fighting against force users tend to cancel each other's force abilities out from what I remember. I think it's described in the novelization.

So Darth Maul against non-Force users would kick major ass.

He is also described as very tough in his other adventures.

[Green Knight]

Good point about Force Users Vs. Force Users. Even if he does have minor Force abilities, that's still a lot more than Comrade Fed Trooper has.

BTW: Are there any weapons in Star Wars which fire continuous beams? Because I'm wondering how they interact with lightsabers when they strike them. Do they bounce off? Because I'm here picturing Superman holding back an energy beam attack from some supervillain with his hands. I.E. the beam stops when it meets said object. Here's a crappy diagram to describe what I mean. The "o" is the lightsaber, the "-" are the beam, and "=" is the gun which fires the beam.

Here's what I imagine happens:

o---------=

Beam strikes lightsaber and it stops. Is that what happens or is this what happens?

o<

Beam strikes lightsaber, and bounces off. I have no clue.

[neoolong]

Good point about Force Users Vs. Force Users. Even if he does have minor Force abilities, that's still a lot more than Comrade Fed Trooper has.

Actually I don't think his Force abilities are that minor. But it's been a while since I've seen the stuff about him.

BTW: Are there any weapons in Star Wars which fire continuous beams?

Yes. The Tenloss disruptor rifle seems to fire a continuous beam. And the superlaser appears to be one.

Because I'm wondering how they interact with lightsabers when they strike them. Do they bounce off?

Why wouldn't they? Unless it completely overwhelms the saber it should be deflected.

Because I'm here picturing Superman holding back an energy beam attack from some supervillain with his hands. I.E. the beam stops when it meets said object. Here's a crappy diagram to describe what I mean. The "o" is the lightsaber, the "-" are the beam, and "=" is the gun which fires the beam.

Here's what I imagine happens:

o---------=

Beam strikes lightsaber and it stops. Is that what happens or is this what happens?

o<

Beam strike lightsaber, and bounces off. I have no clue.

Seems to me it would be deflected. Unless the energy beam is something that is really different from the other types of energy that it has deflected before.

Or it could be like what happened in the Dooku vs. Obi-Wan battle with the lightening.

[Gandalf]

[quote="neoolong]Yes. The Tenloss disruptor rifle seems to fire a continuous beam. And the superlaser appears to be one. [/quote]

Could you parry the Superlaser back onto the DS?

[neoolong]

Yes. The Tenloss disruptor rifle seems to fire a continuous beam. And the superlaser appears to be one.

Could you parry the Superlaser back onto the DS?

Probably not with a lightsaber.

[Ingersoll]

just a big fucking lightsaber

[TurboPhaser]

Been reading the Star Trek essays and getting a good laugh from them, especially the Federation being Communist one. I'll never look at Star Trek the same way again after reading that. I was also pretty shocked to learn just how vastly Empire ships overpowered Star Trek ships (I practically never buy novels, and have never bought a tech manual, so I had no clue). There really is no arguing that the Federation can't possibly win in a war between the two. Also loved the Refight scenarios. Especially the one where 2 Empire ships attack DS9 in place of the Klingons, and they just threaten to start decimating Bajor with one of the ships until Sisko surrenders. Also loved the bit about the Empire's "casual attitude" towards chemical weapons (I.E. Why they would've win the Siege of AR-55whatever in place of the Dominion). LOL!

However, I was reading the Battle for Naboo one and this part stuck out at me.

It goes without saying that Darth Maul would easily slaughter any two (or twenty) commandoes in the Federation, regardless of who they are.

Does it? Here's why I'm finding it a bit hard to just accept this on face value.

Jedi/Sith with lightsabers can parry energy blasts. No problem. However, Federation weapons fire continuous beams of energy, rather than individual balls of energy, like Star Wars guns. Darth Maul can parry them, yes, but the question is, can he parry more than one (Or rather, more than two, what with his double-bladed lightsaber)?

Picture this: Fed trooper #1 fires his phase rifle at Maul. Maul parries the blast. The Fed trooper, however, continues to hold down the trigger, maintaining the blast. So Maul has to keep parrying that energy blast, or release it and try to jump out of the way before the beam hits him. Then Fed trooper #2 blasts Maul. He's also able to parry it, due to his double-bladed lightsaber. Then Fed troopers #3, 4, and 5 open fire with their phase rifles. Is there anything Maul can do to keep them from hitting him, while he's parrying the two other blasts?

So am I missing something, here? Obviously, Maul's Force abilities are an x-factor in this, but he hardly used them in TPM. And from what he did do, he didn't seem to have very impressive Force abilities. Appreciate any and all answers.

Congrats, you have now crossed the border from enjoying these two brilliant shows as TV and not worrying about who can do what to arguing about the endlessly.

Anyway,

Apart from the fact that when Maul showed up he was facing the 2 Jedi's and about 20 armed troops who coulda blasted him to pieces in a second (No way he coulda blocked all those shots) and not have to worry about facing him later, I dont think he could block 20 phaser blasts.

No matter how fast he is, or whatever, he is still a bipedal humanoid with all the eventual limitations of them. Of course we dont know how beams react to Sabers. One possibility is that the beams may refract (If you've palyed Red Alert 2 and used a Prism tank, you'll know what i mean) off the LightSaber.

I dunno how good Mauls mind control tricks were, but he probably couldnt screw all the Feds up.

In a straight fight (20 phasers vs double saber and all Mauls dodging) the Feds win i think.

But if Mr. Maul employs all his tricks he can (Mind messing, super jumping, dodging etc) he could probably kill 5 or so Feds and get away.

[neoolong]

You're forgetting about Force push. There's also Force Speed. Besides, you're working off the assumption that Maul would just stand there and let them all fire at him at once before doing anything.

[Striderteen]

just a big fucking lightsaber

A BFL?

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

Great, more noobs who think Jedi just let themselves get shot at.

[Iceberg]

Sure, I think a Jedi could parry the DS Superlaser.

If the Jedi were piloting Voltron, that is. Of course, this would require Darth Vader to fly down in a giant black robeast and do battle...

[Anarchist Bunny]

Well, blaster shots aren't just a singlar point of energy, they are a bolt, about half a foot(just guessing) in length, so the lightsaber has to have some ability to reflect beams.

[Isolder74]

You know it implies that only Obi-Wan and Qui Gon could deal with Darth Maul and without them the Queen and company would have been cut to ribbons. It appears that without the Jedi, Maul would have done to them what the Jedi were doing to the Battle Droids.

[Alyeska]

Great, more noobs who think Jedi just let themselves get shot at.

There is a difference between standing there and getting shot and simply not being able to prevent getting shot.

[Ender]

Great, more noobs who think Jedi just let themselves get shot at.

There is a difference between standing there and getting shot and simply not being able to prevent getting shot.

True, but they are assuming that he is going to stand thee, parry the beams, and keep standing there while the others shoot at him.

Really he'd be blocking on the move, making him much harder to hit even by sweeping the beams. Plus he can jossle the phasers and whatnot.

[NecronLord]

He runs behind them at 50+ Gs and lops all their heads off in a few second flat while they try to see him. Seriously, that level of jedi accellertion was seen in TPM, He could also crush them against the floor or stop their hearts in the way Obi and Qui were able to destroy the internal workings of the droids...

The list goes on...

[TurboPhaser]

I was under the impression that they cant do all those fancy moves endlessly.......they need to 'recharge' or something.

[Anarchist Bunny]

Heres my own little senerio on how Maul would handle them, or pretty much anyone else that are just little troops.

[YT300000]

Maul superheats their bodies. The red-shirt's blood boils. They explode. Boom. Maul laughs.

Maul Force-pushes them, then cuts them up. He laughs.

Maul uses one of his 100's of dark-side powers to kill them. They die. He laughs.

[Howedar]

Great, more noobs who think Jedi just let themselves get shot at.

Don't be an asshole, GAT. He asked a fair question. Just because we've already covered it in detail doesn't mean he has.

[Darth Yoshi]

Yes. The Tenloss disruptor rifle seems to fire a continuous beam. And the superlaser appears to be one.

The disruptor does fire a beam, but it isn't continuous, at least not in the game.

Maul can move at a speed that renders him as simply an afterimage on the human retina. As such, I don't think the Feds will be able to train their sights on him long enough to fire.

[neoolong]

Close enough for government work.

[nightmare]

However, I was reading the Battle for Naboo one and this part stuck out at me.

It goes without saying that Darth Maul would easily slaughter any two (or twenty) commandoes in the Federation, regardless of who they are.

Does it? Here's why I'm finding it a bit hard to just accept this on face value.

Jedi/Sith with lightsabers can parry energy blasts. No problem. However, Federation weapons fire continuous beams of energy, rather than individual balls of energy, like Star Wars guns. Darth Maul can parry them, yes, but the question is, can he parry more than one (Or rather, more than two, what with his double-bladed lightsaber)?

Picture this: Fed trooper #1 fires his phase rifle at Maul. Maul parries the blast. The Fed trooper, however, continues to hold down the trigger, maintaining the blast. So Maul has to keep parrying that energy blast, or release it and try to jump out of the way before the beam hits him.

First of all, why would he need to parry several shots at once? Is he going to stand still on an open arena or something? Here, you a) assume that fed trooper #1 doesn't die instantly from the returned beam, and b) that Maul doesn't do something not so nice, such as forcing him to shoot several comrades with a force push. I for one would say that nasty tricks are standard practice for a Sith.. hell, any force user would take advantage of the situation.

Then Fed trooper #2 blasts Maul. He's also able to parry it, due to his double-bladed lightsaber. Then Fed troopers #3, 4, and 5 open fire with their phase rifles. Is there anything Maul can do to keep them from hitting him, while he's parrying the two other blasts?

I would think they are all dead already. Or ignored, since Maul has passed them.

So am I missing something, here? Obviously, Maul's Force abilities are an x-factor in this, but he hardly used them in TPM. And from what he did do, he didn't seem to have very impressive Force abilities. Appreciate any and all answers.

To come to some sort of fair judgement, we should compare to what other force users have done in sitations when they are faced with numbers.

1) They die. If it's some unknown half-assed Jedi up against massive odds such as in the Geonosis arena.

2) They escape. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan aboard the TF battleship comes to mind. It was of course rather pointless for them to stay and fight anyway, since their mission went straight to hell.

3) They win. Said couple against a lot of battle droids.

That's canon stuff.. now, if we add in EU, neglecting all the über stuff..

1) Luke against 7 Noghri sent by Thrawn (HttE), armed with Stokhli Spray Sticks (Nasty stuff, those things. glues anything stuck, 300 m range).
Result: all die simultanously when Luke sends his ligthsabre flying (Note that the lightsabre throw is canon as well. Darth Vader did that in ROTJ).

2) Kam Solusar (DE) deflects two projectiles in just *one* parry without effort.

[Drooling Iguana]

just a big fucking lightsaber :lol:

Watch it, or the EU authors will end up using that as their next Superweapon Of The Week.

Come to think of it, that would be pretty cool.

And Maul wouldn't have to worry about blocking multiple phaser blasts, unless they were all fired at exactly the same time. Whenever anyone fired on him, he'd be able to just reflect the beam back and instantly kill (or stun, depending on what the phaser was set on) his assailant before a second attacker could fire.