takes place 3000 years BEFORE Star Wars?

[FloatingFatMan]

There are two types of sci-fi fans.

 

One's who actually understand science and expect the movie/tv show/book to, at least, stick to facts when dealing with facts.

 

And one's who don't actually understand science.

 

Lightsabers and the force aren't real science, so they can make stuff up with no complaints.

 

But when they're dealing with real science, there's no reason not to get your facts right.

 

This, exactly this. I love all the "impossible" stuff, but the really basic stuff like speed and units of measurement (and yes, sound in space, but that's really for dramatic effect)? It just grates.

[LrdStryfe]

Star wars Technology has always been backwards. Episode 1-3, the technology was really cool with spinning ships, dual light saber wielding ninjas, and flashing moving billboards... Episode 4-6, commodore 64 graphics, blocky ships, and 1970's flashy futuristic lights.

Sure the republic fell, but not the empire. By episode 6 they should at least have beaming-up star trek technology right?! Nah the pinnacle of there technology was an easy destroyable over sized "death star." 3,000 years earlier they were destroying planets left and right (so far I have encountered at least 2 conversations of planets being destroyed in SWTOR)

My thoughts, Star wars takes place "a long time ago in a galaxy....." They reached the pinnacle of there evolution and technology 3,000 years ago and its been steadily going backwards since... By 2012 the starwars universe is probably inhabited by bacteria and hutt slugs.

 

This has to do with when the movies were made. Episode 4 was first released in the 70s and the Star Destroyers, Death Star, etc were things that absolutely blew people away with what they were seeing. You can watch a documentary about Episode 6 and Lucas said that the technology in filming was available just then for them to include more than a few ships in any shot, that's why we have the first huge space battle above Endor. You can notice in Episode 4 and 5 that we really never see anymore than 4-5 ships in any given shot.

 

By the time Episodes 1-3 came out the CGI technology was available for many more advanced terrains and cities. I think Lucas realized that society looked way more advanced in 1-3 than it did in 4-6 so he tried to include some things that we could view as progressional twoards the 4-6 timeline during the Clone Wars.

 

We can see the progression of Clone armor to the iconic Stormtrooper looks. The progression of ships twoard the X-Wing and Tie-Fighter look in Episode 3, and again in Episode 3 we see the shift in Imperial military color scheming from the vibrant colors to all dull gray.

 

But if you do read up on some Old Republic lore you can see some beginings of technology. It's pretty interesting, actually. The first ships to be able to use Lightspeed had to be shot out of a cannon. The first lightsabers were charged by a battery pack Jedi had to carry on their belt, and actually weren't used as weapons.

 

So yeah, this whole thing actually had to do with the fact that the movies were made starting in the 70's. If Lucas had decided to make every SW in the 21st Century we probably wouldn't notice any "shift" in technology from Episode 3 to 4.

 

I feel like the reason that there was a technological stagnate in development was because society didn't feel the need to keep coming up with new things. I think that in the scheme of things, aside from constant wars over territory, society was content with their state of living.

Edited January 10, 2012 by LrdStryfe

[Yfelsung]

Ok they might not be able to improve holograms, but surely their design of death stars could be improved, i mean you make a passageway large enough to fly a space ship down and at the end is a vital single point of failure that wipes you all out.

 

just a few metal gates would have been an improvement on that...

 

Well that's a function of Lucas being a bad writer, not so much the technological limitations of the universe.

 

When speaking of "The Star Wars Universe", it's better to stick to Expanded Universe and Kotor games for "facts", as the movies, while classic, are terribly written from a sci-fi standpoint.

[rhirne]

That actually doesn't make sense.

That's like saying "Instead of running the Boston Marathon in 26.2 miles, I did it in 10!"

The assumption is that the Kessle run is a specific route/distance. If you do it in a shorter distance you're not doing the same run, hence you can't measure the success of it in terms of length.

 

See bolded portion.. it's an ASSUMPTION. It is not fact, it's just assumed there was no shorter path. The only reason it is 18 parsecs to start with is because Smugglers couldn't find a shorter path to get through all the black holes in that galaxy - so they took a round about way. The falcon was able to calculate a route that was CLOSER to the black holes, thus lowering the distance.

 

Lucas himself even explained that in hyperspace, a straight line is not the fasest course due to the fact of stars, black holes, asteroids, etc.... So the "fasest ship" is the one that can do it in the shortest distance.

 

it works the same way on earth. Why do you think airplanes fly in a curve and not a striaght line? Because the Earth is curved, and the shortest distance is not a straight line, but a curved one.

[Sanguinal]

That actually doesn't make sense.

That's like saying "Instead of running the Boston Marathon in 26.2 miles, I did it in 10!"

The assumption is that the Kessle run is a specific route/distance. If you do it in a shorter distance you're not doing the same run, hence you can't measure the success of it in terms of length.

 

I don't know if Lucas came up with it or if it was someone else doing a bit of retrospective rationalisation, but the Kessel Run involved going from place x to Kessel, skirting a massive black hole cluster. The faster your ship, the closer you could get to the black hole cluster without getting trapped by it's gravity and the shorter the Kessel Run became.

 

The Run itself is a straight line between two points, the actual distance a ship has to travel depends on the size of the curve it needs to make around the black holes. The faster the ship, the flatter the curve, making a measure of distance a measure of speed in that specific circumstance.

 

I'd still go with George Lucas not knowing what the hell a parsec was though.

[Yfelsung]

This, exactly this. I love all the "impossible" stuff, but the really basic stuff like speed and units of measurement (and yes, sound in space, but that's really for dramatic effect)? It just grates.

 

Actually, what I found awesome was in the new Star Trek movie where they actually transitioned from inside a hull breach, with all the noise, into space and then went silent.

 

It was an awesome contrast.

 

One second everything is all loud and hectic, then bam, total silence while two ships are unloading on each other.

 

I thought it was cool.

[Astron_]

Fun fact, Star Trek scripts would actually be written with certain plot devices left to be filled in later.

 

Worf: "The klingons are attacking!"

Picard: "Options!?"

Geordi: "Well, sir, if we {insert techno babble here that defeats Klingons}"

Picard: "Mr. LaForge, make it so!"

 

Haha, that's just awesome!

[Lazerius-]

Clearly the OP wants starships flying around in TOR time period made of wood, and look like 1700s Spanish Maritime ships.

 

 

Sorry that Sails aren't used in space, but strapping a rocket to the back of them isn't isn't going to activate lightspeed.

 

 

Sorry, This isn't Futurama.

 

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090527135158/en.futurama/images/thumb/8/89/800px-Pirate_ship.jpg/685px-800px-Pirate_ship.jpg

[Marmerus]

................what then? For 3000 years nobody could come up with better/different technology? I'm to expect the ships basically all look the same 3000 years before star wars? C2N2 is C3PO's great great great great great great great great uncle? Looks like they could be brothers.

 

Just sayin'

 

and laser pistols that shoots laser lines that does less damage than a riffle from the mid 1700.

They should have just made this game with cowboys and indians.

[rhirne]

I don't know if Lucas came up with it or if it was someone else doing a bit of retrospective rationalisation, but the Kessel Run involved going from place x to Kessel, skirting a massive black hole cluster. The faster your ship, the closer you could get to the black hole cluster without getting trapped by it's gravity and the shorter the Kessel Run became.

 

The Run itself is a straight line between two points, the actual distance a ship has to travel depends on the size of the curve it needs to make around the black holes. The faster the ship, the flatter the curve, making a measure of distance a measure of speed in that specific circumstance.

 

I'd still go with George Lucas not knowing what the hell a parsec was though.

 

 

Except on the DVD commentary Lucas states that ' traveling through hyperspace requires careful navigation to avoid stars, planets, asteroids, and other obstacles, and that since no long-distance journey can be made in a straight line, the "fastest" ship is the one that can plot the "most direct course", thereby traveling the least distance.'

[MackumDog]

Well that's a function of Lucas being a bad writer, not so much the technological limitations of the universe.

 

When speaking of "The Star Wars Universe", it's better to stick to Expanded Universe and Kotor games for "facts", as the movies, while classic, are terribly written from a sci-fi standpoint.

 

Never played the Kotor games, and to be honest more of Arther C Clark man myself

[Tresson]

That's crazy talk. We've in no way plateaued.

 

Then where's my affordable jetpack and hovercar?

[Dire-Wolf]

I like to think that they are advancing their technology but that it's reached a point were it's harder and takes a long time to make drastic changes. That for the most part they're just making little changes that wouldn't really be noticeable to the casual observer. Things like increasing the memory capacity of a holocron, making space ships more fuel efficient or making shielding technology slightly stronger.

[MackumDog]

Clearly the OP wants starships flying around in TOR time period made of wood, and look like 1700s Spanish Maritime ships.

 

 

Sorry that Sails aren't used in space, but strapping a rocket to the back of them isn't isn't going to activate lightspeed.

 

 

Sorry, This isn't Futurama.

 

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090527135158/en.futurama/images/thumb/8/89/800px-Pirate_ship.jpg/685px-800px-Pirate_ship.jpg

 

Actually there is a theory of using sails in space to capture the solar winds

[Suboshi]

I think one of the best examples of this kind of plateau I've ever seen is still the original Foundation books by Isaac Asimov. In that series the civilization (crumbling in that case, I think the only reason the SW universe avoids the level of problems they have is BECAUSE of the occasional galaxy-wide Sith-Republic war) slowed in terms of economic and technological growth exponentially as the empire expanded and more and more resources had to be devoted to feeding/exploring/basic survival until there was no growth at all except for population expansion.

 

Only when the civilization crumbled after something like 10,000 years were major technological achievements made because the vast majority of the galaxy was on its own once more and struggling for survival.

 

Very good classic series and it postulated a lot of this kind of thinking.

[Nizzemancer]

I also believe that SW tech plateaued and basically just improvements to proven technology. Also TOR could not be drastically different for fans point of view so some recognizable SW (Luke Era) to enjoy. In SW lore how long has the light saber existed? Then TOR introduces Rakata tech that is in many way more advanced than SW tech as well as constant references to ancient tech that in many ways is more advanced! Kind of a cliche' but its in the lore.

 

SW tech is amazing considering that you can see the laser bolts moving when in our universe laser are too fast to be seen. Then there's traveling light speed in 3 seconds. Again in our universe this would cause any living being in the craft traveling that fast in that short of time to be puddles on the back wall of the **** pit. lol Then back to light sabers and SW tech ability to limit the length of a powerful laser let alone the battery tech to sustain power of that magnitude! Mind boggling!

 

1. Plasma bolts

2. Inertia dampeners (powerfull ones!)

3. Plasma in a containment field.

 

oh and are you talking about Proto-sabers or the ones that don't require a portable car-battery connected to it? Because Proto Sabers are a about 2000 years older at least, the modern saber was invented by the sith roughly 1500 years before this game.

[FloatingFatMan]

Actually, what I found awesome was in the new Star Trek movie where they actually transitioned from inside a hull breach, with all the noise, into space and then went silent.

 

It was an awesome contrast.

 

One second everything is all loud and hectic, then bam, total silence while two ships are unloading on each other.

 

I thought it was cool.

 

Modern techniques verses old ones. You can thank things like the Battlestar Galactica remake for more "realistic" space battle scenes like that.

 

The particular scene in the 2009 ST movie was great; such a shame that the engine room was in a bleedin distillery... Abrams should have all his blood punched out for THAT travesty!

[Sanguinal]

Except on the DVD commentary Lucas states that ' traveling through hyperspace requires careful navigation to avoid stars, planets, asteroids, and other obstacles, and that since no long-distance journey can be made in a straight line, the "fastest" ship is the one that can plot the "most direct course", thereby traveling the least distance.'

 

Yes, that is exactly what I said. Parsecs being a measurement of speed in this specific instance because the faster ship can plot a more direct course to Kessel.

 

Unless you're saying that Lucas had that in mind when he wrote the line, which I highly doubt.

[Dechomai]

The paper clip was invented and patented in 1867. It hasn't changed hardly at all since that time, yet it is still a common office supply, used universally and still performs the job it was intended to do. Some things don't have to change drastically to still be of value.

 

Also, I think one of the prerequisites for watching Star Wars is the suspension of disbelief...makes for a more enjoyable experience. I love story and lore, but if one gets down in the weeds too far with "logical progression", I believe it ruins the experience. Just my 2 cents...

Edited January 10, 2012 by Dechomai

[skyvortex]

Read the "Tales of the Jedi" series and see what a joke the designs are here.

[Setanian]

Actually, did you?

 

 

You're talking about a period where some of the biggest technological upgrades is going from bronze to iron and learning stone walls keeps the vikings out.

 

You're talking about a period that the greeks and roman discoveries were locked away in libraries that couldn't be a use to anybody.

 

You're talking about a period when algebra was the pinnacle of mathematics.

 

 

 

Before the ideas of free trade, physics and calculus technology was at basically a standstill with small discoveries and inventions here and there.

 

Newgrange dates to some 5000 years. There man created a fixed length tunnel with a 1 meter x 15cm opening into which the sun beams a light onto the exact same place at the end of the tunnel every winter and summer soltice. How did they calculate that with simple algebra?

 

The pyramids of Egypt are directly aligned with certain stars and have holes in the walls aligned with other stars which can be seen at the same time every year. Again, simple algebra?

 

Algebra is taught to what? 8-9 yr olds? I'm sure you can explain how they did it then with such simple rudimentary knowledge of the solar system and just algebra..

 

Me? I think man was much cleverer than we give him credit for, but at some stage, a lot of knowledge was lost and only caught up again by the likes of Da'Vinci, Galeleo and others.

[MackumDog]

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."

- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

[scopur]

See bolded portion.. it's an ASSUMPTION. It is not fact, it's just assumed there was no shorter path. The only reason it is 18 parsecs to start with is because Smugglers couldn't find a shorter path to get through all the black holes in that galaxy - so they took a round about way. The falcon was able to calculate a route that was CLOSER to the black holes, thus lowering the distance.

 

Lucas himself even explained that in hyperspace, a straight line is not the fasest course due to the fact of stars, black holes, asteroids, etc.... So the "fasest ship" is the one that can do it in the shortest distance.

 

it works the same way on earth. Why do you think airplanes fly in a curve and not a striaght line? Because the Earth is curved, and the shortest distance is not a straight line, but a curved one.

 

My point is, if you're measuring who can make the run the fastest it only makes sense that everyone use the same route. If Han used a different route then he basically cheated. It would be like me lining up to the do the 400 and instead of running a full lap I only ran half of it then cut across to the finish line and declare myself the winner.

And I'm certain Lucas' explanation came long after his parsec misnomor was pointed out to him. He was embarrassed and tried to justify it somehow.

[MackumDog]

Newgrange dates to some 5000 years. There man created a fixed length tunnel with a 1 meter x 15cm opening into which the sun beams a light onto the exact same place at the end of the tunnel every winter and summer soltice. How did they calculate that with simple algebra?

 

The pyramids of Egypt are directly aligned with certain stars and have holes in the walls aligned with other stars which can be seen at the same time every year. Again, simple algebra?

 

Algebra is taught to what? 8-9 yr olds? I'm sure you can explain how they did it then with such simple rudimentary knowledge of the solar system and just algebra..

 

Me? I think man was much cleverer than we give him credit for, but at some stage, a lot of knowledge was lost and only caught up again by the likes of Da'Vinci, Galeleo and others.

 

In the UK the Romans introduced underfloor heating, running water and some of the best roads possible, then the roman empire collapsed and we returned to what they call the Dark ages, where very little is documented and the country took a step backward. in 1066 ( 1 thousand years later ish ) some Nice french dudes invaded and the medieval period started ..

[Asavar]

................what then? For 3000 years nobody could come up with better/different technology? I'm to expect the ships basically all look the same 3000 years before star wars? C2n2 is c3po's great great great great great great great great uncle? Looks like they could be brothers.

 

Just sayin'

 

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.