sizzlingabs Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Ok, so something has been bugging me for some time now about the star wars space battles. It seems like every ship has super powerful energy shields that protect against blasters and nothing else. For example, in Black Talon you see dozens of boarding crafts punch through the walls of the ship to deploy soldiers, but the lasers coming from the enemy ship do almost nothing. Well, why can't you just load one of the boarding crafts with a bomb, crash it into the ship, and set it off? Boom. Entire ship gone, like that. Yet, this is completely ignored by everyone in the star wars universe. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranadiel_Marius Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Isn't that basically what a missle is? And isn't that basically how the missles work in the space mission? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWagner Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Isn't that basically what a missle is? And isn't that basically how the missles work in the space mission? This. Essentially, missles bypass energy shields. It's a matter of resources though, as laser batteries are easier to mount in number, and not need to worry about keeping a stock of. Missiles and even pods require space on the vessel, and are less than ideal for all out warfare using just those options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikModi Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 There are two types of shields in Star Wars, Ray Shields and Particle Shields. Particle Shields are typically always kept up at a low intensity to deflect debris away from the ship. . . moving at a relative speed of several thousand kilometers a minute, even a dust particle can ruin your day. Particle shields can be "reinforced" to deflect larger objects, this is commonly known as "raising shields." Particle shields are two-way, meaning that they both block particles from outside the shield from hitting the hull, but any objects leaving the ship will be blocked. Thus, particle shields must be dropped for launching fighters, missiles, etc. Many ships will be intentionally designed with separate particle shield systems to cover launching areas, so that the ship does not need to expose itself in its entirety in order to launch. Ray shields only deflect energy, such as blasters. Ray shields are typically kept down to conserve power, though when a ship is expecting a high volume of incoming destructive energy (such as in combat) ray shields are activated, usually along with the reinforcing of the particle shields. While ray shields will not prevent physical matter from passing through, their high energy can be very destructive to living organisms. So while a person may pass through a ray shield, they will suffer significant injury, if they aren't killed outright. (The Death Star's thermal exhaust port was ray shielded, to protect it from the fatal chain reaction, but could not be particle shielded, since it was in essence venting hot gas, which are particles, and a particle shield would have prevented this venting as surely as welding a steel cap over the port. This is why the X-Wings and Y-Wings had to use their proton torpedoes, since only a physical object would penetrate the ray shield, detonate, and set up the chain reaction.) Ships typically have several different shield generators to provide full coverage. Power can be shunted from some generators to others to reinforce those shields, at the expense of dropping the others (on smaller craft, like X-Wings, which have front and rear shields, this tactic can be known as "double front" or "double back." On larger ships, this can be known as "angling" deflector shields.) Because of this generator overlap, it is possible to bring down one section of shields with weapons fire, creating a gap through which one could send fighters, boarding pods, missiles, more weapons fire, whatever. There can also be "gaps" in the shield where two generators don't line up quite right, though detecting these and flying through them can be extremely difficult. Of course, particle shields must be dropped over hangar bays if a ship is to launch fighters, missiles, or other physical objects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain_Zone Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Only multiphasic shields can stop matter. The standard rayshields in Star Wars can only stop energy. Concussion missiles punch right through. Yes, I know. Star Trek referrence, but I'm just putting it in perspective. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikModi Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 (edited) But the reference is wrong: http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Multiphasic_shield Shields in Star Trek could block physical objects LONG before multiphasic shields. Multiphasic shields just do it (and energy blockage) better. Star Trek generally doesn't make a distinction between particle and energy shields. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Deflector_shield Edited March 22, 2012 by ErikModi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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