Projectile Weapons vs. Deflector Shields

[raandomname]

So Ive read a lot of posts in which people assume that projectile weapons such as mass drivers and proton torpedoes would pass straight through deflector shields. However, I am unaware of the existence of any evidence for this claim aside from Empire at War game mechaincs, which are obviously not a reliable source of information.

 

In fact I vaguely remember the Falcon's shields withstanding astroids in ESB. Also it frankly doesnt make sense for deflector shields to be unable to defend against physical projectiles, aside from obvious issues such as astroids and debris, there really would be no reason to not exclusively use projectile weapons if they were that much more effective then lasers.

 

So where does the wide-spread believe that projectile weapons can pierce deflector shields come from? Or am I just missing something obvious?

[Selenial]

Deflector shields can be set for either energy based weaponry or physical projectiles, the vast majority of ships don't have the power output to utilize both, it's just not effective enough to be worth it.

 

You can make the argument that a ship withstands that kind of attack, but then you must concede that energy based weaponry like Turbolasers pound the ship into submission.

[Silenceo]

My memory is foggy, but if I recall there was an incident with Admiral Daala over Fondor after the Vong War, where Jaina goes and boards a ship.

 

Daala's ships jump in near the end and have experimental projectile weaponry that completely bypass the shielding.

 

Its been at least 3 years though, so I am probably forgetting many details.

[Jotan_Horn]

There are two types of shields:

 

1. Deflector Shields: These are the most standard shields also known as "ray shields", as they are for energy weapons. Physical weapons can bypass these types of shields and hit their targets.

 

2. Concussion Field Generators: These are your standard Anti-Gravity, Mass deflection shields.

 

The Millennium Falcon had both types, but as someone mentioned earlier, most ships don't equip both as the power draws are immense.