Galactic Travel and Information Help Desk (RP help)

[Alianna Naviri]

lol. fun isn't ruined! we're all playing make-believe anyway X3

and yes, i was aware of that.. i just wanted to clear this up before making my first post =P  

[Sol Walker]

Ok, Important safety tip people:
No matter what you do, if someone shoots a blaster at you, you're dead.
this also goes for space combat as well.
No one can dodge.
Ever.  

[Alianna Naviri]

not true in space; deflector shields.  

[Sol Walker]

I said dodging.
not deflecting.
All those fancy combat maneuvers Wedge and the Rogue boys do?
Dont mean a damn thing.
They're all dead.  

[Alianna Naviri]

what i mean is, even if they didn't dodge it, the shields would absorb it, and so they wouldn't die. =P

what might the Knights be up to at this time? is there a mission Vera could be sent on, or are they too cautious at the moment?

also, what is the relationship between the Empire and the Vong at this point?  

[Sol Walker]

Empire hates the vong.
knights would probably be trying to keep a low profile.
And those shields can only absorb perhaps two hits at most from a tie cannon  

[Nospai Deathous]

*shrug* accurate or no, it's enjoyable to watch.  

[Sol Walker]

wait, are we trying to be accurate or not?  

[Nospai Deathous]

what do you mean?

i'm making the point that, a smuch as we try to squeeze star wars into the realm of science and physics, it's futile. it's not meant to be a thesis on alternate galaxies. it's a myth, a fantasy, an opera. Lucas based most of his ideas off of non-science based influences than not. the only major science-fiction influence was flash gordon which... well, i won't even touch that. leia's hair in ANH: 'nuff said.

the point of star wars, or rather, the point lucas set to make from the beginning, was to exhibit a kind of special, inner power that we have, while making the message universal through the use of common mythical archtypes. that's part of the reason it's enjoyed by so many different kinds of people; it incorporates typical myth archetypes that are common among most, if not all, cultures.

the 'science' only came in after the nerds tried to apply physics to the star wars universe. it can't really be done, but they try pretty hard anyway.

i've come to be tired of it. it's a magical space movie, not an analysis of future types of military technology.  

[elvisnake]

Well, regardless of the physics created by the fans later, I seem to recall the canon in the movies being superior to anything in the EU, and in the films, when a Jedi deflects a blaster bolt, they hit the 'light trail', which goes visibly slower than light. Also, when someone gets hit, when the 'light trail' hits them, that's when they take the damage. Therefore, shouldn't blasters (Or at least the damaging, deflecting part) move slower than light canonically?  

[Nelowulf]

The actual visible hit contains energy, so it even is possible to "be hit" by it as well and be damaged.

Hence why my weapon reduces the power of the blaster, as it forces the only damage to come from the laser part, making the visible parts useless.

But there is also the idea that Jedi have precognition for their movements. Even this is somewhat canonically produced, depending on if you count the Phantom Menace as canon. No human under normal circumstances can pilto a podracer, yet Anakin could. So dodging light-speed blasters is second nature.

Also consider this: if the light and the trail are seperate, then one is influenced by where its placed when shot, where the other is actually more controlled. Since most blaster shots are from the hip or quickkly fired with little true "aim", the light could easily be off target, before the muscular memory took place (if dealing with physiometrics) and pulled the second part, aka the trail, was drug over to the target.

Or to make that simpler to understand, try hitting a quarter with a laser pointer from ten feet away. Just point and click. Then point, hold a second and drag, and see which is easier.  

[stellarmagic]

Right, canonically blasters fire a bolt of plasma that bruns targets when it hits, and since plasma glows you can see the brilliant red bolt as it flies through the air.

The idea that blaster fire moves at the speed of light is a creation of EU authors that have no real understanding of physics.

There is no laser element to Star Wars weaponry except within the ionization chamber of large caliber weapons like Lasers and Turbolasers. The laser beam is contained within the Xciter and never leaves.  

[Nelowulf]

point in point, there is a light-speed blasterbolt, but more damage comes from the plasma bolt.

Seering wave radiation, or a bunch of superheated particles that displace heat over a wider area of body? Its like suntan versus steam burn.  

[stellarmagic]

Because of the inverse square law (A Law about the distribution and intensity of light) your laser sunburn would be completely useless after a handful of meters distance, it would feel just like a laser pointer, which really doesn't feel like anything, and does no damage whatsoever at range, you'd have to stick the blaster in someone's chest before there was any damage from the laser element. (Which if it exists probably only serves to help concentrate the bolt in the barrel through ionization) The concentrated energy of the plasma bolt has longer range, but even it pails in comparison to projectile weapons which begs the question...

Why don't any of the military forces use guns?  

[Nelowulf]

There are flak cannons. But slugthrowers are even slower than blasterbolts. So the army does not use guns because the blaster is faster.

Not to mention, ballistic weaponry like we have is considerably more wasteful than any laser weaponry. Think of the sheer amounts of metal that you would need for casings. since not all metal can be used for bullets or casings, you need specific stores. Consider also that against droids, and for that matter, armor, you'd need some pretty strong projectiles. Also consider the sheer numbers of weapons used in the clone wars (not any other conflict).

Now consider the amount of time it takes to produce a bullet, and the time it takes to ship those said bullets to each warzone, and then for commercial sale.

And that's not even thinking about the gunpowder, and the specific metals required to produce it.


Stick with blasters, lizardman.