From: alfie@mail.invalid   
      
   On 07 Apr 2009 21:54:09 GMT, "POD  {Ò¿Ó}"   
    wrote:   
      
   >...the more it falls apart..   
   >   
   >The Death Star - Why build a full planet space station?  Why would you   
   >need it that big?  How many planets now have no metal reserves? Also   
   >from the very end of EPIII you see it getting built, some of those   
   >structural girders must be a mile wide, how did they bend them?  Also,   
   >when you have a station that big, surely you'd have more than 6 fighter   
   >ships to go and wipe out the attacking rebels? So why not just take an   
   >existing moon and build the weapon into it? And also, what makes it   
   >move? And if they are not set-up for attacks by single manned fighters,   
   >why does that trench have guns lining it every 50 meters?, and if you   
   >want to send a torpedo down a tube that goes straight down, why would   
   >you fly down a trench that pins you in with guns and gets you picked off   
   >by tie fighters, when all you need to do is fly straight at it from   
   >above and shoot right down the hole, and why is it that after the first   
   >run that causes massive explosions as it "packs in on the surface", do   
   >we see it pristine and brand spanking new when Luke shoots it, with his   
   >magic direction changing torpedoes?  if inside, it is all laid out in   
   >decks, then why does the surface have buildings on it that makes it look   
   >as if gravity would cause it to have people walking right around the   
   >surface? Which one is it? Also, what did it take to build the first one?   
   >18 years?, now come the second one was 75% built after 6 years?   
      
   The Death Star is the size of a small moon, and is a mobile battle   
   station designed primarily to induce fear/terror (shock and awe on a   
   massive scale!). The size was a factor of the weapon system as the   
   core needed to be huge to support the hyper-matter generator for the   
   superlaser, as the generator distorts space around it there was a huge   
   buffer zone of empty space between the core and the upper habitable   
   layers.   
      
   The one seen in EPIII has been retconned to be a DS prototype,   
   constructed to test the weapon systems. It was considerably smaller   
   than the final version.   
      
   DS1 had over 7,000 fighters on board, we can only presume FX budget   
   limited how many could be involved in the battle. Also, Tarkin had too   
   much faith in the impregnability of his DS, and relied on the   
   turbolasers dealing with the fighter threat (possibly not putting up   
   too many fighters because that would conflict with the guns firing AA   
   and disregarding the fact that the turbolasers were anti-capital ship   
   weapons and would struggle to bring down fast/agile fighters).   
      
   It is moved by 2 huge in-system engines, and 123 linked hyperdrive   
   generators.   
      
   The equatorial trench allows access to hangar bays, etc, and the   
   turbolasers were placed mostly along the trench to defend these.   
      
   Deflector shields and AA batteries would have blocked a straight-in   
   attack, so the bombers had to get in low and run inside the defenses   
   to reach their firing position.   
      
   Proton torpedoes are highly manouveurable, and are actually a variant   
   of high speed anti-fighter missiles. They put a high yield proton   
   warhead on them to attack the DS, and the use a complex guidance   
   system to allow them to locate and dive into the vent.   
   When the first 'impacts' on the surface it's proton warhead is not yet   
   armed, so the explosion is only a yield from the drive fuel and not   
   significant to penetrate the EM ray shielding around the port.   
      
   IN the SW universe, large ships and the DS have gravitic generators,   
   so gravity could be induced at any angle.   
      
   The prototype was built and deploted within 2 years, DS1 was 19 years   
   from conception to destruction (canon sources cite major acts of   
   sabotage, and problems scaling the system up from the prototype as the   
   delaying factors), DS2 was supposedly 4 years in to construction at   
   the point that we see it destroyed. While 'operational', DS2 had been   
   built as part of the rebel trap so only had primary weapons, hangars,   
   and the super weapon completed, much of the internal systems had not   
   been fitted such as hyperdrive systems or shielding.   
      
   >TIE fighters - who on earth designs a ship that has wings that block out   
   >all but about 50 degree vision?, Even Darth Vader's, 5 little slits of   
   >glass in the roof, get an enemy fighter behind you, you're screwed, just   
   >look how the Falcon sat right on top of them and blew them away.  How do   
   >these people stay in charge of an Empire with such rubbish ship building   
   >skills?   
      
   The standard TIE actually had a 110 degree FOV, due to the position of   
   the pilot in relation to the viewport and the 'wings'. Later designs   
   such as the Interceptor, Aggressor and the outlandish Defender, had   
   lower, elongated wing panels with spaces in the middle so as to reduce   
   the vision restriction.   
   The design of the TIE demonstrates the Empire's reliance on automation   
   and disposable, compliant soldiers. Pilots must rely primarily on   
   their radar and targetting systems to get them in to position. TIE   
   pilots plug into their ship and get the radar/targetting HUD projected   
   into their visors so are less reliant on actually 'eyeballing' the   
   target (making the huge viewing window a bit pointless).   
   The TIE is designed to operate in wings of 12, and has considerably   
   greater speed and maneuverability compared to rebel fighters (at the   
   cost of not having primary deflectors like the rebel fighters).   
   The Empire uses the Russian doctrine of force by numbers to dominate   
   and treats clones/equipment as disposable, making them pretty hard to   
   defeat in what is essentially a war of attrition for the low-in-number   
   rebels.   
      
   >On top of that your pilots and your troops all wear helmets that must   
   >rob them of 90% if their peripheral vision.   
      
   Stormtrooper helmets contain a lot of augmentation; enhanced hearing,   
   panoramic visual overlays, targetting and scanning equipment, holovid   
   recording gear, radio, etc, etc.   
   The reason that the so-called elite warriors are ineffectual in combat   
   is because of the 'stormtrooper effect' meaning they are the   
   equivalent of Star Trek redshirts :)   
      
   >The galaxy's greatest Bounty hunter wears a helmet where all he can see   
   >is out of a Perspex "T", so even a blind Han Solo can come up behind him   
   >and whack him with a stick, if he's the best, god help the rest!   
      
   As with the knights of old, some designs of slitted helmet do allow   
   surprisingly good visibility particularly peripherally (as wide   
   swinging blows would be the most dangerous).   
   One would expect though, as with the stormtroopers, he had some sort   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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