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Ventessel

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  • Location
    Bloomington, Indiana
  • Interests
    Star Wars, Science Fiction in all its forms, Lord of the Rings, etc.
  • Occupation
    District Sales Manager
  1. Seriously, how do the Jedi get ahold of people's kids for training? Is it like an adoption alternative? You seem to assume that I consider the Sith to be a direct counterpart or somehow the only alternative to the Jedi, and that by rejecting the one I am implicitly accepting the other. This is not the case.
  2. Palpatine had literally zero relevance on the battle. He didn't even issue orders to his fleet or communicate with them!
  3. As a famous smuggler once said, "Never tell me the odds!" Seriously, if all the lead engineers had to tell the Emperor was 'well, the odds of that happening and our gazillion dollar starship being destroyed are pretty slim...'
  4. What are those reasons, if I may ask? (Excluding the obvious answer of "Liam Neeson!"
  5. The survival of your warship should NEVER depend on the commanding officer being able to spot an incoming starfighter and verbally direct fire towards it. That is all.
  6. Perhaps it's not possible to declare a movie "bad" or "good". But you can attach some labels and make some objective judgements. The prequels had choppy dialogue, with very repetitive editing and uninteresting camera angles. The fact that some scenes were carried by talented actors speaks only to the skill of those actors. The plot was... questionable, at best. There have been lengthy explanations made via novels, expansions, and other outside works. That does wonders for the "historians" trying to piece together the jumble that came out of those films, but the fact that they cannot stand on their own without requiring lengthy and complex explanations in other media sources indicates some plot holes you could drive a bus through. The special effects? To die for. Those films had great special effects and a fantastic score by John Williams. Which stands to reason because Industrial Light & Magic pretty much pioneered the creation of good film CGI. I guess the main question to ask yourself as a fan is: "Did I enjoy watching those movies and would I watch them again?"
  7. I know that there are many force traditions aside from the Jedi and Sith, but how does the Republic handle those? I've dabbled in the JK storyline and know that Tython is the ancient Force world where the Jedi got started, and throughout TCW there are a few alternate force traditions that are encountered (Witches of Dathomir, etc.) but how does the Jedi Order/the Republic handle them? For example, the Jedi actively recruit children into their order... but what if another group were to attempt the same? Or accept students of any age? Have there been instances of this occurring?
  8. That's kind of the issue... it was a source of fear for padawans! "Real" Jedi weren't in the Service Corps. It's almost as if the Jedi look down on people who aren't "strong enough" in the Force to be capable fighters. At the same time, they hold this strangely hypocritical view of warfare. It's something that they are apparently extremely good at, and train extensively in, but they repeatedly deny that it's one of their core missions. There is just this really weird hypocritical vibe running through everything the Jedi do. For example: Lightsabers are not weapons! .... "This weapon is your LIFE, Anakin!" ~ Obi-Wan Kenobi No relationships allowed, they lead to the dark side! (But force sensitive bloodlines are not only commonplace, but shown to produce the strongest Jedi...) Jedi are servants of the Force... but really, they're just there to back up the Republic's word.
  9. On the note of game mechanics, I would like to point out that many of the "technical details" for a lot of military hardware originally comes from '90s era Star Wars games. Oh, the irony and potential for paradoxical loops... Movie and novel writers are frequently less concerned with the technical particulars of weapons and shielding systems and more with how the presence or absence of said systems affects the story being told. Moving on, I'm 100% behind indirect fire in almost every application. Over-the-horizon targeting capabilities (provided by overhead "eyes" or by remote spotters) are a game changer for any fighting force. Direct fire is only useful when fighting in enclosed areas (read: urban environments) where indirect firing arcs are often obstructed.
  10. Frankly, I don't think many people as Lucasarts really care that much about the KotOR Era stuff. The last thing that is really TRULY relevant for the Film Era is what happened with Bane and the establishment of the Rule of Two, and the subsequent thousand years of relative peace for the Jedi Order.
  11. I sincerely doubt that turbolasers would be effective against fighter squadrons. They have a slower rate of fire, so no matter how good the targeting systems, fighters will still evade them. The reason PD laser batteries work is because they rely on rapid fire saturation techniques to ensure a hit against the incoming fighter. Furthermore, what do you actually GAIN by using a capital ship? A large, expensive target that is vulnerable in many ways? The two stand out examples are tractor beams and orbital bombardment. In fairness, the tractor beam does rely on the mass of the starship deploying it. Orbital bombardment however would be more effectively carried out by bombers and fighters anyways.
  12. No arguments here! In a straight up fight, the guy with more juice wins. However, it's stupid to fight head to head like that when you have superior fighter forces. That's why I referenced the Phoenix Rising mod. It's a nigh-religious reconstruction of canon warships and starfighters, and reworks the entire balance of the game to be in line with Star Wars canon. It's quite impressive, if you enjoyed the original game but wanted a little more hardcore, true-to-the-lore experience that also has incredible depth and diversity, check it out. They get the details down to the concussion missile launchers and backup power generators, haha. Here's the thing, as powerful as capital ships are their biggest vulnerability is other capital ships and BOMBERS. The best antidote to bombers are fighter interceptors and/or light frigates. Other fighters can deal with the interceptors ship to ship, and pocket cruisers can shred the light frigates with turbolaser fire. An ideal fleet has a flexible strike force of bombers, medium fighters for patrol/defense, and some smaller cruisers that can provide turbolaser cover fire for the strike force to knock out the screening frigates that protect the enemy capital ships. At no point are capital ships really necessary, unless you need them to carry large amounts of non-hyperdrive equipped fighters (which may be cheaper in the long run than spending money on all those hyperdrives).
  13. So, crystals were obviously a fail. But that still doesn't answer the question of whether you can inject midichlorians. If they can be measured and detected, surely it must be possible to filter them. Instead of blood platelet injection, why not a midichlorian injection? Just siphon a ton of them from low-level sensitives and concentrate it in an uber-serum! This quote makes far more sense in context, thank you! When taken out of context, it seems that Mace is being contradictory. With the full context, it seems like more of a warning that the Jedi are too small to properly guard the entire Republic. I think that was a directing decision so that we were given insight (as an audience) into what Obi-Wan was thinking about. As far as evidence for the Force "talking" to him... it's a pretty scant case at best. There is still no evidence as to what the Will of the Force could be. Does the Force think? Does it make decisions? It seems to more often manifest itself as a survival instinct/quick reflex boost for Jedi. Soldiers take prisoners as well. One of the most common missions for a special forces team is to gather intelligence by scouting and capturing enemy soldiers for information. This was a tactical decision on Obi-Wan's part, since he would have actually undermined his own efforts by killing her. You seem to be making a strange distinction between Jedi and soldiers when they fight. On the battlefield, their actions will be the same. A Jedi will fight to defend themselves, as will soldiers. When they need prisoners, or have the ability to take them without being killed, they will. ( "Set for stun!" anyone?) This seems very odd. You say that a Jedi shouldn't look for challenges, but apparently killing a Sith Lord in single combat qualifies one for the rank of Jedi Knight? That's a heck of a challenge. And if the Jedi aren't supposed to seek a challenge... how do the trials test them if not by challenging their abilities? This just seems to be another huge discrepancy in the espoused values of the Jedi (not craving adventure) and their actions (accepting a lethal duel as the rank requirement for Jedi Knight) Thanks for the information, but I'm not sure this bit is entirely relevant haha.
  14. I'm glad we have an artillery expert on hand to discuss cannons! However, as for caNon...
  15. Who is to say that a hybrid warship cannot defeat a dedicated one? If you have better technology, a bigger budget for production, and more efficient systems... could you not build a warship which is superior in all aspects? I'm a huge fan of the Venator because it looks ******. Star Wars science really isn't accurate enough to allow a stable comparison of two vessels from different eras unless an author specifically dives into the details of such an engagement. If you've got a bigger power generator, you can put out stronger shields and devote more juice to the guns. Thus, you will smack down someone who has less juice to play with and has to sacrifice more shielding/firepower. In the realm of high-powered energy weapons, most armor is a joke. It's like slapping a band-aid on an arterial cut. You might buy a few seconds, but that's it. For an interesting aside, I was recently playing some SW: Empire at War using a lovingly created mod called Phoenix Rising. For fans of the RTS genre, it's nigh-unbeatable in terms of rendering the GCW era starships and fighters down to the individual turbolaser battery. I tested out my bomber theory for kicks, and you really can't beat a swarm of proton torpedoes for absolutely wrecking capitol ships and frigates. In terms of cost/benefit, fast bomber squadrons (XG-1 Star Wings, for example. These were a favorite of our buddy Thrawn) are the ultimate antidote to those expensive deathtraps they call "Star Destroyers".
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