Question for the loremasters.

 

So, the Old Empire warships and fighters closely resemble the ships used by the Empire under Sidious, TIE fighters etc. The Empire warships obviously descend from those of the Republic. However the Old Republic warships more closely resemble a rag tag shambles of ships* much like the Rebel Alliance's ships. There's a few resemblances I guess like the Blockade Runners (though I think they're produced by neutral parties?)

 

Also the Sith Empire's internal architecture seems closely related to Sidious' reboot of it.

 

So it seems like the old Sith Empire ships were co opted by the Republic at some point, then these were re-fitted in old Empire style when Palpatine outed himself.

 

Did Palpatine start commissioning Republic ships in that (triangular) style in preparation for his takeover in place of the more "rounded" ships the older Republic seemed to use?

 

*Not to say they're of lesser quality but there's much less uniformity between the ships than with the Empire/last years of the Republic.

Edited June 24, 2013 by SwoopingLion

From an in-universe perspective, the triangle/wedge-shaped capital ship is seen as one of the most militarily efficient designs, and is used by various groups through various periods. The design is said to allow the ship to concentrate all of its firepower on forward targets as well as minimizing is profile, giving it offensive and defensive advantage. Given the Sith Empire's desire for military technological dominance, it stands to reason that they would capitalize on this design for the majority of its fleet.

 

As for the Republic, during times of war, they utilized prototypes of the design themselves, with the Interdictor-class Cruiser and Centurion-class Battlecruiser(both of which were commissioned for use during the Mandalorian Wars(Both of which saw themselves mostly utilized under the command of Sith)).

 

The largest capital ship the Republic uses in-game, the Valor-class Cruiser, likely owes its rounded design to the fact that before the Sith Empire invaded, it was a time of peace. Therefore, the Republic intended for it to be a multipurpose flagship that possessed a wide range of capabilities as a peacekeeper amidst its astronomically large territory.

 

The Empire's flagship, the Harrower-class Dreadnought, is considered one of the most powerful and deadly starships ever designed at the time of its usage. Regardless of the eventual outcome of the wars of this time period, the Republic won't let the Empire's designs go to waste. So in a few thousand years, when the Republic decides it needs a warship, it knows what design has proven itself throughout history, and utilizes that design during the Clone Wars. With the Star Destroyers of the Galactic Empire, it's less-likely a case of falling back on old Sith iconography and designs, and more that this is what the most devastating and intimidating vessels have looked like for thousands of years.

 

With the Rebel fleet, their designs were the product of a scarcity of resources which forced them to utilize whatever they could, a preference for well-rounded multipurpose ships much like the Republic in-game, and the fact their they largest ships were of Mon Calamari design.

 

 

 

But from an out-of-universe perspective, yeah they just wanted to visually associate the Sith Empire with Palpatine's.

Edited June 24, 2013 by Osetto

Yeah I meant from an in-universe perspective . Thanks for the info!

 

To be honest I never really understood why you'd use anything other than a wedge for a warship (in space). Anything that lets your "broadside" fire forwards is a winner. A lot of the CIS fleet, for example, just looks inefficient.

To be honest I never really understood why you'd use anything other than a wedge for a warship (in space). Anything that lets your "broadside" fire forwards is a winner. A lot of the CIS fleet, for example, just looks inefficient.

Not really, IMHO imperial wedge profile has several weakness, two of them are deadly:

It have zero defense from stern attack vector

It have so large profile from "up" and "down" vector and have turrets clustered so tight, that unguided nukes can take out most of them in one go.

 

BTW, how in hell its turn "up"/"down"?

Well presumably they have a point defence grid all over both "top" and "bottom" as well as rear cannons and obviously deflector shields. The wedge simply allows both sides' "big guns" to fire in a nice, wide forward arc unlike ships with the big guns mounded along the sides.

Imperial warship architecture is obviously meant as a psychological tool as well. The sharp shape of the wedged imperial warships (both ancient Empire and Sidious' Empire) look like ancient weapons made of stone - with deadly wedges. Their wedges alone transport a psychological message : This is a KNIFE, a DAGGER and the Emperor can dart with it into the heart (or the back) of his enemy !

 

Remember that Thrawn used his Armada to transport psychological messages as well.

 

The smaller fighters usually don't transport similar messages. From an out-game perspective, the TIE Fighter designs also remind me of the flying eyes from the movie The Dark Crystal.

 

And, again, the TIE Fighters also transport a psychological message : They are literally "The Eyes Of The Emperor", because their cockpits in fact look like eyeballs. The ancient Empire starfighters don't look that much like eyeballs, but in part they do, yes, almost as if incorporating this message as a starfighter had been discovered only several hundred years ago, and then slowly developed forth.

 

The Agent's ship, the Phantom, looks like a very smooth dagger - and it is interesting, that this design comes back as Queen Amidala's starship. Have you noticed that in the ancient Empire this lip colouring is present, too ? (Hutta, in the Cantina, and on Dromund Kaas, one Sith Warrior quest ?). Notably, Darth Maul's Interceptor doesn't look like this at all - it's design looks rather like an "eyeball" design, probably coming from the "Fury" design, with a little bit of "Phantom" mixed in "snout).

 

Interestingly, X-Wings look like daggers, too. They look like mosquitoes always being here, there, and everywhere, stinging relentlessly.

 

The only really "alien" starship designs are B-Wing / BT-7 Thunderclap and the Slave 1 / D5 Mantis.

Edited June 28, 2013 by AlrikFassbauer

I had thought that the ship designs and their looks came from the corporations and planets that built them. The Star Destroyers of the Republic and then the Empire were built by KDY. All KDY designs look a lot alike. It appears that KDY must have adapted their designs from the older Sith Empire ships.

 

The Mon Calamari cruisers of course look like Mon Calamari ships. The X-Wings were built by Incom. Etc, etc.

 

In 20,000 years I would have expected almost every ship design to have been tried by someone, somewhere. The advantages and disadvantages of each one must be known.

In 20,000 years I would have expected almost every ship design to have been tried by someone, somewhere. The advantages and disadvantages of each one must be known.

 

Looks like you're right.

According to Expanded Universe, the X-Wing designs came from engineers that went from the Empire into the Rebel Alliance - and Incom was their "official company".

 

You can clearly see how many designs are intervoven between ROTS/ROTJ (especially), the PT (in general) and the OT (in general).

 

There is no hint (not that I know of, at least) of KDY existing around the time of the "ancient Empire" (that's what I call the Empire in SWTOR), and unanswered is also the question of where the round designs of the Republic starships came from.

 

They are all built, however, on Corellia (, too).

I had thought that the ship designs and their looks came from the corporations and planets that built them. The Star Destroyers of the Republic and then the Empire were built by KDY. All KDY designs look a lot alike. It appears that KDY must have adapted their designs from the older Sith Empire ships.

 

The Mon Calamari cruisers of course look like Mon Calamari ships. The X-Wings were built by Incom. Etc, etc.

 

In 20,000 years I would have expected almost every ship design to have been tried by someone, somewhere. The advantages and disadvantages of each one must be known.

true, i doubt they cared that they were once Sith.

 

Though if i were a jedi im surprised that they failed to notice, theres a lot of stuff like this that sadly doesn't get explained.

To me, the difference in Imperial vs. Republic starship design was a matter of philosophy.

 

The Empire seeks to hit hard and hit fast. From that perspective, the Harrower-class design makes the most sense: placing all the turrets facing forward means that you can unload a tremendous amount of firepower....against anything ahead of you.

 

The Republic seeks to be something to everyone. From that perspective - as well as the perennially-underfunded Republic military - it makes sense to build your capital starships versatile, able to perform equally well in all tactical situations. Hence the Valor-class cruiser, which spreads its ship-to-ship weaponry around so as to be able to hit any angle with reasonable force.

 

Basically, the Harrower is a warship, the Valor is a peacekeeper's ship. As for how this ties in to Imperial starship design, remember that the Galactic Empire (Palpatine's Empire) was created in the ashes of a war. Starship design will reflect utility over elegance, and combat over multi-purposing.

 

I would argue that the continuity in sharship design - in-universe, at least - was a product of the similarity in mindset between the top Galactic Empire designers and the Sith Empire designers, rather than Palpatine's explicitly turning around to crib the notes from the old Sith Empire. After all, he wasn't involved in designing the Victory-class destroyers, and they too share that shape and overall architecture.

 

Out of universe: yeah, they wanted to mark the "evil" side as having the Ominous Ships Of Doom.

The ships used by the Republic were probably Mandalorian. Remeber, the Republic didn't actually have a military before Military Creation Act (in episode II). The Clone Army came from Kamino, and they were based on Mandalorians, you see the Clones boarding the triangular ships in Attack of the Clones, so I would assume the ships came with the Clones. The Mandalorians probably got their ship design from the Empire.

The ships used by the Republic were probably Mandalorian. Remeber, the Republic didn't actually have a military before Military Creation Act (in episode II). The Clone Army came from Kamino, and they were based on Mandalorians, you see the Clones boarding the triangular ships in Attack of the Clones, so I would assume the ships came with the Clones. The Mandalorians probably got their ship design from the Empire.

 

I always thought Mandalorian ships were more chunky than sleek and dagger like, but I just had a quick look and...

 

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Mandalorian_warship_%28Venator-style%29

 

Looks like you might be right!

 

Except from an OoU perspective where I'd hazard a guess that in typical SW fashion this has been retconned as a nice tie-in.