Current Canon? Far as I know, nothing has been established.

Legends Canon? Hypersonic+ speed.

Where can I find this information?

To the best of my knowledge, there is no explicitly stated quantity for bolt speed in either Legends or Canon.

Extrapolating from descriptions in Legends material, we're looking at speed of sound as a minimum, though it varies a lot from source to source (for example, in ep 1-6, the bolts travel around the speed of a baseball, but ep 7 travel much faster)

The best source of info on blasters can be found here http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Blaster/Legends

To the best of my knowledge, there is no explicitly stated quantity for bolt speed in either Legends or Canon.

 

Extrapolating from descriptions in Legends material, we're looking at speed of sound as a minimum, though it varies a lot from source to source (for example, in ep 1-6, the bolts travel around the speed of a baseball, but ep 7 travel much faster)

 

The best source of info on blasters can be found here http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Blaster/Legends

So blasters are slower than bullets? What about the cannon on fighters?

So blasters are slower than bullets? What about the cannon on fighters?

This is where suspension of disbelief has to come in.

Simply put, in the movies, they are much slower than bullets (if you want to see a visual comparison, google a video of tracer or incendiary rounds from a RL gun next to a blaster fight scene from one of the movies)

They are so slow in fact it would not be hard at all for a normal human to dodge them at anything over point blank range. Since this makes no sense, we just have to call it movie magic and move on.

If we base our assumptions on what it said about the reflexes of Force sensitives (them being the only ones who are fast enough to dodge/deflect blaster rounds), that is, you need to "see events before they happen" they need to be at least speed of sound to travel the kinds of distances we see in the movies and not be dodgeable by normal humans. Give or take. a lot.

There is actually a Mythbuster episode about dodging bullets that might give some good info for nailing down better estimates

Now fighters are a bit more difficult, simply because it is much harder to tell distances in those cases. Based on the "science" of the weapons, they have the potential of being much faster than the handheld version though.

Mad....no, blasters in Legends are hypersonic speed. Don't know why one would go for some RL calculations, instead of looking at in-universe sources. But here's some evidence.

He dived into the street. He rolled, coming up to slam her hip joint with his shoulder. The impact folded her over him; he lifted her, turned, and sprang back for the corner. Bright flares of blaster bolts bracketed invisible sizzles and finger snaps of hypersonic slugs.

 

- Taken from Shatterpoint

Noted that Slugthrowers are hypersonic, Slugthrowers being extremely outdated compared to blaster weaponry.

From his weapon's top barrel, a bluish-white high charged energy beam shot outward and upward. A microsecond after the beam's ignition, a second shot from the lower weapon's barrel rang out. To the two occupants of room 547, the shots were virtually simultaneous. The energy beam produced by the first shot hit the penthouse window three centimeters away from the ambassador's chest, through this hole a lead alloy slug fired from the weapon's barrel sped through, hitting the ambassador.

 

- Taken from Criminal Organizations, Hutts 1, Bresallis 0.

A blaster bolt and slug were fired at a microsecond apart, the bolt hit the penthouse first than the slug came after.

Of course, the fastest moves in the galaxy couldn't block a blaster's particle beam or a projectile from a slugthrower.

 

- Medstar 1: BS

The fastest moves in the galaxy couldn't block either a bolt or slug, indicating they are around the same speed and no normal person could dodge them.

So there ya go

Blasters in Legends Canon are hypersonic+ speed

No idea as far as Canon.

Turbolasers though are lightspeed

Laser Cannons as I recall are lighting speed. Might have to double check that.

Mad....no, blasters in Legends are hypersonic speed. Don't know why one would go for some RL calculations, instead of looking at in-universe sources. But here's some evidence.

 

 

 

Noted that Slugthrowers are hypersonic, Slugthrowers being extremely outdated compared to blaster weaponry.

 

 

 

A blaster bolt and slug were fired at a microsecond apart, the bolt hit the penthouse first than the slug came after.

 

 

 

The fastest moves in the galaxy couldn't block either a bolt or slug, indicating they are around the same speed and no normal person could dodge them.

 

So there ya go

 

Blasters in Legends Canon are hypersonic+ speed

 

No idea as far as Canon.

 

Turbolasers though are lightspeed

 

Laser Cannons as I recall are lighting speed. Might have to double check that.

First off, I stated that the speed was minimum supersonic, hypersonic is not actually that much faster (5x speed of sound)

Now for the presented evidence:

It is illogical to assume all slugthrowers are the same, a sniper rifle fires a round much faster than a shotgun's slug. Both would classify as a slugthrower in SW. Unless you can find a source that states the speed of the slugthrower and compares it to a blaster bolt, it is not very concrete. And the Verpine might take exception to the assessment that their weapons are "outdated" (ya, I know they don't call them slugthrowers, but really, they are)

Your final source is also not concrete, all it suggests is they are both not dodgable (which is the entire premise behind my original estimates ironically). You can't dodge supersonic any more than you can hypersonic.

As for turbolasers and laser cannons, this we have more concrete information on.

"Though based on the same principles, with their beams having a nearly identical nature, laser cannons were more powerful than similarly-sized blasters." http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Laser_cannon/Legends

"though lasers as seen in Star Wars bear few similarities to those in real life: plasma is part of the beam's composition," http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Laser/Legends

The "laser" in their name is a misnomer (or more accurately, a common misunderstanding of what a laser can be), they are in fact a plasma weapon just like blasters, and as such, no where near the speed of light. Probably faster than a blaster though.

TL;DR: I'm not saying your necessarily wrong about the speeds, just that we do not have concrete evidence, only guesswork and extrapolation

To me, those "out of movie" calculations are completely ********. The effects of the blasters are just there to make the movie cooler, it doesn't mean it actually moves in that speed. The movie would be a lot less cooler if there was just the sound of the blaster and people getting shot. We shouldn't apply real life physics in any movie, as we all already know from 007 movies.

Wolf, thanks, the first two quotes are enough to prove it, though they are from some "obscure" sources. I wonder why (and if) there isn't any other sources talking about it. All those guides of droids and weapons/equipments and no one talks about it?

To me, those "out of movie" calculations are completely ********. The effects of the blasters are just there to make the movie cooler, it doesn't mean it actually moves in that speed. The movie would be a lot less cooler if there was just the sound of the blaster and people getting shot. We shouldn't apply real life physics in any movie, as we all already know from 007 movies.

 

Wolf, thanks, the first two quotes are enough to prove it, though they are from some "obscure" sources. I wonder why (and if) there isn't any other sources talking about it. All those guides of droids and weapons/equipments and no one talks about it?

Me and Wolf are perfect examples of why this hasn't happened. No one can agree, and the only person (until recently) who could finally put concrete numbers to things didn't give a **** about the universe.

Now that Disney is in charge, we might see more information like this being confirmed, but I doubt this is a priority for them.

First off, I stated that the speed was minimum supersonic, hypersonic is not actually that much faster (5x speed of sound)

 

Now for the presented evidence:

It is illogical to assume all slugthrowers are the same, a sniper rifle fires a round much faster than a shotgun's slug. Both would classify as a slugthrower in SW. Unless you can find a source that states the speed of the slugthrower and compares it to a blaster bolt, it is not very concrete. And the Verpine might take exception to the assessment that their weapons are "outdated" (ya, I know they don't call them slugthrowers, but really, they are)

 

Your final source is also not concrete, all it suggests is they are both not dodgable (which is the entire premise behind my original estimates ironically). You can't dodge supersonic any more than you can hypersonic.

 

 

As for turbolasers and laser cannons, this we have more concrete information on.

"Though based on the same principles, with their beams having a nearly identical nature, laser cannons were more powerful than similarly-sized blasters." http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Laser_cannon/Legends

"though lasers as seen in Star Wars bear few similarities to those in real life: plasma is part of the beam's composition," http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Laser/Legends

The "laser" in their name is a misnomer (or more accurately, a common misunderstanding of what a laser can be), they are in fact a plasma weapon just like blasters, and as such, no where near the speed of light. Probably faster than a blaster though.

 

TL;DR: I'm not saying your necessarily wrong about the speeds, just that we do not have concrete evidence, only guesswork and extrapolation

Except there were no specific Slugthrowers mentioned in Shatterpoint being fired, just that hypersonic slugs were being fired.

Now that said, I'm not saying all Slugs and all Blaster types have the same speed.

But rifles? They should be around hypersonic at the least, since rifles are used moreso than any other. The Tusken Raider rifles have magnetic pulse accelerators which propel the slug at extremely high velocities. So there's more to indicate that Rifles at least are that speed, when taking into account Shatterpoint and how it was a generalized quote.

Turbolasers are noted as being lightspeed.

The Power of Light- Like most energy weapons, turbolasers fire invisible beams of energy at lightspeed. The bolt effect seen when a turbolaser fired is actually a glowing pulse that travels along the beam at less than lightspeed.

 

- Taken from Fact File 45

Now there isn't concrete evidence of blaster speed, but really I don't think there needs to be any when we can just guess off the speed of slugthrowers, as it doesn't make sense for blasters to be inferior to a Slugthrower. There is no mention that they are, the only advantage a Slugthrower has is that the shot can't be redirected back to the shooter like a bolt could.

Plus there are Force Users that have reacted to blasters and slugs too.

It's not that hard to figure/guess at the least, blasters being at that speed.

It doesn't seem all that crazy when in the SWU they have developed hyperspace travel and have those who can bend the laws of physics to their will/use, among other things.

To me, those "out of movie" calculations are completely ********. The effects of the blasters are just there to make the movie cooler, it doesn't mean it actually moves in that speed. The movie would be a lot less cooler if there was just the sound of the blaster and people getting shot. We shouldn't apply real life physics in any movie, as we all already know from 007 movies.

 

Wolf, thanks, the first two quotes are enough to prove it, though they are from some "obscure" sources. I wonder why (and if) there isn't any other sources talking about it. All those guides of droids and weapons/equipments and no one talks about it?

There are a ton of things noted about equipment that is never talked about or used. My guess as to why, is that authors just don't really look at other works or don't think it's really important to mention.

Example, the E-11 has a grenade fitting attachment, as well as a folding stock for long range. Neither things are used at all in any of the sources regarding the E-11 as far as I know anyway, at least the grenade attachment.

There's also powered armor and a ton of other things, that are specifically just in guides yet never used. But just cause they never are, doesn't mean they aren't apart of the SWU.

Except there were no specific Slugthrowers mentioned in Shatterpoint being fired, just that hypersonic slugs were being fired.

 

Now that said, I'm not saying all Slugs and all Blaster types have the same speed.

 

But rifles? They should be around hypersonic at the least, since rifles are used moreso than any other. The Tusken Raider rifles have magnetic pulse accelerators which propel the slug at extremely high velocities. So there's more to indicate that Rifles at least are that speed, when taking into account Shatterpoint and how it was a generalized quote.

I see. So there were hypersonic slugs being fired. How do you link that to the other source that states the blaster was faster? I mean, if not all slugs are equal we can't tell the speed of the one fired with the blaster...

I see. So there were hypersonic slugs being fired. How do you link that to the other source that states the blaster was faster? I mean, if not all slugs are equal we can't tell the speed of the one fired with the blaster...

The 2nd quote, the guy used a blaster/slug rifle combo(specifically it was an E-11 with an additional slugthrower barrel). As I said, the Slug rifles should be that speed, but blaster pistols, shotguns and the like, the speed should be different.

Tbh I also do have quotes saying that bolts are lightspeed, so really they should be very high. But seeing as people want actual evidence, this is as close as we get here in at least establishing some kind of blaster speed, which is hypersonic+ as far as rifles go.

Turbolasers are noted as being lightspeed.

First, a particle beam was generated in the manner standard of blasters and laser cannons. Then even more power was achieved by guiding this laser cannon particle-beam through another stream of energized Tibanna Gas (besides the one used in generating the initial beam, since laser cannons work on the same principle as blasters) to increase its power.

note particle beam. Not speed of light.

I haven't read the fact file but the way I read that is the initial pulse does not cause the damage, it is merely an initial surge of EMR that is emitted, maybe to contain/guide the plasma beam (kinda like a leader during a thunderstorm, only the leader is the fast one)

Otherwise we are left with a good old contradiction. Plenty of those in Legends as it is so wouldn't surprise me.

note particle beam. Not speed of light.

 

I haven't read the fact file but the way I read that is the initial pulse does not cause the damage, it is merely an initial surge of EMR that is emitted, maybe to contain/guide the plasma beam (kinda like a leader during a thunderstorm, only the leader is the fast one)

 

Otherwise we are left with a good old contradiction. Plenty of those in Legends as it is so wouldn't surprise me.

Right, the glowing pulse is just a harmless byproduct. This is also noted in handheld blasters, the bolt effect seen is harmless.

Anyway I'm tired so I'm just gonna end it here, believe what you will, I got the sources that give something at the least. If you don't wanna entertain that idea, fine I suppose, we can agree to disagree.

But I don't see how it's any more crazy than what else there is in the Star Wars Universe.