The Expert Forum

[Emperor Devon]

No I mean the 'let's slaughter off all of those that won't follow me at Malachor' part. My version had her fall after finding the Star Forge.

 

What did you do about her/his/whatever's incentive to find the Star Forge, though?

[machievelli]

What did you do about her/his/whatever's incentive to find the Star Forge, though?

 

She found an ancient translation of a Sith book that spoke of the legends of cruel monsters that conquered many worlds. Since Dantooine was one of them, she investigated the tomb there, and found the first portion of the star map. The book spoke of creating things from thin air, and she assumed that meant anything.

 

Her intent was to find it, and if it could build ships, she was going to outfit the Republic with as many as she could grab. But she began to slide, thinking of giving all that largesss to idiots like the Senate, and decided to repair the government first.

[Emperor Devon]

I'm surprised the topic of naval ranks hasn't been covered, so I thought I'd post it. I'll elaborate on some of the more distinct/important ones. From highest to lowest:

 

Supreme Commander - The Star Wars equivalent of Admiral of the Navy. It naturally implies supreme command over all fleets. As we all know, Revan also had the title. Wookieepedia says the rank gave him direct command over one third of the Republic's navy.

 

Admiral of the Navy - The equivalent of a six-star General. Ranks like that are rarely needed outside of major wars. I don't think it's used in Star Wars.

 

Grand Admiral - A very high rank granted only to the best of the best. The use of it by the Germans is very similar to what it was with the Empire. With both, a very small amount of people had it. I've not heard of the title being used anywhere other than Palpatin's empire. This rank is not used in the U.S. Navy.

 

Fleet Admiral - I've not seen this used many times in Star Wars. In the U.S. military, it's the equivalent of a General of the Army (5-star general).

 

Admiral - The equivalent of General. Whoever has it controls a large amount of ships. Titles that include Admiral in them are usually the equivalent of something that includes the title General. The rank of just Admiral is the equivalent of a 4-star general. In the U.S. Navy, lower Rear Admirals were equal in rank to Brigadier Generals but could have more stars, since that could be affected by the numbers and classes of ships they commanded. I have yet to see any statements about this being a fact in Star Wars, but it's likely.

 

Vice Admiral - The equivalent of a Lieuteneant General.

 

Rear Admiral (upper half) - Someone who commands ships at the back of an assault, but not the furthest rear.

 

Rear Admiral (lower half) - Someone who commands the ships at the furthest rear of an assault. It's the most junior of all the admiral ranks, and the people who have it can expect the least action in a battle, as they're commanding the ships at the rear. In the U.S. Navy, lower Rear Admirals could often command anti-submarine groups.

 

Commodore - The only place I've seen this in Star Wars was Wookieepedia. It's not used in the U.S. Navy either, but I thought it was worth mentioning. Someone who had it commanded several ships.

 

Captain - Someone who commands a ship. The equivalent to a Colonel.

 

Commander

 

Lieutenant Commander

 

Lieutenant

 

Lieutenant, Junior Grade - Sometimes nicknamed 'Lieutenant, Junior God', because the people who achieve the rank sometimes get stuck up about it.

 

Ensign - The most junior of all commissioned officer ranks.

 

Other things:

 

High Admiral - Wookieepedia claims this is a legitimate rank, but in Darksaber one of the Imperial warlords had it as a title. Since all of those warlords had ridiculous and nonexistent titles, I doubt that's authentic.

[machievelli]

Vice Admiral - The equivalent of a Lieuteneant General.

 

Rear Admiral (upper half) - Someone who commands ships at the back of an assault, but not the furthest rear.

 

Rear Admiral (lower half) - Somone who commands the ships at the furthest rear of an assault. It's the most junior of all the admiral ranks, and the people who have it can expect the least action in a battle, as they're commanding the ships at the rear.

 

Commodore - The only place I've seen this in Star Wars was Wookieepedia. It's not used in the U.S. Navy either, but I thought it was worth mentioning. Someone who had it commanded several ships.

 

Captain - Someone who commands a ship. The equivalent to a Colonel.

 

I was wondering for a moment if you were being facetious.

 

The admiral ranks (At least in the US Navy, are linked to the numbers and slasses of ships a commander of what ever rank commands.

 

In the US navy, the rank of commodore is subsumed by rear admiral lower half. As WEB Griffith pointed out, a lot of Brigadier Generals were upset when they found out that an RA lower was equal in rank, but still wears two stars.

 

In the modern US navy, a RA lower would command a standard surface action group or anti-submarine group, while a RA upper would command a Carrier Battle Group or Surface support group, which would include a battle ship or more. The Commander Destroyers (Responsilbe for all destroyers in the pacific would be a Vice Admiral, as would COMSUBPAC (COmmander Submarines,) or COM SUP Pac (Commander support vessels, PAcific) while a full Admiral would command the actual fleet as CincPac.

 

In the US we have exactly one fleet admiral in service. he is CNO.

[Emperor Devon]

In the modern US navy, a RA lower would command a standard surface action group or anti-submarine group, while a RA upper would command a Carrier Battle Group or Surface support group, which would include a battle ship or more. {snip}

 

I guess I should've mentioned whether I was talking about Star Wars or the U.S. I'll fix that...

[machievelli]

I guess I should've mentioned whether I was talking about Star Wars or the U.S. I'll fix that...

 

 

Not a problem. Most people don't even know where the ranks came from. The 'Admiral' or Fleet admiral was in overall command in action, with his assistant (Or his 'vice') as second in command, and the rear Admiral was just the lowest ranked one on the totem pole, so saying he takes up the rear wasn't too far off. In fact the Germanic version actually works better because he could be conter-Admiral, or opposite, the man who commands the opposite wing in a fleet action.

[JediAthos]

My little addition to this discussion is that the title Commodore is actually used in the US Navy for the commander of an Amphibious Squadron, or PHIBRON. The person's actual rank is Captain. For example, when I served on an amphibious assault ship from 99-03 we were with Amphibious Squadron 8. The commander of Amphibious Squadron 8 was Captain so and so. He was always addressed both by our CO and by us as Commodore.

[machievelli]

The Earth sucks;

 

or;

 

Commentary on gravity

 

Here I am flying along with my KOTOR II novel when suddenly I noticed a mistake worthy of the movie Citizen Kane.

 

I have a device creating a mass shadow equivalent to a B9 star with a surface gravity of 2 million standard gravities. Then I leave it on for, get this, 27 hours. When I wrote it, it bothered me, but couldn’t figure out why. So I looked in my Van Nostrand’s Scientific Encyclopedia. So here is what I did wrong;

 

Gravity is a force which on the surface of our planet exerts 9.88 meters per second per second acceleration. This means if you drop something from 30 meters off the ground, it falls 9.88 the first second, and 19.76 the second.

 

With me so far?

 

All right, with a force of 2 million gravities, after the first second, everything around it is now headed inward at 19760 kps. after ten seconds, it is traveling at 197600 kps.

 

But that second figure is 60 percent of light speed!

 

So after 27 hours, not only have you exceeded the Enstienian speed limit, but you have done so by over 6400 times!

 

Before you ask, yes, I am changing the segments where I fouled up.

 

But see, even we make mistakes.

[stingerhs]

^^^^

ahh, now you run into the dilemma of the Black Hole where gravity is so great that not even light is fast enough to escape it. in that case, a more accurate name for the Mass Shadow generator would be the "Black Hole" generator.

[machievelli]

^^^^

ahh, now you run into the dilemma of the Black Hole where gravity is so great that not even light is fast enough to escape it. in that case, a more accurate name for the Mass Shadow generator would be the "Black Hole" generator.

 

 

technically yes. However neither Malachor V nor it's star would have survived it is what i was trying to say. There would be no Trayus Academy to find.

[stingerhs]

indeed. i was just pointing out exactly what your original calculations had entailed.

 

and something that i should point out is:

...that the Mass Shadow Generator is never deactivated until the lightside ending.

of course, that's assuming that my understanding of the game is sound.

[JediAthos]

okay experts here's one for you....do you think that in the realm of science fiction that one could rationalize a ship and possibly even droids being perserved over several thousand years?

[Emperor Devon]

In Dune they had these devices called nullentropy fields, which generated a force field that stopped all form of aging for whatever it covered, but also froze it completely in place.

 

Or there's the self-repairing technology the Rakata had. As we saw in KotOR, their computers and droids could last millenia.

 

Or maybe that ship and those droids are extremely durable. This is science fiction, after all. You don't have to conform to what is and what isn't possible in our universe.

[machievelli]

okay experts here's one for you....do you think that in the realm of science fiction that one could rationalize a ship and possibly even droids being perserved over several thousand years?

 

 

Has Solo and the lost Legacy. Driods from an empire that had died about 20,000 years earlier, if I remember correctly.

 

My disagreement with the concept is that it is like assuming a fighter from WWI would be an efficient tool facing a modern Jet. Technology would have surpassed them.

 

In the story above, it was a matter that the empire that had built them over engineered them so heavily that they were still highly efficient war machines still.

[RedHawke]

okay experts here's one for you....do you think that in the realm of science fiction that one could rationalize a ship and possibly even droids being perserved over several thousand years?

I cannot remember the story it came from, but I do remember the technology it was called a "Smart Metal Maintinance & Repair System" basically nanotechnology that keeps a machine in peak condition and can even upgrade it over time with newer technologies the nanomachines encounter or sample.

[JediAthos]

hmm....well, I have written something into the fic that I'm currently posting here and I was looking for some way to explain it, hence the reason I asked the question. I kind of like the explanation you referenced RH...the only thing I would have to do is work it into the story.

[machievelli]

A Long Time Ago...

 

Jedi Rolph Morkoi, pursued by a clone strike force makes a desperate leap into hyperspace without progamming his system. His ship comes out to close to a G0 class star.

 

Jettisoning his hyper-ring, he crashlands on an unknown planet, and is rescued by members of the US Navy from Philadelpiha Harbor in 1944-

 

You would be surprised how often I have seen something similar in the last year as the critic on three sites. Every writer forgot the three primary rules of writing in someone else's canon;

 

1: You must be true to the setting. If it's George Lucas' Star Wars, you cannot interject the United States in the 20th century into it.

 

2:You cannot merely leap Galaxy to Galaxy, which according to the opening credits of every Star Wars movie and game, is what is required.

 

3: Assuming the first two rules are true, the only way to do it-

 

Is to cheat.

 

Now, let's take the above commentary I did, and show you how it could work.

 

pursued by a clone strike force he makes a desperate leap into hyperspace without progamming his system.

 

Remember how much time Han Solo took in both Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back in programming his hyperdrive? Remember his comment to Luke. Improperly programming it could have been disastrous.

 

We never got a full explanation about how hyper-drive works, and quite frankly it would have been unnecessary in a movie format. You don't have as Gene Roddenberry said 'A town marshall explaining how a colt peacemaker works'. In my own KOTOR work I described making a blind jump as 'putting a pin in the galaxy blindfolded'.

 

But as a writer, that gives you 'wriggle room' to pull something like I did above. At least in space if not in space-time.

 

Now Michio Kaku who has continued Hawking's work suggests wormhole theory not only for distance but time as well. So USE it.

 

The jedi fighter is flying through an area of gravitationally disrupted space. It hits a gravity speed bump an the same time the pilot hits his unfocused hyperdrive. The chances of ending up anywhere he can get back from is already astronomical. Thuis last bump flips him toward a wormhole which can bridge not only intergalactic space but space-time as well. So he gets thrown, oh, 7,000 years into the past, and about 50 million light years, which would put him on the edge of what is called the 'neighborhood' galaxies.

 

Now how does he get back? Unless you now create a second sequence of events just as unlikely, he doesn't. Worse yet, no one can get him back out. But that is where the second paragraph come in;

 

Is rescued by members of the US Navy from Philadelpiha Harbor in 1944-

 

You see, at that location and time, the US government was working on a secret project dramatized in the movie The Philadelphia Experiment. It's still partially classified (What they were doing and what occurred is at least) so we don't know what happened. Maybe the experiment then throws our Jedi back to his own Galaxy near Alderaan.

 

So if you're going to cheat and use Earth come up with a logical reason why

[machievelli]

A note on Holidays;

 

Ever since the really bad Star Wars Christmas Special, I have been leery of using holiday garb for Star Wars. The idea that a furred race (The Wookie) would intentionally wear something from another culture (Long white choir robes no less) is absurd. Clothing is for two things alone, protection from weather and natural conditions, or as ornamentation. But think, can you see a Wookie wearing a three piece suit?

 

If you can, I suggest therapy.

 

Yet people persist in using two major holiday almost consistently, and one in an on again off again manner.

 

They are Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine's day.

 

Fine. But did any of you consider that Christmas is celebrated in less than half of the world? And Halloween celebrated in even less. Halloween in fact in primarily a holiday of the English speaking world.

 

Valentine's day oddly enough is celebrated here and in England, but outside of Japan, not much else of the world. The Japanese go so far as to break the holiday in half, one part on 14 February when the girl give the boy darker chocolates, and the 14th of March when the boy gives the girl white chocolate (Called oddly enough, white chocolate day).

 

So like the article above, here is how to cheat on holidays, getting them in, but at the same time not offending your friendly neighborhood critic.

 

don't use common trappings: Leave out the mistletoe, the Christmas Carols, the Christmas Tree, or any religious connotations. Every major religion on the planet has a holiday similar to Christmas, so you can get away with this. The same goes with Halloween, since you have Obon in August in Japan, The day of the Dead in November in the South American countries, and Halloween here. There are a lot of reasons to play dress up, so costume parties are not a problem.

 

The second possible way is to create the equvilant of the Christmas story but in the context of the society of Star Wars. The Original Santa Claus for example was a Turkish Archbishop who wandered the streets in disguise, and listened to the complaints of the people. After judging whether they deserved it or not, he would then roam the streets and throw coins over the back walls into their houses. Halloween started as a seasonal holiday which is linked to the dead, and claiming that the veil between worlds is thinnest that day. So every fire in the kingdom would be put out, then a massive bonfire (Sometimes with a few prisoners to toast) would be lit signifying that life goes on. The only part of Halloween that does not really translate is Trick or treat, but if you use your imaginations, you can come up with a logical reason for it.

 

So use your imaginations

 

If you want to use the holiday as it stands, expect me to complain.

[machievelli]

As an addendum, if you have read my latest post in the Critis' Two Cents, there is a story entitled Telosian Festival of Fear by xenzen and Athenaprime. This is an excellent example of what I mean.

[Emperor Devon]

On the subject of Dark Jedi and Sith:

 

Contrary to KotOR, there actually is a difference between the two. It frustrated me to no end how I'd be fighting supposed Dark Jedi that were in reality Sith.

 

Enough of my rants, now for the differences:

 

Dark Jedi: These people are not Sith. Tecnically. That term can be given to any Force-sensitive being who uses the dark side of the Force, but is not a formal and full-fledged Sith. The Reborn in Jedi Outcast are Dark Jedi, for example. As are Joruus C'baoth, Lord Nyax, Lord Hethir, Mara Jade (when she was a Hand, that is), Sedriss, Lord Cronal and Tremayne to name a few.

 

Dark Jedi are rarely organized into groups, much less large ones. The only ones I can think of are the Reborn, the Disciples of Ragnos, the Shadow Academy, the Nightsisters (debatable), and Jerec's small band. This is only for organizations of Dark Jedi not controlled by a Sith, though.

 

Sith: A person who was formally accepted into one of the Sith Order's many incarnations. The Sith, as we know, have their own tradtions, customs, philosiphies, etc. As they are an organized group and have a past, they've in sense gone against the nature of the dark side, which is chaos. Although they've had a few civil wars, they obviously can be unified in large numbers.

 

The Sith have their share of secrets, and as we know, have developed many techniques, ideas, and artifacts. over the years. Being a cloistered order, those secrets have rarely found their way outside of their hands. There's a key difference between Dark Jedi and Sith; the later have a much greater amount of knowledge and pass it down to each other. Dark Jedi, on the other hand, can call upon the dark side but do not know it in the sense the Sith do. As many of them are self-taught and don't form groups easily, it's no wonder they're at a disadvantage compared to the Sith. I also have yet to hear of one who made a holocron.

 

That by no means prevents them from being powerful, though. Joruus C'baoth, for example, was more than a match for most Sith. He was even one of the few people that detonated in an explosion of dark side energy upon death. The last book he appears in claims he was more powerful than Palpatine at the end, but I doubt that.

 

More examples of their power were how some of Palpatine's adepts created the Chrysalides, Lord Cronal's strength in Sith alchemy, and how Luke thought going up against Lord Nyax in a one-on-one lightsaber duel was suicidal.

 

Dark Jedi organizations:

 

Though most were managed by Palpatine, here goes:

 

Dark Side Adepts: When Palpatine became the Emperor, the Sith had never before controlled such a large amount of territory. In addition, there were still quite a few Jedi who survived Order 66. The Sith couldn't easily manage that with just two people, so Sidious decided to solve his problem while by technicality not breaking the Rule of Two (something which he would often bend and infringe, but never outright break).

 

Dark Side Adept is generic term that any darksiders who served the Emperor were called. Subdivions are:

 

The Dark Side Elite - Seven powerful Dark Jedi handpicked by Palpatine to be part of this group. During most of Operation Shadow Hand, he didn't have a Sith apprentice to appoint to the second-highest position in his empire (Military Executor), so he chose people from here. Both of them, though, (Sedriss and Xecr Nist) were killed by Luke and Kam all in the same issue.

 

They used Vjun as their headquarters, and with Vader gone, took over a good amount of his power. In fact, Palpatine was distressed whenever he heard one died. Throughout Operation Shadow Hand, various members were killed by Luke, his Jedi, and two (technically) by Han. Once Palpatine died for good, the group wasn't reformed.

 

Inquisitors - One of the most important groups of darksiders. This was an elite division of Imperial Intelligence, restricted only to some of the most powerful Dark Jedi. Their jobs were to interrogate any victims Intelligence couldn't crack (though given their brutal methods, that was rare) so they for the most part helped finish Order 66. This group was large enough to the point that Vader wouldn't shed many tears if he heard one died, but still far too small be sent into open battle. Various ranks were:

 

Grand Inquisitor - handpicked by Palpatine, this person led the Inquisitorius. He was outranked only by a handful of individuals in the whole Empire.

 

High Inquisitor - another esteemed postion. The first people who earned it were personally trained by Vader in the ways of the dark side (but not the Sith).

 

Inquisitor - the regular, but still esteemed rank.

 

Apprentice Inquisitor - what the name implies.

 

Throughout the Empire's reign, the Inquisitors would track down any Jedi who survived Order 66, killing them when they could not be converted. Given how Jerec didn't even reach the rank of High Inquisitor, they must have been formidable. Another task of theirs was to find any prospective Force-sensitives and turn them to the dark side. Their position within the Empire was high, despite their small numbers. When the Empire retook Coruscant, they had a say into who the new Emperor would be. Of course, that was all moot once Palpatine returned.

 

Prophets of the Dark Side - this is a unique group. They were splinter faction of the Sith formed by Darth Millenial, who disagreed with the Rule of Two. They possessed a gift for seeing the future, and were also called the Secret Order of the Empire. Larger than the Inquisitorius but still small, their leader, Kadann, was probably one of the most powerful Force users in the galaxy in his time. Unfortunately for them, most were killed by the dark warrior Azrakel, and later on by Lumiya with her second apprentice Carnor Jax.

 

Emperor's Hands - although they were even fewer than the Inquisitorius, this group had a much less active role in the Empire. They were all top-secret spies who answered to Palpatine directly, and were given almlost unlimited authority to carry out his will as needed. If one of them wanted to kill all people on a planet who wore yellow because it served the Emperor's purposes, they could. They were unknown to almost all Imperials.

 

Other Dark Jedi - Palpatine had other Dark Jedi who answered to him that were not part of these groups. One example is Joruus C'baoth, and another is Azrkael.

 

The Royal Guard - I've seen in a few sources that they were required to be Force-sensitive, but there wasn't much detail.

 

Sovereign Protectors - the elite of the Royal Guard, I'm certain these few people were required to be Force-sensitive. They were given basic training in the dark side and the Force, though only a minimal amount.

 

Where they all came from:

 

Quite a few of Palpatine's Dark Jedi were Jedi who were converted to the dark side, or Force-sensitives he discovered during his reign. The Prohpets were already a functional group when he found them.

 

Other Dark Jedi organizations:

 

Jerec's band - seven Dark Jedi led by Jerec (which included him), they sought out the Valley of the Jedi. Six were killed by Kyle, and one of them when he turned back to the light side. None of them seemd to question Jerec.

 

The Dark Acolytes - during the Clone Wars, Dooku converted some Jedi and Force-sensitives to his cause. One of the most famous of these was Asajj Ventress, who gave Anakin the scar by his eye. They were all killed or abandoned the Seperatists by the war's end, to my knowledge.

 

The Legions of Lettow - headed by Xendor, these were the first of the Dark Jedi, and their descendants would later on become the Lords of the Sith. They were all wiped out or interbred with the Sith species.

 

The Nightsisters - a clan of Dathomiri witches who used the dark side. They were defeated during the crisis with the warlord Zsinj.

 

The Sorcerers of Tud - a group so stupid I'm not even going to talk about them.

 

There are others, but at this time at night, I can't recall them.

[machievelli]

The bugaboo of technology: Mothballing a vessel

 

The biggest foible I get irate about at present is the 'HK' coming to life along with someone in Luke Skywalker's time running around in the Ebon Hawk.

 

It isn't that I don't like the character or hate the Ebon Hawk. It's just that if you're going to have them running around 4,000 years after the events of KOTOR, you have to consider storage.

 

I waxed lyrical in a sci fi story set in the StarFire universe because of the problem of mothballing. Warships are expensive, and mantaining them in fighting trim even more so. As someone back in the 1850s commented that refurbishing the Constitution (Built in 1804) after she had been laid up using the technology of 1825 had cost twice what it had cost to build the ship originally.

 

Ships that had been laid up after WWI by the US took up to seven months to bring up to operation when we gave them to England under the Lend Lease act. The optic had to be replaced, even sections of the boilers or hull had to be replaced by, you guessed it, cannibalizing the ships the Brits weren't getting.

 

Mothballing only became possible after WWII because quite honestly, no one had even considered the problem before. After the second world war a lot of those ships merely went through refits (Called FRAMS for Fleet Refurbishment and Modernization Schedule) where older guns and tech were replaced with more modern stuff. But that began to cost too much too.

 

So we had to mothball them in case we would need them later. Modern mothballing requires filling every possible crack (Including the bases of the turrets and radar antennae) with foam, draining out the normal atmosphere, and filling with inert dry nitrogen. But even then you need several moths before the ship is up to specs again because you have to replace all of the antique equipment. The last time the US has dipped into the WWII mothball fleet was in the seventies for ships to sell overseas.

 

Now picture 4,000 years of disrepair. I commented to one such author that it was the same as Themistocles sailing the Greek fleet that defeated Xerxes in 485 BCE to attack the American fleet carriers Sea Wolf Submarines and all off Chesapeake Bay. A fleet of 400 odd 70 man power (Remember oared galleys) attacking a fleet of around 2,000 that can sail for a month without fadditional uel at 30 knots (Three times their oared speed) and either shoot you in the face with a missile at 1600 miles (Tomahawk w/ nuclear warheads) or kill you with guns at up to 50 miles, long before your bows and arrows (about 150 yard range) can even range the enemy.

 

Who do you think is going to win?

 

Now picture this;

 

Back in the 60s, they found what they believe was a dry cell battery in the desert of Iraq. A rather large construct. Yet it is not usable. 5,000 years of storage even in a desert has seen to that.

 

So:

 

How do we have this ship and our favorite homicidal droid survive to plague us yet again?

 

Remember that Star Wars is a space opera. If you had stuck the ship drifting in deep space, all it would need is cleaning. The computers would probably still be fried, but the ship would be at least partially operational.

 

This means however that the memories of the droids would probably be patchy as well, but we can't have everything.

 

Either this or a full scale stasis field, which I think is beyond the tech of Star Wars. Maybe carbonite...?

[JediAthos]

Well Mach, I have something of that nature written into my fic, and when I wrote it I really just thought it was a fun idea, and tried to explain it away as best I could. Looking back I figured science fiction explains enough stuff away with bolonga that I could get away with it

[machievelli]

The first rule of Sci Fi is 'one impossible thing is acceptable'.

 

All I asked is that if you're going to use HK, find a way to keep him updated. If you don't see what I mean find a very bad movie call 'quest of the Delta Knights' which I was in to my chagrin. They had Archimedes make a death ray back in the 2nd century BC (And not the infamous mirror).

[JediAthos]

actually...HK doesn't last long enough to be updated One of my characters gets rather annoyed with him. That said, I get your point and a valid one it is.

[Emperor Devon]

Unlike in the massive WWs of the past with clearly established fronts, warfare on a galactic scale in Star Wars revolves around hyperspace routes. These are just as, if not even more important than having roads, bridges, trains, and etcetera in our world.

 

For a bit of background on what hyperspace routes are, let's compare it to the roads we have here on Earth. As they're a faster method of getting from one place to other than hiking through a forest, so are hypserspace routes the faster method of traveling in Star Wars. We all know about the hyperdrive, the impossible invention that provides starships with a faster-than-light form of travel. Since it's so fast, it's completely impossible for anything (artifical intelligence included) to move starships around once they've jumped into hyperspace. Try making a ship change its specific course when it's traveling at millions upon millions of miles an hour; nothing has such sharp reflexes.

 

To get back to the background of hyperspace routes, some are safe to travel and some are not. Since it's impossible to change course at specific instance, a starship will crash into anything between its starting point and destination at an unimaginably fast speed, will will result in a giant explosion where everyone onboard dies.

 

Because of this, only certain routes can work; for example, if the space directly between Byss and Tarkin's Fang is completely free of asteroids or other obstacles, a ship can jump into hyperspace at Byss and program the navicomputer to exit hyperspace upon reaching Tarkin's Fang. Since Tarkin's Fang would be a known destination to the ship, it can be programmed to go back into realspace upon reaching the destination. If there was an asteroid directly between those two points and no one was aware of it, there would be no time to change course and everyone on the ship would die horribly.

 

However, if the asteroid was a known destination in advance, the ship could be programmed to enter hyperspace upon leaving Byss, and exit it upon reaching the asteroid. From there, the ship could jump into hyperspace again and proceed to Tarkin's Fang. This is the basic principle of how galactic travel exists.

 

Because of all these different routes, the galaxy has some fairly haphazard borders. Two planets, for example, could only be a sector away from each other, but if no known hyperspace routes existed directly between them, they could end up having to travel several sectors along a different route to reach other. With a principle like these, two star systems physically next to each other could be, in a sense, twenty systems apart.

 

Although conventional travel through realspace is possible, it is an incredibly slow venture, and traveling halfway around the galaxy through hyperspace often takes less time. The only purpose traveling through realspace serves is for very short voyages, such as from neighboring planets.

 

The question 'why not just map out the whole galaxy and get all the routes?' seems like a ntural one. However, mapping out new routes is an incredibly dangerous task; a random jump into hyperspace could spell certain death if there's something in the way. Convential mapping through realspace is, as I explained earlier, far too slow. Early in the Republic's history, discovering new routes was a large business (since it could result in discovering new worlds), but an extremely hazardous one. By the time of the Galactic Empire, thousands of worlds had been discovered, and no one wanted to risk their lives to find more. (Although the practice actually was dicontinued in the eyes of the public, Palpatine would continue to discover new ones when he put Grand Admiral Thrawn in charge of a mapping expedition in the Unknown Regions.)

 

Another reason everything can't be mapped are some natural hazards the galaxy has. Nebulae, for instance, are dangerous for ships to pass through, and nothing can really be done to move them. The same goes for asteroids and other hazards.

 

Whoa, I got carried away there. Back to how this is all relevant to warfare:

 

As I've mentioned, hypserspace routes determine where people can travel in the galaxy. However, who possesses those routes and whether they share them is another matter entirely...

 

One example of this is how General Grievous was able to invade Corsucant in Episode III despite how countless neighboring star systems were under the control of the Republic. Palpatine provided him with some secret hypserspace routes that went through the Galactic Core, and allowed him to completely bypass the Republic's defenses. It had been thought traveling through the Core was impossible, (due to the extreme proximity of all the stars there) so there were no enemy forces for him to deal with. This allowed him to enter the Coruscant system without any opposition, despite being surrounded on all sides by hostile territory. This is obviously the main difference between Star Wars and one Earth; in real life, no army can just march to the enemy's capital city without any opposition.

 

This naturally makes borders and fronts a complicated concept. Again, planets don't truly border the ones that are physically close to them - they border ones ships can travel in a completely straight line between. If a planet in the Outer Rim had a direct route between itself and a planet in the Mid Rim, that would be the one it actually bordered. For further clarification:

 

 

In this case, during a war, it's more important to control the strategically placed planets than the ones that border them. Only in a case where every single planet that shares a direct route with a certain one is controlled does that really matter.

 

Since the rest of the logic behind this concept is apparent enough and I've typed a lot, I'll leave it at that.