Death Star question

[Trahern Valley]

Okay, gonna get into semantics here...

 

An Empire with the resources to build something as massive and powerful as the DS against the severly limited resources of the Rebel Alliance. The result: rebels send thirty fighters against the most powerful destructive force in the galaxy, and they're throwing everything they've got.

 

The Death Star's shieldless, but there the good news ends. It's surface is heavily armed and armoured. A frontal assault would be shortlived, even with capital ships, whether you're going for the superlaser emitters or the exhaust port. In the trench, you're out of the firing arc of most of the surrounding surface weapons. Despite the limited space to manouver, guns in the trench and on the towers, and TIEs...the trench run is still better odds.

[~*H0ly_sHat*~]

Originally posted by Vagabond

Oh ya, that makes sense. Because flying your fighter down a narrow trench, and not even dodging, with three fighters on your tail, is much more safe than the remote possibility that they'd fire the Death Star's main lasers at your fighter, even though the Death Star hasn't got a clear shot at Yavin IV yet

 

 

oh... sorry, i thought the DS was the one in RotJ...my bad..¬

[yoda_alex]

Why didn't the death star destroy the planet to give them a clear shot of the moon?

[Trahern Valley]

You only skimmed the previous posts didn't you? Go read them properly.

[Jubatus]

Let's summarize points here:

 

1. Yavin was a gas giant and too great a target for the laser(s) of the Death Star (gas giants are inhabitable anyway, so no direct need to have firepower of that magnitude). That's why they had to clear the planet to get a shot at the moon. As for the DS to be too close for the explosion of a planet, they had no problem with safe distance from Alderaan, though besides the point.

 

2. Despite having no shield the DS had a severe number of gun implacements to ward of a direct frontal attack. In addition to a large number of TIE-fighters.

 

3. Yes, it was not sufficient to just hit the exhaust port. It only served to the rebels as an opening to hit vital inner parts with photon torpedoes.

 

4. To just damage the laser emmision channels would only buy the rebels limited time. Were they to do that the empire would most likely take the harder road, as opposed to wiping them out with one swift stroke (go Tarkin ), and launch an assault from the DS with TIEs and land troops on the moon.

 

5. As for having to approach by the trench; firstly, to avoid the heavier defence on the surface, secondly, probably to get the right approach vector for firing their photon torpedoes at the right angle to make it down the exhaust channel.

 

The X-wings are dodging on their approach along the trench, but it's managed by their flight computer. It makes the ships go slightly up/down, side-to-side along the vector in chaotic patterns to avoid computer targeting lockon. This is greatly evident while we observe the targeting computer in Vader's TIE; the X-wing icon dances around in said chaotic pattern until he gets a lockon.

 

The reason he has a harder time locking on to Luke's ship is because of the influence of the Force working in Luke's favour although Luke is not aware of this. It could be interpreted as luck for anyone not believing in the Force.

 

If all these arguments fail, just forget about it and enjoy the movie!

 

Oh, and to quote Tarkin: 'You may fire when ready'....No one says it like him.....I wanna command a Death Star too, damnit!

 

Jubatus

[Jabbas WhOr3]

"Thats no Moon!"

Man that thing when I was 6 Years old I saw it for the first time I pooed my pants

I agree with the post above mine! good summary dude

"Now Witness the power of this fully armed and operational Battle Station!!!!!! " NOOooooooooooooooooo

[Vagabond]

Jubatus, you forgot that the first Death Star had a 24 hour recharging period for firing its primary weapon. If it had blown up Yavin to get to Yavin IV, then the rebels would have had enough time to safely evacuate. Of course, the debris from the destruction of Yavin, assuming the Death Star was powerful enough to destroy it, could have proved most inhospitable to any inhabitants of Yavin's satellites.

[Jubatus]

Vagabond, I forget it not. The destruction of a planet spells certain doom for its satellites, goes without saying.

 

Jubatus

[~*H0ly_sHat*~]

FGS!!! dont u guys read the previous posts?? the DS cant blow up Yavin because it a huge ball of gas! impossible to explode! it will be as harmless as having your car lights on in a fog!

[acdcfanbill]

what about hydrogen, not impossible, easly done.... remimber the hindenburg

[Jubatus]

Comparing a gas giant with fog? A gas giant is not an innate gathering of water molocules, it's a highly energetic, turbulent gathering of volatile gasses. A gas giant is only a gas giant because it doesn't have enough mass to become a star as far as I understand. Just because the elements of a gas giant isn't in solid form (at least not on the surface) doesn't mean it has no density nor that it can't be affected by energy, on the contrary.

 

I can assure you a gas giant can explode. Things explode when too much energy is applied in too little time for them to absorb/redirect. I'm far from any physics expert but I can tell I know alittle more of mass/energy relations than you, no offence.

 

What is written in previous posts is the assumption that the Death Star laser cannot produce enough energy to make a gas giant explode.

 

Jubatus

[Vagabond]

Okay, J, you obviously missed the point of my previous post - possibly because I was describing two things at once. I'll be more clear:

 

1. The Death Star did not destroy Yavin, assuming it could, because if it did, and also assuming that the inhabitants on Yavin IV survived, then the first Death Star would have required approximately 24 hours to recharge its primary weapon before firing it again for another planet-killing blow.

 

2. Then as I wrote, I began to consider the implications if the Death Star had blown up Yavin IV (again assuming that it was powerful enough to destroy such a large world), which is that the debris resulting from the Destruction of Yavin would likely be sufficient to destroy the rebel base on Yavin IV.

 

While I also agree that it would theoretically be possible to destroy a gas giant (after all, anything can be destroyed given the necessary resources), I'm unsure whether the Death Star was powerful enough to destroy a gas giant such as Yavin, as opposed to relatively tiny terrestrial planets such as Alderaan or Yavin IV. I'm inclined to think not.

[~*H0ly_sHat*~]

Originally posted by Jubatus

Comparing a gas giant with fog? A gas giant is not an innate gathering of water molocules, it's a highly energetic, turbulent gathering of volatile gasses. A gas giant is only a gas giant because it doesn't have enough mass to become a star as far as I understand. Just because the elements of a gas giant isn't in solid form (at least not on the surface) doesn't mean it has no density nor that it can't be affected by energy, on the contrary.

 

I can assure you a gas giant can explode. Things explode when too much energy is applied in too little time for them to absorb/redirect. I'm far from any physics expert but I can tell I know alittle more of mass/energy relations than you, no offence.

 

What is written in previous posts is the assumption that the Death Star laser cannot produce enough energy to make a gas giant explode.

 

Jubatus

 

ok so i'm not a straight A student when it comes to physics but so what? this is star wars! our laws of physics may not be possible to be implemented to star wars universe~ and heck, i got my answer frm starwars.com who said tt the DS couldnt explode yavin cos it a gas giant~ and your last paragraph was exactly wat i meant in my previous post though i admitt i did not have time to think of a more elaborate answer~ so forgive me for the simplicity of the message

 

~peace~!

[Jubatus]

Vagabond, you're failing to appreciate the scale of influence on its surroundings the explosion of a gas giant would bring about.

 

Imagine the planets of our Solar System all neatly aligned outwards from the Sun. Imagine Jupiter exploding. It would be a lowbudget supernova. Wave goodbye to its moons, they're obliterated. Wave goodbye to Mars. Wave goodbye to Earth, Venus and Mercury. Saturn would take a heavy hit and if not destroyed itself would take the blunt of the shockwave from Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, that might survive the explosion. But then comes the gravitational void left behind from Jupiter now missing. Given the influence of the explosion these outer planets (calling Pluto a planet because it's tradition) will probably take a course away from the Sun.

 

Were Yavin to explode the rebels wouldn't worry about a rain of debris (debris from a gas giant?) that might destroy their pretty little base and make cute little craters on the surface on their moon. They would have very little time to worry at all due to the sudden bright light and near-instant obliteration of everything within billions of miles.

 

Jubatus

[Vagabond]

Okay, J, we're saying the same thing, except you continue to further elaborate as if I do not understand the implications of an exploding gas giant - I do. Let me summarize what I was saying once more:

 

1. The original Death Star was likely not powerful enough to destroy the moon, Yavin IV.

 

2. The original Death Star super-laser took 24 hours to fully recharge.

 

3. Hypothetically, if the original Death Star was capable of destroying the gas giant, Yavin, then doing so would have also accomplished their objective of destroying the rebel base on the moon, Yavin IV.

 

4. Similarly, and still hypothetically (and this goes for the desruction of Alderaan as well), one might expect the resulting explosion, from the destruction of a planet, to impart sufficient kinetic energy to the original Death Star as to cause significant damage (this point is a further elaboration).

 

This sufficiently describes the reasons the crew of the original Death Star chose the course of action that they did - to orbit gas giant, Yavin, until a clear shot could be made at the rebel base on the moon, Yavin IV.

[Jubatus]

Ok, Vagabond, I don't know if you're deliberately contradicting yourself, trying to confuse either or both of us, I'm a complete airhead or neither or any combination of the above. Let me just adress points 1 and 4 of your latest post.

 

1. The original Death Star was likely not powerful enough to destroy the moon, Yavin IV.

 

Why not? And if not, why were they set on doing it? If they could destroy Alderaan why not Yavin IV?

 

4. Similarly, and still hypothetically (and this goes for the desruction of Alderaan as well), one might expect the resulting explosion, from the destruction of a planet, to impart sufficient kinetic energy to the original Death Star as to cause significant damage (this point is a further elaboration).

 

They had no problem with Alderaan.

 

Jubatus

[Vagabond]

Ooops, that was a typo - I meant to say that the original Death Star's super-laser was likely not powerful enough to destroy the gas giant, Yavin. My mistake.

 

Anyway, about Alderaan, I know that in the movie they showed no problem handling the fallout from Alderaan's destruction, but I just started thinking about it more and began wondering if that was "reasonable". Consider the scale of Death Star II when compared to Endor's moon, below - it was dwarfed in scale. The debris resulting from a terrestrial planet's destruction would be vast, and could pose a significant risk to even a huge battlestation such as the Death Star (I or II). Although we're dealing with fictional material, I can't help but wonder if the Death Star would have actually been able to survive the destruction of a planet unscathed, considering the vast amounts of material being violently hurled in its direction.

[Tyrion]

I like these forums for 1 reason-each thread turns into another:D I was wonder about destroying the cannons on the death star and now we're talking about the impact of a exploding gas giant on a system:)