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Farmer Crack-Ass
Jan 2, 2001

this is me posting irl
Did Kamino get bombed at some point in one of the books, or was there ever any other published explanation given as to why the Empire stopped using clones?

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Cage Kicker
Feb 20, 2009

End of the fiscal year, bitch.
MP's got time to order pens for year year, hooah?


SKILCRAFT KREW Reppin' Quality Blind Made



Lipstick Apathy

Farmer Crack-rear end posted:

Did Kamino get bombed at some point in one of the books, or was there ever any other published explanation given as to why the Empire stopped using clones?

The Republic never paid their invoice and the Empire was on a credit hold

reignofevil
Nov 7, 2008
Why the gently caress do you think palpy wanted a death star so bad!

FunkyAl
Mar 28, 2010

Your vitals soar.
They also stopped making ipod classics, on kamino

SlothfulCobra
Mar 27, 2011

There were a couple of attacks on Kamino, and also one rebellion against Imperial rule, but I think largely it was just cheaper to recruit normal people to become stormtroopers instead of growing them from scratch. Most of the clone army aged out of service as well. Age accelerated soldiers are not a good long term investment.

There was some interim period of getting more DNA donors, but nobody ever talks about that. Probably it was also a plus to not have the entire imperial army get bottlenecked through a planet beyond the outer rim, but if that was the main concern, they probably wouldn't have focused most imperial assets into one giant battlestation.

FunkyAl
Mar 28, 2010

Your vitals soar.
I'm interested by the physical properties of lightsabers. I feel like it must be a reaction with a strong gravitational pull, like maybe it's a beam of energy an electron thick, generating a light, but that's creating such a powerful pull that it frictions your arm off. Or like, it's fire, and hot like the fire.

Robot Style
Jul 5, 2009

An earlier draft of A New Hope actually addresses the hyperspace thing. During the dogfight with TIEs, a few of them follow the Falcon into hyperspace when it tries to escape. They aren't able to maneuver at that speed and are essentially stuck in place relative to the Falcon, so Han and Luke are able to pick them off easily.

Chris Pistols
Oct 20, 2008

Piss Crystals
I thought plotting hyperspace routes was mainly pin-balling along the established hyperspace lanes. You COULD chart your own 'off-road' course like Han & Chewie and that's what took all the clever nonsense, but the regular hyperspace travel was along predetermined lanes. That's why Interdictors were a thing: they were essentially speed traps.

Atrocious Joe
Sep 2, 2011

Mooey Cow posted:

Glitterstim was a potent variety of the drug family "spice" that was mined on Kessel. It gave the user a brief, yet pleasurable, telepathic boost and heightened mental state. It was a very valuable spice and tightly controlled by the Galactic Empire.

It was produced from the webs of spice spiders. The spice was photoactive, so it had to be mined in total darkness or it would be ruined. After it was mined, it had to be packaged in an opaque paper to prevent accidental activation. Glitterstim was quite addictive—casual use could quickly lead to full-blown addiction. "Cutters" prepared the spice for sale. Glitterstim addicts were sometimes called "glit-biters."

I love how the description of spice in Star Wars reads like madlibs version of Spice from Dune.

It comes from spiders instead of worms.
It reacts badly to light instead of water.

Farmer Crack-Ass
Jan 2, 2001

this is me posting irl
okay this might be a little out of scope for this thread:

In the prequels, was Palpatine always intending for the Republic to win, or - given that both sides were being puppeted by the Sith - was he okay with either side winning the war?

Farmer Crack-Ass
Jan 2, 2001

this is me posting irl
Also, were there any monied interests backing the Republic? Seems like ol' George went to some trouble to make it seem like all the big corporate players were backing the Separatists

Krilion
Nov 24, 2015

Farmer Crack-rear end posted:

okay this might be a little out of scope for this thread:

In the prequels, was Palpatine always intending for the Republic to win, or - given that both sides were being puppeted by the Sith - was he okay with either side winning the war?

Palpatine's boss, Darth Plagueis, was a very wealthy dude who preferred shadow machinations over time, carefully pulling every string so no matter the outcome he won. He trained Seev to do the same but Sheev also wanted to he more overt. In fact, Plagueis didnt really care about the Jedi at all - he was immortal and willing to let them be while he guided the galaxy as he desired.

But seeing how politically savvy Sheev was, they began a plot a way to cause a civil war and grab complete power.

The big thing that starts it all is the fear that after starting the blockade, that the trade federation would talk to the jedi and defuse the situation, or worse, tell them about these dudes in black robes telling them everything is gonna be fine.

That's where episode 1 starts as they order the Trade Federation to kill the jedi.

Once they were sure Sheev would become supreme Chancellor, palpatine decided hensisnt need his master anymore, and he had a new apprentice to prepare - so he got his master drunk off his rear end that night in celebration of their successful win, and then force lightninged his rear end after he passed out.

After that he just needed to make sure the civil war got bad enough that he was given emergancy war powers, and oh hey look at this army over here. They definitely aren't programmed to kill the jedi, we promise....

SlothfulCobra
Mar 27, 2011

There are multiple occasions in the EU where Sideous sabotages the CIS to make sure that they don't screw with his overall plan, although whether that's because he's relying on the Republic or just the time isn't right yet to bring things to a close is up in the air. I think it'd be harder to wrangle all those corporate overlords and pseudo-free worlds in the confederacy than it was to control the military dictatorship he built within the Republic. There's also the whole thing where the Empire had a whole thing about human supremacy, although whether that came from the Emperor or just from the human-dominated military is up for grabs.

I don't think that the separatists could've killed the Jedi anywhere nearly as well as Order 66 either, and when he decided that he wanted Anakin to replace Dooku as his apprentice, there wasn't anything left for the CIS to offer him.

galagazombie
Oct 31, 2011

A silly little mouse!
The Clone Wars CG show (which is part of new canon and also sorta part of Legends but not really) made it clear that there were a lot of big corporations backing the Republic too. Some were even two timing and supporting both sides. Even as far back as his original drafts for what eventually became ANH Lucas had stuff about how the Republic became the Empire because big corporations subverted democracy.

Linux Pirate
Apr 21, 2012


Farmer Crack-rear end posted:

okay this might be a little out of scope for this thread:

In the prequels, was Palpatine always intending for the Republic to win, or - given that both sides were being puppeted by the Sith - was he okay with either side winning the war?

I think palps wanted to humiliate the Jedi by using the the republic to finish them off as a huge bitch slap to the Jedi, since the Jedi and the Republic were p much synonymous, so he put most of his chips into the Republic.

elf help book
Aug 5, 2004

Though the battle might be endless, I will never give up
can jedi use the force to help them swim really well

Squizzle
Apr 24, 2008




yes but they can also just practice at the pool for a few hours every day

elf help book
Aug 5, 2004

Though the battle might be endless, I will never give up
do lightsabers radiate heat

Name Change
Oct 9, 2005


Farmer Crack-rear end posted:

Can ships in hyperspace make turns en route or is it all strictly straight-line?

Are there other forms of FTL in Star Wars, artificial or natural (e.g. fold jumps, wormholes, etc) or is hyperdrive the only known method?

Why are they called "concussion missiles" and where did the term actually originate?

They would have to, otherwise there would be no point to having good or bad navigation computers/maps or all the nonsense surrounding the Kessel run.

dialhforhero
Apr 3, 2008
Am I 🧑‍🏫 out of touch🤔? No🧐, it's the children👶 who are wrong🤷🏼‍♂️

elf help book posted:

do lightsabers radiate heat

There is nothing that precisely explains how hot they are and how close you need to be to feel the heat, but they slice like any laser and leave behind scorch marks, burns, and melt metal and cauterize flesh as evidenced in all the movies. They evaporate water like rain on contact.

If you consider the EU as a source of knowledge, then the blade ends are also able to be held onto like a stick and will burn your hands.

elf help book
Aug 5, 2004

Though the battle might be endless, I will never give up
yeah the main image i have in my head is slicing open the giant doors in the intro to Episode 1, and thats clearly melting the metal. but i can also imagine the blade being hot without it radiating heat, as silly as that would be in real life.

ive got this thought that, beyond just holding a lightsaber being super dangerous, is holding one up like standing next to a space heater? i dont feel like that ever comes up lol

dialhforhero
Apr 3, 2008
Am I 🧑‍🏫 out of touch🤔? No🧐, it's the children👶 who are wrong🤷🏼‍♂️
It does in the EU as they go to Hoth waaaaay too many times, but you have to be really close to it. It doesn’t act like a space heater if that’s what you are insinuating.

dracula vladdy AF
May 6, 2011
Do they ever explain why the Rebels peel all of the armor and stuff off of their Y-Wings? Or is it a case that they just bought them that way? Seems weird to have everything so exposed.

dialhforhero
Apr 3, 2008
Am I 🧑‍🏫 out of touch🤔? No🧐, it's the children👶 who are wrong🤷🏼‍♂️
The IRL answer is to establish an artistic contrast between eras.

If there is some esoteric explanation in universe I have no idea.

Roth
Jul 9, 2016

I think they were being decomissioned/melted down for scrap or something

Robot Style
Jul 5, 2009

Despite how they'd later be portrayed, Lucas wanted the Y-wings to feel light and fast so they were designed to resemble stripped-down hot rods. An earlier draft of the script where Luke flew one (with Threepio as his gunner) even had a crewman mention the weight reduction before the battle.

The latest in-universe explanation is that most of the Rebels' Y-wings were stolen from salvage yards that had already begun stripping them for parts, and keeping the armor plating off was the easiest way to keep the 20 year old ships running. This version of Y-Wings became so popular that the ones used in Episode 9 were apparently manufactured without armor plating specifically to be marketable to people with Rebel nostalgia.

galagazombie
Oct 31, 2011

A silly little mouse!

elf help book posted:

yeah the main image i have in my head is slicing open the giant doors in the intro to Episode 1, and thats clearly melting the metal. but i can also imagine the blade being hot without it radiating heat, as silly as that would be in real life.

ive got this thought that, beyond just holding a lightsaber being super dangerous, is holding one up like standing next to a space heater? i dont feel like that ever comes up lol

In Legends all the heat and stuff a Lightsaber produces was held in by the same "magnetic field" that gave the blade its shape. This meant that all the heat was trapped in the blade, thus explaining why touching a metal door with one will melt it but not simultaneously cause the wielders robes to burst into flames. I don't know if NuCanon uses the same "magnetic field" explanation though.

Squizzle
Apr 24, 2008




im a grump and i dont like lightsabers being magnetic bottles of plasma or w/e

they are magic swords. the blades are weightless and can disappear. from every angle, they are sharp enough to cut anything except another lightsaber blade, but also strong enough to take a laser blast w/o harming the blade

they are hot enough to leave a smoking stump when they cut thru an arm and bright enough to make the cloud city duel look amazing on screen. but luke still cuts the ice when the wampa has him trapped, not melts it away. lightsabers shouldnt be hot or bright enough to use for any purpose demanding heat or light, because that makes them slightly more a magnetic bottle of plasma and slightly less a magic sword

Squizzle
Apr 24, 2008




so i dont love the part where they melt the door in phantom menace. ol george shouldve asked me!!!

SlothfulCobra
Mar 27, 2011

I remember hearing about fan theories that Han Solo must be some kind of secret jedi because of how he could use the lightsaber to cut open the tauntaun, but then it turns out that you just need magic to find the crystal that powers the saber, but the saber itself is just a fancy chainsaw

Of course, in the old EU any goddamn crystal would work, so Luke's new jedi could use old family heirlooms and junk.

elf help book
Aug 5, 2004

Though the battle might be endless, I will never give up

Squizzle posted:

so i dont love the part where they melt the door in phantom menace. ol george shouldve asked me!!!

having to jam it in and cut slowly does look goofy imo, gives the image that, depending on the material of the floor, you could use a lightsaber like a cane lol

elf help book
Aug 5, 2004

Though the battle might be endless, I will never give up

galagazombie posted:

In Legends all the heat and stuff a Lightsaber produces was held in by the same "magnetic field" that gave the blade its shape. This meant that all the heat was trapped in the blade, thus explaining why touching a metal door with one will melt it but not simultaneously cause the wielders robes to burst into flames. I don't know if NuCanon uses the same "magnetic field" explanation though.


Squizzle posted:

im a grump and i dont like lightsabers being magnetic bottles of plasma or w/e

they are magic swords. the blades are weightless and can disappear. from every angle, they are sharp enough to cut anything except another lightsaber blade, but also strong enough to take a laser blast w/o harming the blade

they are hot enough to leave a smoking stump when they cut thru an arm and bright enough to make the cloud city duel look amazing on screen. but luke still cuts the ice when the wampa has him trapped, not melts it away. lightsabers shouldnt be hot or bright enough to use for any purpose demanding heat or light, because that makes them slightly more a magnetic bottle of plasma and slightly less a magic sword

i appreciate that you two disagree on what a lightsaber is, but do agree that the lightsaber does not radiate heat, which is what my gut told me, the ultimate authority on this matter

Name Change
Oct 9, 2005


OK but I'm a little concerned about how much mass/weight the blade of the lightsaber does or does not have, which of course has a huge effect on how it can be used.

Also problematic is that the explanation of Kylo Ren's lightsaber involves the cross-guard actually being for excess heat dispersal.

galagazombie
Oct 31, 2011

A silly little mouse!

elf help book posted:

i appreciate that you two disagree on what a lightsaber is, but do agree that the lightsaber does not radiate heat, which is what my gut told me, the ultimate authority on this matter

But we did agree that Legends used the Plasma and Magnets explanation. I also agree with him that I like them just being magic swords used by space wizards.

Emrikol
Oct 1, 2015
They're plasma swords used by space wizards, that they made out of junk and crystals.

Farmer Crack-Ass
Jan 2, 2001

this is me posting irl

Sodomy Hussein posted:

OK but I'm a little concerned about how much mass/weight the blade of the lightsaber does or does not have, which of course has a huge effect on how it can be used.

Also problematic is that the explanation of Kylo Ren's lightsaber involves the cross-guard actually being for excess heat dispersal.

i remember one pre-prequel theory was that while the blade itself was massless, it had a sort of gyroscopic effect that made it harder to swing around

pygmy tyrant
Nov 25, 2005

*not a small business owner

Farmer Crack-rear end posted:

i remember one pre-prequel theory was that while the blade itself was massless, it had a sort of gyroscopic effect that made it harder to swing around

I half-remember reading some commentary that said that, and how in an earlier version of the script, the fact that Luke didn't lop his other hand off the first time he turned on a lightsaber was a sign of his natural jedi talents.

I don't really feel like lightsabers should be hot to be around, but what if some alien who sees in infrared (Gotals? Is that still canon?) made a lightsaber whose blade color was in that part of the spectrum?

SlothfulCobra
Mar 27, 2011

The thing is though, lightsabers aren't really monochromatic like colored LEDs are, they're white in the middle with some kind of glowing outline, however that works. If your lightsaber's primary color was somehow out of the human eyeball spectrum, there'd still be the shaft of white.

In the sequel trilogy they really went hard on lightsabers being a very bright colored light source that would color grade an entire setting with their bright, overpowering light, in a way that coincidentally lines up with one of the currently dominant cinematographic styles. I didn't really like it much. I guess I should just be satisfied that there wasn't an orange-bladed sith lord.

galagazombie
Oct 31, 2011

A silly little mouse!
The amount of times I've seen people play at lightsabers (or even real life fencing) and hit themselves or even unknowingly graze a limb is all the proof you need that using a lightsaber without being a wizard is suicide.

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SlothfulCobra
Mar 27, 2011

I always felt like No More Heroes had a neat idea by putting a blade guard on. It also was more on the side of a technological apparatus, since it looked like it could just be built around a fluorescent tube.



Of course, all the other lightsabers after the first one didn't have that going on.

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