Shield generators???

[garhkal]

Not sure if it should be here, or in gms area. If it needs to be moved, so be it..

In 3 of the 6 films, we have seen, there are always shield generators being blown up, but those generators seem to NOT be protected by the same shields they generate? Is this a design fault, or something else?
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[Akari]

Good Question!

It might be somehow possible to slip under a shield physically and destroy it from the inside, as the droids did in Episode 1. Then again in Episode 6 star fighters crashed on the shield of the new Death Star. Perhaps the shields that allow for physical passage are cheaper in construction, or when they touch the ground they have to be physically transparent or blow the generators.

[masque]

It's simply a matter of where/how the shield is projected. Ep. VI illustrates this best. The shield is projected straight up from the dish on top of the bunker in a relatively narrow beam until it gets to the Death Star and expands into a sphere. It doesn't seem to act as a planetary defense for the forest moon at all, (that would probably require another shield generator in terms of power generation). This is why they have to go in on the ground to take it out, the shield starts above the bunker.
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Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.

[Pel]

Agreed. I think that's why Veers had to lead a ground assault on Echo Base. If memory serves, they landed outside the shield boundary and just marched in. Now why they couldn't send in several squadrons of TIE bombers to start things off is beyond me, but hey, it wasn't my movie. 8)
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Aha!

[masque]

Heh, Sandtrooper TD0013 has a good breakdown on the Battle of Hoth in his "A Different Point of View" podcast book.

http://adpov.net/
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Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.

[Phalanks Balas]

I think it's a question of which kind of shield we are speaking about Particule shield or Energy shield.
Echo base on Hoth was protected by some kind of particule shield. I think walkers was armoured enough to pass through without damage. Of course colision rules apply (don't try with a starfighter ).
On capital star ships a shield projector (the antena) protect itself , that doesn't mean its body is as armoured than other part of the hull. Shield towers of a super stardestroyer can be destroyed by a couple of laser shots from A-wings.
On starships Particule shield field is like a skin on the hull of the starship whereas energy shield is around the starship and can be maneuvered to protect one or severals side of the ship. So maybe there was no Energy shield field to block the shoots of 2 A-Wings but the particule shield field partially protected the shield tower of the Executor in Ep VI.
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Phalanks

A day you will be facing the guns of the Black Pearl. You will know what means damned pirates !

[masque]

Actually, now that I think of it, I think Hoth actually had an energy shield meant to defend against bombardment from space. The Corellian Trilogy mentions that things like deflector shields (the Hoth shield would be a huge one of these) don't work very well in atmosphere. As I understand it, the Empire sent ground troops in because it was quicker than dealing with a planetary bombardment scenario that would have to take the time to destroy the shield from orbit, first. This also explains why the Imperials don't have too much trouble rolling up into the base.
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Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.

[Phalanks Balas]

Energy shield ? So, Why imperials didn't just send TIE bomber squadrons to destroy the base ? Who can call Georges Lucas ?
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Phalanks

A day you will be facing the guns of the Black Pearl. You will know what means damned pirates !

[masque]

TIE Bombers are rocks when it comes to maneuverability, particularly in atmosphere. The Rebel pilots would eat them alive. AT-AT's are so heavily armored that they don't have to maneuver, they just have to watch out for the wiseasses with harpoons and tow cables.

Besides, the Army has to earn their pay somehow...
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Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.

[Boomer]

I say the shielded on Hoth was deflecting everything that came in from the top. Fighters, orbital bombardments, if the rebels didn;t allow it it didn;t get through.

The battle of Hoth was a loss for the rebels. We can criticize the holes in the Empire's strategy for that fight all we want, the Empire still won.
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And I bounty hunt for Jabba Hutt,
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[masque]

I agree.

And I'm not criticizing the Empire's tactics, on the contrary, I think the ground assault was the right way to go.
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Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.

[Boomer]

The rebels went entirely anti-space and anti-air. One Star Destroyer was shot down before the planet's surface was in range.

The rebel's only ground defense were speeders. Speeders that had just been modifed to actually work on Hoth shortly before the battle occured. It was lucky the speeders came equipped with grappling hooks.

Most of the speeders were shot down anyway.

Yeah, glad most people agree with that though.
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My backpack has jets!
I'm Boba the Fett!
And I bounty hunt for Jabba Hutt,
to finance my 'vette!

[Pel]

I'm not sure that I'd categorize Hoth as an Imperial victory. True, they chased off the Rebels, but the Rebels entire strategy centered around delaying tactics meant to allow the transports to escape.

The bulk of those transports did escape, along with all the important Rebels (Han was captured later, but that was Lando's fault). The Battle of Hoth was not the 'Rebellion-crushing decisive victory' it was meant to be. The Rebels evacuated, tended to their wounds, and regrouped.

Ok, before I completely and irrevocably hijack this thread, I have always envisioned the Hoth shield as blocking both matter and energy, but only out to a certain radius. Anything flying beyond the shield perimeter can land or then fly under the shield and strafe / bomb to their hearts' content. How does everyone else handle / picture it?
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Aha!

[Gry Sarth]

Here's what the recently released "Complete Locations" book has to say on the subject:

"...Forced to steer clear of the shield perimeter, Imperial landing barges and troop transports set down ... well north of the heavily fortified mountain base...."

"...the Rebel planet-based shield withstands bombardments that would overwhelm ship shields. Only slow-moving ground-contact vehicles, like Imperial walkers, can traverse the outer surface. With the projector modules distributed throughout Rebel territory, Veers targets the central power generator."

So this looks like it's more than just the whole particle/energy shield issue. Fast moving flying objects can't enter it, but slow-moving ground vehicles can....
...sounds more like a "Dune" shield.
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"He's Gry Sarth, of course he has the stats for them."

[Jamfke]

Or something like the Gungan shield?
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