The Rancor Pit Forum Index
Welcome to The Rancor Pit forums!

The Rancor Pit Forum Index
FAQ   ::   Search   ::   Memberlist   ::   Usergroups   ::   Register   ::   Profile   ::   Log in to check your private messages   ::   Log in

Lightsaber Tech
Post new topic   Reply to topic    The Rancor Pit Forum Index -> Ships, Vehicles, Equipment, and Tech -> Lightsaber Tech
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Director of Engineering


Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16174
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.

PostPosted: Fri Oct 01, 2021 12:03 am    Post subject: Lightsaber Tech Reply with quote

I heard an interesting theory about lightsabers recently...

The tl;dr is that a lightsaber's blade is actually plasma contained in a stasis field. Stasis tech doesn't get a lot of mention, but it is official WEG tech (see Han Solo & the Corporate Sector SB) that creates an entropy field that either stops or greatly slows the progression of time within the field. So, rather than having to constantly generate a beam of plasma with an insanely high degree of energy conservation, all it is doing is generating enough plasma to make the beam, then effectively freezing it in time (with the assumption that maintaining the stasis field draws a lot less power than would maintaining a plasma blade).
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Whill
Dark Lord of the Jedi (Owner/Admin)


Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Posts: 10297
Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, The Solar System, The Milky Way Galaxy

PostPosted: Fri Oct 01, 2021 1:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Are we talking real world super hot plasma, or space opera "plasma" like what Gungan forcefields (and the core of Naboo) are supposedly made of?
_________________
*
Site Map
Forum Guidelines
Registration/Log-In Help
The Rancor Pit Library
Star Wars D6 Damage
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Director of Engineering


Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16174
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.

PostPosted: Fri Oct 01, 2021 1:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Whill wrote:
Are we talking real world super hot plasma, or space opera "plasma" like what Gungan forcefields (and the core of Naboo) are supposedly made of?

Real world super-hot. The stasis field would only be breached on physical contact with an object; it’d even block thermodynamics.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
MrNexx
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral


Joined: 25 Mar 2016
Posts: 2248
Location: San Antonio

PostPosted: Fri Oct 01, 2021 11:09 am    Post subject: Re: Lightsaber Tech Reply with quote

CRMcNeill wrote:
I heard an interesting theory about lightsabers recently...

The tl;dr is that a lightsaber's blade is actually plasma contained in a stasis field. Stasis tech doesn't get a lot of mention, but it is official WEG tech (see Han Solo & the Corporate Sector SB) that creates an entropy field that either stops or greatly slows the progression of time within the field. So, rather than having to constantly generate a beam of plasma with an insanely high degree of energy conservation, all it is doing is generating enough plasma to make the beam, then effectively freezing it in time (with the assumption that maintaining the stasis field draws a lot less power than would maintaining a plasma blade).


I like it. That would mean that you only have to generate a relatively small stasis field, and explain why being near the blade doesn't give every jedi a tan on the right side of their face.

Huh. Since the Death Star Superlaser was ALSO powered by kyber crystals, imagine that it worked on a similar principal... not so much blowing up a planet as using the planet's own force of rotation to rip it apart.
_________________
"I've Seen Your Daily Routine. You Are Not Busy!"
“We're going to win this war, not by fighting what we hate, but saving what we love.”
http://rpgcrank.blogspot.com/
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Director of Engineering


Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16174
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.

PostPosted: Fri Oct 01, 2021 12:08 pm    Post subject: Re: Lightsaber Tech Reply with quote

MrNexx wrote:
I like it. That would mean that you only have to generate a relatively small stasis field, and explain why being near the blade doesn't give every jedi a tan on the right side of their face.

Exactly. Of course, once the plasma is outside the stasis field, thermodynamics kicks in again (see TPM where Qui-Gon tries to cut through the blast door), but until then, it's basically room temperature.

Quote:
Huh. Since the Death Star Superlaser was ALSO powered by kyber crystals, imagine that it worked on a similar principal... not so much blowing up a planet as using the planet's own force of rotation to rip it apart.

I'm not too sure about that; I'd rather go with Kyber Crystals being some super-efficient method of plasma generation that's used alongside the stasis field generator.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
MrNexx
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral


Joined: 25 Mar 2016
Posts: 2248
Location: San Antonio

PostPosted: Fri Oct 01, 2021 2:05 pm    Post subject: Re: Lightsaber Tech Reply with quote

CRMcNeill wrote:
Quote:
Huh. Since the Death Star Superlaser was ALSO powered by kyber crystals, imagine that it worked on a similar principal... not so much blowing up a planet as using the planet's own force of rotation to rip it apart.

I'm not too sure about that; I'd rather go with Kyber Crystals being some super-efficient method of plasma generation that's used alongside the stasis field generator.


*shrug* Works for me.
_________________
"I've Seen Your Daily Routine. You Are Not Busy!"
“We're going to win this war, not by fighting what we hate, but saving what we love.”
http://rpgcrank.blogspot.com/
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Whill
Dark Lord of the Jedi (Owner/Admin)


Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Posts: 10297
Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, The Solar System, The Milky Way Galaxy

PostPosted: Fri Oct 01, 2021 7:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

CRMcNeill wrote:
Whill wrote:
Are we talking real world super hot plasma, or space opera "plasma" like what Gungan forcefields (and the core of Naboo) are supposedly made of?

Real world super-hot. The stasis field would only be breached on physical contact with an object; it’d even block thermodynamics.

It'd have to. Blocking and maintaining the temperature is not the most fantastic aspect.

Stasis fields first appeared in the Lando Calrissian Adventures, which was pretty out there even for Star Wars. My knee jerk to "stasis fields" is because time is an inherent aspect of space-time, so my rational mind rebels against a small field that slows only time but can be carried around and moved through space independently of time. To me it seems more fantastic than than other physics-suppressing miraculous technologies like artificial gravity, antigravity, inertia compensation, and even jumping to lightspeed.

But warping time doesn't seem required for this concept. Just maintaining plasma, which is miraculous enough as it is.
_________________
*
Site Map
Forum Guidelines
Registration/Log-In Help
The Rancor Pit Library
Star Wars D6 Damage
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
MrNexx
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral


Joined: 25 Mar 2016
Posts: 2248
Location: San Antonio

PostPosted: Sat Oct 02, 2021 10:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

While I like the Stasis Field concept, and agree it has some problems (why carbon freeze Han if you can just lock him in stasis relatively easily?), you might also simply have it be a ray shield, already designed to stop plasma and mitigate heat, while allowing physical objects to pass through.

The lightsaber containment then becomes something like a black box... specifically designed to tolerances you couldn't build a larger shield to, making it essentially invulnerable to energy. This also lets Jedi parry blasters, but not slugs or grenades... the physical objects pass through, the blasters do not.
_________________
"I've Seen Your Daily Routine. You Are Not Busy!"
“We're going to win this war, not by fighting what we hate, but saving what we love.”
http://rpgcrank.blogspot.com/
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Mamatried
Commodore
Commodore


Joined: 16 Dec 2017
Posts: 1829
Location: Norway

PostPosted: Sat Oct 09, 2021 8:23 am    Post subject: Re: Lightsaber Tech Reply with quote

CRMcNeill wrote:
I heard an interesting theory about lightsabers recently...

The tl;dr is that a lightsaber's blade is actually plasma contained in a stasis field. Stasis tech doesn't get a lot of mention, but it is official WEG tech (see Han Solo & the Corporate Sector SB) that creates an entropy field that either stops or greatly slows the progression of time within the field. So, rather than having to constantly generate a beam of plasma with an insanely high degree of energy conservation, all it is doing is generating enough plasma to make the beam, then effectively freezing it in time (with the assumption that maintaining the stasis field draws a lot less power than would maintaining a plasma blade).


I agree!

I can even see that we can argue we have seen this through the rebels animated series and Ezra's lightsaber with his stun blaster combo. Knowing how a balster works, with indeed plasma bolts forming before they are launched, We have no evidence that the stun rays or balls or bolts function any differently, they too are plasma that launches from the weapon.

I can see lightsabers using some of the similar tech to as you say create a plasma balde held in place by some form of force field, be it a membran, a magnetic field or the force or even some tech that can create a "light stick" and I thinmwe have seen this before in no lightsaber wespons, but still with a projected "blade" of energy.

I really like this concept
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    The Rancor Pit Forum Index -> Ships, Vehicles, Equipment, and Tech All times are GMT - 4 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group


v2.0