posted
OK this is something Styrofoaman and I were discussing yesterday; why exactly did the first Death Star have to explode? WHat was the reason for a shaft running straight into the reactor? When the torpedo was fired, if they "recognized the danger" why didn't they SHUT DOWN THE REACTOR? Didn't they have doors to seal the shaft or screens? Why straight for that matter; one good bend and the torp is useless.
Also why didn't Tarkin send more fighters up?
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The major problem I have is this... What exactly did that port do? There seems to be no logical reason to have a direct shaft to your reactor core. And if you did need one why not put a bloody screen over it? With all those people aboard they couldn't send someone out EVA to put a sheet of metal over it!
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Teh PW
Self Impossed Exile (This Space for rent)
Member # 1203
posted
quote:Originally posted by Styrofoaman: The major problem I have is this... What exactly did that port do? There seems to be no logical reason to have a direct shaft to your reactor core. And if you did need one why not put a bloody screen over it? With all those people aboard they couldn't send someone out EVA to put a sheet of metal over it!
It was in the script...that's all that matters. If you want to argue about that, ask how does a flower power a Veritech (insert whatever POS robotech mecha)? or how does Lynn Minmai's voice not cause epiletic shock instead of narcalepsi? or why doesn't a Valkyrie break up in flight when it transforms? lots of honest to good questions to occur in movies and animation, not just the obvious about the Death Star...wanna know why it was easy to destroy the DS? it was probably made by retard clones -or- Cardassians, take your pick
quote:Originally posted by Styrofoaman: The major problem I have is this... What exactly did that port do? There seems to be no logical reason to have a direct shaft to your reactor core. And if you did need one why not put a bloody screen over it? With all those people aboard they couldn't send someone out EVA to put a sheet of metal over it!
Possibly that shaft was some emerency vent in case of reactor failure....or an access shaft for some service vehicle that we never saw.
Or just a silly plot device.
The real question is- why the Empire didint learn anything from the disaster and better defend the reactor on the second (even larger) Death Star. You'd think there'd have been a hatch they could've closed over that construction pit once the attack began.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
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"There seems to be no logical reason to have a direct shaft to your reactor core."
This is the same Empire that incorporates bottemless pits and doors that lead to two-inch wide cutoff bridges with no handrails in all of its installations. Logic is not exactly an engineering priority for these folks.
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Registered: Nov 1999
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Dont forget that suicidally fast lowering guilotine-door from Star Wars.....holy crap, that was dangerous!
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
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I think it's just ol' Palpy's way of keeping true to his Nubian roots.
-------------------- ".mirrorS arE morE fuN thaN televisioN" - TEH PNIK FLAMIGNO
Registered: Nov 1999
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Didn't anyone listen during General Dodonna's briefing? "The target is a small thermal exhaust port right below the main port." Entirely possible having kinks in the exhaust port would reduce heat-exchange efficiency. The shaft was ray-shielded so lasers wouldn't work. The main port was mounted on the end wall, and obviously couldn't be targetted unless you were in the trench, and as obviously didn't have a direct line to the reactor, as it immediately took a ninety-degree bend.
Remember also that our dear General also said the station's defenses were geared toward repelling capital ships, but not starfighters. Presumably they assumed the station gunners would have ample time to shoot down any missiles shot toward sensitive areas by cap ships being held at a remove by the heavy weapons batteries.
As for the other Imperial engineering foibles, I won't try to explain, beyond cost-cutting measures -- the same measures that saw them not put particle shielding over a thermal exhaust port. *heh*
--Jonah
-------------------- "That's what I like about these high school girls, I keep getting older, they stay the same age."
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Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
Remember also that the torpedoes, immediately after entering the hole, did a downward plunge so as to follow the steep angle of the pipe; it probably wasn't straight all the way at all, but the torpedoes could "adapt" their bearing somewhat.
Now, in "Return of the Jedi" the greatest reason for the Empire not having sealed off all connections to the core was because they were planning on their Deflector Shield being quite operational when Luke's friends arrive.
The station was only about three quarters done and big as a small moon, there must've been hundreds of different ways to enter the station, none of which would've worked had the shield remained active.
Registered: Aug 1999
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Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
posted
Er, how much fuel did those damn torpedoes have anyways?
Or were they drawn in by gravity?
-------------------- "And slowly, you come to realize, it's all as it should be, you can only do so much. If you're game enough, you could place your trust in me. For the love of life, there's a tradeoff, we could lose it all but we'll go down fighting...." - David Sylvian FreeSpace 2, the greatest space sim of all time, now remastered!
Registered: Mar 1999
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
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Those torpedoes pulled a 10.000G turn just to enter the shaft. I doubt their burn time was much of a technical consideration at any point.
-------------------- ".mirrorS arE morE fuN thaN televisioN" - TEH PNIK FLAMIGNO
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