Jedi Council Forums - Point/Counterpoint: The Death Star

Post Reply | Active Topic Notification | Previous Active Topic | Next Active Topic

Pages: 1 | 2 - ~~Previous~~ | Next | Reload

Author	Topic: Point/Counterpoint: The Death Star
rsterling78 Registered: May '02	Date Posted: 7/28 7:46pm Subject: Point/Counterpoint: The Death Star
	POINT: THIS STATION MAKES THE EMPIRE ALL-POWERFUL by Admiral Conan Antonio Motti Gentlemen, I give you the Death Star: A battle station the size of a small moon with more firepower than half the Imperial fleet. This technological terror has 10,000 turbolaser batteries, 2,500 laser cannons, 2,500 ion cannons and 768 tractor beam projectors. With a crew of over 265,000, as well as thousands of starfighters and a bank of 123 hyperdrive field generators, we will be able to project Imperial power to any system. The Galaxy will tremble before the might of the Empire, I tell you! This station is now the ultimate power in the universe. I suggest we use it. COUNTERPOINT: THIS STATION SHOULD BE CALLED THE "DEATH TRAP" INSTEAD OF THE "DEATH STAR" by Poggle the Lesser Geonosian Liason and Head Design Consultant, they call me. Fancy title, but does anyone listen to me? This space station has some major design flaws, but the Imperial high command doesn't want to hear about it. Take the exhaust ports, for example. An almost linear port going from the reactor core to the surface of the station? Who is the genius who designed that? A laser blast hitting that thing may be nothing to worry about, but a projectile that can make real-time course corrections, say, a missile or a proton torpedo? Blamo! No more station. So why didn't they change that? Speaking of exhaust ports, you're not gonna believe this but they've got one going from the reactor core to the Emperor's observation room! And no guard rails, either! What the hell?! And the targeting system on the station is way too wimpy. The turbolasers won't have any trouble hitting an enemy cruiser, but anything smaller? Forget it. The Empire even cheaped out on data encryption. The Death Star's computer security is so weak, I bet a 20 year old astromech droid could hack the thing in about half a second. Well, my dear Galactic Empire, you wanted a half-ass, thrown-together space station and you got one. I hope this thing works out for you, but I've got a bad feeling about this.
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
eht13 Registered: Sep '07	Date Posted: 7/29 7:17pm Subject: Point/Counterpoint: The Death Star - Date Edited: 7/29 7:22pm (1 edits total) Edited By: eht13
	Maybe there's a way to work Vader's "don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed" in there too...
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
voodoopuuduu Title: Classic Trilogy Trivia Host Registered: Mar '04	Date Posted: 8/10 10:49pm Subject: Point/Counterpoint: The Death Star
	This technological terror has 10,000 turbolaser batteries Design flaws One drawback of the original design was the power systems. Twenty-four hours were required to fully charge the laser. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Death_Star -----signature----- Winner CT Trivia Challenge 44, 54 Winner PT Trivia Challenge 10 , 13, 14, 17 Joint-Winner CT Challenge 49 and 50, PT Challange 18
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
DarthIktomi Registered: May '09	Date Posted: 8/11 6:46pm Subject: Point/Counterpoint: The Death Star
	The Death Star had all the design flaws you'd expect from Separatist technology. Good going there, Palps. It would almost inspire fear. Then you realize a kid from a farm in the middle of nowhere with no prior experience in an X-wing (or any starfighter) can blow it up. Oh, it destroyed one planet, and a few X-wings and Y-wings got shot down. You know what else shoots down Y-wings? TIEs! And they're a lot cheaper. Blowing up planets also makes people dislike you. And while it may inspire fear, I reiterate that a kid from a farm in the middle of nowhere with no prior experience in an X-wing (or any starfighter) blew it up. How exactly did the Empire manage to last for 23 years again? I could be a much more efficient tyrant. While we're here, Lord Sidious, the smartest move you ever made was messing with other people's kids. Twice. Each time, you died at the father's hands. clap
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
Darth_Davi Registered: Jul '05	Date Posted: 8/12 5:34am Subject: Point/Counterpoint: The Death Star
	What design flaw? Not covering up one exhaust port that would have impossible for anyone who wasn't related to the Chosen One to fire a proton torpedo down and blow it up. There were two people in the entire galaxy that had the piloting skill + force ability to time the torpedo launch exactly right, and one of them worked for the Emperor. So, in a galaxy of quadrillions of sentient beings, there was 1 that was a legitimate threat to the Death Star, and they had no way to know he even existed. Sorry, I think the only design problem with the Death Star was named Luke Skywalker. If Artoo doesn't run away that particular morning, or if Luke had delayed searching for Artoo by even a few hours, he would have been killed by the same stormtroopers that killed Owen and Beru, and nobody destroys the Death Star. Who cares if it only can fire once every 24 hours? Once word spreads, you wouldn't need to fire it at all. The Death Star was designed to be the ultimate deterrent. Again, the only thing that went wrong was Luke Skywalker. The entire rebellion's success was completely dependent on whether or not Artoo Detoo runs away one particular day, and whether Luke chases him. Not even the Emperor can plan for every contingency, and that certainly is quite a random contingency. The problem wasn't the Death Star, the problem was the Chosen One's offspring. -----signature----- What the hell is an Aluminium Falcon? Oh, I'm sorry, I thought my Dark Lord of the Sith could protect a thermal exhaust port thats only two meters wide! It wasn't even fully paid off yet!
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
Jedi_Keiran_Halcyon Registered: Dec '00	Date Posted: 8/12 4:46pm Subject: Point/Counterpoint: The Death Star - Date Edited: 8/13 6:26am (1 edits total) Edited By: TwiLekJedi
	POGGLE: Motti, you ignorant ****. TLJ Edit: sorry, couldn't think of a good synonym for the disallowed word -----signature----- Personally if treating homosexuals with respect and dignity is the definition of 'anti-Christian' then I hope that Obama is the friggin' anti-Christ. - FIDo
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
Alpha-Red Registered: Apr '04	Date Posted: 8/14 12:10pm Subject: Point/Counterpoint: The Death Star
	Darth_Davi posted: What design flaw? Not covering up one exhaust port that would have impossible for anyone who wasn't related to the Chosen One to fire a proton torpedo down and blow it up. Word.
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
Icepaw_Kenobi Registered: Jun '09	Date Posted: 8/14 6:50pm Subject: Point/Counterpoint: The Death Star
	Darth_Davi posted: What design flaw? Not covering up one exhaust port that would have impossible for anyone who wasn't related to the Chosen One to fire a proton torpedo down and blow it up. True. -----signature----- Hobgoblins and Fiddlesticks, it's a pack of scary squirrels!!! Darth Kenobi will rule the galaxy!!! I can use the force to open automatic doors. Can you? Is anyone else having issues getting to Narnia?
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
DRush76 Registered: Jan '08	Date Posted: 8/17 10:29am Subject: Point/Counterpoint: The Death Star
	Sorry, I think the only design problem with the Death Star was named Luke Skywalker. If Artoo doesn't run away that particular morning, or if Luke had delayed searching for Artoo by even a few hours, he would have been killed by the same stormtroopers that killed Owen and Beru, and nobody destroys the Death Star. Are you certain of this? Luke would not have been able to destroy the Death Star without a certain Corellian pilot and his Wookie friend.
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
Darth_Davi Registered: Jul '05	Date Posted: 8/18 7:19pm Subject: Point/Counterpoint: The Death Star - Date Edited: 8/18 7:20pm (1 edits total) Edited By: Darth_Davi
	True, Han did get Vader off of Luke's back...we don't know if Vader would have shot him down or not had Han not come back, perhaps Luke's force assisted intuition would have saved him, perhaps not...but, even giving credit to Han Solo, that just further reduces the so called "design flaw", by increasing the difficulty level of getting the shot off correctly. So, it goes from only the offspring of the chosen one could even hit that shot, and even he needed assistance to do it. My point was that the "design flaw" of the Death Star isn't really a design flaw at all, because of the extremely ridiculous set of parameters that would have to have been met in order to exploit it. Just because that set of parameters was met, because the heroes generally win in a movie, doesn't make it a design flaw. In a real world situation, rather than the imagination of a filmmaker trying to create a compelling story with a fantastic heroic finish, it wasn't as easy as it looked.(IE Luke had to make the shot as a plot requirement, and as we all know, plot requirements trump all realism). So, including Han in the discussion only reduces the design flaw even more, because it adds another element necessary to exploit it. (of course, I am coming from the assumption that even if Vader hadn't been on Luke's tail, he was the only one that could have made the shot, making Han's intervention only secondary, required only because of Vader's presence.) Luke didn't need Han to assist him take the shot, only to get Vader off his back for a few seconds before he could take it. No Vader, no need for Han. -----signature----- What the hell is an Aluminium Falcon? Oh, I'm sorry, I thought my Dark Lord of the Sith could protect a thermal exhaust port thats only two meters wide! It wasn't even fully paid off yet!
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
rsterling78 Registered: May '02	Date Posted: 8/30 9:13pm Subject: Point/Counterpoint: The Death Star
	The American Movie Classics Sci Fi Blogger agrees with me: An unshielded exhaust port leading directly to the central reactor? Really? And when you rebuild it, your solution to this problem is four paths into the central core so large that you can literally fly a spaceship through them? Brilliant. Note to the Emperor: Someone on your Death Star design staff is in the pay of Rebel forces. Oh, right, you can't get the memo because someone threw you down a huge exposed shaft in your Death Star throne room.
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
Gary_Buchenara Registered: Apr '09	Date Posted: 8/30 9:31pm Subject: Point/Counterpoint: The Death Star
	When you consider that the top man at this Empire outfit offed his master BEFORE learning the secret to cheating death from him, all of this Death Star incompetence isn't so hard to believe.
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
CloneUncleOwen Registered: Jul '09	Date Posted: 8/30 9:46pm Subject: Point/Counterpoint: The Death Star
	Well of course it's idiotic to have open shafts leading to the Death Star's central power core. It's ridiculous that a vessel that has perhaps a thousand fighters to protect it in close combat only sends out a handful to intercept incoming raiders. It's nonsense that a ship like the Falcon could get within a mile of the massive weapons system, much less do it undetected. But, of course, this is all part of George Lucas's deus ex machina solution to how a rag-tag band of rebels are going to overpower a Death Star. However, a second Death Star two films later with a gargantuan chute located in the Emperor's observation module? I can hear the designers standing around their blueprints... "and in case anyone decides to kill the Emperor, we'll conveniently place this great big chute righttttttt.... HERE." But again, Mr. Lucas needed an easy way to kill the Death Star AND the Emperor; one that kids 10 years and under could grasp no matter how silly it seemed. Now about that faulty ventillation system... -----signature----- Hey, what are you trying to pull here... (CLICK) pull here... (CLICK) pull here...
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
Darth_Davi Registered: Jul '05	Date Posted: 9/2 5:37am Subject: Point/Counterpoint: The Death Star
	Ummm, not to point out the obviously, rsterling78, but the DSII wasn't completed. The gun worked, but in case you somehow failed to notice, it wasn't done yet. That means those four channels were exposed ONLY because those sections weren't complete, not because they were designed to be exposed. Had the DSII actually been finished, they would have been covered up, so your point is entirely moot. The rebels only succeeded in destroying the DSII because it wasn't finished yet. -----signature----- What the hell is an Aluminium Falcon? Oh, I'm sorry, I thought my Dark Lord of the Sith could protect a thermal exhaust port thats only two meters wide! It wasn't even fully paid off yet!
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
rsterling78 Registered: May '02	Date Posted: 9/2 8:03pm Subject: Point/Counterpoint: The Death Star
	Weren't the Rebels allowed by the Empire to find out about the station? Wasn't the plan for the Rebel fleet to attack "this fully armed and operational battle station"? I assume if there had been a DS III it would have had the power core on the outside with a big bullseye painted on it and the Emperor's throne room would have been constructed entirely of C4 plastic explosives. Good God!
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
Darth_Davi Registered: Jul '05	Date Posted: 9/3 5:26am Subject: Point/Counterpoint: The Death Star
	fully armed and operational is not the same as fully armed and 100% completed. Fact is, the DSII wasn't done. It worked, but it wasn't done. That is why they needed the shield based on Endor to protect it. Further, Palpatine letting the Rebels find it doesn't have anything to do with it being unfinished. He was using it as bait to draw the rebels out. -----signature----- What the hell is an Aluminium Falcon? Oh, I'm sorry, I thought my Dark Lord of the Sith could protect a thermal exhaust port thats only two meters wide! It wasn't even fully paid off yet!
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History

Pages: 1 | 2 - ~~Previous~~ | Next | Reload