Venator-class SD specs?

From what I saw in RotS Venators look like cool ships. Sure they didn't have Victory SDs or Dreadnaughts in the movie, but the new class make up for some of that disappointment.

One thing I don't like though is the specs attributed to them. 192 Eta-2s, 192 V-Wings and 36 ARC-170s? Also the 40 Gunships and numerous other ground assault craft. Doesn't seem a bit much? Did the contributors to the Incredible Cross-sections go "Uber" or was it just their way of fitting in a 4:20 reference? (Add up the number of fighters). Sure, the fighters are smaller then those seen later, however are they that much smaller? Are we to believe that so much of the Venator's interior is taken up to carry so many fighters? Not to mention refueling, maintenance facilities, fighter and ground crew quarters, etc. And what about the assault troops to many those Gunships and Walkers?

Not to mention it makes the class harder to fit in with the rest of the EU ships. Am I the only one with a problem with these stats?

 

They do seem a bit much. but then again, it seems that the Venator (IMO) is best classified as a carrier, which is why it was probably replaced by the Imperator, which was much more guns. Look at the Clone Wars series, when Tiin flys into that huge landing strip. It seems a very very large amount of that ship is hanger space, unlike a normal Star Destroyer. Also, it seems taht you can enter from the bottom or the top. The top can open up in a small box, or the entire red strip can open up. I wouldn't really say this is a destroyer. According to the OS' stats on it, it has pretty weak weaponry compared to other vessles. It seems to hold mostly fighters and troopers. That's why we have evedince of at least two enemy ships beeing commandeered by a Venator in the battle of Coruscant. It appears that most of these big ships durring the Clone Wars (Besides Victorys and Drednoughts) have been mostly wasted for troop transport when they could have been used for the big guns. I'm guessing the Venator relys mostly on starfighter support.

 

The way I see it is that the Venator- and Victory-class SD's are part of the same program, the Venator is the fleet carrier to the Victory's battleship. They would tag-team, the Venator's fighters would cover itself and the Vicstar(s) it was partnered with, while the Vicstar's heavier guns would protect the Venator. I say it's likely that there were Vicstars offscreen in the Coruscant battle.

 

I can see then Venators as carriers, however the battle of Coruscant seems to show it as a battleship.

Even as a purpose built carry and accepting that the fighters are smaller then later fighters, I would be happier with a smaller number of fighters, say 192 fighters/16 squadronds.

 

Also, about its guns being weak, of the clone wars era, its actually one of the strongest. The fighters amount to considerable firepower as well (remember, it was ultimately a couple fighters, and a suicide mission that destroyed the executer).

-CC-

 

The Venator's guns I don't think were ever said to be weak. There just aren't very many big guns on the Venator. Also there are very few proton torpedo launchers if I remember correctly..

 

Two torp launchers. And weren't their shields rather weak too?

 

They're assault carriers with heavy cruiser-grade armament and defense. My guess is Venator-class vessels are joined up in battle groups like Earth carriers. Something on the order of:

3-5 Venator-class SD
6-10 Victory-class SD
~20 Rendilli Dreadnaughts or other heavy cruisers.
~35 smaller cruisers (Carracks and such)
~50 Corvettes, frigates, support vessels, etc.

 

Apperently it's not that tiny if it can fit all those ships...


Two torp launchers.

Damn. An XJ has more torp launchers then that thing, although the Venator obviously has more torps

 

Yeah, but what is an "assault carrier"? Only one other vessel in the EU has been labelled that and it was the Defender-class from BFC. WEG only gave it 10 laser cannons and a wing of Fighters.

If there was a change from the 16 V-Wing and 16 Eta-2 squadrons to 6 and 6 with 3 ARC-170 squadrons I would be happier. 15 squadrons, 180 fighters. Add to that the gunships and assault vehicles. Still very formidible of a carrier, but not quite the Fanboy Ubership that a 420 fighter carrier sounds of.

 

Venator's weaponry according to the OS:

8 heavy turbolasers; 2 medium dual turbolasers; 52 laser cannons; 4 proton torpedo launchers; 6 tractor beam projectors


I really hope Stackpole doesn't write anything with Venators in it. I loves Stakpole's writing, but for the sake of the story an plot, he gives fighters more importance then they're worth in the battle. A squadron with an extra payload of missles supported by one assault ship, and an A-wing Squadron late in the battle takes down a Super Star Destroyer?? By god. The Venator would be the new Death Star in Stackpole's hands

 

Actually, given their heavy troop capacity, assault ramps, large hangar space, and atmospheric landing capability, the Venator-class reminds me more of a Wasp- or Tarawa-class assault ship. Given their onboard fighter loadout and fairly extensive laser batteries, they should be able to swat off incoming fighters easily, and their eight main guns are fairly heavy. One would imagine them moving in with Victory-class ships to penetrate a planet's defenses, batter out a landing zone, and then dropping in to unload troops. We can explain the preponderance of Venator-class ships at Coruscant and their close-range tactics simply by remembering that the CIS attack was a complete surprise; with Coruscant being a staging depot for shipping out ground forces there would have been a lot of assault ships there while the line combat VSDs were occupied by Grievious's feints elsewhere. VenStars would have scrambled from Coruscant like klick-long fighters in an attempt to hold them until better-armed Star Destroyers arrived.

It would be interesting to see if the Empire and later the New Republic/Galactic Alliance kept surviving VenStars on hand for planetary invasions. A couple of Venators and Acclamators in convoy with an ISD and VSD escorts could easily carry a corps or two of troops and get them into anything short of Coruscant itself or one of the Deep Core fortress worlds.

 

Manufacturer: Kuat Drive Yards
Make: Venator-class Star Destroyers
Dimensions: 1,137 m. (3,729 ft.), wingspan 548 m. (1,797 ft.), height (in flight) 268 m. (87.9 ft)
Max. Acceleration (linear, in open space): 3,000G
Hyperdrive: Class 1.0; 60,000 light year effective range
Crew: 7,400
Armament: 8 heavy turbolaser turrents; 2 medium dual turbolaser cannons; 52 point-defense laser cannons; 4 proton torpedo tubes; 6 tractor beam projectors
Complement: 192 V-Wing fighters; 192 Eta-2 Actis Interceptors; 36 ARC-170; 24 military walkers; 40 LAAT/i gunships; miscellaneous shuttles

 

Yup, that's a lot of ships. But it's really not that surprising considering the hanger seems to spread the entire lenght of the red streak. Plus I believe the fighters are stacked up several levels. Probably one of the main reasons most (if not all) of those fighters' wings fold up. Better storage space


Oh, and V-wings and Eta-2 are pretty small as far as fighters go. Those numbers may seem a bit large, but not much.


But who flys the Eta-2s besides Jedi? I thought the Clones just flew ARC-170s and V-wings...

 

As an alternative to carrying around excess Jedi Interceptors, it's quite possible that hanger space originally intended for them was given to V-Wings.

That way, instead of carrying around 192 ships that not everybody can fly, they'd have extra V-Wings.

Makes sense to me.

 

According to Starwars.com the V-Wings can be replaced one-for-one by V-19 Torrents (from Clone Wars Cartoon). Even folded up the V-19s are larger then the V-Wings. Also, if the Eta-2s are Jedi fighters, replacements for the Delta-7s, why carry 192 of then as there will never be 192 Jedi aboard one ship?

Also every goes on and on about how big the hanger is. Sure, it's large, however it doesn't seem to leave alot of room in the rest of the ship for the assault forces, which makes me think that to carry a large number of ground vehicle, they have to give up space for the fighters. Does this mean the 192 Jedi Fighters can only be carried in lieu of ground assault equipment? Or maybe a lot few, say 36 Eta-2s, 192 V-Wings/V-19s and 36 ARC-170s, while also carrying the 40 Gunships and 25 ground assault vehicles?

 

You're making me do this.

Manufacturer: Kuat Drive Yards
Make: Venator-class Star Destroyers
Dimensions: 1,137 m. (3,729 ft.), wingspan 548 m. (1,797 ft.), height (in flight) 268 m. (87.9 ft)
Max. Acceleration (linear, in open space): 3,000G
Hyperdrive: Class 1.0; 60,000 light year effective range
Crew: 7,400
Armament: 8 heavy turbolaser turrents; 2 medium dual turbolaser cannons; 52 point-defense laser cannons; 4 proton torpedo tubes; 6 tractor beam projectors
Complement: 192 V-Wing fighters; 192 Eta-2 Actis Interceptors; 36 ARC-170; 24 military walkers; 40 LAAT/i gunships; miscellaneous shuttles

 

Making you do what?

 

I guess he's saying that a Venator wouldn't be able to carry it's normal complement of ground assault vehicles without sacrificing some starfighters (due to limited hanger space).

I simple ask what makes you think that?