PT Why is there breathable air on Separatist ships?

That's because there is oxygen everywhere in the GFFA. Even in space. Especially in space.

 

If sections of a ship were left open to the vacuum of space, I think there would be damage caused by rapid pressurisation/depressurisation when the ship left/entered planetary atmospheres.

 

I think people are underestimating the power and space it would take to support life in every inch of a ship more than a kilometer long, and the military advantages to be gained by not needing to. Power and space are everything in design. Less power and space you spend heating the ship and providing it with atmosphere, the more you can spend on weapons and firepower, or anything more useful to a ship almost entirely crewed by droids. I think TCW introduced ships that actually were entirely crewed by droids: the entire bridge crew and even the captain were B1 battle droids.

First question: well, no, not necessarily. Life support can be supplied wherever it is needed, and shut off where it is not.

Second question: I imagine there are many areas of the ship where they never need visit. They don't seem to handle repair, maintenance, or operations. It think it would be easy to keep organics to one area of the ship, perhaps contained to a single deck.

I don't think it was a question of convenience, but of efficiency. Airlocks require no power and no extra space, and not many would be needed.

What would be saved would not be credits, but space and power for something more useful than atmosphere for crew that doesn't need it.

Corporations care how much corporations cost in the real world. Similarly, I imagine stingy, greedy men like those on the Separatist council would care very much about potential waste on their ships. Ship designers, loving to be as efficient and inventive as possible, would likely care even more. Designers love min-maxing, even to their detriment. This seems an obvious and interesting situation for it, to me.

 

I bet the Seps have tax money for stuff like that. They're not spending their own money on war.

 

But are we? You have to remember this is Star Wars technology we are talking about here. I see no reason not to believe that a single life support unit is capable of efficiently servicing the entire ship on a fraction of the power that the main reactor generates. These ships are surely produced on some sort of an assembly line so it would be a hassle to just show up to the shipyards and say “yeah we probably won’t end up having organic beings on this one in particular so just completely redesign the interior systems for us”. Simply put it’s a lot more preferable to have life support available when nobody on board needs it than to not have life support as an option when somebody does. You never know what situation you’re going to find yourself in when conducting intergalactic business and especially when conducting intergalactic war. One of the biggest parts of engineering is design trade offs and I can’t see optimizing for this one specific scenario being worth it when IMO the gains would be minimal anyways.

 

The only war we ever seen that involves mostly droids is the Clone Wars. And before the war kicks off, we always see droids and organics together on the same ships. So, had any DROID ONLY ships been designed, it would have been toward the end of the Clone Wars.

They were probably few and far between if they existed at all.

 

why are there explosions and sound in space in star wars ?
because its a sci-fi movie

 

If you’re wondering how he eats and breathes,
And other science facts!
La-la-la-la!
Just say to yourself it’s just a show, I should really relax!

 

This thread was not intended to be about the physics of Star Wars, it's about a specific design choice, one I find interesting.

People who are bringing up sound in space, or the general physics of Star Wars, have not understood the premise of the thread.

 

yeah, I mean Jedi and laser swords aren’t real either but that doesn’t prevent people from speculating about in-universe explanations for them

also the no sound in space is an easy one to explain, we the audience hear the explosions just like we hear the music, but there’s nothing to suggest that the characters in-universe hear the explosions in space

 

It wouldn't make much sense to put unbreathable air on a spaceship now would it.

 

I think its rather simple: The organic crew needs to get everywhere in case of repair, emergancy and so on. So there is atmosphere in the hanger for example to provide the possibilty to get on a ship to land on a planet or escape the destroyed vessel they're on. So it makes sense to have the ships full of atmosphere all over the ship.

 

Since the Separatist alliance is full of humans, humanoids and other aliens that breathe air, and might need to board the ships from time to time, why wouldn’t the ships have breathable air on them?

 

I have really mixed feelings about this.

On one hand, I think it's a fun, reasonable question to kick around. It's interesting to think about how ship design might be influenced by such considerations.

On the other...yeah, there are a LOT of things that don't stand up to close scrutiny that do, in one way or another, make the SW universe more fun. My big "go to" in that regard is the cantina in ANH (or any of the various restaurants, bars, and gathering places we see). That is - how is it that all these various species are able to breathe the same atmosphere, tolerate the same gravity and temperatures, and so forth? Sure we see a FEW "aliens" wearing helmets, etc, but for the most part...nah. And you know what? I am fine with that, just because it is so much fun to imagine walking into that kind of cantina and seeing that diverse crew. If I was REALLY pressed to come up with a good explanation, I'd probably say the galaxy is SO huge that what we are actually seeing is just the TINY subset of species that CAN tolerate those conditions. It looks diverse to us but it really is a tiny tiny slice.

However... honestly, none of that breaks my willing suspension of disbelief. I can't justify that or argue that, and if it really really bothered you, I couldn't tell you it shouldn't bother you. I guess I feel the same way of the "breathable" spaces on the starships. It's an interesting thought experiment but it doesn't jar me "out" of the movies and TV shows. For what that's worth.

 

Because the plot so demands.

 

George Lucas does not play dice with the universe (he plays tiddlywinks).

 

For organic staff and crew. Neimodians, Geonosians, and whoever else might either be a passenger or crew on the staff needs atmosphere.

 

I don't recall ever seeing a ship 100% occupied by only droids. The ships weren't even droid designed ships-they were ships belonging to the Banking Clan, the Commerce Guild or the Trade Federation or others-all organic alien races. They were designed with organic beings in mind-hence the air and gravity. Even in TCW series, I don't recall ever seeing a ship that literally had zero organic beings on the whole ship (other than perhaps small troop carriers or tanks-but that's not in space).

 

There are sometimes organics as officers, guests, and prisoners on the ship.
Do you really think Dooku wants to put on a space helmet if he has to go on a Separatist ship? No. They need to cater to him.
But in general, it would be smart for some ships to not have breathable air, due to being run by droids.

 

What about captured prisoners, or showcasing their navy for potential allies? The TradeFed Lucrehulks had air not only for the organic beings, but for potential "clients".

 

There's a distinction people aren't picking up on. Even if the ships have the ability to produce atmosphere, doesn't mean they have to do it all the time even when they don't need it. Oxygen is a fire hazard, after all.