Bombing the Geonosis Arena: Yay or Nay?

In Shatterpoint, we learned from Mace that they could of just bombed the arena and end up killing Dooku, Anakin, Padme, and Obi-Wan, and the rest. Should of a bombing been launched or was the Jedi storming the arena effiecent?

 

Bombing gets a thumbs-up. Vader would have died. Dooku and the Seppie leaders too. The Clone Wars never would have happened or, worst case scenario, Palpatine's plans would have been postponed for a long time.

The collateral damage was well worth it.

 

well, there's two different ways of looking at that: one, with the information the participants had at the time, and two, with the benefit of hindsight.

one: definitely. no question. first of all, Padme's insistence on trying to rescue Obi-Wan in the first place was downright dim-witted, since there's no way that she could have done anything other than give Dooku two more hostages. if they're willing to build armies in secret, and attack Obi-Wan while he's transmitting to the Jedi Council, they're willing to take you hostage too, dumbass.

second, after Padme the Bimbo Senator and her massacre-happy boyfriend screw things up even further, Mace is grossly incompetent for not bombing the site. sure, Padme, Anakin, and Obi-Wan will die, but they'd have died if Mace did nothing and they're damn lucky to have survived even as it is, but Padme and Anakin are only in trouble in the first place because they did something incredibly stupid, irresponsible, and selfish in violation of direct orders, and Obi-Wan knew the risks when he went in. for Pete's sake, Obi-Wan risked his life to get the message to the Jedi Council so they could take care of the situation on Geonosis, not to ask for rescue. to let the Separatists get away with the bulk of their army and begin the Clone Wars because you chose to rescue him instead makes all the risks he took and sacrifices he made for naught.

two: OK, so if Anakin and Padme die on Geonosis, there's no Luke, no Leia, and no Chosen One to hurl Palpatine down the shaft.

of course, there are no Clone Wars either, and thus no Order 66, no Jedi Purge, and no Empire. without the Separatists to rally the Republic against, Palpatine would have been forced to stand down as Chancellor, and things would have returned to the pre-TPM stalemate with the Sith in hiding and out of power and the Jedi and the Senate trying to hold things together, possibly with the assistance of the Clone Army.

well, at least for another 50 years until the Vong show up, anyway.

you could argue that the whole cycle was a good purge for the system, revitalizing the Republic and the Jedi Order by putting them through a crucible of sorts, but the New Republic is pretty much just as corrupt and ineffectual as the Old, and the NJO are neither as well-trained or as numerous as the OJO, either.

the New Republic does have a standing army, which is pretty helpful when the Vong show up, but they probably would have needed to keep the clones around, anyway, because the Old Republic could use that kind of permanent force. Palpatine would still be around, but probably would have had to go back into the shadows.

ultimately, i would argue for the bombing in either case.

 

Unless you consider leaders of an army or padme civilians i don't reamember any civilians being there.

 

The political backlash against the bombing of "civilians" might have strengthened the Seppie cause however.

Not when the clones discovered the droid armies and the plot to attack the Republic. Also put into consideration that the Seppies would have no leaders as everyone from Dooku to Grievous to Poggle would have died in the bombing.

 

Yes, but... In the real world, it would have made sense. It would have been the easy way. On the other hand, if the Jedi would have been able to arrest the Separatist leadership, it would have made sense too. Trials, getting to the bottom of the whole thing, this could have been used as an argument against bombing. And the arena did have a huge number of spectators. Obliterating them all could have been a propaganda victory for the Separatists and Palpatine probably would have been able to find them new leaders. He probably would have come up with a plan B anyway.

One thing that I don´t understand is that when they had the ships, why didn´t they try orbital bombardment of the Separatist starships on the ground?

 

Despite the Acclamators' primary status early on in the war as troop-carriers (possessing a much larger capacity than the Venators), it would prove itself "Base Delta Zero"-capable, although the Venator's guns are larger than the Acc's by several factors.

Given the number of the Rothana ships there at Geonosis, it would've been eminently possible -- recall too that we see two Acclamators (one of them being in rather sorry shape) taking out a top-of-the-line TF Lucrehulk in Republic Commando. The later VicStars would have bigger reactors, shielding, and weaponry all around, but even their Ven sisters would prove more than a match for the CIS cap-ships, especially the Recusants.

 

The2ndQuest brings up a good point. Regardless of if there was civilians or not, it would generate at leeast some sympathy to the Separatist cause.

 

Anakin and Dooku would have died, but Palpatine is a Sith Lord, he'd find another way to get rid of the Jedi and start a new Sith Empire.

Only this time there would be no Chosen One(or his offspring) to stop him.

 

Assuming the "Chosen One" prophecy would still apply, Anakin would survive a bombing.

 

*coughspectatorscough*

 

Even though those vile termites were rooting for it, the Separtists woulld find ways anyway.

 

Those geonosians would be termed as an enemy comabatant because they are w hive mind with a caste system, those castes are mostly pilots, warriors and workers and since Geonosis and it leader had joined the CIS, those members of those castes would be termed "fair-game", they produce the weapons and fight so even on todays battle fields they would have no quarter given. I say BDZ the place, turm the stadium to glass along with their war-manufacturing capabilities.

 

But their deaths could have resulted in other worlds leaving the Republic and thus bringing forth new leaders of the movement.

But any new leaders would not be Sith or be nearly as capable as Dooku in politics or Grievous in tactics. The new Seppies leadership would be a poor replacement and would be crushed easily. Esp. since Palpatine couldn't play both sides anymore without taking time to recruit new underlings. All of this would take time and Palpatine would be severly set back if not devestated by the complete annihilation of such major pawns.

 

I say...

'Wipe them out, all of them.'

In or out-universe, it's the right thing to do.

 

I'm for bombing. It would eliminate practically all of the Separatist leadership and pretty much defuse the Clone Wars before they had a proper chance to begin. Plus, it would have thrown a real wrench in Palpatine's plan, as instead of starting the war and having several dozen Jedi killed that day, the war would not start and only two would die.

 

Why do you say that Grand Admiral Jello?

 

Well, Mace said Dooku was the Shatterpoint of the CW, and thinks he could have ended them by killing him. BDZ'ing it would also take out the entire Sep leadership and Jango Fett, and nobody would ever be really sure what happened to them (whos to say the Republic would let word get out?) Thus, no Clone War, no need for Palpatine to stay in power, he gets outed earlier or not at all and theres more Jedi around to stop him. Yay for indiscriminate bombing!

 

I say bomb just because it would mean Anakin dies and he annoys me. Oh, but if they dont bomnb it then all thr Jedi die in Order 66 and that makes me soooooooo happy inside. Damn, I'm undecided.

 

Bomb the termites back to the Stone Age, oh, wait, the'yre already in the Stone Age (sort of).

 

They use stone.