Lit Fleet Junkie Flagship- The technical discussions of the GFFA (Capital Ships thread Mk. II)

I tend to work better with more detail...like in Lost Stars at the end the Garrrote is just referred to as an attack cruiser...but no class name. I wish that Claudia Gray had just called it a Vindicator-class. And I still want to know what is being mined on Jelucan.

 

The Thranta-class Alderaanian war cruiser only appears in The Bacta War, but it's a pretty significant appearance. I really wished I had a visual for the Valiant while reading.

 

Since discussion of the internal layouts of smaller ships don't seem to be too off-limits in this thread, I'll toss this question out there - has there ever been an explanation for how one accesses the Forward Hold, Freight Loading Room, and Number Two Hold aboard the Millennium Falcon? Going by the official layout as shown in the canon update to the Owners' Workshop Manual, those rooms are completely sealed off from the rest of the ship, with no obvious means of access from the inside. In the "Lando version" of the ship (shown below) the layout diagram shows a concealed hatch (#20) that connects the main hold (#15) to the forward hold (#11), but that is done away with in the "Han version" (it's replaced by a much larger distilled water tank that takes up the entire bulkhead between room #11 and room #15). Only way I can see to access that entire section in Han's version would be to either exit the ship and enter through the freight doors, or maybe use that under-the-floor maintenance area to crawl there under the bulkhead? Neither strikes me as being entirely feasible for day-to-day operations - especially since the same schematic places the life support systems, something I'd imagine you'd want fairly accessible, in the number two hold! Complete Vehicles and the 3-D Owner's Guide offer no additional insight, unfortunately.

My out-of-universe thinking would have been to blame an art or editorial error for the omission, except the same layout complete with isolated forward section is repeated in the 3-D Owners Guide, and the isolated forward section is actually new to the updated edition - previous internal diagrams, including those from the previous editions of the Owners' Manual and Owner's Guide, connected the forward hold to the main hold via "cargo transfer hatches." Doing away with those hatches could only have been an intentional change to the floorplans - and on the one hand the change makes sense, since no such hatches appear in the on-screen set, but on the other hand, it leaves a rather odd gap in the logic of the Falcon's layout.

 

The Another Chance has pictures - I just figured the Thranta-class is a smaller version of that.

 

Is it weird I've started to headcanon that the Valiant, after it was restored to active service, ended up participating in the Thrawn Campaign and other battles involving the Rogues because Aril Nunb is just that cool?

Battle of Sluis Van -- managed to avoid being boarded by the mole-miners and aided the Rogues in keeping TIEs away from the shipyards.
Battle of Qat Chrystac -- fought in the battle in support of the Orthavan, managed to get away.
Battle of Coruscant -- in support to the Allegiant (MC80B or Assault Frigate Mark I, prefer the latter).
Battle of Bilbringi -- fought in support to the Freedom.
Battle of Coruscant (10 ABY) -- among the ships to survive intact.
Battle of Calamari -- among the few ships not to be destroyed by a World Devastator, took command of the fleet after the losses of the Emancipator and the Mon Remonda.
Nespis VIII -- present at the base, part of the evacuation.
Second Battle of Xa Fel (11 ABY) -- present with the fleet that ended up fighting with the pirate forces.
Battle of Orinda (12 ABY) -- escaped with the Lusankya.

 

Maybe Han just doesn't use the forward bay?

 

The explanation I'm leaning toward right now is that Han does use the forward bay - for smuggling. Having a cargo bay or two completely isolated from the main living area of the ship actually makes sense if you regularly carry dangerous or illegal cargo. (I'm thinking, for example, of that old WEG RPG trope of having Imperial customs inspectors frequently boarding and inspecting the PCs' freighter. Would a sufficiently lazy inspector realize the ship has additional holds if there's no obvious way to access them?) Basically, they're a larger version of the hidden compartments in the floor. The flaw in this logic is having the life support systems in the number two hold - it seems like Han and Chewie would want easy access to them in case of emergency. But I still like the idea.

 

Han used to have access via the main holds bunk according to several sources. Still no full height walking access seems crazy to me as well. Would be easier to have a door in the side of the Cockpit corridor. I assumed there was a hidden door but covered up so it looks like there is none that inspections may forget these rooms exist. Maybe some cockpit corridor padded wall part can slide back into the wall and then sideways or upwards along the curvature of the corridor to reveal the hidden door? There was a panel after all in the cockpit corridor wall that may be tied to this. Some Rebel techs in ROTJ even were working on that panel during the Death Star 2 run.




The image is from the GE park ride Falcon main hold, but this section behind the bunk/holotable seating area could be a secret door as well. Though on floorplans and the movie Falcon I recall it being not as spaceous as in GE, right?

 

You know, I half-remembered that "secret passage through the bunk" business, but then couldn't find any floorplans that supported that so I figured maybe I was misremembering. Glad to know I wasn't going crazy there! Also thought about a hidden door between the cockpit passageway and the number two hold, but the Owners' Workshop Manual plans don't support this unfortunately - there's solid bulkhead between the passageway and the hold.

Nice pic! I love the attention to detail on GE's Falcon. On the Owners' Workshop Manual floorplans, that wall on the left exists but is pushed back about five feet or so, leaving a little nook behind the seating area that doesn't really go anywhere. And unfortunately no evidence of a passage there either, as far as the Owners' Workshop Manual plans go - remove the wall and all you'd see is the bunk and part of another solid bulkhead.

Interestingly, this entire line of thought was triggered by my recent playthrough of Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, where you can freely roam a somewhat canon-accurate Falcon. In that version, the main hold and the forward are combined into a single room and you can freely walk into the freight loading area (the door is where that wall is in the GE pic) and from there into the number two hold.

 

I wish Disney would do a google maps style 'street view' of the GE Falcon. But that would take away money some how because less people would see it in person

 

The passenger starliner...

 

Can you show me screenshots of that walkthrough space and area? I love Lego's additions to canon, even if wonky at times but they had some great ideas recently.



If not straight to the loading area, why not have a crawlspace through the side of the bunk behind that panel on the right if that is moveable to the side. Then you can enter directly the Number Two hold! No thick wall on that side either in the deckplan! Though it may not be Wookiee-sized.

Also alternatively I thought about the stupid tiny crawlspace to access the escape shuttle in Solo A Star Wars Story that is rather impractical and came up with an alternate solution, but it is not perfect yet:
What if one can access the Forward section of the ship and escape shuttle via the Escape Pod Bay in the back? We know the Pods are launched out back of the ship below, but maybe a similiar chute exists to push it to the ships front where they can exit it below the Forward Hold #2 or into the escape Shuttle even? It could even be a freight loading mechanism that uses the escape pod bay and pods as freight pods instead for escape (double use, eh?). The ships lower deck is at some points quite deep as Chewie and Han can vanish down their into tubing and all when repairing it in the main hold. Even if outside of the ship looks smaller, I know, I know. So such a mechanism could exist/work. What do you think?

Or does the scape shuttle have to exit the front on autopilot/remote control, dock with the ships tubes or top hatch to transfer people before escaping?

 

Here's a video of a walkthrough of Lego Star Wars: TFA's Falcon. A map of the ship is displayed at 0:48, and at 1:00 Rey walks out of the main hold directly into the forward hold (which is basically just part of the main hold in this version), then heads into the freight loading area and into the number two hold.

I think that's the first time I've ever seen anyone use that bunk!

Possibly? A simpler solution may be to simply assume the forward areas can be reached somehow via the maintenance areas under the floor in the main hold. Doesn't look like there's a lot of area to move around, but we also haven't gotten a real good look at that part of the ship yet. Hard to tell if this is practical from the 3D Owners Guide.

Interestingly, in Marvel's Star Wars #17 we see a long, narrow, straight corridor aboard the Falcon that doesn't correspond to anything on the floorplans, also with a beneath-the-floor maintenance area, described as a "wiring node for the ship's main processor." I don't know where you'd even put that on the floorplans, but it does make me wonder if there are other, similarly "undocumented" passageways aboard the ship?

 

Thx!

As for undocumented passageways, I suspect as modular as CECs YT series comes, you can move around lots of parts if not bolted down. So who knows what tech from the deckplans can actually be moved (even if only by Wookiee strength! so no Imperial suspects it can be moved at all). That way they could not only open up hidden smuggle compartments but also cover them if inspection should look under the floor planels and just switch spaces with machinery and the hidden content.

Then they easily could open up a crawl corridor if needed. Maybe there is something like a maintenance configuration that allows the interior shape to be moved and altered in construction yards? Like Starlight Beacon had in the latest novel? It may sound not possible given we know how the Falcon looks, but who knows what wonders tech can do there. Besides we havn't seen any garbage chute or mini trash compactor on the Falcon yet that can shoot junk into space... maybe they use the escape pod hatch for that.. maybe another space that can double as hidden crawlway?

 

Given the YT-1300's much-touted modularity, I would say yes, the idea that the internal configuration can be reconfigured as desired at a properly equipped repair yard (or via a Wookiee) is almost a certainty. Many oddities could be explained that way - the seeming lack of obvious access to the forward compartments, that long straight passageway, even the differences in the Falcon sets between ANH and ESB - as reconfigurations that aren't documented on the "official" floorplan.

 

Starlog did a series of Technical Journals a long time ago...this is the Millennium Falcon deckplan hey had.

 

I'd forgotten about that one! Definitely one of my favorites. I'm still fond of the floorplan from the old Star Wars Sourcebook, despite it not being overly faithful to the film sets even back then.

Thought I had an electronic copy of the old "Selayana class" blueprints floating around in my archive, but I haven't been able to find them.

EDIT: Persevered and found them! (spoiler'd for size)

Spoiler

 

This one? I really wasn't a fan of it.

 

Trying to find a picture of the layout of the Star Wars Galaxies YT-1300, but I can't seem to find one. I guess the best would be a video.

 

Is it based on the official Cross Sections/MF User Manual layout? Or yet another completely different layout??

 

Seems to be just a big circle. Scaled down (though also scaled up horizontally for the camera to fit) as well for whatever reason.

 

For anybody interested in the full floorplan history for the Falcon, I wrote about it for StarWarsSourcebooks and Teekay Magazine a while ago already, you can find it here:





Imageheavy and really loaded with obscure and rare SW plans and lore! But interesting to look at it in chronological order and which inspired which later one etc.

I wrote a likewise piece about the size of the Death Stars and how it changed over time if anybody is interested, also on the same Fb site. Along with several updates for Falcon and others but digging into the history of my posts there may take a while as not all are saved as notes like these two.

 

I'm getting a "post is no longer available" message in the embed, but I follow SWSourcebooks on Facebook so it wasn't difficult to locate the post on my own. Great article - I actually remember reading it when first posted, years ago! Might be time for an update now that we have updated versions of the 3D Owner's Guide and Owners Workshop Manual, as well as a new cutaway diagram from the TFA Visual Dictionary and, of course, an actual Falcon you can walk around in at Galaxy's Edge! (Also happy to report that the TFA Visual Dictionary actually answers my question - there is, indeed, a concealed passageway into the freight loading area via the bunk behind the lounge seating. It's referenced in the TFA cutaway but not, for whatever reason, in the Owners Workshop Manual. Mystery solved!)

 

thx, I actually have a heavily updated version in the works for years now but never got to finish it and post it yet. just posted some small posts as excerpts from it to sourcebooks back then when the ST changes came about.

Maybe I will get back to it after finalising some current projects. Got several rare exclusives translations for SW fans going amongst other things. Who knows when the next alteration and update to the Falcon may appear. That ship never ceases to surprise me with new finds!!

can you post a direct link without an embed then?

 

www.facebook.com/notes/1073555013098731/

Works fine for me and I'm not following them. they might just have embed permissions disabled.