I happened to be re-reading some of the D20 books over the Weekend and there's quite a lot of overlooked lore among them. I'd forgotten about some of it. One bit that really stood out was the information from Starships of the Galaxy about SSD construction times, and I don't remember any of the debates or catalogues of known SSDs and their numbers ever really making use of it as an one of the few in-Universe data points about how many of those larger ships could have been built. To note, the book itself doesn't mention the Fondor yards that are known to have been able to build SSDs, nor any of the Byss and other Deep Core facilities that are also known to have been able to construct such large ships. Still, some of the "Asset Trackers" here with the lists of known SSDs might be able to make use of these hard numbers and do a bit of math towards some interesting conclusions. The book has numbers of shipyard construction slips for most of the other big yards in the Galaxy. Besides SSDs, we could use the above numbers and charts to make a serviceable estimate of the numbers of Mon-Cal warships.
I was actually thinking about this. The Empire constructed 4 -6 SSDs by the time of the Battle of Hoth. But then it constructed 20 plus by the time of the Battle of Endor. That's a tremendous rate.
Yes absolutely, the rate of SSD construction is known to have ramped way up by Endor, and we also have the comment from the BFC books about "third-generation" SSDs (with the extra shield dome). We also have the classic ROTJ claim of "lot of command ships". Either the Empire massively expanded shipyard capacity, or de-emphasized construction of a lot of other ships so as to free up existing space for SSDs, or a mix of both. There's also the possibility that the many claims of there only being around 4 SSDs by Hoth might not have been true, and the Empire was intentionally under-stating it's numbers of large warships.
The numbers of known SSDs in existence by the time of Endor can also be worked backwards a bit: if each one takes at least 1.7 years, just how many were being built at the same times and when did that construction begin, for those and the SSDs that were already in service by Hoth?
They seemed to have built the Terror within 3-4 years. Although it is possible that since a Grand Admiral was involved (in the form of Martio Batch) it was built even faster. At present we don't know if it was made at Kuat or Fondor.
I seem to recall a source stating something along the lines of, "While the Executor was completed at Fondor, Kuat Drive Yards made sure that all further ships of the class were built in their docks," but for the life of me can't find said source.
We don't know with certainty, true, but we do know that the next cloaked SSD was constructed by Fondor so it's a fair bet one was constructed there. I am very sure that the Guide to Warfare confirmed that another of the initial 4 SSDs were constructed at Fondor. Brawl, perhaps, at Scarl?
Ugh, I try to forget that there was another cloaked SSD. Truly an unoriginal idea on an already ridiculous concept.
I could see the Empire collecting its remaining crystals and trying again. If anything blowing it up resolved that loose end.
GA Batch really was a genius on par with Sienar and Lemelisk. If either of those two SSDs survived, than the history of naval combat may very well have revolutionized, with stealth battleships becoming the norm.
Yeah, I didn't like that whole bit about the cloaked SSD the first time I played RS3 and still don't. I almost want to actually go down the minimalist path instead of the maximalist path and try to consolidate known SSDs with unnamed ones. For example, while we're shown the Vengeance, Terror, and the Fondor SSDs being vaporized by chain-reaction explosions, how much of that is just down to game cutscene liberties? Is there really anything that prevents the unidentified Fondor cloaked SSD from being one and the same as the Terror, undergoing repair? Or, possibly being a damaged SSD such as the Vengeance being repaired and fitted with cloaking devices because of the sheer potential damage a cloaked SSD could have done to the Rebellion? Or, if the cutscenes are interpreted literally and Vengeance and Terror were indeed vaporized, could the Fondor SSD be the Enforcer? That SSD was never shown to be outright destroyed, only damaged, and nothing at all prevents it from being one and the same as the Fondor vessel. Similarly, nothing rules it out from being one and the same as the SSD used by X1 after the Dark Empire times.
Well, its said that about 4 Executor classes were complete by the time of Hoth, but plenty could have been near finished, which might explain a lot of those that were seen between Hoth and Endor Actually does anyone know how many years and months were between Hoth and Endor? If it takes 1.7 years to make an Executor class, per Starships of the Galaxy, is there enough time for them to start being built after Hoth and be ready for Endor? Re; Black Sword Command, from Wookiepeida again, it seems the Aramardia was the 2nd named SSD with the 3rd one still nameless. That said the image of the Aramardia looks more like it was retconned as an Allegiance type, so perhaps the unnamed one is similar and not part of the Executor count?
@jSarek, though we saw a cloaking device SSD at Fondor. So the Terror seems to have been built there? Maybe?
That is an interesting quote. It certifies credit to Kuat...but not necessarily construction. KDY just may have begun "licensing" the design, probably to assure a kickback from the Imperial budget for every SSD built. They could license or sub-contract SSD building projects all over the galaxy.
