These articles will contain no useful information whatsoever, but will let us all nerd out to the awesomeness of the coolest pieces of tech from books, movies, games or any other medium that science fiction is present in.
For the first "Sci-Fi Do Want" I present to you: The Imperial Star Destroyer
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| The pagoda like superstructure of the Star Destroyer makes for even more hard angles on the already aggressive looking design |
The Imperial Star Destroyer has always been a very special spaceship for me, ever since I saw the Star Wars movie.
The awe inspiring intro that the Star Destroyer makes in Episode IV establishes it right off the gate as a giant bird of prey that will mercilessly hunt down any ship that is unfortunate enough to be labelled as an enemy of the Empire.
The one mile long wedge shape makes it look sleek despite it's size, and the light grey color scheme only adds to the image it projects of a cool and potent weapon of war.
In comparison to the Rebel capital ships in the the Star Wars movies, they are usually much more rounded and "artistic" in appearance. The elongated form of the Mon Calamari Cruiser is a good example of this. While it still makes for an impressive sight, it has a lot less of that hard military weapon aura about it that just oozes out from the Imperial Star Destroyer.
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| The Mon Calamari Cruiser makes for an impressive, but much less imposing capital ship (intentionally, I'm sure) |
The real bite of the Star Destroyer is not in the mounted weapons though (though they alone are enough to take on pretty much any enemy target), but in the 6 squads of Tie Fighters/Interceptors/Bombers.
With such a large amount of fighter sized crafts packed away in its innards, the Imperial Star Destroyer is able to fill the space around it with swarms of angry twin ion engine propelled bees. Bees with frigging lasers, no less!
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| The Rebels may be the good guys, but the Empire has all the cool toys |
There are many other more elegant ships, especially from the Star Trek universe, but the simple and brutal design of the Star Destroyer is what does it for me.
For my money, this is the best way to ride in style across the vast empty black vacuum of space.
Asteroids be damned!
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I've just found your blog and I've been on it for ages reading your posts, so thank you for beeing awesome. Also, I LOVE Star Destroyers, I remember thinking how awesome they were when I was younger whenever they had more than one on screen and they passed by one another. For some reason now I like their older brother, the sith battle cruiser (even though it might be called a star destroyer aswell?) You made me want to star my own sci fi/gaming blog CURSE YOU!
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked the post, and welcome to the blog! :)
ReplyDeleteYes, the scenes with the whole fleet of Star Destroyers are very cool. And it's nice that we'll have some "stand ins" for the Star Destroyer in The Old Republic, in the form of the Sith Battlecruisers.
If only you could buy one of those!
Well, there aren't enough sci-fi/gaming blogs out there, IMO, so I'd welcome a new one ;)
Star destroyers are awesome but my money is on the Mon calamari. The technology in the Mon Calamari Cruiser is a little more impressive. they have the ability to meld shields with other Mon Calamari and with each ship providing power to the shields they are a very formidable weapon allowing them to take on Just as many if not more of their number in Star destroyers. also the squadrons of X-wings that they carry add to the danger, The X-wing is a much more powerful in a dogfight than a tie fighter/ interceptor. the Tie fighter line lacks shield and in most cases missile launchers. the only advantage the have are speed which while it does make the dangerous it all so makes the extremely vulnerable. The X-wing while not as fast has shields and missile capabilities making it a better dog fighter in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, TJ!
ReplyDeleteI think that you are right that from a technological perspective the Mon Calamari Cruiser and the Rebel Alliance fighter craft are superior to the Imperials.
I recon that this is a result of the much more limited amount of people and material that the Alliance has available, thus protection is of the highest importance.
The Empire uses a much more ruthless practice of throwing greater numbers at their enemies. While the Mon Calamari Cruiser carries a standard of 3 squadrons of fighters (36 craft), the Imperial Star Destroyer usually carriers 5.
Though the Tie Fighters are flimsy things, they are cheap and easy to make and the Empire has a near unending supply of men and material to pull from, so even if they lose 2-3 Tie Fighters for every X-Wing it's still an acceptable trade.
Also, the Imperial Star Destroyer just looks way more cool than the Mon Calamari Cruiser (IMHO ;) ).
Though I agree with many things said about the Mon Calamari Cruiser, I LOVE Star Destroyers!
ReplyDeleteHowever, I prefer the Venator-class Star Destroyer (you know, used by the Clone Army). It's sends an image of not only sheer power, but also of greatness/glory. Besides, it holds 7400 crewmembers, 2000 passengers, at least 72 cannons, 24 Walkers, 1 pre-built Garrison Base, and over 500 Fighters (plus Shutles).
It is always said that it's broadside attack was devastating. Add to that the 8 gigantic turbolaser cannons on the top close to the Command Bridge, the 2 cannons of the same tipe on the sides of the Broadside Hangar Doors (there is a hangar of that tipe on each side of the ship), and the lasers protecting the Bottom Hangar Doors.
Also, the Venator had yet another hangar: The Top Hangar.
The reason the Empire no longer used that ship (though it was better) is that it was too associated with the Jedi Order (it was usually a Jedi who commanded these ágios). The same thing happaned to the Acclamator-class Star Destroyer. However, ir was less connected to the Jedi Order (as a simbol) and so a few of them were still used.
Many of the weapons of the Clone Army the Empire stopped using were better than the ones that would replace them (but they reminded people of the Republic). One such example is the LAAT series (the most popular of them, LAAT/i, is the ship usually called "Gunship"). The Rebel Alliance recognized it's potential and used it just like the Republic used: as an ground assault/transport ship.
Typing mistake: just after I saHD that The Venator were associated with the Jedi. I meant to say that the Jedi usually commanded these SHIPS
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