You’ve outdone yourself; this is beautiful. I hope we can see this on the big screen someday.
Anxiety Gaming
2 years ago
MUH. GAWD. BEAUTIFUL. I’ve seen so many iterations of the Torpedo Sphere done in mods, or fan art, but this is the best I’ve seen yet. This is the first one I’ve seen that actually fits with the Tarkin doctrine, IMO. It just looks so menacing.
Insanity
2 years ago
Fractal if you ever see this I just want to say good work and keep it up it’s always entertaining to this amazing work.
Bosmun144
2 years ago
This thing is so cinematic and horrifying. It makes me wish we got a decent plot arc about one in an EU novel rather than just background material.
Wouldn’t it have been awesome if for the sequels (Episode 7, 8, 9) we got this along with the Imperial Remnant and how they were using a series of these to take back worlds once in the Empire but not under control of the New Republic??
ussiowa9
2 years ago
I find the lack of anti fighter guns on each of those rings rather disturbing… Would be better if there were twin turrets at the 10, 12 & 2 o’clock positions, both at the top & bottom of each ring, with the missile belt running between them. Otherwise, those rings would be juicy targets for enemy fighters. Btw, is the front of the ship gonna be like some Death star type super laser system & is the ship 2 kms long? Fabulous 3d art work as usual though..
The point of the torpedo sphere was to overwhelm a planetary shield generator and eventually take it down. It is not being used against starfighters. Point-defense lasers won’t do anything against planetary shields.
A fighter when a torpedo sphere is deployed shouldn’t get close even with the fact that it has limited anti-fighter weapons it is usually supported by something that can do that job.
Did I mention anything about the torpedoes being used against fighters? I’m talking about fighters targetting the dang rings that don’t appear to have any anti-fighter guns for protection. Meaning guns for shooting down attacking fighters coming against the sphere, not guns for shooting at planetary shields.
Those are capital ship torpedo launchers. The torpedo would still not be used against starfighters. That would be a waste of a super powerful torpedo against a small starfighter. If you are so concerned, have some lancers escort the sphere. But still, the torpedo should not be in a fight in which starfighters are a huge problem.
We didn’t mention torpedoes being used against fighters either.
What we were saying is that if the enemy still have fighters with which to threaten a torpedo sphere, the sphere should not be there yet. If enemy reinforcements arrive with fighters to threaten the torpedo sphere, there should be enough layers of fleet between the enemy and the sphere that the sphere is either under no real threat, or is able to flee before the enemy can get to it.
It does not need point defences because it should not be deployed in any situation where their use might conceivably be required.
“It does not need point defences because it should not be deployed in any situation where their use might conceivably be required.”
The same can be said of a lot of other things (the Mandator IV, the Tyrant, the Death Star, etc) but they still have point defence weaponry, even if it’s often very bad. It would be in-character for the Empire to put at least some point defence weaponry on this ship.
The Mandator IV was designed and produced by a successor state to the Empire which had learned some lessons from the Empire’s mistakes. Lessons such as ‘yes it does need point defences. I don’t care how it’s supposed to be used, commanders never read the technical manual, and the enemy always gets some fighters through.’ So it would make sense that they might learn that lesson from the loss of 1 or more Torpedo Spheres to fighter strikes during the GCW.
The Tyrant is a second line warship designed to be deployed in fleet battles where there is always a danger of enemy fighters getting through. It is meant to be where the enemy still has fighters, the TS isn’t.
The DS1 was designed to be the ultimate weapon in the galaxy; a bristling fortress of unkillability. It had lots of point defences because it had lots of everything (including drydock space for decently sized warships).
The TS, by contrast, is a streamlined, hyperspecialised platform meant to do 1 thing very well and avoid circumstances where it might have to try to do anything else. Adding point defences would have complicated the design and increased the difficulty of construction and maintenance. It was simply cheaper and easier to assume that commanders would use it how it was intended.
It’s also very realistic to real world military history that a shipyard would design something that fit the brief they were given, but which was riddled with flaws and cripplingly overspecialised. Some of the flaws might be ironed out in later versions, others would simply be dealt with by adjusting the escort fleet or telling commanders to stop using them for what they’re not meant for.
Fractal’s shown that he has no problem ignoring Legendsverse data if he thinks it’s silly. Legends said that all the point defence weaponry on the ISD-I was removed for the ISD-II – but Fractal’s ISD-II has a full suite of point defence weaponry, and his ISD-I, so far, does not seem to have vastly more point defence weaponry than his ISD-II.
The real question is – would he regard “Torpedo sphere has no point defence weapons, only heavy turbolasers and torpedoes” as silly, and to be retconned, or as a sensible consequence of its role as a siege weapon?
In that case, may be it should be used as some intergalactic holiday cruise ship or something, away from any conflict. It’s ludicrous to think this won’t be targeted by enemy fighters or other craft. Even if this were escorted by other ships, those ships themselves will be busy with the enemy attack & considering the super efficient way the empire’s ships fight, several of the enemy fighters or missiles will definitely get through & turn this sphere into some titanic fireworks..
Fractal-Fan is literally telling you that not every ship needs to have an all around, do everything, swiss army knife defense. In the case of your proposed issue with fighters, thats why you have a series of fleet vessels, specifically anti-fighter cruisers in which protect the valueable asset like this. Again something like a Lancer-Class Frigate or even more add in some Gladiators or Ton-Faulk or Quasar Carriers along with the Lancer to provide fighter on fighter escort of the Torpedo Sphere.
Have you seen how the CVBGs operate? There are several ships escorting the carrier to protect it in addition to the carrier’s own fighters. Yet, the carriers don’t go around silly defenseless. They have 2 x 8 cell & 2 x 21 cell anti-air missile launchers with several reloads & 2-3 CIWS gun systems along with a bunch of machine guns to take care of business. It’s a simple matter of commonsense. 1 fighter was all it took to send the oversized carrier called the Executor crashing. If it were armed properly with weapons like the Assertor, instead of having a cityscape with a few guns, that wouldn’t have been the case. Oh, they say the ship had millions of guns etc., but it sure didn’t look like it in the movie.
If the TS is just gonna be used as a surprise attack weapon system to just pop up from nowhere, launch all it’s torps & then disappear, then it’s design as is, is understandable. otherwise, it’s silly..
The whole multi-role ships is what caused the empire to fall. They believed the star destroyer could do anything and this fault caused them to build a very vulnerable ship to Star fighters. If they had multiple one role ships that supported each other would have allowed the empire to win against the rebel alliance.
The torpedo sphere is a perfect example of a single role ship. Enemy starfighters should be taken care of before the torpedo sphere should arrive. If those fighters are taken care of the need for point defense cannons are non-existent.
That’s the whole problem mr. fractal FAN, the empire’s fighters get blown up most of the time & so do their ships, mostly the ones not armed properly. Btw, the Star destroyers were lousily armed as far as anti-fighter systems were concerned. To make matters worse, their targeting was even more lousy. That’s why they were useless & resulted in the Empire falling. Only Fractal’s versions of the Assertor, Bellator & a few others are comparatively better. You talking about the same empire in the Star Wars movies or some other empire? Facepalm..
Just stop and think. What was the torpedo spheres purpose? It was using overwhelming firepower on one point in the planetary shield and overloading it making it useless. Think of Coruscant(legends). The new republic had defenses around Coruscant. The torpedo sphere would be useless in a main battle, but after that main battle, there would be no starfighters to use those point defense weapons. That is when you bring in the torpedo sphere to do its job. It then destroys the shield to allow the empire to do what they want. Whether that is an invasion or a base delta zero bombardment is up to them.
I stopped & checked on your Torpedo Sphere at -https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Torpedo_Sphere/Legends – & I can see that your TS is used even as a combatant & not just as a pop up planetary shield siege platform. One character called Danetta Pitta even used it as his flagship & like all the other TSs, his was blown up by another ship or craft, in this particular case – being rammed into by an Executor class carrier. There’s another case where a cargo ship does the same to a TS. So, 1) your comments about it being solely used as a shield destroyer is just fumes. 2) If crafts like big ships can plow into it & blow it up, despite escorts, if at all there are any, a bunch of small & nimble fighters can easily get within firing range, release a few nukes & turn your sphere into a great fireworks show.. 3) The Empire characters are crazy. 4) A super laser equipped ship like the Assertor is better at knocking out planetary shields. The TS takes too long to find a weak spot in the shield & then launch it’s torps. In a realistic setting, a world capable of having a planetary shield would have enough ships & fighters to take out your TS by the time it figures out where to strike after detecting the weakest point of the shield..
I agree with some of your points, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Fractalsponge torpedo sphere has no point defense cannons. Ignore how the empire used its ships. I mean they used the ISD as their main ship against the rebels and it didn’t even have point defense cannons. The empire used almost everything they had the wrong way. Almost all of their designs sucked, or ones that didn’t suck were never widely used. The empire knew how the rebels operated and they still didn’t change their tactics.
This torpedo sphere is a perfect example. If you used a ship with overwhelming firepower that was designed to take down planetary shields against starfighters, you would be using the wrong tactics.
Judging by your username you are probably thinking of real world naval tactics. Real world battleships needed air defense guns because the ships could be attacked by aircraft while moving through the ocean. The Star Wars universe has hyperspace. You can’t be attacked while in hyperspace. The only time the torpedo sphere should move away from a dockyard is to attack a planetary shield.
The dockyard could be attacked by starfighters, but the planet should have a protective fleet with ships that have anti-starfighter weapons. The torpedo sphere should never be in a situation where it needs to defend itself. If it needs to defend itself you are using it wrong.
You seem to be all about nothing but smoke. Now you say ‘ignore how the empire used it’s ships’ just to support your empty comments.
Why the heck does the TS have to be used against starfighters? I commented it should have AA guns to defend itself from starfighters, that’ll most definitely come for it. Not have an array of AA guns to go chase after fighters.
Yes, I’m talking realistic tactics, not silly stuff. You comment like a TS just pops out from hyperspace, aims at some planetary shield & barfs out all it’s torps & scurry away back into hyperspace. Read how much time it takes to actually take out one in that link I showed. It takes some time & by the time it scans the shield’s weakness, locates the weak spot, program & prime it’s torps etc., the enemy will already be sending ships & fighters to whack it out…realistically.
Like I commented previously, if your TS should never be in such a situation, it should be used as a cruise ship or something & not as a warship & end up the way all of them ended being blown up..
The Torpedo Sphere doesnt need point defence lasers for the same reason the ISD II doesnt. It is not its job to fight starfighters and the reasoning is that no starfighter pilot is crazy/suicidal enough to attack one.
The torpedoes can technically still be used against starfighters, but it is akin to blowing up a tank with a nuclear missile… Sure, you’d destroy the tank in one hit but it is overkill.
The imperial star destroyer should have point defense lasers. If the empire used them the same way, but if the ISD hade point defense lasers the rebels might not have won the war.
A case can be made that it does have point defence lasers – in all the scenes in TESB where it’s shooting at the Falcon the lasers are coming from the hull rather than the big flank batteries – and that the EU’s concept of it not having them, contradicted what we actually saw.
Which is probably why Fractalsponge ignored what the EU said, and gave it plenty of them.
Those easily could have been overwhelming turbolaser fire. The ISD in canon does have turbolasers on the hull. It has almost 60 of them. If you play Star Wars squadrons, you can get close to the star destroyer and see turbolaser turrets. I say they are light to medium turbolasers, but they are still turbolasers
Fractal’s own preferred point defence weapon consists of a light turbolaser and a “regular laser” side by side in one turret. That’s what his version of the Lancer – an anti-starfighter ship, is covered in – its primary armament, as well as some quad lasers – and that’s what his bigger warships, including the ISD II, use as anti-starfighter weapons.
Will he put any “anti-starfighter guns” of this kind on the Torpedo sphere? I don’t know, but I think it’s plausible that he will.
Considering that the entire “Fractal-Standard PD” turret assembly is around the size of TIE fighter, I think a case could be made that hull of most warships can be frivoulously littered with even smaller PD guns close to those fighters themselves use, and they would be indistingisheable at even the level of detail Fractal operates at..
And since power demand-wise PD is almost an afterthough I see no reason why wouldn’t the Empire mount some on the Sphere. Hoping the lack of it is due to model being WIP.
“Suicidal” is a pretty light way to put the act of challenging a Torpedo Sphere with a fighter. Consider the blast radius of 4k+ capital-grade Proton Torpedoes detonating simultaneously, plus the sizable reactor going critical; everything within about 20 miles would get vaporized.
In real life, nuclear weapons are designed in such a way that if you detonate an explosive next to them, the nuclear warhead itself will not explode and will instead be rendered a dud. The only way to set off the warhead is to purposely detonate it the way it’s supposed to. Wookieepedia’s Proton Torpedo page suggests that a shaped nuclear charge might be the closest real-life approximation to a proton torpedo.
So – suppose some Y-Wing and X-Wing squadrons successfully slip through the Lancer frigates guarding the Torpedo Sphere, use ion torpedoes to bring down its shields, and successfully hit one of the torpedo silos – what happens? Does the explosion of the silo cause every silo to go up and every warhead to go off? Or is the damage much more confined?
I suppose that depends on the specific payload of the silos in question (there’s no way that they can’t field different types of torpedo in these things, like oversized Seismic Charges), and whether the officer in charge remembers to arm his ordinance remotely, after they’ve left the Torpedo Sphere.
I’m going to assume the Rebel Pilots are aiming at the Torpedo Sphere before it unloads its payload. There’s no real purpose to doing it afterwards, y’know?
Consequently, it depends purely on luck and competence.
I’d refrain from equating nukes to SW warheads of any kind tbh.
As for damage it might cause – I see pessemistic and optimistic variants (though they might be in reverse depending on one’s PoV):
Assuming warhead’s rupture/heating past certain point can initiate its intended effect and if it’s already within confines of the silo “rack”, there’s not much hope for it venting outward, or I should say overwhelming majority of blast’s energy will be vented but considering explosions we’re talking here whatever goes into neighboring silos will be ruinous for the ship. And that before assuming damage spreading to the reactor powering those 720s (I think)…
Alternative is that damage to warhead renders it inert and you may or may not have problems with it’s propellant objecting to being shot at but either way, I fully believe in internal shielding/bulkhead/tensor’s ability to withstand the blast in these conditions.
In the latter case, there’s also a question of how much to bending and twisting can “ring” withstand before becoming dangerous to operate, but that I can’t tell you.
Baradium’s description in Legends makes it sound pretty “SW-nuke” ish – “Baradium fission device” , “Depleted baradium slugs” – and proton torpedoes have a baradium main charge, with a proton detonator.
“And that before assuming damage spreading to the reactor powering those 720s (I think)”
They’re the same weapon that’s on Fractalsponge’s version of the Golan, and on Fractalsponge’s version of the Inexpugnable. The Inexpugnable had 10 turrets (20 barrels) and according to one of his posts on SD.net, a 20-30 petaton max alpha strike, making the bolt strength between 1000 and 1500 teratons.
Alternative way to look at it, is that for an investment of fighter package you inflict an order of magnitude costlier loss of a station + ships assigned to stations nearby (though considering their failure to prevent the strike that might not be that big of a loss if not for the metal – ed.) + non-monetary value of throwing a wrench into an ongoing siege campaign.
Can’t edit the comment, but that second time I wrote “stations” should’ve been “positions”.
solar
2 years ago
This already looks incredible
Grand Admiral Flan
2 years ago
Such strong Trade Federation vibes. I can see this thing doing far more than just battering down planetary shields. Just send in a small scout ship that establishes firing solutions on an entire fleet, then big daddy drops out of hyperspace and annihilates the fleet with a hail of torpedos.
Anonymous
2 years ago
After a bit of counting, I get a minimum of 61 blocks of 12 torpedoes in each of the 6 rings. That would be 4392 launchers total.
You’ve outdone yourself; this is beautiful. I hope we can see this on the big screen someday.
MUH. GAWD. BEAUTIFUL. I’ve seen so many iterations of the Torpedo Sphere done in mods, or fan art, but this is the best I’ve seen yet. This is the first one I’ve seen that actually fits with the Tarkin doctrine, IMO. It just looks so menacing.
Fractal if you ever see this I just want to say good work and keep it up it’s always entertaining to this amazing work.
This thing is so cinematic and horrifying. It makes me wish we got a decent plot arc about one in an EU novel rather than just background material.
Wouldn’t it have been awesome if for the sequels (Episode 7, 8, 9) we got this along with the Imperial Remnant and how they were using a series of these to take back worlds once in the Empire but not under control of the New Republic??
I find the lack of anti fighter guns on each of those rings rather disturbing… Would be better if there were twin turrets at the 10, 12 & 2 o’clock positions, both at the top & bottom of each ring, with the missile belt running between them. Otherwise, those rings would be juicy targets for enemy fighters. Btw, is the front of the ship gonna be like some Death star type super laser system & is the ship 2 kms long? Fabulous 3d art work as usual though..
The point of the torpedo sphere was to overwhelm a planetary shield generator and eventually take it down. It is not being used against starfighters. Point-defense lasers won’t do anything against planetary shields.
Agreed. If enemy fighters are a problem, someone has messed up very badly.
A fighter when a torpedo sphere is deployed shouldn’t get close even with the fact that it has limited anti-fighter weapons it is usually supported by something that can do that job.
Did I mention anything about the torpedoes being used against fighters? I’m talking about fighters targetting the dang rings that don’t appear to have any anti-fighter guns for protection. Meaning guns for shooting down attacking fighters coming against the sphere, not guns for shooting at planetary shields.
Those are capital ship torpedo launchers. The torpedo would still not be used against starfighters. That would be a waste of a super powerful torpedo against a small starfighter. If you are so concerned, have some lancers escort the sphere. But still, the torpedo should not be in a fight in which starfighters are a huge problem.
We didn’t mention torpedoes being used against fighters either.
What we were saying is that if the enemy still have fighters with which to threaten a torpedo sphere, the sphere should not be there yet. If enemy reinforcements arrive with fighters to threaten the torpedo sphere, there should be enough layers of fleet between the enemy and the sphere that the sphere is either under no real threat, or is able to flee before the enemy can get to it.
It does not need point defences because it should not be deployed in any situation where their use might conceivably be required.
“It does not need point defences because it should not be deployed in any situation where their use might conceivably be required.”
The same can be said of a lot of other things (the Mandator IV, the Tyrant, the Death Star, etc) but they still have point defence weaponry, even if it’s often very bad. It would be in-character for the Empire to put at least some point defence weaponry on this ship.
The Mandator IV was designed and produced by a successor state to the Empire which had learned some lessons from the Empire’s mistakes. Lessons such as ‘yes it does need point defences. I don’t care how it’s supposed to be used, commanders never read the technical manual, and the enemy always gets some fighters through.’ So it would make sense that they might learn that lesson from the loss of 1 or more Torpedo Spheres to fighter strikes during the GCW.
The Tyrant is a second line warship designed to be deployed in fleet battles where there is always a danger of enemy fighters getting through. It is meant to be where the enemy still has fighters, the TS isn’t.
The DS1 was designed to be the ultimate weapon in the galaxy; a bristling fortress of unkillability. It had lots of point defences because it had lots of everything (including drydock space for decently sized warships).
The TS, by contrast, is a streamlined, hyperspecialised platform meant to do 1 thing very well and avoid circumstances where it might have to try to do anything else. Adding point defences would have complicated the design and increased the difficulty of construction and maintenance. It was simply cheaper and easier to assume that commanders would use it how it was intended.
It’s also very realistic to real world military history that a shipyard would design something that fit the brief they were given, but which was riddled with flaws and cripplingly overspecialised. Some of the flaws might be ironed out in later versions, others would simply be dealt with by adjusting the escort fleet or telling commanders to stop using them for what they’re not meant for.
Fractal’s shown that he has no problem ignoring Legendsverse data if he thinks it’s silly. Legends said that all the point defence weaponry on the ISD-I was removed for the ISD-II – but Fractal’s ISD-II has a full suite of point defence weaponry, and his ISD-I, so far, does not seem to have vastly more point defence weaponry than his ISD-II.
The real question is – would he regard “Torpedo sphere has no point defence weapons, only heavy turbolasers and torpedoes” as silly, and to be retconned, or as a sensible consequence of its role as a siege weapon?
Again, the torpedo sphere doesn’t need point defense lasers. If it does they should not ever be in a scenario in which they need to be used.
In that case, may be it should be used as some intergalactic holiday cruise ship or something, away from any conflict. It’s ludicrous to think this won’t be targeted by enemy fighters or other craft. Even if this were escorted by other ships, those ships themselves will be busy with the enemy attack & considering the super efficient way the empire’s ships fight, several of the enemy fighters or missiles will definitely get through & turn this sphere into some titanic fireworks..
I hope you are joking.
I hope you at least get a picture of a light bulb in the top floor..
Fractal-Fan is literally telling you that not every ship needs to have an all around, do everything, swiss army knife defense. In the case of your proposed issue with fighters, thats why you have a series of fleet vessels, specifically anti-fighter cruisers in which protect the valueable asset like this. Again something like a Lancer-Class Frigate or even more add in some Gladiators or Ton-Faulk or Quasar Carriers along with the Lancer to provide fighter on fighter escort of the Torpedo Sphere.
Usecase be damned, if it goes in theater you need Anti Small Craft Suite lest your LCT(R) stand in will meet SS John Burke’s fate.
Have you seen how the CVBGs operate? There are several ships escorting the carrier to protect it in addition to the carrier’s own fighters. Yet, the carriers don’t go around silly defenseless. They have 2 x 8 cell & 2 x 21 cell anti-air missile launchers with several reloads & 2-3 CIWS gun systems along with a bunch of machine guns to take care of business. It’s a simple matter of commonsense. 1 fighter was all it took to send the oversized carrier called the Executor crashing. If it were armed properly with weapons like the Assertor, instead of having a cityscape with a few guns, that wouldn’t have been the case. Oh, they say the ship had millions of guns etc., but it sure didn’t look like it in the movie.
If the TS is just gonna be used as a surprise attack weapon system to just pop up from nowhere, launch all it’s torps & then disappear, then it’s design as is, is understandable. otherwise, it’s silly..
The whole multi-role ships is what caused the empire to fall. They believed the star destroyer could do anything and this fault caused them to build a very vulnerable ship to Star fighters. If they had multiple one role ships that supported each other would have allowed the empire to win against the rebel alliance.
The torpedo sphere is a perfect example of a single role ship. Enemy starfighters should be taken care of before the torpedo sphere should arrive. If those fighters are taken care of the need for point defense cannons are non-existent.
That’s the whole problem mr. fractal FAN, the empire’s fighters get blown up most of the time & so do their ships, mostly the ones not armed properly. Btw, the Star destroyers were lousily armed as far as anti-fighter systems were concerned. To make matters worse, their targeting was even more lousy. That’s why they were useless & resulted in the Empire falling. Only Fractal’s versions of the Assertor, Bellator & a few others are comparatively better. You talking about the same empire in the Star Wars movies or some other empire? Facepalm..
Just stop and think. What was the torpedo spheres purpose? It was using overwhelming firepower on one point in the planetary shield and overloading it making it useless. Think of Coruscant(legends). The new republic had defenses around Coruscant. The torpedo sphere would be useless in a main battle, but after that main battle, there would be no starfighters to use those point defense weapons. That is when you bring in the torpedo sphere to do its job. It then destroys the shield to allow the empire to do what they want. Whether that is an invasion or a base delta zero bombardment is up to them.
I stopped & checked on your Torpedo Sphere at -https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Torpedo_Sphere/Legends – & I can see that your TS is used even as a combatant & not just as a pop up planetary shield siege platform. One character called Danetta Pitta even used it as his flagship & like all the other TSs, his was blown up by another ship or craft, in this particular case – being rammed into by an Executor class carrier. There’s another case where a cargo ship does the same to a TS. So, 1) your comments about it being solely used as a shield destroyer is just fumes. 2) If crafts like big ships can plow into it & blow it up, despite escorts, if at all there are any, a bunch of small & nimble fighters can easily get within firing range, release a few nukes & turn your sphere into a great fireworks show.. 3) The Empire characters are crazy. 4) A super laser equipped ship like the Assertor is better at knocking out planetary shields. The TS takes too long to find a weak spot in the shield & then launch it’s torps. In a realistic setting, a world capable of having a planetary shield would have enough ships & fighters to take out your TS by the time it figures out where to strike after detecting the weakest point of the shield..
I agree with some of your points, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Fractalsponge torpedo sphere has no point defense cannons. Ignore how the empire used its ships. I mean they used the ISD as their main ship against the rebels and it didn’t even have point defense cannons. The empire used almost everything they had the wrong way. Almost all of their designs sucked, or ones that didn’t suck were never widely used. The empire knew how the rebels operated and they still didn’t change their tactics.
This torpedo sphere is a perfect example. If you used a ship with overwhelming firepower that was designed to take down planetary shields against starfighters, you would be using the wrong tactics.
Judging by your username you are probably thinking of real world naval tactics. Real world battleships needed air defense guns because the ships could be attacked by aircraft while moving through the ocean. The Star Wars universe has hyperspace. You can’t be attacked while in hyperspace. The only time the torpedo sphere should move away from a dockyard is to attack a planetary shield.
The dockyard could be attacked by starfighters, but the planet should have a protective fleet with ships that have anti-starfighter weapons. The torpedo sphere should never be in a situation where it needs to defend itself. If it needs to defend itself you are using it wrong.
You seem to be all about nothing but smoke. Now you say ‘ignore how the empire used it’s ships’ just to support your empty comments.
Why the heck does the TS have to be used against starfighters? I commented it should have AA guns to defend itself from starfighters, that’ll most definitely come for it. Not have an array of AA guns to go chase after fighters.
Yes, I’m talking realistic tactics, not silly stuff. You comment like a TS just pops out from hyperspace, aims at some planetary shield & barfs out all it’s torps & scurry away back into hyperspace. Read how much time it takes to actually take out one in that link I showed. It takes some time & by the time it scans the shield’s weakness, locates the weak spot, program & prime it’s torps etc., the enemy will already be sending ships & fighters to whack it out…realistically.
Like I commented previously, if your TS should never be in such a situation, it should be used as a cruise ship or something & not as a warship & end up the way all of them ended being blown up..
The Torpedo Sphere doesnt need point defence lasers for the same reason the ISD II doesnt. It is not its job to fight starfighters and the reasoning is that no starfighter pilot is crazy/suicidal enough to attack one.
The torpedoes can technically still be used against starfighters, but it is akin to blowing up a tank with a nuclear missile… Sure, you’d destroy the tank in one hit but it is overkill.
The imperial star destroyer should have point defense lasers. If the empire used them the same way, but if the ISD hade point defense lasers the rebels might not have won the war.
A case can be made that it does have point defence lasers – in all the scenes in TESB where it’s shooting at the Falcon the lasers are coming from the hull rather than the big flank batteries – and that the EU’s concept of it not having them, contradicted what we actually saw.
Which is probably why Fractalsponge ignored what the EU said, and gave it plenty of them.
Those easily could have been overwhelming turbolaser fire. The ISD in canon does have turbolasers on the hull. It has almost 60 of them. If you play Star Wars squadrons, you can get close to the star destroyer and see turbolaser turrets. I say they are light to medium turbolasers, but they are still turbolasers
Fractal’s own preferred point defence weapon consists of a light turbolaser and a “regular laser” side by side in one turret. That’s what his version of the Lancer – an anti-starfighter ship, is covered in – its primary armament, as well as some quad lasers – and that’s what his bigger warships, including the ISD II, use as anti-starfighter weapons.
Will he put any “anti-starfighter guns” of this kind on the Torpedo sphere? I don’t know, but I think it’s plausible that he will.
Considering that the entire “Fractal-Standard PD” turret assembly is around the size of TIE fighter, I think a case could be made that hull of most warships can be frivoulously littered with even smaller PD guns close to those fighters themselves use, and they would be indistingisheable at even the level of detail Fractal operates at..
And since power demand-wise PD is almost an afterthough I see no reason why wouldn’t the Empire mount some on the Sphere. Hoping the lack of it is due to model being WIP.
“Suicidal” is a pretty light way to put the act of challenging a Torpedo Sphere with a fighter. Consider the blast radius of 4k+ capital-grade Proton Torpedoes detonating simultaneously, plus the sizable reactor going critical; everything within about 20 miles would get vaporized.
In real life, nuclear weapons are designed in such a way that if you detonate an explosive next to them, the nuclear warhead itself will not explode and will instead be rendered a dud. The only way to set off the warhead is to purposely detonate it the way it’s supposed to. Wookieepedia’s Proton Torpedo page suggests that a shaped nuclear charge might be the closest real-life approximation to a proton torpedo.
So – suppose some Y-Wing and X-Wing squadrons successfully slip through the Lancer frigates guarding the Torpedo Sphere, use ion torpedoes to bring down its shields, and successfully hit one of the torpedo silos – what happens? Does the explosion of the silo cause every silo to go up and every warhead to go off? Or is the damage much more confined?
I suppose that depends on the specific payload of the silos in question (there’s no way that they can’t field different types of torpedo in these things, like oversized Seismic Charges), and whether the officer in charge remembers to arm his ordinance remotely, after they’ve left the Torpedo Sphere.
I’m going to assume the Rebel Pilots are aiming at the Torpedo Sphere before it unloads its payload. There’s no real purpose to doing it afterwards, y’know?
Consequently, it depends purely on luck and competence.
I’d refrain from equating nukes to SW warheads of any kind tbh.
As for damage it might cause – I see pessemistic and optimistic variants (though they might be in reverse depending on one’s PoV):
Assuming warhead’s rupture/heating past certain point can initiate its intended effect and if it’s already within confines of the silo “rack”, there’s not much hope for it venting outward, or I should say overwhelming majority of blast’s energy will be vented but considering explosions we’re talking here whatever goes into neighboring silos will be ruinous for the ship. And that before assuming damage spreading to the reactor powering those 720s (I think)…
Alternative is that damage to warhead renders it inert and you may or may not have problems with it’s propellant objecting to being shot at but either way, I fully believe in internal shielding/bulkhead/tensor’s ability to withstand the blast in these conditions.
In the latter case, there’s also a question of how much to bending and twisting can “ring” withstand before becoming dangerous to operate, but that I can’t tell you.
Baradium’s description in Legends makes it sound pretty “SW-nuke” ish – “Baradium fission device” , “Depleted baradium slugs” – and proton torpedoes have a baradium main charge, with a proton detonator.
“And that before assuming damage spreading to the reactor powering those 720s (I think)”
They’re the same weapon that’s on Fractalsponge’s version of the Golan, and on Fractalsponge’s version of the Inexpugnable. The Inexpugnable had 10 turrets (20 barrels) and according to one of his posts on SD.net, a 20-30 petaton max alpha strike, making the bolt strength between 1000 and 1500 teratons.
Alternative way to look at it, is that for an investment of fighter package you inflict an order of magnitude costlier loss of a station + ships assigned to stations nearby (though considering their failure to prevent the strike that might not be that big of a loss if not for the metal – ed.) + non-monetary value of throwing a wrench into an ongoing siege campaign.
Can’t edit the comment, but that second time I wrote “stations” should’ve been “positions”.
This already looks incredible
Such strong Trade Federation vibes. I can see this thing doing far more than just battering down planetary shields. Just send in a small scout ship that establishes firing solutions on an entire fleet, then big daddy drops out of hyperspace and annihilates the fleet with a hail of torpedos.
After a bit of counting, I get a minimum of 61 blocks of 12 torpedoes in each of the 6 rings. That would be 4392 launchers total.
I agree with these numbers. 12 launchers per group, 61 groups per ring, 6 rings. 4,392 launchers
Almost 55 victory class destroyers. Impressive most impressive.