Like before I will be picking out interesting quotes when it comes to quantifying tactics, strategies, firepower - basically everything and anything that could impact a versus debate in any fashion at all. And if I'm able, I'll perform whatever calculations are needed to quantify the incident being quoted. Though anyone reading this is of course welcome to give their own input on the matter, and doubtlessly there will be more then just a few things I can't quantify myself.
In any case, let's get on with it.
Chapter 1
Well, we're off to a good start and there’s already a ton of things that should be quoted. Chapter 1 is basically about a Jedi called Shryne and his assault on CIS controlled planet called Murkhana.
The CIS seems to be using local weather stations to make a planetary landing by gunships harder. The revelation that there are stations that can control the weather might also be worth noting, though it's not exactly important.Dropping into swirling clouds conjured by Murkhana's weather stations, Roan Shryne was reminded of meditation sessions his former Master had guided him through. No matter how fixed Shryne had been on touching the Force, his mind's eye had offered little more than an eddying whiteness.
This is quoted just to elaborate a little on how a planetary invasion (and defense) is conducted. Capital ships arrive in orbit (though at this point there seems to just be one of them), then sends down gunships to prepare the way for the Capital ship to actually land on the surface.He was standing closest to the sliding door that normally sealed the troop bay of a Republic gunship, launched moments earlier from the forward hold of the Gallant-a Victory-class Star Destroyer, harried by vulture and droid tri-fighters and awaiting High Command's word to commence its own descent through Murkhana's artificial ceiling. Beside and behind Shryne stood a platoon of clone troopers, helmets fitting snugly over their heads, blasters cradled in their arms, utility belts slung with ammo magazines, talking among themselves the way seasoned warriors often did before battle.
Seems odd to me that they would actually want to land something like a Victory-class Stardestroyer. What's the purpose of doing that? It's in-line with the movies where they land everything from Venators to Acclamators, of course. Still I'm somewhat miffed by why this is done. To unload large quantities of troops faster?
And I didn’t know that Victory-class stardestroyers were in service at the time of the clone wars.
Also notice that apparently an entire platoon of clone troopers is able to fit inside a gunship. The ICS seems to state that 30 soldiers constitute a platoon, so that fits with what modern armies use today. Of course the movies, as far as I remember, never had that amount of soldiers carried by the gunships.
What I also found funny was that fighters were able to harass a capital ship. The shields of something like that should be far above what the fighters should be able to penetrate. Though that statement is so vague that it’s not really worth pondering that much.
The CIS uses AA missiles to try to take down the Republic gunships, because there's some form of anti-laser aerosol in the atmosphere.The gunship's inertial compensators allowed them to stand in the bay without being jolted by flaring anti-aircraft explosions or jostled by the gunship pilots' evasive maneuvering through corkscrewing missiles and storms of white-hot shrapnel. Missiles, because the same Separatists who had manufactured the clouds had misted Murkhana's air with anti-laser aerosols.
That's... odd. I don't think I've ever heard of anything like this before. And it definitely raises some questions when it comes to the nature of laser weaponry in Star Wars.
Some information on the systems installed in the later models of clone trooper armor. Imaging systems (though what kind of imaging systems is so far not elaborated upon), air filters and earphones to dampen sound.Shryne felt that the clone troopers had a better view of the war than he had, and that the view had little to do with their helmet imaging systems, the filters that muted the sharp scent of the air, the earphones that dampened the sounds of explosions.
The bulk of the Jedi seem to still wander into war without armor or ranged weaponry. No surprise there, I guess. It's pretty much what we saw in ROTS. But some do argue that the majority of the Jedi have been wearing armor and blasters by the end of the war, so I guess it's worth quoting and acknowledging.Grown for warfare, they probably thought the Jedi were mad to go into battle as they did, attired in tunics and hooded robes, a lightsaber their only weapon.
Some elaboration on the tactic of using weather machines against aerial threats. Apparently it's something that's been used before."The Koorivar have done a good job with their weather machines," a speaker-enhanced voice said into his left ear. "Whipped up one brute of a sky. We used the same tactic on Paarin Minor. Drew the Seps into fabricated clouds and blew them to the back of beyond."
The gunships are designed to eject the pilots in case the gunships are hit. And the CIS AA missiles are heat-seekers.From the nose of one gunship flew a bang-out capsule that carried the pilot and copilot to within meters of the water before it was ripped open by a resolute heat seeker.
Ah, numbers. Some 50 gunships being sent down, if they’re holding the maximum stated number of clones (according to the ICS, in any case) we’d be talking about around 1,500 soldiers in total.In one of the fifty-odd gunships that were racing down the well, three other Jedi were going into battle, Master Saras Loorne among them. Stretching out with the Force, Shryne found them, faint echoes confirming that all three were still alive.
Seems odd that this many Jedi would be accompanying such a small force of clone troopers though.
The CIS further deploy Mankwim fighters (I have no idea what these are, presumably some local sort of fighter) to fend off the Gunships.He clamped his right hand on one of the slide door's view slots as the pilots threw their unwieldy charge into a hard bank, narrowly evading a pair of hailfire missiles. Gunners ensconced in the gunship's armature-mounted turrets opened up with blasters as flights of Mankvim Interceptors swarmed up to engage the Republic force. The anti-laser aerosols scattered the blaster beams, but dozens of the Separatist craft succumbed to missiles spewed from the gunships' top-mounted mass-drive launchers.
There's also some elaboration on just what the anti-laser aerosols do, apparently they scatter the blaster beams, I'm assuming this refers to the ball turrets that fired the green beams in the movies. Though I think it's safe to say it also scatters the normal kind of blaster bolts.
An interesting way to cripple an incoming attack-force. Though the guships compensate by using their own missiles to take down the incoming fighters. Also interesting to note that they are apparently fired by mass-drivers.
Ah, something which you can use to gauge capital ship firepower with. A bombardment is, according to Shryne, capable of vaporizing an entire city. Though the duration of this bombardment isn't elaborated upon. I believe something similar was said in the ROTS novelization, though I’m not sure on that point."High Command should have granted our request to bombard from orbit," Salvo said in an amplified voice.
"The idea is to take the city, Commander, not vaporize it," Shryne said loudly. Murkhana had already been granted weeks to surrender, but the Republic ultimatum had expired. "Palpatine's policy for winning the hearts and minds of Separatist populations might not make good military sense, but it makes good political sense."
In any case, modern city-killers are in the high triple-digit kiloton or single digit megaton range. So that can be used as a minimum when it comes to the total energy delivered to the city during such a bombardment. Of course, when he says vaporize, he could mean a whole lot more.