Is there a shield over coruscant?

[Mike DiCenso]

l33telboi, can you get a specific citation for that event? If so, how many asteroids and of what size did it take for the Vong to eventually bring down Coruscant's shields?

Not sure which novel it's in, or where to look for it. But if anyone else knows, then I probably could look it up and quote.

Ah. If you do find it, it would be great if it is detailed enough to give specifics on the asteroids's size and composition as well as their velocity when they are slammed into Coruscant's shield, and that means we can get good estimates on it's capacity limits, at least where KE is concerned.
-Mike

[Mike DiCenso]

Arguably, one could say that numerous planetary shields were installed on Corsucant after the events of ROTS, to avoid anymore mess like that.

I think I've heard that as one of the EU completist reasons why there is no obvious planetary shield over Coruscant and Naboo in TPM and RoTS, but at least one over Coruscant by the time of the Heir to the Empire trilogy.
-Mike

[Flectarn]

It does make sense, particularly given that there had been a thousand years of peace prior to the clone wars... of course I would have installed my shields during the beginning of my massive civil war rather then after it ended and I'd established myself as supreme ruler of the galaxy

[Mike DiCenso]

Star Wars - Episode VI:

• Endor was not protected by a planetary shield. The novel as well as the movie are showing, that the shield was projected from the moon, encompassing the Death Star but not the moon itself.

The novel and the film disagree. The novel says that the shield protected both the battle station and the moon, as per a hologram. The film disagrees.

Later on in the book, Ackbar looks at the same shield on a screen in his ship, and as the shield generator is destroyed, the book says that both moon and station were rendered defenseless. That said, considering the previous clash of evidence during the holo briefing, it is obvious that the novel would still argue for a full protection later on, nevermind if it was wrong the first time.

Actually, technically the book and movie are in agreement to an extent about that: Part of the moon, around the Imperial base there, was protected, at least enough that the shield had to be lowered to allow incoming traffic in.

But as you have pointed out, the hologram as seen in the movie makes it clear that the shield did not cover the entire Endor moon, just a relatively small portion of it. The shield as shown in the hologram is very small at the projection point, perhaps some 40 km in radius, projecting upward into a lightbulb-shaped form around the DS2.

The rest of the moon is well, unprotected.

Like TESB, where the Imperial forces could have bombarded another part of Hoth to disrupt or utterly destroy the Rebel base with shockwaves and crustal disruption, if the weapons were really modertate to high gigaton range in power. The same is true in RoTJ, only in this case could not a Rebel capital ship have fired down at an unprotected portion of the moon and let the resulting shockwaves and crustal disruption destroy the shield generator and Imperial base on Endor?
-Mike

[2046]

of course I would have installed my shields during the beginning of my massive civil war rather then after it ended and I'd established myself as supreme ruler of the galaxy

But that would make sense. Star Wars cannot be permitted to make sense so long as it has to be wanked to include things unseen in the film.

Seriously, this excuse is on par with, say, Washington having no air defenses and continuing to not have them three years into World War II.

Even worse, we know of no reason why hyperdrive-equipped ships can't pop up pretty much anywhere with no advance warning, at least in the Star Wars galaxy. So instead of Washington, which at least had certain handy natural barriers of great distance plus the limited range of WW2 aircraft, the situation we're faced with is more like thinking London had no air defenses.

It's absurd on its very face. But of course, that won't stop the faithful.

[Who is like God arbour]

There are two descriptions of the shield in the novel Star Wars - Episode VI:

• page 4 and 5:
  • In the control room of the Death Star below, operators moved along the bank of panels, monitoring all the space traffic in the area, authorizing flight patterns, accessing certain areas to certain vehicles. The shield operator suddenly checked his monitor with alarm; the view-screen depicted the battle station itself, the moon Endor, and a web of energy—the deflector shield—emanating from the green moon, encompassing the Death Star.
  page 85:
  • At the center of the briefing room was a large, circular light-table, projected above which a holographic image of the unfinished Imperial Death Star hovered beside the Moon of Endor, whose scintillating protective deflector shield encompassed them both.

And there is the piece, Mr. Oragahn has mentioned

• page 200:
  • A captain ran up to Admiral Ackbar, his voice tremulous. “Sir, the shield around the Death Star has lost its power.”
    Ackbar looked at the view-screen; the electronically generated web was gone. The moon, and the Death Star, now floated in black, empty, unprotected space.
    “They did it,” Ackbar whispered.

The first quote describes a shield, that is only encompassing the Death Star.

The second quote, that describes the hologram of the Death Star is contradicted by the movie.

• • • 
      
      • That graphic is from ST-V-SW.Net

And the piece, Mr. Oragahn has mentioned, is speaking also only of a previous shield around the Death Star. The captain has not said the shield "around the Death Star and the Moon" or only "the shield". He has only spoken from a shield around the Death Star. One could interpret the next part as if there was a shield around the moon or at least above a part of the moon.
But at least the first interpretation would be contradicted by the higher ranking movie. The second alternative is possible and plausible.

The EU actually says, in some Imperial book I think, that planetary shields don't mean shields which protect the whole planet, but shields projected from the ground. They include theater shields.

What I have heard from most pro Star Wars debatters is, that planetary shields are encompassing a whole planet.

• • "My Lord, the fleet has moved out of light-speed. Comm-Scan has detected an energy field protecting an area of the sixth planet of the Hoth system. The field is strong enough to deflect any bombardment"- General Veers, TESB. Planetary energy shields were used in TESB and ROTJ, but the Rebels' primitive Hoth energy shield was not at all similar to the sophisticated planetary energy shield in ROTJ which could prevent any and all ground attacks (unlike the Hoth shield), while simultaneously protecting the orbiting DS2. The Hoth energy shield essentially formed a "canopy" which ground forces could penetrate easily, while the Endor energy shield completely encircled the Endor moon as well as the DS2, leaving no openings through which to launch a ground assault.
    
    The Rebels' primitive Hoth energy shield was therefore capable of withstanding the full bombardment of 5 ISD's and 1 SSD, carrying an order of magnitude more firepower than a Base-Delta-Zero operation would require, indefinitely (in other words, >5 billion TW). Most significantly, this energy shield paled in comparison to the massive planetary energy shields erected at well-defended planets like the Endor sanctuary moon, Coruscant, and Byss (among others). This is one of the primary reasons that our strategists valued the Death Star, and why we built a second Death Star even after the first one was destroyed in the disastrous Battle of Yavin. Only truly massive firepower can penetrate the sophisticated planetary energy shields used in the Star Wars galaxy. As far back as the Clone Wars, planetary energy shields had the capability to resist Base-Delta-Zero firepower; the surface of Caamas was "burned off" in a Base-Delta-Zero operation just after the Clone Wars, long before the events depicted in ANH. No one survived (the only Caamasi survivors were off-world at the time, thus indicating the speed of a Base-Delta-Zero operation), but the planet was immune to attack until Bothan spies disabled the planet's shield generators (ref. Spectre of the Past). The Caamas incident demonstrates the speed and lethality of Base-Delta-Zero operations; no one was able to evacuate from the planet, and its surface was so completely destroyed that it was still uninhabitable decades later. It also demonstrates the effectiveness of planetary energy shields; if the planet's energy shields had not been disabled by Bothan operatives, Caamas would have been invulnerable to the massive firepower necessary to cause this destruction.
    
    Luckily, the Federation does not possess the technology to create powerful planetary energy shields, and are limited to partial-shields which only prevent matter-energy transportation. This allows us to bombard their planetary populations at will even with very small starship groups. Some cultists dispute the fact that they lack planetary shielding technology, but no Federation planet has ever been demonstrated to be capable of surviving orbital bombardment without assistance from starships. In Way of the Warrior, it was stated that the Klingons were "fortifying their positions and deploying orbital defense systems", perhaps similar to the orbital defense systems used by the Dominion in their defensive stand against fleets of Federation and Klingon warships. If they possessed the ability to build planetary shields capable of withstanding massive orbital bombardments, flimsy orbital defense systems would be unnecessary.
    

    • • 
        • That graphic is from StarDestroyer.Net
        The powerful planetary shield generator on the Endor moon
        
        
        • That graphic is from StarDestroyer.Net
        A type of inexpensive planetary shield generator known as the GenCore Series II

    A planetary shield was a large scale deflector shield designed to protect an entire planet from bombardment, falling debris, or other hazards. The term planetary shield may also have been used for a large scale shield protecting a moon such as Nar Shaddaa.
    
    The first deflector shields were developed to protect individual starships against various space hazards including attacks from other ships. The technology was later adapted for use aboard space stations, but the shields remained best suited to repelling starfighters.
    
    Planetary shields could be scaled to cover bases, cities, or even entire planets. One of the two main types of planetary shields, encasing shields (like the second Death Star's), prohibited friendly fire from beneath the shield except through small gaps. Encasing shields could be curved to protect orbiting objects and seriously damaged the systems of craft that passed through them. The second type of planetary shield, a shutter shield, was more versatile in that segments could be moved to overlap others for increased defense, but shutter shields did less damage to craft passing through them and could not be oriented in a curve. The Rebel base on Hoth employed shutter shields. Both types of planetary shields fouled sensor scans.[1]
    
    Battlestations such as Torpedo Spheres or Death Stars were designed to penetrate planetary shields. When such weapons were unavailable, planetary shields were often sabotaged as a prelude to either conquest (as in the conquest of Mon Calamari), or an orbital bombardment (as in the destruction of Caamas or the Second Battle of Bothawui).

Apparently l33t has found a note, which would need to be verified since the nature of the source, that planetary shields were put on Coruscant after the events of ROTS.

As for Alderaan, in that thread we had there, we precisely saw that one of the sources clearly said there was no shield whatsoever on that planet, and that if it had been the case, the effects of the superlaser would have been considerably tamer.

It was said, that “The defense systems on Alderaan, despite the Senator’s protestations to the contrary, were as strong as any in the Empire. I should conclude that our demonstration was as impressive as it was thorough” (page 162). Yet a shield was not mentioned neither shown in the movie. There was also no explanation, why Alderaan has had no shield. Such an explanation would have been expected, if planetary shields were the rule for well defended planets. That it was not mentioned allows only the conclusion, that Alderaan has had no shields and that it is not the rule, that well defended Planets have planetary shields.

Therefore, even if Palpatine has placed shield generators all over Coruscant, it would still be an exception.

But the quote, l33telboi has provided, ...

• • Emperor Palpatine also began to shape Coruscant with his own designs, and this included the installment of thousands of surveillance systems throughout the ecumenopolis. Massive shield generators were placed all over Coruscant, and where the shield segments overlapped, powerful storms would brew. Although Coruscant had always been known for its high concentration of thunderstorms (due to rising vapor from the billions of buildings and homes), the increased frequency lent the planet a foreboding, almost gothic look, which mirrored the utter desperation of many of its inhabitants as they choked under Palpatine's iron rule. The Emperor also arranged for the Executor-class Star Dreadnought Lusankya to be buried beneath the Manarai Mountains district. Later, the massive battleship was used as a private prison by Director of Imperial Intelligence Ysanne Isard.

... seems to indicate, that these shields are merely overlapping theatre shields with a very low altitude.

[Mike DiCenso]

It does make sense, particularly given that there had been a thousand years of peace prior to the clone wars... of course I would have installed my shields during the beginning of my massive civil war rather then after it ended and I'd established myself as supreme ruler of the galaxy

Assuming, of course, that SW shielding technology really is up to the task of making planet-encompassing shields. There was a thread a while back that dwelved into how many Endor-class shields it would take to cover an Earth-sized planet. I'll have to see if I can find that again as there were a number of good calcs and schematic illustrations made for it.
-Mike

[Mike DiCenso]

Ah ha! I found it in the old Base Delta Zero thread with calculations from myself and Mr. Oragahn., which at the extremely generous upper limit requires 25 Endor class shields to cover an Earth-sized planet, and more realistically 2,304 Endor shields.
-Mike

[Mr. Oragahn]

The second quote, that describes the hologram of the Death Star is contradicted by the movie.

Some say that Endor's full shield was not shown on the hologram in the movie, because it was irrelevant.
Not only this explanation fails to acknowledge the simple discrepancy between both sources, but the shield around Endor would have been equally important, due to the point of landing on Endor.

And the piece, Mr. Oragahn has mentioned, is speaking also only of a previous shield around the Death Star. The captain has not said the shield "around the Death Star and the Moon" or only "the shield". He has only spoken from a shield around the Death Star. One could interpret the next part as if there was a shield around the moon or at least above a part of the moon.
But at least the first interpretation would be contradicted by the higher ranking movie. The second alternative is possible and plausible.

Yes, that's about it. The first interpretation is due to the formulation in the text, while it says that the state of defenses has changed, and then describes what's left, two unprotected objects, which some would understand that before the change, these elements were protected. Since the DSII was fully protected, in lack of clarification from the book to highlight the degree of protection between the moon and the station, one would assume the moon was fully shielded as well. Which is contradicted by the holo.

What I have heard from most pro Star Wars debatters is, that planetary shields are encompassing a whole planet.

Yes, that's what 99.9% of people say, but we actually had a quote, which was part of the other one I mentionned, coming from an EU source, possibly old, saying that most planetary shields cover a limited area.
The term planetary meaning that it's on a planet, in opposition to, say, "shipary" shield, mounted on a ship.
Barbaric term hurray.

The quotes were posted there in 2008, one clearly saying that there was no shield on Alderaan and that the reaction between a planetary scale shield and a superlaser would be greatly different than what we saw in the movie, and the other quote clearly says that planetary shields are theater shields. Which is actually proved by the existence of multiple generators on Coruscant, and other multiple generators on that Bothan planet in the Dark Force Rising books, attacked by three cloaked ISDs.

Of course, nowhere does it prove that most imperial planets had shields. The ANH wording clearly refutes that, pointing to the existence of weapons. Funny, actually, that the ROTS novel does reference a Coruscanti defense grid made of turbolaser batteries.

We know, however, that a single planetary shield generator, if powerful enough, can cover a significant area plus a whole battle station. But nothing says all generators would be as powerful as the one on Endor.

[Mr. Oragahn]

There's something I want to suggest. It's about that second picture from SDN. Instead of wondering why the Endor shield projector was a dish, the artist assumed for some reason that a planetary projector would bare a dish or something with a curved plate and an antenna.

I'd rather believe the Endor dish actually serving to shape the shield and push towards the Death Star. From there, the battle station's relays would drive the shield around itself. This would mean the station's projectors were ready, but not the generators.

[Mith]

Wow, Wong really shoving crap up his ass.

My Lord, the fleet has moved out of light-speed. Comm-Scan has detected an energy field protecting an area of the sixth planet of the Hoth system. The field is strong enough to deflect any bombardment"- General Veers, TESB. Planetary energy shields were used in TESB and ROTJ, but the Rebels' primitive Hoth energy shield was not at all similar to the sophisticated planetary energy shield in ROTJ which could prevent any and all ground attacks (unlike the Hoth shield), while simultaneously protecting the orbiting DS2. The Hoth energy shield essentially formed a "canopy" which ground forces could penetrate easily, while the Endor energy shield completely encircled the Endor moon as well as the DS2, leaving no openings through which to launch a ground assault.

...WHAT THE HELL?! That is absurd. There is no way you can create a barrier around a base, while ignoring the lower portions of the shield. Any genius could just angle a shot to fire through that hole. Even if one argues that the the lower portions would still deflect energy weapons, that's still a load of crap if you have 200GT weapons. One blast on the outer edge of the shield canopy would send a massive shockwave and debrie flying right into the base, tearing not only the base, but the very landscape to shreds as it moved along.

This claim is nothing more than absurd masturbation. Not to mention that with that kind of firepower, no one in their right mind would consider a asteroid field a life endangering threat.

The Rebels' primitive Hoth energy shield was therefore capable of withstanding the full bombardment of 5 ISD's and 1 SSD, carrying an order of magnitude more firepower than a Base-Delta-Zero operation would require, indefinitely (in other words, >5 billion TW).

Read above, such claims of firepower would have meant that anyone who had any grasp on military technology would have justs fired a volley of blasts around the shield bubble, kicking up more than enough damage in shockwaves and debrie to crush the rebellion then and there. And even if you argue about some kind of uber armor protecting the generator, then you could easily kill or cripple the tunnels they were living under (which had suffered collapses and other minor damage from the less than impressive battle above).

This claim is absurd.

Most significantly, this energy shield paled in comparison to the massive planetary energy shields erected at well-defended planets like the Endor sanctuary moon, Coruscant, and Byss (among others).

Ah yes, because we all saw shields on those planets...oh, hold the phone, all of those didn't have shielding, save for the last, which is from lesser canon!

This is one of the primary reasons that our strategists valued the Death Star,

Bull, the movie clearly indicated that the Death Star was a weapon of terror, not one used to act as a battle platform.

and why we built a second Death Star even after the first one was destroyed in the disastrous Battle of Yavin.

No, you see, if the Empire had any brains, they would have altered the design to fit more with that of a ISD, except much longer, and probably thinner. The entire ship would be deciated to shields and the main weapon, which would be used to penetrate the enemy shields. Furthermore, the output would be vastly reduced since there would be no reason to waste the extra energy to uneeded power. Merely by having a few escort ISDs, you could easily obliterate a planet without issue, simply because you have destroyed their planetary shield, and given that the most we see in the way of planetary defenses are *smirk* fighters, then there is no reason to believe that the Empire would need such a massive station. Hell, the fact is that the Empire should be in control of the planetary shielding, and even failing that, there shouldn't be a fleet large enough to stop on of their own invasion task forces. If the Empire had those "millions" of ships, and the Rebels had only those present in RotJ, then to even fear such a counter tactic to the one I placed above is absurd. Hell, even the lower five digit thouands of starships would laugh at that. And hell, these anti-shield ships means that you can build more, and have more of a chance to blast off that shield. Hell, even adding in a few extra petatons wouldn't hurt for the sake of crippling the planet.

Only truly massive firepower can penetrate the sophisticated planetary energy shields used in the Star Wars galaxy.

Really? Then again, I suppose mid level MT shielding would be fairly impressive compared to our own technology.

Luckily, the Federation does not possess the technology to create powerful planetary energy shields, and are limited to partial-shields which only prevent matter-energy transportation.

I suppose that would explain why the Enterprise 1701 was only able to penetrate this partial-shield cover that only prevents matter-energy transportation with its phasers on the other side of the planet?

This allows us to bombard their planetary populations at will even with very small starship groups. Some cultists dispute the fact that they lack planetary shielding technology, but no Federation planet has ever been demonstrated to be capable of surviving orbital bombardment without assistance from starships.

Yeah, because Earth was obliterated during the initial Breen attack on Earth, and the Enterprise 1701 had no trouble penetrating that shield to get to Kirk...oh that's right, Earth wasn't left a smoldering cinder of a world, and the Enterprise couldn't penetrate the planetary shielding of a planet dedicated to keep in nut jobs, save at one weakpoint.

Hey, pretty funny there. It apparently takes the noble right to be a capital/important world in order to get these uber shields (why doesn't the Empire just dismantle them?), but some planet where they keep crazies get this kind of protection? Damn, I'd sure hate to live in the SW world when I was told that.

Oh, and hey! It was mentioned in another episode that the Chancelor's building could easily take 12 photon torpedoes. Wow...all of that for just one building? I wonder what the Planetary shield would be able to hold back. Probably take a fleet. Like the Breen fleet that invaded earth.

In Way of the Warrior, it was stated that the Klingons were "fortifying their positions and deploying orbital defense systems", perhaps similar to the orbital defense systems used by the Dominion in their defensive stand against fleets of Federation and Klingon warships. If they possessed the ability to build planetary shields capable of withstanding massive orbital bombardments, flimsy orbital defense systems would be unnecessary.

Wow, Wong really has no idea how to protect a planet...does he? Only an arrogant dipshit would be so stupid as to believe that their planetary shield could withstand any bombardment, and so never invest in the idea of something to shoot back at the guys trying to kill you. That would be as smart as building a castle with really good walls, but then not even bothering to put up archers to ensure that the invaders start dying before you run out of supplies.

And yes, the Klingons were building more orbital defense units, and I'm sure the UFP has their own for their planet. Possibly akin to a space dock or station, which could fire back. Because you see Wong, unlike you, the Star Trek races believe in not letting a fleet of ships bombard your planet at their lesiure. It isn't even a matter of "lol, they never get through my shield" so much of it as "Hey, I'm not going to sit down and watch as a bunch of douchbags start blasting at my only defense from being sodomized".

Perhaps if Coruscant had some orbital weapons, or even ground mounted weapons to point at invading fleets, they wouldn't have lost their ruler so easily. Or if Naboo had anything defending her save for a few fighters.

[Trinoya]

I was playing an old game of mine the other day, Star Wars Rebellion. It's an excellent take on starwars, might I add. This was supposed to essentially represent the battle style of Star Wars. While being an older game (98) it is actually pretty innovative imho and frankly it holds what I've always believed SW shields to be.

Basically in the game planets have three four possible defenses. Shields, Ion Cannons, LNR Weapons (turbo lasers), and Death Star Shields (empire only).

No idiot in his right mind only builds on shield generator on his own planets. No, really, no idiot period. Not only can 9/10 small fleets still bomb your world into dust but they can INVADE your planet. The solution is to build at least two shields (and their upgraded versions later on). This always meant to me that the shield generators covered areas... and it was supported by the artwork to go with them (which showed shield generators within miles of each other).

Now I know these games are generally considered almost worthless, but I figured the Wong crew were such devotees to the EU that this game should get a special mention. My reason is because this game was an EU encyclopedia. I kid you not. From Talon to Thrawn to Adar to Vadar to Byss, Kessel, Dantooine, and more... There is something like 700 encyclopedia entries.

Like I said, I don't believe it to be a major point, but even the EU supports the idea of overlapping shield generators.

And on a side note: It doesn't take 1,000 ships or a death star to blow away the shields of a planet... it takes about 30 star destroyers...... even less if you have an admiral.

Anyway, check it out folks, if you get a chance to pick up a copy, it's my favorite take on starwars combat (in the general sense) yet... hell, it even had a full 3D space battle system... though I wouldn't use that as evidence... ever... for anything...

PS: And it totally kicks the ass of the most recent star war RTS.. honest.

[Mr. Oragahn]

Wow, Wong really shoving crap up his ass.

Easy boy.

My Lord, the fleet has moved out of light-speed. Comm-Scan has detected an energy field protecting an area of the sixth planet of the Hoth system. The field is strong enough to deflect any bombardment"- General Veers, TESB. Planetary energy shields were used in TESB and ROTJ, but the Rebels' primitive Hoth energy shield was not at all similar to the sophisticated planetary energy shield in ROTJ which could prevent any and all ground attacks (unlike the Hoth shield), while simultaneously protecting the orbiting DS2. The Hoth energy shield essentially formed a "canopy" which ground forces could penetrate easily, while the Endor energy shield completely encircled the Endor moon as well as the DS2, leaving no openings through which to launch a ground assault.

...WHAT THE HELL?! That is absurd. There is no way you can create a barrier around a base, while ignoring the lower portions of the shield.

More would than could. SW can shape shields in many different ways, they're like clay.
It would be a question of strategy influencing the design more than a limitation of the tech.
That said, I don't believe in the gap theory.
If anything, TPM has shown grounded mechanized units getting through the shields. Even more important, droidekas used repulsors to move around iirc, and yet they went through as well.

Any genius could just angle a shot to fire through that hole. Even if one argues that the the lower portions would still deflect energy weapons, that's still a load of crap if you have 200GT weapons. One blast on the outer edge of the shield canopy would send a massive shockwave and debrie flying right into the base, tearing not only the base, but the very landscape to shreds as it moved along.

The very fact that they both tried to destroy as many rebels as possible while capturing some of them like Luke, with Vader literally going down there, casts doubts on the idea that they could fire gigatons of energy. Imagine just even half a bolt, among those many fired en masse at the planet, getting through whatever is left of the shield...

This claim is nothing more than absurd masturbation. Not to mention that with that kind of firepower, no one in their right mind would consider a asteroid field a life endangering threat.

That is why they say the shields were lowered for long range holo communications.
Two problems with this.

1. I've seen the EU say holes can be formed in shields to let bolts pass through. This is possibly evidenced by the Hoth battle, the ion cannon firing and rebel ships sent away.
We also know that structures can stick out of shields. So how hard would it be to let tiny holes in a shield to get transmissions through, or have multiple antennas barely stick out of the shield for the communications?
The whole plausibility, for the EU, that the globes on an ISD are sensors and related to shields could actually explain how they mixed both precisely to control the shape of shields to allow long range comms.

2. Check the spoiler thread about future Clone Wars material in the review forum. You'll notice how asteroids will probably be a serious danger to the shields of state of the art capital ships.

The Rebels' primitive Hoth energy shield was therefore capable of withstanding the full bombardment of 5 ISD's and 1 SSD, carrying an order of magnitude more firepower than a Base-Delta-Zero operation would require, indefinitely (in other words, >5 billion TW).

It is not primitive by any margin. The mere fact that they had one, while many other nations or planets, notably Geonosis and Coruscant (and even Alderaan), seemed to lack one, disputes the primitive claim.
Besides, the EU does specify that planetary shields are called thusly not because they cover a whole planet, but because they're placed on the planet. Planetary shields are said to be theater shields, that is, covering a limited area, and only combinations of them covers a whole planet.

Only truly massive firepower can penetrate the sophisticated planetary energy shields used in the Star Wars galaxy.

Really? Then again, I suppose mid level MT shielding would be fairly impressive compared to our own technology.

One would remember that EU source saying that a superlaser heating a fully shielded planet would "only" boil its surface or so. Sure, massive firepower, but nowhere the massive figure they think.
Not to say that the superlaser is said to use some bizarre neutrino som'thing to actually pierce through the shield.

Oh, and hey! It was mentioned in another episode that the Chancelor's building could easily take 12 photon torpedoes. Wow...all of that for just one building? I wonder what the Planetary shield would be able to hold back. Probably take a fleet. Like the Breen fleet that invaded earth.

Wasn't it all the compound which was shielded?
Anyway, the Dominion had that heavily shielded asteroid which deflected UFP firepower. Dominion defenses needed to be tricked to fire at the asteroid.

Perhaps if Coruscant had some orbital weapons, or even ground mounted weapons to point at invading fleets, they wouldn't have lost their ruler so easily. Or if Naboo had anything defending her save for a few fighters.

The novelization states that Coruscant had a defense umbrella consisting of ground to space batteries.
The surface being peppered by debris from all places and all altitudes clearly negates the presence of a full shield coverage at that time.

[Flectarn]

Now I know these games are generally considered almost worthless, but I figured the Wong crew were such devotees to the EU that this game should get a special mention. My reason is because this game was an EU encyclopedia. I kid you not. From Talon to Thrawn to Adar to Vadar to Byss, Kessel, Dantooine, and more... There is something like 700 encyclopedia entries.

actuary Wong, et. al. seem to be much less fond of the EU then is generally thought (or at least then i'd previously thought)

http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic.php?t=125348

[Mr. Oragahn]

It's understandable. Many authors, a constant arrival of stories, not necessarily great arcs... what is there to tell, SW has always been about affairs and conflicts at the scale of the galaxy, influenced by a few individuals, you can't repeat that on and on.