I noticed that my husband was playing a Star Wars Arcade game at the mall today while we were window shopping for my Birthday. During the game, I noticed that he was in an X-Wing starfighter on a mission to destroy the Death Star Battlestation.

As he was playing and taking out TIE fighters, I noticed that he was also supposed to take out turbolaser batteries on Imperator-Class Star Destroyers. Personally, I am not a tactical genius when it comes to Star Wars. I am only here because I like to write, and all I could find on EzBoards for roleplaying was Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars.

Anyway, I guess the discussion I am looking to get started has to do with the fact that he was allowed to take out the batteries quite easily. In fact, all he had to do was fly over and shoot them and they exploded. If I am correct, Imperator-Class Star Destroyers have shields around them.

I've also noticed that in books Ships are destroyed relatively easily... just after two or three hits.

Do you think that's normal?

Games are dummied down a lot so they are fun for people to play. Especially the arcade games, where someone has to cough up anywhere from fifty cents to a dollar per play.

Swarming fighters are ideal for taking out weapon emplacements, but it's going to take a lot more than one or two shots to take out a whole ISD.

I didn't mean one or two shots in a starfighter. I ment one or two shots from an equal-sized or larger-sized capital vessel.

Star Wars is dumbed down a lot.

Get used to it.

Dogfighting, for instance, isn't possible in space, at least not the way SW shows it.

That's because Lucas realized his only hope of making another cent was to cater to the 8-year old boys and their 40-year old mothers who laugh at their own jokes.

There. I said it.

Kas

Dogfighting, for instance, isn't possible in space, at least not the way SW shows it.

Why's that?

That's because Lucas realized his only hope of making another cent was to cater to the 8-year old boys and their 40-year old mothers who laugh at their own jokes.

Stellar... I must know you.

Dogfighting isn't possible because real lasers travel at the speed of light. Therefore, the instant you see it fire, it is already hitting its target. There is no chance to dodge a laser blast.

There's also momentum and speed issues involved. There's no way a pilot can react to anything in time when they're clipping along at a hundred kilometers per second. They would be past the TiE fighter, and a few dozen thousand kilometers away before they could turn around to come back and chase him.

IMO, any sort of space battles in the future will be fought with large hulking ships that move in and do broadsides (ala Master and Commander) or small zippy boats that fly in really fast, drop a missile or two, and then fly on their way out.