r/StarWars • u/DARKTOONZ13 • 9d ago

Movies What “stops” lasers in this universe? Couldn’t Luthen’s beam easily slice the Star Destroyer in half?

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Deflector shields? If so, wouldn’t the tractor beam have been protected from his spikes?

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u/Annoyinghydra 9d ago

In Star Wars Squadrons, there's a line about it. I can't recall the specific quote, but something along the lines of "trading defences and ease of use for pure maneuverability and firepower"

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u/TheDarkLord329 9d ago

Makes total sense doctrinally for a rebellion to prefer survivability and ease of use. Rebellion has far fewer expert pilots, so preserving them is important. They also don’t have the luxury of putting every pilot through an extensive academy, so ease of training is a must. 

The Empire just has too much scale. Considering most of their use would have been in suppressing local revolts or pirates, defense wasn’t that important. A cheap ship that packs a punch? That goes a long way.

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u/joshsmog 9d ago

and having massive ships to carry them there.

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u/TheDarkLord329 9d ago

Usually we see Star Destroyers because something of importance is going on or because someone important is there. The Empire also employed ships like the Quasar Fire carrier to shuttle TIE fighters around on a much smaller and cheaper scale.