Jump to content

The ion cannon


DANA-kin Skywalker
 Share

Recommended Posts

Powerful enough to disable a star destroyer. What a great weapon. So...how do you aim it? It appears to be mounted in place. This is why the escaping ships fly away on the same dimensional plane, because you can't aim it. How stupid. What if the empire came from...I don't know ANY other angle other than the one the cannon is facing? The chances of hitting something (other than your own escaping transports) are less than beating a Nossikan at Domjart without getting shanked in the heart. I don't think I need to explain to anyone just how unlikely THAT is.

 

Or...maybe it does actually move. Let's assume it does for a moment. Then, why not aim it at the indestructible AT-ATs marching toward you? They will fall over and explode if someone hits it when it's down. Furthermore, you HAVE speeders that can fly around and shoot these things in the ass. You don't need to fly right towards them through the line of fire.

 

What is it with everyone in Star Wars and Star Trek flying through space on the same plane? In wrath of Khan, Spock comments that Kahn "thinks two-dimensionally". Dude...so doesn't literally everybody else. That's why ships always appear face-to-face even when exiting light speed/warp speed. The dialogue writers thought they were being clever. They weren't. They had no idea that they are as two-dimensional as Khan.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Perhaps they scanned the (transport) escape path / cone for enemy ships and targeted them before firing, and the thing would have to have some aiming capability / arc in order to target / hit anything.

 

I think the same plane stuff is for cinematic reasons / aspect ratios, one ship / fleet on the left and the other on the right etc. I always thought the solution in TWOK was a bit daft, but there are some nice not-on-the-same-plane shots in The Undiscovered Country, especially the one where you see a torpedo blow straight through the Enterprise' saucer section.

 

(I hate the edits of ESB where people make the ion shots / impacts blue instead of that funky rainbow colour, "just because" ion anything is blue in nearly everything else.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's purely for cinematic reasons. Like in ESB when the Star Destroyers attempting to catch the Falcon upon leaving Hoth act like they are on a road. One if them chases it from behind while the other two fly right towards it as if all three were going to "road block" it. The scene plays out like a Smokey and the Bandit movie where Han flies in a different direction causing them to crash into each other.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nausicaan. Dom-jot.

 

The ion cannon on Hoth was on a spherical mount, and could probably swivel. Given that it fired at orbiting ships, it must have quite a range. With even a small angular adjustment it would have a huge firing arc, and could hit a wide range of targets. Every weapon has a weakness, though. It probably could not fire at anything too close, like real artillery. That would be what the air speeders and smaller anti-vehicle weapons placements were for - to cover the gaps the ion cannon could not.

 

Do we even know where Echo Base was on Hoth? If it were near the poles, that would give the ion cannon a different field of view than if it were at the equator. Perhaps the placement of the cannon was selected for defending against the likely deployment of orbital Imperial forces, since Imperial doctrine was well known. How many former Imperials were in the Alliance forces? They would be best able to decide how to counter the likely Imperial attack.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I get what you're saying pavonis, it's still dumb. The star destroyers are moving. Either the ion cannon got really lucky with their paltry "several shots" or the escaping ships had a brilliant flight plan where they dangled themselves in front of the star destroyers to make the enemy fly into the cannon's crosshairs. But if they were that smart, they would know that they could fly around the walkers and safely shoot them in the butt.

 

Face it. Here's the best explanation: it was merely time for the rebels to escape because that's what needed to happen right then, so they gave the rebels a deus ex super-weapon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The orientation of the Imperial orbit is unknown, and we don't know why the transports went the direction they did. Using the transports as bait in a trap, with the ion cannon blasts as the trap, may be a decent explanation. It's not as though Hollywood depictions of 2D combat were ever accurate, so why would 3D combat be?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I get what you're saying pavonis, it's still dumb. The star destroyers are moving.

Yeah, they're moving, but the angular velocity of the star destroyers is probably no problem for the cannon's drive motors. It wouldn't be much of a weapon if it couldn't track targets. Unless we're assuming it was not originally a weapon for targeting ships in orbit, but was somehow drafted into that role. If that were the case, then what was its original purpose, and why did the Alliance use it outside of its intended purpose? I find it unlikely that it was anything other than what it seemed to be. All evidence points to it being a perfectly good weapon. It took out at least one star destroyer, as I recall, and provided cover to the escaping transports by forcing the star destroyers to avoid its fire.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.