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garhkal
Sovereign Protector
Joined: 17 Jul 2005
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Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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 Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2025 2:26 pm Post subject: |
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Maybe the SU size of the grav well, the ships can projecti s more akin to a moon, not a full planet?
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FVBonura
Commander
Joined: 24 Nov 2005
Posts: 321
Location: Central PA
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| Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2025 2:59 pm Post subject: |
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| Whill wrote: | | As I referred to above, I have read those novels, but it has been a long time. IIRC, access to control that ancient alien tech was hidden and uncovered in the plot of the novels. Did the Empire ever have planetary-scale gravity well projection ability, and if so, for what purpose? |
The Ugors recovered the gravity well projector from the death star wreckage in the scenario, “Scavenger hunt”. That projector was doing things on the planetary scale not the solar system scale like we see in the Corellian trilogy. I am reading the second book in the trilogy now so I will share any insights I discover.
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Whill
Dark Lord of the Jedi (Owner/Admin)
Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Posts: 10554
Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, The Solar System, The Milky Way Galaxy
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| Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2025 12:07 am Post subject: |
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| CRMcNeill wrote: | | I’m extrapolating from the RAW, so it may be inexact. However, the rules for hyperspace travel require that a ship be at least 50 SUs from a planet before it can jump. In Wanted by Cracken, the effect radius for a single gravity well projector extends out to 50 SUs. My conclusion is that the WBC rules for Interdictors are intended as a more detailed version of the RAW’s simple 50-unit rule, and that a single gravity well projector can project a well roughly equal to that of a standard sized planet. Of course, that should rightly take a LOT of power, and I question whether a 600-meter long Interdictor has the power output to do so... Right, so instead of projecting actual gravity, it’s projecting simulated gravity into hyperspace, or something to that effect. |
I see, so it is more of a range thing. Interdictors simulate the range of a planet's gravity well. That does make more sense if it is only a projected hyperspace mass shadow and not realspace gravity, which would mean you could not use those projectors offensively to damage planets. The only effect they have is to prevent ships from entering or moving through hyperspace within range. (I know nothing of Yuzug Thongs destroying Ithor with gravity projection, but that sounds like hideous continuity.)
If interdiction did not involve any realspace gravity, disabling the ship's hyperdrive cut-out would be a way to defeat interdictors (with all the additional risk that would bring to hyperspace travel). However, it would seem to have the same effect on ships of all sizes, little starfighters to Death Stars. Maybe the interdiction range shouldn't be as much as a planet's real gravity well. That does seem like an outrageous power requirement for a capital ship, but then again hyperspace is a fantastic dimension with significantly different laws of physics.
| FVBonura wrote: | | The Ugors recovered the gravity well projector from the death star wreckage in the scenario, “Scavenger hunt”. That projector was doing things on the planetary scale not the solar system scale like we see in the Corellian trilogy. |
I was going to bring up Scavenger Hunt in a previous post but must have gotten tired and edited it out.
The gravity well projector at the center of the Ugors' system definitely projected real gravity because it organized the floating junk yard, and could become a mini black hole at the end. I always thought of it was a one-off device, experimental technology prone to failure and too dangerous to be weaponized, as a mishap could destroy the ship that is carrying it. Maybe it was stored on the Death Star so it could not be used against the Death Star. That still works if Interdictors are only projecting hyperspace mass shadows and not realspace gravity.
| Quote: | | I am reading the second book in the trilogy now so I will share any insights I discover. |
Thanks! I thought those books were ok, definitely not the worst Star Wars novels I've read but also not on my fave list. I doubt I would ever reread them. I don't think I even still have them.
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garhkal
Sovereign Protector
Joined: 17 Jul 2005
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Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2025 12:16 am Post subject: |
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I liked the corellian Trilogy. Except for the sideline marriage hunt for lando..
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
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Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2025 12:50 am Post subject: |
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| Whill wrote: | | I see, so it is more of a range thing. Interdictors simulate the range of a planet's gravity well. |
Right. The effect slopes off the further away the ship gets.
| Quote: | | I know nothing of Yuuzhan Vong’s destroying Ithor with gravity projection, but that sounds like hideous continuity. |
That’s not what happened, though. The Vong used a bioweapon to destroy Ithor’s biosphere, but as they were powering away from the planet, an Interdictor projected its gravity wells on Ithor, supposedly boosting its gravity well and slowing the YV ship. Because Vong ships are dependent on gravity-manipulating organisms (dovin bassals) for both propulsion and defense, the Vong were forced to divert power from defense to thrust to counter the combined gravity pull of Ithor and the Interdictor, which in turn left them vulnerable to attack.
| Quote: | | However, it would seem to have the same effect on ships of all sizes, little starfighters to Death Stars. |
Right, because Interdictors really function by tricking a ship’s hyperdrive into thinking it’s too close to a gravity well to jump safely, so it will affect anything from a starfighter to a Death Star.
| Quote: | | Maybe the interdiction range shouldn't be as much as a planet's real gravity well. That does seem like an outrageous power requirement for a capital ship, but then again hyperspace is a fantastic dimension with significantly different laws of physics. |
My current thought is to move away from hard ranges and use a variation of my Blast Radius rules to generate an Astrogation Difficulty modifier by how well/poorly the Interdictor rolled on Gunnery. That opens the window to allowing larger and smaller projectors with varying damage and fire control.
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FVBonura
Commander
Joined: 24 Nov 2005
Posts: 321
Location: Central PA
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| Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2025 1:40 am Post subject: |
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This may be of some importance. I came across this quote in the second book in the trilogy.
| Quote: | | "Luke and Lando had discovered the interdiction field when the Lady Luck was abruptly decanted out of hyperspace on the outskirts of the Corellian system, far out enough that the journey in toward the planet of Corellia through realspace would take months at best. No one had ever managed to generate an interdiction field a hundredth, a thousandth, as large as the Corellian field." |
– Roger MacBride Allen, “Assault at Selonia”, Ch. 2, p. 20
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Falconer
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Joined: 08 Dec 2014
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Location: Northwest Indiana
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| Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2025 2:56 pm Post subject: |
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| CRMcNeill wrote: | | It occurred to me that it would be better to side-step the known effects of gravity and redesignate Gravity Well Projectors as Mass Shadow Projectors. That way, we can technobabble something about the effects of mass shadows in hyperspace within the confines of the fictional unknowns of hyperspace. |
Sounds fine to me. In fact when Interdictors are first introduced in HTTE it says that Luke had “run across the Interdictor’s projected mass shadow and been kicked out of hyperspace.” |
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