2 minutes ago, eMeM said:

Why bother with star destroyers if the Extremely Powerful Chopped Down 9.3 Laser Cannons (TM) (R) can massacre capships?

Because a mere tie intercepter hovering over a city just doesnt have the same intimidation factor for the city in question.

12 minutes ago, T70 Driver said:

Which, if you've flown Defenders in X-Wing Miniatures, is how they're flown. One other thing that this episode has shown? The Defender should have 4 attack dice, not 3.

This is an extremely early prototype, a build somewhere between in what we know as the x7 and the mass production TIE/D model, which was fitted with 6 conventional lasers (which, BTW, some Interceptors were modded to do so also - 4 wingtips AND two cockpit). The X-Wing stats are based on the conventional TIE/D frame, which has Ion Cannons and multi-purpose warhead launchers which are not yet described as being on the Defender. And also was toned down to match later appearances of the D so as to not be a completely overpowered monstrosity which eats entire squadrons of fighters solo.

Just now, Rakaydos said:

Because a mere tie intercepter hovering over a city just doesnt have the same intimidation factor for the city in question.

That fits with my theory of why the ISDs up until this episode haven't fired a single shot, they were simply unarmed intimidation devices.

I wonder why they eventually decided to arm them, I see no benefit, they are just wasting money .

7 minutes ago, eMeM said:

Why bother with star destroyers if the Extremely Powerful Chopped Down 9.3 Laser Cannons (TM) (R) can massacre capships?

Because eight octuple barbette heavy turbolaser batteries can massacre planets.

Terrible at hitting snubfighters though.

7 minutes ago, eMeM said:

Why bother with star destroyers if the Extremely Powerful Chopped Down 9.3 Laser Cannons (TM) (R) can massacre capships?

Range. I don't know the ranges of the 9.3, if its like the earlier models, its something in-between 1-50 miles. The biggest guns on a Star Destroyer have a Range of 11 light minutes, smaller cannons on the SD have a range around 75 miles, and after that probably similar ranges that starfighter weapons have.

3 minutes ago, Black Knight Leader said:

Range. I don't know the ranges of the 9.3, if its like the earlier models, its something in-between 1-50 miles. The biggest guns on a Star Destroyer have a Range of 11 light minutes, smaller cannons on the SD have a range around 75 miles, and after that probably similar ranges that starfighter weapons have.

Yes. It's totally about range.

3 minutes ago, eMeM said:

Yes. It's totally about range.

ECM, ECCM, and power supply would be another factor.

10 minutes ago, eMeM said:

Yes. It's totally about range.

Remember Hoth?

I digged Mothma's speech and I loved the rebel fleet emerging from hyperspace but I really disliked the fakeout transition betweem the two. Is anyone coming? Two moments later an armada bursts in...how did you not know they were on there way?

On a whole though really great episode.

I love that the Badlands from Deep Space Nine is now canon in Star Wars.

Possibly the most entertaining episode to date from any season. I thought this was a non-stop fun ride that wsa very much in the spirit of Star Wars. Felt like there were very few plot devices or holes, and felt like a solid combination of character interaction and action. More like this, please!

Normally the art in the show is meh but this episode was exceptionally well done. The ships getting super heated, the nebula. Whole episode was really cool looking.

Watch the Rebels Recon for this episode...the cast are playing SWX and Pablo has a Ghost in hand

**** that Ion Cannon for not being blue!

The Defender was just as badass as I was hoping.

16 hours ago, Major Tom said:

I'm a little sad that the defender pilot wasn't Maarek, but that's a very tiny niggle.

I was fully expecting Vult Skerris to be a pilot antagonist back when they introduced him. Once the introduced the Defenders, I knew he was going to be leading them.

Still hoping for Maarek as, like, a 2nd in command, but I'm not gonna hold my breath.

15 hours ago, eMeM said:

I must apparently unlearn after each episode because they work differently each time.

Or even in the same episode. Since lasers were bouncing off the Defender left and right, but the Y-Wings, which have fairly substantial shields themselves, were still getting one-shotted.

9 hours ago, T70 Driver said:

One other thing that this episode has shown? The Defender should have 4 attack dice, not 3.

Well, the Defender in this episode has 6 laser cannons instead of the usual 4 lasers and 2 ions.

We need a new Cannon upgrade card:

Moar Guns : Increase your primary weapon value by 1.

6 hours ago, Forresto said:

I love that the Badlands from Deep Space Nine is now canon in Star Wars.

It's one of those things that doesn't make a ton of realistic sense. They were already IN hyperspace. LEFT hyperspace to fly through the Nebula. Then reentered hyperspace when they escaped.

If you were already in hyperspace, why would you need to use a nebula to escape at all? Unless there's an Interdictor in your path, being in hyperspace means you've already escaped!

1 hour ago, DarthEnderX said:

It's one of those things that doesn't make a ton of realistic sense. They were already IN hyperspace. LEFT hyperspace to fly through the Nebula. Then reentered hyperspace when they escaped.

If you were already in hyperspace, why would you need to use a nebula to escape at all? Unless there's an Interdictor in your path, being in hyperspace means you've already escaped!

I mentally replaced "System" with "sector", and was fine with the idea that there's only so many plotted hyperspace routes around.

Maybe the gravitation waves from the stars forming in the nebular make traveling past it in hyperspace impossible. Yes, the Star Destroyers jumped in but they could have an origin point that meant their course didn't cross the nebular.

Or we're thinking too hard about the science of a cartoon primarily intended for children...

10 minutes ago, Major Tom said:

Maybe the gravitation waves from the stars forming in the nebular make traveling past it in hyperspace impossible.

Which is why you don't go past it at all. It's space, you can go any direction you want.

But yeah, hyperspace routes or space lanes or some other such thing that's never really been mentioned before. We all know it's just a plot device to get them to have a fight in a nebula.

For a special bonus X-Wing and Armada kit shows up in this week's Rebels Recon!

TCW's Malevolence arc also portrayed a nebula as something you leave hyperspace to fly through. Going around it took so long for the Malevolence itself, that even with the time in realspace, the Y-wing squadron were able to outrun the Malevolence to its target.

5 hours ago, DarthEnderX said:

Which is why you don't go past it at all. It's space, you can go any direction you want.

But yeah, hyperspace routes or space lanes or some other such thing that's never really been mentioned before. We all know it's just a plot device to get them to have a fight in a nebula.

I doubt you can steer in hyperspace, always seems to be a straight line. If the nebula's in the way you'd have to drop out of hyperspace somewhere. Might as well go through it in that case.

15 hours ago, eMeM said:

That fits with my theory of why the ISDs up until this episode haven't fired a single shot, they were simply unarmed intimidation devices.

I wonder why they eventually decided to arm them, I see no benefit, they are just wasting money .

Usually because they launch TIE fighters instead. Do both and can you really trust your gunners not to hit your own ships?

I... Man, I got nothin bad to say about this episode at all, guys.

I know, big surprise, the chief thread maker for rebels doesn't have a bad thing to say who could have known? But this episode demonstrates one thing.

WE. NEED. MORE. SPACE. EPISODES. It is absolutely Rebels at its best, given how things were done here. Watching TIE Interceptors shake up in solar heat, watching even The Ghost start to cook was amazing. As an Elite: Dangerous player I kept thinking, "Y'see guys this is why you should always have a heat sink on your ship!"

But seriously. The Y-Wings brought everything they had to bear and used ALL of it, as we'd seen throughout every interpretation of them. It was hella weird that the Ion Cannons were gold but I guess that puts the Gold in Gold squadron, huh? But they used those, their torpedoes, their heavy shielding came into play, all of it was just utterly fantastic.

And that final shot of the Star Destroyers cooking in superheated nebula... Wow. What a gorgeous shot. Just, absolutely beautiful.

Finally, we see The full scale of The Rebellion. Every cell, every ship, every body . This is it, guys.

This is The Rebellion we've been building all this time.

And it's everything we could have hoped for. NOW LET'S WATCH THRAWN DECIMATE IT IN THE COMPLETELY LITERAL SENSE.

6 hours ago, DarthEnderX said:

**** that Ion Cannon for not being blue!

The Defender was just as badass as I was hoping.

I was fully expecting Vult Skerris to be a pilot antagonist back when they introduced him. Once the introduced the Defenders, I knew he was going to be leading them.

Still hoping for Maarek as, like, a 2nd in command, but I'm not gonna hold my breath.

Or even in the same episode. Since lasers were bouncing off the Defender left and right, but the Y-Wings, which have fairly substantial shields themselves, were still getting one-shotted.

Well, the Defender in this episode has 6 laser cannons instead of the usual 4 lasers and 2 ions.

We need a new Cannon upgrade card:

Moar Guns : Increase your primary weapon value by 1.

It's one of those things that doesn't make a ton of realistic sense. They were already IN hyperspace. LEFT hyperspace to fly through the Nebula. Then reentered hyperspace when they escaped.

If you were already in hyperspace, why would you need to use a nebula to escape at all? Unless there's an Interdictor in your path, being in hyperspace means you've already escaped!

Here's some opinions, fresh out of the oven, half-baked and ready to serve.

I woulda liked blue, but hey; if the plasma from blasters already comes in both green and red, why would the ions from ion cannons be restricted to just one color?

He has the mustache! He has the ship! He is: VUUUUUULT SKERIIIIIS, defender of the the Empire!

The Defender has:
Hyperdive - Check.
Shields - Check.
Heavy Cannons <----- There's your shield-piercing thingamajig.

As for nebulae and hyperspace. We'd need to understand the nature of hyperspace and how the routes work to properly critique the nebula's significance.

I'll put up a theory in a bit. With a picture.

Wasn't the first ion cannon shot we saw in the movies pink - the one fired at an ISD in The Empire Strikes Back?

14 minutes ago, Ironlord said:

Wasn't the first ion cannon shot we saw in the movies pink - the one fired at an ISD in The Empire Strikes Back?

I'm pretty sure ion cannons can have different colors just like laser cannons. Pink, gold, kinda like red, green or even the occasional blue. Don't sweat it.

Theorytime! With pictures. MSPainted pictures!

So TLDR, think pinball.

Unless it's gravitationally "flat" and free of cosmic hiccups like stars and black holes, the direct path between two places might not be so direct at all.

And, while the spotty gravity inside a stellar nursery could spit you out the side or eject you inside a star, it could save time to real-space through the thinnest bit rather than take a longer FTL voyage around the various systems to avoid it.

That's another theory of mine. Objects don't exist in hyperspace, but their gravity does. So, you may not crash into a star in hyperspace, but if you get too close you'd end up stuck inside its gravitational dent. You'd never be able to hyperspace out of it, and as soon as you turned off the drive you'd appear in the center of a star. Or gas giant. Or radiation belt.

Edit.

There's also Legends whe- *gets pelted by tomatoes*

Hold on! Hold on! It's just a theory, calm down!

Look, in Le...g...end...ssss... *ducks tomato*, they said that the galaxy had been locally altered by the Forerunners/Precursors/Granddaddies of Time and Space. They did some nonsense with the local laws of physics that I don't remember, but the big thing is they created hyperspace .

And maybe the Force too; but I dunno about that one th*tomato*BLARG.

They probably made it for the same reasons we'd like it to exist in our galaxy - easy stellar travel, convenient planet-jumping, etc. That's why ships don't leave the Galaxy - as soon as they leave the edge hyperspace thins out and disappears leaving nothing but cold, hard, possibly Force-less space with nothing but vanilla-bland-Einstein-brand physics to help you.

I think you may be overthinking this.

As a starting point for a theory I'd suggest...consider that 'Star Wars' space movement/combat/etc has always (from the very first movie) been inspired by WW2 dogfights.

Sooooo...I'm seeing hyperspace more like how aircraft interface with the ground. Sure, you CAN take off from anywhere and CAN land anywhere...but it's far, FAR easier to take off and land from an airport...so that is, most the time, what most aircraft do. Plot a course from one airport to another. Although some aircraft are specifically designed to be able to use a wider range of takeoff and landing sites - this seems to align with what we see in Star Wars, too. And things like nebula may be vaguely like thunderstorms - you could redirect around them, and if small that might make sense...or just land and wait it out, taking off again once it passes. Stuff like that.