12 hours ago, Cten said:

Pammant is a cool site to use for shipbuilding! My current group of players have all managed to procure radiation suits, funding to secretly renovate a portion of the long derelict shipyards, and enough droid workers to begin constructing their own battlecruiser there over the course of what's going to be a lot of very financially tight sessions. Hopefully they don't get too mad at the shipwright PC when they inevitably have trouble paying them back for all this.

Pammant was also where my players found the partially constructed prototype of the smaller cruiser based on the Malevolence.

After reading through all of these ideas, the outcomes seem rather conventional. Blow up that, incapacitate that, etc. How about something a bit more unorthodox. A weapon that consumes oxygen in an fiery manner. It isn't a one size fits all kind of weapon, but terrifying enough for most of the habitable planets to be scared off. When the weapon is detonated, depending upon size, an ever expanding fireball washes over the landscape, charring anyone in its path. Most life would die in prolonged agony, as their skin is charred as well as their lungs, And most of the structures would be left intact. Protective suits and sealed environments would be safe and of course some species could survive the charred lungs if they don't actually breath or can seal themselves up. The potency of the weapon can start off at first in scale, first maybe leveling a base, but scaling up to planet size. It can also be escalated throughout the story arc to first working on unbonded oxygen, but eventually achieve bonded oxygen status, which would include water. And it can be whatever hand waving you want it to be: some new chemical that triggers it, or field, or radiation, etc.

It would be a perfect droid army weapon, since they would be hardened against it. Imagine a droid army sitting just out of weapon range, seeming to be waiting. Then a fireball goes off over the base, fatally injuring anyone unprotected. Once the fireball burns itself out, the droids march in, over running anyone remaining. All while leaving the target intact, if a bit singed.

The particular limitations also lend toward different intrigues. Those warned of the attack can be prepared. It could be sought by certain alien races that want to do away with the pesky oxygen breathers. It also isn't just a single target like a World Devastator or Starkiller Base. It would be research facilities and test sites. If it is a gun mounted upon a cruiser, then it would installation facilities. If it is a missile or planted bomb, then there would be manufacturing facilities.

2 hours ago, Nepharyte said:

How about something a bit more unorthodox. A weapon that consumes oxygen in an fiery manner.

So, like... fire?

1 hour ago, HappyDaze said:

So, like... fire?

Well, obviously. But a match won't set an entire atmosphere alight. This reaction would.

4 hours ago, Nepharyte said:

It would be a perfect droid army weapon, since they would be hardened against it. Imagine a droid army sitting just out of weapon range, seeming to be waiting. Then a fireball goes off over the base, fatally injuring anyone unprotected. Once the fireball burns itself out, the droids march in, over running anyone remaining. All while leaving the target intact, if a bit singed.

The Defoliator already does exactly what you describe, and its designer was captured during the first year of the Clone Wars, but like a big gun it could just be upscaled to make it a super weapon.

7 hours ago, Nepharyte said:

Well, obviously. But a match won't set an entire atmosphere alight. This reaction would.

Or just use a biological weapon. Droids unharmed, buildings unharmed.

You can get creative of the effects.

11 hours ago, Nepharyte said:

After reading through all of these ideas, the outcomes seem rather conventional. Blow up that, incapacitate that, etc. How about something a bit more unorthodox. A weapon that consumes oxygen in an fiery manner. It isn't a one size fits all kind of weapon, but terrifying enough for most of the habitable planets to be scared off. When the weapon is detonated, depending upon size, an ever expanding fireball washes over the landscape, charring anyone in its path. Most life would die in prolonged agony, as their skin is charred as well as their lungs, And most of the structures would be left intact. Protective suits and sealed environments would be safe and of course some species could survive the charred lungs if they don't actually breath or can seal themselves up. The potency of the weapon can start off at first in scale, first maybe leveling a base, but scaling up to planet size. It can also be escalated throughout the story arc to first working on unbonded oxygen, but eventually achieve bonded oxygen status, which would include water. And it can be whatever hand waving you want it to be: some new chemical that triggers it, or field, or radiation, etc.

It would be a perfect droid army weapon, since they would be hardened against it. Imagine a droid army sitting just out of weapon range, seeming to be waiting. Then a fireball goes off over the base, fatally injuring anyone unprotected. Once the fireball burns itself out, the droids march in, over running anyone remaining. All while leaving the target intact, if a bit singed.

The particular limitations also lend toward different intrigues. Those warned of the attack can be prepared. It could be sought by certain alien races that want to do away with the pesky oxygen breathers. It also isn't just a single target like a World Devastator or Starkiller Base. It would be research facilities and test sites. If it is a gun mounted upon a cruiser, then it would installation facilities. If it is a missile or planted bomb, then there would be manufacturing facilities.

Technically, any survivors will die rapidly from anoxia, because all the oxygen is gone. Plus, if you turn the atmo into a gigantic fireball, that will tend to ignite everything, like all the buildings, so I dont think there would be much left in structures. I would expect basic battle droids to not be all that fireproof either.

On 8/14/2018 at 6:32 PM, korjik said:

Yall do realize that a downsized Galaxy Gun is called a Turbolaser on a hyper capable starship? Well technically a bunch of turbolasers, but an ISD isnt exactly short on guns.

Or if you really want to go back to Clone Wars times, just stuff a Trade Federation battleship with droid fighters each carrying a bomb and you have several thousand self guiding bombs.

Tho I do agree that the World Devastators would be a very Separatist sort of weapon.

We can go one step further. Skip the bombs and put a hyperdrive on each droid fighter. They can kamikaze enemy fleets until a counter can be developed.

The Interdictor.

I like the World Devastators idea. They fit with the Separatist MO.

People also mentioned radiation, self-replicating machines, and bio-weapons. While these would render planets uninhabitable, I could definitely see the Separatists using such methods as a form of asset denial.

48 minutes ago, Darth Ferrum said:

I like the World Devastators idea. They fit with the Separatist MO.

People also mentioned radiation, self-replicating machines, and bio-weapons. While these would render planets uninhabitable, I could definitely see the Separatists using such methods as a form of asset denial.

Not necesserily. Best example is the Imperial Commando novel: They use a bio-weapon to eradicate a whole planet leaving the infrastructure untouched.

On 8/17/2018 at 4:05 AM, Rimsen said:

Not necesserily. Best example is the Imperial Commando novel: They use a bio-weapon to eradicate a whole planet leaving the infrastructure untouched.

True. I was just thinking along the lines of a scorched earth policy.

On 8/16/2018 at 5:47 AM, Cten said:

Isn't the Death Star already the Republic's superweapon? It's not online during the war, but it is theirs after a point.

The plans for the Death Star were first seen on a background computer screen on Geonosis in Ep. 2, i.e. in the hands of the Separatists. Under the Empire (between ep. 3 and 4), the population of Kashyyk was enslaved by the Empire and forced to work on the Death Star's construction (and other Imperial projects).

According to Wookieepedia there seems to be a divergence in the history of the project after Ep. 2 , depending on whether one goes with Legends/old EU or with later canon. So maybe the late Republic was involved at a certain level (while keeping the Jedi out of it), or maybe it wasn't.

(O canon re-sets/retcons, how I love thee - not! They do make it frustratingly difficult to ascertain SW facts.)

3 hours ago, Bellona said:

The plans for the Death Star were first seen on a background computer screen on Geonosis in Ep. 2, i.e. in the hands of the Separatists. Under the Empire (between ep. 3 and 4), the population of Kashyyk was enslaved by the Empire and forced to work on the Death Star's construction (and other Imperial projects).

According to Wookieepedia there seems to be a divergence in the history of the project after Ep. 2 , depending on whether one goes with Legends/old EU or with later canon. So maybe the late Republic was involved at a certain level (while keeping the Jedi out of it), or maybe it wasn't.

(O canon re-sets/retcons, how I love thee - not! They do make it frustratingly difficult to ascertain SW facts.)

I never understood that part of Episode 2. If the Separatists had the plans for the Death Star, why did that schlub from Rogue One spend nearly twenty years designing it?

1 hour ago, Jon D said:

I never understood that part of Episode 2. If the Separatists had the plans for the Death Star, why did that schlub from Rogue One spend nearly twenty years designing it?

Having a mock-up doesn't mean every component of the final build is fully realized. That schlub was working on the superlaser and the harnessing of kyber crystals for said laser.

On 8/19/2018 at 4:49 AM, HappyDaze said:

Having a mock-up doesn't mean every component of the final build is fully realized. That schlub was working on the superlaser and the harnessing of kyber crystals for said laser.

Fair enough. Like most films there are bits that frustrate me if I look to closely.

Military procurement for a major project running 20 years late is probably the most realistic thing in the Star Wars universe.

On 8/21/2018 at 3:52 AM, Talkie Toaster said:

Military procurement for a major project running 20 years late is probably the most realistic thing in the Star Wars universe.

Heh. Military development is alwaya trying to win the last war.

On 8/21/2018 at 6:52 AM, Talkie Toaster said:

Military procurement for a major project running 20 years late is probably the most realistic thing in the Star Wars universe.

Well, that and sand. It's all coarse, and rough, and irritating. And it gets everywhere.

I really like the thought of using the World Devastator as you stated in the original post. It's terrifying and would definitely make sense that the Separatists would use it.

Loving the image of having it kick off a campaign too. It's just intimidating enough to get the players interested, but still not completely out of the question as far as destroying it goes.

From what I've read it doesn't look like really much has been homebrewed in the ways of stats? What sounds fair? Does it have the power to jump to hyperspace? I'll have to read more about them with what's available online..

I'm planning on introducing something similar to them into my post RotJ campaign, as something the First Order is testing to help build Starkiller base

On 8/14/2018 at 4:04 PM, HappyDaze said:

Much as others might be, I am looking at options for a Clone Wars campaign. As a backdrop, I was looking at a Separatist super weapon. In canon, they start drawing up the plans for the Death Star but they don't really get anywhere with it until the wars are over. I was looking at other options since I don't care for the canon all that much.

I was flipping through my Dark Empire Sourcebook and the World Devastator jumped out at me as something the Seps would have really gotten behind. In effect, it's a giant droid that uses tractor beams to pull matter (from a planet's surface, or chunks off of capital ships) into its molecular furnace maw. Then it uses those materials to feed internal factories that expand itself and produce war material (droid-controlled fighters and other vehicles).

The droid angle obviously fits the Seps, and this weapon looks like something that evolves from a massive mining apparatus, so again a good tie-in to the Seps. The ability to make a flotilla of these things that can destroy targets while replenishing droid forces seems like an even better fit for the aims of the Droid Army than the Death Star.

Anyway, that's just an idea I had for those that don't care about sticking strictly to canon.

It makes a lot of sense