Why the Battle of Coruscant doesn't make sense | Star Wars Lore

There is a key logical flaw in the Battle of Coruscant - we'll break that down on today's Star Wars Lore video!
The Battle of Coruscant is not only the largest battle of the Clone Wars, but also one of the coolest Star Wars space battles portrayed on screen. That being said, the way the Battle of Coruscant and Revenge of the Sith treats shields doesn't really make sense. I'll explain on today's Star Wars Legends Lore video!
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[@EckhartsLadder]

Your boy is in the Halo Reach PC beta, will be uploading some gameplay today: kzbin.info I'm still on vacation, back to streaming in a couple days: www.twitch.tv/eckhartsladder

[@henrywalkertuck8384]

Ye ye

[@Azakadune]

NO WAY. im jealous af.

[@douglasparkinson4123]

Hi Eck, I wan thou to check out the front, geetsleys second channel, because I think your naval birds eye view type of battle Map could be done with real naval battles, talk to geetsleys about this.

[@thorshammer7883]

#AskEck The Hiigaren Empire (Homeworld 2) vs the UNSC (Halo).

[@animegaming4057]

EckhartsLadder I would disagree with this assessment as we can have a variety of answers. The battle for coruscant was near the end of the war so we know that many unknown ships were present at the battle. It is possible that they had a prototype dominator class that prevented hyperspace jump for a time and just turned them off when Palpatine was safe. I couldn’t find any sources of when these were built so why couldn’t they be another secret project? Also, we know in the clone wars series that Bane used infiltration droids to cut the power of the senate building, so that allows us to know that they can destroy or disable any planetary shields with minimum effort. And finally, we know that general grievous was constantly failing near the end of the war so we can assert that he wanted to show is quality and loyalties by following strict orders and prove himself worthy.

[@itaybron]

Guys i think the chancler and Sidius are the same person.

[@thrushhattstewohlgern5006]

Palpatine's behind it all!

[@caseynaylor5564]

@@thrushhattstewohlgern5006 its treason then

[@kazimierzliz8280]

Lol conspiracy theorists

[@quinnpaton8852]

Bro I.......I dont even know what to say

[@subsoro8522]

Nooooo that can't be true that's impossible nooooooo!

[@richardhowford4780]

Is it possible that Coruscant didn't have a shield until after the clone wars? I can see the Empire giving Coruscant a shield to make the capital of the Galactic Empire way more militaristic.

[@PaxEuropae]

Exactly, even using that exact battle as a justification for such a defense system.

[@kylevolbrecht9255]

As I recall, Coruscant has had a shield for thousands of years because of the threat of meteor impacts. So no. I do not think that explanation makes sense at all.

[@zeash482]

maybe they knew that palpatine was on the invisible hand and lowered the shield to let it through

[@joshualueth6008]

Zeash that’s what they said in the novelization

[@DeanieWeenie1]

@@kylevolbrecht9255 perhaps the shield was smart enough to differentiate ships from space debris

[@zephsuki]

5:43 *"I'd be bombing the crap out the planet if I were the CIS"* Warcrime 100 Acceptable casualties 100

[@artembentsionov]

Isn’t that what the Sith originally wanted to do during the sacking of Coruscant thousands of years before this? They knew they couldn’t hold the planet, so they destroyed the Jedi Temple and were planning on doing as much damage as they could before leaving. Then the Emperor changed his mind and offered a cease-fire in exchange for not laying waste to the planet and a few inconsequential worlds.

[@zephsuki]

@@artembentsionov But I'm talking about the CIS, the REAL CIS. Not whatever people the sith hijacked from their movement in the war.

[@kaelhyun2401]

@@zephsuki well if we go by Legends the Sith *founded* the CIS

[@tonycarlson9013]

@@kaelhyun2401 Legends should be called: OG canon. New canon should be called: botched canon or BC. So we can just say OG or BS. I mean BC.... no I mean BS😨

[@gabrielm.942]

Artem Bentsionov no, what was going on is that the attack was for the peace deal. Which were underway on Alderaan, to get the Empire an even better deal out of it and to make sure it got all of its demands they attacked coruscant. It wasn’t to bring peace or destroy as much of the planet but to make the Republic nervous about a no deal and fighting on, besides with peace talks in the process their guard was down.

[@banahull7206]

Eckhartsladder: trillions and trillions of people live on courasant. Also Eckhartsladder: I would bomb the crap out of it.

[@wardenbias554]

@@weewoahhh lmao

[@shahnxaoc7749]

I think it's Curtis LeMay who said, "That's the nature of war, if you kill enough of them, they stop fighting."

[@the_mad_bear3683]

When you remember that Grievous personally went down there and captured Palpatine and killed 4 Jedi and lots of troopers in the procces

[@unluckysoviet]

That’s not canon

[@neighornproductions8916]

ThatOneSovietDude it’s treason then

[@kristenlyssara8488]

@@unluckysoviet It actually is! Kinda. 03 Clone Wars is basically "loose" canon, in that the events depicted did in fact happen but not necessarily quite like that. There's actually a lot of material that fits into that category, including at least some of the Lego Star Wars films. So while the initial attack on Coruscant may not have taken place exactly the way it was depicted, Grievous personally led a strike team to kidnap the Chancellor and was pursued and injured by Mace Windu, for example.

[@dylankelly7928]

@@kristenlyssara8488 exactly! That's why he is always coughing! It's awesome! I can't wait to see that revised scene in season 7 and possibly 8 when it comes out in November

[@og-cryoman1842]

@@dylankelly7928 I am looking forward to that

[@beanlord4347]

Can we just take a moment to think about how many civilian casualties were caused by massive capital ships and space debris raining down? Like, really. It had to have been astronomical.

[@westrim]

No Coruscant Holocaust

[@tonycarlson9013]

Nano droids would have cleaned the battle up in days. SW tech can traverse the whole galaxy in under a week. You think they would have our problems? I think not.

[@jeffreyliu1648]

tony carlson Nano droids don’t stop a 50,000 ton ship from falling on your head

[@e-wing6200]

6. The amount of civilian casualties on Coruscant was 6. In case you were wondering.

[@WolfHowl-TheLab]

@@jeffreyliu1648 The Capital ships in Star Wars weigh alot more than 50 000 tons. The USS Abraham Lincoln, which is a carrier ship in the US navy, weighs 102 000 tons fully loaded. And that ship is only 330m long. The Venators in Star Wars are 1137m long.

[@what_memes_are_these9824]

"Why the Battle of Coruscant doesn't make sense." This is *NOT* where the fun begins.

[@bobafett9348]

"Why the Battle of Coruscant doesn't make sense." Uh, That does not compute. Uh, wait, uh you're under arrest !

[@kalebthehistorian5928]

Best quote of Episode I.

[@Noah-nv6vr]

*Time to abandon ship.*

[@Erika-gn1tv]

Muahahaha!

[@Noah-nv6vr]

*coughs*

[@davidhatcher7016]

truth

[@Corvus__]

Hello there. :)

[@MChief123]

@@Corvus__ General Kenobi

[@mqsala582]

Last time I was this early Dooku was still the count of Serenno

[@timbartschwolfman]

@The Dutchman Nice picture of Cad Bane

[@lukerb52]

I read this in Cad Bane's voice and I'm very pleased. Thank you.

[@ComradeCommissarYuri]

The Dutchman and had a head

[@j.franklin21]

@@lukerb52 Same

[@AndrewVasirov]

And he still h(e)ad on the shoulders.

[@idunbeezasmart1]

"Why the Battle of Coruscant doesn't make sense." To be fair, Star Wars doesn't make sense so it's par for course.

[@keisufederationmapping2748]

i tried to think of a funny reply but i failed so now i wasted your time reading this

[@gabrielm.942]

Keisu Federation Mapping god damn it

[@keisufederationmapping2748]

@@gabrielm.942 no problem

[@Paynovski]

Say that to TLJ haters

[@undolf4097]

Military disasters (or just confusing events) tend to amount to human error

[@dead-ishchannel6212]

The Battle of Coruscant: exists Eck: *visible confusion*

[@DanielSan1776]

Ha hahaha This made me chuckle

[@EchthelionII]

Glad to see someone else uses the word chuckle.

[@ExperimentalProfessor]

I always thought the Battle of Coruscant was weird, because of the sheer amount of things that had to go absolutely perfectly to set up the test for Anakin

[@FXIIBeaver]

Statistically yes it is near impossible. With the head of your government playing a game not so hard.

[@samueldimmock694]

That's what space magic is for. Palpatine could see the future.

[@end1234567]

You can't just fly through a planetary shield. Han solo: hold my hyperdrive

[@TruePacifist201]

Shouldn't that be Corellian Ale?

[@IvanKinkle]

It’s times like these that actually appreciate some expositional dialogue. Like when Fin tells Solo the shield has a fractional refresh rate over “Starkiller”.

[@adamcetinkent]

Ugh

[@viperblitz11]

My headcanon is that the battle was above the planetary shield, and it was deliberately lowered for a brief few seconds so the ship carrying Palpatine could attempt an emergency landing. Then, with his flagship gone and Dooku dead, Grievous deemed the operation a bust and ordered the Separatist fleet to scatter.

[@done4195]

Of course this is before they were riding horses on Star destroyers.

[@wattsnottaken1]

RedRacoonAnimations we don’t talk about those movies. Just like we don’t talk Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions

[@charliejoy4772]

Dude wdym that shot was sick

[@Nik6644]

To be honest that was actually a smart move cause the ships were still in the atmosphere and they have mechanisms for preventing vehicles driving over the surface

[@cadkls]

@@Nik6644 It was in fact, the least smart move of all, firstly, a ground assault is not necessary, just use the big ass guns in your shielded, extremely fast, space capable fighters. Also, having slow horses makes for an easy, fleshy, undefended target. Makes no sense why they cant use the fighters for a quick bombing run. Adding a ground assault just adds unnecessary risk, and the fighters that would otherwise be occupied defending them from other fighters could instead do a quick bombing run that would take orders of magnitude less time and be far more effective. Also, why didnt the star destroyer simply bank to the side by even 20°? The horses would simply slide off. Better yet, turn the ship upside down. The artificial gravity inside the ship can handle it quite easily.

[@natethegreat7967]

@@wattsnottaken1 Except Reloaded and Revolutions are actually good compared to the Star Wars sequel trilogy.

[@Don113]

I'm assuming that either the CIS sabotaged the shield prior to a full-scale assault on Coruscant, or the GAR disabled the shield so that the Invisible Hand could crash-land safely.

[@wesleygaray2666]

Also lowering the shields could have been a ploy to make them think they had the upper hand so that the gar fleet could have time to get there

[@krisgonynor689]

I agree, the CIS would have sent in a strike team and knocked out a section or two of the shield, just enough to get their forces through and capture their target, the future Emperor. The managed to get him off planet before the GAR's techs got the shield back up. Thus no debris or damaged ships or weapons fire caused any damage to the planet (i doubt that P wanted his capital planet left in ruins). When Luke and Obi Wan rescued P, they must have sent a message down that they were coming in for a crash landing: after all, those "flying firetrucks" were escorting the ship, trying to help it as it landed. If the GAR ground defense force thought it was an enemy ship that somehow got through the shield, they would have had fighters shooting it down, not trying to help it land safely. So Luke must have got a message through for them to lower the planetary shield too. Or at least the section they were about to ram.

[@wesleygaray2666]

@@krisgonynor689 you saud luke instead of ani but thats fine i agree with you on what you said

[@z3r0_35]

@@krisgonynor689 That's a possibility. They could've hidden some commando droids on some civilian transports to covertly take out the shield generators a few minutes ahead of the fleet's arrival, too late for the Republic defenders to fix the problem if they even notice it in time.

[@tucadjmondracy3126]

I'm in on the hole to let Ani and Obi pass. And perhaps multiple layers of planetary shields if Canon or EU allows such a thing to exist. I mean it's the Capital of the Reublik we can assume there's as much protection you can get. so: the CIS goes through the deep Core, sabotages the shield generator for the inner shield in the section where Palatine is and Corussants defence force is cought offguard. While Palpatine is brought to the Invisible and, the defenders Raise both shields: inner and outer and capture the CIS fleet in between (both were lowered for traffic, sabotage was neccessary to enable the escape through the inner one). The outer Shield is localy lowered on Purpose to let GAR reinforcements pass. Ani sends a message to the Ground station of his next happy landing and the inner shield is lowered to let them pass.

[@leelee9417]

Her: he's probably thinking about other girls Eck: now WHAT the heck was up with Coruscants' planetary shields??

[@dutchvanderlinde6072]

I highly recommend "Labyrinth of Evil" to understand better the battle of Coruscant and how the shields work. I thinks that rather a planetary shield they were more like sub atmospheric shields to cover not the whole planet but some important districts, like the senate one.

[@matthewjay660]

LOL! I have subtitles on and “Coruscant” was translated as “chorus aunt.” 😂🤣

[@canada843]

while i was reading the x-wing series, the default narrator on windows pronounces it as "chorus cant" lol

[@Scaramanga7]

@@canada843 that's actually the pronunciation used until Lucas just decided it should be different for Phantom Menace. Pronunciation guides in the West End games and supplemental factbooks all had it share its pronunciation with Corusca gems, which shared with the English word Coruscate, despite that word being out of fashion for a century or so.

[@MichaelVari]

I can't unsee this now. Haha. Now every time I hear it I will think of this.

[@kageshira]

"The CIS couldn't just leave" Well, jumping in and out of shields is possible, and very much so. Also the movies made a really poor job showing the devastation of the Clone Wars, Coruscant is as clean as it was in EI and EII and the population didn't seem too affected of being involved in a 4 year war nor in a week siege.

[@dr.boring7022]

Exactly. Even if there weren't tons of damaged ships crashing into skyscrapers, surely people would be pissed that traffic to and from Coruscant was cut off.

[@xxmush5362]

They should have shown Coruscant smouldering and heavily damaged in Revenge of the Sith, would have seemed much more meaningful

[@JekPorkbricks]

5:49 They did not bombard the Senate with a turbolaser because he was already inside of the Invisible Hand.

[@ComradeCommissarYuri]

Would have been an easy way to get his detractors out of the senate via Death soooo

[@chekovsgunman]

Lycan645 r/woosh

[@L._.A-06]

The senate? I am the Senate!!!!

[@darthsonic4135]

antiami r/woosh

[@ryan-tc3rk]

@antiami I think by this point the CIS where trying for a peace treaty slaughtering millions of civic and senators wouldn't work

[@diabeto62]

5:50 “you know the senate just bomb them” You have to remember the senate was captured on grevious’s ship. Anakin and obiwan has to rescue him

[@adamstala7816]

Can you rant about the specifics of the cis laws on the world's that they had

[@EddyA1337]

XD

[@Isaacreeper]

I like hiw this was practucally a shower thought. Like youre just standing in the shower thinking of awesome space battles and you think of the battle of corusant. But then outta nowhere you remember that planetary shields exist. Yku: "Waaaaaaait a minute"

[@aaronleclair8407]

Isaacreeper try again, but in English this time

[@Etaukan]

No, ships going down aren't going to burn up harmlessly. Chunks of Skylab and Mir made it to the ground, and they're comparatively tiny, plus, the capital ships aren't orbiting, they're hanging there under repulsor power until they fall or go down, and that means much lower velocity through the atmosphere (though it would still be high enough to smash into the planet with devastating force). Good catch with this--it's another case where just two or three lines of dialogue would have fixed it, but no one bothered to think things through.

[@SotonSam]

Needs to be a new movie, Star Wars: The Battle of Coruscant

[@GloryToChina55684]

I hope we see that in Clone wars s7

[@WeboKonAroz]

Kinda like how Halo ODST expands on the battle of Earth during Halo 2

[@natethegreat7967]

@@GloryToChina55684 Not gonna happen in the Clone Wars now, obviously. But maybe The Bad Batch could show it with its first episode(s).

[@_vakas]

@@natethegreat7967 that makes zero sense dude.

[@isaacweaver6506]

Can you do a video on capital ship shields and how they function against turbolazers vs star fighter lazer cannons?

[@paulramage7744]

Big pew pew is more effective than little pew pew

[@robertagu5533]

Depends. Some fighters are designed to be exceptional ship killers. An Xwing or Awing isnt gonna really do all that much against a Star Destroyer. BUT a Ywing or ESPECIALLY a Bwing.. more so if theres alot of them.. will possibly disable or destroy it. Due to their armament and way the craft is designed.

[@gabrielm.942]

Robert Agu well no A wings are super good at killing Super Star Destroyerss with basically 1 shot

[@robertagu5533]

@@gabrielm.942 yeah... you could say it used a... Force.. guided attack.

[@gabrielm.942]

Robert Agu the A-Force

[@VelociraptorsOfSkyrim]

Here's my hypothesis. The planet actually had two planetary shields, Palatine convincing the Senate it was needed. He also had a guy on the inside of the planetary generators. The guy on the inside would switch off the Shields so Palatine could get captured, but to make the Battle stuck there, switched on both shields. That way the ships were stuck inside the shield and around the planet while being unable to damage the planet.

[@tonycarlson9013]

Nailed it bro

[@VelociraptorsOfSkyrim]

@@tonycarlson9013 Wait, is that really what it is in canon? Or whatever passes as canon these days in Star Wars?

[@blackshogun272]

Velociraptors of Skyrim probably Legends and I love the explanation. Just imagine being trapped between two planetary shields without the concentrated firepower to break either 😭

[@tonycarlson9013]

Velociraptors of Skyrim I have no idea what the BS new canon says lol! I'm not even sure what the glorious OG canon was on that. I jus always imagined it was some scheme of Palpatine similar to that. I think Lucas thought the audience would realize it was an elaborate scheme like that, and left it for the EU to explain the details.

[@VelociraptorsOfSkyrim]

@@tonycarlson9013 Fair enough.

[@garrettweaver3824]

What if there were two shields, an inner “ray shield” and an outer “particle shield” and the battle happened between these two? Normally the Coruscant particle shield would be down to allow vehicle traffic, which could pass through the ray shield, which protects the planet from a turbo laser barrage. When the CIS came the Republic would start to raise the outer particle shield, which would take hours or days, allowing the Republic fleet time to enter. By the time the CIS got Palpatine the outer particle shield would be up and they couldn’t escape. If the CIS went below the ray shield to get within striking distance of the shield generators they would be vulnerable to turbo lasers from the ground, which would quickly destroy the fleet. The CIS would be constrained to strike at the shield generators strategically, causing the Republic to go into battle to try to thwart them and try to keep them from escaping with Palpatine.

[@AvaAshes]

Why is there a runway on the planet if ships can just launch going straight up and dont need to speed up on the ground like planes?

[@imlost19]

also how does a literal turd of a ship fly

[@kjhuang]

Hm good question. Maybe it's really a "parking lot" for starships and it was cleared for the Invisible Hand to land on.

[@ryujose3681]

@Drake probably for Landing cruisers and loading/unloading of vehicles and troops, remember that scene at the end of AOTC.

[@paulhart5025]

Later in the movie, in the scene where Obi-Wan and Anakin are saying goodbye before Obi-Wan goes to kill Grievous, we see a landing facility that is holding multiple Venator-classes in a line. It is recessed into the ground, but it looks to be a similar size. Could be a similar one to the one in the crash land?

[@michaelruocco6690]

Ekhart: "I would bomb the planet" Also Ekhart: "why weren't the seperatists worried about accidentally killing civilians?"

[@jeffbenton6183]

Underrated comment

[@justcallmeSheriff]

I think the best way to improve these kind of 'rambly' videos is to better explore the differences between the movies, EU writers, and Canon works coming out now. Thay way you don't sound conflicted between the three. Openly acknowledge the creative differences, and reject attempts to shove them together.

[@larsongramckow7495]

Ignore the new stuff. Disney ruined it and doesn't count

[@justcallmeSheriff]

@@larsongramckow7495 that's an extreme and useless response. There is good work coming out of the new Canon, such as the clone wars show, the new thrawn books, and Vader comics. We just have to be brutally honest about content and not paint with a wide brush

[@maxx.6994]

@@larsongramckow7495 Ignore the EU. It doesnt make sense and contradicts itself.

[@larsongramckow7495]

@@maxx.6994 It makes plenty of sense, has far better characters and has better plotlines. Ky lo ren = jacen solo wanna be. New leia, boring... Snoke wishes he could be abeloth. Bringing palpatine back, did it 3 times already. Han solo backstory, six well written novels vs. Solo.

[@larsongramckow7495]

That's your opinion. Frankly I've tried to get into it but the new stuff just doesn't hold up

[@TheKingofbrooklin]

That the battle took place within Coruscants shield could be a very good explanation why the ships fought each other at such a close distance.

[@09connorr]

Have you thought about a video about how ships are able to fire weapons through shields?

[@nicholaspowell7029]

The shields are linked to the weapons systems and drop long enough for ordanance and energy fire to pass through.

[@WolfHowl-TheLab]

Pretty sure the weapons are outside the shields. In The Clone Wars, in the episode with the blockade of Christophsis, Admiral Trench has to lower the ships shields in order to fire his missiles

[@andrewdevine3920]

@@WolfHowl-TheLab That's silly. The weapons are on the surface of the ship. In Star Trek they definitely fire through their own shields. In Star Wars the shields aren't as visible but it's probably similar.

[@neofulcrum5013]

#AskEck How large was the army of the Rebel Alliance?

[@thorshammer7883]

I believe in the Extended Universe it said the Rebel's navy was about 7% the size of the Empire's.

[@gameoflife9576]

@@thorshammer7883 that's quite a lot for some guirrella rebels.The empire's navy was 25000 star destroyers so the rebels maybe had 1750 ships in total.

[@TK-hr7lk]

@@thorshammer7883 *Expanded Universe

[@johnlavery3433]

Legends

[@z3r0_35]

It's probably impossible to tell, because there's not just the main Rebellion, there's also the various mercenaries and smugglers they hire, sympathetic partisan groups, double agents working within the Imperial government and military, and a host of other unofficial combatants and non-combatant supporters who assisted the Rebellion indirectly.

[@cc0767]

1:20 or someone lowered the shield because THE SENATE was on it? I never heard of the siege going on for multiple days. I always thought it was a one day thing.

[@jeezed2950]

It was a one day thing to day at most but unlikely.

[@springtrappurpleguy315]

@@jeezed2950 nope

[@collecter343]

Some Legends materials list it going on for days. The Republic Commando books were very specific about how many days after Geonosis events in the books took place at the beginning of most their chapters. The fourth one titled 'Order 66' (Three guesses on when this book's events took place), specifically said five days into battle of Coruscant. This would make more sense to me because the battle doesn't really end until Anikin and Obiwan arrive, whom were recalled from somewhere. So it definitely lasted a while because no matter how BS Star Wars can be with travel between planets, they're not that fast especially when they bring with them warships.

[@hideakiakio6698]

Why is there an airstrip when ships take off and land vertically? EDIT: it even had a tower like an airport.

[@joshuamacdonald1920]

Didn’t the ships on TPM using a little runway?

[@kenetickups6146]

I assume it's a museum

[@TheT3MK4]

Kenetic Kups yeah thats might be thousands of years historical site for Corusant International Airport 😄

[@kenetickups6146]

RADIOSLAVE I mean, they have recreations of old time towns, so I don’t think it’s that weird

[@callum563]

Helicopter Carriers have what look like runways, VTOL aircraft still need space to land/launch and taxi safely and a large flat surface is perfect.

[@jonmiller9534]

In the X-wing book did it now say that there where 2 shields with space between them. Maybe the fight was between the shields.

[@TheCiroth]

Or maybe this fight was the reason for 2 shields

[@jonmiller9534]

@@TheCiroth Never even though of that that would be a good reason for 2 shields.

[@michealdrake3421]

Something about ep. 3 that doesn't make sense: starships broadsiding each other like it's the 1700's. Something that's so cool that nobody cares whether it makes sense or not: starships broadsiding each other like it's the 1700's. From a literary perspective, Star Wars has always been "meh" at best and the new ones, especially the ones featuring Rey, struggle to clear that low bar. But damn if there aren't some visually stunning scenes in the new movies.

[@hugodixon59]

I’m sorry. Even ignoring your abhorrent grammar please explain to me why broadsiding doesn’t make sense.

[@michealdrake3421]

@@hugodixon59 I'm not sure what you think is wrong with my grammar, but as you said, it's not really relevant. So I'm not sure why you brought it up at all except to make yourself look smart and stroke your own ego. In modern naval and air combat doctrine, close range combat basically doesn't exist. As a rule of thumb, if you're close enough to see the enemy, then you're too damn close. As an example, the air force's primary short range missile, the sidewinder, has a minimum engagement distance of two miles. And while it is true that the fights in star wars are based on and inspired by WWII dogfights, even that early long range combat was becoming the favored tactic over short range artillery. It's why air power was so important in the Pacific theater. It's also why almost no navies field battleships and destroyers anymore. They're just not as useful as aircraft carriers, missile cruisers, and submarines. So from realistic tactical and strategic perspective, colonial era type broadsides just don't make sense. But they are really fucking cool.

[@brandonproductions8401]

You are aware that the Battle of Coruscant is being fought with Hundreds of ships being pact like sardines in the atmosphere with little to no breathing room for the ships to fire at long to medium distances thus making a broadside or any other close range attack the only possibility in this situation plus there are that many reliable or cheap long ranged weaponry in Star Wars plus the Venator wasn’t the most combat focused ship with its main weapons being the side turbo lasers which for maximum damage you’d need a broadside

[@kjhuang]

For either the Invisible Hand or Guarlara (or both), those broadside guns are flak cannons meant for point defense, basically like giant shotguns in space. So they work best at close range.

[@Cen2050]

I have several supplemental theory. Mind you I'm drawing my information from only three sources, one of which is cannon, two are not. The Clone Wars micro-series and Episode 3 itself. The microseries takes place IMMEDIATELY before the start of Revenge of the Sith. And in it we see the initial separatist blitz, Anakin finishes his mission with Obi-Wan, hears that Grievous has taken Palpatine and they make ready to join the battle. The Battle of Courscant was, in my opinion, a massive lightning raid expressly for the purposes of creating a distraction so Grievous could capture Palpatine. on a planetary scale Courscant had ZERO reason to suspect the CIS was coming. So if it did have a planetary shield around a massive trade hub it would have to be off most of the time, and indeed ignored and probably poorly maintained since they weren't used in what, millennia? It wouldn't surprise me that Palpatine kept the shield generators from being serviced or maintained...or even sabotaged before the attack. Finally, to the extent of my knowledge planetary shields take a COLOSSAL amount of power, requiring more energy than multiple Executor-class ships can output. I also believe they take a long time to raise and then MORE time to reach full power. From what I know, and I cannot BEGIN to validate this, but the the Hoth shield was so powerful and so quick to raise because it was "only" protecting "small" area of the planet, and concentrated very highly because of that. So there are my theories on the planetary shield around Courscant.

[@GalaxyDogenut]

I agree.

[@cominguponinfra-red3038]

Replicators vs a Unified Star Wars universe (540th try now, *_I._** WILL NEEEEVER EEEVER GIVE UP!!!)*

[@warwolf3005]

I think what happened is that both the Republic and the CIS wanted to use this engagement to put as many ships as they could out of action. It doesn't seem that you have gravely damaged ships sticking around and It would be impossible for capital ships to stay in combat for a week. What probably happened is that both the CIS and the Republic were rotating ships around with heavly damaged ones retreating out of the battle to be repaired in shipyards and fresh ships being called in. I guess that it was sort of like the Battle of Britain with both sides thinking that they were winning (CIS high command didn't know about Palpatine's secret fleets thus it must have looked as if they were enyoing an acceptable kill to death ratio and the GAR high command knew about those secret fleets and wanted to use them now that the enemy was unaware)

[@bug1701]

I enjoy these rambally videos, and I'll wast my time as i please good sir!

[@buggyboy2849]

A space fantasy about alien monk wizards doesn't make sense? What a shocker!

[@WELLbethere]

You've clearly never read the masterpiece that is Dune

[@buggyboy2849]

@@WELLbethere I have the books but I never got into them...

[@RoyalFusilier]

A ton of reviews of the new Star Wars movies fell into this trap, analyzing like the physics of those dumb bombers, or other minute scientific details. In a series where ships swoop majestically in dogfights, IN SPACE, and alien wizard monks with LASER SWORDS fight each other with magic powers. I myself personally fell into focusing too much on that, a lot. There's plenty to bash the Sequels on even then-

[@artembentsionov]

Fusilier agreed, when you can conveniently blame a mystical energy field for everything, you can pretty much throw logic and reason out the window. Space fighters being practical, ships exchanging broadsides within sight of one another, plasma weapons being called lasers, straight swords being called sabers (curved). These are just many things you can write off, assuming the story is good. Star Wars was never meant to be SCIENCE fiction. It’s more of a fantasy in space.

[@raf74hawk12]

@@artembentsionov The point isn't that this doesn't make any logical sense in our world. The point is that it is not internally consistent. Those are different problems. You can have an outlandish fantasy setting with tremendous amounts of hand-waving that has internal consistency.

[@WhosAlx]

Nobody: Eckhart’s Ladder: why weren’t coruscant’s planetary shields active? Love these kinds of videos. Would love to see more.

[@Spideythegreat1]

Man. Your dog cracks me up EVERY video. I listen to the end because of the content, but the corgi makes need to watch and laugh. The rambles are cool. I’m sure there are plenty of us who just have random thoughts about the strange conspiracies that no one seemed to notice in universe, even they are obvious to us.

[@kingsolomon673]

#AskEck Which SCP would fit in the star wars legends Universe?

[@Lulu-ex7fc]

The Hateful Star and the Indestructible Destroyer, of course.

[@andrewkavanagh6123]

The flesh that hates

[@beastmastergaming8039]

Can you do a video with Roanoke. Atriox vs General Raam

[@NikoLavikainen]

1:40 "simply took down portions to let traffic through"

[@helmetguy6495]

Considering RTS relies on heavy plot armor. I'd assume Sidious was just pulling strings to allow himself to be captured but make the assault convincing enough to fool the Jedi

[@waverleyjournalise5757]

Coruscant's planetary shield: ex- Palpatine: I'm gonna end this man's whole career Palpatine: exi- Vader: I'm gonna end this man's whole career Vader: exis- JJ Abrams: I'm gonna ruin this whole man's family, legacy and saga. Oh, and his career.

[@-socialcredit]

2:15 "We know that the CIS launched a surprise attack" US: *Pearl Harbour flashbacks*

[@zacharymohammadi]

CIS: why do I hear boss mu- * NUCLEAR EXPLOSION *

[@unjaruk]

Me: I should sleep it’s 4am Also Me: I wonder what’s up with these Planetary shields

[@silentphotographer117]

Nobody: EckhartsLadder on a random day of the week: Why didnt they have a planetary defence sheild

[@isaacweaver6506]

Do you think it would have been a different outcome if the CIS controlled Corasaunt and the Republic attacked?

[@dylankelly7928]

I'm going to stop and address each problem as it comes by: The shield wasn't on because obi-wan radioed ahead and told them that they and the chancellor were aboard Quick statement: Palpatine was in charge of everything so anything that the CIS did stupidly was all part of the plan The CIS fleet left at command of Grevious as he was ordered to before the movie started. He was to "kidnap" the chancellor and leave straight away. It wasn't a invasion, it was a heist. Anakin Skywalker was the BEST pilot in the galaxy. He can land a starship with thrusters. I suggest you check out Star Wars Theory if you ever have questions about star wars events and lore. He is the master

[@noahpatch1483]

I like these vids. Talking about the deep cuts like these are the fun things about Star Wars. I love your music and video setup. Makes me feel nostalgic and good! Love ya Eckhart.

[@Djarra]

You forgot the old stand by for when things don't make sense fingers in ears "lalalalalala THE FORCE lalalalalala"

[@Palpatine001]

Also: the broadside engagement with the Invisible Hand with a Venator. Someone didnt quite get the memo never go broadside to a Star Destroyer

[@scockery]

There was no shield. Palpatine never could get the senate to approve funds for it. Too many senators said it was racist.

[@kjhuang]

Setting aside whatever any "official" sources have to say, I think one explanation is that the planetary shields were up during the battle, which is why the planet wasn't too badly damaged. The shield was lowered specifically for when the Invisible Hand crash landed. The CIS fleet was kept from escaping by the Republic ships, which might also explain why the Republic had to keep their ships so close to the CIS ones.

[@lukerope1906]

You got to love how these super advanced ships are blasting away at each other like old time sailing ships.

[@braydenpaulk5079]

None of this actually matters or couldnt easily be refuted by the movie makers with an equally compelling argument

[@ABadassDragon]

They could have bombed the jedi temple and the senate building. Easy win

[@tonycarlson9013]

That wasn't Palpatine's plan though. It would have rallied the galaxy around the Jedi thus defeating one of the major objectives of the war.

[@odiemyers9064]

I think its interesting to see different perspectives, my question is if that tank with the energy cannon can destroy a ship with one shot, why are they not the main weapons of the ship? The one that fires out of the bottom of the ship from the inside?

[@anonymouspotato1082]

Eckhart: This Star Wars battle doesn’t make sense logically or realistically Me: Yay you’ll notice that a lot. Ridiculously exposed bridges on huge capital ships, ultra powerful gravity mines that can tear several asteroids to pieces never being used again even during a hunt that takes place in an asteroid field, letting an escape pod go because their are no life signs aboard even though droids exist and its been shown many times that escape pods can be launched remotely, oh and let’s not forget the most powerful and brilliantly designed of armies in the Star Wars universe, living Teddy bears that are half the size of most people that use sticks and stones as weaponry. Don’t be fooled, they defeated one of the Empires finest Legion of soldiers, including tanks speeders and hundreds of armored soldiers equipped with highly advance blasters.

[@eds1942]

Even the little Rebel base on Hoth had an anti-capital ship ion canon.

[@stardude2006]

The whole battle was just ILM eye candy ---- Look at the pretty colors in the sky !!!! Weeeeee !!! 😆😅

[@jayb8934]

Let's be real here, planetary shields are never mentioned in the films, and Lucas didn't pay much attention to the EU. The scene/battle was written without any intention of planetary shields being a thing.

[@TheAnimationStationTAS]

Planetary Shields are in Episode V

[@MissionReloadedGaming]

I like the rambley videos. And Tapcafe also helps. I like that I can see the plot holes in the books that you are expanding upon. It's cool. Do more!

[@DominusTecum316]

You know I like these types of videos from you. In the original Expanded Universe novels when Admiral Thrawn attacked the planet of the New Republic capital the shields were temporary sabotaged. However after he withdrew his attack with his fleet, later was the planetary shield fully mission capable and was reactived. I never even thought about that battle seen in that manner of shields not being shown in Episode III movie till now.

[@eXcommunicate1979]

Planetary shields deflect or absorb energy... so wouldn't the planet die off from some kind of nuclear winter?

[@joshuafischer684]

They likely absorb or deflect kinetic energy from objects. Thus, light, having no mass, would pass through while a massive asteroid would go splat.

[@pancakeman1678]

No views 11 likes? “Interesting” *Clicking of mandibles *

[@supremeleadergnkdroid3202]

PancakeHouse 16 admiral trench 👍

[@1228carlito]

I believe you answered the question with one of your statements."They could lower the shield in areas to allow ship traffic thru". The shield was up the whole time, Anakin used the comms to let them know that they had the Chancellor, they then lowered the shield to let the burning hulk thru

[@Oniphire]

Rambling videos are great. We've all been there, thinking about something and just kind of exploring possible answers, so this kind of video is very relatable

[@calvin1559]

Personally idc how it’s explained that is the coolest opening to any movie ever and it mesmerized me as a little kid.

[@red_menace1829]

Okay and?

[@davidphilbrick7222]

I think you should keep videos like this in the mix. Your explaining something you found in lore that is strange and arw pointing it out with sighted resources from across lore. It's like a philosophy paper. I like it.

[@gatedude07]

Other options for the shield to let them through: Palpatine arranged for the shield to be down. "Mysterious malfunction" or poorly-timed (perfectly-timed) maintenance schedule etc. Or, Coruscant's version of ATC knew the incoming ship had Jedi/the Chancellor aboard and lowered a section of the shield to let them through. They DID land at a spaceport after all.

[@barrybend7189]

#AskEck VF-1 Valkyrie variable fighter squadron ( SDF Macross) vs Viking mech squadron( Starcraft).

[@FireF1y644]

So Battle of Coruscant doesn't make sense but Battle of Yavin does? When the Empire's most important military object was defended by five or ten TIE Fighters and the entire rebel attacking fleet consisted of a dozen of fighters when they were on the verge of extinction. Where were thousands of Star Destroyers, where were alliance's large fleet? Why Empire made no security knowing that rebels have blueprints of Death Star? Still makes sense? Okay, how about battle of Endor - where -cave people- evoks basically defeated Empire. Where there was still not enough imperial fleet to make a trap. Still makes sense? *Then you are another stupid prequel hater* The main reason why prequel haters don’t like these films - because prequels don’t look like what they saw in childhood - the Original Trilogy. If you look at the facts today - in the original trilogy there are much more problems in terms of plot, in terms of universe design and in technical terms. That's why prequel haters doesn't make sense.

[@kevintan5497]

everything you just said is completely irrelevent to this video

[@holden88]

They opened the shields locally to allow the Invisible Hand through. After all they knew they were coming in hot and had fire services ready for them.

[@beeschamelsoose476]

at 4 in the morning, being drunk as F**k, watching EckhartsLadder. Very nice.

[@citamcicak]

It wasn't "George's" job to think about the shield, because EU was never cannon in his mind. In his mind only the movies were cannon.

[@thorshammer7883]

#AskEck *Attempt 540* Can you do the Forerunners vs Warhammer 40k factions and time eras of the galaxy versus battle videos please?

[@tanith117]

Old ones beat everything.

[@ivenotwatched1episodeofnar71]

@@tanith117 highly doubt that

[@tanith117]

@@ivenotwatched1episodeofnar71 They made the Chaos Gods by acident, Made the Orks on Purpose and were masters of the Psychic arts.

[@thorshammer7883]

@@tanith117 The Forerunners have destroyed stars before.

[@tanith117]

@@thorshammer7883 The Necrontry in their Hey day (the Old ones enemies) did as well. And you can bet the Old ones could as well. Once again this is the Forerunners VS All 40k factions. this means they are against The Devours, Beings that cause time to break down around them, Creatures that change the laws of Physics to suit their collective whims, An empire vast enough to drown planets in Bodies and can destroy planets on little more than a whim, Clowns and the GODS THEMSELVES. Also Giant psychic Frogs.

[@pokemon1895]

Great vid, Eck!

[@BGTom]

This was discussed on SD.net years ago. The moment the battle began the Planetary Defense boxed in the CIS Fleet. Since shields and ECM/ECCM require both sides to close to point blank range to do real damage, the CIS had to slug its way clear to get accurate jump calculations in order to leave. Interdictors also were present to keep the CIS boxed in till they were taken out. As for how the planet avoided mass devastation, local shields, PDWs, and those rescue tugs kept losses to a minimum.

[@sivertkind]

Please never use disneys version of star wars as examples when arguing a point on why something in the prequels dorsnt make sense

[@jareddent6931]

You unfortunately have to

[@sivertkind]

Jared Dent no because i refuse to let them make up rules as they go. They ruin everything that way

[@jareddent6931]

Sivert I agree but reality is that Star Wars is now in hands of executives with their own best interest and canon is what they decide whether we like it or not

[@sivertkind]

Jared Dent i know.. but theres literally tons of illogical shit happening in those movies. Not talking about just the stuff about rey suddenly knowing how to force heal which creates plot holes in the prequels but stuff like Leia flying in space, which is kinda possible but then they open the door to let her in without being sucked out. I wont complain about sci fi physics but thats just poor writing. They continue to make huuuge challenges in the movies and then find a bullshit solution to it. Solo flying through the shield around the death star planet using the hyperdrive and then drops out inside the atmosphere makes you wonder why they didnt do that in the original movies. Kylo just simply killing snoke is another example. Rey kicking kylos ass in the first movie, rey killing sidious and stopping his force lightning with a lightsaber right after he used it with enough power to knock out a fucking fleet of ships. Rey and kylo creating wormholes to trade items. All this is is creating solutions that makes no sense when faced with a difficult challenge and even though its canon i will never accept it

[@tigorelloensil3676]

Sivert Star Wars has always been made up as they went along.

[@averyradom]

you said the same thing over and over again about “planet shields”

[@GAdmThrawn]

On the question of planetary shields, you mentioned the Republic Commando novels. In _Order_ _66_ , it mentions that portions of the shields would open up for friendly ships to come down and aid in the ground and atmosphere battles while the rest of the ships would engage in the area above the shields. I think that this indicates that only parts of the Separatist fleet were trapped in the planetary shield when it was raised and the rest had to hold out against the sudden counter attack of Republic ships that Palpatine had been stockpiling. It would make sense for the shields to be lowered when reports of Palpatine being captured were sent to command stations so that the ship carrying him wouldn't crash into the shield when it was making its way to the _Invisible_ _Hand_ . It is a good question on why we didn't see widespread destruction across Coruscant in the movies but I think that's due to Lucas not really thinking how long this battle was going to be. I think that initially he thought that the Battle was going to be at most a day; the Separatists get in, get the Chancellor, and get out. But as time goes on and writers factor in logistics of the whole thing (thank you, Karen Traviss) as well as the logistics of the whole war up to this point, then the day of battle turns into a siege of days particularly with the planetary shield in place. Which is why in later books, they describe Coruscant as being pockmarked with destroyed buildings and wreckage could still be seen even below the surface. On the question of why didn't Separatist commanders and ship captains didn't order bombardments against the Jedi Temple and Senate buildings, I think it's because they were given explicit orders *not* to attack those places. In the Clone Wars animated miniseries, Yoda and Windu observed that the droid army did not attempt to engage those locations but instead to spread out and cause as much damage as possible. The plan was to draw out the Republic's defense forces and Jedi away from those locations so as to make it easier for Grievous to capture Palpatine. On the question of why no one really gave much thought or questioned these turn of events, I think it was because a lot of things were happening over too quickly of a timespan and no one really stopped and slow down to get a closer look at things. Let's examine these events and how they played out: the Separatists who were though to be pushed to the Outer Rim have just launched a daring strike against the heart of the Republic; took captive of the Supreme Chancellor; are about to leave when a new fleet of Republic ships arrive to stop them; Jedi generals have been called back to assist in the battle but only a handful are able to make it as the rest are entrenched in the Out Rim Sieges; the Chancellor is saved and brought back and immediately a new Bill comes forward in the Senate that grants the Chancellor to be the Supreme Commander over all Republic armies and navies and even has a voice in deciding which Jedi goes where; the Bill is passed as the Senate believes that new leadership is needed in the war after this surprise attack; a series of Bills are also brought forth that adds more security measures to the Senate, to much of the general population, and governorship over planetary sectors with more clones; the Jedi attempt a coup against the Chancellor and are then declared traitors and further denounced as being nothing more than conjurers of tricks. Everything that I've listed happens very fast and so most people are unable to look too closely as the next thing happens that distracts them. You also have to account the three years of war before all of this that made mostly everyone complacent. Life in general moved on as the war moved away. People got used to the sight of soldiers, of warships, and so when the new changes happened after the Battle of Coruscant, it was an accepted part of the war effort. The United States experienced the same thing after 9/11 and the security acts that were put in place.

[@LaurusHG]

1/2 a ship well landed*

[@humamtaher9039]

Happily*

[@jeezed2950]

You have to remember the whole battle was orchestrated by palpatine.

[@SH-fx6ks]

Hopefully Clone Wars Season 7 can clear some of this up

[@richelieu5406]

"You cant just fly through planetary sheilds" Han solo: **Bald guy crossing arms**

[@Colin_Boecker-Grieme]

For the invisible hand they lowered the shield because they know who was on it and they had some earlier form of interdicters that they didn't show in the movie possible theory

[@domvasta]

There could be shielding for individual segments of Coruscant below the planetary shields, like how castles have multiple walls and a final well defended keep to take after you breach the outer wall, it could be that the separatist fleet got trapped between two layers of the shield and the Republic was keeping them there until they could get Palpatine back.

[@cringeboy8864]

There is a cartoon series made in 2003 called Star Wars Clone Wars. The final episodes of the series, Grevious and a ton of droids made their way to Corasaunt. The droids may have destroyed the planetary shield before leaving.

[@ericjamieson]

I really need to understand why spaceships were firing close-range broadsides at each other, like 18th century sailing ships.

[@CommanderRion]

Because Rule of Cool. Would you want to watch ships taking potshots at eachother from thousands of kilometers away? I doubt you would go "HOLY SHIT THIS IS SO REALISTIC IM FUCKING HYPED NOW!"

[@grand-dadmiral]

Isn't it also possible that a small portion of the shield was raised to allow the Invisible Hand through after it went down? It was, after all, carrying the Chancellor and two very important Jedi. I doubt the Republic would let them get crushed to death.