ops.uci%Rand-Relay@sri-unix.UUCP (06/29/83)
From: 750a Ops <ops.uci@Rand-Relay> In response to Hester's "space battle" nits: The weakness of the Death Star in SW-IV is more than marginally believable. Check out the sinking of the HMS Hood by the Bismarck in 1940. Two salvos, she broke her back and the mighty Hood was history. How about the incredible luck of the USN at the Battle of Midway? Now since Obi-wan tells us that there is no such thing as luck and since the Death Star I was vaporized (leaving very little for Imperial tacticians to analyze) and since (as mrose points out) the Emperor was trying to convince the Alliance that the Death Star II was vunerable, it is really no surprise that a few brave and determined organics and droids were able to defeat the Death Star. As for the Imperial Star Fleet, some surely got vaporized along with the Death Star, but some must have survived, particularly the big ships (are they called super star destroyers?). So what happened to them? Well let us suppose that there are basically two kinds of commanders in the Empire, those who are good at their job and those who kiss up to the Emperor. After the Death Star is destroyed the latter are worse than useless as they either run away or are destroyed as they stand in stunned silence at the death of the the big E. This leaves us only the guys who know what they're doing, but how many? A respectable portion of these will cut out also. Why? Because the Emperor is dead and the riches of the Empire are up for grabs AND when these guys start going we have a nice little domino effect among the smaller fish. Our boys should be able to take care of the rest. (Obi-wan could be wrong about luck). /tlj