Planar Shockwave: Difference between revisions

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* Possibly the earliest example of a planar shockwave is the self destruction of the Nostromo in ''[[Alien]]'' (1979). From Ripley's POV, it first forms a horizontal multicolored line and then an orange sphere appears behind/inside it. A few seconds later a horizontal shockwave of material hits her ship.
* Possibly the earliest example of a planar shockwave is the self destruction of the Nostromo in ''[[Alien]]'' (1979). From Ripley's POV, it first forms a horizontal multicolored line and then an orange sphere appears behind/inside it. A few seconds later a horizontal shockwave of material hits her ship.
* ''[[Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country]]'', when the Klingon moon of Praxis explodes in a double shockwave ring. The effect is occasionally called a Praxis Shockwave after this prominent example. The shockwave actually gains plot significance here when it hits the starship Excelsior, since it makes the Federation aware of what happened. Most other examples feature the rings mostly for eye candy.
* ''[[Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country]]'', when the Klingon moon of Praxis explodes in a double shockwave ring. The effect is occasionally called a Praxis Shockwave after this prominent example. The shockwave actually gains plot significance here when it hits the starship Excelsior, since it makes the Federation aware of what happened. Most other examples feature the rings mostly for eye candy.
** [[StarDestroyer.Net]] proposed a [http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/Tech/Special/Praxis.html theory] that the planar thing is shipboard visualisation cut-out, noting that:
**# the shockwave was not in realspace (it propagated FTL and the nearby planet was mostly unaffected);
**# the ship had subspace presence ''and'' greatly reduced realspace inertia at the moment for cheap sublight acceleration, which happens all the time in ST 'verse;
**# it's [[Contrived Coincidence|improbable]] for a ship to be ''accidentally'' so close to the thin plane of propagation at the range of at least light years.
*** Another possibility is to start with Milky Way Galaxy being more or less a ''flat'' spiral. It only makes sense for ships to be very close to the main plane, and since this happened in "subspace" ([[You Keep Using That Word|ahem]]), it ''may'' make sense for the wave to expand mostly along this plane - which would also reduce energy requirements for being so strong at a great range. Either due to anisotropic properties of subspace as such, or the wave was shaped from the start because the equipment that exploded had to be oriented along this plane in the first place due to properties of subspace it was using.
* The Special Editions of the original ''[[Star Wars]]'' trilogy does this three times: once for each Death Star (vertical and horizontal rings, respectively) and once when Alderaan is destroyed. They weren't in the original versions.
* The Special Editions of the original ''[[Star Wars]]'' trilogy does this three times: once for each Death Star (vertical and horizontal rings, respectively) and once when Alderaan is destroyed. They weren't in the original versions.
** Partially justified with the Death Stars. The trench dividing the two hemispheres is weaker than the rest of the shell, which would cause a (if somewhat smaller) Planar Shockwave. However, the first Death Star exploded vertically, and the second Death Star wasn't completely built yet.
** Partially justified with the Death Stars. The trench dividing the two hemispheres is weaker than the rest of the shell, which would cause a (if somewhat smaller) Planar Shockwave. However, the first Death Star exploded vertically, and the second Death Star wasn't completely built yet.
*** ''Star Wars: Attack of the Clones'' takes it one step further, with the shock bombs dropped from Jango Fett's ship: The resulting explosion is focused into a thin disk shape that seems to simply cut through the surrounding asteroids. Which given that space is three-dimensional makes them extremely ineffective weapons that only work because Obi-Wan seems not to be aware of that fact.
** ''Star Wars: Attack of the Clones'' takes it one step further, with the shock bombs dropped from Jango Fett's ship: The resulting explosion is focused into a thin disk shape that seems to simply cut through the surrounding asteroids. Which given that space is three-dimensional makes them extremely ineffective weapons that only work because Obi-Wan seems not to be aware of that fact.
*** A planar shockwave has advantages: the 'blast' effect of a spherical explosion goes down with the square or the radius (4 Pi r^2). If focused into a planar one, 'blast' goes down with the radius (2Pi r). So if you can aim the shockwave, the mine has a much larger effective range.
*** A planar shockwave has advantages: the 'blast' effect of a spherical explosion goes down with the square or the radius (4 Pi r^2). If focused into a planar one, 'blast' goes down with the radius (2Pi r). So if you can aim the shockwave, the mine has a much larger effective range.
*** It depends on what the warheads were initially made for... But didn't the mines [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sonic_mine first appear] in ''ground'' combat? In which case it's a good idea to deposit more energy into targets on the ground or close to it, and less into blasting a crater that's at best wasteful and at worst gives the enemy more cover.
** The [[Star Wars Expanded Universe|Expanded Universe]] novel ''[[Death Star]]'' explains the ring produced by Alderaan as the realspace shadow of a hyperspace ripple, produced as a side effect of the Death Star's superlaser being fully charged when fired. Presumably this is also the case when the Death Star itself explodes.
** The [[Star Wars Expanded Universe|Expanded Universe]] novel ''[[Death Star]]'' explains the ring produced by Alderaan as the realspace shadow of a hyperspace ripple, produced as a side effect of the Death Star's superlaser being fully charged when fired. Presumably this is also the case when the Death Star itself explodes.
*** This can also be used to explain the ring produced by the Death Star II in ''[[Return of the Jedi]]''. According to EU materials, the second Death Star could recharge much faster than the original, so it was likely charged to full power when it blew up.
*** This can also be used to explain the ring produced by the Death Star II in ''[[Return of the Jedi]]''. According to EU materials, the second Death Star could recharge much faster than the original, so it was likely charged to full power when it blew up.
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{{quote|"Tony's gonna be ''pissed''. He hated it when Lucas added those equatorial rings to the Death Star explosions."}}
{{quote|"Tony's gonna be ''pissed''. He hated it when Lucas added those equatorial rings to the Death Star explosions."}}
* In ''[[Darths and Droids]]'', which loosely follows the plot of the ''[[Star Wars]]'' movies, the shockwave bombs from [[Attack of the Clones]] make their [http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0294.html appearance]. One player explains that they might work like that because of the inverse square law - by concentrating the force into a ring, more damage is done by the ring. In effect, Jango is sacrificing accuracy for power.
* In ''[[Darths and Droids]]'', which loosely follows the plot of the ''[[Star Wars]]'' movies, the shockwave bombs from [[Attack of the Clones]] make their [http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0294.html appearance]. One player explains that they might work like that because of the inverse square law - by concentrating the force into a ring, more damage is done by the ring. In effect, Jango is sacrificing accuracy for power.
* Appears in an extreme long-distance panel in ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'', when the F'Sherl-Ganni (Gatekeepers) decide to deliberately detonate the ''t'okjith'' (trans: "very clever, but extremely dangerous thing"; a toroidal singularity trapped in the heart of a star) that was powering one of their ''buuthandi'' (trans: "very expensive thing"; sort of a [[Dyson Sphere]] made up of habitats slung on giant solar sails<ref>which is actually closer to Dyson's original concept than a solid shell</ref>) while under attack from Fleet Admiral Breya Andreyasn's forces, with their cheap wormgate-copy systems producing a ridiculous amount of missiles to force said fleet into the shockwave, with the intention of over-awing the "lesser species" by totally annihilating a multi-national fleet. {{spoiler|[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20020820.html The fleet escapes].}} Justified by putting gravity-control devices out in the system's Kuiper Belt to ensure that when it ''does'' blow, rather than the star acting as a giant frag grenade, it rips the fabric of space/time a new one in one particular plane.
* Appears in an extreme long-distance panel in ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'', when the F'Sherl-Ganni (Gatekeepers) had of their ''buuthandi'' (trans: "very expensive thing"; sort of a [[Dyson Sphere]] made up of habitats slung on giant solar sails<ref>which is actually closer to Dyson's original concept than a solid shell</ref>) was under attack from Fleet Admiral Breya Andreyasn's forces, they decide to deliberately detonate the ''t'okjith'' (trans: "very clever, but extremely dangerous thing"; a toroidal singularity trapped in the heart of a star) that was providing power to their wormgate-copy systems - after producing a ridiculous amount of missiles to force said fleet into the shockwave, with the intention of over-awing the "lesser species" by totally annihilating a multi-national fleet. Justified by putting gravity-control devices out in the system's Kuiper Belt to ensure that when it ''does'' blow, rather than the star acting as a giant frag grenade, it rips the fabric of space/time a new one in one particular plane.


== [[Web Original]] ==
== [[Web Original]] ==
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