On the bridge(?) of larger starships what are the seats/stations called? And what are some of the functions? I’m also wondering when would a ship warrant a name vs just be referred to it by it’s make and model? How do call signs work? It seems like it’s function is to facilitate communication but it’s not clear how they get assigned (thinking of that scene in Rogue One) and that they may or may not be related to the ship’s name?

As larger ships need more personnel to function fully, they usually have bridges with a number of console stations as opposed to a cockpit. The layout of the bridge and what specific stations will be on it will depend on the ship and its capabilities; the most famous of them would of course be the typical Star Destroyer’s bridge, featuring a central command walkway with two crew pits on either side.

Unfortunately, as I have just discovered after a surprising amount of digging, the different stations don’t seem to ever be properly defined, for a specific ship or as a general rule. I can tell you that a typical bridge will have communications, navigation and astrogation stations. On warships, the bridge will have stations for gunners. On ships with tractor beams, such as Star Destroyers, there will be people on the bridge able to operate them, possibly with the support of other people working nearer the tractor beams (it is unclear exactly how these are controlled). In Lost Stars there is a scene where an Imperial bridge officer gives navigational assistance to TIE fighters attempting to fly through an asteroid field, directing them to change course when needed; hence, there are officers capable of accessing tracking and sensor data.

Whether all these functions are carried out by different officers at separate stations is a bit unclear. According to the one diagram I managed to find of an Imperial bridge (from an old d20 sourcebook), weapons and communications are actually taken care of in separate areas, outside the crew pit. This doesn’t seem to be the case in new canon, but I believe that weapons, communications, navigation and astrogation would still have their own dedicated console stations, because they are more specialized and complex tasks. This specific subject isn’t well covered, so you’ve got plenty of freedom to interpret as you will.

As for names: generally, larger ships will get names, starfighters will not. Naming a ship is a sign of personalization, so names as opposed to designations are much more common among private spacers and organizations that allow a degree of attachment to the ships. The Rebels, for example, named a lot of their ships, and referred to them by that name, with the exception of the starfighters. The Imperials named only significant ships, ones where a name would add to the ship’s intimidation factor: capital ships, flagships, and ships used personally (often exclusively) by high-ranking officers. Small ships other than starfighters – gunships, shuttles, etc. – don’t usually get names. If a ship is owned personally by someone, it almost always gets a name; this means tramp freighters, yachts, re-purposed/stolen military vessels, and the like. Basically, just use your judgement; if the ship is unique and important, it probably needs a name.

In almost every case, if the ship has a name then the pilot/captain/crew will not have call signs. Call signs are usually given to the pilot of a one-person ship, typically a starfighter flying as part of a squadron. They are assigned based on the pilot’s squadron, and often follow a numerical pattern: Red Squadron might consist of the pilots Red One, Red Two, Red Three, Red Four, etc. Hence, every pilot gets a unique name that also identifies their squadron. This was common practice in the Alliance and New Republic, and though call signs also followed this pattern in the Grand Army it seems that the clone pilots often preferred to call each other by name. Imperial call signs followed very specific guidelines, so here is the article on that. If a communications officer needed to give instructions to a ship with multiple crewmembers (a capital ship, a freighter, a Star Destroyer, etc.) then that ship would usually be addressed by its name or designation, whatever is commonly accepted or known, and the captain/commanding officer would relay instructions to the relevant crewmembers.

I hope that helps! That’s a lot of information to get through, so feel free to ask for clarification on anything!

~ Jacen

What types of scans can be done on planets from space? How do those works and what information would it return? I’m wondering specifically about life forms but also anything else that could be conceivably and reasonably be done by a small ship on reconnaissance mission.

It depends on the individual sensor, but the main issue will be range. Many sensors are capable of operating from orbit (though the height of the orbit will depend on the planet’s mass and the ship’s velocity, it will be a relatively small distance for most sensor types), but may need a large receptor dish to do so effectively. Pretty much any type of sensor can be used on a planet from orbit, but you may have trouble with a smaller ship.

Life form indicators (LFIs) are not actually sensors in and of themselves, but computer programs that take data from other sensors and interpret it to come to a conclusion. A full-spectrum transceiver is used, because they are designed to detect all types of objects, energy, and fields. When interpreted by the LFI, they will return such information as temperature, motion, mass, and the life support settings of a ship (including atmosphere and gravity).

Because full-spectrum transceivers are so broad, they aren’t very sensitive, and a large receptor dish is needed for long-range scans. The LFI is only as good as the sensors, so a ship without room for a large dish will have trouble getting an accurate reading from a planet. (Additionally, I do not know whether an LFI would be able to distinguish between beings on a planet. I can’t think of an example of someone scanning a planet for species or population. However, the full-spectrum transceivers would be able to detect large concentrations of beings by their heat signatures and, depending, may not need to be totally accurate, so if this is useful information to have then you probably could get it from the sensors of a small reconnaissance ship.)

Other types of sensors that could be used on a planet include: electro-photo receptors, which combine visible light, ultraviolet, and infrared to form a hologram (only useful at short ranges); dedicated energy receptors, which detect electromagnetic emissions, including comlink transmissions, navigational beacons, heat, and laser light (these are what are used to detect enemy communications); and crystal gravfield traps, which detect gravitational fluctuations such as the presence of a ship or a planet. All these sensors could conceivably be installed on a small ship, though CGTs are rare and expensive.

Hope that helps!

~ Jacen

I’m wondering what to call the clothing that the Jedi wore. Wookieepedia describes their robes as “consisting of an undertunic, an overtunic, an outer robe with a deep hood and wide sleeves, loose-fitting trousers, a tabard, and a broad sash tied about the waist.” Are there any other terms for these pieces?For instance, I’m inclined to describe it as a belt, not a sash. What are the wrist-wraps called that young Caleb Dume wore? It also seems that British terms are favored in written works?

In the books, there’s quite a bit of flexibility in the terms used, though you’re right, British terms (and terms that have fallen out of use in everyday speech) are often preferred. I, for instance, favour calling the outer robe a cloak, especially for ones made of a thicker fabric. The sash around their waist can be called an obi, but would generally not be called a belt, because a utility belt is commonly worn over top of it. The undertunic is sometimes swapped for an undershirt, but other than that the terms there are the commonly used ones. (It also depends on the Jedi, because there can be a lot of variety in their outfits. Some Jedi, for example, prefer to wear civilian clothes. In wartime, their outfits could change significantly to accommodate armour.) I’m not sure there is a canon term for those wrist things, but most people refer to them as arm wraps or arm bands. For the most part it’s up to you what to call the different parts. Don’t feel that you have to use many different terms, though; it’s common for the same term to be repeated several times in a row, especially when it’s a more generic word.

Hope that helps!

~ Jacen

Do we have any concrete or educated guesses to how many star destroyers there are in the First Order’s navy circa the events of the Last Jedi? (and confession time. It’s not for a fic. My kiddo is curious. Thanks!)

According to Wookieepedia, the First Order has at least 33 Star Destroyers (including at least one Imperial-class) and at least 30 Resurgent-class Star Desroyers, as well as at least 2 Star Dreadnoughts (one was destroyed in TLJ). It’s a bit unclear to me whether those 30 Resurgent-class Star Destroyers are meant to be counted as part of the 33 Star Destroyers, but given that the old Imperial Navy included around 25,000 Imperial-class Star Destroyers I would guess not, making a total of at least 63 Star Destroyers, plus the Dreadnoughts.

~ Jacen

What can you tell me about a Jedi Guard’s keys? Wookiepedia is silent on the topic. Are they symbolic? Functional? It’s a uniform so I’m assuming that it’s probably both. Thanks!

I’m pretty much stumped on this one, I’m afraid. I can’t find any information on the Temple Guards’ keys. I would also assume that they have a practical function as well as a symbolic one, as there were certainly places within the Temple that would require a lock. However, it is also unusual to see a physical lock-and-key system used in Star Wars, so it is possible that the keys were not the only required authentication for whatever they were meant to access, or that they were just symbolic.

Sorry I couldn’t be more help!

~ Jacen

Fic Help

maptowhereialreadyam:

I need 2 ships for a story I’m writing.They would be used by Jedi Order, Clone Wars Era. They need to be able to carry minimum 4 and 12 people, complete with sleeping quarters, but not so big as to need a dedicated crew. I’m thinking along the lines of A Ghost or Millennium Falcon. It could be a freighter, I suppose, but it’s being used in a people moving capacity not hauling stuff. One needs to have a shuttle or an escape pod. The other is being used in military operations. Ideas? Thanks!

Tagging: @writebetterstarwars or anyone who has thoughts

For the first one, I would suggest the Consular-class cruiser. It can carry up to 16 passengers, can function with a crew of two, and has two escape pods. It is definitely bigger than the Falcon or the Ghost (at 115 meters long), but you won’t find something much smaller that can carry so many passengers. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan used it in TPM to travel to the Trade Federation battleship over Naboo; it was used all through the Clone Wars as part of the Republic Navy, when some were modified with turbolasers and concussion missiles, but it was primarily a diplomatic transport.

If you really need something smaller, you could go with the Zeta-class long-range shuttle. At 35m long it is about the same size as the Ghost and the Falcon, requires two crewmembers and can carry 10 passengers. I don’t know if it includes sleeping quarters for everyone (most likely not, at that size) or even at all, but it is designed specifically to transport people quickly over long distances.

For the one doing military operations, I’m actually going to suggest the Consular-class cruiser again, the Charger c70 retrofit version. It’s a bit bigger than the unmodified version, is equipped with weapons as mentioned above, can carry up to 30 people (presumably less if everyone wanted a living space), and need 9 crewmembers (I assume you could get by with two, like the unmodified version, if the weapons went unstaffed).

These probably seem a bit big for your purposes. The issue is that the Jedi Order doesn’t often use dedicated transports, they either get rides on civilian vessels or use a Republic Navy ship, so they don’t really have ships reminiscent of the Falcon or the Ghost. Basically, if you want a ship used specifically by the Jedi during the Clone Wars, one that has sleeping quarters, you will need a couple people to act as crewmembers and supervise the controls.

Hope that helps! If you need other suggestions I’m happy to give some more.

~ Jacen

Are clone trooper body gloves all one piece? Or tops and bottoms? Do we know how did they got into them if one piece? Or how they were secured if multiple pieces? Thanks!

Body gloves (or bodysuits) are all one piece, yes. In real life, they’re really only used for diving, scuba, etc., so they have zippers going from the neck to the lower back. It’s possible that they’re is used for the clones’ armour, but Phase I armour was pressurized, so it seems more likely that some other mechanism that can create an airtight seal was used. It’s also possible, since bodysuits aren’t as tight as scuba gear, that they fastened in the front. I’m sorry, I don’t have any more details than that, but I hope it’s at least a bit helpful!

~ Jacen

I can’t find anything in canon (but I haven’t read Catalyst) about actual dates of when the Empire began removing kyber crystals from Jedha. Does 10bby (or earlier) seem within the realm of possible? Or is it more likely that it’s a relatively recent activity?

I haven’t read Catalyst either, just a warning, but I know that it spans from 22-17 BBY, and that during that time kyber crystals had already been acquired from some other place. Galen Erso’s research was largely completed by the end, I believe, so once the events of the book were over I think it’s possible that the Empire could have started mining as early as that same year. On the other hand, the prologue of Rogue One is set in 13 BBY and the rest in 0 BBY, so that might be just too early for the mining to be finished when it was. It seems to me that anything later than 17 BBY and earlier than ~10 BBY could be plausible, and that something close to 13 BBY (when Galen was recaptured) could be more probable. That’s my opinion, though, and it’s really up to you.

Anyone who has read Catalyst and could provide some information on this, please share!

~ Jacen