Star Wars Timeframe

[anari_quun]

This is mainly a general idea concerning anything that has to do with the generations before the movies, like this video game and further iterations, and any books, comics, TV shows, etc.

 

It's supposed to be 4000 years prior, but there's no change in technology. This is ridiculous, so I think at some point there should be some cataclysmic event which wipes out most of the civilizations in the galaxy. It's the only thing which could explain the fact that technology has not significantly advanced in 4000 years.

 

I would have expected the galaxy 4000 years before the Empire being much more lo-tech, i.e., hyperspace just invented and still slow, no blasters, no giant fleets, only a few species, stuff like that.

 

It's kind of silly calling it 4000 years before the OT but then everything is the same, just slightly altered.

[Ratamacue]

Well, if you look at some things, they do advance within that time. Capital ships definitely get larger within that time frame (compare the Republic or Sith ships to Star Destroyers or Mon Calamari cruisers). Maybe, though, technology has simply reached a point where any further advance is extremely difficult until further breakthroughs are made in the area of manufacturing or the like.

[Berserk]

This question has been debated to death at the KOTOR boards on Biowares forum. The general explanation is that during this timeframe technology may have been lost and rediscovered as much of the timeline during these years are largely unexplored, maybe some great cataclysm or disaster/great war kicked the galaxy back a couple of millenia technologywise and when you reach the empire/rebellion era it has recovered sufficently.

[Judge Hades]

Whatever do you mean. We had television sets and nuclear subs 4000 years ago. I am sure we did. Tech advances ever so slowly, you know. It mirrors the real world quite accurately in that regard.

 

[Berserk]

Whatever do you mean. We had television sets and nuclear subs 4000 years ago. I am sure we did. Tech advances ever so slowly, you know. It mirrors the real world quite accurately in that regard.

 

You know what, if someone starts to fling a couple of nukes around the globe we might try this theory out for ourselves...

 

Seriously though, isn't the Star Wars galaxy supposed to be a really big place so to speak? At these kind of distances shouldn't it be quite easy for large portions of the galaxy be isolated in case of a larger conflict or disaster wich would allow for the general tech level to degrade with time as starsystems slowly gets isolated from the rest of the galaxy? Some pockets of systems might exist that retains some level of hyperspace travel but not at the same level as before.

 

Just my own musings, do what you want with them....

[FireWolf]

The republic prior to the Events of palpatine was supposed to have existed for some 20,000 years? Something like that anyway. There's always advances in technology but usually its improvements in design and use rather than whole new invention. Look at some of the things we use right now: the use of the oven hasnt changed, but as technology becomes available it advances. The great innovation comes through war.

 

The problem is that once you reach a certain stage of technological development, those wars become somewhat...destructive and one of the main goals on either side is to develop bigger and better technologies to beat the enemy, of course the other goal is to blast the opponent's technology centers to cripple their development. So that can hold back innovation.

 

Think about it this way, before about 3,000 years ago modern humans had inhabbited the earth for something like 100,000 years or so. Not a whole lot of technological advance there, I faith.

[Ivan the Terrible]

The Star Wars Galaxy is Science Fiction only in the loosest sense; there is no real science to speak of. Honestly, it's more like Fantasy with Science Fiction trappings. If you try to make sense of it scientifically, or delve deeply into the political, moral, or technological situation and compare it to our own, you're inevitably going to find that many, many, many things just don't add up.

 

But they aren't supposed to add up. This isn't an in-depth universe, no matter what people pretend; it's Space Opera and a universe entirely created as a backdrop for action-adventure.

 

As such, trying to compare the advance/decline of technology to our own is a bit of a waste of time. We also don't have galaxy-spanning Republics which last for 20,000 years; in fact, such an entity would become either completely fractured or totally despotic very quickly. If multi-national Empires on Earth fragment and collapse due to difference of opinion and loyalty to one's group over the whole, can you imagine what would happen to one that rules every species in the Galaxy?

 

But that doesn't matter. It's Star Wars, not Political Science. Stop giving yourself a headache and just go with the flow.

[icebox15]

The best answer I can think of is to just look at the little things. Since the events of KOTOR: custom lightsaber hilts have been made, ships have gotten sleaker body styles, Armour, etc.

[FireWolf]

I agree with you for the most part, Ivan, but I do think that when a game is set in a the past of a previously established universe, the technology should be noticeably different yet familier, if you get my meaning. You recognise that its the ancester of stuff you've seen before.

[Dereth]

Welcome to Star Wars, Please suspend your belief on the way in.

[Judge Hades]

You can suspend one's disbelief ever so much before it collapses in on itself. Going into what if scenerios with nukes and other bull**** is just stupid. You are stretching for an explanation when there isn't one. Just go by the material that is there and live everything else out. If its stupid and implausible its the way the developers/designers wanted it. It is also bad story telling and ill design work.

[aggiekevin]

I think its funny that people debate points like "why hasn't the technology changed in 4000 years", and yet nobody seems to care that there are swords with light coming out of them or that mofos can lift spaceships or choke someone with their mind. Its star wars guys. Just enjoy it.

 

And the REAL reason KOTOR's 4000 year old technology is relatively the same as the OT's is because if the devs made it look like 4000 years in the past, it would look soooo dissimalar from what we expect stars wars to be that MORE people would be upset than the few that are complaining about the prior. In short... they wanted to sell games, not make something historically accurate.

 

Might as well start debating how galactic basic sounds a lot like earth's english. Explain that whiz kids.

[Judge Hades]

1. Sorry, but when I am dealing with high levels of implausibilities and inconsistancy in a setting's given storyline I can't have any fun with it.

 

2. I wouldn't be complaiing.

 

3. That is simple. We are watching the actions as a native speaker of the most common language.

[aggiekevin]

3. That is simple. We are watching the actions as a native speaker of the most common language.

You are absolutely right. And all this time I was thinking it was because Lucas wanted Americans to understand his actors in the movies. I'm so stupid.

 

And from the looks of things... it doesn't look like you are exactly a "fun loving guy" to begin with. I mean come on... you hate easter eggs.

[Judge Hades]

Hey, one or two is just fine, but putting any more than that is stupid. Fallout 2 had thousands of easter eggs/pop culture references that killed the game. One and two, fine. Thousands, bad.

[ShinIchiro]

Look at the KOTOR medical technology. Eons behind "modern" SW stuff. I think shields are new at this era. The fleet battle at Star Forge was a miniscule fleet compared to NJO stuff. Droids are a little less advanced looking, but only a little.

[Rensei]

There was a quote about fiction that I cant quite remember. Something to the effect of "In order for fiction to work, there must be a certain surrender of reason".

[Judge Hades]

Yes, a certain surrender of reason, but not a complete surrender.

[ShinIchiro]

That's why there isn't a complete surrender. There is nothig that I can think of that is completely irrational. In fact I don't think the human mind can comprehend complete irrationality.

[Ratamacue]

Look at the KOTOR medical technology. Eons behind "modern" SW stuff. I think shields are new at this era. The fleet battle at Star Forge was a miniscule fleet compared to NJO stuff. Droids are a little less advanced looking, but only a little.

As for medical technology, that's true. While kolto was the primary healing agent in the time period of KOTOR (and had to be mined from natural sources), bacta was later invented as a more powerful healing agent and was artificially manufactured.

 

The fleet battle was probably actually meant to be truly massive (look at the fleet around the Star Forge when the Ebon Hawk first arrives there) but they probably showed fewer ships during the actual battles scenes to simplify creating the CGI.

[Judge Hades]

I can, but lets not go there.

 

It is completely unreasonable that there isn't significant advances, in nearly all aspects of technology, in 4000 years.

[ShinIchiro]

I can, but lets not go there.

 

It is completely unreasonable that there isn't significant advances, in nearly all aspects of technology, in 4000 years.

Medically things work. Does anyone remember shields (on ships) being mentioned in the game. It's possible we can say that they had the superconductive metal instead of shields. Also, the fleet was huge. for its time... Has anyone read the NJO? THey have hundreds of thousands of capital ships fighting per side. Not to mention snubfighteres.

 

 

P.S. Hades, that last comment was either really ignorant or really arogant.

[Judge Hades]

I think that shields on ships would be made first before personal shield generators. Technology tends to start large then miniturize, not the other way around. Besides if they didn't have shields any little piece of debris would rip right through a starship.

[ShinIchiro]

Particle shields are different than energy shields.

[Judge Hades]

In what way?