Originally posted by Bri_Dog
To those argueing the affects of a 200GT turbolaser blast:
The force of the weapon does not act like a bomb, it channels it's energy into one point. So the example of hitting Curscant with a stray shot and wiping out part of the city the size of Alaska is wrong 
You know, I was hoping you would say that misconception.
First of all the energy of a nuke propogates from a very small area. The energy released is almost entirely thermal energy (the rest being high energy radiation like gamma rays), similar to what a laser would do.
Now if anything, a turbolaser with the power of 200GT would do MORE damage than a 200GT nuke, because ALL of the energy would be converted to thermal energy. Oh wait, 200GT is the puny transport guns right? So, 800GT.
Just to illustrate how this works:
A nuke releases an unimaginable amount of thermal energy. This heats up the air immediately surrounding the release. This obviously heats the air up to hundreds of millions of degrees, turning all of it into plasma. This effect is seen as the "fireball." This ball expands incredibly rapidly. The air outside the fireball is also heated and expands at an insane rate, producing the subsequent shockwave and blast (overpressure front), which does by far the most damage.
Now, turbolaser (providing a conveniant 800GT output of energy) hitting the ground would be a disaster beyond human imagination. First of all, while burning through the atmosphere, it would heat up the air to billions of degrees (comparable to a supernova) would cause a sudden expansion of the air so rapid that first of all, it would create a sound shock that's basically thunder (caused by the air being heated up to 10,000 degrees by lightning) x 1,000,000, shattering virtually all non-flexible material for hundreds of miles. Then the wind would be so strong that you wouldn't be at all surprised to see the Imperial Palace fly by.
Next, after it hits the ground the rock on the surface would immediately expand into a plasma fireball, like a nuke, because if the footage is to be believed in Star Wars, the energy is absorbed very rapidly, so it would end up vaporizing everything anywhere close to it.
But most of all, the worst damage would occur from where the turbolaser bores into the ground. The rock is also heated to billions of degrees and expands at insane rates. But this is a solid material, rather than a gaseous substance, so the result is FAR more catastrophic. The expanding and superheated plasma expands and utterly shatters the surrounding rock. This would create both gigantic cracks bursting through the crust of the planet shooting out ultra high-speed, billion degree plasma throughout the area. Then after that, a huge seismic shockwave such that humans have never imagined occuring would propogate under the surface. This shockwave, being relatively shallow beneath the surface would create even more shattering of the crust (think taking a sandbox, and doing a whip motion). And since the wave moves through a solid material, it is transfered very far and quickly, ripping apart all foundations and structures, as well as natural landmarks (mountains etc.) for hundreds if not thousands of miles. Oh and I almost forgot that the shockwave would also cause any tension in the rocks to be released causing even MORE earthquakes.
And that's from ONE shot.
Originally posted by GrandAdmiralAbaht
Thats why Courssucant and almost every other planet has something called planetary shielding , it prevents such a disaster. And starships with massive 200 GT weapons have something called sensors and targeting systems. They prevent any stray shots from ever hitting planet in the first place.
And who ever said the insides of the Trader Federation freighter were made of Durasteel? Only the outer hull is made of it.
And we clearly see an example of SW capship acceleration when the Imperial Fleet comes out of hiding from behind the far side of Endor and cuts off the rebel fleet. This flet, made entirely of Star Destroyers, came so fast that rebel ships only detected them once they had already been cut off. And don't say that the fleet hyperspaced there cause the DS had gravity wells online and the mass shadow of Endor would prevent the fleet from jumping from once side of the moon to the other and the Emperor clearly states that the fleet went to the far side of the Endor. It takes a hell of 
of acceleration to wrap around a huge moon in less than ten seconds!
Next, as I was saying, no matter WHAT durasteel is, it WILL be vaporized. Not only would all materials in the universe be disociated into plasma, but even the EU would verify that as well. Take the book
Dark Apprentice for proof (a book that incidentally refers to the Star Destroyer "planet slagging"). In the end, Admiral Daala's SD's got vaporized in a fraction of a second by the supernova. However, at the distance they are from the star, the temperature of the expanding shockwave has cooled to a mere few million, or even down to the hundreds of thousands of degrees. The surface area of the back of a fleeing SD is quite small so the total energy absorbed is most likely FAR less than the energy in ONE turbolaser shot (remember, a "primitive" 10MT nuke could form a fireball 3 miles in diameter, 3 times larger than a SD on its long side, inside which everything was vaporized). But of course turbolasers act on an exceeding small area (1-2 meters in diameter) yet the amazing shields and "durasteel" shrug them off like stinging flies.
So, in otherwords, if durasteel and shields were so amazingly powerful, the Imperials inside should've just sat on the bridge with sunglasses and a cool glass of lemonade during the supernova laughing at Kyp Durron's pitiful attempts to blow them up.
As for the whole 3500G's thing, see my above comments about inertia. Besides, even if there WAS such a mysterious material as to render inertia a moot point, the people INSIDE still have inertia and so are you gonna make them swallow that special material as a daily part of their diet? Otherwise
SPLAT! Oh and whenever the people are punched in a fist fight, they also splatter into a gooey mass on the walls (as well as the puncher himself because of Newton's laws... oh wait, I forget, Newtonian laws don't apply). And of course as I pointed out above, if inertia is virtually 0, then the slightest touch should've blown the ships away (space dust, solar wind, a frustrated stormtrooper beating on the walls because he was just demoted, etc.)
Oh and if they can accelerate to that high, why don't they "fly around in circles singing Can't Touch This." Obviously the enemy turrets can't possibly track you going at 16,000kph (which only takes half a second to reach accelerating at 3500G's) which would let you circle around the width of a SD about 2-3 times a second. See how slow turrets turn in ANH? Some of them are even human manned. That'll be quite a whiplash trying to keep up with em. But the people in the spinning ship could circle it so that one side's turrets always face the SD blasting away. But you see in RotJ, the Neb. B. Frigate going at a lazy pace along side the SD going at no more than 10kph...
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