Hello Dan, and welcome! I'm not the "new guy" anymore, yahoo!
Indeed, Star Wars fighters seem rather out of place, and the topic recently came up in another post:
Mr. Oragahn wrote:
Mmm, it seems that there are two people now who'd be really interested into reading the fighters vs capital ship thread I talked about recently.
Lo and behold! There it is!
Fighters & Capital ships in the films
There it is! I had gone looking but somehow missed that. I think I would like to bump that thread, looking at a few specific points, so I'll
try to keep my comments here brief, and cover the minutia later.
A couple more threads on the subject here:
http://www.starfleetjedi.net/forum/view ... t=32&p=172
http://www.starfleetjedi.net/forum/view ... ?f=8&t=241
2046 wrote:You have it right insofar as the opposing model not fitting with 'reality'. A variety of off-the-wall hypotheses have been employed to explain the model's failure....
....
In reality, the fighter/capship relation is more in keeping with WW2-style engagements after which they were modeled, and as such vessel resilience is simply not many orders beyond fighter output.
While cinematics are certainly the driving force, I've been trying to look at the strange tactics as representing a logical response to legitimate circumstances. A theory I'm partial to, is that SW shields don't operate as static, easily quantified barriers in vanilla sci-fi fashion. So far, canon sources have referred to ray shields, deflector shields, thermal shields (SW:TCW S2:E16 Cat and Mouse), and we've seen numerous variations in energy barriers. Seeing how not only light fighters, but smaller mounted cannons on capital ships seem to be be generally favored over small numbers of larger weapons, it seems that tactics other than brute force are preferred for taking down defensive shields.
We also know that shields can be focused to cover specific portions of ships, that shields can be "angled," presumably to increase their effectiveness against incoming fire, and that shields aren't left on constantly, even during military operations (the captain called to raise shields on the ISD that was pursuing the Falcon when Han turned to attack in TESB.)
In light of all this, I think that, short of impractically
massive weapon bursts, such as from the Hoth ion cannon, or the second Death Star's main gun, it's generally considered more practical to circumvent enemy shields than simply try to hammer through them. Specifically, the stopping power of SW shields seem to drastically outclass the penetration abilities of most weapons, but those shields are full of holes.
Looking back at SW:ANH, we are told that the Rebels need to use proton torpedoes to defeat the Death Star's ray shields. In CW S1:E20-Innocents of Ryloth, we see Separatist forces referring to a "new proton cannon," and that the Republic forces were subsequently surprised to find the enemy was "penetrating" their shields. Given the variety of shield types, it seems likely that a variety of specially designed weaponry, delivered from a variety of craft, could prove advantageous.
As for fighters specifically, obviously they would force a target to spread its shields over the entire ship, as opposed to focusing them, as the events of CW S1:E6-Downfall of a Droid illustrated. Considering that shields are also "angled," even spreading the shields over the entire ship may leave the shields more vulnerable to faster moving craft capable of firing from less predictable angles at close range. Of course, looking at the space battle over Naboo in TPM, a relativity small fighter force was incapable of defeating the droid control ship's shields, especially while harassed by its defense fighters.
Other examples of fighters posing a threat to capital ships usually involve newer craft, designed during an active conflict, undoubtedly sporting newer weaponry than the Naboo militia in a period of relative peace. Other times, such as in SW:CW S:01:E19, Storm Over Ryloth, ramming attacks were used. Additionally, most other engagements take place in the presence of larger capital ships, where the fighters are working in tandem with the larger craft.
To sum it up, I believe the presence of fighters in Star Wars, and similarly the use of many small guns on capital ships as opposed to larger ones, stems from the nature of the defensive systems employed. I imagine they are very good at stopping incoming fire, even against very high yields. But I think these shield systems are strained more through use in general than by the power of the weapon they are blocking, within reason, of course. Much like, if you've ever played the old Super Return of the Jedi on the SNES, levels where you pilot the Millennium Falcon, you could activate your shield to protect from damage, but the shields reserve was limited.
For more concrete, real world examples, think along the lines of ceramic plates used in body armor, or the reactive armor on tanks. Each is capable of protecting against advanced and powerful weaponry, but can also be "activated," basically, damaged, by ordinance less powerful than it is designed to stop.
