this post was submitted on 06 May 2024
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Showerthoughts

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[–] [email protected] 51 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The reason the Jedi use live lightsabers to train is because prosthetics are so good.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 7 months ago

The reason the Jedi use prosthetics to train is because live lightsabers are so good.

[–] Vinny_93 48 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Well... Your logic seems on point but keep in mind this is a civilisation that does hyperspace travel and stuff

[–] SpaceNoodle 33 points 7 months ago (2 children)

We have walked on other celestial bodies, but we still burn toxic goop that destroys our atmosphere in order to buy chicken nuggets. Logic need not apply.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 7 months ago

"The future has already arrived. It's just not evenly distributed yet."

[–] Vinny_93 12 points 7 months ago

I accept your premise that parameters of technological advancement need not influence each other, but assuming that they correlate similarly as on Earth, prosthetics and interstellar travel might have moved forward by the same coefficient.

In that case, walking on the Moon is like using a rock for a prosthetic eye.

[–] AsherahTheEnd 18 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Actually if I remember correctly, younglings use weaker sabers that can't cut through as much as normal sabers do. Most early training is done with specifically training sabers like those.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago

Correct, younglings use training sabers that don't cut.

Padawans, knights, and masters spar with their whole ass sabers.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 7 months ago

Faults may be found in the reasoning, but even with that, this may just be the truth.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Funny thing is that limb slicing is actually the primary goal of several lightsaber techniques, since the opponent will usually be trying to guard their vital organs and will leave the limbs relatively more exposed.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

So pretty much what you would do with regular swords. Arms and to some extent legs are closer to you than the rest of the body so they are often the easiest targets.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago

There's very little Jedi in the Star Wars Universe so it's reasonable to consider the advancement of prosthetics in this universe indipendent from lightsabers.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

If they used dead lightsabers, they'd just be swinging around a handle.

Also: the "blade" doesn't weigh anything; how come no one has a super long lightsaber? The length of the blade is adjustable.

[–] IHawkMike 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

And similarly, why can't Star Trek officers just set it to wide beam and/or just hold down the button while they paint the room?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

I think the simple answer to both of these questions could be "power limitations".

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

That's what the big rifle ones are for.

And with the lightsaber, they have double sided ones. Why not focus the twin beams into 1 extra long one?

[–] ummthatguy 9 points 7 months ago

Janeway used a wide beam dispersal at least once.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Maybe the length of the saber doesn't scale linearly. Maybe there's some extremely fast dropoff in effectiveness after a couple of feet.

And the power limitations of the phasers seem to me like they require some kind of capacitor to charge up and release in a burst. Plus maybe the tip of the phaser would overheat under sustained fire.

And sure, you could say "add more tips", but we've tried that with gun barrels IRL for the same reason. They're heavy & unwieldy so they only get used for mounted guns, like with the minigun.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

And star wars has miniguns as well to solve that problem, usually carried by a single heavy gunner

RIP Hevy

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

We have been shown that there is some weight to a lightsaber when lit though. Like in Rebels and the Mandalorian/Book of Boba.

And this weight is different to how a normal sword would work. The length adjustment is to finetune this power/weight distribution to fit the user and their style of fighting. Which is why we get shotos and claymores, as well as different sizes for different sized species.

[–] Anticorp 3 points 7 months ago

The Jedi use live lightsabers to train because the prosthetics are so good.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Maybe it's a chicken and egg thing. They could've started using live lightsabers because the prosthetics are so good.