Harrower-class starships

The purpose this thread is to explain ground realities of one of the greatest marvels of engineering in the history of the mythos.

HARROWER-CLASS DREADNOUGHT

The mainstay of the Imperial navy and active symbol of the Empire's power, Harrower-class dreadnaughts are among the most powerful and deadly starships ever designed. The ship's wedged shaped hull allows virtually all of its firepower to be concentrated on directly forward, while also helping to minimize the ship's profile and deflect damage from head-on fire. Most servicemen consider the Harrower to be the high standard against which all other Imperial ships are judged, and these ship's crews often conduct themselves accordingly, offering only token of respect for anyone who serves on a "lesser" vessel.

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The epitome of Imperial destructive power, the Harrower-class dreadnought is the largest and best-armed ship currently in production by the Imperial military. Its wedge-shaped design is typical of Imperial warships going back to the founding of Dromund Kaas, but its technology is strictly state-of-the-art. The Harrower is capable of holding its own against starfighter fleets or multiple smaller warships but is best used as the backbone of an Imperial fleet--coordinating attacks, absorbing damage and launching devastating volleys where needed.

The energy and material cost of building a single Harrower is roughly equivalent to ten years' output of a major planetary mining colony. The loss of a Harrower is enough to pain logistics operators across the Empire.

Key aspects of the design:-

- Reinforced forward structure allows full-speed ramming if necessary.

- Recessed sensors and equipment minimizes risk of damage from enemy fire.

- Dual forward hangers enable rapid starfighter deployment.

- Turbolaser batteries equipped with linked targeting systems for maximum combined fire.

- Heavy armor plating capable of absorbing tremendous amount of firepower.

- Command tower equipped with multiple point-defense turrets.

- The bridge of a harrower dreadnought offers its captain a commanding view, both of the surrounding space and of the crew managing ship's systems.

- Deflector shield generators.

Types of equipment on a standard model:-

- Turbolaser cannons
- Quad-laser turrets
- Ion cannons
- Proton torpedo tubes
- Concussion missile launchers
- 95 Starfighters (Mark VI Supremacy-class)
- 32 Bombers (B28 Extinction-class)

Notable models:-

Harrower-class dreadnoughts had different models and configurations accordingly. Some of the deadliest models are listed below.

-> Doombringer (Superweapon; capable of one-shotting entire fleets of the enemy)*

*Powerful fleet-destroying technology, the Silencer is a ship-mounted cannon designed to be fired over long ranges. The visible energy beam created by the Silencer is capable of obliterating capital ships, but more significant is the beam’s blossoming effect–a rippling wave of radiation cascading outward from the beam with range and destructive power sufficient to destroy an entire enemy armada.

-> Desolater (Superweapon; capable of one-shotting an entire planet, arguably the most powerful Dreadnought ever built)

An example of Desolator's destructive firepower:

Comments from notable figures:-

"Imperial Star Destroyers are similar to Harrowers and shall be my tools of discipline among the rebellious systems of the Rim." (Darth Sidious)

"All that life extinguished... It's unthinkable." (Kira Carsen)

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Sources:-

- Star Wars: The Old Republic: Encyclopedia
- Star Wars: The Old Republic
- Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side

I lol'd that you considered the superweapons built onto harrowers as proof that Harrowers are good.

By your logic, every single space station that's ever lived is a feat of marvelous engineering "'Cause death star"

Solo those fleets.

The purpose this thread is to explain ground realities of one of the greatest marvels of engineering in the history of the mythos.

The thing about them is they were so good compared to the next best at the time (Hammerhead cruisers) that everyone used these same principles on a wide variety of ships ever since, coming up with many designs that are effectively Harrowers but even bigger and stronger, or counterparts that are equal to these bigger stronger successors.

A Harrower is like an F-4 fighter or a Colt 1911 handgun. Set the stage for so much to follow, but ultimately, if you do something right, everyone will do the same stuff right in response.

Originally posted by Selenial
I lol'd that you considered the superweapons built onto harrowers as proof that Harrowers are good.

Originally posted by Selenial
By your logic, every single space station that's ever lived is a feat of marvelous engineering "'Cause death star"

Originally posted by FreshestSlice

Solo those fleets.

Losses occur during battles. Even the greatest of starships have been destroyed in battles.

Harrowers aren't that great. They're smaller than most Galactic Empire naval ships, and everything said about them is what ISD's also do. Also the Desolator is a superweapon mounted on a Harrower, that's like saying the Imperial Star destroyer can destroy planets because you can mount the Superlasers on them.

Originally posted by Q99
The thing about them is they were so good compared to the next best at the time (Hammerhead cruisers) that everyone used these same principles on a wide variety of ships ever since, coming up with many designs that are effectively Harrowers but even bigger and stronger, or counterparts that are equal to these bigger stronger successors.

A Harrower is like an F-4 fighter or a Colt 1911 handgun. Set the stage for so much to follow, but ultimately, if you do something right, everyone will do the same stuff right in response.

Next best starships were Valor-class (Republic) cruisers and Terminus-class destroyer.

Get your facts straight, Q99.

No they don't. OT era ships actually have stated power outputs which rival Stars and have weaponry that can destroy the crusts of planets, STANDARD turbolasers at that.

Originally posted by The Merchant
Harrowers aren't that great. They're smaller than most Galactic Empire naval ships, and everything said about them is what ISD's also do. Also the Desolator is a superweapon mounted on a Harrower, that's like saying the Imperial Star destroyer can destroy planets because you can mount the Superlasers on them.

Harrower-class dreadnoughts represent of epitome of modern engineering in terms of technology, design and firepower. Since then, all I have noticed is bigger ships and more equipment onboard accordingly. Its like one Bus is bigger then other.

LeGenD, why do you always tell people who disagree with you that they "need to understand" or "get their facts straight" or that they're "horribly misinformed" or that they need to "think"? You also treat your inferences as absolutes that cannot be disputed. If I didn't know any better I'd assume you have something of an ego or a superiority complex or something.

The "Bigger is not better" is not a good argument because even in real life that's not the case. Usually, when you have the same levels of technology, bigger is better. And besides quotes that Imperial Star destroyers have, like being called the most "powerful warships in history" they have no statements that say they have great firepower. An Acclamator Star Destroyer, which is the weakest Star Destroyer mind you, has a firepower of 200 Gigatons every shot. That's capable of destroying entire Islands, and it has 12 turbolasers, meaning firing all at once can destroy entire countries. A fleet of them can destroy the entire crust of a planet, which is something an Imperial Star Destroyer can do in an hour. Tell me when anything in the Vitiate Empire has done that. In fact I recall them having a superlaser-like weapon and all it did was blast apart a city.

Eclipse Class Star Destroyer... Nuff Said.

Originally posted by The Merchant
No they don't. OT era ships actually have stated power outputs which rival Stars and have weaponry that can destroy the crusts of planets, STANDARD turbolasers at that.

As far as the crust related point is concerned, you are wrong. Point is not about bombarding an entire planet (Do you recall Taris?), point is that one-shotting an entire planet have always required superweapons, nothing less can achieve this. Desolator's firepower destroyed an entire planet in a single shot and chunks of that planet broke away from the main surface and floated in space. This is precursor to Death Star's capabilities.

In addition, OT era counterpart of Doombringer model is Conqueror.

Originally posted by Emperordmb
Eclipse Class Star Destroyer... Nuff Said.

There has never been a stated power output for a Harrower-Class, while the Power outout for an Imperial Star Destroyer is 9.28e+24 Watts. Convert that into Joules and it's basically using 3 Petatons every second. A Petaton can destroy entire Continents. And Star Destroyers can actually convert most of that into firepower. And that's not taking into account that they can store up said energies (Most huge facilitates take into account Watt-Hours rather than just every second.) Meaning that in an hour of building up energy, a Star Destroyer is producing 8 Exatons of firepower, at least half of it can go to the weapons. Once you hit that range you're destroying small Moons/Planetoids. Again, you're pretty much using a superweapon that was just mounted on a Harrower that uses a chain reaction to destroy a planet, they cannot be used against other ships. Read the description on how the Desolator actually destroys planets. No other Harrower even has that. And don't compare the conqueror, which uses brute power to destroy planets, against the Desolator, which uses a chain reaction that does not tap into the power output of the Harrower class.

Originally posted by The Merchant
The "Bigger is not better" is not a good argument because even in real life that's not the case. Usually, when you have the same levels of technology, bigger is better. And besides quotes that Imperial Star destroyers have, like being called the most "powerful warships in history" they have no statements that say they have great firepower. An Acclamator Star Destroyer, which is the weakest Star Destroyer mind you, has a firepower of 200 Gigatons every shot. That's capable of destroying entire Islands, and it has 12 turbolasers, meaning firing all at once can destroy entire countries. A fleet of them can destroy the entire crust of a planet, which is something an Imperial Star Destroyer can do in an hour. Tell me when anything in the Vitiate Empire has done that. In fact I recall them having a superlaser-like weapon and all it did was blast apart a city.

As far as firepower is concerned, Doombringer and Desolator models have set records in this matter, records that have been broken by Death Star only.

Desolator one-shotted an entire planet with a single blast, in a second. I have posted image above. Are you not paying attention?

Sun Crusher and Centerpoint station definitely outstrip everything mentioned here in destructive capability. Let's not get crazy and suggest otherwise.

Almost all the technology in every era of SW basically follows the same principals, and they DO believe in the bigger is better ideal. Technological progress in SW is VERY much like real life, if Harrowers were so great they'd still be using them. Instead their designs are made to be BETTER, which we see in the modern eras like the PT and OT. You did not provide any evidence to prove to me that a Harrower class is better than a ISD, and again stop using the Desolator superweapon. That weapon ignites the atmosphere of a planet and causes vibrations to destroy it. It is not like the Death Star in which you simply pump a lot of energy and the planet explodes. It uses an exotic method that requires little to no power, just sets a chain of events which leads to the destruction of a planet. If you were paying attention to me you would know this. The Harrowers power output had nothing to do with the deployment of the Desolator superweapon.

Oh yeah, didn't notice Doombringer and the Taris bombing. The Taris bombing is not comparable to what a single Imperial Star Destroyer can do, which destroys the Crust of the planet. To do that you need around 70 Exatons. To destroy Earth's Moon you need 30 Exatons. That can be done in simply 1 hour. As for Doombringer, can it destroy a Continent? Because just a seconds worth of energy from the Imperial Star Destroyer's shielding can withstand that, an hour long supply would be 4 Exatons worth of energy to take down its shields, which is equivalent to destroying a Planetoid.