I feel like the Tarkin doctrine played a part in this design... *"Look at how much fuel this one tanker has, the Rebels have no logistical counterpart!"*
General Antilles I honestly would've devoted a ton of my funds to coating those tanks with the toughest material alloys in the stars. That way, once the attackers realize it's useless they will be left dumbfounded and open to their immediate annihilation. Or they'll go warn Rebel High command that they have a new "target" 😂
It does seem like a tresonously stupid design by not putting armor on the tanks to protect it. These thing's should have insane amount of protective measures to prevent their destruction considering how valuable their cargo is.
@@JeanLucCaptain Yeah, I expect so. Taking out an Altor and getting past it's fleet would cost too much for Rebels to strike at. But if some Imperial made a mistake and left this thing relatively vulnerable....
This is definitely one of the coolest looking Star Wars ships I’ve seen. The franchise’s industrial ships and vehicles have always looked amazing. They have the right blend of ruggedness, futuristic technology, an ‘old’ & heavily-used look, mixed with a dash of believability. They (mostly) look practical and functional, and thus believable. More so than many military ships.
I agree. I don't know exactly what about it appeals to me, but it just has the perfect balance of industrial and futuristic elements and it works so well
Now, now. The Germans knew about logistics, but told the logisticians what was required, rather than designing campaigns around what was realistic and possible.
Its a pain in the ass at national holidays though, such as "Praise Mr P, Startrooper veterans day and Flamegrill a Jedi in the park" - get on the roads early and remember to tip the personnel and treat them with respect!.
For the people who still think refueling doesn't have a place in Star Wars, here's a line from the original New Hope script by George Lucas in 1976: BIGGS: That's no battle, hot shot... they're just sitting there! Probably a freighter-tanker refueling.
If a ship has a “range”, it will eventually need fuel. N if the number of ISDs do number at 25,000,, they will definitely need fuel ships. Weird why they woudnt think smthing like this has a place. The imperial fleet, being the technical powerhouse that they are, is just begging to be completed in terms of technical worldbuilding. Just look at our own world navies and ocean transportation. We could draw and develope similarities from there. Added note: putting everything in one basket is never a good idea,, so im glad this is “just” a fuel tanker and doesnt double as rearming platform or repair dock.
@@angelmontero6022 Reactors run on *reactant* , thrusters need *propellant* You could have all the power generation in the world but you won't be going anywhere without something to push out of the thruster exhaust.
ChaosSandwhich that’s if your using chemical based propellant - iirc the use Ion based engine design, which would be similar to how UNSC ships move around in sublight speed
I guess the shield generator you've pointed out in this video for only having one on a such important vessel, is actually just an external additional shield generator for its bridge. The ISDs also have two of them just for the additional protection on the exposed bridge on the upper deck. The ISDs also have main shield generators inside the ship in order to protect the entire hull. The spherical shield generator is just an additional external shield generator for exposed bridge.
Depending if the fuel even is explosive. It could be inert unless in certain conditions. Fission fuel is not explosive, fusion fuel is very explosive, but explodes chemically, not by fusion. Argon/xenon reaction mass is completely inert. Edit: TIE fighter is Twin Ion Engine, so it to our current knowledge, uses something like argon or xenon like the new ion engines NASA is developing.
Edit: Man people get triggered when you say fuel! The SW f word apparently. This ship comes from The Essential Guide to Warfare in 2012, a legends book, so I hope you are embarrassed with you TLJ retcon ship conspiracy. Also, fusion reactors need fuel, they last much longer and on a nearly ubiquitous supply, but they aren't perpetual motion machines. You don't hit go and it just runs forever without ever needing more input to get output. The fact people that think so are condescendingly critiquing me and the SW writers on this has me bamboozled. End edit. RIC OLIE: There's not enough power to get us to Coruscant - the hyperdrive is leaking. QUI-GON: We'll have to land somewhere to refuel and repair the ship. For all the annoying people that think that The Last Jedi was the first time fuel was ever mentioned, and that for some reason me doing a video about a fuel ship means TLJ was my favorite SW movie and that I got a tattoo of Rian Johnson's face on my face while burning legends books and counting my shill money. I just really hate this simplistic weird response by people because it ironically shows how not a "true" fan of legends they are. There are other smaller refueling ships I want to cover from old games and comics, and you don't love star wars more than this things creator who spent thousands of hours on tons of different SW fan ships. Again that are almost all made to bring to life obscure references to ships that we never got to see in detail. Sorry for the rant it is just so damn silly how so many SW fans minds work.
If you're wondering about fuel consumption for ships I remember there being a mention about how much fuel a Venator class star destroyer uses in the Revenge of the Sith cross section book.
It isn't fuel that bugs me. It is the "hyperfuel" thing. Fuel has always existed and I recognize that. What I don't get is them now spawning in a precious and rare fuel for *hyperdrives*, technology that is used by every spacer ever. It used to be that hyper matter was what allowed the hyperdrive to function, but hyper matter wasn't fuel itself. You needed to utilize the power from the generic fuel supply to make that stuff work. Now hyper fuel exists as a form of hyper matter and is automatically what everyone uses, despite the fact that hyper fuel is a downgrade in every way. It was just a cheap ploy by Johnson created to discuss why the Rebels couldn't jump away, but could fly away for hours on end.
Haha it's pretty obvious when you have a SW fan that's only ever watched the movies, as opposed to one who's read all the vintage comics and novels they could get. The least informed usually consider themselves the most correct.
@@AstinCrow "but hyper matter wasn't fuel itself." That's literally what it is. The hypermatter annihilation chambers exist to extract the power from the fuel itself, hypermatter.
Meanwhile in the real world: Japanese Oil Tanker attacked randomly. Attackers are unknown. Lots of oil has gone up in flames. Oil Prices may rise. In Star Wars Universe: Imperial Altor-Class Resupply Ship was attacked by Rebel Forces. Yet they did little to stop the flow of supplies to our brave Imperial Navy. As Imperial Forces have successfully defended the cargo. Long Live the Empire! Still in Star Wars Universe: Prices on goods still goes up to fund another stupidly complicated super weapon that will not work because some moron with a Plot Armor and Weapons will win.
@@urbanllama4208 they still technically won by destroying the Yavin 4 base with overwhelming forces.....yeah the Empire was PISSED at the rebels after the Death Star xD
Yep I got a gdl galixy destroying laser it's op as hell but does what's in the name recharge is *3 months for laser cool down using cryo fluid (mindustry coolant) and recharge is 6 months for full battery recharge by DMR and BHR (dark matter reactor and black hole reactor)
I love it when Fractal Sponge and other fans have their work make it in to official Canon like this. Neat looking ship with a crucial role in the war effort.
He would probably be dead or taken prisoner. Rebels have no need for these ships, only the fuel. They would destroy it. First, incapacitate the ship, escorts, yes, there has to be escorts, and communications. Refuel rebel ships. Detonate fuel ship. They dont have the crew to take one as prize, and no use for it, and its way too big and unwieldy. Maybe they could hide it somewhere but its still just too much trouble. Takes thousands of men and months to secure a ship that size.
@@ribbitgoesthedoglastnamehe4681 yeap... the rebels wud probably refuel as many ships as they could before they scuttle it. They dont have the logistics to ferry/escort something THAT big,, And it being such high value target means the escort for these behemoths must be extensive. Im guessing the takedown of even just one of these supertankers would disable the imperial ships in that system (and probably other nearby systems) for sometime before they send in a replacement ship.
@@arsyadidris2919 No. The local fleets would be able to operate for weeks on their own, and local bases could support operations for months. There are always different layers. Instead, other assets would be mobilised, other storages used. The damage would be much more strategic and slower, more insidious. Big ships would hang around planets more in a show of force, but long range patrols would be more limited, counter attacks more cautious, task forces smaller, cruising speeds bit more relaxed. Not much, but suddenly there would be limits on fuel use, limitations on comforts like replacement uniforms, candy and soda, bedsheets, or local varieties would be in use. Engineers would do longer hours nursing machines with less spare parts. Energy in literal and practical sense would be drained from the fleets. For Rebels, this would be exactly what they want. Less patrols, slower response times, more blindspots in non-inhabited areas, and most importantly, an increase in military convoys and consequently, weaker convoy escorts for each, making possible to cause even more losses. If you think of Atlantic war, Germany had maybe 5% of the fleet strength that UK had, but convoy raiding forced UK to use most of its strength to protect merchantmen.
@@ribbitgoesthedoglastnamehe4681 excellent insight there man. N thanx for correcting me. So in a way,,, the modern day equivalent of laying a seige is to knock out their logistics (and a fuel ship of this magnitude is one helluva logistic), is that right? N indeed ur right,, a supply ship is just one component of the supply chain. Another would be to distrupt the supply route,, which considering the vastness of the imperial armada, could be alot harder than just simply taking out the supply ship itself,,
Fractalsponge did an amazing job with the artwork for this ship. To be fair, Star Wars Rebels had an episode where the Ghost practically ran out of gas forcing the characters to seek out bases to possibly raid or steal fuel so yes fuel needs are quite true in Star Wars.
No, Star Trek ships are fueled with antimatter and deuterium. Dilithium crystals are used to control the reaction of matter and antimatter in the warpcore
@@The_Str4nger Dilithium is a catalyst. The warp core directs streams of deuterium and anti-deuterium at a dilithium crystal, whose crystal matrix helps them mix in a hand-wavey sort of way to produce warp plasma. In the original series, the ship had to carry a supply of dilithium crystals because they would be gradually destroyed by the warp reaction. In Star Trek IV, Scotty figures out a way to recrystalize spent dilithium, so after that, they don't have to worry about carrying a bunch of the crystals because they can be recycled.
In other words Federation Starships make even bigger booms when their cores cascade and fail which also EMPs star wars ships. Victory for the Federation! Joking aside though, seriously, anti-matter explosions are way more devastating than the explosions from Star Wars ships
@@ucitymetalhead Lmao maybe the blue flame we saw after he got threw down there was just cause Palpatine was gassy and someone struck a match for a smoke break😂
If you have watched "Deadliest Catch," you have seen refurbished WW2 fuel tankers. Since diesel is a form of oil, these ships were called oilers. Cleaned up and updated, their multiple tanks and the fact that they were designed to operated with the tanks full of liquid, and their smaller size, they made excellent boats for crab fishing in ruff oceans.
This ship is a testament to over centralisation. You basically change simple supply line to a single point of failure massively expensive and "cant be everywhere at once" weakness. Imagine how flexible a supply line would be if it had hundreds of ships like this all 1/100s the total fuel carry capacity. Even if a star destroyer would need 2 of those smaller crafts to fill up completely it would mean as one ship refuels the other is already halfway back to a depot for picking up the next batch, and even if the fleet is refuelling if something happens they can be dynamically redeployed at will.
Well now that you mention it that’s not a bad idea. because if you look at the American military or any military with naval ships.that is kind of how they re-supplied with the tenders that we supply carriers are possibly a quarter of the size of a carrier. I have to admit I never really thought about how supplies were delivered to star destroyers. But that makes perfect sense. And I would be willing to guess that maybe these probably traveled with an escort because something that big that lightly armored. Would probably need a few support ships itself
No there's no way I could know that. But I see where you're going it would definitely be somewhat less, or I guess similar considering the curved ends where not included.
I do like to think now and then about the logistics of running an entire fleet. This ship is a great asset to a fleet but it does put a big target on itself with those giant fuel tanks
You could do a cylinder + sphere volume calculation and get a bit closer to the actual volume of those tanks but still close enough for this comparison. I really like when you compare earth based stuff, it helps grasp the size of these ships.
We really aren't aware of how this fuel needs to be stored, so inside these tanks, there could be far less volume to hold the fuel than what the tank shows, having internal cells or buffered compartments, shielded and insulated for safety. This could be the reason behind the ships needing to be so large. There could be eight cylinders to the inside of each tank, all shielded and kept stable for transport. Internal pumping machinery, or monitoring equipment standard to each cell.
A focused fighter attack against the fueltanks might be a valid tactic to take out or inflict heavy damage to two dreadnoughts. This sounds much more efficient and rebel-like than just open combat against the dreadnoughts since they are for some time "stuck" to the tanker wich makes defensive manuvers impossible and limits the field of fire of the dreadnoughts guns Do you thing this makes a nice setting for a cinematic videoclip?
@@Bienenschwarm5 One A-wing for two heavily damaged dreadnaughts seems fair gain. But would the rebellion accepted Leia didn't like it when Poe did that.
Ahhh the lifeblood behind the warmachine of the empire... It is nice to know that you are talking about this. Thanks alot of questions I had have been answered.
I love the design of the Altor and that it exists in the SW universe providing support to the Imperial fleet. Another background logistical ship worth covering is the Imperial Cargo Container Ship / Provider class ship as seen in SW Rebels episode The Forgotten Droid.
I guess that you could not just drop them out of the ship to explode on impact like ww2 planes do. But it would be possible to modify them with explosives and use them als traps / mines or rockets if you put an engine onto it, but hitting a moving target with a rocket that size and possibly a very slow speed would be hard to say the least. But yeah, I can see them being used as proximity mines and to "bomb" a stationary target like a space station.
Man, these are really cool, they could function as such amazing plot points because by being loaded with a fleet size of fuel and food and being able to repair and perhaps even manufacture light cruisers. These ships could be an absolute nightmare to let escape into a busy sector (thinking post-Palpatine Empire) because if you didn't finish them off before they escaped they could basically build a not-so-informidable small fleet by themselves. Imagine what Thrawn or some other crafty admiral could do. It reminds me of the Drydock ships from the Homeworld Series
You would think it would be tactically far better to have thousands of smaller refuelling vessels than one huge one. As the video says, loss of one of these would be utterly catastrophic and thousands of Star Destroyers could be crippled theoretically by one person flying one ship firing a proton torpedo in the right place, whereas it would be nearly impossible to destroy many small refuelling ships. As with AT-ATs that are capable of being brought down with a bit of rope, Stormtrooper armour that seems to provide zero protection, massive battle stations that can be destroyed with a single torpedo, and Rebel troop carriers electing to for some reason fly straight past the Imperial fleet instead of in the complete opposite direction when leaving Hoth, I think the only reason the Galactic Civil War wasn't over in five seconds was because both sides were as idiotic as each other.
Some of the deals were explained in verse I believe For the Death Star it was that it was a major design flaw that no one thought anything of it Also I'm pretty sure the only way they could go when escaping Hoth was towards that fleet cause it was not small and probably had most of the escape routes from the planet covered The At At deal I got nothing on but the armor is more so, if fighting in close range, armor doesn't do much to dissipate a blast, plus we don't see all the shots they took first so yeah Also more fuel ships just makes it harder to take them all down, not impossible to take down period, granted in the long run they would still work better then huge ones like these..... though idk if one of the smaller ships could refuel an ISD in full
Granted in regards to other stuff Your not wrong on many tactical blunders being a thing in the universe But hey guess that is just plot and not necessarily something that does happen in real life
The reason that the hoth fleet had to fly past the isd fleet is that there is only a few points where you can jump to hyperdrive. Think of it as the entrance to a highway from a side street
This tanks remind me of airships (zeppelin), I love the idea of this ship in a steampunk setting. A massive flying shipyard over the city, until someone sets it ablaze and it crashes onto an entire city. I know, it's not a viable option in most settings, but I would love the look of such ship
Support is vital. Even the greatest warship runs out of ammo, needs its components and armour repaired, refueled and its food supplies restocked. Without logistical support, the greatest army is reduced to a bunch of hungry men holding expensive sticks.
theory: those repair hangers do double duty as those frigates and smaller ships carry fighters making the need for defenses moot as those would be launched to defend the ships. plus those ships aren’t leaving without escorts of heavily armed frigates and ISDs as you don’t send ships like that out unprotected
Owners manual says millennium falcon has to refuel about once a month. Also Erwin Rommel said that the winner of a one on one fight is the man with one more round in his magazine.
This is a really awesome video but 7 main and 54 aux equals 61 but there is 63 I counted them and found that it has 8 aux in 7 boxes making 8 times 7 equalling 56 aux engines. Thank you for shaering this awesome look in an unseen or over looked aspect of starships in starwars. As always I enjoyed it.
Still, that would have been quite the boon for a rebel cell if they could manage to steal one. It would also be quite the BOOM if they were forced to destroy one.
Remember that the ISDs etc were *entirely* unautomated, using humans to fire every gun, enter every course, and engage every engine system. The Star Wars galaxy have always been very proud of this for some reason - like they are competing with BSG, who have a very real reason for disconnecting and unautomating their ships, in the risk of Cylon hacking.
One off variant… A Q-Ship that looks like a normal Altair but is a heavy combat vessel with interdiction technology to sucker in rebel attacks. Or better yet - fuel tanks that are combat stations that can replace a normal fuel pod on swapping. It's got a massive hanger holding hundreds (or thousands, that's a lot of volume) of Ties and gunships and frigates, plus hidden shield emitters and pop out guns and lots of missile tubes for heavy proton missiles. Plus one has a Interdiction generator inside, but the rebels can't tell which one. So they can't specifically target it to get away. A single pod could still be left as fuel, to help the disguise, if they get intel that a attack is planned. Such a ship could trap and obliterate an entire raiding fleet. And for just general protection, one combat pod could be rotated around for service on a few Altairs just as a deterrent.
*Solid Fuel Converter:* Here! Let me transform anything organic you put in me into functional fuel for any and all of your war ships! ^-^ *Emperor Sheev Palpatine:* ...Hehehehehe.. Let’s increase the number of crew members on all of my Imperial Navy destroyers, cruisers, corvettes, dreadnaughts and frigates.. What they don’t know won’t hurt them.. *Me:* Oh for the love of Jabba the Hutt. Now I’ll always remember that the space ships in StarWars can be fueled by anything, including literal shit.
If fuel is the reason the Empire cranked up the crew requirement for their ship, then that really puts a new meaning to when they say they are running on fumes.
Where did you found tankers height and width? I was building this ship in Lego Digital Designer for quite a while and forgot about it, and you reminded me!
So if a validusia station refuels the Altors then what refuels the validusia stations when they need to be refuelled? (Mostly sarcastic but kinda interesting question)
I'm guessing that the tanks that the altors use are filled at a refinery or fuel production plant then shipped either individually by smaller ships or en mass by other Altors to the stations. So you have altors that go back and forth between refineries and validusias constantly exchanging empty tanks for full ones while other altors are out on refuelling missions with ships and fleets who then return to then return to the validusias when their tanks are empty, swap them out and the cycle begins anew.
I think the kyber crystal is the dilithium crystal of the SW universe. Once they unlock it's power they can travel at ftl speeds without hyperspace lanes though they'll still be faster. "Hyperspace tracking" would no longer be a thing because you'd be able to merge into hyper space lanes at any given point along the route. They already have the reactor technology but haven't figured out to use kyber as their lattice matrix source.
A cart of your enemy's provisions is worth twenty of your own.
- Sun Tzu
If fighting is sure to result in victory then YOU MUST FIGHT!
Really appreciate the historical figure quotes. Also, Star Wars logistics is a fun yet overlooked part of the franchise so thanks for that.
I feel like the Tarkin doctrine played a part in this design...
*"Look at how much fuel this one tanker has, the Rebels have no logistical counterpart!"*
Oh no, it exploded when a torpedo hit a tank... all that fuel's gone.
General Antilles I honestly would've devoted a ton of my funds to coating those tanks with the toughest material alloys in the stars. That way, once the attackers realize it's useless they will be left dumbfounded and open to their immediate annihilation. Or they'll go warn Rebel High command that they have a new "target" 😂
It does seem like a tresonously stupid design by not putting armor on the tanks to protect it. These thing's should have insane amount of protective measures to prevent their destruction considering how valuable their cargo is.
@@joshk.4470 these things would have a significant escort fleet at all times.
@@JeanLucCaptain Yeah, I expect so. Taking out an Altor and getting past it's fleet would cost too much for Rebels to strike at. But if some Imperial made a mistake and left this thing relatively vulnerable....
I thought Star Destroyers got refueled by recycling the bodies of all the Admirals and Captains that Vader had force choked.
@....I will never forget Darth Vader’s line....”Fill’er up! Captain Needa...”
KillerSalmon Why am I now having flashbacks of Wall-e?
KillerSalmon that’s stupid and a very unefficient and very dumb i’m a galaxy that has better ways of fuel
No.....those will become meatloaf in the cafeteria!
SlicedMango 17 Your life would be so much better if you had the ability to understand jokes.
This is definitely one of the coolest looking Star Wars ships I’ve seen. The franchise’s industrial ships and vehicles have always looked amazing. They have the right blend of ruggedness, futuristic technology, an ‘old’ & heavily-used look, mixed with a dash of believability. They (mostly) look practical and functional, and thus believable. More so than many military ships.
I agree. I don't know exactly what about it appeals to me, but it just has the perfect balance of industrial and futuristic elements and it works so well
still some flaws, lots of ship bridges seem really exposed, for example the super star destroyer at endor was destroyed because of a small a wing
Logistics: exist
Hitler: never heard of it before
Now, now. The Germans knew about logistics, but told the logisticians what was required, rather than designing campaigns around what was realistic and possible.
Richard Reavis what about the Italians
No idea.
German logistics in one word: H O N S E
@@Reepicheep-1 to be fair, if they did that , they wouldn't have captured france that easily.
Way to go Fractalsponge! I've never heard any other franchise getting so much helpful fanart and canonizing it.
That is very cool indeed. I’m glad I stuck around until the end.
How do Star Destroyers get refueled?
*Checks thumbnail*
Got it, thanks.
this workhorse can't be unsung. ITS TOO FUCKING BIG AND EXPLOSIVE!
Exactly
Its a pain in the ass at national holidays though, such as "Praise Mr P, Startrooper veterans day and Flamegrill a Jedi in the park" - get on the roads early and remember to tip the personnel and treat them with respect!.
@@googleacc7472 ?
Youre wrong its literal shit
For the people who still think refueling doesn't have a place in Star Wars, here's a line from the original New Hope script by George Lucas in 1976:
BIGGS: That's no battle, hot shot... they're just sitting there! Probably a freighter-tanker refueling.
If a ship has a “range”, it will eventually need fuel. N if the number of ISDs do number at 25,000,, they will definitely need fuel ships.
Weird why they woudnt think smthing like this has a place.
The imperial fleet, being the technical powerhouse that they are, is just begging to be completed in terms of technical worldbuilding.
Just look at our own world navies and ocean transportation. We could draw and develope similarities from there.
Added note: putting everything in one basket is never a good idea,, so im glad this is “just” a fuel tanker and doesnt double as rearming platform or repair dock.
You know I never even thought about refueling ships in Star Wars till this video
I used to think they were power by some sort of fusion reactor
You didn't think about it while watching The Last Jedi? They kept talking about how they are going to run out of fuel.
@@angelmontero6022 Reactors run on *reactant* , thrusters need *propellant*
You could have all the power generation in the world but you won't be going anywhere without something to push out of the thruster exhaust.
ChaosSandwhich that’s if your using chemical based propellant - iirc the use Ion based engine design, which would be similar to how UNSC ships move around in sublight speed
@@assult878 you ALWAYS need a reaction mass... law of conservation of momentum...
The UNSC's Refit Stations are a similar thing as well in the Halo series...could you talk about those as well?
Yeah really want to get into that soon
@@MetaNerdzLore Don't forget about what they were used as in desperate situations...
#RemembertheUNSCCradle
DrakeMarvell I remember that part in the Fall Of Reach novel when the Cradle sacrificed itself
I guess the shield generator you've pointed out in this video for only having one on a such important vessel, is actually just an external additional shield generator for its bridge. The ISDs also have two of them just for the additional protection on the exposed bridge on the upper deck. The ISDs also have main shield generators inside the ship in order to protect the entire hull. The spherical shield generator is just an additional external shield generator for exposed bridge.
Yeah you're right
Resupply ship: * exists *
Pirates: *(HEAVY BREATHING)*
Hondo >:)
Imagine if Sabine Wren got her hands on one of these ships. The explosion would be glorious
Yup
Depending if the fuel even is explosive.
It could be inert unless in certain conditions.
Fission fuel is not explosive, fusion fuel is very explosive, but explodes chemically, not by fusion. Argon/xenon reaction mass is completely inert.
Edit: TIE fighter is Twin Ion Engine, so it to our current knowledge, uses something like argon or xenon like the new ion engines NASA is developing.
1812 Overture intensifies
Ribbitgoesthedog Lastnamehereyeah use the stuff from solo
Bodie I’m not sure how the universe could _take_ an explosion of that magnitude 😂😂😂
This is honestly so cool I love that Lucas and his team took the time to actually make sense of everything in the starwars universe
Really it was all the other writers and fans adding to the lore. That's not really a critique of Lucas, he never wanted it to be a hard sci-fi
MetaNerdz Lore that's even better that just strengthens my love for star wars
Edit: Man people get triggered when you say fuel! The SW f word apparently. This ship comes from The Essential Guide to Warfare in 2012, a legends book, so I hope you are embarrassed with you TLJ retcon ship conspiracy. Also, fusion reactors need fuel, they last much longer and on a nearly ubiquitous supply, but they aren't perpetual motion machines. You don't hit go and it just runs forever without ever needing more input to get output. The fact people that think so are condescendingly critiquing me and the SW writers on this has me bamboozled.
End edit.
RIC OLIE: There's not enough power to get us to Coruscant - the hyperdrive is leaking.
QUI-GON: We'll have to land somewhere to refuel and repair the ship.
For all the annoying people that think that The Last Jedi was the first time fuel was ever mentioned, and that for some reason me doing a video about a fuel ship means TLJ was my favorite SW movie and that I got a tattoo of Rian Johnson's face on my face while burning legends books and counting my shill money. I just really hate this simplistic weird response by people because it ironically shows how not a "true" fan of legends they are. There are other smaller refueling ships I want to cover from old games and comics, and you don't love star wars more than this things creator who spent thousands of hours on tons of different SW fan ships. Again that are almost all made to bring to life obscure references to ships that we never got to see in detail.
Sorry for the rant it is just so damn silly how so many SW fans minds work.
SW fans work in the that its there way or the high way.
If you're wondering about fuel consumption for ships I remember there being a mention about how much fuel a Venator class star destroyer uses in the Revenge of the Sith cross section book.
It isn't fuel that bugs me. It is the "hyperfuel" thing. Fuel has always existed and I recognize that. What I don't get is them now spawning in a precious and rare fuel for *hyperdrives*, technology that is used by every spacer ever.
It used to be that hyper matter was what allowed the hyperdrive to function, but hyper matter wasn't fuel itself. You needed to utilize the power from the generic fuel supply to make that stuff work. Now hyper fuel exists as a form of hyper matter and is automatically what everyone uses, despite the fact that hyper fuel is a downgrade in every way. It was just a cheap ploy by Johnson created to discuss why the Rebels couldn't jump away, but could fly away for hours on end.
Haha it's pretty obvious when you have a SW fan that's only ever watched the movies, as opposed to one who's read all the vintage comics and novels they could get. The least informed usually consider themselves the most correct.
@@AstinCrow "but hyper matter wasn't fuel itself." That's literally what it is. The hypermatter annihilation chambers exist to extract the power from the fuel itself, hypermatter.
Meanwhile in the real world: Japanese Oil Tanker attacked randomly. Attackers are unknown. Lots of oil has gone up in flames. Oil Prices may rise.
In Star Wars Universe: Imperial Altor-Class Resupply Ship was attacked by Rebel Forces. Yet they did little to stop the flow of supplies to our brave Imperial Navy. As Imperial Forces have successfully defended the cargo. Long Live the Empire!
Still in Star Wars Universe: Prices on goods still goes up to fund another stupidly complicated super weapon that will not work because some moron with a Plot Armor and Weapons will win.
Honestly, if it weren't for plot armour the empire should have won. They simply had the best tech and so many stormtroopers.
@@urbanllama4208 they still technically won by destroying the Yavin 4 base with overwhelming forces.....yeah the Empire was PISSED at the rebels after the Death Star xD
Yep I got a gdl galixy destroying laser it's op as hell but does what's in the name recharge is *3 months for laser cool down using cryo fluid (mindustry coolant) and recharge is 6 months for full battery recharge by DMR and BHR (dark matter reactor and black hole reactor)
I love logistical ships, especially mobile shipyards and refueling vessels. So amazingly cool. Wish we saw more
the terror...i mean rebels: we like them too.
I love it when Fractal Sponge and other fans have their work make it in to official Canon like this. Neat looking ship with a crucial role in the war effort.
Shout out to FractalSponge for the render of the Altor.
High value target. The Imperial Captain who lost one of these to rebels would be lucky if all he got was a summary execution by firing squad.
No. Any imperial captain who has lost one of these has in fact, defected.
He would probably be dead or taken prisoner. Rebels have no need for these ships, only the fuel. They would destroy it.
First, incapacitate the ship, escorts, yes, there has to be escorts, and communications. Refuel rebel ships. Detonate fuel ship. They dont have the crew to take one as prize, and no use for it, and its way too big and unwieldy. Maybe they could hide it somewhere but its still just too much trouble. Takes thousands of men and months to secure a ship that size.
@@ribbitgoesthedoglastnamehe4681 yeap... the rebels wud probably refuel as many ships as they could before they scuttle it. They dont have the logistics to ferry/escort something THAT big,,
And it being such high value target means the escort for these behemoths must be extensive.
Im guessing the takedown of even just one of these supertankers would disable the imperial ships in that system (and probably other nearby systems) for sometime before they send in a replacement ship.
@@arsyadidris2919 No. The local fleets would be able to operate for weeks on their own, and local bases could support operations for months. There are always different layers.
Instead, other assets would be mobilised, other storages used. The damage would be much more strategic and slower, more insidious. Big ships would hang around planets more in a show of force, but long range patrols would be more limited, counter attacks more cautious, task forces smaller, cruising speeds bit more relaxed.
Not much, but suddenly there would be limits on fuel use, limitations on comforts like replacement uniforms, candy and soda, bedsheets, or local varieties would be in use. Engineers would do longer hours nursing machines with less spare parts. Energy in literal and practical sense would be drained from the fleets.
For Rebels, this would be exactly what they want.
Less patrols, slower response times, more blindspots in non-inhabited areas, and most importantly, an increase in military convoys and consequently, weaker convoy escorts for each, making possible to cause even more losses.
If you think of Atlantic war, Germany had maybe 5% of the fleet strength that UK had, but convoy raiding forced UK to use most of its strength to protect merchantmen.
@@ribbitgoesthedoglastnamehe4681 excellent insight there man. N thanx for correcting me.
So in a way,,, the modern day equivalent of laying a seige is to knock out their logistics (and a fuel ship of this magnitude is one helluva logistic), is that right?
N indeed ur right,, a supply ship is just one component of the supply chain. Another would be to distrupt the supply route,, which considering the vastness of the imperial armada, could be alot harder than just simply taking out the supply ship itself,,
Ships and structures like this are what make or break a sci-fi military for me. Great work with the limited info you had available, Oorah.
Thanks man and I agree
Fractalsponge did an amazing job with the artwork for this ship. To be fair, Star Wars Rebels had an episode where the Ghost practically ran out of gas forcing the characters to seek out bases to possibly raid or steal fuel so yes fuel needs are quite true in Star Wars.
I love the look of that drive cluster.
Yeah maybe my new favorite
Star Trek ships fueled by:Dilithium and antimatter and deuterium
Star Wars ships fueled by :Sh.t
xd
No, Star Trek ships are fueled with antimatter and deuterium. Dilithium crystals are used to control the reaction of matter and antimatter in the warpcore
@@The_Str4nger oops i fixed it
@@CaptainSovereign Deuterium, not Delithium
@@The_Str4nger Dilithium is a catalyst. The warp core directs streams of deuterium and anti-deuterium at a dilithium crystal, whose crystal matrix helps them mix in a hand-wavey sort of way to produce warp plasma.
In the original series, the ship had to carry a supply of dilithium crystals because they would be gradually destroyed by the warp reaction. In Star Trek IV, Scotty figures out a way to recrystalize spent dilithium, so after that, they don't have to worry about carrying a bunch of the crystals because they can be recycled.
In other words Federation Starships make even bigger booms when their cores cascade and fail which also EMPs star wars ships. Victory for the Federation! Joking aside though, seriously, anti-matter explosions are way more devastating than the explosions from Star Wars ships
The altor seems like a cool design and would be really cool to see hijacked and turned into a moving colony
Can you do other special forces groups? Like the rebels spec-ops marines, Nimbus commando or mistryl shadow guard
second on the mistryl
I wouldn't want to be within 100 light years of that thing when it exploded...
You telling me the death star is powered by shit O.o my god I can't believe more people haven't mentioned that before
Lol CONFIRMED!!!!
@@MetaNerdzLore what would been your best imperial star destroyer in the star wars movies and their fighter capacity
It's done so to compat the climate change:p
What did you think that giant shaft palpatine fell down was really for.
@@ucitymetalhead Lmao maybe the blue flame we saw after he got threw down there was just cause Palpatine was gassy and someone struck a match for a smoke break😂
This is what I LOVE about Star Wars. It is a well-thought out and complete universe, with even the smallest details thought out
sorry my dude, it WAS well thought out, the space fuel thing was invented by disney
@@UochRS fuel has always beem in star wars
If you have watched "Deadliest Catch," you have seen refurbished WW2 fuel tankers. Since diesel is a form of oil, these ships were called oilers. Cleaned up and updated, their multiple tanks and the fact that they were designed to operated with the tanks full of liquid, and their smaller size, they made excellent boats for crab fishing in ruff oceans.
4:26 Mr. Hankey becomes Chairman of the Galactic Empire Energy Commission. Film at eleven.
Hidey-ho!
This ship is a testament to over centralisation. You basically change simple supply line to a single point of failure massively expensive and "cant be everywhere at once" weakness. Imagine how flexible a supply line would be if it had hundreds of ships like this all 1/100s the total fuel carry capacity. Even if a star destroyer would need 2 of those smaller crafts to fill up completely it would mean as one ship refuels the other is already halfway back to a depot for picking up the next batch, and even if the fleet is refuelling if something happens they can be dynamically redeployed at will.
Well now that you mention it that’s not a bad idea. because if you look at the American military or any military with naval ships.that is kind of how they re-supplied with the tenders that we supply carriers are possibly a quarter of the size of a carrier. I have to admit I never really thought about how supplies were delivered to star destroyers. But that makes perfect sense. And I would be willing to guess that maybe these probably traveled with an escort because something that big that lightly armored. Would probably need a few support ships itself
Did you take into account the internal structure of the tanks as well as the thickness of the walls?
No there's no way I could know that. But I see where you're going it would definitely be somewhat less, or I guess similar considering the curved ends where not included.
I love all the mathematics and calculations you put into these videos.
I do like to think now and then about the logistics of running an entire fleet. This ship is a great asset to a fleet but it does put a big target on itself with those giant fuel tanks
You could do a cylinder + sphere volume calculation and get a bit closer to the actual volume of those tanks but still close enough for this comparison. I really like when you compare earth based stuff, it helps grasp the size of these ships.
This is really great. I really do love videos more about logistics and support rather than combat ships. MOAR of these types of videos please!!!
These are answers to questions I didn't have, but are welcome. Makes this channel different than other Star Wars channels who just cover comics.
An army marches on its stomach.
and vehicles run on their gas tank...
Of course there are bits and pieces about fuel/energy use for Star Wars ships available. Even in this very book Tramp Freighters you mentioned. 🤔
Could Palpatine microwave a Burrito so hot that he himself could not eat it?
Holy shit..... This was a lot more interesting than I would have imagined.
A fuel tank like that needs to be escorted at all times as it is very important when at war with its cargo
Definitely agree
MetaNerdz Lore I mean the cost and importance is something that is more than worth losing a few star destroyer in my opinion
We really aren't aware of how this fuel needs to be stored, so inside these tanks, there could be far less volume to hold the fuel than what the tank shows, having internal cells or buffered compartments, shielded and insulated for safety. This could be the reason behind the ships needing to be so large. There could be eight cylinders to the inside of each tank, all shielded and kept stable for transport. Internal pumping machinery, or monitoring equipment standard to each cell.
I've wondered about this since i first saw an isd cross-section, great video if a little cracky at one point
Imagine such a thing being attacked whilest refueling 2 Dreadnoughts, thatd be cool to see for sure
*A-Wing Kamikaze into fuel tank*
A focused fighter attack against the fueltanks might be a valid tactic to take out or inflict heavy damage to two dreadnoughts.
This sounds much more efficient and rebel-like than just open combat against the dreadnoughts since they are for some time "stuck" to the tanker wich makes defensive manuvers impossible and limits the field of fire of the dreadnoughts guns
Do you thing this makes a nice setting for a cinematic videoclip?
@@Bienenschwarm5 One A-wing for two heavily damaged dreadnaughts seems fair gain.
But would the rebellion accepted Leia didn't like it when Poe did that.
They have an escort fleet but some mon cal cruisers will take care of them
Ahhh the lifeblood behind the warmachine of the empire... It is nice to know that you are talking about this. Thanks alot of questions I had have been answered.
Whats Up, Metanerds? Knowledge. And fun. That's definitely and absolutely true.
Keep up the fun and awesome work:)
I love the design of the Altor and that it exists in the SW universe providing support to the Imperial fleet.
Another background logistical ship worth covering is the Imperial Cargo Container Ship / Provider class ship as seen in SW Rebels episode The Forgotten Droid.
I love this one. Much better, than the new order dreadnought/mothership.
4:26 the first curse word that I have ever heard this man utter?
I loved this ship ever since i first saw it in one of fractals pictures
Can these containers be used as bombs?
Asking for a -imperial- friend.
I guess that you could not just drop them out of the ship to explode on impact like ww2 planes do.
But it would be possible to modify them with explosives and use them als traps / mines or rockets if you put an engine onto it, but hitting a moving target with a rocket that size and possibly a very slow speed would be hard to say the least.
But yeah, I can see them being used as proximity mines and to "bomb" a stationary target like a space station.
I think it would be unreasonably expensive.
WEG Tramp Freighters is an awesome book, I finally found myself a copy back in the late 90s. It was well worth it.
One of the coolest and most important ship of the Empire
4:25 I don't even know what to put here, but it's still funny
Man, these are really cool, they could function as such amazing plot points because by being loaded with a fleet size of fuel and food and being able to repair and perhaps even manufacture light cruisers. These ships could be an absolute nightmare to let escape into a busy sector (thinking post-Palpatine Empire) because if you didn't finish them off before they escaped they could basically build a not-so-informidable small fleet by themselves. Imagine what Thrawn or some other crafty admiral could do. It reminds me of the Drydock ships from the Homeworld Series
Simply fascinating! Totally enjoyed this amazing video!
That's interesting that no-one ever wanted to sit down and decide how fuel works
You would think it would be tactically far better to have thousands of smaller refuelling vessels than one huge one. As the video says, loss of one of these would be utterly catastrophic and thousands of Star Destroyers could be crippled theoretically by one person flying one ship firing a proton torpedo in the right place, whereas it would be nearly impossible to destroy many small refuelling ships.
As with AT-ATs that are capable of being brought down with a bit of rope, Stormtrooper armour that seems to provide zero protection, massive battle stations that can be destroyed with a single torpedo, and Rebel troop carriers electing to for some reason fly straight past the Imperial fleet instead of in the complete opposite direction when leaving Hoth, I think the only reason the Galactic Civil War wasn't over in five seconds was because both sides were as idiotic as each other.
Some of the deals were explained in verse I believe
For the Death Star it was that it was a major design flaw that no one thought anything of it
Also I'm pretty sure the only way they could go when escaping Hoth was towards that fleet cause it was not small and probably had most of the escape routes from the planet covered
The At At deal I got nothing on but the armor is more so, if fighting in close range, armor doesn't do much to dissipate a blast, plus we don't see all the shots they took first so yeah
Also more fuel ships just makes it harder to take them all down, not impossible to take down period, granted in the long run they would still work better then huge ones like these..... though idk if one of the smaller ships could refuel an ISD in full
Granted in regards to other stuff
Your not wrong on many tactical blunders being a thing in the universe
But hey guess that is just plot and not necessarily something that does happen in real life
The reason that the hoth fleet had to fly past the isd fleet is that there is only a few points where you can jump to hyperdrive. Think of it as the entrance to a highway from a side street
This tanks remind me of airships (zeppelin), I love the idea of this ship in a steampunk setting.
A massive flying shipyard over the city, until someone sets it ablaze and it crashes onto an entire city.
I know, it's not a viable option in most settings, but I would love the look of such ship
More unsung ships of the Star Wars universe.
Support is vital.
Even the greatest warship runs out of ammo, needs its components and armour repaired, refueled and its food supplies restocked.
Without logistical support, the greatest army is reduced to a bunch of hungry men holding expensive sticks.
"A Zillo-beast wider..." Dang tha's a new unit of measurement I was not prepared for....
Love the doing the math bits! Shows just the level of effort your going to in your videos
theory: those repair hangers do double duty as those frigates and smaller ships carry fighters making the need for defenses moot as those would be launched to defend the ships. plus those ships aren’t leaving without escorts of heavily armed frigates and ISDs as you don’t send ships like that out unprotected
it's not just a tanker, it's a supply ship that can provide you with all supplies that you will ever need.
So they have a candy store that I can resupply my stock of JabbaBars? 😜😀
probably
i wonder if the crew's waste is used to fuel this ship too?
Owners manual says millennium falcon has to refuel about once a month.
Also Erwin Rommel said that the winner of a one on one fight is the man with one more round in his magazine.
*I'm so early I'm became stuck during the Time of The Old Republic*
*Also too early to see that the POLL IS 100%*
( ;| help)
I would suggest getting copies of the Star Wars Encyclopedia First Edition, DEL REY, and Star Wars guide to Ships and Technologies.
This is a really awesome video but 7 main and 54 aux equals 61 but there is 63 I counted them and found that it has 8 aux in 7 boxes making 8 times 7 equalling 56 aux engines. Thank you for shaering this awesome look in an unseen or over looked aspect of starships in starwars. As always I enjoyed it.
Still, that would have been quite the boon for a rebel cell if they could manage to steal one. It would also be quite the BOOM if they were forced to destroy one.
Lol I like what you did there
Remember that the ISDs etc were *entirely* unautomated, using humans to fire every gun, enter every course, and engage every engine system. The Star Wars galaxy have always been very proud of this for some reason - like they are competing with BSG, who have a very real reason for disconnecting and unautomating their ships, in the risk of Cylon hacking.
One off variant…
A Q-Ship that looks like a normal Altair but is a heavy combat vessel with interdiction technology to sucker in rebel attacks.
Or better yet - fuel tanks that are combat stations that can replace a normal fuel pod on swapping. It's got a massive hanger holding hundreds (or thousands, that's a lot of volume) of Ties and gunships and frigates, plus hidden shield emitters and pop out guns and lots of missile tubes for heavy proton missiles.
Plus one has a Interdiction generator inside, but the rebels can't tell which one. So they can't specifically target it to get away.
A single pod could still be left as fuel, to help the disguise, if they get intel that a attack is planned.
Such a ship could trap and obliterate an entire raiding fleet.
And for just general protection, one combat pod could be rotated around for service on a few Altairs just as a deterrent.
I am the same when it comes to logistics, being very detail oriented. It's interesting to see it work in fictional settings.
I was wondering if you would do breakdowns on unsc and covenant ships from the halo universe.
Yeah that's coming soon
*Solid Fuel Converter:* Here! Let me transform anything organic you put in me into functional fuel for any and all of your war ships! ^-^
*Emperor Sheev Palpatine:* ...Hehehehehe.. Let’s increase the number of crew members on all of my Imperial Navy destroyers, cruisers, corvettes, dreadnaughts and frigates.. What they don’t know won’t hurt them..
*Me:* Oh for the love of Jabba the Hutt. Now I’ll always remember that the space ships in StarWars can be fueled by anything, including literal shit.
i imagine they do the same in star trek...
Can we get some of EC Henry's designs over here as well?
Got this recommended to me again, and I watched through it
*Metanerdz said shit*
Never underestimate the power of logistics.
Man this would be a beauty to blow up in a Just Cause game.
If fuel is the reason the Empire cranked up the crew requirement for their ship, then that really puts a new meaning to when they say they are running on fumes.
Where did you found tankers height and width? I was building this ship in Lego Digital Designer for quite a while and forgot about it, and you reminded me!
Calculating it based on the given length
I think the ship worked like the real world air tankers, where the ship slowed next to it, the arm was lowered into place and the pump started.
Jesus, that has "SHOOT ME REBEL DADDY" written all over it.
So if a validusia station refuels the Altors then what refuels the validusia stations when they need to be refuelled?
(Mostly sarcastic but kinda interesting question)
I'm guessing that the tanks that the altors use are filled at a refinery or fuel production plant then shipped either individually by smaller ships or en mass by other Altors to the stations. So you have altors that go back and forth between refineries and validusias constantly exchanging empty tanks for full ones while other altors are out on refuelling missions with ships and fleets who then return to then return to the validusias when their tanks are empty, swap them out and the cycle begins anew.
I'm a logistic specialist for the Navy and we got are hand in every cookie jar.
in battlefront, there are 3 star destroyers refuelling on tibanna gas through floating stations on bespin.
I thought they have an unlimited plot tank!
The empire has officially discovered a endless fuel source
“Shit powered ships” that part almost killed me😂
The industry required to make a tanker ship of this capacity a practical reality is mind boggling.
why didn't you say for napoleon "an army marches on its stomach" it's so perfect
Love your size comparisons, always make me laugh
could you PLEASE do that naval station next??
You'd make a great detective! Very thorough.
I think the kyber crystal is the dilithium crystal of the SW universe. Once they unlock it's power they can travel at ftl speeds without hyperspace lanes though they'll still be faster. "Hyperspace tracking" would no longer be a thing because you'd be able to merge into hyper space lanes at any given point along the route. They already have the reactor technology but haven't figured out to use kyber as their lattice matrix source.
I think you got the Height & Width mixed up, as the Aft view shows the ship to be wider than it is tall.
6:50 "food stuffs" that's great
I don't get it. You don't think that's a word or something?
@@MetaNerdzLore I find it amusing when some says food stuffs idk I allways have. Some words like blimp are funny to me. Also real > kat < hours my boi